Mail Order Miller (Brides of Beckham Book 24) Read online

  Harvey stood looking at her for a moment. She was such a small little thing, with a mop of red hair that seemed to be falling out of her pins, and green eyes that looked right into his soul. “If you’re sure…”

  “I’m very sure. Do you have a preacher waiting to marry us, Mr. Butler?”

  “Please, call me Harv. I feel like my father is going to answer any moment if you call me Mr. Butler. May I carry your bag?”

  Doris didn’t particularly want to give up her belongings to him, but she knew that he was just being gentlemanly. “Thank you.” She passed her bag off and took the arm he offered her. “Where are the children now?”

  “Mrs. Johnson offered to make sure they didn’t get into trouble while I was collecting you from the train station.” As they walked, Harv told her about the town. “It’s pretty small. Only a couple of hundred people, but we like it here. I run the only sawmill in town, and I stay very busy. Money isn’t tight, but time is. I hope you’ll understand when I say it will be your job to take care of the house while I bring in the money.”

  She nodded. “That’s the arrangement my parents usually had as well.”

  “Usually?”

  She shrugged. “I’m one of fourteen children. My mother was always having to work for a few months here or there to pay off a medical bill or two. My siblings liked to break their arms and legs falling out of trees…or off of rooves.”

  “They do sound like an awful lot of trouble. What about you? Were you like your siblings?” He was surprised to find himself truly interested in the woman beside him. He’d imagined she would care for the house and the children, and he would treat her more like a maid than a wife. After seeing her, he was sure the plan was a very bad one.

  Doris blushed for the first time since meeting the man. “Somewhat. I was the idea person. I didn’t carry out the ideas, but I got in just as much trouble as the others.”

  “So you think you can control my kids?” Harv was sure there was no way she could deal with his children. She was too delicate looking. She’d learn soon enough, and then she’d head back to wherever she’d come from. At least his house would be clean for a little while in the meantime. And he wouldn’t mind a bit of adult companionship for a while. Other than someone scolding him over his boys, that is.

  He stopped in front of a small church with a house attached. “That’s the parsonage. We’ll probably find Pastor Savoy there.”

  She took a deep breath. “Does it seem odd to you that we’re getting married and we’ve never even kissed?”

  He looked at her, surprised. “You want me to kiss you?” He was liking the idea of marrying her more and more!

  “I—” He couldn’t have taken her words more wrong. She blushed profusely, embarrassed that he thought she was asking him to kiss her there on the street. She’d only known him for a few minutes. “I meant to say that it was odd we were marrying, and we’ve only known each other for a few minutes.”

  He shrugged. “Doesn’t seem to bother me any. You’re beautiful, and you think you can handle my children. I sure won’t mind taking care of my husbandly duties.” He winked at her, enjoying her face as her blush deepened.

  “I’m sure that’s not what I was saying at all!” Doris wanted to be offended, but why? The man would be legally her husband in a matter of minutes, so he had the right to say what he wanted to her.

  He grinned. “Let’s go see the pastor, my shy little wife!” Every minute in her company made him want to get to know her better. He hadn’t been this attracted to a woman since his wife had died.

  “I wouldn’t exactly call myself shy,” she started, surprised at the word being used to describe her.

  “I would.” He caught her hand and dragged her toward the door of the parsonage. As soon as they got there, he knocked loudly, waiting for someone to appear. When the door opened, he smiled at the prim-faced woman there. “Mrs. Savoy. This is my bride, Doris. We’re here to be married. Is your husband around?”

  Mrs. Savoy peered at Doris, her face a mask of surprise. “Have you had the opportunity to meet Mr. Butler’s children yet?”

  Doris grinned. “I haven’t, but I have been warned. I promise you they aren’t worse than I’ve handled in the past. And there are only four of them, not eight. It’s going to feel like a holiday after dealing with eight.”

  “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Mrs. Savoy opened the door wider. “I’ll go and fetch my husband.” She gave Doris one last confused look before she hurried away.

  When Pastor Savoy walked into the room, his blue eyes were filled with laughter. “So I hear you’re the woman who’s going to take on the Butler brats.”

  “Butler brats?” Doris asked. “I guess that’s not as bad as being referred to as the demon horde.” She shook her head, just a smidgeon horrified by the way adults referred to children.

  Mrs. Savoy gasped, her hand going to her throat. “Who would call innocent children the demon horde?”

  “Same sort of people who would refer to children as the Butler brats, I think.” Doris smiled at Harv, who was watching her with a grin. She winked at him, and he laughed. “I think we’re going to be just fine, don’t you?”

  Harv nodded. “Let’s get this over with, Pastor. The lady wants to marry me, and I’m not going to give her a chance to change her mind.”

  The ceremony was short and sweet. When the pastor told Harvey he could kiss his wife, Doris blushed, but she obediently raised her lips for his kiss. His hands caught her waist, and he pulled her close, his lips barely a whisper against hers. It was just enough to make her heart stop in her chest and her hands to become clammy. He shook hands with the pastor, and they were on their way.

  They walked along the mostly quiet streets of Salmon, and he pointed out things she’d need to know. “There’s the general store. My kids aren’t allowed inside, so when you go, you’ll need to leave them on a bench in front of the store, but make sure you can see them from where you are.” Filling her in on the idiosyncrasies of having his children with her all the time was important to him. She needed to know exactly what she’d signed up for.

  “Why aren’t they allowed inside?” Doris wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but she knew she needed to know what she’d be dealing with.

  “There was an incident with twenty-seven jars of jam, a barrel of flour, and some codfish oil. It took the owner days to clean up. I didn’t think he was going to let me shop there again, but he said that it wasn’t my fault my wife had died, so he lets me come in without the children.” Harv watched her face as he told the story, wondering how she was going to react.

  “How did your wife die?” she asked softly, feeling bad for him. She couldn’t imagine losing the person you loved most and being left with four children to care for with no help.

  “She died birthing the girls.”

  “Twins? I didn’t realize!”

  He nodded. “They’re three, and the boys are six and eight.”

  “What are their names?” Doris was surprised to find that she was excited about meeting her new family, hellions or not.

  “The oldest is Robert, but we call him Bobby. Then comes Matthew. The girls are Pauline and Priscilla.”

  “Are they identical? My twin is my brother, so we’re not, but I love being a twin. I swear sometimes, I feel like we can read each other’s minds.” She shrugged. “Well, it was like that when we were small. Not so much now that we’re adults.”

  “No. They look a lot alike, and you can definitely tell they’re sisters, but Pauline has blue eyes and Pris has green. If you can’t tell them apart any other way, and for a while you might not be able to, just have them look at you, and you’ll see.”

  “It’s hard to believe three-year-olds are already being painted by the same brush as their brothers.” She shook her head, wanting to talk to the people of town. What was wrong with them?

  He sighed. “You’ll find the womenfolk have no tolerance of my children.”

/>   “Our children,” she said softly. She was going to be their mother, and it was time they both started talking like they were already hers.

  The sawmill was on the other end of town from the train station, but the walk still took no more than fifteen minutes. Everything was close there in Salmon. He nodded to the mill ahead. “That’s mine. Our house is behind it.”

  “Who watches the children while you work?”

  He shook his head. “I had some of the nice church ladies watching them right after Patricia died, but none of them lasted long. Oh, they loved the girls, but the boys scared them off. Now during school breaks, the boys watch the girls. During the schoolyear, I beg for help from the good Christian women at church. I hope you don’t scare easily.” He reached out and put his hand on the doorknob, knowing he was about to lose his new bride when she saw the mess his children had made of the house in his absence. He pushed open the door, and immediately scolded the boys. “I told you not to tie Mrs. Johnson up again!”

  Doris bit her lip as she saw Mrs. Johnson tied to one of the kitchen chairs. “Would you like some help, Mrs. Johnson?” She grabbed a kitchen knife from a block and cut the twine tying the woman’s hands behind her. “I’m Doris. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Mrs. Johnson shook her head. “It was my idea to send for a mail order bride, but I feel bad for you. You might want to run now, before it’s too late.”

  Doris shrugged, a grin on her face. “I’m not even a little bit afraid. Thanks for watching the children while we got married.” She looked around, and it seemed that Harvey was already gone, dealing with his offspring.

  “I hope you’re stronger than you look.” Mrs. Johnson left with that quick parting shot.

  Doris shrugged, opening her carpet bag and pulling out an apron. She put it on over her dress and immediately got to work. She was thrilled to see there was a water pump there in the kitchen, and she wouldn’t have to lug buckets of water from a well. She filled a large pot full of water and set it on the stove to boil. The lunch dishes were all over the work table, and there was no way she could make supper with that kind of mess. She’d need to get everything cleaned up first.

  She heard a commotion behind her and turned around to face her new children. The two older boys were standing before her. “Hello, Bobby,” she said, nodding at the older boy. “Hello, Matthew. I have a brother named Matthew.”

  Matthew stopped squirming in his father’s grip and looked at her with big green eyes. “You do?”

  Doris nodded. “I do. I have five brothers. Do you believe?”

  “That’s a lot!” Bobby said, eyeing her skeptically. “Do you really have that many?”

  “I do! And I have eight sisters, too! Fourteen kids in my family.” She looked around for the girls, but they were nowhere to be seen. “Where are your sisters?”

  “They’re napping. That’s what babies do,” Matthew told her.

  “I bet they hate to be called babies,” Doris said with a grin. “My youngest sister Ida Mae hates it when we call her that.”

  “She does?” Bobby seemed to be confused about why Doris was being nice to him. “I don’t want to call you Ma.”

  Doris shrugged. “Then call me Doris. It doesn’t hurt me any. If you ever feel like calling me Ma, you’re welcome to.” She washed off the kitchen table while she spoke to them. She ignored Harvey, who still had a hold of each of the boy’s arms. “Why did you tie up Mrs. Johnson?”

  Matthew wrinkled his nose. “She’s mean. She called me a hellion, and said I was lucky that Pa let me live.”

  “Well, that sounds very mean! I probably would have wanted to tie her up too. Didn’t you think to stuff a rag in her mouth so she couldn’t talk anymore?” She knew she shouldn’t encourage the boys, but she also couldn’t believe anyone would speak so rudely to children.

  Bobby’s eyes widened. “That would have been smart, but I didn’t think of it.”

  “That’s too bad,” Doris said. “I always hate a missed opportunity, don’t you?”

  The boys were looking at her with new expressions. There was still the wariness from before, but underneath that was admiration. “Have you ever stuffed a rag in someone’s mouth so they couldn’t talk?”

  Doris grinned. “Oh sure. All the time. Usually my sisters and not grown-ups, but I did what I had to do.”

  “You had to do it?” Matthew asked.

  “Sometimes you have to do things that other people don’t approve of, just so you can keep them from telling on you.” She shrugged. “It’s hard growing up with so many brothers and sisters.”

  “I think I’m going to like you,” Matthew said, his voice full of awe.

  “I sure hope so,” Doris responded. “It’s going to be hard to like you if you don’t like me back.”

  Harvey let go of the boys’ arms. He could see she had everything in hand. His new bride was a spitfire. And he wasn’t about to complain one bit.

  Chapter 3

  As soon as the kitchen was cleaned to her satisfaction, Doris checked the cupboards and the ice box for food. There wasn’t much there, but she could make do for one night. She turned to see Harvey with his two boys sitting there watching her cook. “Do you mind if I go to the store tomorrow? I want to get some more food. You have a limited inventory here.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, you can go now. I took the afternoon off work so I can stay here with the children.” Harv could see she moved around in the kitchen efficiently. His first wife had been a failure in the kitchen. As much as he loved her, it had been all he could do to stomach her cooking. “Anything you want, you should just put on my account there.”

  “Just like that? They won’t need you to tell them to let me do it?” she asked. This was a small town, but she didn’t know any towns were that small.

  He shook his head. “No. Everyone in town knows that I’m getting married today. I’m sure they all had their faces pressed to their windows as we walked through town, trying to see who would be crazy enough to marry me.”

  “We’re the reasons people think you’re crazy now,” Bobby told her seriously. “No one wants kids like us.”

  Doris grinned. “I do. I think we’re going to get along just fine, don’t you?”

  Bobby shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “I guess I’ll just have to convince you then, won’t I?” She grabbed a basket from a shelf that looked like it would be good for shopping. “I won’t be long.” She opened the door to step out, but Matthew’s voice stopped her.

  “Can we have cake with our supper? We never have cake.”

  “I don’t see why not! I’ll get what I need for cake. Do you like white cake or chocolate cake?”

  “I like both! But chocolate is my very favorite!” Matthew told her.

  “Chocolate cake it is!” She shut the door behind her, almost feeling the eyes on her as she walked down the main street of town toward the general store. They could think what they wanted. She was going to be a good mother to those boys, and in return, they’d be good sons to her.

  When she got to the store, she smiled at the woman behind the counter. “Hello. I’m new in town. I’m Doris Miller…sorry, that’s Doris Butler now. I just married Harvey.”

  “Oh, my dear! I’m so sorry!” The woman hurried out from behind the counter. She seemed to be in her mid-fifties or so, and her face was very apologetic. She gripped both of Doris’s hands in hers. “I’m praying for you every day.”

  Doris smiled sweetly, tamping down her anger. “That’s very kind of you, thank you! I believe we should all pray for one another incessantly.” Hopefully the old biddy would understand that she didn’t want her new sons disparaged. Did no one have faith in those boys?

  “I mean…have you met the boys yet?”

  “Oh, yes! Aren’t they sweet? I promised Matthew I’d make a chocolate cake for supper, so I’d better hurry if I’m going to find all the ingredients for supper and still get a cake baked.” Doris turned away to begin her shopping, w
ondering if the other woman would offer to help or continue to try to speak badly about her boys.

  “Let me choose the cake ingredients for you. I’m assuming you don’t have anything you need.”

  “I don’t, and thank you so much, Mrs.…?”

  “Mrs. Gottweiler. My husband and I own this store. We’ve run it together for more than thirty years now.”

  “That’s lovely! I’m so honored to meet you on my first shopping excursion. I’m sure you’ll be an invaluable friend to me.”

  Mrs. Gottweiler hurried behind the counter and paused in getting eggs down from the shelf. “I’m sure I will. It’s lovely to meet you, Mrs. Butler.”

  “Oh, please. Call me Doris. I won’t be able to answer to Mrs. Butler for quite some time, I’m sure. The name doesn’t feel like it belongs to me yet.”

  “It took me a few weeks to adjust to my new name as well when I married. My daughter said the same thing when she got married five years ago.” Mrs. Gottweiler efficiently piled the ingredients Doris would need onto the counter for her to purchase.

  “Your daughter’s been married for five years? How many grandchildren do you have?” Doris knew that the way to the heart of any woman was through questions about her grandchildren.

  Mrs. Gottweiler clapped her hands together. “There are three. The third was born just a month ago!”

  “Are they here in town?”

  For the rest of the time Doris was in the store, she was regaled with stories about three exceptionally perfect children. Why, if Mrs. Gottweiler’s grandchildren were half what she said they were, they should be in the circus showing off their tremendous abilities.

  Before she was done, Doris had to purchase a second basket. Harvey hadn’t told her to keep her purchases to a minimum, so she wouldn’t worry about it. She signed for the purchases, and raised her hand in a wave goodbye. “I’m so pleased you were my first friend here in Salmon.”

  “I am too! It was delightful meeting you. Perhaps we can get together for tea someday soon.”

  Doris smiled sweetly. “I would absolutely adore that. Thank you for welcoming me!”