Chapter Six
Riverton Church
Colorful sunlight burst in thick beams through the big round window above the altar, drenching the room with hues of blues, purples, yellows, and reds.
Poppy stared up at it and admired the stained glass and all the meticulous work that had produced such a stunning piece.
It depicted the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as he stood in all his glory with Mary Magdalene and some of his disciples at his feet.
It was beautiful and so very fitting in that moment.
After all, this was the start of a brand-new life for her and Sophie.
Poppy just wasn’t sure how it would turn out.
After her first encounter with her soon-to-be-husband, Neil Albright, she’d questioned her decision to come here at least a thousand times.
And as much as she had prayed the night before, asking for reassurance and guidance, today Poppy felt lost and unsure.
Today was her wedding day, but it wasn’t what she and her mother had envisioned all those years ago. This wasn’t the big celebration with hundreds of people—the pews were completely empty. There were no flowers, no music, and no witnesses. And there was no dress.
When Poppy had entered the church, she wore a borrowed black dress from a woman named Maeve.
She had learned that this woman had worked for Neil as the housekeeper until recently, but she was leaving today to go back to her home in Ireland.
The woman had been kind enough to give her the dress, and while it wasn’t a wedding dress exactly, it was clean and nicer than what Poppy was wearing.
Poppy hadn’t brought any other clothes than the ones she’d worn on their travel. Their small bag had contained mostly Sophie’s clothes. Poppy had figured she’d have enough time to prepare for the wedding. She did not.
So in that moment, Poppy stood in front of the altar in a dress held together by safety pins and thread. There were no bows or ribbons in her hair. She had just braided it like she always did and rolled it up into a bun at her nape, the way she did when she went to church on Sundays.
The worst part was that Sophie wasn’t there. Despite her fighting tooth and nail to bring her little sister with her, Neil had insisted on getting this wedding done without any delays, so Sophie was currently being watched by a twelve-year-old orphan boy named Barley and Neil’s foreman, Paul.
The fact that Neil hadn’t allowed Sophie to be at church with them had been one of the harshest treatments Poppy had ever received. She was still very much in shock over it, but in her current situation, there wasn’t much she could have done to change it.
While she waited at the altar for Neil to arrive, her thoughts drifted to her friend, Helena.
Poppy remembered how she had made her swear to her that she’d be invited to her wedding, but none of the things they had imagined had come true.
It filled Poppy with sadness that her life had changed so drastically, and she was still too much in shock to process it all.
The doors at the end of the aisle burst open, and Neil appeared. He hastily pulled off his hat, dusted himself off, and rushed toward the altar. By the looks of it, he hadn’t bothered to dress up. He wore the same style of clothing as the day before, including the leather chaps.
The noise must have notified the pastor, who had been in the back the entire time Poppy had waited. He now walked out of the vestibule toward her.
“Can we begin?” Neil asked without wasting any time.
Poppy got the impression that he was in a rush.
Neil jumped up the two steps to where Poppy stood and positioned himself in front of her.
His gaze wandered up and down her dress, but he didn’t show any reaction to it. Instead, he nodded toward the pastor.
Poppy had looked forward to the pastor’s words during the ceremony, hoping to hear something encouraging or simply beautiful she could hold on to.
That didn’t happen either. Within less than a minute, the pastor just read them the most basic vows, asking them if they wanted to marry the other, to which both replied yes. It was over before it had begun.
“You may kiss the bride,” the pastor announced then, and before Poppy could react, Neil bent down and pressed his lips over hers for merely a split second. She blinked twice and immediately questioned if it had actually happened.
“I pronounce you husband and wife,” the pastor said then, closing his Bible with half a smile.
“Thank you, Pastor Nickelson,” Neil declared with a curt nod.
Then he grabbed Poppy’s hand and pulled her with him back down the aisle toward the front entrance.
She had to hurry to lift up the front of the skirt and run because his strides were much longer than hers.
She almost stumbled over the seam of the oversized dress.
When they burst through the front doors, there was nobody waiting or cheering for them. There was only the buggy that was waiting right outside of the church. Neil helped her to get in, and then he raced the poor horse all the way back to his ranch at breakneck speed.
They didn’t speak the entire ride home.
Poppy didn’t know what to think.
What have I just done? Was that it? Is this going to be my life now?
She just stared out toward the road and prayed to get home quickly so she could see Sophie and make sure she was all right.
As soon as they reached the farm, Neil jumped out of the buggy and rushed around to help her, but Poppy didn’t want his help.
The way Neil had handled everything wasn’t how she had expected her wedding day to be.
He hadn’t shown an ounce of care, and Poppy’s mind warred between frustration, anger, and disappointment.
She shunned his outstretched hand and climbed down by herself.
Without so much as looking at him, she marched toward the ranch house to where Sophie was.
She needed to see a friendly face. This whole ordeal so far had been nothing but a nightmare, and Poppy regretted her decision to answer the advertisement with every passing minute.
Bursting into the house, she found her little sister in the dining room. She sat on a soft rug on the floor playing with her rag doll, while Barley sat next to her, clearly trying to get her to speak. The foreman sat in a rocking chair in front of the fireplace, reading a book.
As soon as she stormed into the room, he greeted her with a warm smile, but Poppy couldn’t bring herself to be polite in that moment.
Not really looking at him, she nodded a curt nod, then she went to her little sister, who jumped up with a beaming smile, and pulled her into her arms. Poppy fought the tears welling up in her eyes and peppered little kisses all over Sophie’s face.
“Mr. and Mrs. Albright,” Paul exclaimed as he put the book to the side and stood up from his chair.
Neil’s foreman was the same build and height as Neil, and his striking gray eyes stood in stark contrast to his tanned complexion and blond hair.
“Congratulations to the newlywed couple!” he exclaimed cheerfully as he walked up to Neil to shake his hand. Poppy ignored both men.
“I’m so sorry I had to leave you here!” she whispered to Sophie, who took all her affections without a fight.
“I’ll never leave you alone ever again,” Poppy said into her soft curls.
Then she leaned back and took a closer look at Sophie, whose soft smile vanished when she noticed the tear rolling down Poppy’s face.
Poppy quickly wiped it away. Sophie was very receptive in that way, and whatever emotions Poppy showed had a great effect on the younger girl.
“Are you all right? Did they treat you well?” Poppy asked, trying to sound positive as she examined her sister a little closer, but Sophie just smiled at her and nodded.
“She’s been very good,” Paul supplied. “Very well behaved.”
“Why can’t she speak?” Barley asked curiously. He appeared directly next to Poppy, which made her jump. Sophie smiled at him. Poppy took that as a good sign. Her little sister seemed to like the young boy.
“She’s...” Poppy looked at Sophie’s face. Her little sister studied hers intently. She was still smiling at her. “She is... mute. She doesn’t speak,” Poppy finally said hesitantly.
She hated telling people this, but it didn’t seem feasible in their current situation to keep that a secret.
She didn’t want any misunderstanding to cause problems for Sophie.
Poppy remembered all too well how people had mistreated the little girl at the brothel when they didn’t know about her condition, calling her “entitled” and “a lazy brat.”
“So she can’t talk at all?” Barley asked again, carefully kneeling next to Sophie, looking at her with curious eyes. He seemed eager to understand rather than judge, and Poppy’s previous distance toward these new people dissipated a little.
She inhaled deeply, then she took a first real look at the boy.
His thick golden blond hair was a curly mess, and his eyes were the brightest blue Poppy had ever seen.
His nose and cheeks were covered in tiny freckles, and when he smiled up at her so innocently, patiently waiting for Poppy’s answer, her heart melted for him completely.
He was only a young child himself, after all.
“That’s right,” she confirmed with a soft smile. “Sophie is a very special girl, and we need to be very careful and protect her so that nothing happens to my little sister.”
Barley scooted a little closer and stroked over Sophie’s arm, a gentle gesture Poppy hadn’t expected from a young boy like him. He smiled brightly at her.
“Can she be my little sister, too?” he asked with wide eyes and an even bigger smile.
Poppy could barely swallow past the big lump that formed in her throat.
She couldn’t do anything other than nod.
Another tear rolled down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away, but Barley had noticed it.
“Don’t be sad. You can be my sister, too, and I can be brother to all of you!
” he exclaimed cheerfully. Sophie slung her arms around him and gave the boy a big hug.
Poppy just sat there, a little flabbergasted and bewildered, but something inside her heart cracked wide open, filling her with a warmth she hadn’t felt in a long time.
It was something she needed in that moment, so she pulled both children into a tight hug.
Barley was an angel sent to her from God—Poppy was certain of it.
From somewhere behind her, Neil cleared his throat.
“Time to make lunch!” he declared matter-of-factly. “The men will be hungry.”
His stern tone startled Poppy a little, but then she remembered that Madam Marveau used to speak to her in that manner too, when she’d wanted something done.
Poppy wondered if she’d just switched tyrants and if Neil would simply be the male version of her former boss. Would it even matter at this point?
She inhaled deeply, then she looked at Barley, who smiled at her warmly.
“Do you mind watching her for a little while longer, while I cook?” Poppy asked him quietly, and Barley’s smile grew even wider.
“Yes, of course!” he exclaimed, nodding wildly. “Don’t worry! I’ll protect little Sophie! She’s safe with me!”
Poppy smiled at him, then she got up onto her feet and began rolling up the sleeves of the dress. Not wasting any time, she marched straight past both men into the kitchen.
Entering the large room at the back of the house, she felt instantly intimidated.
She’d never cooked for a lot of people before.
This hadn’t been discussed, and it also hadn’t been part of the agreement.
When Poppy had said that she would cook, she’d talked about them as a family—not an extra two dozen farm workers.
She sighed deeply. Then she grabbed one of the aprons hanging on a hook near the storage room and tied it around herself. She could only try her best, which was what she’d always done, so it couldn’t be all that different here than it had been at Marveau Marvels. How hard could it be?
***
Two hours later, the kitchen was filled with thick black smoke billowing from the big cast iron pot hanging over the roaring fire in the old stone hearth, which was clearly the heart of the kitchen.
Poppy had managed to push the lid off the pot with a fire poker, but that had seemingly made everything worse, because now the large piece of meat inside of it actually caught on fire.
Sizzling flames danced over the rim of the large pot, and when Poppy rushed to douse them with some water, the hissing sounded like the steam train she’d traveled on the day before.
She yelped, desperately trying to pull the pot off the fire, which nearly singed the bottom of the dress she was wearing.
Hot tears rolled down her face when she saw the charcoaled meat inside the large pot.
Worst of all, Sophie started crying. Spinning around, she saw her little sister stand near the open doorway, wide-eyed and with a horrified look on her face, pointing at the dark smoke lingering in the kitchen.
She got increasingly more upset. Poppy left the pot and rushed to her side, trying to calm her down.
Oh, how much she missed Helena right now.
“It’s okay, sweetie!” Poppy cooed, gently rocking her back and forth. “It’s all right. It’s just smoke!” Unfortunately, Sophie seemed inconsolable.
“What happened here?” Paul asked, clearly surprised, when he rushed into the kitchen. Barley was right behind him. “Did you get hurt?” Paul enquired full of concern. Poppy shook her head.
“No,” she replied meekly. “But I burned the roast,” she said, feeling defeated.
Paul rushed to pull the large, heavy pot away from the hearth, grabbed a thick towel and sat it onto the countertop. At the same time, Neil stormed into the kitchen.
“What happened here?” he asked. Poppy didn’t dare to look at him. She could hear the anger in his voice already. “Why is the kitchen on fire?”