MAIL ORDER RACHEL Page 2

  “I remembered,” Rachel said. “Don’t worry. I won’t embarrass you in front of your friends.”

  “I didn’t mean that,” Daniel said quickly. “I hope you like them as much as I do. Robert is the town doctor,” he added. “I’ll ask him to check Thomas over while we’re there and make sure he’s healthy. His wife, Olivia, was also a mail-order bride, except it turned out they’d known each other before. I know she can’t take Mary Margaret’s place, but I thought it would be nice for you to have a friend while you’re getting used to life here.”

  Rachel gave him a disparaging look. “Kind of prefer to choose my own friends, but I’ll give her a chance.”

  The meal that followed was another adjustment to Rachel’s new life. Olivia, the doctor’s wife, clearly had a bun in the oven. The daughter, Chloe, still a baby herself, toddled around, and seemed enchanted by baby Thomas when he woke up. The doctor, was a quiet, serious man.

  “Does Thomas sleep well?” Olivia asked her, obviously keen to have a chat, one-mother-to-another.

  “He’d better,” Rachel said. “Or else we’ll send him back.”

  Olivia laughed as if she’d said something incredibly funny.

  Rachel sent Daniel a questioning look, wondering how much he planned to tell them about Thomas, and huffed in exasperation when he ignored her. How could he expect her to carry on a conversation with his friends like she was really Thomas’s ma?

  “It’s reassuring to see the way Chloe has taken to your little one,” Olivia confided. “I worry that her nose will be out of joint once she’s no longer the baby in the family.”

  “I’m sure she’ll do fine,” Rachel said, when some response seemed required.

  “You arrived earlier today, right?” Olivia said. She clapped a hand to her mouth. “You must have been on the same train as that poor girl who jumped.”

  Rachel shot Daniel an alarmed look. She had no idea what to say.

  “What happened?” Daniel asked.

  “No one knows. Several of the passengers who arrived in Yuma reported seeing a girl jump from the train a short distance out of town. The sheriff rode out and brought back the body.” As Olivia spoke, she reached over and squeezed Robert’s forearm. “Robert had the unhappy task of examining her.”

  “She broke her neck in the fall,” Robert said. “Poor thing was not much more than a child herself, even though she appeared to have recently given birth.”

  “How sad,” Rachel murmured.

  Robert nodded. “Some women suffer a malaise after the birth; they can become quite despondent. I suspect this was one of the more severe cases.”

  Rachel blanched when Olivia said, “I wonder what happened to the baby.”

  “The sheriff found no evidence that it had been with her when she jumped,” Robert said. “Sometimes the suffering mothers are known to end their child’s life as well as their own. In this case, it’s possible that the child didn’t survive the birth, which could be what caused the mother to end things.”

  “Goodness,” Olivia said as she jumped up. “I didn’t mean to ruin the meal with such a sad topic. Who’s for coffee?”

  Rachel rose. “Please let me help.”

  She followed Olivia into the kitchen and carried the cream and sugar back to the dining room while Olivia brought the coffee. What had Daniel been thinking, bringing her here, expecting her to instantly fit in with his friends? Folks who differed from her in every way possible.

  It was still light out when she and Daniel said their goodbyes. As they walked to what Rachel assumed would be her new home, she felt like the day would never end.

  Olivia had insisted in loaning them a carriage for the baby. “I won’t need it for a while yet,” she said.

  The conveyance had wheels and a push handle, as well as a roof to keep the sun off of the baby’s head, and Daniel wheeled it ahead of them as comfortably as if he’d been doing it his entire life.

  “How did you like them?” he asked, as they strolled past the town square and turned onto a street of what appeared to be well kept homes, with tidy porches and flowering plants near their front doors.

  “They seem very nice,” Rachel said. No point adding the couple was unlike anyone whose path had crossed hers back in Boston.

  “I met Robert when I bought his father’s shipping business. I hope you and Olivia become friends.”

  Rachel doubted it, but she didn’t tell Daniel that. How could she possibly be friends with Olivia when already there was a huge secret between them? Sooner or later, if they spent much time together, Olivia would see that Rachel was no more Thomas’s mother than she was the Queen of England.

  “I thought you might tell them about Thomas,” she said, “seeing as how they’re such good friends.”

  “I considered it,” Daniel said. “But once they started talking about the woman from the train, it didn’t seem fitting. It’s better they think he’s yours and I adopted him.”

  Eventually he stopped in front of a grand scale house, the size of which took away Rachel’s breath. “Welcome to your new home!”

  “Crickey!” Rachel said.

  The structure stood two stories high. Shutters painted a deep green adorned each window. And there were a lot of windows. A tidy brick pathway led to the front door, which was painted glossy black and sported a huge brass lion’s head knocker.

  Rachel couldn’t stop staring. Never in her wildest imaginings had she pictured herself living in a place so fine.

  Daniel smiled proudly as he unlocked the front door. “Growing up in the orphanage, I always swore that one day I’d have the grandest house on the street.”

  The baby didn’t stir as Daniel wheeled the carriage through the door into the front hall, where a large, curving staircase at one end led to the next floor.

  “The bedrooms are upstairs. Six of them.” He cleared his throat. “I thought you might prefer your own room while we get to know each other.”

  Rachel had never had a room to call her own. The thought made her positively giddy as Daniel showed her through the parlor, the dining room, the kitchen and the den on the main floor. While every room appeared clean and well kept, the house lacked the lived-in look of Robert and Olivia’s home. This house looked more like a museum than a place where people lived.

  Rachel refused to appear impressed. She picked up a piece of colored glass shaped like a woman’s fan. “I hope you don’t expect me to spend my days dusting and the like.”

  “I have a housekeeper who comes in each day. She’ll cook when we ask her to. I confess, I’ve been in the habit of eating out most nights. It felt too lonely setting the dining table for one.”

  “I guess.” Rachel trailed a hand over the huge wooden table that could easily seat a dozen. “Won’t feel much different with the two of us.”

  Gently, with one finger beneath her chin, he tilted her face up to meet her gaze. “We’re three now. And I hope one day there will be a lot more of us to help fill up the house.”

  Rachel swallowed thickly and looked away, faced with one aspect of married life she hadn’t considered.

  “I’m not sure how you normally filled your days in Boston,” Daniel continued as he released her, “but I want you to continue doing whatever it is that makes you happy.” He indicated the modern upright piano in the parlor. “Perhaps you’d care to take music lessons.”

  “We’ll see.” Rachel doubted there’d be much opportunity to run numbers for the bookies taking bets, or picking the pockets of unsuspecting crooks. But music lessons?

  “I’m used to working,” she said finally. “I’m not sure I’m cut out for the life of a wife.” She brightened. “Maybe there’s something I can do to help you with your business.”

  Daniel laughed as if she’d said something incredibly funny. “And what might you know about running a shipping firm?”

  “I’m good with numbers, and I’m a fast learner,” Rachel said, determinedly.

  Daniel sobered. “Olivia helps Robert
in his medical clinic. Perhaps there is something you could do at the office. Filing and the like.” Just then, the baby fussed in his carriage. “I suppose we could find someone local to care for Thomas.”

  “I think that would be best,” Rachel said. “I’m not keen on the job of being someone’s ma.”

  Daniel continued to smile indulgently. “I’m sure, given the chance, the role of motherhood will start to grow on you.”

  Chapter 3

  Daniel watched as one of his paddle wheelers pulled up to the dock, the DC logo visible on the hull. Dock workers flew into place to secure the vessel and begin the task of unloading the cargo, and Daniel wondered if they were on their best behavior because he was on scene. Many of the men had been with the company long before he bought it, and were resistant to change.

  He’d started his career slinging crates of supplies from the hold of a ship onto the dock, but soon learned that he was better off hiring men to do the backbreaking labor so he could concentrate on the areas he was good at. Like expanding the business.

  Lately he’d caught wind of troubling signs that something was not quite right with DC Shipping, and as a result he’d been spending more time on the docks and less time in his office. Luckily, his office manager, Andrews, was more than capable of handling that end of things.

  Daniel wasn’t sure if invoices were being padded to charge him for goods not received, or if cargo was disappearing and being rerouted once it hit land, but he was determined to get to the bottom of it, even though he chafed at the distraction. He was keen to get his latest venture, a sightseeing passenger boat up and running.

  Robert’s father, who had started the line, hadn’t been the most upstanding fellow in the shipping industry, and Daniel was working hard to rebuild the company’s reputation. He had been here just over three years, and while he disliked backpedaling newer projects to supervise the day-to-day ins and outs, it had to be done. So far, he hadn’t found anything to confirm his suspicions, but the numbers definitely weren’t adding up.

  He was deep in thought and didn’t notice Rachel arrive until she tugged at his sleeve. He glanced over to see not only his wife, but the carriage with their young son.

  “What a nice surprise.” As far as he knew, it was the first time Rachel had ventured out with the baby.

  “Mrs. Beale is doing some heavy cleaning and gave me the broad hint that it would be better if Thomas and I were out of the house.” She looked around in interest. “Besides, I wanted to see if you’ve found something for me to do around here to make myself useful.”

  Daniel sighed. He had hoped Rachel would forget all about that, and instead, take an interest in Thomas and make friends with the other mothers in town.

  “Not yet,” he said. “Anyway, Mrs. Beale’s niece is still out of town.” Mrs. Beale had offered up her niece, Mandy, to care for Thomas once the girl was back from visiting family in Tucson.

  “I hope the niece gets back soon,” Rachel said. “It seems an awful lot to expect the poor woman to keep house as well as care for Thomas.”

  Daniel opened his mouth to tell Rachel child care was the responsibility of the mother, then closed it again. She wasn’t Thomas’s real mother, and although he didn’t know much about these things, he supposed it took time for a woman to develop feelings for a child that wasn’t hers.

  Just then Thomas began to fuss. Since Rachel seemed oblivious, Daniel picked him up.

  “Mrs. Beale says we’ll spoil him if we pick him up every time he cries,” Rachel said.

  He ignored her words and patted Thomas on the back. Almost immediately the baby produced a huge belch.

  Daniel turned to Rachel. “Did you burp him after he ate?”

  “I tried,” Rachel said, defiantly. “He wouldn’t burp.”

  “Sometimes it takes a while,” Daniel said.

  Rachel squared her shoulders and raised her chin in a way he was coming to recognize as her fighting stance. “And how would I know that?”

  Good question, Daniel thought as he returned the baby to the carriage, and tucked the light blanket around him. He looked over at his wife. “Is something bothering you, Rachel?”

  “I’m used to being busy,” she said. “All I do is sit at home and watch Thomas sleep while I wait for you to return each evening.”

  “You could go shopping,” he said helpfully. “I hear other husbands complain that their wives are always out shopping.”

  “I don’t need anything,” Rachel said.

  Daniel shook his head. Rachel really was a puzzle. Since when did need have anything to do with a woman’s foray into the shops?

  “Why don’t you go visit Olivia?” he asked.

  “I stopped by there earlier,” Rachel said. “Olivia was at Robert’s clinic. She is being useful.”

  “Since you’re here, would you like me to show you around the office?” Daniel asked. “After that I can take you and Thomas out for a bite of lunch.”

  Rachel noticeably brightened, although whether it was the offer of the office tour or the luncheon date, Daniel didn’t know. Women were a lot more difficult to figure out than he would have guessed.

  He had hoped that, by leaving the decision with Rachel, she would eventually seek him out to consummate their marriage. So far, she’d not shown the slightest inclination in that regard, and the last thing he’d expected when he’d advertised for a wife was to have a roommate.

  Rachel was pleased with her decision to visit Daniel at work. And while her experience in the world of business may have skirted the law, she believed she could make herself useful if he’d only give her the chance.

  She’d also anticipated wifely demands would be made of her soon after their vows were exchanged, but Daniel seemed quite content with the way things were between them. It seemed like he took more interest in Thomas than he did in her.

  All she remembered about her own parents’ marriage was that Da had been a big, loud man and Ma had been sickly. She didn’t know how old she was when Da failed to come home, she must have been four or five, but Ma fell into a deep decline and eventually Aunt Theresa showed up and took Rachel away.

  Life with her aunt was her initiation into a world where you took whatever you could, regardless of who it belonged to. Aunt Theresa taught her to play up her innocent look so folks would never suspect her of picking their pocket, or lifting food and goods from the market stands.

  Shortly before she passed, Aunt Theresa had set her up at the squat with the other ladies and taught her to run numbers for the neighborhood bookies. Her aunt recognized that she had an aptitude for numbers, and the men she worked for thought so, too. Before long she was off the street and in the office looking after the accounts, where keeping two sets of books had come naturally. The work didn’t pay much and she still needed sticky fingers in order to survive, but from that time on she only stole from people who either deserved it or could afford it. Preferably both.

  What would Aunt Theresa think of her now—married to a successful business man and living in a fancy house? One thing was for sure, Aunt Theresa believed idle hands were a sin against nature, even if those busy hands operated on the wrong side of the law. Laws were for rich folk, her aunt always said.

  Rachel followed Daniel, who carried Thomas up a flight of steps on the far side of the warehouse.

  “This is the office,” he said. The large room he showed her sat directly atop the warehouse and boasted a view of the river. A lone man was seated at a desk laboring over ledgers, and Rachel’s fingers itched to pick up a pencil and start tallying columns.

  She pointed to the empty desk at the far end of the room. “Is that where you normally sit?”

  “When I’m here,” Daniel said. “Right now, I’m needed on the docks more. This is Andrews. He’s in charge when I’m not here. Andrews, my wife has a hankering to come lend a hand one of these days. Think you could find her something to keep her busy?”

  Andrews sent her a surly, sideways look that Daniel missed.
“Ain’t got no time to be schooling someone on the way things work around here.”

  “Didn’t you tell me you could use an extra set of hands to catch up with the accounting? I’m still waiting on those final reports from last quarter’s activities.”

  “I’m getting to them soon as I can,” Andrews said.

  Rachel didn’t care for the man’s attitude or the way he spoke to Daniel. She’d met men like him before, with their weasel eyes and their weasel ways, and they always bore watching. The fact that he didn’t want her anywhere near the place made her all the more determined to keep after Daniel until it happened.

  Just then Thomas fussed in his sleep. Andrews threw down his pencil in disgust. “How’m I supposed to work with a baby whining in my ear?”

  The stern expression Daniel turned toward his employee hinted he could be a formidable boss when he put his mind to it. “We’re on our way out. I expect those waybills from Talbot’s on my desk when I return.”

  Outside, Daniel tucked Thomas back into the carriage. “It’ll have to be a quick lunch. I need to get back.”

  “That’s fine with me,” Rachel said. Already her brain was in full running mode. Something was going on in that office, and she had a feeling the issue lay with Andrews.

  “How long has Andrews worked here?” she asked casually as they walked, Daniel pushing the carriage.

  “Longer than I have,” Daniel said. “He worked for Robert’s father for years before Robert inherited the business and sold it to me. There was a lot I didn’t know about the way things are done here, and he’s proven himself invaluable. Why?”

  “Just wondered,” Rachel said. Impulsively, she tucked her arm through Daniel’s and rested one hand next to his on the carriage’s handle. “I hope you don’t mind that we showed up today, unannounced.”

  Daniel gazed down at her with a smile. “Mind? I am delighted.”

  “Good.” Rachel nodded, feeling herself steps closer to being Daniel’s helpmate as well as his wife. Olivia had warned her it might take some time, given that, up to this point, Daniel had spent his entire life on his own.