The Marriage Agreement Read online

  “I like it when you rest,” he told her. “It’s the only time I get any peace around here.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Then why are you bothering me?”

  “Because I just found out you spit out the soup Laura brought over for you a couple days ago.”

  She looked at him as if she’d never heard anything more ridiculous. “Her soup was terrible. It tasted like dirt.”

  “It did not.”

  “How would you know? You weren’t here to taste it.”

  “Because I had some of it at supper.”

  With a snort, she said, “After eating Elsie’s soup, I don’t know how you can’t tell the difference between good and bad soup.”

  “That’s what this is really about, isn’t it? You,” he pointed his finger at her, “resent the fact that Laura’s here. That’s why you were rude to her.”

  “It has nothing to do with that. She hasn’t learned to cook.”

  “It has everything to do with it, and we both know it. You’ve been many things, Fanny, but one thing I never took you for was a liar.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted her. “You listen to me, and you listen good. The bad feeling we share is between us. You and me. You leave Laura out of it. She made a big sacrifice to be here for Elliot.”

  “No one asked her to do it.”

  “Someone needs to be here to take care of him now that he’s learning to walk. You can’t be bothered to do it most of the time.”

  “Because I’m old.”

  “Right. Because you’re old. You can’t do the job. You should be grateful Laura’s willing to take the job so you don’t have to.”

  She stiffened. “You can’t do it, either.”

  “Which is why I married her. I know you don’t like someone else being Elliot’s mother, but she is Elliot’s mother now. I demand you show her respect.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “I’ll take you to Omaha and hire a stagecoach to take you to the nearest train station. From there, you’ll go back to New York. I don’t care if your family doesn’t want you. They’ll have to deal with you.”

  Her mouth formed a thin line. “That’s been your plan all along. You want to separate me from my grandson. That’s the real reason you married Laura. With Laura here, you don’t need me to help out.”

  “I’m willing to put up with you because you are Elliot’s grandmother, but I have a responsibility to my new wife. If you don’t show her respect, you’re out of here.”

  Then he left. Whether or not the threat would do any good remained to be seen, but he’d do it if he had to. Elsie had tried to make Fanny show him respect, but Fanny hadn’t. Now that he thought about it, Fanny hadn’t cared enough about her own daughter to show her respect, either.

  He didn’t realize how soft he and Elsie had been over the years. If they’d done what they had threatened to do long before now, then who knew how different things would be now? Maybe Fanny would have been easier to deal with. Or maybe she would have kept on trying to tell everyone what to do. Either way, he was partly to blame for it. All he did was argue with her. It wasn’t a productive use of his time. In fact, it only made things worse.

  Was this really the environment he wanted Elliot to grow up in? Did he really want Laura to feel like he did for the short time he’d been married to Elsie? Feeling helpless to stand up to Fanny? Feeling like he had to accept whatever Fanny did to him just because she was Elsie’s mother.

  Fanny was manipulative. There was nothing else to it. Elsie had felt bound to honoring her because she was her mother, so she hadn’t been able to make things better. But he wasn’t bound by any such sense of obligation. It was one thing to put up with Fanny when it was just him. It was different when Laura was the one who had become an unwitting victim in this mess. Laura deserved better, and he would make sure she didn’t have to suffer the same fate he had during his marriage to Elsie. For once, things were going to change for the better.

  ***

  After Laura put Elliot to bed for the night, she picked up her sewing supplies and started working on a shirt for him. It was hard to believe he was almost too big for the clothes she’d only made for him a couple months ago, and they’d been large on him at the time.

  She shook her head as she pulled the needle through the soft cotton fabric. It didn’t seem fair babies should grow up so fast. And she didn’t know what to do with the clothes he’d outgrown. Did she give them to Amanda for when Amanda would have children? Or did she hold on to them, just in case… In case what? In case she actually had children of her own?

  She’d be better off giving the old clothes to Amanda. It was the only reasonable thing to do. She couldn’t think of anyone else who’d need them, either. So Amanda was the only logical choice.

  The kitchen door opened, and she glanced up from where she was sitting in the parlor to see who’d come in. She didn’t think it’d be Fanny, but who knew if Fanny wanted to give her another talk on chastity within marriage?

  She caught sight of Jesse as he grabbed the pitcher of water and breathed a sigh of relief. Good. It was just him. She leaned back on the couch and continued sewing. She listened as he poured himself a glass of water. After a few seconds, he poured another one. Her eyes grew wide. The poor man must’ve worked up a real thirst out there in the barn.

  She thought he might go to bed, as he had the other nights, but he came into the parlor. He sat in the chair and crossed his legs, drumming his fingers on the chair’s arm.

  “Did you want the couch?” she asked when he didn’t say anything.

  He turned his gaze away from the ceiling and looked at her, his expression surprisingly serious. Not that he wasn’t serious already, but he seemed even more so at the moment.

  “Did I do something wrong?” she asked, lowering the cloth.

  “No, you didn’t,” he assured her. “But things need to change around here.”

  What on earth could he be talking about?

  He stopped drumming the chair’s arm and straightened up. “I don’t want things to be the way they were when Elsie was alive.”

  She held her breath. Did he notice she was attracted to him? Was he going to tell her to put a stop to it at once? But how did a woman do such a thing? It wasn’t like she’d planned on it. It’d just happened.

  “Remember during dinner when you said you took that bowl of soup to Fanny?” he asked.

  Relieved his thoughts hadn’t been going in the direction she’d feared, she nodded.

  “Well, I’ve been thinking about it. I did what I could to please Fanny because of Elsie. And now you’re trying to please Fanny because you want to make things easier for me and Elliot. Fanny’s been getting her way all these years. Until tonight, I didn’t realize how angry I was with Elsie for not being firm with her when she should have been.”

  “You were angry with Elsie?” Laura blurted out. Never once during any time on the wagon trail had she picked up on this.

  “I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but yes, I was angry with her. Elsie was wonderful. Don’t get me wrong. I loved her. I still do. It’s just that she let Fanny get away with whatever she wanted. I didn’t want to upset Elsie, so I didn’t argue with her. I just pushed my anger down until I didn’t realize it was there. But now I know the anger was there. I don’t want that to happen this time. I don’t want you to be angry because I don’t have enough courage to put a stop to Fanny’s manipulations.”

  “I’m not angry with you, Jesse,” Laura assured him, picking the cloth back up and resuming her sewing. “You can’t control what Fanny does.”

  “I might not be able to control what she does, but I can control where she’s at when she does it. I gave her an ultimatum. If she doesn’t start showing you respect, then I’m going to send her back home to her family. I’ve had enough of this. It’s not healthy for you. It’s not healthy for Elliot. It’s not healthy for me, either. It has to stop. I’m in the position where I can do something about i
t. And I will. I’m not going to do the same thing Elsie did. We might have a marriage of convenience, but you’re still my wife, and it’s my job to do everything I can to protect you from people like Fanny.”

  With a nod indicating he’d said all that was on his mind, he rose to his feet.

  “You let me know the next time Fanny steps out of line, alright?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Alright.”

  Seeming to be satisfied, he wished her a good night’s sleep and went to his bedroom.

  She watched him, both in shock and admiration. She’d never seen him take an assertive stance like this before. Yes, he’d told Fanny when she stepped out of line, and he’d done his part to stand up for her and Elliot. But this was different. There was a resolve about him that wouldn’t weaken under pressure. He was going to do exactly as he said.

  A few minutes passed before she was able to return to her sewing. If this new determination of his was something new, what other new things might she expect in the future?

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next morning as Jesse waited for Laura to finish getting breakfast ready, he took Elliot out to the porch and held him up so he could see the land in front of them.

  “You see that?” he asked the boy, pointing to the barn, animals, and acres of crops he’d planted that were growing nicely. “One day all of this will be yours. It was my dream to leave you something lasting, something you can pass on to your own children. That’s why your mother and I made the trip all the way out here.”

  “Mama,” Elliot said and looked at the door that led to the kitchen.

  “Well, yes. She’s your mother now.”

  He brushed back the thick hair from his son’s forehead, and noted the eyes that reminded him so much of Elsie.

  “When you’re older, I’ll tell you about your real mother,” he promised, “but you’re right. Laura is also your mother. From the day you were born, she wanted to take care of you. I doubt many women would want to take on such a task.” His mind unwittingly went to Fanny. “This isn’t exactly the easiest family to be a part of. Laura must really love you to put up with all of this.”

  Elliot squirmed to get down, and he sighed. Sometimes he missed it when Elliot was so little he was happy just to be held. There had been nights when Jesse found it hard to sleep, and he’d take Elliot to the rocking chair and rock back and forth, his mind drifting to nowhere in particular, until both were able to sleep. Or he’d put Elliot in a sack he’d made and strap Elliot to his chest and do his chores.

  But now Elliot was too big for such things. He wanted to be on his own and explore the world around him. He couldn’t fault Elliot for that. It was the way things were meant to be. Everything was in a constant state of change. He only wished children didn’t have to grow up so fast.

  Elliot crawled over to the posts along the porch and pulled himself to his feet. He shook it hard enough where he ended up losing his balance and falling on his behind. With wide eyes, he looked up at Jesse.

  Jesse chuckled. “It’s going to be a while before you’re strong enough to break it. But,” he added as he held his hands out to him, “I hope you decide not to break it. It took a lot of work to build this place.”

  Elliot took his hands, and Jesse helped him to his feet. Jesse took a step back so Elliot could take one forward, and this seemed like an activity Elliot was happy to do. At the very least, he wasn’t trying to find something else to do instead.

  “You might find this hard to believe,” Jesse began, “but since you were born early, a couple of people said you’d be slower than other children. They expected you to learn to walk later, to talk later…to do everything later. It bothered your grandmother, but it never bothered me. You know why? Because it’s more important you learn to do something than how soon you learn it.”

  Elliot took a step too far out and lost his balance. Jesse quickly pulled him back up before he fell.

  “That all said, though,” Jesse added as Elliot took a smaller step, “you’re sure learning things faster than those people thought you would. You survived a difficult birth, and you’re learning to walk before you turn one. You, Elliot, are proof that miracles do happen.”

  Elliot looked over at the door, and a wide smile crossed his face. “Mama!”

  Jesse glanced over his shoulder and saw Laura standing in the doorway, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I know I shouldn’t have eavesdropped, but everything you told him was so beautiful. I didn’t think it was possible for a father to love his child as much as you do.”

  He picked Elliot up. “I’m sure other fathers feel the same way about their children.” Then, remembering that the relationship she had with her own father was less than ideal, he amended, “Or at least some of them do.”

  “I’m glad you’re one of them who does. In fact, it was one of the reasons I wanted to marry you. You’re a nice person.”

  At that, he laughed. “I don’t feel like a nice person when I’m around Fanny.”

  “I don’t know if anyone can be nice when they’re around her,” she said. “She has a way of unsettling people.”

  That was an understatement. But he’d rather not think about the woman. He’d been having a good morning, and he didn’t want anything to spoil his mood.

  As if she understood, Laura cleared her throat and tucked her handkerchief into her pocket. “Anyway, I came to tell you breakfast is ready.” She held the door open for them and smiled.

  Returning her smile, he followed her into the house.

  ***

  Two days later, Jesse was browsing the rope catalogue in the mercantile when he heard a familiar voice call out, “Jesse Palmer, is that you?”

  Jesse glanced up and saw Joe Otto. With a smile, he shook his hand. “Yes, it’s me. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again after you brought us to Omaha last year.”

  “I just finished bringing in a few more families to Omaha.”

  “So soon?”

  “They were from Iowa.” He grinned. “I’m due to lead some people from here to some free land further out west. A lot more people are doing what you are. Building homesteads they plan to leave to their children.”

  “How far out west are you going?”

  “Not far. It’ll take a month or two to get to where everyone wants to go.” Joe shrugged and leaned against the counter. “I figure it’s easy money.”

  “So what do you do when you’re not leading a wagon train?” Surely, Joe didn’t earn enough doing that to sustain a living for an entire year.

  “I do odd jobs.”

  “Do you do anything people ask you to do?”

  “Only if it’s outside. I don’t like being stuck indoors. I grow restless. Hey, do you have any jobs you need doing?”

  “I can’t afford anything,” Jesse said, even though it pained him to have to say it aloud.

  “What about room and board? I’m not due to leave here for another week, and it’d help me out if I didn’t have to pay for a hotel and livery stable while I’m here.”

  “As long as you don’t mind a lumpy couch, you can sleep on the one I got.”

  “I sleep on the ground most of the time. A couch won’t bother me, no matter how many lumps it has.”

  “Great. I’d like to get another fence put up since I have a cow who just gave me a calf. I had no idea animals could eat so much grass in a day, and the new addition will be eating grass soon enough.”

  “I can put in the fence for you,” Joe agreed. “You got supplies?”

  “I have some from the ones you helped me get last year.” Jesse hesitated but figured the savings he might be able to get from Joe’s friend would help ease his financial burden. “I don’t suppose that friend of yours would be willing to sell me fencing supplies at a discount, would he?”

  “He will. He owes me a favor since I talked a businessman back East into giving him lumber for cheap.”

  Jesse didn�
�t hide his relief, though he couldn’t help but be curious about all of Joe’s connections. “How do you do it? I mean, you seem to know everyone.”

  “It’s all the odd jobs I do. I go through the country and do whatever work there is when I’m not leading wagon trains. After a while, I meet people who make enough profit they feel led to be generous.”

  “I wish I made enough of a profit so I could do that.”

  “You’re just starting out. These men are in their forties and fifties. They’ve been around for a while. When you’re just starting out, you’re bound to have less.” He patted Jesse’s shoulder. “I remember your situation. You had a lot to go through. You, of all people, needed the help, and the men were more than happy to do it, especially when they learned you lost your wife and had a baby and a mother-in-law to care for. Speaking of which, how are things?”

  “Better. Well,” Jesse quickly amended, “better as far as feeling like things have gotten stable. I planted some crops and am comfortable with taking care of all the animals. I still have a lot to learn about running a homestead, but I enjoy it.”

  “How’s your boy?”

  “Good. Elliot’s healthy and happy.”

  “That’s a relief. He was born so early I wasn’t sure he’d make it. I’m glad he did. You didn’t need to lose him on top of losing your wife.”

  Jesse nodded, appreciating the concern Joe had shown to him during that rough time in his life. But all that was over, and he had Laura now. “Oh, I have good news. I got remarried.”

  Joe’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Did you?”

  “Just recently. Remember Laura Rufus?”

  “The one with the parents who never smiled?”

  Jesse hadn’t thought of her parents that way before, but the description fit. He chuckled. “Yes, that’s her.”

  “I liked Laura. She was nothing like her parents.” Joe smiled. “Congratulations. I think she’ll make you a good wife. It’ll be nice to talk to her.” After a moment, he asked, “Is she still friends with Amanda Larson?”

  “They’re good enough friends for Amanda and Richard to come over for a visit.” Jesse thought he saw Joe’s smile falter a moment but then decided he imagined it. Joe had done a lot of traveling. No doubt he was tired. “Do you want to come out with me to my house today?”