Word travels. He didn't seem apologetic about this. Just straightforward. I'm not here to make trouble, ma'am. I came because I've got a situation on my ranch and I think you might be the person who could help me with it.
Is that right? Yes, ma'am. She watched him. The knife was behind her skirt, held loosely in her right hand. He hadn't looked at it, which meant either he hadn't noticed it or he was being polite about pretending he hadn't.
What kind of situation? She said, "I've got a ranch house that needs managing," he said. 12 hands to cook for through the winter, supplies to organize and preserve, repairs to handle inside the house, accounts to keep straight. My last housekeeper left in September to join her daughter in Oregon, and I haven't found someone to replace her. He stopped.
I'm told you ran this homestead yourself. I'm told you're good with accounts. Who told you that? Mrs. Callaway at the general store.
She said, "You were the one who kept the Hensley accounts and paid the bills when they had money to pay them." Miriam said nothing. That was accurate. But she hadn't realized anyone outside the household had been paying close enough attention to know it. "What I'm offering," Bramwell Concaid said, is honest work with honest wages.
"A room in the house with a stove and good walls. Food for you and your children through the winter." He looked at her steadily. "All of your children? I understand there are six."
She felt something shift behind her ribs, something that was hope trying to start and suspicion moving to cut it off before it could get anywhere dangerous. Why would you take on six children? She said flatly. Nobody takes on six children. Because the work I'm offering is worth having someone reliable do it, he said.
And because you need somewhere safe to take them, he paused. Those things aren't contradictions, ma'am. They can both be true at the same time. She studied him for a long moment. He met her eyes as and waited.
I want a written agreement, she said. All right. With wages specified in terms and what happens if either party wants to end the arrangement. I expected you would, he said. I brought paper.