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

realized she was only eighteen and had led a sheltered life on this remote ranch. He was not unaware of Martha’s machinations, but she seemed to change by the time they got married and settled down to family life on the ranch. At twenty-three, he’d married Martha so they could raise children and cattle and build the MacDonnell name throughout the valley.
    That life hadn’t come to pass with Martha, she was just too delicate.
    Genny was different in every way from her locks to her glorious body with its strong legs and arms. He’d asked her how her arms got so strong, she told him it was from praying too hard…and carrying heavy bolts of material around the factory floor and bags of groceries up four flights of stairs when she got home. She’d said this was the easiest she’d ever had it as far as work went. Caring for the children was wonderful and learning to do things around the ranch was interesting.
    But no matter how strong she appeared, childbirth was difficult at the best of times and he couldn’t take the chance. Better to stay away from her. Keep her safe. Keep his heart safe.

CHAPTER 7

    The next morning, Genny left the house with a bucket full of table scraps for the pigs. She’d discovered they would eat anything. Stuart also fed them grain because there was never enough scraps to feed three full grown sows, two boars and three litters of between four and eight piglets, especially this time of year. In the summer there would be more waste with fresh vegetable stalks and leaves, as well as the leftover meat, bones, and other scraps.
    She hadn’t gotten far when she heard running footsteps behind her.
    “Genny! Genny! I go, too.”
    She turned and fell to her knees as Billy ran into her.
    “Billy, what are you doing out here? You’re supposed to stay in the yard.”
    “I want see baby kitties in da barn.”
    Genny shook her head and smiled. “Oh, all right. We’ll stop by the barn on the way back to the house.”
    She held the bucket of slop in one hand and his little hand in the other as they went down to the pig sty.
    When they got there Genny let go of his hand, walked to the fence and dumped the bucket into the wooden trough. Then she took a long stick and spread the food waste over the bottom. She put down the stick and turned back to get Billy. Her heart stopped beating.
    “No. Billy!”
    “Babies.” He’d crawled over the bottom rung of the fence, heading for the piglets. Two of the sows snorted and turned toward him. The third was at the trough, ignoring what was happening.
    As fast as she could, Genny ran to the fence and climbed over the top.
    “Billy stop! You stop right now and come back to me.”
    She scrambled toward him just as the sows moved the same way, putting themselves between Billy and their piglets.
    Genny trudged through the muck with determined strides, her boots making sucking sounds with each step. She reached Billy and picked him up, out of the way of the charging sows. Then she turned her back and tried to run, but her boots sunk deeper into the muck. She reached the fence and practically dumped Billy on the other side just as one of the sows rammed into the back of her legs. Off balance, she fell, waving her arms, and then other pig hit her in the back. She dropped to her side and covered her head. Squealing and snuffling they bit her arms, legs and back of her shoulder.
    Genny was sure she was dying, when she heard shots ring out. The sows backed off and she felt herself being lifted out of the mud and over the fence railing.
    Billy cried hysterically.
    As soon as her feet hit the dirt she dashed to him.
    “It’s okay baby. You’re all right.”
    She opened her arms and the child ran into them.
    “Shh, now, you’re fine.”
    “But you’re not.”
    Stuart’s voice sounded ragged.
    She turned to look at him, noting his strained expression.
    “I’m sorry. I should have watched him better. I’m so sorry.”
    Stuart gathered her and Billy into his