A Change of Plans

Chapter Fifteen

It would be winter soon. The nights were already becoming quite cool, but the house was sealed tight and it was small enough to be snug. It was on the outskirts of town, on a few acres. Just what she'd been looking for and she'd purchased it with some of the money she and her husband had saved up during the eleven months they'd been married. And she still had plenty to live on for a long, long time.

The wood pile was beginning to grow. The previous owner of the house had left a long shed that they'd stored their wood pile under to keep dry during the winter. It wasn't anywhere near being full, but it was a good start.

When Annie began fussing, she stuck the ax into the edge of the large stump she was using to chop the wood and wiped her hands on her apron. "I'm coming." She said. By the time she finished nursing, it was time to fix supper and she wasn't able to work on the woodpile any more that afternoon.

Every afternoon for the next few weeks, Henry stopped by to see if she needed anything. Even Maggie came over a few times, bringing doilies she'd made to decorate Olivia's new house and jars of fruit she'd canned from their orchard.

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" Maggie asked.

"Maggie, you and Henry have already done so much. I wish you'd let me repay you."

"Nonsense! We're family and about all the family you've got left. If we don't take care of each other, who will?"

"You have no idea how much I appreciate that." Olivia said.

"Any word from Anson?"

"No," she replied. "But I didn't expect any."

"That man must be clean out of his pea-pickin' mind!"

"Maggie, it's alright. I don't want someone who doesn't trust me. And I certainly don't want someone who doesn't like my daughter."

"Oh, he's so full of-,"

"Maggie!"

"He was so busy trying to convince himself and all of us that he didn't like babies that he didn't even notice the way his head spun around every time little Annie made the slightest peep! He kept a closer eye on that baby than you did!"

"Maggie, really!"

"Did he really say he doesn't like women?"

"That's what he told me. That he doesn't trust them."

"Well he certainly seemed to like you well enough. He stared at you the entire evening he was at our place. He didn't stare at you like that when it was just the two....well, three of you?"

"Not that I noticed." Olivia said. "He was just always reminding me that he didn't like me or Annie. Not that he specifically named us, but in a more generalized way, I suppose."

"Well I for one don't believe a word of it and I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up back here looking for you and that baby of yours."

"I don't think that's going to happen." Olivia sighed. "It's been a month. He's probably settled somewhere in California, like he said."

"So, you were a U.S. Marshall in Iowa?"

"Yes sir."

"For how long?"

"Six years. I was a Deputy Sheriff for two years before that."

"So you know your way around a town, then?"

"Yes sir."

"Can you handle a gun still?"

"Yes."