“The path from here on is a bit more treacherous, I’m afraid,” Hal said, “but I assure you that it’s worth the trip down the bank.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve climbed a bank or played in a creek, Mr. Grayson.”
The playful taunt in her voice made him laugh. He was glad to see his wife coming back to her more vivacious self. “I’m sure you’re quite adept, Nancy, but I suspect you’ll appreciate my assistance in a spot or two nonetheless.” He stepped forward and extended his hand to her. “This is one of those particular places.” The path was narrow with a hill on one side and a drop into the gorge on the other. Tree roots jutted up like knuckles with their fingertips sticking out of the bank and hanging over the creek.
“Well, you were accurate on this count,” she said, placing her hand in his. “I’ll gladly accept your assistance.”
Her hand, so small and warm, made his heart do a crazy somersault in his chest. How could her small hands carry so much? How could this petite lady create such disruption in his life — and more importantly in his heart?
The thought circled his mind as they traversed another twenty feet or so of narrow path that took them deeper into the gorge. The path leveled out again, but only when they reached an outcropping of rocks that created a natural shelf above the babbling creek did he release her hand.
“I’m going to start down this shelf of rocks and then I’ll help you down.” Hal stepped quickly down three of the natural steps formed by the rock formation. Loose shale and stones crated a mini rock slide that spattered the small beach at the edge of the creek. As soon as he got his footing on the lowest rock, he placed the picnic basket aside and then turned to assist Nancy. Nancy gripped his hand and tried to navigate the steps, but watching her do so in her flowing skirts and heeled boots made his heart leap in his chest. He and John had both lost their footing and slid down the rocks on more than one occasion before they’d successfully learned how to navigate them.
Nancy made the same mistake he and John had made. She moved too slowly, which allowed the rocks to slide and carry her straight toward the edge.
Knowing she was about to fall, Hal grasped her waist and lifted her off the cliff. The added weight made the shale debris beneath his feet shift. Loose rocks and shale gave way and he slid backward down the bank. He pulled Nancy against him, back-peddling with both feet, trying to keep them upright. Instead, he found himself stepping backward into thin air and then landing hard on his feet in the creek.
Momentum kept him moving backward, but keeping his footing on the rocky creek bed was impossible.
Nancy’s shriek startled the birds as they both went tumbling into Canadaway Creek.
He wrapped his arms around her and twisted his body so that he landed on his back, buffering most of her fall with his body. Water splashed up like a geyser on both sides, thoroughly drenching them. He felt a shock of pain as his elbow struck the shallow creek bed.
Nancy gasped in shock.
Hal pushed himself up on his injured elbow and steadied Nancy with his free arm, attempting to keep her from rolling off and falling deeper into the water. His backside and throbbing elbow rested on the rocky creek bed, and his knees jutted up out of the water on either side of Nancy’s hips.
“Are you all right?” he asked, mortified that he failed to get her safely down the bank, and worse, that he actually hauled her into the creek.
Water dripped down her face. Her chignon hung sideways with sections of wet curls that had sprung loose from the fall. Small droplets clung to her dark eyelashes, framing large brown eyes filled with surprise and... intense awareness.
Hal’s heart pounded from the unexpected fall and from being face-to-face, body-to-body with his beautiful bride. Crystal clear water flowed over them. Birdsong filled the gorge. Blue sky and sunshine created a beautiful canopy above them, but Hal’s eyes were filled with Nancy. With her beautiful face. With her pink lips parted in surprise. With the fact that he simply could not resist her.
He slid his free hand up to cup her head, and he kissed her.
He tasted creek water on her lips and smelled flowers in her hair and he forgot where they were and the circumstances that brought them to this moment. They were simply a man and a woman experiencing their first kiss with each other.
The rushing water nudged them as if it wanted to tumble them downstream like a fallen timber. It saturated Nancy’s skirts and tugged her away, breaking the kiss and ending the moment. But his eyes locked with hers and he saw warmth and love in his wife’s eyes — and he wanted to see that look again. Now. Forever.
But the creek had other ideas and it fought to separate them.
Sitting up, Hal gently lifted her off him and helped his wife to her feet. The water swirled Nancy’s wet skirts around her knees, rocking her off balance. He leaned down and lifted her, cradling her in his arms as he carried her out of the creek. “Are you all right?” he asked, setting her on her feet on the loamy shore of the creek.
She smiled. “Yes, but I must confess that this is not what I expected when you suggested a walk.”
“I’m terribly sorry, Nancy.”
“I’m not.” She released a warm laugh. “Truly, I haven’t been this surprised or experienced such an adventure in far too long. And despite being thoroughly soaked, I must confess that the cool water on this warm day felt divine.” As if the absurdity of their fall into the creek was dawning fully in her mind, her shoulders began to shake and then tears of laughter began to wet her cheeks. “Gracious, Hal! I can’t believe we actually fell in the creek!”
Hal laughed, too. He felt a fool for losing his footing and hauling them into the creek, but the accident brought an unexpected moment of romance to their marriage and tears of joy to his wife. That was worth the damage to his pride. “Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked again.
F“I do believe I banged my knee, but I’m otherwise unbroken. But look at you, you’ve torn your shirt and your elbow is bleeding.” Her expression shifted to one of concern as she leaned down to inspect his elbow.
Hal bent his forearm and angled his elbow, trying to see the damage. The sharp pain he’d felt when he hit bottom had been quickly forgotten in his concern for Nancy, and then he’d forgotten everything during their kiss. But it appeared he did indeed have a rip in his shirt sleeve and a spot of blood staining the fabric.
“Let me look,” Nancy said, pushing up his sleeve. She had to work it over his elbow to expose a long scrape across his forearm. “Well, you’ve got a nice sized scrape here, but the good news is that you’ll survive the trip home.”
Hal hadn’t expected anything more than a scraped forearm, but he knew Nancy would need to appease her curiosity and so he let her inspect the damage. “I guess we’re both a little worse for wear. I hope you’ll forgive me for pulling you into the creek with me.” He surveyed Nancy’s dress, soaked with water, the skirt covered with particles of sand and smudges of dirt. “I hope I haven’t ruined your dress.”
“Falling in the creek was completely my doing,” Nancy said, as she twisted at the waist, moving her skirt back and forth to access the damage. By the time she’d finished, she’d turned a full circle.
Hal laughed. “You look like Captain chasing his tail.”
“Very funny, Mr. Grayson. Frankly I find it quite adorable when he does that.”
She was adorable.
Hal resisted the temptation to pull them both back into the creek, if only to see her laugh again. He loved the sound of her laugh, the flash of her pretty white teeth, the spark that lit her eyes — and he liked that he was able to make her laugh, even unintentionally.
“Shall I take you home to change?” he asked.
She glanced at him as if he’d just said the most foolish thing. “I’m perfectly content, unless you wish to return home to change your clothes.”
“Not at all. I was simply thinking of your comfort.”
“I haven’t felt this refreshed all day. I may just
take to wetting my gowns on hot days.”
Hal laughed. “Not a bad idea on the whole. All right then, if you’re sure you wish to continue there’s a nice spot to picnic just up ahead.”
“Wonderful, but I do hope there are no more banks to traverse.”
“Just a flat beach and a few stepping stones to cross.”
“That I can manage,” she said, hiking her sopping skirt and squeezing the water out of it.
Hal got an unexpected glimpse of her lovely legs that nearly stopped his heart. His first thought was that he should turn away to afford her privacy. Hard on the heels of that thought, his brain presented him a simple and most treasured fact — Nancy was his wife. He didn’t need to turn away.
But he did so anyhow because she did deserve his respect and consideration.
Still, as he stood there listening to water splatter the stones around Nancy’s feet, the image of her shapely legs imprinted itself in his mind.
“Shall we go then?” she asked. “I’ll fix my hair once we’re settled.”
Hal retrieved the basket he’d thankfully set aside before they had tumbled into the creek. Arm-in-arm they picked their way along the narrow rocky shore of the creek until the beach ended. “We can picnic here or use those stones to cross to the other side and get closer to the falls.”
“Oh, let’s go to the falls.” Nancy hiked her skirt and started to step with her left foot.
Hal caught her arm and held her back. “If you start with your right foot you’ll be able to cross over without as much trouble.”
Instead of questioning him, Nancy eyed the stones for herself. After a couple of seconds, she said, “You’re right. I can see how they’re laid out. Did you put these huge rocks here?”
“It would take a team of horses to move one of those stones. I’ve just crossed them often enough to know the best method.”
She smiled up at him, her eyes sparkling with happiness. “I do like the way your mind works, Mr. Grayson.”
Hal grinned at her preference for calling him Mr. Grayson during their playful banter with each other. She was such an intriguing mix of sweet and sassy that he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“Here I go then.” She stepped out onto the first large rock, the easiest of all of them to navigate. “If I fall in, please fish me out before the creek carries me too far downstream.”
“I shall do my best, darling.”
“Are you distracting me on purpose?” she called over her shoulder, laughing as she fought for balance. What was an easy step for his long legs was a step-and-a-half for Nancy. She had to leap to cover the distance to the next rock and nearly missed it altogether.
“Gads, Nancy, watch your step.”
“Then save your endearments until my feet are firmly on the ground, Mr. Grayson. You distract me too easily already.”
He did? She was distracted by him? Why? Did she like being called his darling?
Hal’s heartbeat thundered in his chest as he stared in wonder at his beautiful wife picking her way across the stepping stones. He distracted her?
The thought was preposterous and... utterly fascinating.
Nancy leapt onto the opposite shore and turned toward Hal, shading her eyes. “Are you joining me, or was this your plan so you wouldn’t have to share the lunch in your basket?
He laughed, enjoying her sense of humor. Hal pretended to dig in the basket as if he was indeed going to devour the meal himself.
Nancy’s light laughter echoed through the gorge. The sound filled his ears and warmed his heart and fed a place in his soul that had been begging for sustenance. Hal just hadn’t known what it needed until meeting Miss Nancy Mitchell. He needed her.
And more importantly, he wanted her in his life.
The realization fueled his desire to be the kind of man she wanted in return. He had little to give financially, but he could please her and make her laugh and bring her joy. He could court her properly and give their marriage his best effort. Perhaps that would be enough to win Nancy’s heart.
With that in mind, Hal made quick work crossing the stepping stones. “The falls are just around the bend,” he said, offering his arm.
“Good,” she said, glancing down at her feet. “My boots are squishing in a most uncomfortable manner. I should like to dispense with them, but I don’t want to shock you.”
He glanced down to see the teasing glint in her eyes. “I’m afraid the shock would be to your delicate feet. These stones can be sharp.”
When they reached the falls, Hal spread their blanket on the shore beside a large pool of water at the base of the falls.
Nancy stood gazing at large slabs of rock from the gorge walls that had fallen into the creek and created the small but beautiful waterfalls. “Nature creates such magnificent art,” she said, quietly.
Hal looked at his wife, magnificent in her own right, and said, “I agree.” He placed the basket on the blanket. “Come and sit. You should take your shoes off so they can dry a little while we’re here. I do believe I’ve still got half of Canadaway Creek in mine.”
“With the size of your boots, I might believe it.”
“I suppose I deserve that for hauling you into the creek,” he said, and helped his sassy wife sit on the blanket. As they exchanged grins, he sat beside her, unlaced his boots and pulled them off, placing them beside the blanket where the warm sun could dry them. “I think I could use those pretty slippers you made for me right about now.”
She laughed and her cheeks turned pink. “They are rather shocking in their appearance. You don’t have to wear them if they are too colorful for you.”
“Not at all. I find that the red and green yarn makes them hard to misplace.”
“Well that’s something to recommend them, I suppose.” She shook her head and gazed up at him, a soft smile tilting her lips. “Would you mind terribly helping me shuck these boots. They feel positively dreadful.”
“Of course,” he said, moving to assist her. He sat on his knees and placed one of her small boots on his lap. He had no button hook, but he did have a kitchen knife in the basket, which he had Nancy ferret out. With a bit of maneuvering he was able to slip the loops over the hooks and open her boots.
When he removed the first boot, Nancy sighed and said, “Thank you! It felt as if I had my feet encased in mud. I do hope my boots will dry some before we head home.”
“Well, the longer we linger, the longer they’ll have to dry.”
She leaned back on her hands and lifted her face to the sun. “I like the way you think, Mr. Grayson.”
He liked the way she looked, relaxed, serene, and stunning with the sun on her face. He wished he could give her more days like this where she could simply lounge on a blanket beneath a blue sky instead of toiling in the garden or kitchen.
She sat up and reached beneath her skirt, but stopped and looked at him. “Would you find it unforgivably crude if I were to remove these wet stockings?”
“Nancy, it’s just the two of us here, and... please do whatever makes you comfortable,” he said. But he simply could not sit and watch her strip off her stockings. “I’ll set out our lunch while you make yourself comfortable.” With that, he turned his back and rooted in the basket, taking a good long time to set out and arrange a plate of chicken and linen full of biscuits.
“You can turn around now, Hal. I’m appropriately covered.” Nancy’s laughter turned him around to face her. “If my mother could see me now, barefoot and soaked to my unmentionables, she would disown me.”
“I suppose this would seem a bit unconventional to her.”
Nancy shook her head. “No, she fully expects this behavior from me, she just doesn’t wish to tolerate it. As I said earlier, this isn’t the first time I’ve doused my skirts in the creek. I used to ride my mare through the creek and soak the hem of my dress. It vexed Mother greatly that I was unable to retain some sense of decorum as a lady. I got in trouble a number of times for coming home with my skirts wet a
nd my boots full of mud.”
As he listened to his wife talk about her childhood, Hal hooked an elbow over one bent knee and leaned on his opposite hand. He was pleased she was sharing a pleasant memory of home, especially after her heartbreaking homesickness earlier. It made him think of happier times he’d shared with his own family... with John.
“All parents should just understand that their children are going to wade in water and play in the mud,” she said. “We should make a note of this lest we forget when we have our own children. Don’t you agree?”
Hal couldn’t respond because he was too caught up in the idea of Nancy bearing him children. Someday they were going to have children that called them mother and father.
“Would you mind dishing up lunch? I’d like to keep my skirt fanned out to help it dry.”
“Of course,” he said, turning his attention to their lunch. He filled a plate and passed it to her.
“Did you and your siblings tax your parents’ patience overmuch?” she asked.
The question made him laugh. “We did indeed. Every day. In fact, this part of the creek is a lot like the fishing hole I went to back home. John and I would walk down there with our birch poles and a bucket and toss in a line. The two of us would sit there for ten minutes and then leave our poles in search of other excitement. That usually involved getting soaked and getting dirty.”
“My point is made,” Nancy said with a laugh.
Hal laughed too. “Yes, I brought home more mud than fish. The number of times that I promised to bring home supper and would come home empty handed is innumerable. I don’t think my mother ever really expected me to bring home supper, which was just as well.”
Nancy pulled a face. “At least you had big dreams and you tried. My mother never thought fishing was a proper pastime for a young lady. But when I could sneak off with my cousin Joseph we’d go to a deep section of the creek and fish. Anything I caught I had to give him credit for, but I didn’t mind. I just enjoyed the adventure.”
“This cousin of yours seems to have risked a lot to help you in your exploits.”
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