Read Online Mail Order Cowboy (Love Inspired Historical) by Laurie Kingery - Free Book Online Page B

it?” the shopkeeper asked. “How are you getting along out there? And how are the Matthews girls? And old Josh, is he recovering?”
    â€œNick,” Nick insisted, pleased at Mr. Patterson’s warm reception after the way Bill Waters had acted. He extended his hand and the other took it. “I’m well, thank you, and Miss Milly and Miss Sarah are doing fine. Josh is feeling better, though he’s still in pain fromhis wounds, of course. I’ll tell them you asked about them.”
    â€œYou do that,” the other said. He looked up, and raised his voice to carry to the far end of the store, where two older men were bent over a game of checkers. “Hey, Reverend—here’s Nick Brookfield, that English fellow who’s helping out at the Matthews ranch. Maybe he could tell you what you were wantin’ t’know.”
    The white-haired minister who had come out to the ranch yesterday looked up, then rose and bustled over to him. “Mr. Brookfield, hello,” he said, extending his hand.
    â€œNick,” he insisted again. “I know Miss Milly and Miss Sarah would want me to thank you again for that very tasty ham.”
    â€œOh, that was little enough. We were happy to do it,” the old man said, beaming.
    â€œWhat is it I may tell you, Reverend?”
    â€œI was hoping,” the preacher said, “that you might be able to suggest what else we—as a town, that is—could do for Milly and Sarah. I’ve known those two young ladies since they were babies, and I’m troubled about the situation they’ve been left in, especially after the Indian attack two days ago. I asked Milly, but I’m afraid she’s determined to be self-sufficient, and I wouldn’t want there to be something we could do to assist that she’s ashamed to ask for.”
    Nick looked down for a moment, rubbing his chin. He wondered if he’d be overstepping his bounds to say what he really thought. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, he supposed. “I’d say their greatest need is for a new barn to replace the one the Comanches burned,” he said.“Would there be any men who’d be willing and able to help them build one?”
    Now it was the other two men’s turn to be thoughtful. “Everyone would want to help, but they’re pretty busy keeping their own ranches or businesses going…”
    â€œBut we could have a barn raising and put it up in a day!” Reverend Chadwick countered, with rising excitement. “Everyone could afford one day away from their own places.”
    â€œYeah, we haven’t had a barn raisin’ in a coon’s age,” put in the man who’d been playing checkers with the preacher, who came forward now. Nick vaguely recognized the man who’d been introduced to him as the livery stable proprietor, although he couldn’t remember his name. “Let’s do it! Our ladies could provide the food, and we could all make a day of it.”
    â€œYou’d all come out and put up a barn for them?” Nick was frankly floored that his tentative request for labor help was meeting with such an enthusiastic response. No wonder Americans had won their independence against the mighty British army—and maintained it in another war just a score of years later, if they always seized the initiative this way.
    â€œSure,” Patterson said with a grin. “It’s hard work, but at the end of the day there’d be a barn standing there, by gum. The ladies always have a great time visiting with each other at these things, and the children run around with each other and play, then nap like puppies in the shade. Usually the day ends with some fiddlin’ music and a big supper.”
    â€œBut what about the lumber needed?” Nick asked.“Miss Milly and Miss Sarah don’t have much in the way of ready cash…”
    â€œNot many do, these days,” Patterson said.