Conner's Contrary Bride Barbara Goss (books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📖

As usual, Elsie came to breakfast after Conner had not only eaten his breakfast but had read the whole newspaper.

“Good morning,” he said, “though it’s nearly afternoon.”

“I’m sorry. I stayed up rather late last night. I love nights when the house is quiet and dark. It’s my favorite time of the day.”

Conner nodded. “Ah, you were reading a good book, were you?”

“Reading? No, not me.” She laughed. “I haven’t read since I left the schoolroom. I knit and crochet things.”

“You’d better eat quickly—we need to open the clinic. I suppose I could open and try to get along until you make it in.” He pulled out his pocket watch. “I believe Mrs. Monroe is due at any minute, and she’ll be wanting her medication.”

Elsie gave him a warm smile. “I’ll be in quickly. I’m just having a slice of toast.”

“Nothing else? That’s not healthy.”

“Well, about three in the morning I came down and had a piece of pie.”

Conner stood and turned so she wouldn’t see him roll his eyes. That was another difference between them: she was a night person, and he was a day person.

Elsie had cleaned up his tools and the rest of the clinic, and then she seemed to have disappeared. He’d gone to the well for water and come back to find her gone. He shrugged, turned out the lights, and was about to enter the house when someone knocked on the clinic door. He hoped it wasn’t a patient. They’d had so many that day, he felt exhausted. He opened the door to see Elsie standing there.

She grimaced. “I got locked out.”

“I thought you’d gone into the house.” He opened the door wider so she could enter. “What’s that you have in your arms?”

Elsie grinned. “I found a kitten in the horse shed. Isn’t she adorable?” She held it up to his face.

Conner backed up and put his hand out in defense. “Whoa, I don’t like cats. Put it back in the shed.”

Elsie pressed her lips together and creased her forehead. She was angry. It was the first time he had seen such an expression on her face.

She seemed to control her anger and said evenly, “I thought I could keep her. I named her Taffy because she’s the same color.”

“I’m a dog person. I was thinking of getting one, but I was afraid it would scare away patients.” Conner scratched his head, “Where would you keep the cat?”

“A dog would scare me away, too.” Elsie stroked the kitten. “She can stay in my room.”

“What if she has to do her business?”

“I’ll get a box of sand. That’s what Mae did. She had three cats.”

“Just… don’t let it run around the house and scratch furniture,” he told her.

Chapter Seven

Elsie knew they would see the sheriff that morning, so she tried to get up early. She arrived at breakfast just as Conner was finishing his.

“Good morning.” She smiled sweetly at him. He nodded in return.

She wondered what she’d done to upset him. “Is there a problem?”

Conner stood and pointed to the sofa in the sitting room where Elsie saw Taffy curled up on one of the sofa cushions.

“There she is,” Elsie cried, running to grab the kitten. “When I didn’t see her this morning, I thought she was hiding in my room somewhere.” She tapped the kitten’s nose. “You naughty girl.”

Conner frowned at her. “How’d she get out of your room?”

“Well, I was knitting this cute little scarf for Bertie, and I left to visit the outhouse before I turned in. She must have slipped out then.”

“Can you secure her in your room before eating so we can go to see Sheriff Babcock?”

“I think I can manage that,” she said before running to her room.

Conner opened the door to the sheriff’s office and allowed her to walk in.

The man behind the desk was quite intimidating. He stood when they entered and she could see that he was taller than Conner, who was nearly six feet tall. He wore a mustache and had eyes that seemed to take everything in. After the introductions, Sheriff Babcock invited them to take a seat.

“Now, what can I do for you newlyweds?” Babcock asked in a husky voice that fit his looks.

Conner spoke first. “My wife left her small town in West Virginia because her stepfather had attacked her. She took refuge with a widow who took her under her wing. Now, the monster has terrorized this woman into telling him where Elsie has gone, and he threatened to come after her. We want you to be on the lookout for the man. His name is Frank Timmons, and he’s a big hairy ape of a man as Elsie described him to me.”

The sheriff leaned back in his chair. He looked at Elsie. “Can you describe this Timmons man?”

“He’s as tall as Conner but much larger in the shoulders and he has a rather pot belly. He’s bald except for a rim of brown hair around the side of his head. And as my husband said, he’s quite hairy everywhere except on his head.”

“Any scars or noticeable features?”

Elsie tapped her chin. “He has a tattoo on his left arm of a bird...an eagle, I think.”

“What happened back in West Virginia, exactly?”

Elsie blushed and looked up at Conner.

Conner spoke for her. “When he attacked Elsie, she got away by kicking him in the groin. She ran, but he followed her. Elsie said that because he tripped, it gave her a good head start. That was the last time she saw him. And she’s quite worried.”

After hearing Conner, Elsie’s courage strengthened, and she spoke up. “You see, I also saw him push my mother down the stairs, and she died from a broken neck. I was