Once Upon a Mail Order Bride - Linda Broday Page 0,46
kids.
The time snuck up on Addie, and she was startled when she looked at the clock. “I need to go,” she scribbled and pushed her chair back.
Her pulse raced as she left the Bowdre house. Ridge would be surprised at all she had to tell him. And she’d sit there and stare at his kissable mouth and whiskey-colored eyes like some besotted schoolgirl.
* * *
Ridge digested the news that Jack was now a law apprentice, wondering why his friend had kept quiet. Jack had always been smart, though, especially about the law. They could use a man like that.
Addie sat across from him, looking prettier than a dew-kissed sunrise after a storm. Light flooded through the café windows, creating a circle around her, and cavorted in her golden hair. She seemed different somehow. Comfortable, confident, relaxed.
“I’m in charge of the decorations for the harvest dance, first Saturday of September. Any suggestions?”
That she would volunteer for anything floored him, but nothing made him happier than to see her getting involved in the town.
“As a matter of fact, I do.” Ridge pushed back his plate. “I can get you all the corn cobs you want, stalks too. I think the pumpkins are ready, and I know where you can find oodles of gourds and rocks.”
“I can sew some festive bunting to hang from the storefronts, paint the rocks real pretty in orange, yellow, and red. And maybe have lots of streamers everywhere. What do you think about hanging lanterns around for lighting?”
“Nothing to hang them on, since the dance will be outdoors. But you can set them on things.” Ridge covered her hand with his. “Lady, you amaze me. You’re in a strange place, a strange house, with people you don’t know—a husband you’re just learning—and you’re flourishing.”
“I’m nothing special.”
He barked a laugh. “Addie, my love, you just don’t realize. I wish you could see yourself as I do.” Color rose to her cheeks. Discomfort apparent, he changed the subject. “What else did you do this morning? Paint the windmill, teach all the children Spanish, build a library while I was out trying to sell some measly land?”
“Stop teasing.” She laid down her pencil and met his gaze.
“I’m sorry. I’m just happy to see you blossoming.” He sobered and announced that he’d sold the property he’d shown that morning, and she saluted him like a soldier to a general. He reached for her hand and brought her fingertips to his lips, kissing them. Who needed words to carry on a conversation?
They shared a moment of comfortable silence, just like a normal married couple. Then she wrote: “I went to visit Eleanor Crump.”
Of everything, this was possibly the most surprising piece of news. “Oh, you did. How did it go?”
“Eleanor said she was once like me but didn’t explain how. But she understands me, Ridge. We just sat and held hands, and I felt an enormous peace come over me. I’ve never known anything like that. Eleanor seemed to sense what I went through.”
“That’s pretty incredible. I’m glad you went to see her—you could both use the friendship. She seems to be awfully lonely. Rebel had no luck trying to get her to socialize.”
“You know nothing about her?”
“Only that she was once married to a notorious outlaw, and he was killed by a posse.”
“Recently?”
“No, probably ten years ago or more. Way before my arrival.”
Addie must have worried, or still did, that he’d meet a similar fate, and that was a grief he didn’t want to saddle his wife with. At the same time, he couldn’t do anything about his fate. He just prayed when the bullet came, Addie would be far, far away.
Other than that, he wouldn’t pray for anything else. His prayers had dried up just like his soul.
Twelve
Ridge saw Addie home, then took Bodie aside. “Stay close and keep your eyes open. That bounty hunter is lurking around. I can smell him.”
Bodie’s gaze never wavered, the kid showing neither fear nor surprise. “Figured as much. I thought I saw something last night in the dark but couldn’t be sure, so didn’t say anything. By the time I got out to the yard, he was gone. He could’ve taken me at any time.”
“You’re not the one he wants. It’s the three thousand dollars I can fetch him.” And Hiram wouldn’t leave without Ridge. For the first time, he regretted moving away from the safety of the town. Dammit! One bad decision could cost him everything.