Ruby (Angel Creek Christmas Brides Book 3)

by Hildie McQueen

  Unable to keep from it, a whimper escaped followed by another until she wept openly with relief. Trevor wrapped his arms around her as she wept. It was the most tender of moments in the patient way he stroked her hair and murmured assurances until she finally calmed.

  “If you keep crying, I will have to change my shirt again,” Trevor teased.

  She lifted her face up to him, sure she looked a fright with a reddened nose and swollen eyes. “I’m so sorry Doctor Collins. It has weighed so very heavily on my mind to tell you this.”

  There was a slight lift to the corners of his lips. “Will you please call me by my first name. We are married after all.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  The same eyebrow lifted and Ruby couldn’t help but smile.

  “Trevor.”

  It was then she realized he was about to kiss her. It was so long in coming, the only other time had been the quick peck after being pronounced husband and wife. Ruby’s eyelids fell closed as his lips covered hers. The kiss wasn’t soft, nor was it demanding. It was …. Well, it was perfect.

  He deepened the kiss, his hands pulling her against the hardness of his larger body, and Ruby felt every inch of hers come to life. She wasn’t sure who proceeded to do what next, but they’d not leave the bedroom for several hours as nature took its course.

  ***

  His wife was timid and yet at the same time quite receptive to his attentions in the bed. Trevor was pleased. It was gratifying to know she’d enjoyed their first time together. That morning waking with someone in his bed had been startling at first but gradually he’d relaxed, enjoying the feel of his wife snuggled against his side. The fire had gone out during the night, however under the blankets they were quite warm.

  Now as she stood beside him in the kitchen, he felt her constant study of him.

  Currently, she scrambled eggs as he instructed. Thankfully the henhouse was well protected just outside the back door where he’d moved it for the winter. In the enclosed wooden structure that he’d insulated with hay, the birds would fare the winter without much worry.

  Once the scrambled eggs were cooked and slices of ham were heated up, they plated the food that was to be accompanied with coffee, making for a simple meal.

  Throughout the meal, she continued to steal glances at him. “How will we tell if we suit?”

  “I suppose after some time we will become accustomed to one another. Our true personalities will surface and then we’ll know.”

  She frowned down at her plate. “I suppose we won’t always get along. There will be times when we may even argue.”

  It was refreshing that his new wife spoke her mind. “I hope you will always continue to be as frank with me. I was told by Pastor Tilly that communication is particularly important in a marriage.”

  Her right brow lifted. “I find it annoying that he didn’t give my friends and I any counsel.”

  Trevor had thought the same. Although the storm threatened, there could have been a few moments dedicated to allowing the women to at least catch their breath. “I suppose he expected us to tell you what he said.”

  “What else did he say?”

  He cleared his throat. “To be honest and patient since you come from a different life and are not accustomed to life here. He asked that we come to him with any doubts or ....”

  “Or?” Ruby asked.

  “I forgot the rest,” he admitted. “I’m sure it will come to me.”

  “Indeed.” She gave him a disbelieving look.

  The pastor had told them in the case there were any problems with consummation they were to read the bible verse on submission by their wife. Trevor and the other men had exchanged looks while trying not to laugh out loud. He doubted a woman would submit in such a way if her husband read from the bible. If anything, she’d probably take the thick book and hit him over the head with it.

  “Are you finished?” Ruby stood and waited for him to hand her the plate.

  A few hours later it became clear they would be snowbound for days. He’d always hated when it happened in the past. Now however, Trevor decided it was not a bad thing at all. It would force him and Ruby to spend time alone, get to know each other, converse and enjoy uninterrupted time in the bedroom.

  “I believe we’re forced to remain indoors as the snow has now reached the point where walking through it is impossible,” Trevor told Ruby, who looked from him to the windows with alarm.

  “How is that possible? What if it doesn’t melt for weeks? How will we eat?” She rose from the chair next to the hearth and hurried to the window. “Oh dear.”

  He couldn’t help teasing her. “Do you always fret so much?”

  “Fret?” By the look of astonishment, she didn’t like his comment. “Doctor Collins have you no sense of how horrible the current situation could become. We could be trapped here without food. What if we run out of firewood.”

  “There is a very large stack of wood behind the house, piled next to the chicken coop. The chickens, who are very warm by the way, provide eggs daily. We can also eat the chickens.”

  She listened without speaking, so he continued motioning for her to follow him into the kitchen.

  “I am fully stocked with necessary sundries.” He motioned to the panty and opened the door to reveal shelves of neatly arranged items. “Everything we need to survive a winter is here.” He pushed at a ham that hung drying from a rope. “We have extra meat in here as well.”

  She wandered back to the front room. “I suppose this gives us time to get to know each other better.”

  After settling back into the chairs, Trevor put his feet up on a low stool and studied his pretty wife.

  She folded her legs up on the chair and held up a book. “I like to read. I found books on the shelf in the other room. Although most are medical in nature, I did find a few that are not. Do you read often?”

  He shrugged. “On occasion. I order books from a catalog at the mercantile. Several townspeople have set up a lending library of sorts there. You can go to the mercantile and get new material to read.”

  “That’s delightful,” she replied, lips curving upward. He couldn’t help but smile in return at how easy it seemed to please her.

  “What about activities. I know this town is very small, but I imagine there are celebrations of sorts.”

  In truth, he wasn’t sure if there was anything planned annually. “We do have a Christmas party that we will attend this year, of course.” He tried to remember what else happened in the small town and realized he rarely attended anything. “I believe it’s best to ask Mrs. Abernathy. She along with Reverend Tilly’s wife organize the potlucks, fairs and such.”

  “I will,” Ruby replied seeming satisfied with his answer. “Do you have any family near here?”

  This was the question he had a reply at the ready. Every time he was asked, he’d say the same thing. The words never varied, nor did the tone of his voice. Although the truth was not much different, not really.

  “I was orphaned at a very young age. I grew up in an orphanage in Virginia until the age of sixteen.”

  When he told people this, the silence that followed as they grappled with the information and tried to come up with an appropriate reply didn’t surprise him. Trevor filled the silence with other facts to divert the subject.

  He continued. “After working as an understudy for a doctor, I decided to study medicine and was fortunate enough to be able to continue to work to pay for my education.”

  Finally Ruby let out a sigh. “That is admirable. I could profess to enjoying receiving lessons, but I’d be lying. I detest mathematics and never wish to revisit any study of languages.”

  The sway of tones in her voice brought by the strong southern accent was soothing. He wished for her to continue speaking longer. “Tell me about your family.”

  Immediately her face brightened. “My father works as an actuary in Charleston. His customers are some of the most influential men in the city.” There
was pride in her voice as she spoke. “Mother volunteers on the board for the betterment of Charleston. They are extremely busy, especially now that the war has ended.”

  “I can imagine there is a large interest in attempting to regain some semblance of normalcy,” Trevor stated.

  “Which is precisely what they are doing. Taking up the important cause of the preservation of our beautiful city. Speaking to groups about uniting and gathering resources to rebuild, restore, and refurnish the historic homes of Charleston takes all her time.”

  Trevor considered what she said, but decided it was best to not comment further on what he decided was frivolous. Did the well to do people of the city not care about seeing to the less fortunate. Certainly there were many orphaned children without homes and hungry people that needed more attention than buildings at the moment.

  “You seem to disagree with that I’ve stated. Do you?” Ruby asked with eyebrows raised. “Please tell me what you are thinking Doctor Collins.”

  “We agreed on you calling me Trevor.”

  “Yes, true.” She sat straighter and addressed him. “Trevor, will you tell me what you find distasteful?”

  “You will grow to find that I am a man who is straightforward and to the point. I must tell you then that I find any focus after war to be on structures rather than people to be…frivolous.”

  Ruby startled, her mouth falling open and she inhaled sharply. “There is much being done for those less fortunate.”

  “However not by your mother and her betterment group members.”

  A flush rose up her neck to her cheeks. “I suppose not. However, I assure you many Charlestonians are backing causes to help with housing and providing meals.”

  From past experiences, it was hard for Trevor to keep from being distrusting of the elite class of people who always looked down their noses at orphans, widows, and like. They acted as if the situations of the less fortunate were their fault.

  “Do you have siblings?” he asked, once again diverting the conversation.

  “I do,” she replied less than enthusiastically. “Martha, she is two years older than me and married. She remains in Charleston, lives not too far from my parents with her husband, a lawyer, and their two children.”

  Trevor wanted to ask what drove her to want to come west being that it seemed her home life seemed almost perfect. She’d bring it up sometime, for now he’d wait.

  She looked to the fire. “In your letters, you stated that you wanted a wife to start a family. Are you disappointed in my lacking home skills?”

  “Not at all. No matter how well versed a woman is in matters of running a house, the west is different. Out here everything is rustic and rudimentary.”

  Outside the wind raged, the flurries of snow continued falling, and he wondered how more severe the storm would get. He hoped not to upset Ruby with the knowledge that it was the worst snow storm he’d ever encountered since arriving in Montana.

  Chapter Five

  A week. Seven days she was trapped inside the house without being able to go further than the back porch, that was kept snow free thanks to a side wall. Other than going in the back to check on the chickens and collect eggs, there was little to do.

  Since their talk, she and Trevor had settled into a routine of sorts. After a few lessons, she braved cooking dinner. For supper so far they’d relied on the staples of beans, potatoes, eggs and the ham.

  They’d tried on several occasions to make bread or biscuits and had failed each time. The flat dough, whether hard or without much flavor, had been eaten as they preferred not to waste any food.

  Ruby walked around the front room considering what she could do to add a woman’s touch to the definitely masculine space. Difficult when she couldn’t go anywhere and there was little in the way of items to reuse in the house.

  More days of the forced isolation would surely drive her mad. Unlike her husband who seemed to relish the quiet time, spending hours pouring over his medical books, which were now spread all over the kitchen table, she found herself idle without even needlepoint to help pass the time.

  Once again as she’d made a custom of doing, she donned her coat, scarf and gloves and stepped out to the back porch. The coop was not as smelly as she would expect since Trevor had a strict routine of cleaning out the space, sweeping the interior with a short broom he’d fashioned specifically for the coop. When she approached, several birds hurried to the side expecting to be fed. Ruby dipped a can into the chicken feed and sprinkled it onto the floor of the coop. The happy birds proceeded to eat, clucking with pleasure.

  “I doubt they are very hungry, I just fed them.” Without her hearing, Trevor had walked out. “We have to be careful with the feed, don’t want to risk running out.”

  Although his tone was level and he didn’t seem upset, Ruby tensed at the reprimand. She whirled about, rushing past him and straight into the bedroom just as tears spilled over and onto her cheeks. This situation would not do at all. She was trying to be helpful.

  Earlier, she’d been unsuccessful in cooking. The eggs had burned and her attempt at biscuits was another failure. Then when she’d asked about washing clothes, Trevor had taught her how at the same tub they used for bathing. He’d constantly corrected her when she’d scrubbed the clothes and ended up doing most of the chore himself while Ruby stood by feeling quite awkward.

  It was horrible. Her life here would be unbearable, especially if they were to spend the entire winter locked up in the house without any ability to get away from one another.

  She fell onto the bed crying, too tired and upset to care if he heard her or not. No doubt he’d come and instruct her on how to cry properly. How to dab the tears just so.

  “Ruby,” Trevor said, his voice taut. “Why are you crying?”

  “Go away.” A loud sniff followed, and she wiped at her face, wishing he’d leave her be.

  Instead, footfalls came closer. “What made you so upset? I didn’t say what I said to upset you, but to let you know a fact.”

  Ruby sat up and glared at him. “I don’t wish to speak to you right now.”

  Instead of leaving, he leaned a shoulder on the doorjamb with his arms crossed over his chest. He studied her with the infernal eyebrow lifted in question. “I won’t know what I did to upset you if you don’t explain it to me.”

  He was lucky to have such a sparse home, otherwise she would’ve been tempted to pick something up and throw it at him. Not one prone to violence, Ruby was shocked by the direction of her thoughts. “I’m growing impatient asking that you leave, so instead I will go to another bedroom and remain until I am calm enough to speak to you.”

  Anger surged through her at the need to have to leave the bedroom. The man obviously was too rude to give her some privacy. She marched to the door only to stop when he took her arm.

  “Ruby, speak to me.”

  Her lip trembled and Ruby bit it to keep from showing how close she was to sobbing again. One of the things that annoyed her was when angry her first reaction was to cry.

  Fortifying herself, Ruby met his gaze. “Why won’t you listen to me? Is it because I can’t cry the way you deem I should? Add this to the list of other things I am unable to do properly. I doubt anything I do is up to your standards and frankly at this moment, I am very close to kicking your leg if you don’t release my arm.”

  His eyes widened but he released her, taking a step backward. Ruby took advantage, and shut the door in his face.

  Too furious to sit or lay upon the bed, she paced back and forth while mumbling what she’d like to say to him in person. “No here do it like this. Hold the handle in your left hand so you can use your right hand. Ruby watch how I do it. Place everything here where it makes sense.” She ran out of steam and collapsed onto a chair. How in the world was she going to spend the rest of her life with a perfectionist who would find fault with everything she attempted.

  With a long sigh, Ruby wondered how her friends were faring. They’d all bee
n fortunate in finding husbands who were attractive and seemed to hold dependable jobs. However, they’d not considered the men’s faults while discussing their prospective husbands.

  No matter how handsome Trevor was, his need for everything to be just so could lead her to want to smother him in his sleep.

  If only she could talk to someone, discuss the situation and get advice on what to do. There was no one to speak to and the last thing she wanted was to argue with her husband so soon after marrying.

  There were three discreet knocks on the door much later when she’d moved to a desk and began writing a letter to her mother. Ruby wasn’t sure how she’d feel when he entered. However, she did like that he’d been thoughtful enough to knock.

  “Yes,” she called out.

  The door opened and Trevor peered in. “Are you feeling better?”

  Ruby looked to her letter, a tear-smeared mess that would never be mailed. “A bit, yes.”

  He stepped inside. “Do you wish to cook supper?”

  Straightening, she looked directly into his eyes. “I will. However, I ask that you leave me alone to do it.”

  After nodding in agreement, Trevor turned and walked out.

  The kitchen was silent as Ruby got to work. She went to the pantry and gathered cornmeal, flour and eggs. She beat the eggs and poured them into the meal and flour mixture. After, she added salt and a bit of water along with a bit of sugar and melted fat from the ham. She then poured the mixture into a cast iron skillet and set it into the oven to bake.

  She turned her attention to the onions and potatoes that were set in baskets near the window to keep them cool. Peeling two onions she sliced them and plopped the contents into a small pot half filled with water. She then salted the water, added chopped ham and covered it to simmer. Ruby had no idea what she did, but knew what every item tasted like. Hoping for the best, she then went back to the larder and inspected the contents.

  There was plenty of food stored, each item neatly set in its own place. Her husband obviously had a penchant for neatness. Not that she didn’t, but it seemed a bit strange for someone to go to such lengths to maintain order.