The Heavenly Surrender by Marcia Lynn McClure Read Free Book Online Page B

expect to be treated as your equal and without violence.”
    “ Not me mule, ya say. Sounds to me like ya could put me mule’s stubborn streak out like a candle’s flicker,” he grumbled as he snapped the lines, urging the team forward again.
    
    “’Tis a sad, sad story, it is,” Brenna sighed as she helped Genieva to hang Brevan’s freshly washed shirts on the line late that same afternoon. “Innocent she was…to the ways of the world, ya see. But she’s a good girl, and things will be workin’ out for Amy Wilburn eventually. As for the other three ya saw…vindictive as venom, they are. I’ve no doubt in me mind they’re all plain furious at Brevan marryin’ you and not choosin’ one of them…as if he’d even waste his brain a thinkin’ on any of those ugly sows.”
    “Mrs. Fenton seems nice, though,” Genieva remarked. She grinned—unable to avoid being amused by Brenna’s calling the young women in town “ugly sows.”
    “Oh, yes. No doubt she’ll be makin’ sure there’s a bee held in yar honor. She’s a kindly old lady. A bit too much on the gossip, though. She drowns in it like some men do in liquor.”
    Genieva smiled at Brenna’s superb comparison. She knew she would have to take Mrs. Fenton’s words very lightly.
    Both women turned then as they heard the barn door slam shut. As Brevan walked from the barn toward the house, they watched in silence for a moment before Brenna whispered, “He’s not as bad as he wants ya to think, Genieva. Just ya wait and see. He likes ya, he does. He would not have married ya otherwise.”
    “Well, I’m only here to…” Genieva began. But Brenna interrupted her.
    “Me brother is so the handsome lad that it’s frightenin’, it is. And he’s a lot of fun and kindness when he’s not actin’ up. Don’t try tellin’ me ya haven’t already fallen for him, Genieva. For ya’d be lyin’, and heaven’s a watchin’ ya.”
    “ Oh, Brenna,” Genieva scolded with a nonchalant toss of her head. She turned and continued to hang up the freshly washed garments from the basket at her feet. “This isn’t like you and Travis.” Pausing, she turned to Brenna. Only in that moment did she realize she had no knowledge of the circumstances under which Travis and Brenna had come together. “How did you and Travis meet and marry?”
    “Oh, me Travis,” Brenna sighed, staring toward the bright blue sky—a wistful smile spreading across her lovely face. “Travis was a cowboy. He was lookin’ for a place to winter last fall, and he asked Brevan if we needed a hand. He’d been to the…to another place nearby…a rancher’s land and been coldly turned away. The weather was fairly fierce last winter, and before he knew it, he found himself on our doorstep the night of the first snow, askin’ Brevan if he could winter out here. Brian had recently married Lita, and Brevan was wonderin’ if he could keep up the place on his own, he was. So he told Travis he could stay the winter. I knew I loved him the moment I laid me eyes on him.” She sighed heavily and smiled at Genieva. Genieva was delighted by the blush that suddenly rose to her sister-in-law’s face. “Brevan came upon us sparkin’ in the barn one day just before Christmas. Oh, he was angry! Shoutin’ and callin’ Travis a rounder and every such name.” She laughed at the memory, and Genieva giggled, captivated by her story and fully able to imagine Brevan’s reaction. “Travis shouted back and told Brevan he loved me and intended that I should be his wife! That was the first I had heard of it, and I thought I must be dreamin’ it all. But we married in February, and here I am.”
    “And she spends far too much of her time tellin’ her stories.” Brenna and Genieva both startled and turned to find Brevan looming before them.
    Brenna quickly punched him square in the stomach and scolded, “Ya scared the life out of me, ya did! Quit yar sneakin’ about, Brevan McLean.”
    Unsettled