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  “It doesn’t have to be that way. There are some men your age who would love nothing more than to talk to you.”

  “I said no. I’m not interested. Now get going.”

  “But,” Patty insisted, sticking her foot in the door before Stella could shut it, “what about having my pa come out here and fix this place? You needn’t worry about paying him since I’m offering.” Really, the poor woman needed all the help she could get.

  Stella huffed and stopped trying to close the door. “I don’t want anything. I’m fine as I am. Now get going before I send my dog after you.”

  The threat, of course, was absurd because Patty didn’t hear a dog barking. But since Stella was serious, she decided it was best if she did as the woman wished. “I’ll go,” she said and released her foot. “I’m sorry to have bothered you. If you do want any help, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m Patty Wilson, Greg Wilson’s wife at the Wilson Ranch. My pa is Matthew Dixon at the Dixon Ranch.”

  The woman grumbled something under her breath about not needing anything and slammed the door.

  Well, there was nothing else Patty could do. If Stella was determined to live in a house that was starting to cave in on itself, that was her business. With a shrug, Patty went to her horse and got on it. She was having a pleasant day, and she wasn’t about to let anyone spoil her good mood. Not Stella. Not Evelyn. Not Greg. Not anyone.

  When Patty reached Heather’s house, she found her friend sitting on the porch while her small niece and nephew played in the yard. Looking up from the skirt she was sewing, Heather called out a greeting.

  Patty waved then jumped down from her horse. After securing the reins, she bounded up the steps and sat by her friend. “Please tell me you and Mitch can go to a square dance tomorrow evening.”

  “Your pa is going to have a square dance on his ranch?”

  “No. Greg is.”

  “Greg?” Heather placed the skirt in her lap and stared at Patty as if she couldn’t believe it. “Greg Wilson?”

  “Is there any other Greg around?”

  “Whatever made Greg decide to have a square dance?”

  “His ranch hands talked him into it. And,” she added, no longer able to keep quiet about the good news, “I married Greg yesterday!”

  “You what?”

  Heather was so loud that the children stopped playing and looked over at them. Patty giggled and gestured to them that everything was fine. Turning her attention back to Heather, she said, “Greg married me yesterday. And better yet, my pa and a couple of the ranch hands saw the whole thing, so he can’t back out of it. So, what do you say? Will you and Mitch come on out to the square dance? Those ranch hands are awfully nice and just want to have a good time.”

  “I have to go,” Heather replied. “Just to make sure you’re telling me the truth.”

  “Oh come now, you know I wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

  “I know you wouldn’t lie. But maybe you think he married you when he was really doing something else.”

  “Something else? Like what?”

  Heather shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he was buying some cattle from your pa.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I know when someone’s buying cattle. But whatever the reason, just come out.” She stood up. “I need to head back. It’s been a long day, running all over the place, looking for women to invite.”

  “You didn’t invite Boaz?”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “He’s looking for a wife. Maybe one of the women you managed to find could be the one.”

  Patty shook her head. “I’m sorry, Heather, but I didn’t even get enough for all the ranch hands. They’ll have to dance with some married women. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Patty headed for the horse then called out, “Six. Be there at six. And don’t eat first. Marv will do all the cooking.”

  “Marv?” Heather asked from where she remained on the porch.

  Patty gathered the reins to her horse. “One of the ranch hands who does all the cooking for the men.”

  Heather nodded, and Patty got back on her horse. She thought the men would be pleased to learn she’d done so well. She’d secured six unmarried women. That wasn’t bad. Three were widows who knew what to expect with men, and three were quite young but of courting age. Yes. That was very good in an area that wasn’t exploding with single women. She couldn’t wait to tell the men the good news!

  ***

  Greg didn’t see Patty when he got home. At first, he thought she had returned to her pa, and he was ready to celebrate his good fortune. But when he found the ranch hands gathered in front of the barn talking about Patty’s help with the square dance, a feeling of despair welled up in his gut. She was meddling with his ranch hands. And that couldn’t be good. Not for him anyway.

  He headed over to the group. “Why are you all gabbing when there’s work to be done?”

  “We’re not gabbing,” Archie said. “We’re planning.”

  “Planning what?” Greg slowly asked.

  “Planning on what we’re going to say to the pretty ladies who’ll be out here tomorrow evening.”

  He inwardly groaned. Just what he needed. More women on the property! But he did promise them they could have their dance, and they wouldn’t want to dance with each other. “Don’t expect this to be a common occurrence.”

  “We don’t,” Herb assured him. “We’re lucky you even agreed to it.”

  “Ha ha,” Greg retorted. “I’m not that much of a grouch. I have no problem with other men getting married.”

  “Yeah, but you never let us have a square dance before,” Herb pointed out. “I was beginning to think you didn’t believe in fun.”

  “Go on home, Herb. You’re getting on my nerves.” Though Greg muttered the words, he felt a smile tug at his lips.

  “Will do, boss,” Herb said.

  “Do the rest of us get off early, too?” Archie asked.

  “No,” Greg replied. “You all get back to work.”

  “It’s alright,” Herb added. “I’ll go home and practice some songs.”

  While Herb ran off for his horse, Marv came up to Greg, wiping his hands on a clean towel. “I’m not cooking for you tonight.”

  At first, Greg thought he was talking to someone else, but when Marv held his gaze, he knew he meant him. “Why not?”

  “Cause you got a lovely wife who can do it for you.” In silent challenge, Marv crossed his arms and continued to stare at him.

  “And if I fire you?” Greg countered, though he had the sinking feeling it’d do no good.

  Marv snorted. “Good luck finding anyone else who can cook as well as I do.”

  “Or who even wants to cook,” Archie said.

  “Don’t punish the rest of us just because you don’t like being married,” Randy replied.

  “Which is ridiculous,” Archie added.

  “The rest of us are praying for a good woman to come into our lives,” Randy said, gesturing to the other men who nodded their agreement. “You have one land right here on your property, and what do you do with her? You ignore her. The poor girl deserves to be treated better than that.”

  “And she’s pretty, too,” Archie replied. “The rest of us would fall all over ourselves to have someone like that.”

  “Fine,” Greg replied, his body growing tense. “Then any of you can have her. Go on up to the house and form a line. Then tell her she can have her pick of any one of you.”

  “We can’t do that,” Marv argued. “Though it’s tempting.”

  “And why not?” Greg asked.

  “Because any fool can see she’s hopelessly in love with you,” Marv replied.

  Greg shrugged. “So?”

  A horse neighed, and the ranch hands all took off. Surprised, Greg watched where they headed and saw they were surrounding Patty who had ridden up to the barn—side saddle and all—with an excited smile on her face.

  “Good news,” she called out as Archie helped her down.


  Greg rolled his eyes. Since when was Archie ever a gentleman?

  “I got six available women to agree to come here tomorrow,” she told the eager men. “Three are widows and three are young but single. There will also be a couple of married women with their husbands. I’m afraid there’s still more men than women, but the available women are excited to meet you all.”

  The men hollered then proceeded to tell Patty how much she was helping them out and how much they appreciated it. The whole thing made Greg sick. Just two days ago, they’d all been loyal to him, telling him they didn’t blame him for wanting to remain a bachelor. And now they acted as if women were the best thing that ever happened.

  Deciding he’d had enough, he headed for the house. He just couldn’t stand to be out there and watch them fall all over themselves to talk to her. One would think they’d never seen a woman before. Some were there the day Greg’s mother left because her illness required her to seek a doctor back East. Illness indeed!

  Greg flung the door open to his house, stepped inside, and slammed it. He tossed his hat on the hook by the door and stumped over to his favorite chair. She hadn’t been sick at all. She just didn’t like living this far out West where there were none of the “comforts” she missed back in Boston. Why she even came out to be a mail-order bride to begin with, Greg didn’t understand.

  To this day, no one knew she wasn’t really sick. His pa had known. But he was buried in the cemetery not too far outside of town. Greg still thought he died of a broken heart. His pa had pleaded with her not to go, told her he loved her and would do anything she wanted if she’d just stay. He even hired a housekeeper to lessen her burden. But it hadn’t been enough.

  She missed the shops, the dresses, the theater, the symphonies, the social groups, and whatever other nonsense women craved. It didn’t matter that she had a husband and son who needed her. How she managed to stay out here for sixteen years, he hadn’t a clue. She used to complain a lot, he recalled. His father would get her catalogues from back East and let her order anything she wanted as long as he could afford it. He nearly ran the ranch into the ground buying her things.

  But was it ever enough? No. It wasn’t. And one day, Greg returned from school to find his father holding a letter and crying. It’d been her letter, and she said she just couldn’t stand living out there anymore. He’d begged her to leave a letter to Greg, to at least tell her son that she loved him. And she had. But Greg didn’t believe any of it. He took the letter and burned it. If she loved him, she would have stayed. Or she would have at least taken him and his pa with her. His pa would have gone to Boston. He would have given up anything for her. But she didn’t care.

  From that day, his pa was never the same. Greg stopped going to school so he could take over the ranch while his pa stayed inside his room, the drapes drawn, going through everything she’d left behind. And Greg waited for another letter to come. One in which she’d say she was sorry and that she was coming back or one in which she asked them to come East to be with her. But a letter never came. And his pa gave up living. Just went one night in his sleep, clutching the faded old wedding dress she’d worn.

  It was then that Greg decided he’d never be vulnerable like that. He’d never end up like his father, dying well before his time. Even now, Greg had to grit his teeth so he wouldn’t get emotional over the whole thing. His father had been a strong man in his youth. He used to laugh all the time, and he had no trouble making friends. Greg never would have thought a man like that could be so weak on the inside.

  Well, it’d never happen to him. He wouldn’t end up the same way. History was not going to repeat itself. If other men wanted to take their chances, let them. But he didn’t. He was going to get rid of Patty Dixon if it was the last thing he did.

  Chapter Eight

  Patty woke up the next morning alone in Greg’s bed. Once again, he insisted on sleeping by himself. Why, she couldn’t understand. What man in his right mind gave up the pleasure of a woman’s bed if he didn’t have to?

  Not to be deterred by his lack of enthusiasm, she put on a checkered blue and white dress with puffy sleeves. It was something her mother had worn and loved, according to her pa. Patty had a vague memory of her mother in the dress, but the years that had passed since her mother died had started to blur her memories, so she didn’t recall them quite so well anymore. She did, however, remember the way her mother held her and sang to her. Wearing her things was a way she kept her memory alive.

  But more often than not, Patty had opted for a shirtwaist rather than a dress. And even more than that, she cherished the pins, hairbrush, and hand mirror her mother kept with the small vanity. On this particular day, she decided to pin her hair back. She’d be at the square dance tonight, and it was likely to get hot.

  Once she was ready for the day, she left the room and tried to open Greg’s door. But it was locked. Again. She shook her head and hurried down the stairs to the kitchen. She really didn’t understand his resistance to marriage.

  Last evening, he refused to eat what she made, and she knew he didn’t eat anything Marv made because Marv sent him away without a plate. Sooner or later, the man would have to eat.

  She gathered a basket and hurried out to Marv who was getting breakfast ready for the ranch hands.

  “Patty!” he called out, waving his spatula. “Come out for some food to cook that stubborn husband of yours?”

  “Yes. I’ll make a trip into town today to get some food from the mercantile so I don’t have to keep bugging you,” she promised.

  “Ah, you aren’t bothering anyone,” he replied as he scrambled some eggs. “Well, not anyone besides Greg.”

  “It’ll take time, but he’ll come around.”

  “I hope you’re right. It sure is nice having a woman around here. The view is certainly nicer.”

  “You’re a sweet one, Marv.”

  “It’s long overdue we had a woman’s touch around here. And between you and me, Greg needs it more than anyone.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  He finished with the scrambled eggs then put them and the bacon on the plates. Afterwards, he took her basket and went to grab some fresh eggs, a cup of flour and other staple items she’d need to make breakfast.

  “Thanks, Marv,” she said as she took the basket.

  “Don’t mention it. Just make Greg happy.”

  “I will.”

  As she turned to go back to the house, she saw a group of the ranch hands gathering around Herb who was standing by the barn with his horse. Curious, she headed over in their direction. True, she was still new here, but she’d grown up with ranch hands and was comfortable going up to them to find out what was going on.

  “You’ve got more luck than the rest of us,” Archie said, grinning, though Patty noted a wistful expression on his face.

  “I wish I had been there,” Randy agreed.

  “I didn’t know the two women would be up for sale,” Herb replied.

  “Women were for sale?” Patty asked when she reached them.

  They turned to her and grew silent. For a moment, she thought they were going to kindly ask her to leave, but then Archie said, “A couple of men came into town auctioning off two women they found stranded on a stagecoach. And Herb won one of them.”

  “Yep.” Herb nodded, a wide grin on his face. “I’m now a married man.”

  “Wish I had that kind of luck,” Randy said.

  Oh, so that’s what the commotion was about. One of them got married. How Patty wished Greg’s reaction was similar to these men’s. “Congratulations, Herb,” she said. “Who married the other woman?”

  “Boaz,” Herb replied. “He happened to come by just in time.”

  “While it’s not so great for the rest of us,” Archie began, “at least Boaz finally has a wife so he can get his children back.”

  “That is good,” Patty said.

  “Now if we can get as lucky,” Randy replied.

 
; “There’s some single ladies coming out tonight for the square dance, and,” Archie said, patting Herb’s shoulder, “we have one less man competing for their attention.”

  “You see? I did you all a favor,” Herb replied.

  Randy chuckled. “If you call it that… Of course, you could have invited all of us down there to make a bid, too.”

  “What? And risk losing?” Herb shook his head. “No way. As soon as I saw Rachel, I knew she was perfect for me.”

  The group laughed and congratulated him. Patty smiled. It was nice that this group shared such a friendly bond. She scanned the men and noted that only Lyle was missing from the group.

  “You’re bringing her out here tonight so we can meet her, aren’t you?” Archie asked.

  Herb nodded. “You bet I am. And when I play the fiddle, I don’t have to feel so bad about missing the dances. I’ll be taking my bride home.”

  “Which is where the real fun of the evening starts,” Randy slyly stated.

  “You know, you might be real tired after all that fiddle playing,” Archie began in a teasing tone. “I’d be more than willing to take her home for you.”

  “No way, Archie.” Herb shoved him, but the gesture was done in good humor. “I’ll never be too tired for that.”

  The men snickered then Archie glanced Patty’s way and cleared his throat. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk this way in front of Patty.”

  Darn. She was hoping they wouldn’t notice her. “Don’t mind me. I am a married woman and all.”

  But they quickly mumbled something about having to get to breakfast and darted off toward the tables by the bunkhouse.

  What a shame. She was intrigued by how excited they all seemed to be about being alone with a woman. Her pa was right. Men really did value lovemaking. So what was wrong with Greg? Maybe it was something she wasn’t doing right. Maybe she needed to be more assertive. If they hadn’t all been so squeamish because she’d been there, she could have asked them what a woman could do to pique a man’s interest. Now, she’d just have to think of something and hope it worked.