RNWMP: Bride for Curtis (Mail Order Mounties Book 26) Read online

  “Thank you, Miss Hazel.”

  Hazel clucked at her, then huffed and puffed until she was standing. She held a hand down to Caitlyn.

  “That’s what I’m here for, dear. Now can we please go inside and have some tea. My backside prefers a more comfortable seat than the ground!”

  7

  As soon as Miss Hazel left an hour or so later, Caitlyn prepared herself for all the work that lay ahead. First she’d mix up some dough and set it aside to rise. Then she’d tackle the laundry so it would be dry long before Curtis came home. Then she’d clean. Everything, not just her own messes.

  She still couldn’t believe how childish she’d behaved, but as Miss Hazel had told her, she wouldn’t bring herself down by obsessing over her mistakes. The only thing to do was move forward with a new, more loving purpose in life.

  Just as she pulled out the flour, there was a knock at the door. Maybe Violet or Adele needed help with something. She startled when she found Mary Dandy standing on her doorstep.

  “Mary, what are you doing here?” Caitlyn gasped at her own rudeness. “I’m so sorry, please come in.”

  She’d spent far too long chatting with Miss Hazel, and now she had more company. She had too much to do and too little time in which to finish it all, and now propriety insisted she entertain yet another guest. But Mary stayed where she was, grinning madly at Caitlyn.

  “Curtis sent me to take you sketching for the day.”

  It wasn’t a very funny joke, as far as Caitlyn was concerned, but Mary wouldn’t have known about the argument their previous day of sketching had caused.

  “Thank you for thinking of me, Mary, but I have far too much work to do today.”

  “Curtis said you’d say that. He told me to tell you that he can survive one more day wearing holey socks.”

  Caitlyn burst out laughing. That sounded so much like Curtis she couldn’t deny he’d sent Mary. But why?

  Obviously it was a peace offering, but also perhaps a harbinger of change. She wanted to be a good and dutiful wife to him, but she also wanted life to be fun and full of adventure. Was it possible to have both? Maybe, maybe not, but she definitely wanted to try.

  “Just let me grab my pad and pencils!”

  Caitlyn had done her best to keep track of time while she and Mary were out, but without a watch, it was terribly difficult to tell the time of day. Having lived in Flying Squirrel for so long, Mary had a better handle on it, but every time Caitlyn asked her for the time, she’d just say, “It’s time to learn,” then she’d teach her student a new technique.

  No doubt about it, the last two days had given her more knowledge about art than she’d ever learned in school. She could easily spend the rest of her life working on the things Mary had shown and never need any more lessons — but she wanted them anyway. They’d barely covered the basics of drawing, after all, and learning how to paint what she drew would come next.

  Even after a fine picnic lunch of apples, cheese and bread that Mary had packed, Caitlyn’s stomach told her when it was time to head home. Despite her new friend’s protestations, Caitlyn insisted they call it a day. It took some doing, but finally Mary agreed. They parted ways at the mercantile and Caitlyn practically skipped all the way home.

  Curtis couldn’t possibly get angry with her for being gone all day, not when he’d sent Mary to whisk her away. Of course, anything was possible, so Caitlyn kept her fingers crossed as she hurried up the path to the front door. Taking a deep breath, she said a silent prayer and opened the door.

  “Welcome home!”

  Curtis stood grinning at her from the kitchen, her dirty gardening apron tied around his neck and waist. He held a spoon in one hand and a pot holder in the other. Caitlyn was too stunned to react.

  Strange smells filled the air. Obviously he’d been cooking, but she was a little afraid to find out what. Glancing around, she noticed his bootprints — the ones she hadn’t cleaned up out of spite in the wee hours of the morning — were gone. Or mostly gone, anyway. She’d have to scour the floor eventually to clean up what remained, but the bulk had been cleaned. The clothes basket that had been half-filled with his clothes was even empty!

  “W-what’s going on here?” A smile tickled her lips, but she didn’t dare hope for miracles. Did she?

  Curtis hurried over and took her things from her, then helped her out of her coat. Guiding her over to the table — the set table — he pulled out her chair and kissed the top of her head as he pushed it back in.

  “I wanted to show you how much you mean to me, Caitlyn. I’ve been such a selfish fool, and I hope you can forgive me. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.”

  Caitlyn couldn’t believe her ears. After a week of behaving as if she was putting him out when she didn’t cater to his every need, he’d pulled this all together just to apologize. Tears burned at the back of her eyes, but she didn’t want to cry. With so many brothers, she knew the power of a woman’s tears, and she didn’t want to break the spell.

  “Thank you,” she murmured, swallowing hard to control her emotions.

  “I also want to apologize for the food,” he said as he bumbled around in the kitchen, then put a big bowl of brown goo in front of her.

  Picking up a spoon, Caitlyn poked at the thick, lumpy stuff and glanced up at him. “What is it?”

  He pulled a face. “It’s supposed to be vegetable soup, but it turned sort of…thick. I’m not sure why. The bread didn’t turn out quite the way I’d hoped either.”

  “You made bread?” Now she’d heard everything.

  “I suppose you could call it that, though I think it would make a better door stop.”

  He pulled back a towel covering a lump in the middle of the table to reveal a dark brown rectangle no more than two inches high. She couldn’t stop herself from snickering.

  “Did you use yeast?”

  Curtis froze for a moment, then slapped his hand to his head. “I knew I forgot something!”

  They laughed as he sat across from her, and together they lifted spoons full of the goo to their mouths. Curtis grinned at her.

  “Ready?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  They popped the spoons into their mouths at the exact same time, and at the exact same time, their faces squinched into grimaces. The glop was burnt and overly salted, but Caitlyn couldn’t recall tasting anything sweeter.

  Emotionally speaking.

  She wouldn’t have even fed this to Flopsy, but she continued eating long after Curtis gave up. She even cut off a couple of slices of ‘bread’ and dunked them in the ‘soup’ — mostly to soften them up enough to chew.

  “How are you eating that?” he asked with a chuckle.

  She caught his gaze and smiled. “Because you made it for me.”

  He gave her a look that melted her heart. He really was a sweetheart and she knew Miss Hazel was right. They’d work through their issues and have a happy life to look forward to.

  “I guess I should have accepted the ladies’ offers to help cook.”

  “The ladies?” she asked through a particularly salty mouthful.

  “Violet, Adele, Miss Hazel. After George gave me the day off, they got wind of what I was doing and rushed over to help. But I told them no, I wanted to do it all myself to prove to you how sorry I am. I want to be a better husband, Caitlyn, I really do.”

  He reached a hand across the table and she gladly laid hers in it.

  “I want to be a better wife.”

  She really did. Miss Hazel had tried to put it kindly, but the fact of the matter was that Caitlyn had shirked her responsibilities. Never again, she vowed. From that day forward, duty would always come first. Then play.

  At that moment, her duty was to eat every bite of the meal Curtis had put before her. He’d do the same for her, she knew from experience. Of course her meals — even the vegetarian ones — had tasted far better, but she wanted to show her husband how much she appreciated his efforts. And a
fter a few bites, it wasn’t so bad.

  No, it was terrible. But it was also wonderful at the same time.

  Curtis’s cobbled-together cobbler tasted no better than his soup or his bread, even to himself, but Caitlyn seemed to enjoy everything enough to clean her plate. He could barely eat any of it and was, quite frankly, dreaming of another slab of ham by the time she finished her meal.

  Their discussion through dinner had run the gamut from how he’d accomplished all the chores — barely and with little grace — to how her drawing lessons had gone — wonderfully and with great style. He could scarcely believe how happy and engaged she was, in spite of the terrible food. Maybe he’d even get to spend the night in his own bed that night. What a difference a little pampering made!

  When Caitlyn stood and started collecting the dirty dishes, Curtis jumped up to stop her. “No, that’s my job tonight.”

  “Nonsense,” she said, sounding every bit like Miss Hazel. “You did all of this for me, Curtis, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me. At least let me do the dishes to show you how sorry I am for not making dinner last night.”

  “No, I’m sorry for acting like a brute.”

  “No, I’m sorry for being so petty this morning.”

  This was getting them nowhere fast. He laughed and came around the table to pull her into a hug. She smelled sweet, like lemon soap and fresh air and love. He never wanted to let her go, and hopefully he would never have to.

  “Aren’t we a sorry lot,” he murmured into her hair. “How about we do them together?”

  She nestled deeper into his embrace and sighed, “Okay.”

  Just as in childhood, Curtis detested chores. Dishes had always been a particularly hateful one, as far as he was concerned, but doing them with Caitlyn turned out to be almost…fun. As crazy as it sounded, it was true. She teased him gently about his cooking prowess and he complemented her on her budding skills as an artist. They fell into an easy back and forth while she washed and he dried, until she mentioned Bob.

  “Remember Bob?” she asked, grinning from ear to ear.

  “Yup. Planning on going to take care of him in the morning, in fact.”

  “Oh, good. He’s just so handsome, even with a missing ear. And his wife is so pretty!”

  Curtis nearly choked. “Wife?”

  “Well, I know beavers don’t get married in a church or anything, but they have the most adorable little babies.”

  “Kits,” he said through gritted teeth. “They’re called kits.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know. Kits, then.”

  As she prattled on and on about the beaver family, Curtis’s thoughts turned to the best way to get rid of little devil. The dam good ol’ Bob had built was getting bigger every day and would soon block the entire river. Several farmers upriver had already voiced their concerns that flooding would prove disastrous for them. Even George had agreed they might have to deal with the dam sooner, rather than later.

  As George had told him that very morning, if in a different context, there’s no time like the present. In his case, ‘present’ would mean first thing in the morning, of course, but the thought of ridding their community of that pesky beaver brought Curtis a sense of relief. He’d get the okay from George before riding out to the dam. No, maybe he’d walk it instead. He might happen upon a buck or a rabbit—

  With a twinge of sadness, he realized he might not ever get to eat rabbit again. After her story of her childhood trauma, he didn’t want to make things worse by happily bringing home a brace of coneys only to have Caitlyn break down in hysterics. That’s one thing every man wanted to avoid — a hysterical wife.

  “Could you do that, Curtis? For me?”

  He blinked rapidly as he was brought out of his thoughts and took the dripping dish she proffered to him. Judging by the tentative smile on her face and her wide, hopeful eyes, she wanted him to answer ‘yes’, but he had no clue what question he was answering. He’d been so busy thinking about Bob and his dam that he’d tuned out whatever she’d been talking about.

  He didn’t want to lie, but they’d had such a lovely evening so far and he didn’t want to spoil the mood. Setting the plate and towel aside, he pulled Caitlyn into his arms and held his hands low on her back. She laid her hands flat on his chest, nearly burning holes right through his shirt — or at least that’s how the skin beneath felt. He could lose himself in her eyes, which contrasted her red hair so beautifully. She was challenging, that much was certain, but her spunk set his heart to racing. That could never be a bad thing.

  As he gazed down at her, and as she gazed back, Curtis’s heart clenched in a way it never had before. Without a doubt, he’d fallen for this headstrong, spirited Irishwoman from Ottawa. Whatever she wanted in life, he wanted to give her. Material goods might have to wait, but he knew she wanted a big family, and what was more, along the way he’d discovered he wanted one too. The more babies the better, as long as they all took after her.

  Tracing a finger over one of her perfectly smooth eyebrows, across her cheek and down to her lips, Curtis’s breath caught in his chest. He loved this woman. No pretense, no fakery. He loved her. Just as she was, vegetarian animal-lover and all.

  “Whatever you want, my darling,” he whispered, wetness blurring his vision for a moment.

  He didn’t know what he was agreeing to and it didn’t matter. When the time came to own up to his promise, he’d do it. No matter what it was. He loved her that much.

  Caitlyn’s smile was marred only by tears spilling from her eyes. But he could tell they were happy tears, just as the wetness — not tears — in his own eyes was a mere symptom of the emotions surging through him at the moment. When she snaked her arms around his neck, holding his gaze fast, he knew the moment had come.

  Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against hers, reveling in the softness of them. More than anything, he wanted to skim his cheek across hers, but he didn’t want to scratch her with the scruff which had sprouted during the day. Instead, he used his lips, his hot breath spreading warmth over her impossibly soft skin and drawing a shiver from her. When his lips reached her ear, her fingers dug into his shirt until she held on like a woman clinging to the edge of a cliff.

  He wanted to take her there and farther.

  Running his hands up her back, he could feel her heart beating like a hummingbird’s. His thumped at about the same pace. When she pressed her trembling body against his, he buried his hands in her already messy bun and turned her head to meet his kiss. She greeted him eagerly, pulling him closer, even though that didn’t seem possible.

  A minute or maybe a decade later, Caitlyn finally pulled away, panting hard and her gaze full of purpose. He’d never seen such a look in a woman’s eyes before, and he decided right then and there to make it his life’s mission to see that expression in Caitlyn as often as possible.

  “I think it’s time for bed,” she whispered without a hint of bashfulness. “Don’t you?”

  Oh boy, did he!

  8

  Caitlyn enjoyed Curtis’s lingering goodbye kiss more than she should have. He even threatened to skip work for the day just so he could stay at home with her, but she shooed him out the door with a wink and a promise of more kissing that night. She left what would come afterward unsaid, but they both knew perfectly well, and they grinned at each other with that knowledge.

  She stood on the doorstep until he disappeared from sight, practically skipping all the way down the main street of Flying Squirrel. Anyone with a keen eye would see his chipper mood and suspect, but that didn’t bother her. They were a happily married couple, after all. Very happily married…now. Funny how much could change in a day.

  Caitlyn eventually reminded herself she had a job to do, and almost floated on air all the way to Sutter’s garden. She wanted to cry and laugh and shout her love to the world, all at the same time. But that probably wouldn’t be seemly, so she simply grinned like a fool as she picked a basket full of cucumbers, lettuce,
small cabbages and some early tomatoes.

  The garden was producing better than she’d expected when she first arrived. With some care, a little judicious fertilizing, and lots of pampering, it would yield enough for their winter stores, plus some for the other brides, as well as some for bartering. Before the ground froze, she’d sweet talk Curtis into helping her either expand Sutter’s garden or dig a new one closer to their house, just in case someone decided to inhabit Sutter’s rickety old shack.

  An hour later, she was passing out vegetables to her friends as they met for tea at Adele’s home.

  “This lettuce is beautiful, Caitlyn,” Adele said as she examine a particularly nice head. “Thank you so much!”

  “There’s plenty more where that came from, especially if you keep making these delicious scones,” Caitlyn replied.

  “I’ll trade gardening for baking any day,” Adele laughed.

  “I think both skills would be in high demand this far away from civilization,” Miss Hazel said, as she stirred a spoonful of sugar into her tea.

  “Well, I’d be happy to trade,” Caitlyn said. “I’m a fair baker, but I’d rather be in the garden.”

  “You seem to be spending a lot of time outdoors these days.” Hazel lifted a curious eyebrow at Caitlyn over her teacup.

  “I have, and I love it. I’d always thought Ottawa was beautiful, and it is in its own way, but up here… I simply can’t get over the stunning views, no matter which direction you turn.”

  “Have you had some adventures you haven’t told us about,” Violet asked, biting into a scone.

  “Didn’t I tell you? No, I suppose we haven’t seen each other for a couple of days. Mary Dandy, the wife of Charlie, who owns the mercantile? She offered to teach me how to draw and paint. I’ve spent the last two days gallivanting all over God’s creation, learning how to sketch. I brought my sketch pad. Would you like to see?”