Cora: Bride of South Dakota (American Mail-Order Bride 40) Read Online Free PDF Page B

wanted the city. I want the peace and quiet of the country.”
     
    “Leave ’em be, Sarah. They’ll marry when they’re good and ready.” Josiah Franklin, his father, said.
     
    “Your parents are as bad as my pa, John. Every time he sees me he asks when I’m gonna settle down. I keep tellin’ him, it isn’t gonna happen,” Sam said.
     
    They all laughed at Sam’s determination to remain single.
     
    “You’ll get caught one day, son,” Josiah said. “All good men do.”
     
    “Are you staying for supper?” Sarah asked.
     
    “No, we have to get back, Ma. We’ve got a wagonload of supplies and chores to be done,” John said.
     
    Sarah’s shoulders slumped with disappointment.
     
    “Next time, Ma, I promise.” John handed his mother the mail, keeping his own letter clutched in his hand. He watched as his mothers’ eyes locked on it. She struggled with her curiosity and he saw the sparkle in her eyes as it finally got the better of her.
     
    “Who’s your letter from? It looks like a woman’s handwriting,” she said.
     
    John turned it over again as he glanced down. He suspected what it was about and nerves settled in his belly. He hadn’t mentioned the advertisement to anyone, he wanted to wait and see if he received any responses. “I don’t know who it’s from. It’s postmarked, Massachusetts.”
     
    “Why would you get a letter from someone in Massachusetts, you don’t know anyone there?” his mother said.
     
    “No, I don’t,” he conceded.
     
    “Open it,” Sam said.
     
    John hesitated, he suspected the letter would be private. “No, I’ll open it when I get back to the ranch.”
     
    “Why?” his mother asked.
     
    “I want to get my chores done and read it when I relax.” A feeble excuse, John thought but didn’t want his Ma and Pa to know what he was up to, well not yet anyway.
     
    “But, I want to know who it’s from and what it says,” his mother insisted.
     
    Josiah rested his hand on her arm, “Leave the boy alone, Sarah. He’ll read the letter when he’s ready and tell us about it in his own good time.”
     
    “I’ll wonder about it until I know,” Sarah admitted. Her admission set them all to laughing.
     
    “We have to get going.” John kissed his mother’s cheek and clapped his father on the back. Sam followed suit.
     
    His parents watched from the door of their store as the boy swung themselves onto the seat of the loaded wagon.
     
    “You be careful going home. There’s talk in town, the Sioux have been restless,” Sarah called.
     
    “We’ll be fine,” Sam called back.
     
    John flicked the reins and the horse trotted away.

Chapter Four
     
    The journey back to the Mountainview Ranch was uneventful. The men unpacked the supplies and stored them, brushed, fed and watered the horses and checked the cattle. The ranch was bedded down for the night. Henry, their general hand, John and Sam strode to the house. They toed off their boots by the door and hung the coats on pegs in the hall. They were greeted with a crackling fire in the hearth as they passed by the living room. The aromas of beef stew and freshly baked cornbread competed for pride of place in their nostrils.
     
    “We’ll be there as soon as we’ve washed up,” John shouted towards the kitchen as the three men made their way to the wash basin. They soaped and scrubbed their hands, “anything happen today we need to know about?” John asked Henry.
     
    “We have another four Spring calves and Galloping Gopher was waiting at the base of the hills in the south east corner. He had three of his sons with him,” Henry said.
     
    John frowned as he dried his hands. He’d heard talk that the Sioux were restless and becoming unpredictable but he didn’t think there was any threat to the ranch. “What did he want?”
     
    “They wanted a couple of cows.”
     
    “I’ve told them they can have them as thanks for leaving us in peace.” John had spoken to the Chief several