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As they walked back, he asked, “What about your family? Tell me about them.”
She shrugged. “I think I told you I’m the oldest of eleven children. There are six boys and four girls younger than me. My father is a farmer, and my mother doesn’t like being outside…at all! When they met, she had no desire to be a farmer’s wife. She was the daughter of one of the bankers in town. But she fell in love. When I was little, she taught me how to plant and harvest a kitchen garden. She was pregnant with one of my siblings—I can’t remember which—and it was hard for her to bend. So, I did it for her, and I did it until I grew up and moved away. I used to get in trouble at school because I was always taking off my shoes and socks at recess. Every time we had a new teacher—which seemed to be every semester—they would get onto me, but finally, they’d give up.”
“Why did you have a different teacher every semester?” he asked, enjoying listening to her talk.
“Neighbor kids,” she said. “There was this family who was full of mischief makers. All the townspeople called the children the demon horde. They went to my school, and when they weren’t putting a snake in the teacher’s desk or hiding a dead animal in the coal caddy, they were tying her into the outhouse. I’m surprised teachers stayed for entire semesters.”
“Sounds like the Cauldron boys. They’re over in Cauldron Valley, and those boys get into so much mischief, it’s hard to know what to do.”
She smiled. “Sounds like they are cut from the same cloth as the demon horde. I’m always amazed that every one of them is growing into a sensible, responsible adult.”
“The same with the Cauldrons!” he said with a grin. “One of them even became a preacher.”
Laughing, she told him, “None of the demon horde have yet, but their older sister is the matchmaker who sent me here. She’s married to a wonderful, kind man who does so much for people in town.”
“So, she’s someone you trust?”
“Oh, yes. I’d trust her with my life. I guess I did when I came out here to marry a man I’d never met before.” She shrugged. “Her husband investigates all the men who send letters.”
Cameron looked pale at her words. “I was investigated?”
She nodded. “I didn’t do it, but yes, you were investigated. I guess they didn’t find anything wrong with you. They must not have found out you didn’t want a bride.” Her eyes danced as she said the words, and he smiled, but the smile looked forced.
They must not have found out the truth.
