Read Mail Order Misfit (Brides of Beckham) for Free Online

She hoped he had indoor plumbing as her family had in Massachusetts, but she didn't ask.  She didn't want him to think she was pampered.
    "You ready?" Colin called from the doorway, and she got to her feet, moving slowly and stiffly.  As he watched her move, he hurried across the store and swept her off her feet.
    "Colin, put me down!"  She hoped no one had seen him.  What was he thinking carrying her around that way?  "People will see!"  She looked about her frantically hoping no one was looking at them.
    "My wife is in pain, and if I can help her pain, I will."  He carried her to the wagon and gently placed her on the seat, hurrying around her and climbing up beside her.  He waved his thanks to Mr. Judd and drove away toward the outskirts of town.
    She looked around her at the town, noticing how different it was from Beckham.  "How far out of town do you live?" she asked, trying to make conversation.
    "It takes about thirty minutes to get home from here, so just a few miles."   He liked how close he was to town.  It was an easy drive when he needed to go, but not so close that people from town were always on his doorstep bugging him.
    "How often do you come to town?"   She thought for the first time about how isolated life on a ranch would be.  Would she only see other people one or two times per week?  However it was, it couldn't be worse than feeling like a prisoner in her mother's parlor.
    He laughed.  "Every Sunday for church, and again every time I run out of beans."
    Elaine shook her head.  "I will do my best to never cook beans again.  What kind of beans do you cook?  All different kinds?"  Beans were such an inexpensive meal that she hated taking them out of their diet, but she couldn't cook anything that made him sick to his stomach.
    "I only know how to cook pinto beans, so that's all I've eaten."
    "Well, then we can add other beans into the mix."  She smiled as they left the town and she saw the open prairie ahead of her.  "It's pretty here."  She stared out at the prairie and smiled as she saw a river running along the road to the north.
    He smiled slipping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to him now that they were out of town.  "I love it here.  The prairie is quiet.  I'm primarily a cattle rancher, but I have a couple of cows for milk and some chickens for eggs."   He shrugged.  "What more could I need?"
    "You have eggs and milk but don't know how to cook with them?"   What kind of person didn't know how to cook the food he raised?
    "Well, I drink the milk, and I figured I'd eventually figure out the whole egg thing.  Just never got around to it."  
    She was surprised at that.  "So what do you do with the eggs?"
    "Feed them to the chickens." 
    Elaine sighed.  "You feed the chickens eggs to the chickens.  Really?"
    Colin shrugged.  "I don't know what else to do with them, and chickens will eat just about anything.  They're like pigs."
    "Will you teach me to milk the cows and collect the eggs?  I don't want to feel like I'm not doing my share."   Helping around the ranch was one of the things she'd moved to Kansas expecting to do.  She wasn't going to let up until he taught her what to do.
    He frowned.  "I don't like the idea of you milking the cows, but I'll teach you to collect the eggs."
    She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him.  "And just why can't I learn to milk the cows?"  If he told her that her leg wasn't up to it, she just might show him how strong her leg really was...by kicking him.
    "I don't want my wife to get hurt.  Cows kick sometimes."
    "Do they ever kick you?"  She watched him as he answered her, ready to detect any lie he might be telling.
    "Well, no, but they're used to me."
    She took a deep breath, trying to keep her anger reined in until she was certain he deserved it.  "If you were married to a woman who...didn't have the injury I have, would you let her milk the cow?"
    He thought about her question for a moment,