Mail Order Bride Leah: A Sweet Western Historical Romance (Montana Mail Order Brides Series Book 1) by Rose Jenster Page B
Authors: Rose Jenster
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to her tablecloth straightaway. As Becky departed, Delia Wilford stopped by the boarding house.
“I was wondering if you had some more samples of your stitchery I could see,” Delia asked.
Leah retrieved a few handkerchiefs she had worked with flowers and initials, as well as a set of napkins with a larkspur design. Impetuously, she grabbed the nightdress she had been working on; she was stitching a chain of blooms in white thread on the white fabric for a delicate and feminine texture without the boldness of color. Delia fingered the fancywork with admiration and nodded.
“I spoke with Mr. Wilford about your talent and we wondered if you might like to do some embroidery for us to stock in the shop. We will pay you a fee to decorate pillowcases and table linens and supply all the silks."
“Oh, I would love that! I am accustomed to working for a living, you see, and I am not used to having so much idle time. I would be delighted to have a refined employment and earn some money at it. Thank you, Mrs. Wilford,” Leah enthused.
“Please, call me Delia, dear. For your first assignment, I’d like you to embroider a design of pansies in pale lilac on a set of pillowcases for myself. I’ve always been partial to pansies,” Delia said cheerfully. “Stop in at the store later to pick up the linens and any thread you need.”
They shook hands, and Leah fairly danced back to her room. She spent the rest of the week doing fancy work for the dry goods shop. It kept her hands and mind occupied while Henry was busy with his inn and stable. It also kept her from fretting over the progress of their relationship as the week passed and she saw but little of him since their Monday drive.
* * *
Henry sat on Wilford’s back porch listening to the man talk about how his wife had asked Leah to do embroidery for the shop.
Wilford was Henry’s closest friend in Billings, and he always went to the older man for advice when he was needful. In return, he’d trained a pair of handsome bays and given his friend a good price on them the year before. Outside of Dionysius himself there was not another such example of horseflesh in the entire territory, and Wilford was suitably proud of his acquisition.
“Quite a girl you have there, it seems. Della’s taken with her needlework. I’ve got to have flowers on all our linens now, and done by none other than your intended.” Wilford chuckled over his pipe.
“I wouldn’t call her my intended just yet. We’re not formally betrothed,” Henry said.
“Then get your courage up and ask her, boy. By all accounts from the reverend’s wife and mine, she’s as fine and patient a woman as you’ll find. And you want patience in a wife, I can tell you. Don’t delay, or some other buck will snap her up.
I believe when I convinced you to post that advertisement that you understood there are not such a lot of women to be had out West. Yet here you are sitting on the porch with me instead of courting your sweetheart.”
“I want to make the right choice.”
“You always have been a thinker, Rogers. Time to stop thinking, I say, and act. There’s nothing better than having a good wife to come home to every evening. Have a nice supper, talk over the day’s events, raise a family.” He elbowed Henry.
“I know. I didn’t come here for counsel. I came to find out the date your cousins are coming to visit so I’ll have rooms set aside for them at the inn.”
“The nineteenth, and it’s glad I am you have an inn; otherwise they’d be staying with us, and that would be unpleasant, considering my cousin’s personality and his obnoxious wife. There’s a woman will send you screaming into that schoolteacher’s arms!” Wilford chuckled again.
“I do want a wife, but you know what happened—“
“With Melody? I’m probably one of the few who does know. She was a fast little piece and you’re better off without her. This is a different girl, a different situation. Stop dallying,”
“I was wondering if you had some more samples of your stitchery I could see,” Delia asked.
Leah retrieved a few handkerchiefs she had worked with flowers and initials, as well as a set of napkins with a larkspur design. Impetuously, she grabbed the nightdress she had been working on; she was stitching a chain of blooms in white thread on the white fabric for a delicate and feminine texture without the boldness of color. Delia fingered the fancywork with admiration and nodded.
“I spoke with Mr. Wilford about your talent and we wondered if you might like to do some embroidery for us to stock in the shop. We will pay you a fee to decorate pillowcases and table linens and supply all the silks."
“Oh, I would love that! I am accustomed to working for a living, you see, and I am not used to having so much idle time. I would be delighted to have a refined employment and earn some money at it. Thank you, Mrs. Wilford,” Leah enthused.
“Please, call me Delia, dear. For your first assignment, I’d like you to embroider a design of pansies in pale lilac on a set of pillowcases for myself. I’ve always been partial to pansies,” Delia said cheerfully. “Stop in at the store later to pick up the linens and any thread you need.”
They shook hands, and Leah fairly danced back to her room. She spent the rest of the week doing fancy work for the dry goods shop. It kept her hands and mind occupied while Henry was busy with his inn and stable. It also kept her from fretting over the progress of their relationship as the week passed and she saw but little of him since their Monday drive.
* * *
Henry sat on Wilford’s back porch listening to the man talk about how his wife had asked Leah to do embroidery for the shop.
Wilford was Henry’s closest friend in Billings, and he always went to the older man for advice when he was needful. In return, he’d trained a pair of handsome bays and given his friend a good price on them the year before. Outside of Dionysius himself there was not another such example of horseflesh in the entire territory, and Wilford was suitably proud of his acquisition.
“Quite a girl you have there, it seems. Della’s taken with her needlework. I’ve got to have flowers on all our linens now, and done by none other than your intended.” Wilford chuckled over his pipe.
“I wouldn’t call her my intended just yet. We’re not formally betrothed,” Henry said.
“Then get your courage up and ask her, boy. By all accounts from the reverend’s wife and mine, she’s as fine and patient a woman as you’ll find. And you want patience in a wife, I can tell you. Don’t delay, or some other buck will snap her up.
I believe when I convinced you to post that advertisement that you understood there are not such a lot of women to be had out West. Yet here you are sitting on the porch with me instead of courting your sweetheart.”
“I want to make the right choice.”
“You always have been a thinker, Rogers. Time to stop thinking, I say, and act. There’s nothing better than having a good wife to come home to every evening. Have a nice supper, talk over the day’s events, raise a family.” He elbowed Henry.
“I know. I didn’t come here for counsel. I came to find out the date your cousins are coming to visit so I’ll have rooms set aside for them at the inn.”
“The nineteenth, and it’s glad I am you have an inn; otherwise they’d be staying with us, and that would be unpleasant, considering my cousin’s personality and his obnoxious wife. There’s a woman will send you screaming into that schoolteacher’s arms!” Wilford chuckled again.
“I do want a wife, but you know what happened—“
“With Melody? I’m probably one of the few who does know. She was a fast little piece and you’re better off without her. This is a different girl, a different situation. Stop dallying,”
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