Adela's Prairie Suitor (The Annex Mail-Order Brides Book 1) by Elaine Manders Read Free Book Online Page A

Byron alone tonight. “Let me help you with the dishes, Mrs. Calhoun.”
    “No, that’s all right.” Mrs. Calhoun dismissed that with a wag of her dishcloth. “You’d ruin your dress. If I was you, I’d run along to bed. Mornings come early on the farm.”
    Lem rose from his chair and snapped his overall straps. “Mighty fine meal, Mrs. C.” He looked Byron’s way. “I’d be glad to see Miss Hilda Jane home. ‘Spect you’d like a little time with Miss Adela before retiring for the night.”
    Everyone sent searching glances to Byron whose face showed bewilderment before breaking into a wide grin. “Thank you, Lem. I appreciate it.”
    Lem placed his worn hat on his head and took the milk pail from Byron. “I’ll be waiting for you by your buckboard, Miss Hilda Jane. See the rest of you in the morning.” As he passed Adela, he winked.
    Surprised, she sent the rugged farm hand a shy smile. She’d found at least one advocate here.

Chapter 8
    Byron pulled Adela’s chair out. “Would you like to join me on the porch for some fresh air?” He said it loud enough for Ma to hear. As he expected, she let the dishes soak and followed them into the parlor. She’d sit in her chair by the open window so she could hear everything that was said on the porch.
    He didn’t object to that. Nothing untoward must happen while Adela was visiting. Knowing Ma, nothing would.
    They stepped onto the porch’s wooden planks, and Adela went to hold onto the railing. He followed her gaze up at the sky. All the clouds had dissolved, and the sky was a black velvet blanket spangled with a million stars.
    “Oh how beautiful.” She breathed the words as he watched the lovely slope of her neck.
    He leaned a hip against the railing and pulled his glance from her to scan the sky. Both she and the heavens were beautiful. “We have a lot of nights like this in the autumn. It is a little nippy, though. Are you cold?” She hadn’t taken a wrap.
    She hugged herself. “No, I find it exhilarating. Strange—I know this same sky hangs over Cambridge, but I’ve hardly noticed it before now.”
    “Might be because we don’t have many trees to obstruct the view.”
    Sending him a sidelong glance, she smiled. “I believe you’re right.”
    Byron looked back to the window, not finding Ma’s shadow in view. Good. There was something he had to say, and it should be private. “I apologize for Hilda Jane’s behavior tonight. I should have warned you.”
    “Did you court her at one time?”
    He was a little surprised at her bold question but glad he could set her mind at ease. “No, never. I’m not the only fellow Hilda Jane goes after. She’s—” A shadow fell over the light coming through the curtain-less window, and he knew he’d said enough for now. “Let’s sit a spell. I’d like to hear about the farm you grew up on.”
    They took the two rocking chairs on either side of the window. Adela nudged her chair into a gentle sway. “I probably only remember the good things—calves and chicks in the spring, freshly plowed earth, swinging from an oak tree, making a playhouse under the elderberry bushes. But as I wrote, I was only ten when my parents died. That’s when I had to go live with my aunt and uncle.”
    “I remember all those things from my childhood,” Byron said, then added, “except for the playhouse, but my pals and I played like we were cowboys on a cattle drive.”
    Adela sounded a delightful little laugh. “Even boys in the city pretend to be cowboys. At least you had real cows to drive.”
    “A few. If Pa hadn’t passed on, I was going to start a small ranch for wayward boys.”
    This interested Adela enough so that she stopped rocking. Something made him want to tell her his dreams. “We have a few troublesome lads the church has been trying to help. Pastor Reinhart says it’s the church’s first duty to care for the widows and orphans, and these boys are orphans of a sort.”
    Adela’s dark brows rose as