The Homesteader's Sweetheart Read online

  “Thank you for your help on this trip. You’ve proved yourself a good hand.”

  Sam’s surprised glance and the bashful hint of pride before he turned his face to his task told Jonas enough. He wasn’t used to compliments. Probably not used to having to work for himself, either, but Jonas had spoken true: Sam had done a good job so far.

  “And I know your granddad is happy to have your help around his place.”

  Sam kept his eyes on his saddle fastenings this time. Jonas wanted to encourage him in the same way he would’ve encouraged Maxwell or any of his other boys. What could he say that would connect with Sam?

  “A man feels a certain sense of pride when he does a good job. Even if no one else notices.”

  Jonas clapped one hand on the boy’s shoulder and then turned to find his bedroll.

  * * *

  Breanna and Seb settled for the night, Penny joined her grandfather in the kitchen, hoping to steal a few moments to work on the dress she was sewing for Breanna. Walt sat across from her at the scarred kitchen table.

  With the light from the flickering fire and a tapered candle, Penny carefully reviewed the lines of the fabric she’d already pieced together before she tucked in with her needle.

  Mrs. Peterson from the mercantile had given her such a deal on the fabric that she’d bought enough to make a shirt for each of the boys and one for Jonas, too, but with two children underfoot in the evenings, she’d been hard-pressed to find time to make the new garments. She wanted them to be a surprise. She could just imagine the looks on the children’s faces when they saw their gifts.

  “You know, Penny-girl…” Her grandfather started to speak, then hesitated. “I was dozin’ on Sunday afternoon while you and Jonas were talkin’, but I came awake before the end of it. I know you’re used to your high society fellas—”

  Penny interrupted him, holding up a needle pinched between her fingers, to halt his words. “I don’t look down on Jonas because of his upbringing, if that’s what you’re getting after.”

  Her grandfather looked surprised. He shifted in his seat. “Well, good.”

  “In fact, what he’s had to overcome makes me admire him more.”

  It was true. She’d thought he had a soft heart when she’d guessed what he’d done for the boys and after she’d learned the truth about Breanna, but finding out that Jonas had been abandoned and yet had managed to make a successful life for himself and his family made her admire him even more.

  And those vulnerable moments where he’d shown her the boy inside still searching for love…well, they touched her heart.

  She didn’t know what to do with her growing feelings. She hadn’t planned to feel anything more than friendship for her grandfather’s neighbor, but her emotions hadn’t waited for permission to become engaged.

  “Jonas is a good man. He’ll make a good husband.”

  A flush climbed into her cheeks. “Grandfather—”

  This time it was her grandfather who interrupted her. “I’m not saying you’re looking—I’m not saying you’re not, mind—but he’s got as many good qualities as those highfalutin fellas you’re used to. He’s got the strength to survive this land. He cares for those young’uns like his own kin. Your gran loved him.”

  Penny looked down at the pink-sprigged material spread over the table, traced one of the lines with her index finger. “I’m learning that Jonas is all those thing. But, Grandfather…I’m not sure I could be a homesteader’s wife.”

  She looked up to find him considering her patiently. It gave her the courage to go on. “I remember Gran being so good at things…she was the best cook around. Could sew anything, managed the household…” She waved her hand to indicate the charred wall behind the stove. “I can’t even fry an egg!”

  He chuckled, his bristly white mustache quivering. “Your gran didn’t start out that way. Oh, her ma taught her some things, some basic cooking skills. But when she married me at seventeen, she didn’t know anything about living on a homestead. She burnt our biscuits a few times ’fore she got the hang of things.”

  Her grandfather’s voice trailed off, a sad smile lingering on his face. Penny knew he still thought about her gran often. They’d loved each other so much. That was what Penny wanted in a husband, that kind of devotion.

  “She loved this land,” he went on. “And she loved me. That’s what made our marriage work, even through the hard times.”

  Her grandfather stood up and moved toward her, clasped her hand in one of his wrinkled paws. “That’s what kind of love Jonas deserves. And you do, too.” He patted her hand. “G’night, sweetheart.”

  “Goodnight.”

  Penny contemplated her grandfather’s words as she tied off her thread and nipped off the extra. She remembered Breanna’s wide eyes when she’d admired the store-bought dress back in Calvin’s General Store, and Penny wanted this gift to be perfect for the girl she was coming to love.

  She agreed with her grandfather that Jonas deserved someone special for his wife. Problem was, even with her burgeoning feelings, she wasn’t sure that person was her.

  * * *

  The sun had set, but Penny remained at the Whites’, trying to concentrate on mending a tear in Ricky’s shirt and listen to Maxwell practice his words at the same time. While ignoring the noise emanating from Davy and Seb wrestling on the floor and Edgar picking at a banged-up banjo.

  “You’re doing well,” she said when Maxwell paused, giving the boy a gentle smile.

  And he was. Although his schooling had apparently been spotty, he could make out most of the letters and knew their sounds. And he was intelligent. Penny thought he’d be reading just fine with a few months of additional practice.

  It was Jonas’s curious, furtive glances from across the room that intrigued her and made her think perhaps Maxwell wasn’t the only one with an unfinished education.

  But the last thing she wanted to do was embarrass him in front of his children. She would wait to ask him about it later.

  Instead, she asked, “Jonas, Mrs. Peterson asked me to remind you about the barn-raising next week. Grandfather said he wanted to go. Are you taking the children?”

  Her query was met with a tense look, but before Jonas could answer, Breanna exclaimed, “Oh, yes, Pa, let’s go! Can we?”

  “May we,” Penny corrected gently.

  “May we, may we?” the girl chanted, bouncing on the balls of her feet. The wrestling boys quieted and looked expectantly to their father for his answer.

  Oscar, next to Penny, lowered his head over his clasped hands with a slight shake.

  “I don’t know,” came Jonas’s quiet reply.

  “Aw, Pa, we never git to go!”

  Maxwell shushed Seb, while Breanna cried, “But I want to see my friends!”

  Penny wondered what she’d started. Her question had been asked in innocence, just relaying Mrs. Peterson’s query, but the children’s reactions surprised her.

  “We still have some things to get done around here before we start haying; Maxwell’s trying to get his filly trained, and there are other tasks as well. We may not have time to attend the barn-raising. We’ll have to see.”

  A couple of the boys’ shoulders slumped, and Breanna wilted. Maxwell and Oscar showed no reaction. Jaw tight, Jonas rose and went to the door, grabbing his hat off a peg on the wall.

  “I’m sure you’re tuckered, Miss Penny.” He spoke without looking back to see the children’s disappointed miens. “I’ll get the roan saddled up and take you home.”

  “I can walk,” she said, because her grandfather had mentioned there was a full moon tonight. It would give her enough light to see by.

  “That’s all right.” His words rang with finality, and he shut the door behind him without looking back.

  The children were unnaturally quiet as she tucked the mending into a basket and gathered up the shawl she’d borrowed from amongst her grandmother’s things. Even in summer, the Wyoming evenings cooled off.
/>   “Is Pa ashamed of us?”

  Her head came up at the question and its asker. It hadn’t come from Seb or Breanna, like she might expect, but from Ricky, who always seemed confident, but now wouldn’t quite meet her eye.

  “He ain’t,” Oscar said, voice lacking conviction.

  “I agree.” Penny infused confidence in her voice. “Your father is very proud of each of you.”

  “Then why won’t he take us to the barn-raising? Or Patty Neel’s weddin’ last month?” This came from Davy, still sprawled on the floor.

  “Does your father always tell you the truth?” Penny’s query earned frowns all around as they tried to dissect her question.

  “Yep,” Seb answered matter-of-factly. Some of the other boys nodded.

  “Then, if your father says there’s work to be done, is there really work to be done?”

  “Yes,” a couple of voices chorused, sounding more sure of themselves.

  Maxwell’s head remained down, though, as if focused on his work, but as Penny watched, the finger he’d been using earlier to trace the words didn’t move. He just stared down at the primer. She wanted to reassure him, so she placed a hand on his shoulder. He jumped, finally looking up, surprise on his face.

  “Your pa loves you.”

  She squeezed his shoulder and he nodded, but he still seemed too serious. Unfortunately, with Jonas waiting, she didn’t have time to reassure him further.

  “Goodnight, everyone.”

  * * *

  Jonas waited for Penny at the bottom of the porch steps, one of the horses saddled nearby. He could see her saying her goodbyes through the lighted window, but he remained in the shadows.

  It was an appropriate metaphor for how he felt tonight, the first night his family had been back together since he and the boys had driven the cattle down to Cheyenne. It seemed as if Penny had bonded with each of them, although Edgar still looked on her somewhat suspiciously, and they surrounded her like a flock of chattering sparrows.

  Leaving Jonas an outsider, the way he’d felt for most of his life.

  He was glad for his children. He knew the boys and especially Breanna needed a woman’s touch in their lives, but part of him also wanted to be part of their grouping.

  And that was the real problem. His few days away from home hadn’t resolved his feelings in the least. When he’d ridden into the yard this afternoon and seen Penny, his heart had leaped in his chest.

  He was troubled. He might be falling in love with her. And if he was, that would be a disaster, because she was going to go back home to Calvin and find a well-to-do husband.

  The door opened, spilling light onto the porch. Penny murmured a final goodbye over her shoulder and the door closed, leaving them alone.

  The moon gilded her hair to gold when she joined him. He turned away, afraid of what he might do—reach out for her?—if he looked too long. Instead, he quickly mounted up and boosted her up behind him.

  They rode in silence, until he couldn’t bear it anymore and asked, “Were the children upset?” His voice emerged rougher than he intended it to be.

  “They were trying to understand why they don’t get to attend many community events.” Her soft-spoken words warmed his ear; her chin pressed against his shoulder.

  “It’s just that…”

  She squeezed his sides when his voice trailed off.

  He wasn’t sure she would understand, but knew she wasn’t likely to drop it. Nosy woman. “I don’t want them to be ashamed to be part of this family.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s—we can’t afford new clothes every season and I don’t want folks looking down on my children.”

  It was more than that. He didn’t want the children to hear the snide remarks some people made. Couldn’t she understand he was trying to protect his family?

  “So if you had some new clothes, you’d go to the barn-raising?”

  He exhaled hard, hearing something masked in her voice but not able to tell what. “It’s not just that. Not everyone in the community likes us. Some of the folks think the boys are troublemakers, just because of where they’ve come from. Worried they might steal things or get into fights or…I don’t even know.”

  “Not everyone feels that way.”

  He assumed she meant Walt. “I know. Walt has been a good friend.”

  “It’s not just him.” Penny shook her head, her chin brushing against his shoulder. “There are others who admire you and what you’ve done.”

  Was she talking about herself? Was it possible she admired him? He was scared to know.

  “If you asked, some of them might be willing to speak on the boys’ behalf.”

  He opened his mouth to say something, and she must’ve felt his tension because she rushed on, “Not publicly, but if some of the people in town spread the word that the boys can be trusted, maybe some of those bad feelings would dissipate.”

  It was a kind thought, especially for someone like him, who’d never had anyone to stand up for him, but—

  “It’s nice that you want to make things better for them.”

  “And for you,” she put in.

  “But what happens when you go back to Calvin and your life there? When they have to face the Bear Creek residents without your support?”

  She was silent for a long moment. “Then I would hope that what I’ve given them—whether reading lessons or confidence to speak to others in town or…anything else—” he wondered at the catch in her voice “—would stay with them.”

  Again, it was a tender sentiment, but as someone who’d been left behind before, the memories that remained when someone left you weren’t always the nice ones like Penny mentioned.

  “I…um…” He’d never heard her so unsure as she sounded now. “I noticed…well, I thought—would you want to join in on Maxwell’s reading lessons?”

  He ground his back teeth. How had she guessed he couldn’t read?

  “I know you didn’t have an easy childhood. Were you able to go to school at all?”

  “For a few months,” he said tightly. The months he’d been in the orphanage, before he’d run back to the streets.

  “You could certainly sit in on Maxwell’s lessons. If you wanted,” she added quickly. “Or we could spend a half an hour with a primer during lunchtime if you didn’t want the children to know.”

  She finally stopped talking, maybe realizing he hadn’t responded. He didn’t mean for his lack of education to be a sore point, but he wanted her to think well of him.

  “Thank you for the offer, but I’m already stretched thin trying to get everything taken care of on our place and the Sumners. And you’re staying late with Maxwell already. I don’t want to make more work for you.” And he didn’t think his heart could take any more time spent closely with her. Not if he wanted to remain unattached.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Careful,” Jonas warned Oscar from his perch on the skeleton frame of the Smiths’ new barn roof. The teen nodded, lips pressed around a handful of nails.

  Jonas had reluctantly agreed to the barn-raising for the young couple from church because some of the boys kept asking about it—and because Maxwell did not ask. Penny had told him of Maxwell’s subdued reactions, and Jonas hadn’t wanted any of the boys to think he was ashamed of them. Penny and Sam had ridden along, but Walt had elected to stay home for the event.

  He hadn’t taken up Penny on her offer to teach him to read. Jonas knew she’d made the offer out of kindness, but he didn’t want her to feel sorry for him. Not in any way.

  And he’d been anxious about getting closer to her. His emotions were already out of control. He didn’t want to fall further in love with her, not when things could never work between them.

  Now, mid-morning, he was part of the roofing crew, and he couldn’t help but be aware of Penny on the ground as she weaved among the visiting women, Breanna sometimes by her side and sometimes off playing with the other children. Breanna with her new dr
ess…

  Nor could he ignore an awareness of his sons, each wearing a bright, clean, new shirt. Usually, the boys wore hand-me-downs, with Oscar and Maxwell receiving the new items because they were biggest. The joy they’d expressed last night when Penny had gifted them with the shirts and again this morning as they’d donned the brand-new clothing pinched his heart. He wished he could do more for them.

  He hadn’t yet worn the pale blue shirt she’d given him along with a sweet, sincere smile. He’d sat on the edge of his bed for a long time last night, moonlight streaming through his window, fingering the garment Penny had made for him.

  It had been a very long time since anyone had given him a gift, other than the little trinkets he received from the children at Christmas.

  And no one had ever given him something so fine. He kept thinking of all the time she must have spent making it.

  Almost like a wife or mother, making clothing for the ones she loved. How many nights had she sat up late, working on the garments for his family? Why had she done it? Not out of pity or surely he would have seen it on her face. But he couldn’t figure it out.

  Those thoughts had crowded his mind, making sleep impossible until the moon had passed much farther across his window than he’d intended.

  He hadn’t dared to wear the shirt this morning. Too afraid to soil it or rip it while he worked with the other men, he’d worn one of his older work shirts. And Penny hadn’t seemed to mind, if her cheerfulness this morning was any indication.

  Nor did it seem to bother her now, as he glanced down to find her shading her eyes and looking up at him.

  She waved. “You thirsty? I’ll bring some water.”

  He found himself nodding even as she scurried away and returned with a water bucket. For a moment he thought she was going to ascend the ladder herself, but Ricky’s head popped up over the edge of the half-finished structure.

  “Stay there,” he told his son. “We’ll come to you.”

  Oscar was much more light of foot than Jonas on the roof. Jonas kept thinking about how far they were from the ground. Oscar met Ricky at the ladder first, quickly slurping from the community dipper. Jonas arrived as Oscar finished and accepted the dipper from his son. “Thank ya, Ricky.”