Sweet Spouse Read online

  Copyright © 2022 by Eliza Ester

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Ellis

  2. Cyrus

  3. Ellis

  4. Cyrus

  5. Ellis

  6. Cyrus

  7. Ellis

  8. Cyrus

  9. Ellis

  10. Cyrus

  About the Author

  One

  Ellis

  Reverend Shreve was a kind man. He looked exactly the way he sounded when Ellis had started communicating with him. He was on the older side, with white hair and a wrinkled face that proved he spent a lot of time smiling.

  He wore his black habit even though it was a weekday, and from the moment he met Ellis and Rox at the hotel, Ellis felt she could trust him.

  The journey from Baltimore to Carson Valley had been long and tedious and Ellis was relieved they had finally arrived. The town was beautiful. It lay at the foot of the mountains, just above a valley, and it was surrounded by breathtaking nature. The buildings in town were all clustered together, with ranches and farms and homes fanning out from the town center.

  “Thank you for collecting us, Reverend,” Ellis said as he drove them out of the town on a cart that he’d borrowed from the deputy sheriff, Edward Warner. Edward and his wife, Katrina, would join them a bit later to be witnesses for their marriage and to collect their cart.

  “It’s my pleasure, Miss Duncan,” he said.

  “Please, call me Ellis,” she answered. She wouldn’t be Miss Duncan for much longer—she was to be married to Cyrus Cook before the day was out—and she wanted to make friends around town. Where better to start than with the reverend?

  “Cyrus will be glad to see you,” the reverend said. “The man has needed a woman in his life again.”

  Ellis only nodded. She knew that Cyrus had been married before. His wife had passed away two years before and he needed a woman to help him with the children and the farm house, and, of course, for companionship.

  How had Ellis become a second wife and a mother overnight? She had grown up in Baltimore with her little sister, Rox. When their parents had passed away, Ellis had taken care of Rox. At twenty-four, Ellis felt she was too young and inexperienced to parent a nine-year-old, but where else would her sister have gone? To make matters worse, Uncle Morris, their father’s brother, had taken all the money and left Ellis with no way to take care of herself and her sister.

  If she could have found a man in Baltimore to marry it would have made things easier for them. They could have stayed in Baltimore and carried on the life of luxury that they were accustomed to. But before her parents died, Ellis, being an independent sort, had made such a show of not getting married that she was hardly a prospect. As far as she could see, the only way for Ellis to take care of their situation was to sign up with the mail order bride agency.

  And here she was, in Carson Valley, about to start life as a farmer’s wife, just minutes away from meeting the man she was to spend the rest of her life with.

  Ellis glanced at Rox. The child had barely spoken two words since they’d left Baltimore. She was upset that they’d had to leave, and Ellis didn’t blame her. It was bad enough to lose her parents; now the young girl was traveling across the country against her will, about to start a brand new life in a strange place where she knew no one. If Ellis could have done something to change their fate, she would have, but this was her last option.

  “How are you feeling, sweetheart?” she asked.

  Rox looked up at her with gray eyes that held so much sorrow it made Ellis’s heart ache. Rox had carried that haunted look since they’d lost their parents.

  “I’m fine,” the girl mumbled, but Ellis didn’t believe her.

  Ellis took a deep breath. Cyrus, her future husband, had two sons of his own. Ellis hoped Rox would get along with the boys and that perhaps, one day, they could build something resembling a family.

  “It’s going to be a great adventure,” Ellis said to Rox, squeezing her hand.

  “You’ve said that a hundred times,” Rox said in a bitter voice. “It never sounds any better.”

  “Won’t it be nice to have brothers?” Ellis asked.

  Rox shrugged. Ellis felt terrible about her sister’s misery. She was trying her best and she felt she was failing. She hadn’t planned on being a mother just yet. It was all so unexpected and she was struggling the with the sudden changes just as much as Rox was.

  “It’s you and me against the world, okay, sweetheart?” Ellis said to Rox. “No matter what.”

  Rox didn’t answer. She only nodded before she turned her face away from Ellis. Ellis sighed and looked at the countryside again.

  The mountain rose behind Carson Valley, purple and snow-capped. Everything else was a deep green. It had been a great season with a lot of rain, judging by the scenery around them. Wyoming was a good place to farm. Cyrus had said so in his letters but Ellis saw now how true it was.

  Reverend Shreve turned from the road and through a gate that must be the entrance to Cyrus’s farm.

  It was a large farmstead, stretching across the rolling hills, and they drove a while through trees and shrubs before rounding a corner and reaching the farmhouse itself.

  It was a modest place, a house Cyrus must have built with his own two hands, and it looked neat and well cared for.

  When the cart pulled up in front of the house, a man walked from the stables.

  “Hello, Reverend,” he called out, waving.

  “Cyrus,” Reverend Shreve said, smiling. He climbed off the cart and walked to the man. Ellis had time to study her husband-to-be while he greeted the reverend and she liked what she saw.

  Cyrus Cook was a sturdy man, muscular from his work in the fields day in and day out. He carried himself like a man who was proud of what he did with his life. But it was his eyes that caught Ellis. Piercing green eyes the color of spring leaves, staring at her from a tanned face framed by hair bleached blond by the sun.

  Ellis climbed from the cart and helped Rox off as well. When she turned, Cyrus was right in front of her. Her breath hitched in her throat when he smiled at her.

  Cyrus was a good man—Ellis could tell by the way he’d written her and told her what he wanted in life. But his looks were a complete bonus. He was the most handsome man Ellis ever laid her eyes on.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Cyrus,” Ellis said with a curtsy.

  He grinned at her and the smile made her weak at the knees.

  “The pleasure is all mine, ma’am,” he said.

  “Ellis, please. We’re about to be married, after all.”

  Cyrus nodded.

  “And you must be Rox,” Cyrus said, looking at Ellis’s little sister. “I’m happy to meet you, too. The boys are so excited about you being here.”

  Rox didn’t smile back at him.

  “Where are they, then?” she asked.

  “Rox,” Ellis said. “Manners.”

  Cyrus shook his head. “It’s been a long journey,” he said to Ellis. He turned to Rox. “They’re playing in the house if you’d like to join them.”

  Rox turned her back on Ellis and Cyrus and ambled up to the house.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Ellis said. “Since our parents die
d she hasn’t been the same.”

  Cyrus nodded. Ellis knew his boys were eleven and five. It scared her a little, thinking that she wouldn’t have just one, but three children in her care now.

  The sound of hooves brought Ellis’s attention around as a man and woman who must be Edward and his wife arrived.

  “Let’s focus on happier things,” Cyrus said with a smile. “A wedding.”

  Two

  Cyrus

  After the wedding, it didn’t take long for Ellis and Rox to get settled. Cyrus and Ellis would share a bed while little Rox would share a room with the boys until they could give her a room of her own.

  Cyrus was relieved to see how relatively well the introduction had gone. Rox had seemed to take the boys as well as was to be expected; while she seemed sullen and angry, at least she wasn’t unbearable. And Ellis was beautiful.

  Of course, Cyrus had agreed to marry her based on what they’d spoken about in their letters, but she was very easy on the eyes and that never hurt. She had long dark hair that hung in waves down her back, big brown eyes, and a small, pouty mouth that made her look like a doll when she smiled. Rox was almost a clone of her older sister. She had the same long hair and dark eyes but her skin was a little darker than Ellis’s.

  Ellis cooked a meal and the sun was setting when they all sat down to supper. It was strange having so many people around the kitchen table again, Cyrus thought. After Claire had passed away Cyrus hadn’t thought he would have a woman at his table ever again.

  “Thank you for cooking,” Cyrus said. The food wasn’t quite as good as he’d hoped, but Ellis had told him early on in their communication that she was used to a cook in the house. He was sure she would learn and the food was at least edible.

  “How was the trip?” Cyrus asked. He wanted to make small talk—anything to keep the table from falling so very quiet. It was still awkward, the way it is when no one knows each other.

  “Long and draining, but we made it,” Ellis said with a smile.

  Cyrus nodded. “No one is happier about that than I am.”

  Ellis blushed and it made her even more striking.

  Cyrus glanced at Rox.

  “How was it for you?” he asked. “You must have seen a lot of interesting things on the way.”

  Rox looked at Ellis first. It wasn’t to ask permission to speak. Rather, her face was incredulous, as if Cyrus had asked the stupidest question ever. He was just being sensitive, he told himself. They were new and just getting to know each other.

  “It becomes all the same after the first day,” Rox said. “Trees. Fields. Dirt. More trees.” She didn’t look happy. She didn’t sound happy. Cyrus glanced at Ellis. Her eyes were fixed on her plate of food.

  They ate together in silence for a while.

  Cyrus opened his mouth, about to say something to get the conversation going again, when Rox sighed dramatically.

  “Are we to eat like this every night?” she asked Ellis.

  Ellis frowned. “What do you mean, sweetheart?”

  Rox rolled her eyes before she focused on her plate again. “I’m just asking if this is part of our immediate arrangement, if it will change like my room will.”

  Ellis looked at Cyrus, who swallowed.

  “This is where we’ll be eating our meals every night,” he said. “Is there a problem?”

  Rox sighed again.

  “Rox, be nice, darling,” Ellis said in a soft voice.

  Rox looked up, her eyes fiery. “I’ve been perfectly nice from the beginning but you can’t mean we have to eat with them every night? Have you seen their heathen table manners?”

  Ellis’s eyes widened.

  “What?” Wesley, the older son, asked. He dropped his fork and glared at Rox. “Just because you’re such a snob doesn’t make us wrong.”

  “What’s a heathen, Papa?” Miles asked. At five years old, he had a limited vocabulary.

  “Wesley!” Cyrus snapped, ignoring Miles. “That’s no way to treat our guests.”

  Wesley looked at Cyrus defiantly and for the moment Cyrus thought the child would argue, but he bit his tongue.

  “We don’t talk to each other like that,” Cyrus said to Rox. “It’s not acceptable. I expect you to behave and mind your manners, all of you.”

  The three children kept quiet, eyes on their plates. Cyrus took a deep breath, gaining control of his anger. He took a bite.

  When he looked up at Ellis her brows were knit in a frown. She was unhappy.

  “I’d like to speak to you after supper,” Ellis said. “In private.”

  Well, wasn’t this grand? They weren’t married a full day and they were already disagreeing. Cyrus nodded and did what the kids were doing, focusing only on his plate.

  After supper, the children cleared the table. Rox grumbled about it but she didn’t fight back the way Cyrus expected.

  “Get ready for bed,” Cyrus said. “Wesley, will you take care of Miles? And Rox, you’re all right getting ready by yourself?”

  Rox looked at Cyrus with a scowl. “I know how to dress myself, if that what you’re asking,” she said.

  She turned around and stormed out of the room. Ellis stayed behind, her face sour.

  “What was that all about?” Ellis asked.

  “What?”

  “You were quite hard on the children during supper.”

  Cyrus lifted his eyebrows. “I wasn’t hard on them at all, Ellis. I expect them to be behave. Rox can’t treat people that way, and I won’t allow my children to blow it out of proportion, either.”

  Ellis pursed her lips. “I know this is all new, but you need to give Rox a break. She’s not handling the move and the change very well.”

  Cyrus nodded. “I understand. But if she says something hurtful I’m going to step in.”

  Ellis shook her head. “Let me do that, at least.”

  Cyrus nodded, slowly. He was willing to compromise.

  “I don’t mean to be rude, Ellis, but if you don’t step in, I will.”

  Ellis didn’t look happy but she didn’t argue. There wasn’t much choice. They had to make it work somehow. They were in this together now and they had no other choice.

  “Well, I think I’ll get ready for bed, too.”

  Cyrus nodded and watched Ellis leave the kitchen. He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. He walked to the front door and stepped out onto the porch. The night was crisp and clear, with no clouds in the sky to hide the millions of stars.

  This wasn’t going to be easy. Cyrus had known that from the start, but he hadn’t quite expected someone like Rox. She was quite a handful. And Ellis wasn’t exactly trying to rein the child in.

  Cyrus had known that they had led a privileged life until now, but he hadn’t considered that their past way of living would interfere. He was starting to wonder about that now. Were they going to make it in the simple life he had to offer here in Carson Valley?

  He hoped so. There were no other options. He was married to Ellis now, for better or worse.

  Three

  Ellis

  Life on the farm was harder than Ellis had thought it would be. She’d known, leaving Baltimore, that a different life awaited her. But she would never have been able to guess how hard it would be.

  On the farm, the house and the chores all around it were her responsibility now. She didn’t know how Cyrus had managed it all alone, along with tending the fields and the animals and bringing in harvests. She had her hands full just managing all her own chores in a single day.

  And once it was done, the day ended, a new one began and she had to start all over again.

  Ellis had to take care of the vegetable garden. She had to clean, do laundry, tend to the chickens and the pigs. She had to mend the ripped clothing and on top of everything she had to cook three hearty meals a day, because working on a farm meant meager meals just wouldn’t cut it.

  It had only been a few days and Ellis was exhausted and questioning her own abilities.

/>   After she had taken care of the dishes from lunch, Ellis went through the rooms and collected dirty clothes. She hadn’t even had a chance to work through the sheets—keeping up with the clothing alone had been tedious at best.

  Taking care of five people with no maids to help meant that there was a mountain of clothes to take care of. Ellis put the pile into the basket she used to carry the laundry to the pump. She pumped water into a large trough and put the washboard against the side.

  Item by item she washed the clothes, scrubbing them against the washboard to get as much of the grime out as she could.

  The soap Ellis used for the dishes was hard on her skin. Her fingers were cracked and raw after the first few days of washing. Even though she’d been doing the chores since she’d arrived, it felt like her muscles would never get used it. She had barely made a dent in the pile of dirty clothes before her muscles started aching.

  Ellis sat back on her heels and tried to catch her breath.

  “What are you doing?” Miles asked behind her in his small voice.

  “The laundry,” Ellis said. She tried to swallow her fatigue and look strong.

  “Can I help?” he asked.

  Ellis shook her head. “You don’t need to.”

  “But you’re tired,” he said.

  Was she that transparent? Children noticed everything.

  “I’d like that,” Ellis said. Miles smiled at her. He was a spitting image of his dad—his blond hair curled around his ears and he already had the same facial structure, although he was yet to grow into it. His eyes were a light brown. Ellis imagined those were his mother’s eyes.

  Miles kneeled beside her. He helped more than Ellis expected he would be able to.

  When they were done, Ellis smiled at him.