“Oh, that explains it. Now, I can identify the barn and the house, but what are the others?”
He pointed at each as the wagon closed the distance to the house. “We have a chicken coop, icehouse, smokehouse, and bunkhouse. Next to the barn is a corral where we break horses, if we need to. Sometimes we get an Army contract for green-broke horses.”
She furrowed her eyebrows. “What does green-broke mean?”
“That the horse tolerates a saddle and rider. It’s ready to be trained to do whatever the Army needs.”
Adele cocked an eyebrow. “I’ve obviously never ridden a green-broke horse. The only animals I ever rode were very well-trained and reliable mounts. That’s not to say they were slow, because they weren’t. They were, in fact, quite spirited.”
One side of his mouth lifted, as did his eyebrows. “Spirited, you say? Well, I’m glad, because the only horse on this ranch that isn’t spirited is Lissa’s pony. And you’re much too big for a pony.”
The mental picture of her on a pony made her laugh. “You’re quite right. I’m afraid I’d break the poor pony’s back.”
“Lissa wouldn’t let you ride her, even if you were no larger than she is. She’s very protective of her pets.”
“How long ago was that? I mean since your wife left?”
His mouth flattened. “Eleven months ago.”
She put her hands in her lap and her gaze on him. “I’m sorry that happened, but if it hadn’t, you wouldn’t have sent for me. So to be completely honest, I’m glad. Because otherwise I wouldn’t be here, and I’m very glad to be here.”
Edward looked at her, eyes narrowed. “You are? But you don’t even know me. Was what you left so bad that you’d become a mail-order bride?”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t bad, but I was no longer needed, and I decided I want children of my own. You can give them to me, and Lissa is the icing on the cake. I accepted your offer because of her.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “You did? But I thought you wanted children of your own.”
Adele gazed at him. “Now that we are married, Lissa is my own. She’s my daughter, whether she accepts that fact or not. I will always treat her as if she was born to me.”
He gave her a small smile. “I’m very glad to hear that. I know she’ll be difficult to begin with, but you have to have patience. She’ll come around the more you include her in things. Let her help you make cookies. Start teaching her to cook, to sew, and to embroider. Whatever you do, teach her. She’ll start to warm to you and miss her mother less, since Catherine never included her in anything.”
“Thank you for the instruction. I’ll take your advice. I want to spend time with her, anyway, and teaching her to do things is a good way for us to get to know each other.”
“Exactly.”
He pulled to a stop in front of the house’s side door.
“Mrs. Underhill is off today so this is where we’ll likely find Lissa…bothering Cookie for some treat. But we don’t have any right now. I didn’t pick up anything at the bakery.”
“Perhaps this is a good time to start her lessons. I can teach her to make cookies.”
“I leave that up to you. I thought you might like a bath before anything.” He set the brake and jumped down from the wagon. Then he came around to her side held his arms up toward her.
“I would like a bath, but I don’t want to take it when any of the men might walk in.” She looked down at him. “Well, I guess you wouldn’t go through all the trouble of marrying me to let me die getting off the wagon.”
He chuckled. “No, I don’t suppose I would.”
She stepped down to the top step and then leaned forward with her arms outstretched to reach his shoulders.
Edward caught her just as he had at the preacher’s home, with his hands just under her bosom.
She had the same sensation of wanting his hands on her body. She’d never felt this way with Richard.
When she was on the ground, she looked up into his handsome face. “Thank you. I appreciate you not dropping me.” She quickly lowered her gaze and ran her hands down her coat for something to do with them. She really did want a bath. The trip was so long even her wool coat was wrinkled. But Lissa came first.
“Nervous?”
She took a deep breath. “Does it show?”
He smiled, took her hand and put it through the crook in his elbow. “Just a bit. I’ll come back for your bags.”
Her stomach tied in knots as she looked at the door. She hadn’t expected it to open and stopped abruptly when it did. Then thinking Lissa would come out, her eyes widened when a grizzled old man ran out.
“I’m gonna kill her. That child is a menace.” He ran up to Edward. “She needs to be spanked, Eddie. You have to stop letting her do as she pleases.”
With that, the man stomped off toward the bunkhouse.
She lifted her brows and gazed up at Edward. “Eddie?”
“That’s Cookie and he’s known me practically all my life. That’s what he called me when I was a kid.”
She tilted her head. “What about his complaint about Lissa? Is he correct?”
Edward let go of her hand and ran a hand behind his neck. “Probably. I’ve been lax in discipline since her mother left.”
She widened her eyes. “You’ve been letting her run wild for a year? Edward, what were you thinking? Even I,” she thumped her chest with a hand. “Who haven’t had children know you must have discipline for the child to grow into a good adult. I had lots of younger brothers and sisters…” She suddenly remembered she was supposed to be a governess. “And, of course, the children I’ve governed for the past seven years. You must give them rules, and consequences if they break those rules.”
He frowned and then shrugged. “I’ll leave that up to you.”
Her hand flew to her throat, resting against her bare throat since she was still wearing her wedding dress. “Me? I don’t usually make the rules. I just uphold them.”
Edward lifted a brow, and one side of his mouth quirked up. “Now you get to make them, too. I’ll back you up, whatever you decide. I know she needs it, but I can’t bring myself to chastise her when she feels she lost so much.”
Adele sighed. “She was very close to her mother I take it.”
He shrugged. “That’s the thing I don’t understand. Catherine didn’t have much time for Lissa. I had no idea what Catherine did with her time who she spent her time with until it was too late. I trusted her implicitly. A mistake I won’t make again.”
Adele understood the pain behind his position, but still felt like she’d been slapped in the face. She ignored it because he didn’t know anything about her any more than she did him.
“I suppose you have the right to feel that way, but I will never cheat. I’m your wife, for better or worse. Of course, you’ll have to wait and see for yourself that I am worthy of your trust.”
He cocked a brow. “We’ll have to wait and see about that, now won’t we. Let’s go inside. You may get to make your first rule depending on what we find.”