Read Online Mail Order Mishap: Christian Romance (Kansas Brides Book 1) by Barbara Goss - Free Book Online Page B

knew it wasn’t true. Garrett, bless his heart, had taken it upon himself to see to her safety. She’d have to thank him, yet again.
    “You can tell me to mind my own business,” Edna said, “but you don’t seem happy for a newly married woman. Is there a problem? Is there anything I can do?”
    “I’d never tell you to mind your own business, Edna. You're the closest friend I have here in Hunter’s Grove. I just…I just can’t get used to Charles’s obsession with Clint and the hotel. I hardly ever see him, and I’m just a bit lonely. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time, though.”
    “I’m glad it’s nothing serious. I’m sure when the babies start coming you won't miss your husband as much. You know you’re always welcome to visit me.”
    “Thank you, Edna.” Amber squeezed her eyes shut to keep her tears from falling.
     
    Amber spent the remainder of the day working in the garden. She painted the bench, cleared dead roses out of the leaning trellises, which she straightened. Then she planted the miniature roses she’d purchased. She knew it would take time for them to climb their way up the trellises, but by the look of the way her life was headed, she’d most certainly be there to see it happen.
    She planted more flowers around the yard, and then almost sat on the bench she’d just painted, but caught herself just in time. When she'd recovered, she went into the house, made a sign that warned of the wet paint, and pinned it to the tree behind the bench.
    Edna’s words came back to haunt her. She knew there'd be no children for her and Charles, and she felt herself begin to tear up once more. She couldn’t let Garrett catch her in tears again, so she went into her bedroom to have a cry, and cry, she did. She cried her heart out. There was nothing she wanted more than a happy marriage and babies, and she'd ended up with neither.
    When she was done, she dried her tears, fell to her knees, and prayed.
     

     
    When Garrett came home from work he found Charles stirring a pot on the stove.
    “Your favorite tonight, Garrett: pork roast with gravy,” Charles said.
    “I’d like a word with you,” Garrett said sternly.
    “Can’t it wait? I don’t want the gravy to burn—”
    “To blazes with the gravy! Take it off the stove!” Garrett demanded.
    Charles pulled the gravy from the fire. “What is so important?”
    “Where's your wife?” Garrett asked in a whisper.
    “She’s visiting Edna. I believe she’s having dinner with her. Why?”
    Garrett pointed to the kitchen chair. “Sit.”
    “Yes, sir.” Charles sat down across from him.
    “I want this foolishness to stop—now!” Garrett said.
    “What foolishness?”
    “You need to be a husband to that unfortunate woman who married you in good faith. She promised you her dowry, and you treat her like a sack of potatoes. What’s wrong with you? Honestly, you remind me more of our father each day.”
    “ Our father?” Charles asked. “I distinctly recall my father accusing our mother of having an affair with someone who he thought was your father.”
    “And mother swore to me on her death bed that it wasn’t true,” he said. “Mother said I arrived early, and I believe her. Father loved to bring the question of mother’s fidelity up each time they fought.”
    “Since she's my mother, too, I tend to believe her,” Charles said. “I was trying to rile you up, is all.”
    “But my paternity is neither here nor there. The subject is about you and the treatment of your wife, so stop changing the subject.” Garrett pounded on the table to make his point. “It has to stop.”
    “Actually, I was going to ask you for a big favor regarding the situation. Will you help me, if it helps Amber in the long run?” Charles’s voice softened as it usually did when he wanted something.
    “What?”
    “It’ll bring you pleasure, and at the same time it will help me out of this self-imposed dilemma,” Charles said.
    “Well, spit it