Adela's Prairie Suitor (The Annex Mail-Order Brides Book 1) by Elaine Manders Page A

delivery was made after your father’s death, so he couldn’t have cashed it.”
    The perplexity on Byron’s face told her he didn’t understand. “You look over the documents, and I’ll go get our coffee,” she said.
    When she returned with two steaming cups, he glanced up. “I believe you’re right, Adela, but what am I going to do after all this time? Even though I was in a state after Pa’s death, it was stupid to overlook something like this. I can’t expect the shipper to make it good now.”
    She set one of the cups in front of him. “This is a reputable company. If they did make payment, they’ll have proof of it, and you can trace it. Unless the draft was stolen—and I can’t believe that happened. They’ll make good on it. If they don’t, you can get a lawyer.
    He drank steadily for a minute, and the coffee seemed to convince him. Byron got up and took the cup from Adela. “Do you know what this means?” He took her hands.
    “Yes, it means you can keep that land for the boy’s ranch and not have to scrimp through the winter.”
    “It means more than that. You’re a genius, Adela, a pure genius.” He pulled her to his chest in a bear hug that sent a thrill skidding through her. She lifted her head. He lowered his. Their lips were inches apart.
    “What’s going on in here?” Mrs. Calhoun’s question cracked through the silent room.
    They both jumped apart. “Ma, Adela found where we weren’t paid for last summer’s wheat. It’s still due.”
    “How could that be, and how are we going to get it now? How could we prove it just by a bunch of numbers pulled out of the air?”
    Byron ran his fingers through his already ruffled hair in a gesture of frustration. “Ma, Adela is an educated woman. She didn’t pull numbers out of the air.”
    Gratitude warmed Adela all the way to her toes. Byron was in the impossible position of smoothing the ruffled feathers of two women he cared about. He’d obviously been brought up to respect his mother, so he couldn’t tell her she was off her rocker. Yet his willingness to defend Adela proved he not only cared about her, but he respected her as much as his mother.
    She wanted to make it clear it wasn’t Byron’s fault. “It’s not unusual for mistakes to occur when settling an estate. Sometimes it takes years for the affairs to be straightened out. You may have to hire a lawyer.”
    Mrs. Calhoun’s brows shot up. “Hire a lawyer with what?”
    Adela wouldn’t let the woman rob them of their celebration. “Byron can probably get a lawyer to take a commission only if he wins the case, but it’s an iron-clad case.”
    For the first time, Adela caught a spark of admiration in Mrs. Calhoun’s eyes, but she didn’t drop the argument easily. “I know you’ve been educated in the ways of city business, Miss Mason, but I’ve been farming all my life, and it don’t always work out that way for us.”
    Byron made a wide path around his mother on his way to the door. “I’ll make it work, Ma. Now, let’s all go back to bed. We have a party to get ready for tomorrow. Let’s not say anything to our neighbors yet.” He stopped to squeeze Adela on the shoulder, smiling as they made eye contact. “Thanks to you, we’ll have a lot more to be celebrating than this year’s harvest.” He would have kissed her if they’d been alone.
    She tried not to read more into that than she should. The mistake she’d uncovered might be easily explained and not result in any gain for the farm at all. She might be getting their hopes up for nothing.

Chapter 16
    When Byron told Adela most of the farming community would come to the shucking and taffy pull, she pictured a large gathering similar to the receptions back in Cambridge. When only nineteen people showed, including half a dozen children, she realized how small the community was.
    They all seemed to swarm in at once, straining the small house to its limits. Then the men trooped to the barn where they’d