The Unlikely Wife

Chapter Two

Selina scooted as close to the side of the wagon seat as possible. Touching Michael was something she didn’t want to do. Her heart ached something fierce knowing Michael didn’t love her and that she’d pretty much come all this way for nothing.

If only she’d known all of this back home, she would’ve never gotten hitched then. She’d seen the ugliness of what a marriage without love could do to folks, to the whole family, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Long ago she had made a promise to herself to never get married unless the man truly loved her and she loved him. When she’d said yes to Michael’s proposal, she believed she was honoring that promise.

Why did she ever let Aimee talk her into answering that stupid ad? If she hadn’t, then neither she nor Michael would be in this mess.

Poor Michael. What he must be going through. “Michael.”

“Yes?”

“I’m really sorry for what my friend did. I had no idea she wrote those things and lied to you. Iffen I’d known, I would never have come.”

“What’s done is done, Selina. We’ll just make the best of it.”

He sure seemed to be taking it a lot easier than she was. Either that or he was mighty good at hiding it.

Silence followed them the rest of the way home. That was fine with Selina. Gave her time to take in the scenery.

Layers of green rolling hills stretched before her, ending at the base of a mountain covered with trees. Well, if a body could call these here mountains. They weren’t nearly as big as the ones back home. In Kentucky, these mountains would be called nothing more than hills.

One thing for certain, this place was nothing like where she’d come from. But then again, nowhere on God’s green earth ever would be to her. Born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains, she loved Kentucky and all its beauty. Before she left, she had fastened every little detail of them and her home into her memory so she’d never forget what they looked like.

The sun bore down on her back, heating her body something awful. She sure could use a drink. She licked her lips.

Michael twisted in the seat and reached for something behind him. He handed a canteen to her.

“How’d you know I was thirsty?”

His only response was a hike of his shoulder.

Wasn’t long before they rounded a bend in the trees.

“Whoa, girls.” Michael pulled the horses to a halt in front of a house five times bigger than the shack she grew up in.

Selina turned to Michael. “Why we stoppin’ here?” She gawked at the large two-story house with rocking chairs, small tables and a big wooden swing on the porch that went clear around the place.

“I live here.”

“This is yours?”

“Yes. It is.”

“Well, I’ll be hanged. You told me you were a pig farmer. Or did Aimee lie about that, too?”

“No. She didn’t. I am a pig farmer. But I said that I also raise cattle.”

“Oh, no,” she groaned. “I can’t believe I up and married myself a rich man.”

Michael turned his head her direction. “You sound like that’s a bad thing.”

“It is. Iffen I’d a known you was rich, I’d never have answered that ad.”

“What do you have against rich people?”

“Lots of things. Folks who have money think they’re better than poor folk. Treatin’ us like we’re lower than dirt. Like we have no feelin’s at all.”

“Hey, now just you wait a minute. You can’t go judging all rich people by the ones where you come from. My family and I do not turn up our noses at poor folks or treat them like dirt, either. Nor are we mean. I resent you clumping us into some category when you don’t even know us.”

“You might resent it, but the truth is you’re just like them rich folks back home. Back at the train station I saw you turn your nose down at me and how I look. My whole life people been judgin’ me by the way I dress. All I can say is, I’m mighty glad the good Lord looks at the heart and not the outside like some folks do.”

His cheeks turned the color of a rusty-pink sunset.

“Aimee was rich, too. And look what she did to us.” Selina spoke under her breath, still in shock at what her friend had done. She didn’t want to think about that right now though. It hurt too much.

She hopped down from the wagon and grabbed her bag. Good thing she’d found a flour sack and put it to rights the best way she could, or she wouldn’t have had anything to put her few belongings in.

Her eyes trailed to the huge house again and she wondered how many people lived here.

Michael was waiting for her at the end of the steps, looking uncomfortable.

Well, he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. C’mon, Selina. You can do this. She met him and followed him up the stairs.

Michael opened the door and waited for her to go in first. One thing about the man, he was a gentleman. She stepped inside and stopped. Never in all of her born days had she seen anything so fancy.

The place was filled with more furniture than she’d ever laid eyes on. Her focus slid to the rich brown kitchen table and the six matching chairs with fancy carved legs and arms. Fresh flowers flowed from a large vase in the center of the table, which was covered with a lacy tablecloth.

And the cook stove, why, it was mighty fine. Unlike the old potbelly stove back home. That thing was harder than the dickens to keep burning and the door barely hung on.

Selina stepped farther inside, taking in the whole room. Two cream-colored rockers with gold squiggly lines running through the fancy curved tops and arms sat on one side of the fireplace, facing a matching sofa with blue, gold and cream-colored pillows on it. Betwixt them was a long table. A large oval blue-and-cream rug had been placed underneath the table. Sure was pretty.

Heavy drapes held back by a braided rope covered six tall living room windows.

On the mantel of the large stone fireplace sat a clock, with three different-sized brass candlestick holders on each side of it.

Selina strode toward the fireplace and crouched down, peering past the metal screen.

Why, the thing went plumb through to the other side into a bedroom with a cherry-colored dresser topped with a long mirror, another dresser that was taller and a four-poster bed, and all of them were done in the same fancy carved wood as the rest of the place. On top of the bed was a white quilt with light and dark blue circles and dark blue pillow covers. Pale blue drapes swagged the windows.

She loved blue. A tear slipped from her eye. She thumbed it away and wouldn’t allow any more to escape. Knowing Aimee had told Michael that Selina loved blue made her wonder if the blue bed quilt and house curtains were done on purpose. Well, even if they had been, who were they done for? Her or Aimee?

Selina turned to see Michael standing in the doorway with his hat in his hands, watching her. Never before had she felt so out of place or uncomfortable. And she didn’t like it. Not one little bit. She pressed her shoulders back, determined to not let it show. “Your home is beautiful, Michael. Whoever took the time of it did a right fine job.”

When he said nothing, she played with the bead on her hat string. No longer able to stand the silence, she said, “Well, I reckon you must be hungry. Let me get my rifle and I’ll hunt us up some grub.”

His head bobbed forward like a rooster. “Grub? Are you serious?”

She raised her chin, not liking how he made her feel with his tone. “Yes, sir, I am serious. You wanna eat, don’t ya?”

“Well, yes, but you don’t have to hunt for any grub,” he said the word grub as if he hadn’t ever heard it before. “I’m assuming grub refers to food.”

Sure enough, he hadn’t.

“I have a cellar and a pantry full of meat and anything else you might need. Here. I’ll show you.” Michael walked over to a small room off the kitchen, opened the door and stepped to the side.

Selina came up beside him at the doorway entry and peered inside. Her eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets. The room was filled with canned goods, a large bag of flour and sugar, eggs, coffee, cornmeal and just about anything a body would need to fix a meal. Except she didn’t see any meat.

“That door at the end of the pantry leads into the cellar,” he said from behind her. A little too close behind her as far as she was concerned. She squirmed forward, but his broad-shouldered body took up most of the small space. Thing was, it didn’t seem that small before he stepped into it.

Wood, soap and peppermint scents drifted from him. He sure smelled nice.

Swallowing to stop the thoughts, she moved farther into the room, putting even more space between them.

“You’ll find whatever meat you need down there along with fresh vegetables and canned fruit.”

Selina opened the door and squatted, trying to see in the dark hole but couldn’t. It was coal black. When she stood, Michael picked up a lantern and matches from one of the shelves and lit it.

“Here. Take this.”

She took it from him and made her way slowly down the steep, narrow stairs, expecting one of them to give way any time, but they never did. They were nothing like the rickety steps back home. These were nice and sturdy.

At the bottom of the steps, she held the lantern up. Jumpin’ crickets! she thought, unable to believe her eyes. One whole side of the room was filled with hanging meat. All sorts of canned goods lined two of the walls. Barrels of taters, carrots, dehydrated apples, turnips and onions lined the other wall. More food than a body could eat in a year.

Michael stepped into the cavelike room, filling it with his presence. She struggled to keep her wits about her as she continued to take in what was before her. “How many will I be feedin’?”

“Just you and me.”

Selina whirled. “All a this food is just for the two of us?”

“Yes. I wanted to make sure there was plenty when you got here. We butchered a few head of cows and some pigs and divided the meat. Mother, Rainee, Hannah and Leah canned all the fruits and vegetables and the fish and chicken, you see.”

“There sure is a lot of it. Must’ve taken them a long time to put up so much. Well, from now on, I can do ours so they won’t have to.”

“You know how to can?”

“Sure do. I told you so in my letters.” Her heart dropped to the dirt floor of the cellar with that slip of the tongue. Now why’d she have to go and bring up them letters for? All that did was remind her that she wasn’t the woman her husband was expecting, that she wasn’t loved and that this wasn’t a real marriage and probably never would be.

“Well, I need to go and finish my chores.” He turned and headed toward the steps.

She followed him, hoping to do something to reclaim her pride. “I’ll help you.”

He stopped on the stair and looked down at her. The man sure had pretty blue eyes.

“Help me? You don’t have to help me. Chores are man’s work.”

“Not where I come from they’re not. Besides, I aim to do my part to earn my keep and to help out around here.”

He raised his hat and forked his fingers through his hair, then put his hat back on. “Selina, you don’t have to earn your keep. You’re my wife.”

A wife you don’t want.

“And no wife of mine is going to do chores.”

Did she just hear what she thought she’d heard?

She planted her hands on her hips. “And no man is ever gonna tell me what to do.”

Not even her husband—no, make that especially not her husband. She’d never let him bully or boss her around or tell her what she could and couldn’t do like her cousin Mary’s husband had done. Mary had always been a cheerful and happy sort until she’d gotten hitched. Her husband stripped the life out of her with his controlling, bullying ways. He’d broken Mary’s spirit until she was walking and acting like some dead person. Even worse, Mary had let him.

Well, not this gal.

Michael came back down the stairs and looked her right in the eyes. “I’ll say it again. Chores are man’s work and no wife of mine is going to do men’s chores.”

Just who did this sidewinder think he was, bossing her around like that? She stepped even closer, coming toe-to-toe with him. “And I’ll say it again. No man is ever gonna tell me what I can or can’t do.” Selina refused to be beholden to anybody. She’d seen the ugliness of that, too.

He closed the distance between them until they were almost nose-to-nose. “You’re not doing chores and that’s final.” With one more hard look he whirled and stomped up the stairs.

Well, she could stomp just as hard as he could and she did, too, until she met up with him. Then, she bolted past him and was out the door and in the buckboard before he even made it to the wagon.

He climbed aboard and glanced at her. “You’re incorrigible. You know that?” He snatched up the reins and slapped his horses on the behind. The wagon lurched forward.

She didn’t know what that word meant, but she had a feeling it wasn’t good.

Michael rounded the trees by the main ranch. Oh, no. He should have known his family would do something like this. Neighbors, family and friends filled the ranch yard, along with benches, tables loaded with food and two large signs.

One read: Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Michael Bowen.

The other: Welcome to our family and community, Selina.

The first thought that struck him was his wife’s attire; the second was he hoped she wouldn’t open her mouth. He wanted to turn the horses around and head back home before anyone caught sight of them.

“Here they come,” his sister-in-law Rainee hollered. Rainee waddled toward them as fast as her pregnant belly would allow. Before he could think of a good way to get them out of there, she stepped up to Selina’s side of the wagon and offered her a big welcoming smile. “Selina. Welcome to the family.”

With no grace whatsoever, Selina hopped down. “Thank you kindly, ma’am.”

Immediately Michael detected suspicion in Selina’s voice. One look at her face confirmed it. He figured it stemmed from her earlier comments about rich folks. Well, she’d just have to put her prejudice aside and learn that not all folks who had wealth treated poor folks badly. Sure, he had turned his nose up at her when he first saw her, but she needed to understand it was the shock of seeing her dressed like a man and not a woman. Like a tomboy. An outlaw even.

The sad fact was, rich and poor alike would find her attire inappropriate. He knew many a poor woman and they didn’t dress like her, so wealth had nothing to do with people judging her. Her lack of propriety did.

Before he had a chance to introduce her, Rainee said, “I am Rainelle Victoria Bowen.” She curtsied. “But, please, call me, Rainee.” Rainee looped arms with Selina and led her to the crowd of people.

This whole thing was a nightmare come true.

Seeing no way out of it, Michael hopped down from the wagon and followed them. When he caught sight of the surprised look on the men’s faces and the horror on some of the women’s as their gazes traveled over her, anger surged through him. He didn’t like her appearance, either, but how dare they openly show disrespect for the woman who was, after all, his wife.

He strode to Selina’s side and placed his hand at the base of her back.

Selina looked up at him, at his arm and then back at his face, a question lingering in her untrusting wide brown eyes.

His gaze remained fixed on her, taking in her face, her high cheekbones and perfectly shaped lips. The woman was beautiful. Why did she hide it under that hat? Perhaps she didn’t know she was beautiful.

Leah and Abby rushed up to meet her.

“Selina, these are my sisters, Leah and Abigail.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Leah gave her a quick hug.

“It’s Abby, not Abigail. That sounds so stuffy. Just like you, Michael.” Abby wrinkled her nose at him and then turned her focus onto Selina. “I love your outfit.” His sixteen-year-old sister smiled, beaming as her gaze raked over Selina’s clothing.

Dear Lord, don’t let Abby start wanting to wear pants, too.

His sister-in-law Hannah looked up from wiping baby Rebecca’s mouth. She handed the baby to her oldest son, Thomas, who took her willingly. He’d make a fine father some day. Just like his father, Jesse.

“Selina!” Hannah rushed over and gave her a hug. “Welcome to the family. We’re so happy to have you here.”

“Selina, this is my sister-in-law, Hannah.”

“Pleasure to meet ya, ma’am,” Selina said.

“Mama, where’s my drink? I’m thirsty.” William, Michael’s five-year-old nephew and Hannah and Jesse’s middle child, tugged on his mother’s skirt.

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Sorry—I need to get my son something to drink. We’ll talk later. You must come and see me. I live over there.” She pointed to her and Jesse’s house, then swung William into her arms and like a whirlwind she was gone.

Michael’s mother scurried up to them. “Selina, I’m Katherine. Michael’s mother.”

“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

“Welcome to the family, Selina. You must come by the house tomorrow so we can get better acquainted.”

“That’s right neighborly of you.” Skepticism shrouded Selina’s face once again.

“Hi, son.” His mother barely glanced at him. “You don’t mind if I borrow your wife, do you? There’s someone I’d like her to meet.”

“Hi to you, too, Mother.” He smiled. “No, I don’t mind at all.”

“Good. Because even if you did, I was going to steal her anyway.” Mother reached up and kissed his cheek before she looped arms with Selina and scampered her over to the same group of ladies he’d seen scowling. He watched, waiting and ready in case Selina needed his intervention.

“She isn’t what you expected, is she?”

Michael turned toward his brother Jesse. With those seven words, Michael knew his acting hadn’t worked. Making sure no one was within hearing distance he said, “No, she sure isn’t. I’m so angry and confused, Jess, I don’t know what to do. I married the wrong woman.”

Jesse frowned. “What do you mean ‘the wrong woman’?”

With a shake of his head, Michael beat back the awful truth. “Selina didn’t write the letters—her friend Aimee did.”

“I don’t understand.”

There was no reason to hide the truth. Jesse had been with him through this whole thing from the beginning. In short detail, Michael explained everything to his brother. How the woman he fell in love with didn’t really exist. Or if she did, she existed in two different people. One of whom he married. The other of whom he might have actually loved.

Jesse’s concern was written all over his face. “Now that’s a tough one. But remember, you did pray about it.”

“I didn’t pray for this, Jess. You know what I prayed for. Why would God do this to me?”

“God didn’t do anything to you. He did it for you. He has a plan, Michael. We talked about this, remember?”

“A plan? What? To humiliate me? And how could you say God did it for me? What could God possibly have in mind? I mean, look at her, Jess. She’s…” He couldn’t even finish.

Jesse slid his gaze toward Selina. “She’s um…different, but she seems friendly enough and she’s very beautiful.”

“She’s different all right. She might be beautiful, too, but she’s nothing like what I had my heart set on marrying.”

“Look, I know you wanted someone like Rainee. But there’s only one Rainee and she’s married to our brother.”

“I know that. It’s just… Well, every time I prayed for a wife, I asked God to send me someone just like her.”

“Maybe He did.”

Michael’s brows spiked. “I don’t think so. I don’t mean to sound cruel, but look at the way she’s dressed. And the way she talks.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I think the woman who wrote the letters comes closer to what I was wanting in a wife than Selina ever could.”

“You don’t know that. From what you told me, the person in the letters is a mixture of Selina and Aimee and a lot of things were exaggerated. So you have no idea what Aimee is really like except that she’s the kind of woman—”

Michael finished Jesse’s sentence. “Who would send her friend out West knowing she had lied, that she had deceived not only her, but also the man she had married. Leaving Selina to deal with the consequences.” That thought alone secured his compassion toward Selina.

Nobody deserved to be treated that way. Especially by a friend she trusted. Indignation roiled through his gut. If Aimee were here right now he’d tell her exactly what he thought of her.

“Why did I have to come up with that ridiculous plan to say my vows of marriage in front of Reverend James and sign the marriage certificate and send it to her so she could do the same in front of her minister? If I hadn’t, then neither one of us would be in this miserable situation.” He caught his brother’s gaze. “What am I going to do, Jess? I’m in love with a dream woman who doesn’t exist. And even worse… I don’t love my wife. She’s a complete stranger to me.”

All of a sudden, his stomach churned and he thought he might be sick as unbidden flashbacks of another loveless marriage came rushing in on him.

Unbeknownst to anyone, as a young boy Michael had witnessed time and again his brother Haydon’s first wife Melanie’s rage toward Haydon.

From afar Michael heard Melanie’s cruel and spiteful remarks about what a poor excuse of a man she thought Haydon was. How she resented him for bringing her to this desolate place. How she hated him and wished she had never married him. How she had never loved him and had only married him for his money and his position in society.

To this day the memory of the pain on Haydon’s face still haunted Michael. His brother’s unhappiness had crushed Michael’s young heart. His brother changed after Melanie. He was no longer his confident self until years after Melanie’s death when God had sent Rainee into Haydon’s life. Because of her, Michael now had his brother back, and Haydon was happier than Michael had ever seen him.

Michael wanted the special kind of love Haydon had found with Rainee. With all his heart, Michael believed he had—until a few hours ago. But it was fully clear to him now that his marriage to Selina was nothing but a farce and that his worst nightmare of being stuck in a loveless marriage had now come true. How had he let this happen?

Jesse squeezed his shoulder, yanking Michael from the cave of darkness his thoughts had taken him to.

“I know this is hard, Michael.”

You have no idea how hard this thing is. No one does.

“But I have faith in you that you’ll do what’s right. Keep in mind that when Rainee first came, Haydon didn’t want anything to do with her, either. He didn’t believe God was in that whole situation, yet look how it turned out. They have two beautiful children and one on the way. Listen, I’ve got to run. Hannah is waving me down. If you need to talk, you know I’m here.”

“Thanks, Jess.” Michael pulled his brother into a quick hug then watched him head toward Hannah.

“Hey, buddy.” Michael stiffened. The town heckler, Jake Lure, stepped alongside him and slapped him on the back. “Well, I guess we know who wears the pants in your family.” Jake cackled and twitched his thick blond eyebrows in a mocking gesture.

Michael clenched his fists at his sides.

Jake looked around and then leaned closer to Michael. “You know, I think I’ve seen that beautiful face somewhere before. On one of the wanted posters at the jail.” He cackled again.

Even though the man was a few inches taller than Michael’s six-foot, broad-shouldered frame, Michael found himself wanting to punch Jake. But, he refused to stoop to this man’s lower-than-dirt level.

Yet, hadn’t he already done that by judging Selina’s outward appearance, too? He had even justified his actions by reminding himself that she was not what he was expecting and it was the shock of seeing her dressed in trousers that had made him act so unbecomingly.