Read Online Tabitha: Bride of Missouri (American Mail-Order Bride 24) by Amelia C. Adams - Free Book Online Page B

“I don’t need anything else. What would you like to carry?”
    “I would like to carry the potatoes. However, since I am somewhat incapacitated at the moment, the spoon it shall be.” He picked it up from the table and brandished it. “And I will wield it proudly.”
    She laughed. “As you should. Now, let’s get back before all the good food is taken.”
    Long tables were set up around the edges of the town square, and ladies from all over town were filling them up with food as fast as they could carry it in. Tabitha spotted the table where the other potato dishes were being set and put hers there as well, then tucked the box underneath the table so it would be out of the way.
    “Now, where does this line start?” she wondered aloud.
    As she and Mr. Scott waited their turn, they chatted merrily, and she enjoyed his humorous responses to nearly everything she said. Humor was important to her—having been raised by two people who rarely found anything funny, she appreciated every chance she got to laugh.
    “What are you doing clear back here?” the mayor boomed as he walked toward them. “Our new Miss Atwater should be at the front of the line!”
    “I’m perfectly fine to wait,” Tabitha said, but he wouldn’t hear any of it. He placed a beefy hand on the small of her back and guided her forward.
    “Make way! Make way for Miss Atwater and her escort for the evening!”
    People stepped to the side to clear a path, and Tabitha wished she could just disappear. That would be much more pleasant.
    “Here you are,” the mayor said, depositing her by the first table. “Enjoy!”
    As he walked off, Tabitha turned to the people behind her who used to be in front. “I’m so sorry,” she said quietly so he wouldn’t hear her. “I was just fine back there.”
    “It’s all right, dear,” the elderly woman said, and her husband nodded. “It’s part of the reward of being Miss Atwater.”
    Tabitha smiled, but then turned to Mr. Scott. “I didn’t even want to be Miss Atwater,” she whispered.
    “Might as well enjoy it while you can,” he replied good-naturedly. “What’s the prize, anyway?”
    “They haven’t said, but I’m sure it comes with embarrassment. Lots and lots of embarrassment.”
    As they moved down the line, Tabitha helped Mr. Scott fill his plate. What would he have done without her help? She was more grateful than ever that the pastor had put them together, and it wasn’t for entirely selfish reasons.
    ***
    “I didn’t realize a man with a cast could be such a good dancer,” Tabitha said as they crossed the street beneath the full moon.
    “And I didn’t realize that being with Miss Atwater would come with so many benefits. First in line at dinner, first on the dance floor, first at the punch bowl . . . If I’d realized all that, I would have asked to escort you right from the very beginning,” Mr. Scott replied.
    Tabitha laughed. “Well, let that serve to teach you a lesson.”
    They reached the walkway up to the post office and paused there. Tabitha balanced her much-lighter box on the top rail of the fence. “You performed your duties most admirably, Mr. Scott,” she said. “The pastor will be very pleased with you.”
    “I’m certainly glad to hear it. But don’t you think it’s time you called me Thomas? We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Of course we are.”
    He nodded. “All right then, Tabitha, I’ll see you at church tomorrow. And at the post office the day after that.”
    “I’ll look forward to it.”
    He saw her safely inside, where she put the box on the table before locking the door behind him. This had been one of the most enjoyable days she’d ever had, but one of the hardest, too.
    The bundle of letters had been on her mind constantly for the last hour. The more she got to know Mr. Scott—er, Thomas—the more she liked him. Giving him those letters would make him a free man, and perhaps once he got over his heartbreak, he’d be willing to think