Westward Holiday (12 page)

              Lowering her eyes Rebecca said, “I think I should go home.”

              Jake smiled and said, “I’ll get your coat.”

              “You want to go picking apples?” Rebecca asked Jake on Sunday morning when he showed up at her hotel room.

              “Yeah.  Have you ever been?” Jake asked.

              “No, I haven’t.  I don’t think I’ve ever picked anything in my life except clothing,” Rebecca said.

              Jake smiled at her.  “I’ll show you how.  It’s not hard.  It’ll be fun.”

              Rebecca couldn’t resist him, especially when his dimple winked at her.  “All right.  What shall I wear?”

              Jake said, “Something warm.  Did you pick one of those woolen dresses I mentioned to you?”

              “Yes, I did,” Rebecca replied.

              “Good.  That’ll do.  And sensible shoes.  You’re going to have to get a pair of boots for winter,” he said.  “I’ll wait downstairs for you.”

              Rebecca wasn’t particularly looking forward to spending a lot of time out of doors in the cold air, but she knew she should try new things and picking apples was certainly new.  Once she’d changed and gone downstairs, Jake helped her up onto his wagon.  They sat behind his large gray Percheron, Wally.

              “Why do we need a wagon?” Rebecca asked. 

              “Because we’re going to bring home a few bushels and give them to some people.  I own a small Macintosh orchard and there’s a pretty good crop this year.  You just never know how they’ll grow around here,” Jake explained.

              “You own an apple orchard?” Rebecca asked.

              “Yep.  It’s not very big, but I usually get enough apples from it to make a bunch of pies and such.”  He smiled at her.  “I make a mean apple pie.”

              “I’m sure you do,” Rebecca said.  “Did your mother teach you to cook?”

              “Yeah.  She said that I’d better know how so I could eat until I got married or if whoever I married wasn’t a good cook,” Jake said.  “She told me that it’s a myth that every woman is a good cook.  Take Seth, for example.  His wife Maddie isn’t a very good cook.  She hates cooking.”

              “I do fair, I suppose,” Rebecca said.  “I don’t mind it, either.  I didn’t have a choice but to learn how to cook.”

              “No, I guess you didn’t,” Jake said.

              Jake’s apple orchard overlooked the valley where the town was situated.  Rebecca smiled as she looked down at the scene.  “It’s beautiful.”

              “Yeah, it is.  It’s even prettier when it’s snowing,” Jake said.  “Ok, let me show you how to pick good apples.”

              Rebecca learned quickly how to identify the best apples.  She hadn’t expected to have a lot of fun, but Jake chased her around the trees and tried to teach her how to throw and catch apples as though they were balls.  The activity and his kisses kept her warm and the cool air felt good on her cheeks.  They ended up with six bushels of apples.  Jake loaded them in the wagon and then took Rebecca’s hand and a blanket from the wagon and led her to the highest part of the orchard and spread out the blanket.

              Rebecca sat down with him and looked out over the valley again.  Sometimes they could see people and horses moving about.  Jake pulled her close against his side and kissed her temple. 

              “Are you having a good time?” he asked.

              “Yes.  I honestly didn’t know what to expect.  It’s been very entertaining,” Rebecca said.

              Jake said, “I’m glad.  I’m having a good time, too.  I think a lot of times if you’re with the right person, anything can be fun.”

              “I think I’m definitely with the right person,” Rebecca responded. 

              Jake looked into her eyes and said, “Me, too.  You’re so beautiful with your pink cheeks and those green eyes of yours.  You make me feel things no one else ever has, Rebecca.  You make me happy no matter what we’re doing.  I never thought I’d meet anyone like you.  A woman who’s smart, accomplished, fun, and doesn’t mind what I do for a living.  There are a lot of women who wouldn’t approve or accept that part of my life, but you do.”

              Rebecca smiled.  “Of course, I do.  That’s what the advertisement said, after all.  It sounded exciting to me and it is.”

              “Even though it’s not what you expected?” Jake asked.

              “Especially because it’s not what I expected.  It’s so much more fun and the people are very genuine,” Rebecca said.

              “Yeah, they are.  You’re also courageous for picking up and moving here.  It always amazes me how brave mail-order-brides are.  You don’t know how it’s going to work out, but you’re willing to give it a shot,” Jake said.

              “I guess you could say I was running away from my horrible life,” Rebecca said.

              Jake put a hand on her cheek and said, “Or maybe you were running to a better one.  I think you were meant to run here to me, Rebecca.  You’re the one I’m meant to be with, Rebecca, and I know you feel it, too.”

              Rebecca’s heart thumped against her ribs.  “Yes, I do.”

              Jake’s gaze never wavered as he said, “I think I fell in love with you the first time I heard you play piano.  I was moved so much and I know it wasn’t just the music.  It was like there was a part of you in the music and that’s the part that moved me.  It’s only gotten stronger and I don’t see any reason why I should wait any more.  Rebecca, will you marry me and make me the happiest bartender that ever lived?”

              Rebecca didn’t answer him with words.  She kissed him and knocked them both over onto the blanket as she threw her arms around him.  Her heart soared with joy as he kissed her back.  She broke the kiss and said, “Yes!  I’ll marry you!  I love you, Jake.”  Then she was kissing him again and Jake laughed against her eager mouth.

              “Hey, wait a second.  Hold up,” Jake said and drew back from her a little.  He removed a tiny pouch from his coat pocket and pulled a ring out of it.  It was a beautifully cut diamond with two tiny diamonds on either side of it.

              Rebecca inhaled sharply.

              “This was my grandmother’s ring.  She gave it to Pa who gave it to Ma.  So I guess you could say it belonged to both of them.  And now, I want to give it to you,” Jake said.

              “I would be honored to wear it, Jake,” Rebecca said.

              Once he’d placed the ring on her finger, she admired it with tears in her eyes. “Oh, it’s gorgeous.  Jake, you are the most wonderful man I’ve ever met and I’ll be a good wife to you.  The best wife to you.  Oh, my.  We have to start making plans.  I need a dress made.  I don’t want to wait very long.  Do you?  Do you know what I feel like right now?” she asked.

              “No.  What do you feel like?” Jake asked.

              “It’s as if I am finally free from everything that happened to me.  I feel as though I could stand up here and spread my arms and take off in flight.  Like I could just fly right over that valley and look down at everything and keep on going.  You make my heart so full, Jake.  I was so trapped all my life by things, possessions.  Looking back on it now, I could thank my father because if he hadn’t done such despicable things, I wouldn’t be here with you now.  I wouldn’t be marrying the man of my dreams,” Rebecca said.

              She was getting carried away again and Jake didn’t want her to stop.  “Really?  I’m the man of your dreams?”

              She rolled him over and half lay on top of him.  “Yes.  How could you not be?  Just look at you.  And you have the most wonderful voice.  It’s like whiskey; smooth and rough all at once.  And when you dance?  Why it makes my heart feel like it’s going to burst out of my chest, Jake.  All that twisting and stomping.  I’ve never seen anything so…erotic in all my life.”

              His eyebrows rose at that but he wasn’t complaining.  “Wow.  All that, huh?”  Her body pressed so intimately against his made the blood pound in his ears.

              “And so much more.  You are so much fun and kind and strong and I have just as much trouble keeping my hands off you as you do me.  I’ve never felt like that about a man before.  Your knowledge of fine wine is impressive and you cook and, and, and…”  Rebecca couldn’t come up with any more words so she kissed Jake again.

              Then he stood up and pulled her with him. “Let’s go tell Pa,” he said.  “He’s gonna be so excited.”

              Rebecca looked at her ring again and laughed.  “I hope so.”

              “I know so,” Jake said as they got into the wagon and drove away from the orchard.

              Calvin wasn’t the only one thrilled about their engagement.  He was present at the bar the next night when Jake made the announcement.  The roar of noise that erupted was unlike any that had previously been heard in the Watering Hole and he kept the place open later than normal on a Monday night because no one wanted the party to end.

              They also didn’t let Jake get out of a fiddling challenge with Seth and Luke.  The duo had practiced with Rebecca the night before and she had showed them her ring but made them keep it quiet because Jake wanted to tell everyone.  They hadn’t breathed a word of it to anyone, but they had spread it around town that they would be playing Monday night and that everyone should come to hear them.

              As a result, the place was jam-packed as the fiddlers and Jake faced off once again.  Calvin laughed at the performance.  He hadn’t seen it for a long time and it brought back many good memories of his wife teaching their son to dance.  Jake barely won and was panting as the music ended.  Rebecca had clapped and cheered along with the rest of them.  She no longer felt the need to be quiet and had fun with whoever she was near.

              She sat with Calvin a lot and her future father-in-law told her stories from Jake’s childhood, making them both laugh.  He often held Rebecca’s hand and told her how proud he was that she was wearing Jake’s mother’s ring now.  Calvin sat at the bar some with Jake and even got behind it for a little while to serve a few drinks, which thrilled Jake no end.  It was like old times when he was a kid and he and his pa kept the crowd supplied with booze.

              Joe was buying rounds left and right for the whole place even though Jake warned him what kind of a tab he was running up.  Joe just kept telling him that he had it covered and at the end of the night, Joe paid up just like always.  Then he offered to take Calvin home and Calvin accepted.  Jake and Rebecca hugged Calvin goodbye and Joe and he left as they talked horses. 

              Sammi locked the door and started helping Rebecca gather up drinking glasses as usual. 

              “Sammi, come here!” Jake called out from his office.

              When she came in the office, he had her sit down.

              “How’re things goin’ with the kids?” he asked.

              Sammi sighed.  “Fine.  I feel so bad for them.  Little Mason cries almost every night at bedtime and all we can do is hold him.  Rachel is getting angry now and is testing us.  I think she wants to see if we’re gonna give them up if they misbehave,” she said.  “Mitch is great with them, though.  He reads to the boys and makes Rachel laugh even when she doesn’t want to.  He’s a natural born father.  Like when Rachel was smarting off the other night, he said, ‘Get on up to your room if you can’t behave, young lady!’  I wish you coulda seen it.  He turned around to look at me and I had to look away because I was gonna laugh if I didn’t.  Then fifteen minutes later he goes up to make sure she was ok.”

              Jake smiled at the images her story evoked.  “I know it’s an adjustment for everyone, but you guys are gonna do great with them.  You already are.”

              “Thanks.  I’m so happy for you and Becky.  You deserve to be happy, boss,” Sammi said.

              “I appreciate it.  How’d you like to be my best woman?” Jake asked.

              Sammi’s brow furrowed.  “Aren’t you marryin’ your best woman?”

              Jake laughed.  “No, I’m marrying my fiancée.  I’d like you to be my best woman.  You can’t be my best man because you’re not a man.  So you’d be my best woman.”

              Sammi was silent for several moments and then said, “Is that even legal?”

              Jake burst out laughing.  “This from the woman who wears a gun and works as not only a bouncer but a deputy.  Yeah, it’s legal.  Will you be my best woman or not?”

              “Hell, yeah, I will!” Sammi jumped up and hugged Jake.  “Wait, what the heck do I wear?  I don’t think I’m supposed to wear a tux, although it’d be more comfortable than a dress.  I’ll ask Maddie.  She knows everything there is to know about fashion.  I don’t know if this has ever happened before, but I’m sure she’ll figure something out.  I gotta go tell Mitch.  Goodnight, boss!”

              Jake was still laughing when he heard Sammi call goodnight to Rebecca and then rush back down the hallway to the back door.

              Owl was waiting for Sammi but wasn’t prepared for her to jump on him.  She almost took him down before he found his balance.