Dreamkeepers

by Dorothy Garlock

  The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking boxes and putting things away. Adam worked in his room and Molly in the kitchen. Long before dinner time the gaslamps were lit. The daylight hours were getting short this time of year. It was completely dark when they sat down to dinner. Molly had prepared a meal of homemade noodles and beef, biscuits, homemade jam, and cobbler made from canned peaches. Adam was hungry and ate heartily.

  “Is there anything you especially like or dislike in the way of food, Adam? As long as I’m cooking, it may as well be something you like.”

  The black brows raised and he thought for a moment.

  “I like most things. In some parts of the world I’ve shut my eyes to eat the food.” He met her probing eyes and grinned. “I especially like chocolate cake,” he admitted.

  They cleared away the dinner things together, then sat for a while before the fireplace. The autumn nights were cold. Adam stretched his arms above his head and yawned.

  “I’m bushed. How about you?”

  Across from him Molly yawned, too, and catching his glance, smiled apologetically. “Yawning is contagious.”

  “You’re tired. Go to bed, Molly. I’ll turn out the lights and bank the fire.”

  Molly went to the kitchen range, took the large teakettle of hot water to the bathroom, and poured it into the washbowl. Going back to the kitchen she refilled it with hot water from the reservoir and set it on the range.

  “Hot water, if you want it, Adam,” she said, indicating the kettle. “Good night.”

  “Good night,” he answered absently.

  Molly made sure all her personal garments were out of the bathroom before leaving it and closed the door behind her when she returned to her bedroom. Turning out the lamp, she slipped under the covers of her bed. She lay for a while and was almost lulled to sleep when she heard Adam moving about. Presently she heard him carry the teakettle to the bathroom. All very homey sounds, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

  CHAPTER SIX

  THERE IS NO lovelier place than the Alaskan wilderness in the autumn. The dark, drooping evergreens shadow the tranquil waters of the lakes. The beauty of the wilderness does much to inspire an even greater confidence in the people who live in the rugged country without all the customary trappings of modern living.

  Soon the first snows of autumn would fall. Inside the spruce log cabin, set on the shores of the quiet lake, Molly felt, if not exactly happy, content. She and Adam had been living together in the cabin for almost a week. A pattern for their days had been formed. After breakfast he went to his room to work and she went about her usual household chores, always listening with half an ear to the citizen’s band radio. Occasionally she would get a call from Jim going over in his plane or from a neighbor who just wanted to hear the sound of another human voice. Most of the calls were due to curiosity about her wedding and perfectly understandable to Molly. A wedding, a death, or a birth in the district was always news.

  Every afternoon Adam spent a couple of hours out-of-doors. He was fascinated with Tim-Two’s proficiency with an ax and practiced the use of the tool each day. The exercise was good and he thought it fun to see the chips fly. Some afternoons Molly would sit on a log and watch him. Occasionally she would take her fishing pole, sit on the dock, and tempt a fat fish to take the wiggling worm on the hook she dropped in the lake.

  They always listened to the personal message program that came on the radio while they were having their noon meal. The people who lived in the sparsely populated wilderness received messages running the gauntlet from doctor’s advice to shipping notices via this method. However, this meant the entire district knew about the medication Mrs. Jackson was taking, about the new snowmobile ordered by the Martins, and that the Petersons had a grocery order and the O’Roarks a guest coming up on the morning train. In case of an emergency concerning his father, Adam would hear the news during this time and Molly was always relieved when his name wasn’t called.

  The days slid by reasonably fast. Both Molly and Adam were involved in their own activities, their own thoughts. Adam kept the reservoir connected to the big cook stove filled with water and the evenings Molly took her bath he carried the steaming water to the tub for her. He was friendly, helpful, but not since the first day when he perched her on his shoulder had he been teasing or in any way familiar. He seemed to have settled down to the business of work, all serious and withdrawn.

  He didn’t ask her to accompany him on the first trip he made back to Anchorage. After breakfast one morning he merely announced he was going.

  “I’d like to send a few things to your father,” Molly said, “if you have time for me to pack a box.”

  “Sure. I have time, but hurry along. I don’t want to be away but a few hours.” He gave her a troubled glance. “You’ll be all right here?” She nodded and reached for paper to wrap the small jars. “Keep the radio tuned in. I’d like to know you’re in touch.” She nodded again and wrapped a loaf of fresh bread in a cloth and tucked it into the box.

  She looked rather apologetic. “I suppose this looks like a trite offering to you, but I did promise him I would send it and I wouldn’t want him to think I made the promise casually.”

  “Of course not. He’ll enjoy it. I’ll tell him you’ll come with me next time.” His voice was brisk and impersonal. He went out the door and down the path to the lake.

  Presently Molly heard the sound of the motor as he taxied the plane out onto the lake, then the soft purr as the plane circled the house and headed south.

  Alone in the house she decided it would be a good time to clean Adam’s room. She changed the bedclothes, swept and dusted, being careful not to disturb anything on his desk or work table. She knew this was important from all the times she had cleaned while her father was alive. She did allow herself the luxury of looking in his closet at the neat row of clothes hanging there. Her hands lingered on the rough jacket he used for outside work, and impulsively she lifted the sleeve to her cheek and the smell of his maleness caused unfamiliar sensations.

  An awareness of the absurdity of her action caused her to leave the room abruptly. A man of Adam’s years and experience could never be interested in her. He had married her and he intended to make the best of the situation. That’s all she meant to him. Molly hadn’t the faintest notion of what the future held for her. She only knew that since she had met him she had lost the last vestiges of her girlhood.

  The house was lonely without him. In just one short week he had become an important part of her life. She missed him. Angry at herself for daring to think foolish thoughts she threw herself into a frenzy of housecleaning. When the house was immaculate, she set loaves of bread to rise in the warming oven and on a sudden impulse stirred up a chocolate cake.

  She tried to keep her thoughts from Adam, from what he was doing in Anchorage. Would he visit a woman friend? Would he get in touch with her cousin, Donna, while he was there? She deliberately turned down the volume on the CB radio so she wouldn’t be listening for the sound of his voice. In spite of all this, her ear was tuned to catch the first sound of his plane as it passed over the house.

  Long before she expected him she freshened herself and put on a blue dress with a pencil slim skirt that made her look inches taller. Then she sat down on the couch to knit on the sweater she was making for one of Evelyn’s boys. The rhythmic movement of her fingers was soothing to her nerves.

  When the plane went over the house and began its descent to land on the lake, Molly’s heart began to beat erratically, but she forced herself to remain seated. She was curled comfortably on the couch when she heard his steps on the porch. Their eyes met for a brief moment as he hesitated in the doorway and in that instant she was conscious of every detail about him. He looked big, masculine, and angry. It was difficult to comprehend what he was saying when he spoke to her.

  “Why in the devil didn’t you answer me when I called on the CB?” He walked over to the radio and saw the volume had been turned do
wn. “What do you think went through my mind when ten miles out I couldn’t raise you on this damn thing?” To her astonishment he was very angry. “One of the last things I told you was to keep the radio tuned.” He came to stand in front of her with his black eyes blazing and his hands on his hips. Molly was too stunned to say anything. “Molly!” He practically shouted her name.

  She sought about wildly for something to say. Then she lifted her head in sudden defiance, angry with him because he was treating her like a child. Was that it? Was this the way it was going to be? She would not stand for it! She was an adult and would be treated like one.

  “You’re pretty bossy all of a sudden, Adam. I don’t have to account to you for everything I do. I can look after myself without any help from you.” She sputtered recklessly because he was watching her with those hard black eyes and she didn’t like the way he was doing it.

  “Like hell!” he sneered. “I won’t leave you here alone and have you deliberately disobey my instructions. I couldn’t imagine what had happened to you or why you didn’t answer. You answer every other Tom, Dick, and Harry that calls you.” Her eyes were abnormally bright and his lips narrowed. “Well?” He said the word with sardonic emphasis.

  “Why are you so angry?” Molly blurted. “Why am I, suddenly, so unreliable I can’t be trusted to spend a few hours alone? I’ve spent many days and nights alone here with Dog and Tim-Two while my father was away.”

  Adam shook his head. “Listen to me, Molly—”

  “You listen!” she flung, flushed and excited. “You think I’ve no brains at all! I’m an encumbrance to you! Something you have to put up with in order to take advantage of my father’s work. Well, I’m sorry I’ve intruded into your life. I didn’t want to, you know!” She knew she was being unreasonable, but couldn’t help herself. Her eyes flared bitterly at him.

  Adam reached out and with a cruel and painful grip on her forearms, jerked her to him.

  “Now, you listen to me!” he grated between clinched teeth. “You’ve got to understand—”

  Molly tried vainly to free herself. “I understand very well, mister,” she exclaimed fiercely.

  With a muffled curse, he pulled her up against him, his muscled strength holding her there, stilling her struggles. He pressed her head against his shirt. At close quarters his masculine strength had a hypnotic effect on her. She wanted to lean forward and let her whole weight rest on his chest. She felt a sense of unreality at what was happening. His maleness made her legs feel weak. She melted against him. In the circle of his arms and hearing the heavy beat of his heart, she was conscious of a change in his breathing. It quickened.

  He must have sensed her sudden, abject surrender. From somewhere far away she heard him say,

  “Molly . . . Molly . . . ,” the words sounded like a groan.

  She felt his hand in her hair tugging her head back and before she could speak or move his mouth came down over hers in a hard, angry kiss that took her breath away. There was no gentleness, no tenderness. He kissed her savagely and thoroughly. She struggled and a little whimper came from the back of her throat. Then she arched against him, not yet understanding the strange new emotions that he had awakened in her body. She was only conscious of the pressure of his mouth and his long legs as his hands pulled the entire length of her body tight against his. Without knowing why, or what she was doing, her arms went up and around his neck and clung there.

  Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind she thought, so this is how it feels? This need, spreading through her loins, was making her incapable of feeling anything but this intense desire, and not understanding this sensation, she knew only that what she needed was him.

  He pulled his mouth away from hers and looked down at her.

  “Oh, Christ,” he said in self-disgust. He looked at her lips beginning to swell from his kiss, and at her eyes wide and questioning. He hadn’t meant to touch her, much less kiss her. He turned on his heel and went to his room, closing the door behind him with more force than was necessary.

  Molly stood where he had left her. Her breath was still catching in her throat and her hands went up to touch her burning, flushed cheeks. She sank back down on the couch. She couldn’t believe this had happened to her. The memory of the way she had clung to him brought waves of hot color to her cheeks and she wondered, unhappily, what he must have thought of her wanton behavior. She dreaded the moment when she must face him again.

  The moment she dreaded came sooner than she expected. Adam came out of his room and stood looking down at her, his face considerably softer. Her body tensed and her heart began to beat erratically again as she withstood his dark gaze.

  “I’m sorry I frightened you, Molly, but you did provoke me!” He took a small package from his pocket and tossed it into her lap. “A gift from Dad. He remembered he hadn’t given you a wedding present.”

  Molly’s troubled gaze went from him to the package in her lap and realizing he was waiting for her to open it, untied the wrappings with shaking fingers. Lifting the lid of a small jewelry box, she saw, nestling on a bed of dark velvet, a pair of exquisite diamond earrings. She gave a small cry of surprise.

  “I couldn’t possibly accept these. They are far too valuable.” She closed the lid on the box and thrust it toward him.

  “Dad wants you to have them.” He hesitated. “They were my mother’s.”

  “Your mother’s?” She flushed to her hairline.

  “Yes,” he answered brusquely.

  She couldn’t help herself. Her eyes were swimming with tears.

  “Your father has paid me a great compliment and for his sake I’ll be honored to wear your mother’s earrings. But only for the year we’re together. After that I’ll insist you take them back.”

  “You’re to keep them. They’re not a loan.”

  “I couldn’t do that, Adam, they should belong to your permanent wife,” she whispered huskily with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  “I’ll probably not marry again and Dad gave them to you,” he said stubbornly.

  “I wish we didn’t have this shadow of deceit hanging over us,” she said softly. “Your father is too sweet to be deceived this way.”

  “It’s rather late to think of that now,” he said dryly. “In any case, what’s done is done.” Then, as his eyes mocked her, “Is that a chocolate cake on the table?”

  “It’s for you and Tim-Two. He likes cake, too, and any flavor will do.”

  Not knowing what else to do, she took the earrings from the box and attempted to attach them to her ears. Adam watched her.

  “Here let me do it.” He reached down his hand to pull her to her feet.

  She felt a tremor in her throat as his warm breath fell on her face. He fastened first one earring and then the other to her ears, before taking her by the forearms and holding her away from him. He tilted his head first one way and then the other as he gave her careful scrutiny. Her pulse was beating very fast. She was sure he had noticed, because he looked from her ears to her eyes, to the mouth he had so recently kissed, and to her throat where the pulse was beating.

  “Very nice,” he said, smiling, “very, very nice.” She smiled back at him, and he added softly, “Am I forgiven?”

  Silently she nodded her head. “Then let’s have dinner . . . hmmm? I want to tie into that cake.”

  Molly caught him looking at her often during dinner. For the first time he helped her clear off the table when they were finished. Afterward he put records on the player and turned down the gaslight. When Molly went to sit in front of the fireplace, he went to his room, then returned with a pipe and a sack of tobacco before sinking down on the couch and filling the pipe. Using tongs, he lifted a coal from the fire bed, held it to the tobacco, and sucked on the pipe. When he sat down again, he was puffing gently.

  “You’re full of surprises,” Molly said and breathed in the good tobacco smell. “I didn’t know you smoked.”

  He looked at the pipe in his
hand. “I seldom do, but sometimes I like one after dinner, if you don’t mind.”

  “I rather like it. Dad always smoked a pipe after supper.”

  The familiar scratching on the back door sent Molly to let Dog in. He followed her to her chair and laid his big head in her lap. She caressed the soft fur on top of his head and scratched his ears, all the time aware Adam was watching. Soon Dog returned to a far corner of the room, away from the heat of the fire. He sprawled in the corner, his neck stretched out, his heavy jowls flat on the floor.

  “How long have you had him?” Adam asked.

  “About four years. Jim brought him to me. He was just a bounding puppy then, all ears and feet.”

  “Is he the only dog you have here?”

  “Yes. He’s been a faithful friend,” she said wistfully. “You know a dog responds to kindness, regardless if the person that gives it is rich or poor, skinny or fat, pretty or ugly, dumb or smart, I could go on and on . . .” she said with a laugh.

  “Yes, that’s true,” Adam said, as the clock on the mantel sounded the hour. He got up to wind the clock. “Are you about ready to call it a day?” He was still facing the mantel.

  Molly looked at the clock, it was half past ten! Embarrassment drew her to her feet. He wanted her to leave the room so he could go to his, but was too polite to say so! That was the reason for the small talk, biding his time until she went to bed. How stupid of her not to realize that. She went to the kitchen and turned down the lamp. Looking back, she saw him rubbing his eyes and his temples. He showed no sign he knew she had left the room. Calling Dog to her, she put him out the back door.

  “Do you have a headache, Adam?” she asked in a calm voice which gave away nothing of what she was feeling. “I can get an aspirin for you.”

  “I would appreciate it,” he said, going back to the couch.

  She took two tablets from the bottle on the shelf and drew a glass of water from the hand pump. She carried them to him and waited for him to drink.