A Bride for Adam by Barbara Goss (speld decodable readers .TXT) 📗

It felt good for Adam to sit down to breakfast with his lovely wife and daughter. He smiled at them as he ate. “This is nice.”

Greta returned his smile. “Indeed, it is. I was surprised to see how much your father accomplished while we were away.”

“I can’t wait to go out and give those horses another look; but we need to go into town to do some business at the bank first,” Adam said.

“What kind of business?”

“First, we need to go to the bank to set up an account for our horse breeding business in both of our names. Then, I need to include you on my personal bank account so you can buy things whenever you need something. Our last stop will be your attorney’s office to stop the ridiculous annulment proceedings.”

Greta laughed. “I thought that after I fell asleep while you were kissing me last night, you’d want to keep the annulment active. I’m so sorry, Adam, but I was exhausted.”

“No apologies necessary. We have a whole life ahead of us. I was tired, too, and I simply wanted to kiss you goodnight, but then I got a bit carried away, as I usually do when kissing you, sweetheart.”

“I’ll make it up to you later.” She winked at Adam. “I could have sworn the bed was swaying with the waves this morning. I’m so glad to be home, but I do miss the ship, I have to admit. We’ll have to take a vacation every year on Eve.”

Greta turned to Bethany. “Would you like to visit your grandmother today while Papa and I take care of business in town?”

Bethany had a mouthful of oatmeal, so she just nodded.

Adam wiped a smudge of cereal from Bethany’s chin before looking back at Greta. “Do you think Seth would mind if I adopted Bethany?”

“I think he’d love it. Mr. Granger might be able to start the paperwork for it.”

After they’d finished the banking, Adam and Greta walked to the attorney’s office to stop the annulment proceedings. Adam also got paperwork started to adopt Bethany.

As they walked back to their horses, Greta ran into her friend, Nancy. After the introductions, Adam excused himself to run to the general store to pick up the mail, leaving Greta to chat with Nancy on the wooden walkway.

As they talked, Miles Tanner approached.

Nancy greeted Miles and then excused herself. “I have to run,” Nancy said. “We’ll talk soon, Greta.”

Miles asked Greta, “Did the annulment go through yet?”

“I’m sorry, Miles, but we just cancelled it. Adam and I have decided to stay married. We fell in love on our sea voyage.”

“What?” he practically yelled. “After I waited for you all this time?”

Greta didn’t know what more she could say, so she simply shrugged and repeated her apology.

“Is there a problem?” Adam said as he walked up to them.

Miles gave Adam a sneer. “Greta was supposed to be mine after the annulment. I’ve waited for her all this time.”

“Miles,” Adam said, “if you ever approach my wife in anger again, I’ll show you what anger really is.”

“I’d call you out for a gunfight, but you don’t even wear a gun belt. What’s that hanging from your belt anyway?” Miles asked.

“It’s called a cutlass. Do you want to see how I use it?”

Miles laughed. “It can’t be faster than my—”

Adam cut him off by bringing his cutlass to his throat. “You were saying, Miles? That it wasn’t fast?”

Miles backed away from the sword. “What kind of man carries a sword instead of a gun?

“Someone who saw his sick brother being bullied by someone named Miles Tanner.”

Greta gasped.

A crowd had gathered in the street to watch the ruckus.

Miles glared at Adam, shook his fist at him, and snarled through his teeth, “You’ve made a fool out of me in public, and I won’t forget it,” Miles said, walking across the street and mounting his horse.

“Is that true?” Greta asked. “Did Miles bully Seth?”

“Yep. He knocked him to the ground and stole his lunch. He was ten at the time. I heard he made a habit of bullying kids.”

“I had no idea.” Greta took Adam’s arm. “Let’s go home.”

Greta helped Adam take the horses to the stables. They unsaddled the horses in adjacent stalls.

“Adam, maybe you should wear a gun belt instead of the cutlass while in Texas.”

Adam tossed the saddle over the wall of the stall. “Why?”

“What if someone like Tanner shot at you from a distance? A cutlass wouldn’t help you.”

He smiled at her. “Are you worried about Tanner? He’s all talk.”

Greta tossed her saddle over the wall. “Still, guns would work better out here, in Texas.”

Adam looked at his cutlass. “You may be right. It is somewhat out of place here.”

“Do you have guns?” she asked.

“I still have my Colts. I think they’re up in the attic at my parents’ house. If it will make you worry less, I’ll get them out and wear them.”

Greta let out a breath of relief. “I’d feel a whole lot better.”

Once their horses were taken care of, they walked down the row of stalls to get a better look at their new stock. Adam ran his hand down the mane of a palomino. “These horses are magnificent.”

“How soon until we have babies to sell?”

Adam moved to the next stall and stroked a pinto. “It will be a few years, sweetheart. That’s something we need to talk about.”

“Let’s go sit on the porch, then, and talk. I would kill for a cup of tea. I think I swallowed a lot of dust on the trail,” she said with a chuckle.

Annie brought a tray of tea out to the front porch where the couple were sitting.