Grooms with Honor Series, Books 7-9 Read online

  "Give me the pole, and I'll pull it out for you," Adolph said as he reached for the pole, but Poppy turned her back to him as she tugged on the pole.

  "Nope, I bring in my own fish," Poppy said through gritted teeth as the pole tip jerked toward the water.

  "You might have a gigantic fish fighting you, Poppy. Let me help." Adolph reached for the pole again as Poppy gave a mighty tug, bringing the massive head of a catfish above the water's surface for a few seconds.

  "Oh, my word! You see how big a fish that was? I might need your help after all!"

  Poppy stepped back up the bank to drag out the fish since she couldn't flick the heavy fish out of the water. Adolph lunged for the pole right as Poppy stumbled into the picnic basket which was in her way.

  They both fell on the bank's edge, but each kept a hand on the pole now covered with slick mud.

  "Pull back! Pull back!" Poppy yelled as she grabbed the tip of the pole with her other hand. "That fish is big enough to feed the whole neighborhood!"

  The struggle between the big catfish and the two of them drug on for minutes until the fish finally tired. With a final tug, Adolph pulled the fish out of the water and six feet up the bank so it wouldn't flop back into the water.

  Adolph turned to Poppy, not surprised to see a breathless, but smiling woman with a streak of mud across her cheek.

  "Are you happy with this afternoon's catch, Mrs. Bjorklund? I'd say you landed about a thirty-five-pound fish."

  "Extremely happy! We're hosting a neighborhood fish fry tonight. Now I can use all the silverware in the kitchen drawer."

  Adolph laughed at Poppy’s declaration as he picked her up in his arms and twirled her around in the air. He finally set Poppy on her feet and gave her a long kiss. Poppy might be opposite of so many things he thought he'd get in a bride, but her joy in the simple things in life continued to surprise him.

  ‘Thank you for this afternoon’s outin’, Adolph. I realize I’m goin’ to be scrubbin’ our clothes tomorrow to get rid of all these mud stains, but I appreciate you doin’ something with me which I love to do… especially after hearing how much you hate fish,” Poppy said as she wiped the back of her muddy hand across his cheek.

  Adolph stared in Poppy’s blue eyes, noting the admiration in them, for him.

  Was he starting to fall in love with his wife? Possibly. Probably, even though he’d have to haul home a giant fish for her. But isn’t that part of being happily married? Wanting to do things for your spouse?

  Chapter 11

  “I think you got a good catch there, Adolph,” Poppy heard Nolan Clancy say as she walked with another platter of food behind the men.

  “Poppy caught the catfish, not me,” Adolph answered Nolan.

  “I meant the wife, not the fish,” Nolan replied back.

  Poppy smiled to herself as she continued to the dining room. It relieved her mind to know that Adolph’s friends approved of her. She was trying her best to fit into Clear Creek for Adolph’s sake as much as hers.

  “Anything else I can do for the meal, Poppy?” Edna Clancy asked. She sat at the head of the dining room table with Sophia on her lap.

  “You keeping my baby occupied for us is the most help you can give while we get food on the table,” Linnea answered for Poppy as Linnea carried a bowl of potato salad to the dining room table.

  Besides the Lundahls, the Clancy family, including Nolan’s grandparents, Dan, and Edna, would be eating with them.

  “Will Cullen and Rose be joining us?” Edna asked.

  “They‘ll be here as soon as Rose’s cake is out of the oven,” Charlie Moore, Cullen’s biological father said as he limped into the dining room. The older man lived with Cullen and Rose in the house next door to the Clancys.

  Three families from their neighborhood could join them this evening for an impromptu potluck supper. Poppy was nervous about her first group of company to sit around their dining room table, but they had all become friends in the brief time Poppy had lived in Clear Creek. And thanks to Adolph, she had enough matched table settings to set a pretty table.

  Now if she could just be the hostess she needed to be to make the evening a success.

  “Don’t fuss and worry, Poppy,” Linnea said as she walked back into the kitchen behind Poppy. “We’re just neighbors eating a meal together.”

  “I know, but I’ve never done something like this, and I want Adolph to be proud of me.”

  “Didn’t you have family or neighbors over when you lived in Tennessee?”

  “No, it was just Pappy and me. I didn’t have any grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins,” Poppy said with a shrug of her shoulders.

  “Any church potlucks?” Linnea asked as she set coffee cups from a shelf in the cupboard onto a tray.

  “There was no church in Collard’s Cove, although a circuit preacher came through the area a few times a year and talked in the schoolhouse.”

  “Are you enjoying, or feeling overwhelmed with Clear Creek’s social life?”

  “I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Everyone has accepted me, well maybe except the Tolberts,” Poppy answered thinking of the snooty woman who tried her best to embarrass Poppy.

  “And Adolph is so patient and kind when I have a question, or he helps me with something. I was so lucky he chose me for his bride.”

  Poppy wiped away an emotional tear that threatened to run down her cheek. At times she still felt like she’d wake up and find out her new life with Adolph was only a dream. She’d wake up on the pallet on the dirt floor by the fireplace in the shanty where she’d lived for twenty-seven years.

  Why had she put up with that life for so long? Now she realized she didn’t know better because that had just been her way of life, thanks to her drunken father. If the postmaster’s wife hadn’t intervened, she’d still be scrounging for food and trying to avoid her father when he was drunk.

  “Poppy? Something wrong?” Linnea had a hand on Poppy’s arm which brought her out of her memories.

  “Sorry, just thinking of my past and hoping I never have to live like that again.”

  “It is in the past forever, so let’s get the rest of the food and dishes on the table and celebrate the future. You have a wonderful husband and home,” Linnea commented.

  “And a cat that sheds constantly and two huntin’ dogs who’d have no clue what to do if they saw a rabbit,” Poppy laughed as she poured coffee from the big pot on the stove into a smaller pot to serve from.

  “Sorry we’re late,” Rose said as she walked into the kitchen carrying a dome-shaped covered cake pan. “We um…lost track of time and…”

  “And you’re blushing, so we know why you’re late,” Linnea winked at Rose.

  “Well, Charlie left early, and we were home alone waiting for the cake to finish baking…so we took advantage to…do some circus acrobatics.” Rose wiggled her eyebrows and Poppy, and Linnea burst out laughing.

  Oh, what fun it was to be living with Adolph and friends now. Poppy said a silent prayer that this dream would never end. She was falling in love with Adolph and hoped he was falling for her too.

  ***

  "I still can't believe you ate fish for supper, Adolph," Cullen ribbed him as the men sat on the front porch after supper. The women were washing dishes, and the men took their leave outside to get out of the way.

  "And I'm still feeling green around the gills because of it," Adolph replied. He hadn't eaten fish in years, but he did this evening since Poppy had caught and fried it for their meal. At least she cleaned the fish, so he didn't have to. Adolph knew he was a coward, but oh, how he hated the smell of fish.

  "That was good catfish your wife fried, Adolph," Dan, who was the former owner and cook at the Clancy Café should know since he spent decades cooking. "The fish had a nice, crunchy battered crust, but it was still tender and flaky once you cut into the filet."

  "Maybe Poppy can go fishing for me, and I can have fish fry nights at the cafe," Nolan teased Adolph.

  "S
he'd take you up on that, so don't mention it," Adolph said as he pointed a finger at Nolan. Adolph didn't want her coming home smelling like fish anytime soon again.

  "Poppy's not your typical town wife, that's for sure. Wants to fish, scouts the alleys for possums..." Elof teased Adolph.

  Yeah, Poppy wasn't what he had planned for when he furnished his home. A genteel woman sitting at home reading, embroidering, or petting the cat while waiting for him to come home from work.

  Nope. Poppy's cleaning chickens and fish instead of cleaning house. Wanting to roam the river bank instead of enjoying a book in their fancy parlor.

  "She's been willing to make friends and fit into the town. I commend her for that,” Elof said. “Linnea said she had a rough home life in Tennessee."

  Elof's words made Adolph feel guilty. Poppy had tried so hard to fit into life here, and he had no reason to judge her. He decided to send Poppy a train ticket to Clear Creek, and his decision to marry her.

  And he had to admit the fried catfish was tasty. It was nothing like the boiled fish he last ate years ago. For being new at cooking on a kitchen stove, Poppy was trying her best to learn and become proficient. Before long, her cakes just might rival Millie Wilerson’s, or at least Kaitlyn Reagan’s.

  Adolph felt his chest puff up in pride at his wife’s management of tonight’s meal. She had been the perfect hostess to their neighbors this evening. And that’s what he’d wanted all along when he answered the mail-order bride advertisement.

  “Poppy’s taken a shine to our little Sophia, Adolph. Poppy will be a good mother. Are you hoping for a baby with carrot orange hair in the near future?”

  Adolph inwardly groaned. What if he had sons with her hair color? They’d always be laughed at.

  Adolph recalled when Tate Shepard, whose hair color is similar to Poppy’s, had been in a fight when some older boys tried to hold Tate down and glue carrot peels to his head. His older step-brother, Gabe, had come to Tate’s rescue, but Adolph, who was new in town then, always remembered the injustice of Tate being ridiculed for having orange hair.

  Tate Shepard’s sister, Amelia, had the same color hair, but it was beautiful on her. The girl would have her share of beaus in a few years.

  Children. He and Poppy could be filling the house with children over the next decade. How many children would they be blessed with? Who would they look like? But more importantly, would they be healthy?

  Adolph thought of Rose, only able to use one arm since her other was damaged in a train accident. The hotel owners’ daughter, Luella Paulson, had a club foot, but the young girl had never let that slow her down.

  Children could have problems their whole lives, or accidents, or diseases that might take their life. And he was worried about his son having carrot orange hair?

  “I don't care what color our babies’ hair is, as long as it’s healthy,” Adolph replied to Elof.

  “That’s the right answer, Adolph.” Dan pointed his cane at Adolph to make his point. “And enjoy every second you have with them. I still miss my son, and it’s been over twenty years since he died.”

  Adolph glanced at Nolan, knowing Dan was talking about Nolan’s father. The man had been killed in an accident when the railroad workers were building the train tracks through this area. Nolan, and his sister, Mary, were then orphaned, and Dan and Edna ended up raising their grandchildren.

  “Papa!” Nolan’s young son, Danny, called out as he pushed through the screen door and then climbed up onto his father’s lap.

  Nolan kissed the top of his son’s head and asked,” Were you getting tired of being with your momma?”

  “No, but she sent me out here anyway,” the boy said as he snuggled against his father’s chest.

  Little Danny had Holly’s straight black hair and tan skin color. Would he have problems in his future because of his mother’s heritage passed on to him?

  Adolph hoped not, but the world could be a cruel place at times. Whether you were living on fish in Stockholm, surviving in a shack in Tennessee, or didn’t have the color hair or skin people thought you should have.

  If he and Poppy were blessed with children, he’d be sure they didn’t have to go through what they had to, to survive their childhood.

  “Nolan, we’re done with dishes, and it’s time to get our two squirts to bed,” Holly said as she walked out of the house with her cake pan. They had eaten the whole cake, even though Holly fussed it was overbaked.

  Poppy followed with Holly’s baby girl on her left hip, looking at ease holding the child. Adolph watched Poppy smile and coo at the little one. Did she want a child of her own soon?

  Was Adolph ready for the next change in his household?

  Chapter 12

  "You don't have to dig up the garden plot by yourself, Poppy. I can get some neighbor boys to help you," Adolph said as he tried to reach for her shovel, but she yanked it out of his reach.

  "I can do it myself, Adolph. I need something to do," she said as she jabbed the shovel into the sod and stomped her foot on the shovel's top lip.

  After breakfast this morning, Poppy started digging the perimeter of the garden she wanted fenced in. Mack Reagan came over an hour later and was digging fence posts while she and Adolph argued.

  "If she's in the mood to dig, let her dig, Adolph. When Pansy uses that tone, I know to back off with my suggestions. You better learn that too," Mack warned Adolph.

  But did Adolph listen? No, he reached for her shovel again instead.

  "You'll get blisters on your hands, Poppy."

  "I'm wearing gloves, but I already have blisters on my hands."

  "But they were starting to heal," Adolph argued.

  Was Adolph ashamed of her hands? They weren't creamy white and smooth like other women's hands. They looked better than when she arrived in town, but she still did a lot of physical labor with her hands.

  "Fine." Poppy tossed the shovel to the ground. "I'll sit on the porch steps, sip lemonade, and watch Mack work instead."

  "Poppy..."

  "Time for an apology, Adolph," Mack snickered. "You know when you hear the word 'fine' it means you're in trouble with the misses."

  Poppy knew Mack well enough to give him a narrow-eyed stare, but he just chuckled as he shoved the post-hole digger back down the post hole.

  She turned and stomped up the back-porch steps, pulling off her leather gloves as she went.

  "I'm sorry, Poppy," Adolph said as he trailed behind her. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I just wanted to make the job easier for you. Some of that ground is rock hard, and I thought the boys could dig it up first and speed up the process for you. It'll still need to be raked, smoothed, and planted."

  Why was she in such a snitty mood this morning? She had looked forward to digging and planting her garden, but for some reason, it made her homesick instead.

  And why should she be missing that run-down shack in Collard's Cove anyway? She had a beautiful home now, furnished with more things than she'd ever need.

  She didn't have to hunt for food or starve. Her new clothes were already getting tight for all the food she'd eaten at meals now.

  She was with a wonderful man now instead of trying to avoid her pappy's yelling, cussing, and hitting.

  Why was she homesick?

  Because gardening made her think of her mother. They’d always been dirt poor, but they had a garden when her mother was alive.

  Her father felled trees to make a sunny spot behind the house, and she and her momma planted and tended the garden together. Momma would hum as she hoed, content in working the ground. They’d weed and harvest the food together, preserving it for winter’s supplement to their hunting supply. Poppy and Pappy would haul buckets of water from the creek to make the garden thrive.

  Then Momma died, and Pappy started drinking. Poppy kept up the garden a few years until the patch of soil was overtaken with shade from the trees again and creeping vines and poison ivy. Her pappy didn’t care if they had fresh corn or
potatoes in the cellar to eat during the winter. Poppy finally gave up on the garden too, relying on what she would gather in the wild.

  Poppy sat down on the porch step, trying to wipe her eyes beneath her wide-brimmed straw hat without Adolph seeing her do it.

  But Adolph sat down beside her, not saying a word, but offering her his handkerchief instead.

  “My job, when I was young, was to pick up the rocks out of the garden before my mother planted it. I swear new rocks would work up after every winter. And I’m not saying pebbles but rocks the size of my fist to a water bucket. I’d pile them into the wagon, and then my father would move the wagon over to a fence we’d be adding onto, and I’d unload the rocks to their new resting place. I’d spend a day or two each year, just as my father and his father had done when they were young, to clear that same garden plot. The fence along the field never had an ending.”

  They sat in silence together, watching Mack quietly work on a far post hole. He’d sensed they needed time alone and moved to the back of the lot.

  “I wonder how far that fence has grown since I left home,” Adolph mused.

  “Sorry for my foul mood. I remembered my momma humming in the garden. It was good times for our family back then, even if we were dirt poor.”

  “I understand,” Adolph said quietly, and Poppy knew he did.

  “I wonder if my pappy has even looked at our old garden plot this year. I wonder how he’s doing without me huntin’ for our food.”

  Poppy blew her nose and sighed. It was so hard to leave him behind, but he’d made the choice to drown his sorrows. She had made the choice to start living again.

  “What should we plant in our new garden, Mrs. Bjorklund? We have a clean plot for our first garden.” Adolph held out his hand to her, and she grasped it willingly. Although he seemed rich to her, he’d had a rough childhood and knew how her past had affected her too.