Sadie’s attention roamed periodically as Suzanne explained everything they passed by in the buggy on the way to their house. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested in her new home town. She was—very.
But she had hoped that at least meeting her future husband would be over by now, and the more time that she had to wait, the more anxious she became. What would he be like? What would he look like? Would they be a good match? What kind of chef was he? She had to try very hard to concentrate as Suzanne rambled on.
“Okay, I’ll stop. You’re not listening to me anyway,” Suzanne said with a laugh. “I can’t say I blame you, though. I’d be nervous, too, no matter how many times someone told me that it would be fine.”
“Thank you for understanding, Suzanne. This is quite a big step, and I really don’t even know the particulars. So I’m a little nervous.”
“Well, I can put you out of your misery a bit,” James said as he prodded the horses toward home. “Tripp has been a friend of mine for a very long time. He was the cook at the biggest ranch around, the Archer’s, and he came to the mercantile regularly for supplies. There are a lot of ranch hands to feed out there, so he came by quite often. We became fast friends very quickly. He’s a little odd, but very kind.”
Sadie’s heart fluttered at the word “odd” and Suzanne, who had been watching her intently, said, “Don’t scare her, James. He means that he’s very particular, Sadie. About cooking, and food and how he likes to do it. And the result is outstanding. He’s a very good chef.”
“Cooking for ranch hands and being a chef are the same things? How particular do you need to be about beef stew?” Sadie said, her stomach sinking.
She was an expert baker, but really baked by instinct now. She had very few recipes that she followed, and that was only because they were from her mother and grandmother, and she did it to honor them. She clutched her purse that held the little cards that spelled out the recipes in her mother’s hand.
James laughed as he and Suzanne exchanged glances. “He’d worked at the ranch for years, and had an accident. Part of his job had been to ride the trail with them, and he was gone sometimes for a month at a time. He couldn’t travel like that anymore, and his boss liked him and his cooking so much that he sent him to chef school in New York. Paid for it and everything, with the promise that he’d come back home and open a restaurant.”
Sadie’s eyes flew open. “New York?” she cried. “He learned to cook in New York?”
“Yes, isn’t it amazing? Learned all the latest dishes and techniques. It made him so happy.” Suzanne rested her hand on James’s arm and Sadie noticed a glance between them. She decided to ask later as Lucy, who had fallen asleep on her lap, sat up and rubbed her eyes.
“Are we there yet?” she asked.
Lily woke up when she heard Lucy’s voice, and Sadie remembered what it was like when she and Suzanne had been little—always knowing what the other was thinking and doing, it seemed.
“No, little love, but almost,” Suzanne said as she stroked the beautiful, blonde hair of her daughter.
Sadie’s heart beat faster at her sister’s answer, fatigue battling with curiosity. To distract herself from her growing nervousness, she glanced at the child in her lap.
The twins were almost the spitting image of Suzanne—and, well, Sadie—when she was little. She wondered what it would be like to have four people around who looked alike and thought it must feel odd for James.
A thought crossed her mind and she turned to Suzanne. “If his employer sent him to school in New York for him to come back and open his restaurant, isn’t he the one putting up the money for it? I thought you said a loan was necessary to open the restaurant. And that’s why he needs a wife.”
Sadie squinted as she saw her sister and brother-in-law exchange glances yet again. “All right, there’s something you’re not telling me. What is it?” she asked. She hoped that it wasn’t anything that would make her get back on the train. At least not until she’d had a bath and a hot meal.
“Well…” Suzanne started.
“Let me tell her, my dear. He’s my friend, and this was my idea, actually,” James started hesitantly.
Suzanne smiled and nodded.
“When Tripp was injured and couldn’t go on the trail any longer, he had a difficult time for a bit. His boss made a very sincere offer to him, and it took a bit of convincing.”
“A lot of convincing,” Suzanne cut in with a smile.
James sighed and continued. “Yes, a lot of convincing to get him to even accept that offer. He can be a little—”
“Stubborn,” Suzanne said, finishing his sentence for her husband.
James glanced at her and she turned her attention to the scenery, trying to cover her smile with her hand but Sadie caught it before she’d turned completely away.
“I was going to say proud, my dear.”
He cleared his throat before he went on. “When he came back, he was really excited about the restaurant he wanted to open, and knew exactly how he wanted it to look and exactly what he wanted to serve.”
“May I?” Suzanne asked, re-entering the conversation.
“Oh, go ahead,” James said, turning his eyes back to the road.
“Tripp and his boss apparently weren’t on the same page about what type of restaurant it should be. Honestly, it was a stressful time for both of them due to extenuating circumstances. They attempted some negotiations, but Tripp eventually thanked him for his kindness in sending him to school but told him he’d find funding elsewhere. It was a little uncomfortable, I must say.”
She nodded at James, who took the cue to add more to the story.
“He parted on good terms with the rancher. Mr. Archer wished him well and told him he’d put in a good word at the bank for a loan. But when Tripp went to the bank, he found out that a loan of this size and for this purpose had the requirement of being married attached.”
Sadie looked from James to Suzanne. “I don’t understand. Why would that be a requirement? He could certainly do it on his own. All he would have to do is hire employees.”
James pulled up in front of a beautiful, two-story home on the opposite edge of town from the stagecoach station. He waited until he’d helped them all down from the buggy and tied the horses to a rail in front before he continued.
“That’s the thing. The bank had to approve his budget, and they won’t let him hire employees until he shows a solid month in the black.”
He held his hands up toward her as she started to protest. “I know, I know, it makes no sense. How could someone possibly run a restaurant all alone and make a profit? But stubborn as Tripp is, we kept racking our brains for a solution.”
Suzanne took both girls by the hand and smiled at Sadie. “That’s when we came up with the idea of a wife, not an employee. Maybe the two of you could pull it off together,” she said, turning toward the house.
Sadie’s head reeled as she took in the information. Does this make me a laborer? she thought as she started to follow them toward the door. She’d hoped that maybe they could work together, but this sounded like an impossible task.
She wasn’t sure she could even help him pull it off, let alone the other hopes she held in her heart…that they might fall in love and have a family. Those thoughts she’d barely even admitted to herself.
“Don’t worry, Sadie. I love you and would never have allowed you to be brought into something I didn’t think was going to be a huge success,” Suzanne said as she handed the girls off to James. “I’ll be helping as much as I can as James has employees now at the mercantile and James’s mother has agreed to stay with the girls. It can be a family effort,” she said as she grabbed Sadie’s elbow, steering her toward the front door.
“Now, I’m going to take you straight upstairs and James will bring up your bag. Tripp will no doubt be busy in the kitchen and we don’t want to interrupt. I’ll get you settled and bring up bath water, and you may even have time for a nap. I hope so.”
Fatigue and confusion washed over her as she allowed herself to be brought into the house. She realized she was quite hungry as the most divine aroma emanated from the kitchen as they passed.
She stopped, catching a glimpse of a man juggling two sauté pans at once, humming as he did.
“Come on, Sadie. You can meet him when you’re all tidied up and have had a rest.”
Sadie stayed glued to the spot as, at that moment, her future husband set the pans down, wiped his hands on the towel tucked into his belt and looked up, meeting her glance.
Her breath stopped as she gazed into the darkest green eyes she’d ever seen, and even across the room she could tell that he had kind laugh lines. He looked a bit uncertain for a moment. As he held her eyes, she couldn’t help but smile as he bowed in her direction and looked up, smiling.
“Come on, Sadie. He’s busy right now,” Suzanne said as she let herself be pulled toward the stairs.
But she sighed as she inhaled deeply of something that smelled magnificent and wondered if maybe things might turn out all right after all.