Tabitha: Bride of Missouri (American Mail-Order Bride 24) by Amelia C. Adams Read Free Book Online Page B

not very happy with me. He told me I had one month to get back on the job or I could consider myself fired.”
    “Does the doctor think a month is long enough?” Tabitha had no experience with broken bones, but that seemed awfully fast.
    “He seems to. I guess only time will tell. In the meanwhile, I’m looking around for other jobs I can do with one hand. Hope to find something soon.”
    Tabitha reached into the mail sack and pulled out a random handful of letters to sort. It was far too easy just to stand there and stare at him, but she did have a job to do. “I hope you do too. This must be horribly frustrating for you.”
    “It is, but I figure, stewing about it won’t fix anything. I’d rather do what I can than cry about what I can’t.” He gave her another grin and touched his cap. “I’ll let you get back to work. Thanks again, Miss Phillips. I’ll see you soon.”
    She watched him stride down the road, then turned back to her task. The next thing she pulled out was a curious bundle of letters tied together with twine, words written across the top in bold, slashing letters. Return to sender. No longer interested. Cease communications immediately. Her heart gave a stutter when she saw that these letters had been sent to Miss Ivy Wayne of Dover, Delaware . . . by Thomas Scott.
    Oh, no. Ivy had decided to call off their engagement. Thomas would be devastated. Tears pricked Tabitha’s eyes again, but for an entirely different reason—she didn’t want him to be hurt. Just from this very short time she’d known him, she knew how deeply he felt about things—not just Ivy, but life in general—and how much of his heart he gave away. With his injury and his job on the line, surely this kind of news would be too much.
    Tabitha tucked the bundle away in a drawer while she sorted the rest of the mail, her mind churning. Why had Ivy changed her mind? Was he writing her too frequently and making her feel smothered? Had the girl found another husband? Not one bit of it was any of Tabitha’s business, and yet she couldn’t stop thinking about it and wondering.
    Her next customer of the day was Freddie Sanders, one of the young men who had come to call on her before she moved away. If she remembered correctly, he was the one who couldn’t understand why she liked to read, and thought she should be content to cook and sew.
    “Hello, Miss Phillips,” he said, pulling his hat off his head as he approached the counter. “It’s good to see you.”
    “Hello, Mr. Sanders. What can I do for you today?”
    “I’d like to mail these two letters.” He placed them on the counter. “And . . . I wondered if you had an escort to the fall festival tomorrow.”
    Tabitha smiled. For the first time, she was grateful the pastor had asked her. “I’m sorry, but I do have an escort. Pastor Reed asked me.”
    “Ah. Well, I can’t compete with a pastor.” He bobbed his head. “Congratulations.”
    “Congratulations? Whatever for?”
    “Well, if the pastor has his eye on you, doesn’t that mean wedding bells are in the offing?”
    Tabitha tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a cough. “I’m going to the fall festival with him, not marrying him! I hardly know the man.”
    Freddie seemed a little taken aback by her reaction. “Oh. Well, I just thought—”
    “You can stop thinking right now! If accepting an escort is the same thing as accepting an offer of marriage, no one ever explained that to me, and I don’t agree with it.” She held out her hand. “Money for the postage, please?”
    He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a few coins, which he dumped into her palm. “Have a good day, Miss Phillips.”
    “And you.” Her tone was curt.
    Once he was gone, Tabitha let out a sigh of indignation. Gracious. First Clara, and now Freddie, both of them thinking there was something going on between her and the pastor. What if Pastor Reed thought so too? What if she’d given him the wrong impression when she