Madeline: Bride of Nebraska (American Mail-Order Bride 37) Read Online Free PDF Page B

George. He glanced around at the men, as though they might give an indication of how he should answer. Would his nephew even understand what was happening? Would it upset him even more than he already was?
    “Walter finally got the boy to sleep, just before we came out here to dig,” Jim offered in an attempt to help.
    If George had finally settled down, Caleb certainly didn’t want to wake him now. He turned to the reverend and wiped a tear from his eye. “Nah, let him sleep. He won’t understand what’s happening anyhow.”
    Reverend Young gave him an understanding nod and pulled his travel Bible out of his coat pocket. All of the men immediately removed their hats and Reverend Young began the short funeral service.
    When the short prayer service was complete, the four men carefully lowered the caskets into the ground. Jim and Silas offered to stay behind to fill in the graves, for which Caleb was grateful.
    As Caleb returned to the wagon, the reverend followed him instead of heading back to his own horse. Caleb noticed and turned toward him, a curious look on his face.
    The reverend spoke low and quiet. He wasn’t certain what, if anything, Caleb had told his men about his bride. “Now, I know you’ve had quite a horrible day and it’s totally understandable if you did…but did you forget what today is?”
    Caleb chewed his lip for a moment. “Tuesday?” he offered, not certain what the reverend was talking about.
    It took everything in him to not smile at that moment. The reverend knew that Caleb was lost in grief, but how did one forget one’s wedding day? “There’s someone waiting for you at my house,” he hinted and watched Caleb’s face as the realization dawned on him.
    Caleb, dumbfounded that he could have forgotten his wife, stood still for a moment with his mouth hanging open, frozen in shock. He looked up at the setting sun and realized that Madeline’s train must have come in hours ago. A blush swept across his face. What must the reverend think of him! And Madeline!
    Reverend Young could not help but chuckle a little. “C’mon, son. Let’s get the wagon back to your house and get you cleaned up. My wife is taking care of Miss Nelson. She’s waited this long. A little longer won’t hurt none. Unless you’d rather postpone the wedding? She could always stay with us until you got things settled around here.”
    Caleb looked around, as though the answer were lurking nearby and might jump out at him. On the one hand, it would be nice to wait until they had caught his brother’s murderer. They had no idea who it could be, or even if he were still around. Then Caleb remembered little George. He would need Madeline’s help to keep an eye on George while he worked on the ranch and helped the sheriff however he could.
    “Hank, I’ll need your help,” Caleb said loudly as he climbed onto the wagon seat. He looked down at the reverend. “I have a wedding to get to.”
    Hank, who was the only person outside the reverend and his wife who knew about Caleb’s mail order bride, nodded brusquely and mounted his horse.
    Unsettled at the thought of riding alone with a murderer on the loose, Reverend Young nodded. “I’ll ride back with you.” He turned and mounted his horse as well. Together they rode back to the barn to unhitch the oxen and put the wagon away before they cleaned up for the wedding.

 
    Chapter 3
    Madeline felt like a new woman after her bath. Once her hair was washed, she had soaked in the tub until the water began to cool while Ella combed her hair dry before the wood stove, then scrubbed herself clean when Ella left to start making supper.
    Once she was clean and dry, Madeline put on a new dress that she had made while she waited those four days between getting her ticket and boarding the train. It was a simple dress of blue and white gingham with a row of blue buttons down the bodice. She pulled her hair back into a respectable bun and made her way into the kitchen.
    “Can