Linda Ford (4 page)

“Seems happiness is too much to hope for.”

Linette hurried to her side and wrapped an arm around the woman’s waist. “Of course it’s not. We’ll be happy here. About as happy as we make up our minds to be. All of us.” The look she sent Eddie warned him to disagree or make it impossible. “Isn’t that right, Mr. Gardiner?”

“I’m sure we can be civilized. After all, we’re adults.” Except for young Grady, and all eyes turned toward him. “I expect he’s the only one we need to be concerned about.” The child had been abandoned then put into the care of strangers. Which made Eddie that much more grateful to his father for the life he’d been given.

Seeing everyone watching him, Grady started to whimper. The boy’s fears vibrated through the room.

Eddie thought of stroking the child’s head to calm him but knew it would only upset him further. He was at a loss to know how to comfort the boy.

Linette knelt to face Grady squarely. “You’re safe here. We’ll take care of you.”

“I want my mama,” he wailed loudly.

Linette dropped to the floor, pulled the boy to her lap and crooned as she rocked him. “Mr. Gardiner, I believe Grady is hungry. Can you direct me to the food supplies and I’ll gladly make us tea.”

Food? He had no food to speak of in the cabin. “I’ve been taking my meals over at the cookhouse.” Would they like to go to the cookhouse, too?

Grady wailed louder, as if Eddie had announced they were all about to starve. Seems Grady had answered the question. He would not be comfortable among so many strangers. Best to let them eat here. “I’ll rustle up some supplies right away.” Grateful for an excuse to escape the cabin, crowded as it was with bodies and feelings, he grabbed his coat and hat and headed across the yard.

Dare he hope the weather would moderate long enough for the stagecoach driver to decide to venture back to Edendale or Fort Benton? If so, he would have that trio on their way.

But he knew that scenario was about as likely as finding a satchel full of money on the ground before him.

Another thought sprang to life. After less than an hour his nerves were strung tight as a drum. How would he endure months of this?

Chapter Two

E
ddie told Cookie the whole story as he waited for her to put together supplies for the unwelcome guests. “I intend to rectify the situation just as soon as the snow goes.” With any favor from the Lord above, that would be sooner rather than later. Until then, he would simply make the best of it.

“She ugly?” Cookie demanded.

“She’s passable.”

“Cross-eyed?”

“No. Can you get things together a little faster?”

“I’m goin’ as fast as these old legs will go.”

Eddie let out a long, exasperated sigh. Cookie wasn’t old except when it pleased her to be so. The rest of the time she kept up a pace that would wear out a horse.

“Then she’s got those horrible teeth so many women have.” Cookie did a marvelous imitation of a beaver with protruding upper front teeth.

“Didn’t notice any such teeth when she smiled.” Though he did note how she carried herself with such grace. She hadn’t been raised to be a pioneer woman. Why would she choose it? “Now, how about some tea? You got lots or do I need to run to the supply shed?” Provisions for the winter months were stored in a tight outbuilding lined with tin to keep rodents out.

“I got tea enough to spare. Smile, did you say? So she has a pleasant nature?”

“Look, Cookie. I’ve spent only a few minutes in her company. It’s not enough time for me to form an evaluation of her personality.” Except to note she had a cheerful laugh and—it seemed at first meeting—an equally cheerful nature. Matched by a dreadfully stubborn attitude.

Cookie laughed boisterously and clapped him on the shoulder hard enough to set him forward a step. “Guess you won’t be able to say that after a winter together in that tiny shack.”

Her husband, Bertie, came in with a load of wood for the big stove. “Bertie,” Cookie roared. “There’s two women and a little boy in Eddie’s shack.”

Eddie groaned at the blatant pleasure wreathing Bertie’s face.

“Well, I’ll be hornswoggled and hog-tied. This is turning into a real homey sit’ation. Eddie, lad, you’ve surprised us real good.”

Cookie and Bertie grinned at each other like a pair of silly children.

“It’s all a mistake, as I told Cookie. They’ll go home come spring. I’d send them now only the stagecoach isn’t running, and with winter—”

“Eddie, lad, I’m thinking this opportunity is a rare one. Don’t be letting it slip through your fingers.” Bertie nodded and grinned.

“I’m of like mind, my love. I’m of like mind.” Cookie clapped her husband hard on the back.

Eddie wasn’t a bit sorry for the other man when he shifted under his wife’s hearty affections. “It’s temporary. Why can’t you accept that?” He grabbed the sack and stomped across the yard, their laughter echoing at his heels.

* * *

“He’s not happy to have us here.” Cassie’s observation was almost laughable.

Linette simply smiled. “Then it’s up to us to convince him otherwise.” She had not come this far and prayed this hard to give up at the first sign of resistance. Though she hadn’t expected to be resisted. No doubt his initial reaction was fueled by pain. It couldn’t be pleasant to know he’d been rejected.

Cassie snorted. “Don’t expect me to try to sweeten him up. If you ask me, I’d say the man is as stubborn as he is high.”

Yes, he was a tall man. And well built. And he had a smile that drove the clouds from her mind. None of which mattered as much as a single gray hair. All that mattered was she had the winter—God willing and the cold weather continued—to convince him a marriage of convenience suited him. She saw no other way out of her predicament. “I’d say he has high ideals. That could serve us well.”

Cassie stared as if Linette had suggested something underhand.

Linette sighed. Cassie seemed bent on seeing everything in some dreadful fashion. “I only mean that a man with honor can be trusted.”

“No man is completely honest and honorable. Take it from me. They’ll take your heart and treat it with total disregard.”

Linette had no desire to know the details behind such a statement, so she ignored it. She had no intention of giving her heart to a man. Her only interest in a marriage to Eddie was escaping from her father’s plans and gaining the right to act according to her conscience.

She turned her attention to the room. It was small. The stove was the tiniest she’d ever seen. It was nothing like the one Tilly, Margaret’s cook, had taught her on. For a moment, she doubted her ability to prepare food despite all her reading. Everything was so different from what she’d practiced on or imagined. She stiffened her spine. She would do whatever needed doing, do it well and without complaint. A tiny table, one wooden chair and a small bookcase crowded with papers and books completed the furnishings. She longed to explore the book titles, but first things first.

“Help me get organized,” she told Cassie. She hung her coat by the door and rubbed her hands together. “At least the table has wings.” Flipped up, they would all be able to crowd around for their meals, assuming they had more chairs.

“We’ll have to take turns lifting a fork to our mouths,” Cassie predicted.

“It’s perfectly adequate. Now let’s organize the bedroom. I want to put Grady’s things where I can get at them.” She took the boy’s hand and stepped into the tiny bedroom. With the two trunks beside the bed there was barely enough room to stand. The bed was narrow. Two would be cozy. Three crowded.

Cassie pointed out the fact. “We’ll have to take turns sleeping.”

Linette reached down and touched the fur covering. “It’s as soft as down. We’ll be just fine so long as we’re prepared to manage.” She faced Cassie squarely. “I seem to recall you complaining about not being able to sleep for fear someone would steal your bag. Or worse.”

Cassie shuddered. “But at least it was warm and roomy.”

“But here it’s safe.” She shoved the narrow dresser hard against the corner. There were nails driven into the logs across the end wall. She bundled Eddie’s belongings onto one hook, freeing up the others. The scent of leather, horseflesh and something subtle, bringing to mind grassy slopes and warm sunshine, assailed her senses. A tremor of anticipation scooted up her throat. She dismissed the sensation and hung some of Grady’s things. She placed her smaller items on top of her trunk.

Cassie stood in the doorway. “I don’t see how we’re all going to fit in here. A person will have to step outside just to change their mind.”

Linette chuckled. “We’ll simply have to make sure we don’t all try to change our minds at the same time.” She’d hoped for a small smile from Cassie but got nothing but a sigh of displeasure. “Come on, Cassie. Look on the bright side.”

“I don’t see that there is one. I’m a widow in a big country. A man’s country, I might add. Need I point out that we are at the mercy of Mr. Gardiner? And if it wasn’t him, it would be another man.”

Linette hated the thought of being at his mercy, but it was true. But only to the degree she allowed it to be. “Then let’s be grateful he appears to be honorable.” At least he hadn’t left them out in the cold.

They stepped back into the other room. It took only two dozen steps to circle the whole house, but as Linette pointed out, it was safe and Eddie was an honorable man so far as she knew.
Lord, keep us secure and help Cassie find peace. And help Eddie to change his mind before spring.
She had no doubt it could happen. Didn’t the Word say “with God all things are possible”?

Grady shuffled toward the stove and stared at the black surface.

Cassie studied Linette with narrowed eyes. “Were you really prepared to marry Mr. Gardiner, a complete stranger?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Before she could reply, a cold draft shivered across the floor and up Linette’s shins. She turned to see Eddie standing in the doorway, three chairs dangling from one arm and a bulging gunnysack from the other. He kicked the door closed with his foot and stared at Linette.

“I’d like to hear the answer to that.” His gaze burned a trail across her skin, making her cheeks burn.

She ignored the question and her reaction to his look, grabbed a chair and planted it beside the stove for Grady. Simply by turning it about, she could pull him up to the table.

Eddie dropped the other chairs and indicated the women should sit then turned the last chair to the heat.

At his approach, Grady pressed to Linette’s side and whimpered. She wrapped her arm around his tiny shoulders. “Hush, child. You’re safe here. Nice and warm.”

Eddie dug in his pocket and withdrew six perfectly round stones and an assortment of interestingly shaped pieces of wood. Two were round knots. Four resembled crude animals and the other two were smooth lengths. “Grady, here’s some things you can play with.”

Grady buried his face against Linette’s shoulder and wailed.

“It’s not personal. He’s feeling lost. He’ll soon enough realize he’s safe.” It was her daily prayer. The boy had been inconsolable since his mother’s death. She reached for the objects. Eddie dumped them into her palms. They were warm from his touch and her throat pinched tight. She told herself it meant nothing and she dropped them to her lap. “Look, Grady. This one looks like a cow.”

The boy wasn’t interested.

“Perhaps later.” She turned away knowing natural curiosity and abject boredom would overcome fear in short order. “Thanks for bringing the chairs.”

“There’s food and other things I figured you might need in order to survive.” He indicated the sack he’d dropped on the floor.

“Thank you.” She started to edge away from Grady’s grip. “I’ll see to tea.”
Please let there be something in that sack I can prepare.

Eddie signaled her to remain seated. “First, I’d like to hear the answer to Mrs. Godfrey’s question.”

Linette shook her head and did her best to look confused, as if she didn’t recall.

The way Eddie quirked one eyebrow she knew she hadn’t fooled him. Nevertheless, he repeated Cassie’s question. “Why would you cross the ocean and most of North America to marry a stranger? Surely there are interested men in England.”

Linette’s shudder was sincere. “Of course, and my father made sure all the men I met were suitable in his estimation.” She tried to keep her voice strong but suspected everyone heard the tremor that came from the pit of her stomach. She swallowed hard and forced back her revulsion. “He agreed to a marriage between myself and a distant relative who to all accounts is rich in land and money.” She clamped her teeth together to keep from revealing how disgusting she found the idea then released them to speak again. “He is a fat old man.”

“How old?” Eddie’s voice rang with doubt.

“He’s fifty-one.” Did he think she’d made up the age difference? Even that wouldn’t have been so bad. It was the way the man looked at her, his eyes undressing her as he licked his lips like a hungry dog. Realizing she clutched at her upper arms as if to protect herself, she lowered her hands to her lap.

“How old are you?” He still sounded unconvinced.

“I’m twenty.” She tipped her chin proudly. “Some might think I’m old enough to welcome any sort of a marriage, but I’ll never be that old.”

Eddie chuckled.

“You wouldn’t find it amusing if you were in my position.”

Cassie sniffed. “Men are never in that position.”

Eddie sobered though his eyes continued to spark amusement. “I’m trying to guess what you said or did to convince your father to let you travel West.”

“Your good name and your letter were enough.” She ducked her head. “I also pointed out the nearness of a convent where I knew I could find shelter and protection.” Her father had vowed all kinds of damage to the convent if she had actually gone there, so it wasn’t really an option.

Grady edged a hand to Linette’s lap and gingerly explored the largest rock.

“Do you know my age?”

She returned her gaze to Eddie. “Margaret said you’re twenty-five.” How must Eddie feel to be turned down by the woman he expected to become his wife? It hurt to think about it. “I’m sorry for your disappointment.”

He held her gaze for a heartbeat. She read a distant hurt, then he blinked and let only his disapproval reveal itself. She would assuredly make a far better rancher’s wife than Margaret ever would. But of course, the heart did not always see what the head knew was best.

“I was married at sixteen,” Cassie said, rocking slowly, pulling Linette’s attention to her. She wished she could erase the pain from the woman’s expression. “We worked hard to save enough money for our passage. Then we worked in Ontario. I wanted to stay there. We had a nice house, but George heard there was good land along the North Saskatchewan River. He saved enough to buy an outfit and settle in the Northwest. We sold everything. But George got sick in Montreal.” Her voice fell to a whisper. “I thought I’d die when he died. I used the last of our savings to have him buried,” she moaned. “He deserved far better.”

So did Cassie, but Linette didn’t say so, knowing far too well the woman was given to bouts of discouragement and defeat.

Cassie gave the stove a bleak look. “Here I am not yet twenty-five, a widow. I’ll be alone the rest of my life.”

“God has a plan for your life. He says His thoughts toward us are of peace, and not of evil.” She spoke of a verse she thought to be in Jeremiah.

“I’ve seen little reason to believe God wants to do me good.” Cassie’s voice shook. “Until I see otherwise, I think I’ll trust my own resources.”

“What is your opinion?” Linette asked Eddie. Even if he’d received her letter and agreed to a marriage of convenience, she’d made up her mind not to marry until she was certain of his convictions. He’d expressed his faith in his letters, but she wanted to hear it firsthand. She still wanted to hear it, though marriage now seemed but a distant possibility. But no, she would not abandon hope that God could work a miracle over the winter.

He gave his answer some consideration. “I believe God honors those who honor Him.”

“Yes. I agree.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Cassie demanded.

“I can’t answer for everyone,” Eddie said. “For me, it means doing my duty. Honoring my father and mother. Being charitable.”