His head bobbed forward like a rooster. “Grub? Are you serious?”
She raised her chin, not liking how he made her feel with his tone. “Yes, sir, I am serious. You wanna eat, don’t ya?”
“Well, yes, but you don’t have to hunt for any grub,” he said the word grub as if he hadn’t ever heard it before. “I’m assuming grub refers to food.”
Sure enough, he hadn’t.
“I have a cellar and a pantry full of meat and anything else you might need. Here. I’ll show you.” Michael walked over to a small room off the kitchen, opened the door and stepped to the side.
Selina came up beside him at the doorway entry and peered inside. Her eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets. The room was filled with canned goods, a large bag of flour and sugar, eggs, coffee, cornmeal and just about anything a body would need to fix a meal. Except she didn’t see any meat.
“That door at the end of the pantry leads into the cellar,” he said from behind her. A little too close behind her as far as she was concerned. She squirmed forward, but his broad-shouldered body took up most of the small space. Thing was, it didn’t seem that small before he stepped into it.
Wood, soap and peppermint scents drifted from him. He sure smelled nice.
Swallowing to stop the thoughts, she moved farther into the room, putting even more space between them.
“You’ll find whatever meat you need down there along with fresh vegetables and canned fruit.”
Selina opened the door and squatted, trying to see in the dark hole but couldn’t. It was coal black. When she stood, Michael picked up a lantern and matches from one of the shelves and lit it.
“Here. Take this.”
She took it from him and made her way slowly down the steep, narrow stairs, expecting one of them to give way any time, but they never did. They were nothing like the rickety steps back home. These were nice and sturdy.
At the bottom of the steps, she held the lantern up. Jumpin’ crickets! she thought, unable to believe her eyes. One whole side of the room was filled with hanging meat. All sorts of canned goods lined two of the walls. Barrels of taters, carrots, dehydrated apples, turnips and onions lined the other wall. More food than a body could eat in a year.
Michael stepped into the cavelike room, filling it with his presence. She struggled to keep her wits about her as she continued to take in what was before her. “How many will I be feedin’?”
“Just you and me.”
Selina whirled. “All a this food is just for the two of us?”
“Yes. I wanted to make sure there was plenty when you got here. We butchered a few head of cows and some pigs and divided the meat. Mother, Rainee, Hannah and Leah canned all the fruits and vegetables and the fish and chicken, you see.”
“There sure is a lot of it. Must’ve taken them a long time to put up so much. Well, from now on, I can do ours so they won’t have to.”
“You know how to can?”
“Sure do. I told you so in my letters.” Her heart dropped to the dirt floor of the cellar with that slip of the tongue. Now why’d she have to go and bring up them letters for? All that did was remind her that she wasn’t the woman her husband was expecting, that she wasn’t loved and that this wasn’t a real marriage and probably never would be.
“Well, I need to go and finish my chores.” He turned and headed toward the steps.
She followed him, hoping to do something to reclaim her pride. “I’ll help you.”
He stopped on the stair and looked down at her. The man sure had pretty blue eyes.
“Help me? You don’t have to help me. Chores are man’s work.”
“Not where I come from they’re not. Besides, I aim to do my part to earn my keep and to help out around here.”
He raised his hat and forked his fingers through his hair, then put his hat back on. “Selina, you don’t have to earn your keep. You’re my wife.”
A wife you don’t want.
“And no wife of mine is going to do chores.”
Did she just hear what she thought she’d heard?
She planted her hands on her hips. “And no man is ever gonna tell me what to do.”
Not even her husband—no, make that especially not her husband. She’d never let him bully or boss her around or tell her what she could and couldn’t do like her cousin Mary’s husband had done. Mary had always been a cheerful and happy sort until she’d gotten hitched. Her husband stripped the life out of her with his controlling, bullying ways. He’d broken Mary’s spirit until she was walking and acting like some dead person. Even worse, Mary had let him.
Well, not this gal.
Michael came back down the stairs and looked her right in the eyes. “I’ll say it again. Chores are man’s work and no wife of mine is going to do men’s chores.”
Just who did this sidewinder think he was, bossing her around like that? She stepped even closer, coming toe-to-toe with him. “And I’ll say it again. No man is ever gonna tell me what I can or can’t do.” Selina refused to be beholden to anybody. She’d seen the ugliness of that, too.
He closed the distance between them until they were almost nose-to-nose. “You’re not doing chores and that’s final.” With one more hard look he whirled and stomped up the stairs.
Well, she could stomp just as hard as he could and she did, too, until she met up with him. Then, she bolted past him and was out the door and in the buckboard before he even made it to the wagon.
He climbed aboard and glanced at her. “You’re incorrigible. You know that?” He snatched up the reins and slapped his horses on the behind. The wagon lurched forward.
She didn’t know what that word meant, but she had a feeling it wasn’t good.
Michael rounded the trees by the main ranch. Oh, no. He should have known his family would do something like this. Neighbors, family and friends filled the ranch yard, along with benches, tables loaded with food and two large signs.
One read: Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Michael Bowen.
The other: Welcome to our family and community, Selina.
The first thought that struck him was his wife’s attire; the second was he hoped she wouldn’t open her mouth. He wanted to turn the horses around and head back home before anyone caught sight of them.
“Here they come,” his sister-in-law Rainee hollered. Rainee waddled toward them as fast as her pregnant belly would allow. Before he could think of a good way to get them out of there, she stepped up to Selina’s side of the wagon and offered her a big welcoming smile. “Selina. Welcome to the family.”
With no grace whatsoever, Selina
