Maisie Swaps Her Groom

  Maisie Swaps her Groom

  Mismatched Mail-order Bride Series, Book 5

  Copyright © 2019 by Linda K. Hubalek

  Published by Butterfield Books Inc.

  Printed Book ISBN—9781086379808

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2019905230

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer and buy your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Except for the history of Kansas mentioned in the book, the names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  A sweet historical romance set in 1892.

  Maisie Brenner, the youngest daughter in the Brides with Grit series book, Sarah Snares a Soldier, grew up on the vast Cross C Ranch. Recently, she and her sisters moved into nearby Clear Creek to take over the town’s dress shop.

  The Peashooter Society (the nickname for the older women in town) decides Maisie needs a husband, even though Maisie is perfectly content to sew dresses and gossip with girlfriends.

  Squires Miller, with his brothers and friends, left New York City on an orphan train when Squires was four years old. He was adopted by a man who ran a flour mill and did not have a good childhood. The group of men gets the chance to live and work together in Clear Creek, thanks to the plan of the Peashooter Society.

  Because Squires' has no fear of heights, he earns the available carpenter job, but it doesn't come with a home, like the jobs the other men get. When the place where Squires was living becomes unavailable due to his roommate's hasty marriage and adoption of three children, he's left out in the cold, until he decides to sleep on the stair landing of Maisie's dress shop apartment.

  Do sparks fly? Yes. Will they become a couple? Maybe...

  Chapter 1

  Fall 1892

  Clear Creek, Kansas

  This sucks, Squires Miller thought as he slowly opened the outside stairs door to the dress shop apartment. Squires had been staying with his friend, Peter Gehring, but the man married Maggie Brenner in a one-minute wedding ceremony this afternoon so they could adopt three orphans. The bedroom Squires had used in Peter’s barbershop apartment was now occupied by four-year-old, Christian. The other spare room in the apartment had been changed into a nursery of such for the boy's little sisters, Bonita, and Alice.

  Squires, his brothers, Barton and Gordon, along with their friends Peter Gehring, Tobin Billings, and Wesley Preston, had been together since the six of them left New York City on an orphan train twenty years ago.

  They had been adopted by different families in the same neighborhood in eastern Kansas and stayed in contact as they grew up. When the youngest of the boys, Squires and Peter, reached eighteen, the group enlisted in the army, serving their five years together at Fort Riley.

  Wanting to stay close to each other, they answered an advertisement which needed six men to fill jobs in Clear Creek, Kansas. The draw, besides the jobs available, was that each man would have his own housing… and a wife.

  The older church women who thought up this idea, and were informally called the Peashooter Society, hadn't let the women they'd pegged as the wives know about their scheme, but so far it had worked out well.

  Squires oldest brother, Barton, took over the blacksmith shop, which had comfortable living quarters in the back section, and had married Amelia Shepard. Her family owned Shepard Saddlery and Sons, but Amelia still worked right along with her father and brothers in the family businesses.

  His other brother, Gordon, had bought the mercantile store from the retiring Taylor's and lived upstairs with his new wife, Avalee Paulson. Avalee was Doctor Pansy Reagan's assistant, but was also working part-time in the mercantile now. Avalee's family managed the Paulson Hotel.

  Tobin Billings acquired the livery and the former owner's home behind it, from Lucas Boyle. Besides letting the elderly man stay in the home with him, Tobin had also said quick vows today to Molly Brenner to adopt five-year-old twin orphans. Tobin's home was too full for Squires to ask to stay there too. There was Tobin’s livery hayloft to sleep in as his last resort, but besides the cool fall weather, it housed two mules, which Squires abhorred with a passion.

  Squires stopped at the hotel, hoping Wesley would let him stay in his apartment on the top floor of the hotel. Wesley was the night manager for heaven's sake, so they'd hardly see each other. But, Wesley flat out said no. Squires knew Wesley liked sister number five in the family, Nadine Paulson, but she didn't give him the time of day.

  And with that rejection—and to get out of the cold rain—Squires was trying to quietly sneak up the stairs to the top landing.

  Besides, this upstairs apartment was supposed to be his home when he married Maggie Brenner, who the Peashooter's had matched up with Squires. He couldn't help it if Maggie married Peter instead.

  So, who was left living in this apartment now? Maisie Brenner, the youngest daughter who had moved in from the Cross C Ranch with her sisters, Maggie and Molly, when they took over the business from Mary Jones. But the sisters up and married today, leaving the dress shop apartment to Maisie.

  Squires cringed when the fifth step creaked as he stepped on it. If he wasn't absolutely quiet, Maisie would realize someone was coming up the stairs.

  After reaching the landing, he moved into the corner, set down his carpetbag, and slid down the wall. Not the best place to sleep, but he couldn't think of any other choice to get out of the cold night. He wasn't going to bother his newlywed friends, and he didn't have money to rent a room at the hotel.

  He supposed he could have knocked on the parsonage door and asked Pastor and Kaitlyn Reagan if he could stay with them, but...he knew the preacher's wife would take over his life and embarrass him. And he was already at that point by his own shortcomings.

  Squires moved his hat to cover his face, not that the staircase was lit with much more than the light coming through the transom window above the door at the bottom of the stairs. Within a half-hour, the landing would be pitch dark with the rainy sky blocking the moonlight.

  He'd sleep here tonight, show up early at Mack's house in the morning, and hope his boss had the coffee pot on and would offer him some breakfast. Squires needed food before they started on their carpentry project for the day.

  Overall, he liked the Clear Creek community. The businesses supported the town and country folk, and vice versa. There were key families, like the Reagans, and the Wilersons, who seemed to make it their mission to help others, which was so different than the Miller clan that he and his brothers grew up in. Because of the Children's Aid Society policy of allowing a family to only adopt one child from an orphan train group, Squires and his brothers were split between the Miller family. Squires' brothers lived with two brothers’ families, and Squires was raised by a cousin of the brothers. Barton's and Gordon's adoptive parents weren't loving parents, but at least they were better than Squires.

  Life had been miserable for Squires growing up. It’s not that Mr. Miller hit him, but the abuse was still there in the little things he did to his adoptive son. Squires still shuddered thinking of the things that happened to him when he was young.

  Even though Mr. Miller ran the flour mill on the edge of town, they had a small flock of chickens, a milk cow, a f
ew horses and a team of mules.

  One of the things Mr. Miller took cruel pleasure in when Squires first moved in, was throwing the rooster at him. Squires had a few permanent scratches from the rooster’s talons. Locking the hen house door when Squires was in there picking up eggs was another prank of the man.

  When Squires was old enough to kick away the rooster to defend himself, Mr. Miller turned to other ways to pester him. Being sure the milk cow’s tail was slick with manure before Squires sat down to milk the cow. Squires was sure to get hit in the face or back with the fresh mess. Then Mrs. Miller added her own punishment of making Squires wash his own clothes.

  The worst abuse still haunted Squires to this day. One mule was particularly ornery and hard to lead into its barn stall. One time Mr. Miller pushed and held the mule’s side as Squires, and the mule were halfway in the stall, pinning Squires to the wall as he gasped for air and bruised his ribs. Mr. Miller did that a few more times until the mule took the hint and tried to squeeze Squires every time he had to tie him up. To this day, Squires still had an unnatural fear of mules.

  At least Squires knew how not to treat children.

  His heart nearly broke for the orphans who’d been destined to get back on the train at the Clear Creek station today. Last week the three Gatti children were taken off the train when there was a freak accident on the train. One of the orphanage agents was killed when a large cottonwood limb crashed through the window. The other agent’s arms were broken, but Miss Beasley was recuperating in the back of Peter’s barbershop rooms and being taken care of by the community women.

  But when the new agents came for the children, his brothers, Barton and Gordon and their wives each adopted one girl and Peter and Maggie quickly married to adopt the boy. The children would all formally be Peter’s and Maggie’s children though, once the paperwork was done by Lyle Elison, the town’s lawyer.

  Squires let out a sigh of relief. He gladly moved out of the barbershop apartment to give the children a home with Peter and Maggie. They would be great parents.

  He laid down on the floor, using his carpetbag as his pillow. It wouldn’t be the first or last time he slept in an unusual place. At least he wasn’t outside trying to sleep on the cold, wet, ground. Squires had to do that many a night when he was in the army.

  Yes, overall he could still count his blessings in this little town of Clear Creek, he thought as he moved around to get comfortable. Now if he didn’t have any nightmares of chickens or mules, he’d have a good night’s sleep.

  Chapter 2

  Maisie relished having the apartment to herself...for an hour. Then Maisie realized there was absolutely no one to talk to tonight. Molly had taken her kittens with her too when she’d moved her clothes and such over to Tobin's home.

  It dawned on Maisie that she'd never been alone overnight in her entire twenty-one years. Coming from a large family, there were always ten or more people sleeping and eating in the large ranch house.

  It was hard to cut down to only fixing meals for three people when she and her sisters moved into town. Now to only prepare meals for herself? Maisie pulled out a skillet to fry potatoes and leftover roast, and then thought why bother? She'd have to wash the skillet. She ended up making a cold roast beef sandwich and sat at the head of the table, staring at the empty chairs around her.

  After her meager supper she'd picked up a book to read, but that didn't hold her interest for long. The thought of tomorrow's new routine kept playing in her head.

  She'd be eating breakfast by herself.

  She was going to be working in the downstairs shop by herself.

  Lunch could be eaten at the café, but she couldn't do that every noon.

  And it would be back upstairs alone for supper. Maybe Maggie needed help, and she could eat with them tomorrow night. But, Maisie didn't want to get in the drama of Molly's life quite yet.

  The rainy night added to her gloomy mood tonight too. Two sisters and two friends now had spouses, and she wouldn't see them as much. Nadine was still single, but she lived in the hotel with her three sisters and her parents.

  Maisie closed her book and laid it on the end table. Maybe she'd go to bed early. She roamed around the living room, looking out the rain-stained darkened windows which looked over Main Street. Being dark, she couldn't see anyone on the boardwalk across the street, but then no one would want to be out in this wet weather.

  Where was Squires tonight? He had been living with Peter, but probably moved over to Wesley's apartment at the hotel. Maisie knew Maggie and the children moved up to Peter's apartment. For the past week, they had been staying in the back rooms of the barbershop with Ann Beasley, the injured orphan agent. Maybe Maisie could spend the night with Ann. No, it was time to face the facts. She was an adult living on her own. She wanted to move into town and make dresses, and she got her wish.

  “Good night, Maggie and Molly,” Maisie softly said. She never dreamed when she said that to her sisters last night, it would be the last time the three of them would be sleeping under the same roof. Tonight, her sisters were sleeping with their new husbands after tucking their new children in bed.

  Maisie had wanted to move into town to be a business owner, but in the back of her mind, she hoped she'd meet and marry the love of her life too. All she met out in the country were ranchers and their hired hands, and she did not want to be a rancher's wife, stuck out in the country all the time.

  Needing to feel safer since she was alone, she walked to the door to lock it. But as she reached for the door, she thought she heard something. The rain had slowed down to a drizzle, so that sound was gone. Maisie put her hear to the door and listened.

  It sounds like someone was...snoring? What in the world?

  Maisie slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door an inch wide to listen again. The volume of the noise increased, and it was indeed the distinct sound of a snore.

  She slowly opened the door, peeking into the landing to see who was there. The shape of a man, lying on his side, was the noisy culprit. Who in the world? Her chest fluttered with panic. Could she creep down the stairs without waking him to run to her Uncle, the town marshal?

  As she opened the door a little wider, her living room lamp light shone on his prone face. Then she jerked the door wide open and stomped across the landing to kick the man's foot.

  “Squires Miller. What the heck are you doing sleeping on my stair landing, scaring me half to death?”

  Squires jerked in response but didn't open his eyes because the light was shining in them now.

  “How'd you know I was out here, Maisie?” Squires groaned as he moved his hat over his face to shade his eyes.

  “I heard you snoring!” She explained as she crossed her arms across her chest.

  “Sorry, Maisie. I didn't have anywhere else to go. Thought I could sneak up here to get out of the rain, and then be gone by the time you got up in the morning.”

  “Well, that didn't work.” But now she felt sorry for him. He'd been kicked out of his home, even if he knew it was temporary.

  “Could I please go back to sleep now that you know it’s just me out here? I promise I'll try to keep my snoring to a low level.”

  Maisie sighed. She couldn't leave the man out here on the hard floor when there were three beds in the apartment.

  “Get up and come inside, Squires. I can't leave you out there all night.”

  “Are you sure? I've slept on worse surfaces than a dry floor.”

  “I'm sure,” Maisie let him know she was all right with him coming inside her apartment.

  He stretched a few seconds to get the kinks out of his body, picked up his hat and carpetbag, and stepped inside the door.

  “I've never been here without a room full of people,” Squires said, now too timid to walk in.

  “I know. I just thought this is the first time in my entire life I haven't been with a family member overnight.”

  “Uh, overnight? Should I be in the house with you, uh, ov
ernight?” Squires bashfully asked as he rubbed his fingers on the rim of his hat.

  “Oh, good gravy, Squires. I'm not asking you to sleep in my bed. There are two other bedrooms in the apartment. Or you can sleep on the rug beside the door if you can't stand being too close to me.”

  “Stop that, Maisie. I was thinking about your reputation,” Squires explained himself in a quieter voice.

  “Thank you for that, I was being practical. I was extending normal ranch hospitality,” Maisie explained as she raised her hand palm up.

  “Well, I'll accept the use of a bedroom tonight then. And maybe a cup of tea or hot chocolate?”

  Maisie rolled her eyes, then pointed for him to walk into the kitchen in front of her.

  “Have you had supper, Squires?”

  “No, ma'am.”

  Where was the man when she wished she had someone to eat supper with?

  Out on her stair landing.

  “How about a roast beef sandwich to tide you over until breakfast?”

  “Would that come with potatoes and gravy by chance?”

  “No! I'm not going to cook you a whole meal and then have to wash the skillet.”

  “Is there by chance any leftovers of Maggie's or Molly's baking in the pie cupboard?”

  He asked about her sisters' baking but not hers? Well, to be fair, he knew who did the baking in her family—but it was only because Maisie hadn't had to, not that she didn't know how to.

  “I'm lucky my sisters left me flour in the pantry and a skillet after they moved out this afternoon,” Maisie grumbled.

  “I guess you're feeling a little lonely tonight? I sure am. My friends and brothers have married, leaving me to figure out things on my own.”

  “Did you talk to Wesley this evening? I thought you'd move in with him.”

  “I thought so too, being he works most nights, but he wouldn't let me past his apartment door. I knocked, he stepped out into the hallway, and shut the door behind him before he said a word.”