The Bargain Mail Order Bride Read online

  Finding a nice crack in it, she used the screwdriver, using the same care he had employed, and he was happy to see she produced a gold flake on the tip of the screwdriver. It was so small she hadn’t realized what it was, and he had to stop her before she threw it into the stream.

  “That’s gold,” he told her.

  Her eyebrows furrowed. “Gold?”

  “Right there in the dirt.” He pointed to the small bit of gold.

  “Oh! This is what gold looks like before it’s a coin. I’ve never seen it like this.”

  “Most of what I find are small flakes like that,” he told her. “The more you do this, the easier it’ll get to recognize it. We’ll put that into this bottle. We can wash the dirt off of it later.”

  Once that task was done, he set the spade in the water by the bend then slid the screwdriver and bottle into his pocket.

  “Hold these.” He handed her the gold pan and set the classifier on top of it. “I’ll dig up the sediment and put it in the classifier.”

  She crouched next to him in the stream, and he used the shovel to dig up a good portion of the sediment to put into the classifier.

  “Now we can strain out the larger rocks,” he told her. “I’ll show you how I do it.”

  He submerged the classifier and gold pan in the water then rotated and shook the classifier over the gold pan. He repeated the process until he felt all the good material had passed through the half-inch holes in the classifier and settled into the pan.

  “Will you bring over the bucket?” he asked.

  She did as he requested, and he dumped the contents from the pan into the bucket.

  “That’s the pay dirt. We’ll go through that later.” He showed her the rocks in the classifier. “It’s not likely that we’ll find any gold in these rocks, but you never know so it doesn’t hurt to check through them.”

  He closed the gap between them and showed her how he sorted through the rocks. As he expected, there was nothing worth keeping.

  “We can get rid of these,” he said as he chucked them aside. “Do you want to use the classifier to strain out the pay dirt?”

  She indicated she did, so he dug out another portion of the sediment from the stream and placed it into the classifier, mindful not to add as much as what he’d use. She was a woman, after all, and the sediment could be heavy.

  This being her first time straining out the material, he helped guide her in the process. It wasn’t until they were almost done that he realized his hands were covering hers. Face warm, he released them and let her finish up.

  If he hadn’t been so caught up in teaching her how to shake and rotate the classifier, he was sure he wouldn’t have been so bold. Yes, they were married, but this was in no way an ordinary marriage. This was an arrangement that was meant to make life better for both of them.

  Once he put the pay dirt into the bucket, he dug more sediment for her to strain. This time, he made sure not to cover her hands when she asked for help. And on her third try, she had the process down well enough that she didn’t even require his assistance.

  After they had filled the bucket full of pay dirt, he carried it and the shovel to the wheelbarrow while she carried the screwdriver, spade, classifier, and gold pan. He put the bucket into the wheelbarrow and got ready to take the items from her, but she was already putting them next to the bucket.

  He couldn’t believe how smoothly the whole process had been. She was a quick learner, and more than that, she was willing to work with him. Really willing. She hadn’t just expressed an interest in it; she’d also stayed through the entire time and helped him.

  “Is there anything else?” she asked, turning to him.

  “Um, no,” he said. Then, recalling the second bucket, he added, “Not for you. I just need to gather water into the other bucket.”

  He shifted from one foot to another, not knowing why he was having such a difficult time thanking her. He wanted to thank her, to let her know he appreciated not only her help but also her sincerity. But no matter how much he tried to form the words, they wouldn’t come.

  It probably didn’t matter. She was already unrolling her pants so they went back to her ankles. She wasn’t staring at him as if she expected him to say anything else. And so, that was why he decided not to. Instead, he went back to the stream and filled the bucket up with water.

  Chapter Six

  An hour later, Juliet and Carl took everything to a sunny clearing in front of the barn. They knelt by the large bin where Carl dumped the water he’d brought back. He poured a spade’s worth of pay dirt into two pans and gave her one. After that, he demonstrated how to begin the process of panning the actual gold from the pay dirt they had collected.

  She had just found her first gold flake in the black sand when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She straightened her back and focused on the trees that surrounded the path that led to town. It occurred to her that she might have been premature in feeling safe living among the trees. People could easily hide behind them, which left her at a real disadvantage.

  She held her breath and scanned the area for where she’d seen the movement. Finally, she caught sight of two horses pulling a wagon. At once, she recognized the preacher and Caroline.

  With a gasp, she bolted to her feet.

  “What’s wrong?” Carl asked, looking up at her.

  “The preacher and Caroline are here,” she replied.

  He grimaced. “I forgot they said they were coming out.”

  “I did, too. Will you go out to meet them while I slip on the wig and change clothes?”

  With a nod, he set his pan down and got to his feet. “How long do you need?”

  Glad he was willing to do this without any questions, she said, “Five minutes. Thank you, Carl.”

  She hurried to the cabin and slipped inside, praying the preacher and Caroline hadn’t noticed her. The last thing she wanted was to be caught in her real hair, especially in front of the preacher!

  Changing back into the simple dress she’d worn earlier that day was easy. She managed that in under a minute. Getting the wig to look right, however, wasn’t so simple. She had to remove the pins holding the fake hair into a bun and was in the middle of brushing it when she heard the preacher’s voice at the barn.

  Wig in hand, she hurried to the small window and saw that Carl was talking to him. Caroline retrieved something from the back of the wagon, and after a moment, Juliet realized it was a covered basket. Caroline started to head for the cabin, an action which caused Juliet’s heart to flutter in panic. But Carl stopped her and waved her over to him and the preacher.

  Juliet breathed a sigh of relief. Good. Carl was quick on his feet, and better yet, he didn’t ask her unpleasant questions. He just accepted what she needed and helped her. If there was a better man she could have ended up marrying, she couldn’t think of who he might be. She didn’t think any others would be happy to be protecting his wife when he didn’t know what he was protecting her from. And in Carl’s case, he was protecting an outlaw.

  Don’t think about that now. You have more important things to tend to.

  She turned her attention back to the wig and finished brushing it. She pulled the hair back into a bun, and then she slipped the wig on. With a quick glance at the mirror to make sure the wig looked like her real hair, she breathed a sigh of relief then turned to her trunk.

  Caroline was wearing a hat. The preacher did, too. Carl wasn’t, but then she and Carl had been panning for gold. But maybe she should cover the wig. She dug out a bonnet and tied it around her head. Maybe the more she followed Caroline’s and the preacher’s lead, the less they’d suspect her of pretending to be someone she wasn’t. At any rate, it didn’t hurt to have one advantage.

  After she got a pot of coffee started, she left the cabin and headed for the barn.

  “No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ugly bride,” the preacher was telling Carl and Caroline. “Every single one has been beautiful. It
’s like God gives them a special beauty on the wedding day. I think it’s to let the groom know marriage will make him happy.”

  Carl looked in her direction, and she noted how uncomfortable he was with listening to the preacher’s ramblings.

  “Good afternoon, Preacher,” Juliet said. “I just put on a pot of coffee for everyone to drink.”

  “I hope you didn’t make anything to eat.” Caroline gestured to the basket she was holding. “I brought cookies.”

  “No, I didn’t make anything to eat,” Juliet replied.

  “Good.” Caroline smiled. “Cookies are one thing I can make without burning them. Well, there are a couple of other things I can make, but cookies are the easiest. Besides,” she laughed, “I didn’t want you to go through a lot of trouble, especially since it was my idea I bring the preacher out here.”

  “You only did that because I was tired,” Juliet said. “I feel much more awake today.” She paused, and when no one said anything, she asked, “Would you all like to go into the cabin or sit out here? I saw some chairs in the barn we could bring out here. Then we can enjoy the nice, sunny day.”

  “That sounds lovely,” Caroline replied.

  “I’ll get the chairs,” Carl volunteered then went into the barn before anyone could respond.

  “I hope we’re not inconveniencing you by coming out here,” Caroline said, turning back to Juliet.

  Picking up on Caroline’s apprehension, Juliet felt herself softening toward the other woman. Her life had consisted mostly of her brothers and the crowd they associated with. And Caroline was a nice change from the kind of women they enjoyed.

  “You’re not inconveniencing me at all,” Juliet assured her.

  “I don’t know,” the preacher said as he scanned the bin and gold panning supplies. “It looks like you two were busy when we arrived.”

  “Just gold panning,” Juliet replied. “Carl was teaching me how to do it. We gathered the pay dirt from the stream and brought it up here to pan for the gold in it.”

  “I don’t know the first thing about gold panning,” Caroline said.

  “I didn’t, either, until today,” Juliet replied.

  “What about you, Preacher?” Caroline asked. “Have you ever panned for gold?”

  “A couple of times,” he said, rubbing his chin. “If I recall right, my first time was when I was eleven. A friend of my father took us out to a stream where others had found gold. I haven’t thought about that man in a long time. He was a jolly kind of fellow. He could tell stories all day long. One in particular always fascinated me. It was about a woman who hid some gold on her property, and she couldn’t remember where she’d put it. She hired young boys to dig up around her place, but it took so many days to do that by the time one of them found it, she had to spend all the gold to pay them for their labor.”

  Carl returned with four chairs and started setting them up in a circle.

  “Then there was that other time a group of men struck it rich,” the preacher continued. “They were a greedy sort, though. Instead of sharing it like they had planned, they ended up killing each other over it.”

  Carl rolled his eyes and faced the preacher. “Why is it that whenever you tell a story about marriage, it’s happy, but when you have a story involving gold, it’s sad?”

  “It’s not gold that leads to sorrow,” the preacher said. “It’s the love of it that does.”

  “Yeah, well, not all marriages lead to joy everlasting, either,” Carl replied. “I’m surprised in all your years of marrying people, you haven’t come across one single couple who ended up miserable with each other.”

  Juliet couldn’t fault Carl for saying that, not when he’d been married to a woman who’d made him so miserable he couldn’t enjoy making love. But, on the other hand, she couldn’t fault the preacher, either. She’d grown up with brothers who valued money so much that they were willing to do anything to get it.

  An awkward silence fell among the group, and Juliet had no idea if there was anything she could say to help ease the situation.

  “I burn soup,” Caroline blurted out.

  Everyone looked at her.

  “It’s true,” Caroline said. “You’d think I wouldn’t do it because soup is just about the easiest thing you can make, but no matter how careful I try to be, it happens. I’m right there at the pot, stirring everything, and suddenly, I’m trying to put out a fire.”

  For some reason, the image of a very dignified woman like Caroline struggling to put out a fire started by a pot of soup made Juliet laugh. And from there, the men joined in, easing the tension in the group.

  “You’re not the only woman who has mishaps in the kitchen,” the preacher said as he sat down in the chair nearest to him. “Cooking isn’t as easy as it seems.”

  “That reminds me,” Juliet spoke up. “I’ll get coffee for everyone.”

  “I can help,” Caroline offered.

  “Oh, there’s no need,” Juliet replied. “It’s just four cups. I can do that by myself.”

  Before Caroline could protest, Juliet hurried back to the cabin. By the time she returned with the coffee, everyone was sitting. The only chair left was hers, which put her between Carl and Caroline. She couldn’t help but notice that Carl was sitting across from the preacher. Considering the argument that had almost erupted between them, she figured that was a safe bet.

  “Here’s some coffee,” Juliet said as she handed everyone their cup. Once she sat down, she added, “If you want more, just let me know, and I’ll get it.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” Caroline said as she reached into her basket. “On behalf of everyone in town, I’d like to welcome you here, Juliet.”

  “Thank you,” Juliet replied. “It’s nice to be here.”

  “I’m from South Carolina,” Caroline told her as she handed everyone a couple of cookies.

  Given the story about burning soup, Juliet couldn’t resist the urge to see if there were burn marks anywhere on the cookies. Part of the urge stemmed from sheer amusement at the notion that a woman could be that awful in the kitchen, but another part was idle curiosity. As it turned out, the cookies were perfect.

  “Are you really from Texas?” Caroline asked.

  “Pardon?” Juliet stopped her examination of the cookies so she could look at her.

  “I heard Carl was writing to a lady down in Texas. Daniel handles the mail in town, and he mentioned it in passing to Eric.”

  “Um, yes. I’m from there.” Juliet shouldn’t be surprised that word had spread around town that she was from Texas. People had a tendency to gossip no matter where they were from.

  “How fascinating! You’re the first person I’ve met who came from Texas. There’s another lady in this town who is from Ohio, and another one is from Tennessee.”

  “Really? That’s a lot of women coming from different places.”

  “You’re right.” Caroline’s eyes lit up. “We have something in common because of that. Don’t you think that’s exciting? We could get together and talk about the places we lived. I’d love to learn more about Texas. Aren’t you curious about South Carolina, Ohio, or Tennessee?”

  Good grief. If Juliet had known Caroline was going to take that from her comment, she would have kept her mouth shut. She had no desire to talk about Texas, let alone think about it.

  “You’re not going to get the husbands together, too, are you?” Carl asked Caroline.

  “Oh, I was only thinking of the ladies getting together,” Caroline said.

  Carl relaxed. “In that case, it’s fine.”

  Juliet studied his expression as he ate one of the cookies. Just which of the husbands didn’t he wish to talk to?

  “I heard you were from Texas,” the preacher said.

  Noting the thoughtful tone in the preacher’s voice, Juliet’s gaze went to him.

  “I was in Texas a couple years ago,” the preacher said. “Did we meet down there?”

  “No,” Juliet replied. Sh
e would have remembered if she’d seen him before, and until yesterday, he’d been a complete stranger. “There are a lot of people down there.”

  “Yes, yes, there is,” the preacher said. “Much more than up here in the mountainside. But there’s something familiar about you.”

  Oh goodness. Here it came. The preacher did have special insight into the human soul. For all she knew, God was telling him all about her sordid past right now. But what could she do about it? If she tried to protest, things would be worse because then she’d be lying to a preacher, which was the same thing as lying to God. And as her mother always said, “You can’t lie to someone who knows everything already.”

  Carl straightened in his chair and told the preacher, “She probably reminds you of someone you met down there.”

  She held her breath and watched the preacher.

  “Well, she does look familiar,” the preacher said.

  “Which you already pointed out,” Carl replied. “But what’s so strange about that? Last year, you were going on and on about how Lois reminds you of Geraldine who lives in the town just east of here.”

  The preacher paused for a long moment, and then he nodded. “You’re right. Lois and Geraldine look a lot alike. At first, I thought they were twins.”

  “So there you go,” Carl said. “You came across someone who looks similar to Juliet.”

  “Yes, that’s probably it.”

  Juliet waited to see if that was it. Was the matter going to be so easily resolved?

  The preacher bit into his cookie as if he’d already forgotten the matter.

  “I did see someone who reminded me of a good childhood friend while I was coming here from South Carolina,” Caroline spoke up. “I was ready to call out to her when I remembered she had married a young gentleman in another state.” She chuckled. “In addition to that, the lady had a mole on her left cheek, and my friend didn’t. I think it’s a little spooky that people can look almost like others, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” Juliet replied, finally managing to breathe. “It is spooky.”

  “I suppose with all the people who exist, there’s bound to be some who remind us of someone we know,” the preacher added. “That’s especially true when we’ve traveled across this great country.”