Farmer Takes a Wife Read Free Page A

me to sleep with you?”
    In response he gave a small, soft laugh. “You’re my wife now.
Expecting
might be putting it a little strongly, but, yes, I was hoping you would …”

Three
    D ave worried about Emma’s reaction to Buffalo Valley; he wanted her to like the town but he wasn’t sure she would. As was his habit, he’d been up since dawn, had the coffee brewing and the farm animals fed before Emma woke up. She came downstairs in her housecoat and slippers, the little girl at her side.
    “Mornin’,” he said matter-of-factly, a bit shy. He wasn’t used to seeing a woman in her housecoat, even if she was his wife.
    “Good morning,” Emma murmured as she helped herself to a cup of coffee.
    “Good morning, Jamie,” he said earnestly.
    The child gave him a sleepy grin, and he smiled back. Along with everything else, he worried about
her
reaction to him and was pleasantly surprised by how willingly she allowed him into her small world.
    Emma joined him at the table. “About last night,” she whispered, then stopped to clear her throat.
    He nodded. “I wouldn’t have forced you,” he said. “And I never will. I want you to understand that. I was just hoping …”
    “I know … or I should’ve known. And I want
you
to understand that … well, when the time seems right I’ll be your wife in every way.”
    “And I’ll be your husband in every way.”
    They shared a smile and he felt as if they’d successfully crossed their first hurdle.
    Emma turned to her daughter. “We’re going for a ride this morning,” she told Jamie.
    “Into Buffalo Valley,” Dave added.
    The little girl clapped her hands, obviously delighted.
    “Does the grocery sell film?” Emma asked as they headed toward the car.
    “If not, the pharmacy will.”
    “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take some pictures of the farm.”
    Dave assumed she wanted to take a few snapshots to send her family. Although she’d contacted her father and brother about the wedding, neither had bothered to attend the ceremony. They’d both sent token congratulations but neither had done more than that. She’d made an obvious effort to hide her disappointment and offered excuses for her family’s lack of interest, but Dave could see that their indifference had hurt Emma. Earlier, she’d let it slip that her father had only seen Jamie once, and then very briefly. Her brother had visited her in Seattle a few times, but had revealed no great interest in the child, either.
    During the drive into town, Emma taught Jamie the words to
Farmer in the Dell
, and soon the three of them were singing together. He felt self-conscious about the second verse, in which the
farmer takes a wife
, but was determinednot to show it. He suggested
She’ll be Comin’ Around the Mountain
next and Jamie threw herself into the “toot-toots” with great vigor. He noted that as they arrived in Buffalo Valley, the song faded from Emma’s lips.
    Dave tried to picture the town through her eyes, tried to imagine seeing it for the first time. He had to admit it was a stark, sad little place, with boarded up storefronts, cracked sidewalks, abandoned homes and lives. Years earlier, it’d been a thriving farm town, filled with people who had hopes and dreams for the future. In the midsixties, the high school had won the state football championship; Dave doubted they even had a team these days.
    “That’s the grocery over there,” he said, pointing to Hansen’s on Main Street. “It doesn’t look like much, but they should have everything on your list.”
    “I’m sure they will,” Emma said and put on a brave smile. She didn’t mention what she thought of the town, but the expression on her face told him all he needed to know.
    Dave ran over to Joshua McKenna’s Fix-It and Antiques Store while Emma did the grocery shopping. He found her chatting with Marta Hansen when he finished loading the small engine Joshua had repaired for him.
    “I didn’t know you were