Free Genevieve: Bride of Nevada (American Mail-Order Bride 36) by Cynthia Woolf Page B

to…” A tear rolled down her cheek. “Then he said he didn’t want to lose me in childbirth like he did Martha and I said ‘so you do care for me’ and he went all cold. We didn’t talk at all on the way home.”
    “Oh, honey, he’s scared.” Nettie set her spoon down on the metal spoon holder on the stove. “Martha’s death nearly destroyed all of us. Joe took it the hardest. Stuart would have but he had children to care for, one of which was a newborn babe. I helped where I could but he still had every night alone with those two kids. I don’t think he’s ever really grieved.”
    Genny nodded. “I understand that. I don’t understand why her death affected Joe so greatly.”
    “What affected me?”
    Joe had come into the kitchen and neither Nettie nor Genny heard him. She must get her hearing checked. These men keep sneaking up on her.
    “Why did you take Martha’s death so hard? She was Stuart’s wife not yours.”
    “Not that it’s any of your business,” Joe said coldly. “But she wasn’t my wife because I didn’t ask her when I should have. I was too stupid to realize what I was doing. Wanting to sow my wild oats.”
    “So she and Stuart fell in love and married?” asked Genny.
    Joe looked at the floor before raising his gaze. “Yes. That’s what happened. I got used to the idea, but I never stopped regretting it.”
    “You never said anything to me. Why? If you loved her, why?”
    Stuart stood in the doorway.
    Joe turned and faced his brother. “You and she had decided to marry and you’d been courting her for more than a year by the time I realized what I’d done. I couldn’t step in then.”
    Stuart took a deep breath and let it out. “God, Joe if I’d known, I would never have—”
    Joe closed the distance between them, and then took Stuart by the shoulders.
    “No. You’re the one she chose and that’s the way the arrangement should have been. She wanted stability, something I couldn’t provide her at that time. I’m sorry. I should have told you this a long time ago. But if it’s any consolation she did love you. She told me so.”
    Stuart, paled and his eyes looked hollow. He turned and walked back out outside.
    Genny, tears in her eyes, wanted to follow, but she was an outsider and until Stuart let her in, she couldn’t do anything to ease his pain.
    Joe made to follow Stuart.
    “Let him be, Joe,” said Nettie. “He must work this through by himself. When he does, he’ll realize what he felt for Martha and what she felt for him were two different things. He needs to know that before he can move on.”
    Joe sat at the table and put his head in his hands. “I never meant to hurt him, Nettie. Never.”
    Nettie walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. “He knows that. A lot of things weren’t good about Martha. I know that. We’ve deified her because she died giving birth to Lucy, but Martha was not a saint. She was a woman. She married Stuart to spite you. Oh, I think she eventually fell in love with him, but not like you. You were her first love. I’ve never told anyone this, but when she was sixteen and you said you wouldn’t marry her at the city dance in Elko, do you remember?”
    “I remember.” Joe hung his head. “I wasn’t ready.”
    “Well, she went immediately to Stuart—”
    Stuart spoke from the doorway, his face pale except for his cheeks, red from the cold. “She told me she’d be amenable if I wanted to court her. I’d only thought of her as a little girl until that night. She kissed me and not the kiss of a child. I needed a wife and so I agreed.”
    “I had an inkling, but never knew for sure she did that. I’m sorry she used you in that manner,” said Joe.
    Stuart came in and put his coat on one of the pegs by the door.
    “The reason she came to me doesn’t matter. We ended up having a wonderful marriage and I have two beautiful children to show for it.”
    Stuart had gotten over Martha’s duplicity long ago. He