Read Online Bride of Paradise by Katie Crabapple - Free Book Online Page A

head at her.  “I’m just going to put them wherever I can find room so you can go through them.”
    She nodded, smiling shyly at the men.  She assumed they were from the church, but she had no idea.  She put their breakfast in the oven when it was finished so it would keep warm before going in to make the bed.  She wanted to use her own sheets on it, but that would have to wait until tomorrow when she’d had a chance to go through everything.
    For today, she’d find places for all her things, and scrub the small house.  She hated dirt to be anywhere, and all of the windows were full of grime.  The floor had footprints on it.  She had a lot of work to do.
    It took the men almost an hour to get all the trunks into the house, and they were scattered everywhere.  She could barely walk through the house by the time Samuel thanked them and they left. 
    “Are you hungry?” she asked.
    He nodded, taking his seat at the table.  “I am.  And I have a sermon to write today, so I’ll be putting in a lot of hours.  I’ll come home for lunch, but will have to go back.   I usually only work half days on Fridays, but I was gone so much this week that I need to put in a full day today and tomorrow as well.”
    “I’ll have lunch ready around noon.  Will that work out for you?”
    “That sounds good.”
    She put the food onto the table, and he said a prayer for them.  While they ate, he asked, “What do you have planned for today?”
    “I need to deal with all the trunks first.  Is there anything in particular you need me to do other than that?”
    He shook his head.  “No, I think the trunks need to be your first priority.”
    She looked out at the sea of trunks covering the floor.  She couldn’t disagree with that.  “I’ll have them taken care of before I do anything else.  Other than cook lunch, of course.”
    When he left for the church, she spent time slowly walking through the house and getting acquainted with it.  There was a small dresser in the bedroom, and he’d cleared out two drawers for her, which was nice, but she’d need those two drawers plus another dresser.  There wasn’t a place to hang clothes, so she’d have to get creative there.  She had a little money of her own, so she decided to walk to the mercantile and see what she could come up with.
    Once she was outside, she realized she had no idea where the mercantile was.  A woman was passing her, dressed in an old dress that looked like it had seen better days.  Kristen smoothed her bright yellow dress down and smiled.   She would be the best dressed woman in town.  There was no doubt about that.  “Excuse me, ma’am?”
    The woman turned.  “Yes?”
    “Can you tell me where the mercantile is?”
    “I’m on my way there now.  Would you like to just walk with me?”  She was younger than Kristen had first thought, probably not much older than she was. 
    “I’d love that.”  She smiled at the other woman.  “I’m Kristen Benner.”  The new name felt strange on her lips.
    “Oh!  You’re the new pastor’s wife.”
    Kristen nodded.  “Do you go to our church?” she asked.
    “Yes, I do!  My husband and I were married by Pastor Benner just three months ago.”  The woman didn’t seem to be in a hurry, so Kristen ambled along beside her, wishing she knew of a way to ask her to hurry without being so blunt.  She had a lot of work to do that day.
    “Oh, how nice.  What’s your name?”  It hadn’t occurred to her that Samuel had already performed some weddings.  It made sense, though.
    “ Adelaide Tomlinson.”  She pointed.  “There’s the store.  Where are you from?”
    “Dallas.”  Kristen didn’t realize how forlorn she sounded when she mentioned her home town.
    Adelaide smiled.  “Paradise is a nice place.  You’ll like it here.  I promise.”
    Kristen sighed.  “I hope so!”  They walked into the store, and she went to the merchant.  “Do you have any dressers?  Or