Train Station Bride by Holly Bush Page A

Mrs. Shelling.”
    “Whatever suits you, Mr. Shelling, is fine with me,” she said.

Chapter Eight
    Julia awoke the next morning just as the sunlight began to filter in the window. Jake was dressing and a rooster was crowing outside. She lay still watching him run a hand through his hair.
    “You don’t have to get up quite yet,” he said.
    Julia sat up, stretched and yawned. “Yes, I do. Flossie and Harry will be here soon. They’re taking me to town.” Julia dropped her head, unsure of how to ask her husband for money. “Jake, I need to have some clothes more suited for here on the farm. I can cut my dresses down, but it seems a shame …”
    “Buy whatever you want, Julia. I have a charge at Snelling’s store,” he said.
    Julia took a clean chemise out of a drawer and pulled the one she had slept in over her head. She stretched up, reached through the lace straps and shimmied her fresh under clothes down her body. She realized then her husband was watching her.
    “Buy every bolt they have as long as you promise me to get some more like that thing you’re putting on,” Jake said.
    Julia giggled. “I have twenty or more of these, Jake in every color. How silly you are. I need to make some plain skirts and blouses.” Julia picked out a dress with lavender flowers. She had a felt hat and green shoes that matched.
    “Get whatever you need, Julia. I imagine you’ll want to get some things for the house, too. Cramer’s sells furniture and rugs and such. Millie Taylor has a dress shop in town. Maybe she’ll have some ready-made things you’d like.” Jake put his hat on his head. “Get whatever you want. I’ll stop by and pay them next week.”
    “I can pick whatever I want for the house?” Julia asked with a smile.
    Jake kissed her nose. “Whatever you want.”
    * * *
    Julia bought blouses at Millie Taylor’s. Fabric for skirts at Snelling’s as well as melting chocolate and bright yellow material for curtains and a deep red and tan check for tablecloths. Old Mrs. Snelling had smiled smugly when she saw Julia. Julia pulled her list from her bag, and soon Jacob Snelling and his mother had to hurry to keep up with her demands. By the time she had ordered everything she needed, the Snellings and Inga were tripping over each other to pile her items on the worn wooden counter. She nearly filled Harry’s wagon at Cramer’s. Three colors of paint, flowered wallpaper, lamps and a round braided rug in gold and browns. Mr. Cramer was tallying up her order when Flossie came in the store.
    “About ready, Julia? Harry’s itching to get home,” Flossie said.
    Julia pulled on her lace gloves and turned to Flossie. “Oh, yes. I’m nearly finished.” She turned to the balding, rotund man behind the counter. “Thank you so much, Mr. Cramer, for all your help. And you think the chandelier will be here in few weeks?”
    Morton Cramer was smiling and nodding. “Yes, yes, Mrs. Shelling. In fact when it gets here I’ll have my boy deliver it. Anything else you need, you just ask.”
    Julia stood with Flossie on the sidewalk in front of Cramer’s watching Harry try to squeeze all of Julia’s purchases into his wagon. “Everyone was so nice. Even Old Mrs. Snelling.”
    “Probably cause Jake never spent more than two nickels at a time in town,” Flossie said.
    “Do you think he’ll be angry?” Julia asked. “He told me this morning to buy anything I wanted.”
    “I don’t imagine for long, if he is,” Flossie replied.
    Julia climbed up on the wagon seat after Flossie. “He did tell me to get anything I wanted or needed. And his house, well, it needs quite a bit of work.”
    “Jake told you told get anything you need?” Harry asked. “Even at Cramer’s?”
    Julia plopped her hands in her lap and smiled as she tilted her head to the sun. “That’s what he said.”
    * * *
    Jake came in from checking the south fields near four o’clock. He had trouble all day concentrating on the problems Slim was