Read Online Smoke River Bride by Lynna Banning - Free Book Online Page B

in the fireplace and straightened the sparse shelf of books. She recognized all the titles; thanks to Father’s supervision of her schooling, she had read every one.
    But being well educated had not prepared her for life on an Oregon ranch. What should she cook for Thad’s supper? Beans, perhaps. And more biscuits? She hoped she could remember how to make biscuits.
    In the pantry she found the bag of potatoes and a braid of onions and one of garlic; she used both to flavor the beans. Finally she cut up a double handful of apples, loaded theslices into an iron skillet and sprinkled a mixture of flour, sugar and butter over the top.
    Later Ellie stopped by to take Leah to the dressmaker in town. She had made a list of things she needed at the mercantile. Dried beans. Mustard and cinnamon. And green tea. But more than buying supplies, it was the visit to the dressmaker that made her uneasy.
    The minute Leah climbed into the small black buggy, Ellie reached over and laid a book in her lap.
“Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt-Book,”
she read aloud. “Recipes!” She opened the book at once.
    Potato soup. Scalloped potatoes. Strawberry shortcake! “Oh, thank you, Ellie.”
    “My mother sent it from Boston,” Ellie said drily as she flapped the horse’s reins. “That is the third cookbook she’s sent since Matt and I were married last summer. It’s yours.”
    Leah devoured the book until the buggy pulled up in front of the seamstress’s shop. The painted sign over the display window read
Verena Forester, Dressmaker
. Suddenly Leah’s stomach knotted.
    With the recipe book Ellie had given her she could learn to cook the American way. Now she must calm her jittery nerves and learn to dress herself like an Americanwoman. With Western-style garments, she prayed she would fit in.
    At the first tinkle of the bell mounted over the door, Leah felt a surge of hope.
    Ellie approached the eagle-eyed woman behind the Butterick pattern stand. “Verena, this is Mrs. Thad MacAllister.”
    The woman’s thin eyebrows rose. Her once-dark hair was gray-streaked, and her pinched face was white as flour paste.
    “How-do,” she said in a toneless voice.
    Leah attempted a smile. “How do you do, Mrs. Forester?”
    “It’s
Miss
Forester, if you don’t mind.”
    Leah covertly studied the woman while Ellie explained their mission.
    “A skirt for Miz MacAllister?” Miss Forester barked. Her voice sounded tight as a Chinese drumhead.
    “Yes,” Leah said. “For me.”
    “Take off yer coat, then,” Miss Forester snapped.
    Leah slipped off the gray wool garment, revealing her boy’s jeans and plaid shirt.
    The older woman’s small eyes narrowed. “Huh. Sure could use some advice.” She pulled a tape measure from her pocket andflicked it around Leah’s waist. “What didja have in mind?”
    Leah looked to Ellie for help.
    “A plain work skirt, Verena,” the teacher said. “And a shirtwaist.”
    “Any lace?”
    “Just a bit at the neck, I think. Mrs. MacAllister lives on a—”
    “I know right enough where she lives,” Verena declared. “Isn’t like I never heard of Thad MacAllister. Isn’t like I’d forget a man like him. Thad and I are old friends. Good friends.”
    Something in the woman’s tone made Leah blanch, but Ellie ignored the dressmaker’s pointed words. “Make the skirt of gray melton cloth, if you have it,” she directed. “And the shirtwaist of…let’s see…percale. Would you have a gray-and-white stripe?”
    “Nope.”
    “Oh, could it be red-and-white?” Leah blurted. “Red is a very lucky color in China.”
    “Ain’t in China now,” Verena muttered. “I have a red striped muslin that’ll do for the likes of you, seein’ as you’re a—”
    Ellie jerked her hand away from a bolt of black sateen. “Verena!”
    “Ain’t used to Celestials,” Verena mumbled.“They talk funny. Look funny. Dress funny.”
    Leah stepped up to the counter. “I am sorry if it offends you, Miss Forester.