Wynter's Bride

by Christine Sterling

  “Do you have anything that can bring down a fever? Willow bark or something else?”

  Seb pointed to a leather pouch hanging on the wall. “In there.”

  Ivy rooted through the bag. It contained various dried herbs and plants. At the bottom of the bag she found what she was looking for. She put the willow bark in a cup and poured hot water remained into the cup to let it steep.

  “We should get you to bed. You did way too much today.”

  “You can take the bed. There are fresh sheets in the same cupboard.”

  “Absolutely not,” Ivy insisted. “You need to rest, and the bed is the perfect place for you. I’m fine.”

  “Where did you sleep?” he asked, genuinely concerned that she slept on the floor.

  “I pulled the two chairs in front of the fireplace together and used that for a bed. It was just like sleeping in a cradle.

  “Did you have a blanket?”

  “I used my wrap and the fire kept me warm enough.”

  “Let’s get you something warmer to sleep in. There is a blanket chest in the bedroom. You’ll have to open it as I don’t think my arm will be able to lift it.”

  Ivy followed him into the bedroom with the cup of tea. She placed it on the table next to the bed. As she leaned down, he caught a whiff of the soap. She did smell like fresh flowers on a summer day. He was done for. He sat on the edge of the bed and willed his heart to calm. It must be the fever causing his heart to race, that would be the only logical explanation.

  He watched her open the chest at the foot of the bed. Inside there was a homemade quilt. It was a wedding present from his Aunt. It was one of the few articles he couldn’t bear to part with when his wife died.

  Ivy took the quilt from the chest and closed the lid. She left the room with a soft goodnight. Seb mumbled something back, but even the words were foreign to his ears.

  He watched her leave the room and he could hear her moving the chairs closer together to create her bed. He heard her settle down. He drank the tea and laid back on the bed. Sleep consumed him as he drifted off to dreams of a blonde-haired angel with kissable lips.

  ☐☐☐

  Ivy noticed Seb was in a foul mood right away. He woke up early and came into the kitchen.

  “We need to get going soon. It will take most of the day to get down the mountain and I don’t want to be stuck in Belle overnight.”

  “Are you feeling better?” Ivy gingerly asked.

  “My arm hurts like the dickens, but I’ll be OK.” He went to prepare a pot of coffee. “Eggs alright for breakfast this morning?”

  “How about griddlecakes instead? I can make them with cornmeal.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  Ivy was hurt that Seb was dismissive of her this morning. She was hoping that secretly he might want her to stay. She could continue to take care of him and hopefully avoid the New Year’s Eve wedding in New York.

  In fact, she had dream that made her blush just thinking about it. She dreamed that Seb was her companion at her father’s wedding and he gave her, her first kiss.

  She quickly prepared breakfast in silence and put two plates on the table. Seb dug into his breakfast as if it was his last meal. When he was done, he quickly cleaned the dishes and put them back in the cupboard.

  “I’ll stoke the fire before we leave. Hopefully that will cut some of the chill by the time I get back.”

  “Should I change?” Ivy asked. She was still in the buckskin outfit that Seb let her borrow.

  “No. You will probably be more comfortable riding the horse wearing those. I don’t have a side saddle.”

  Ivy quickly rolled up her clothes and put them under her arm. “I guess this is it.” Seb nodded.

  There was only one coat by the door and it was the coat that Ivy had been wearing when she went to do chores. Seb slipped his arms into it and opened the door to head out in the snow. When she didn’t follow him, he stopped and closed the door.

  “I forgot you didn’t have anything other than your wrap. Let me get you a coat. We don’t want you to freeze.” He quickly went to the bedroom and returned with a leather duster that he handed to her. “Put your wrap on underneath it. It will block the wind and keep you warm.”

  Ivy held the coat up. It was definitely a woman’s coat. She hadn’t seen many women wearing dusters, but she knew it was made for a smaller figure than the broad man in front of her.

  She looked at him with open curiosity as she held the long coat. “Why do you have a woman’s coat?” she asked. Looking around the room there were no suggestions that a female lived, or even visited the house.

  “It’s my wife’s,” he said, before he corrected himself. “It was my wife’s.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Where is your wife?” She felt foolish, woolgathering over a married man. What would her friends say?

  “She died, five years ago,” he responded.

  “Oh,” she said, hanging her head. “I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you,” he said. “Put your wrap underneath the coat and it will keep you warmer. The coat normally fits close to the body, so your wrap may make it just a bit tighter.”

  Ivy did as he suggested and draped her wrap around her shoulders and torso before sliding into the duster. It was a little stiff moving in the heavy leather jacket, but she could tell that it would keep her very warm, if not with risk of overheating in the cold weather.

  He headed back out the door and filled his pockets with a few apples from the box before walking in the thick snow toward the barn. Ivy followed him, closing the door and half-jogging to keep up with his footprints in the snow.

  “It is deeper than I thought,” Seb said, his breath coming out in white clouds against the cold air. “I’m sure Joker really wants to get out of the barn.”

  Ivy couldn’t respond, the cold air was filling her lungs so quickly. If she was this way heading to the barn, she didn’t know how she would be heading down the mountain.

  It didn’t take long for Seb to saddle Joker and lift Ivy onto the horse’s back. He handed her a blanket. “Wrap that around you and cover your mouth. You don’t want that cold air hitting your lungs.

  Too late, Ivy thought as she used the blanket like a cape. She watched Seb take some long, netted things off the wall and tie them to his feet.

  “You aren’t riding?” she asked.

  “No. it would be too much on the horse with both of us up there. This way I can also lead Joker down the path. I’ll just walk.”

  “Won’t you fall into the snow?”

  “That, Miss Ivy, is why I’m wearing snowshoes.”

  Oh. That is what those were. She had only read about them in books but had never seen a pair. She wondered how they would keep him above the snow.

  It didn’t take long for her to find out as Seb opened the barn door and led the horse out. Joker sunk into the snow as Seb managed to stay on top of it. It appeared that the netted things he had on his feet distributed the weight, so he didn’t fall into the snowy mix.

  I’ll have to tell my students about that when I get home, she thought. It took about 20 minutes to get to the wood line and onto the path that would lead them down to the town. The snow wasn’t as deep on the path as it was sheltered by the trees. Joker had an easier time once they hit the shallow snow.

  The wind, however, was whipping. It howled through the trees, stirring up the snow in funnels around them.

  Ivy wrapped the blanket tighter around her, trying to cover her legs. She wished she had a pair of woolen stockings to go under the buckskins, but the only pair she did have were lost in her luggage from the train.

  The sky turned gray. It was still early in the morning. Ivy expected to see the sun peeking from behind the clouds, but it wasn’t to be found. The snow started up again, as they walked in silence. They approached the first incline leading down the mountain. Seb stopped the horse and walked over to Ivy.

  “I don’t think we will be able to make it down the mountain.”
/>
  Panic rose in Ivy’s throat. “Why not?”

  He pointed to a cluster of trees further down the road. “The road is blocked. It looks like the winds must have knocked several trees over. And there isn’t a safe way to go through the woods to get around them, especially with the wind picking up.”

  “Can’t Joker jump over them?” Ivy said.

  Seb looked at her and shook his head. “He could if I wanted to risk him breaking his leg. I have no way of telling what is on the other side of those trees.”

  Her breath hitched a little. She knew she secretly prayed to be up at the cabin a little longer, but now that it was a reality panic was setting in. “Can you go check? I really need to get down there, so I can get in contact with my father.” A sob broke from her throat as the thought of her father worrying played through her head.

  Seb looked lost for a moment. He then patted her leg and wrapped the blanket tighter around her. “I’m sorry, honey, but I think we are going to need to go back to the cabin. I can come down later and start to clear the trees out. So right now, I think you are stuck up here. At least for another day.”

  Chapter 8

  Ivy didn’t say much on the ride back to the cabin. In fact, she didn’t say anything. When they arrived back at the barn, she slid off Joker and handed Seb the blanket. He watched her retreating figure head back to the house.

  When he saw her enter the cabin and shut the door, he made his way to put Joker back into the stall. He brushed the ice and snow off the horse, placing a blanket over him before giving him some fresh hay.

  He looked around the barn once, at the chickens happily clucking on the stall beam and at Joker who was chewing away without a care in the world.

  This was all the company he had for the past four years. The year after his wife died, correction, was murdered, the townspeople would come up into the mountains and bring him food. He rarely ventured to town, so they visited him.

  He was in such a state of grief that he couldn’t function unless it was inside a bottle. He couldn’t recall the number of days he spent in a drunken stupor vowing revenge. It was David that pulled him out of it, along with his cousin Jason.

  He spent every moment tracking the man responsible for his wife’s death, until he was nowhere to be found. When he gave up the search, he returned to the cabin. It didn’t hold the same happy memories for him, so he moved higher into the mountain, building a new cabin and becoming a recluse.

  It was hard to see Ivy in the leather duster. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at it. Seb wondered why he had kept that particular coat. He had given away all of Lacey’s clothes to people in town. There was a part of him that couldn’t bear to part with this particular item. It was her favorite coat and she wore it as much as she could during the winter months.

  He thought perhaps it was time to move on. Once Ivy left and was no longer in need of the coat, he would repurpose it somehow. Perhaps he could make a hat or a belt from the leather fabric. Carrying pouches for game were always great too.

  He offered Joker one of the apples in his pocket. The horse greedily accepted it and munched happily. Giving the beast one more rub, he left the barn and headed up to the house.

  ☐☐☐

  She was sitting at the table looking into the fire when Seb walked into the cabin. The wind swept through the room and caused the flames to flicker.

  Seb took off his hat and hung it on the peg by the door, followed by his coat. He made his way to the fire and knelt down in front of it. Taking the poker that was leaning next to the bricks, he rearranged the coals to spread them out before adding a few logs.

  It only took a moment for the wood to be engulfed in flames.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you back to town,” Seb said, not turning around.

  “I know. I was just really hoping to send word to my father. I just want him to know I’m safe.” He heard her push her chair back and move around the room. The heel of her boots made a thumping sound as she walked. “Honestly, I am a bit relieved. I didn’t want to go all the way to New York.”

  Seb sat at the table and watched her get two cups and place them on the table. “Why’s that.”

  Ivy paused, as if wondering how much to tell him. “Coffee?” she asked. Seb nodded. She retrieved the pot from next to the fire and poured two cups, placing the pot on the table. “I guess I have nothing to lose by telling you. It isn’t like we will see each other again once I return to San Francisco.”

  Seb took a sip of the bitter brew. Her comment was the truth, so why did it hurt him more than he would care to admit? “You are probably right,” he said quietly.

  She seemed to think it over carefully, as if she was weighing the information in her mind of what she wanted to tell him. Then she sighed and closed her eyes. “There are many reasons I don’t want to go back. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Father, but it is politics before everything. Even his family.” She blew on the cup before taking a sip.

  “But you have the rest of your family.”

  “I did. When my mother died, three years ago, he threw himself into his work and I was alone at home. I hated being around the house alone, so when I saw an advertisement to be a teacher I jumped at the chance.”

  “Rather far to go, don’t you think?’

  “I guess it was. But I wanted to be as far away from the politics as I could get.”

  “You were headed back home for the holidays?”

  “Yes and no. I was only going back because my father is getting remarried and he requested my presence. Although I think it has more to do with all the young politicians looking for a wife than actually seeing me.”

  “Young politicians?”

  “Before my mother died, she was convinced that I should marry into politics. She even had several beaus picked out. I wanted nothing to do with any of it.”

  Seb didn’t say anything. The thought of those young politicians vying for her affections upset him more than he could admit. He sat in silence for a moment before speaking. “I’m sorry about your mother.”

  “Thank you,” she said solemnly. “It’s hard this time of year, because she died right around Christmas time.” A lone tear rolled down her cheek and Seb reached out to brush it away. She didn’t flinch from his touch.

  In that moment, Sebastian felt a connection to Ivy. They both had lost someone special, and then the other relationships were lost because of that.

  Lacey’s death was the reason he lost his connection to the people in Belle. It didn’t matter how sorry they were or how many condolences they gave him, they would never understand the immense sadness he felt. There was a deep hole in his heart that he didn’t know how to fill. He carried it with him every day and he wouldn’t allow himself to forget that it was because of him that his wife was dead.

  Ivy wasn’t responsible for her mother’s death, but she felt the sorrow just the same. He could see it in her face. Looking into her eyes he saw himself reflected in their deep blue pools.

  He felt himself leaning in to kiss her when she pulled back and quickly asked, “How long do you think we will be stuck up here?”

  Seb leaned back in his chair, trying to compose himself. He didn’t know what came over him, but he knew in that moment he desired human connection. More than he ever desired it since losing his wife.

  “I’ll head out tomorrow to take care of those logs, and then we can try again. I don’t think I can swing an axe with my left arm.” Ivy nodded in agreement.

  They sat in silence finishing their coffee before she spoke again. “How long have you lived up here by yourself?”

  “Three years,” he said, as he leaned over to grab another log to put in the fire. The wind had picked up and he could hear the whistling outside the cabin. He hoped it wasn’t a storm passing through. He needed to get those trees moved and return this woman back to town. Then he could go back to his quiet existence.

  Her mere presence was unnerving him in a way that he didn’t know was po
ssible; he didn’t like that feeling of instant attraction to her. He hadn’t felt this way since his wife was alive, and he promised Lacey he would never love another. Time to change the subject, he thought.

  “Sounds like a storm out there.”

  Ivy tilted her head as if she just noticed the wind. “The sky was a bit dark when we came back.”

  “Could be a squall, or it could be something else. Sometime storms just come out of nowhere.”

  “Do you think it will last long?”

  Seb went to the door and took a quick look outside. It was blinding white. With the amount of snow coming down it looked like much more than just a passing snow shower. They were in a full-blown blizzard.