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Awkward Marriage 26
After the three men took baths, they joined everyone else for dinner. “I heard you taught your brothers a lesson in the pig pen today,” her father chuckled. “You were always good on a horse, whether riding one with a saddle or not.” “They had it coming,” she said. “I couldn’t let them get by with naming a pig after me.” That wasn’t why she really did it, but she didn’t want to embarrass Jake by reminding him of his earlier dirty condition. He had looked mortified to be covered in filth. “I don’t know,” Jeremiah said. “You and that pig are a lot alike. You like to run poor unsuspecting people over.” “That’s true. I’ll give you that. We don’t tolerate anyone misbehaving.” “We hope you can keep her in check, Jake.” Trevor grinned. “You’re our last hope.” “I kind of like her the way she is,” Jake began as he smiled at her, “full of passion and intensity.” She felt her cheeks go red. Jeremiah gave her a knowing look. She glared at him. Stop it! How long we
Awkward Marriage 27
The next morning, she woke up and saw that Jake had put his blankets on her. She rolled her eyes. She was covered under a mountain of blankets. She shook her head and closed the window and placed some of the blankets on him. How could he sleep when he was so cold? Is he really having that hard of a time keeping his hands off of me? The thought pleased her. She never thought she could be appealing to a man before. Sighing, she collected her clothes for the day and went to the bathroom to change. As soon as she came out of the bathroom, her brothers stood around her. She rolled her eyes. “No.” They grumbled. “When are you going to stop this nonsense?” she asked. “Poor Jake spent the night freezing because he had to give me all the blankets, and I got hot so I had to open the window.” “Oh, really?” Jeremiah grinned. “So it’s working.” She realized her mistake. “He knows what you’re doing, so you might as well quit while you’re ahead.” “Quit? What we’re
Awkward Marriage 28
ake was relieved to be back home after spending a week at Sue’s family’s farm. Though he enjoyed most of it, he felt incredibly filthy after riding the horse, being in the pig pen, and falling in the mud. He took two baths when he got home but he still felt disgusting. He was glad he wore Jeremiah’s clothes instead of his own because if it had been his clothes, he would have burned them afterwards. After he bathed, he went to bed, exhausted. If he had to spend another night in the same room with Sue, he would go insane. She was too appealing. He didn’t sleep at all, especially after seeing her reach for milk and holding her in the kitchen. He was happy to be in his own bed. After he got a good night’s sleep, he was ready to go to work and hand in his resignation letter to Conrad. On his way out the door to meet Henry at the buggy, he saw Mr. Blacksmith walking up the steps to his house. He frowned. One good thing about being at the farm was that he didn’t have to worry a
Awkward Marriage 29
By the time Wednesday evening arrived, he knew he would have to tell Sue about his invitation to Tim Blacksmith for dinner the next evening. Sue was reading another book in the chair by the fireplace. Fortunately, she didn’t notice the way the bachelors looked at her. She spent so much time as a spinster that it was as if she forgot she was a woman. He had to admit that the house seemed less empty with her in it. He put aside his remaining paperwork for the new bank on his desk and turned his attention to Tim Blacksmith. Now how was he going to talk her into making dinner? He stood up and walked over to the other chair in front of the fireplace and sat down. Startled, she looked up. He hadn’t joined her before. “What are you reading tonight?” he asked. “The Scarlet Letter. I couldn’t put it out of my mind after the comment I made to Miss Gordon at the wedding reception.” “Did she really think it was a stationary shop?” “Yes. Mrs. Walker and I
Awkward Marriage 30
Jake hid his laughter as Tim blanched. “So, what are your intentions with Sue?” He took another bite and waited for Tim to answer. Tim still hadn’t swallowed the food. He picked up the cup of hot chocolate to wash down the food in his mouth but couldn’t seem to swallow that either. “Don’t you like it? If you marry her, you’ll have to eat this stuff all the time. She prides herself on her ability to cook a good meal.” He finally swallowed it, his eyes tearing up in the process. He took a deep breath and pushed the plate away. “I must be frank with you. This would condemn a restaurant.” Jake pretended to look offended. “She put a lot of hard work into this.” Sadly, that was probably true. She tried to make a tasty meal but couldn’t seem to pull it off. “I do have a personal chef, and my job involves a lot of eating out. I suppose one flaw in a woman is manageable.” “Oh, she insists on cooking all the time. She prides herself on her work.” “Certainly, s
Awkward Marriage 31
For the first time in her life, Sue spent considerable time getting dressed for Friday night. She knew that appearances were important to Jake, and she decided she would do her part to look as good as possible for the dinner and dance. She decided to wear a hunter green long sleeve dress with a heart shaped neckline. It would show a slight amount of cleavage but there was little she could do to help that since she couldn’t change her bust size. She wore the diamond necklace and earrings that Jake had given her and slipped on her hunter green high heeled shoes. She brushed her hair so that it fell in soft curls around her shoulders. She finally decided to pull the sides of it back with a hunter green barrette so that her earrings would show. She examined her reflection. Maybe I am as pretty as Jake claims. When she was ready, she went to the den since he spent most of his free time sitting at his desk. He was doing more paperwork. He spends so much time working. When does
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Jake sat back down. “I can appreciate your fear of being controlled when we got married.” She tried to relax but it was difficult. “Try not to let him get to you, Sue. Men like that aren’t worth the effort. Just be glad he married Belinda instead of you.” “I wouldn’t have married him if he was the only one in town who could pay off my father’s debt. Even Mr. York was a better catch.” “And where do I fit on that list?” He was smiling again. “At the very top. I couldn’t have done better,” she softly admitted, staring at her plate. “Thank you for standing up for me. It was nice to have someone defend me for a change.” “You always had to defend yourself?” She nodded and looked at him. “Jeremiah tried to defend me but he was five years younger so no one paid him any mind.” “So that’s how you got to be bold.” “Sometimes you do what you have to do.” “Well, I will do what I can.” She didn’t expect to be so touched by the reality that he would defend
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ake spent the weekend setting things up in his bank. He used his pent up frustrations for energy. He couldn’t believe the nerve of the bachelors in town who kept asking Sue to dance on Friday night. He would try to get back to her when someone came up to him to discuss his bank. Had it not been for the fact that she declined most of the invitations to dance so she could talk to some of the wives, he would have picked her up and dragged her home. Fortunately, she seemed to be blissfully unaware of their intentions. Why didn’t the men take the time to notice her before he married her? It wasn’t his fault that they didn’t get to her first. He tried not to let his sour mood show when a box of chocolates and flowers from an Ethan Bower arrived at his house on Sunday afternoon shortly after he and Sue came home from church. Since Sue was in the den reading, he was able to throw them out before she discovered them. He immediately added Ethan Bower to his list. He was able to cro
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