Mail Order Bride - Westward Secrets: A Clean Cowboy Romance Novel (Montana Mail Order Brides Book 13) by Linda Bridey Read Free Book Online Page B

Joe stride out to the bar.  Rick got back up again and followed Joe.  “Hey, boss, how’s Gina and the kids doing?” he asked as he settled at the bar with Joe.
    “Where is that thing?” Joe said, looking around suspiciously.
    Rick chuckled.  “He’s back at the table.  Answer my question.”
    Jake put a shot in front of Joe and grinned.  He’d seen Joe jump and heard the commotion.  There was only one thing that got to Joe like that and it was Curtis.  Joe drank the shot and the hand that held the glass shook a little. 
    “She’s fine and so are the kids.  They’re getting’ along real well with Emily.  I’m gonna buy her a sewing machine tomorrow.  I had a rip and she’s gonna fix it for me.  It’s inside.  I don’t want a bulge in it.  Oh my Lord.  I can’t even make sense now,” Joe said and rubbed his face with his hand.  “I have a rip in one of my vests and she’s gonna repair it for me.  She needs a sewing machine so I’m gonna get her one.  I have other work for her, too, and I’m sure she can get more work around town.”  Joe’s words were very deliberate as he fought to regain his wits.
    Rick said, “That’s very nice of you.  I’m sure she’ll appreciate the help.  I’m glad they’re doing ok.  It’s a shame for them.  I appreciate you taking them in.”
    “Happy to do it,” Joe said.  “I still don’t know what I came in here for.  Oh, yeah, it was to see Ben.  I just wanted to say howdy to you idiots and then I was goin’ upstairs.  Ok.  I’ll see you fellas later.”
    Jake said, “I can’t believe he’s that scared of Curtis.  It cracks me up every time.”
    Rick chuckled.  “Yeah.  It’s entertaining all right.”
    He didn’t have to call Curtis out again that night, which made it a good night in Rick’s estimation.  As he rode home that night, his thoughts kept turning to Gina and her kids.  He’d meant what he’d said to Jake about Gina being very pretty.  She certainly was and Steve would have been a lucky guy had he lived.  Rick felt that Gina and the children would have been happy with Steve, too. 
    His death had caused chaos and Rick hated chaos.  It was why he’d gotten involved in law enforcement.  He wanted to keep chaos to a minimum and doing that kind of work allowed him to do that in some small way.  He was tired and wondered if he would get any sleep that night.  He hoped so.
     
     

Chapter Five
     
                  Gina sat in the room Joe had dubbed the “sewing room” in front of a beautiful new Singer single treadle sewing machine and thought she’d died and gone to heaven.  The machine was perfect and had many nice features that would enable her to do almost any kind of work.  She had insisted that Joe take a little out of her generous pay to reimburse him for the machine.
                  Joe hadn’t been happy about it, but had finally given in.  He’d had her pick out all kinds of material that she might need and insisted that she was not paying for it out of her pay because it was work related.  Gina looked at the mound of clothes Joe and Lacey had for her to work on and knew that Joe hadn’t been kidding when he said there would be plenty of work.
                  She smiled as she heard the kids across the hall in the play room.  Zach Bradbury had come to stay over and he and Ryan were getting along well.  They were all playing jacks and laughing loudly.  Little Timmy was down the hall far enough in the nursery that their boisterous behavior didn’t disturb his nap.
                  As she began working on taking the bad lining out of Joe’s vest, Gina counted her blessings.  Within the space of two days, she’d lost the man who she was supposed to marry, but had gained some friends, a place to live, and a job.  She shook her head a little as she thought about how unpredictable life was.  When she’d answered that ad, she’d never