She smiled up at him. “It’s nice to have someone come home to me. I made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and my famous gravy. Different women in Ottawa have sent their daughters to learn to make my chicken gravy before they married.”
He was glad women hadn’t been sent to her to learn what to do when a man was about to kiss them. Running away was not the answer, but she still didn’t seem to want to discuss that, so he let it go. “I do appreciate you cooking for me. What can I do to help?”
“Just sit your bottom on a chair and tuck your napkin on your lap and prepare your taste buds to get the surprise of their lives.”
He laughed, happy she was acting like herself once again. He liked Miss Hazel no matter how he found her, but he preferred the one where she seemed at least a bit sane to the one who ran away from him with no warning.
She hadn’t exaggerated about her chicken or the gravy. Both were the best he’d ever eaten, and he was thrilled to have them. Every bite he took made his stomach fall just a little bit more in love with the woman who already held his heart in the palm of her hand.
“I didn’t make a new dessert tonight because I thought you’d be pleased to have gingerbread again.”
“I would never pass up your gingerbread, Miss Hazel. I don’t know if I mentioned just how fond of gingerbread I am, and yours is the best I’ve ever eaten.”
She smiled at that. “I’m glad you enjoy it. I need to teach my daughter-in-law to make it for my grandson. I want Jack to grow up feeling like I’m his neighbor.”
“Do you think you’ll keep your house in Ottawa?” he asked, wondering what she would do with the rest of her life if he wasn’t in the mix.
“I really don’t know. I love the house in Ottawa . . . I moved there as a new bride, and I raised my son there. So many memories fill that house for me, but I still expect my Stanley to walk into the room. He’s been gone for over sixteen years, and I don’t know if I’ll ever stop missing him every day.”
His heart fell. If she still loved her late husband that much, there was no room in her heart for him. “How did he die?”
Hazel frowned. “I sometimes blame myself for his death. He had to go away on business, and I was supposed to go with him. The day before we were going to leave, Teddy fell sick. I was supposed to leave him with a friend, but I couldn’t leave my only child when he was that sick.” She shook her head. “I should have gone with Stanley. Teddy was better the day after his father left, but it was too late for me to go. I got a telegram that he’d died three days after he left. The Mounties were unable to find the man who did it, so from that day forward, Teddy wanted to be a Mountie.”
“Why would you blame yourself for that?” George asked softly.
“Because I didn’t insist I go. If I had been there, he may have not been in that spot when he was killed.” She looked down at her hands, her eyes dry but pained nonetheless. “If I had done things differently, Teddy may not have grown up without a father. It was all my fault.”
“How could that possibly be your fault? It’s not!”
“Maybe. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to fully believe that, though. I loved him with everything inside me. I only took off my wedding ring a few weeks ago, and I don’t know why I did it then. It just felt right.”
“It sounds like it was right.” George watched her face. “Walk with me tonight. Leave the dishes, and I’ll do them later. Let’s take advantage of the time we have together and walk.”
She shook her head. “I can’t leave the dishes, but I will walk with you. I did most of them as I went, so give me ten minutes, and I’ll be ready to go.” She couldn’t believe he still wanted to walk with her after she admitted that it was her fault that her husband had died. Hadn’t he listened?
George watched her efficient movements as she cleaned the kitchen and put it back even better than it had been when she’d arrived. She was something else, his Miss Hazel, and he was already thinking of her as his. Maybe she still blamed herself for her former husband’s death, but he knew that she was meant to be his wife. He wasn’t going to give up until it happened.
As they walked, Miss Hazel held onto George’s arm, feeling how tight the muscle was there. He was so different in many ways from her Stanley. Stanley had been a man raised in wealth, and he’d never known anything but his beautiful home in Ottawa and his full bank account. Hazel had been raised in the same circles, but her family hadn’t been quite as affluent. Hazel had come from old money, but most of the money had been squandered.
When they got to the lake and watched Bob frolic with his bride, whom she had named Betty, she felt happy for the beavers. Happy that they lived their lives so happily, and there was no risk of a heart attack with a beaver. At least she didn’t think there was.
All day she’d dreamed about the perfect life and the perfect romance. She had written many, many words about her ideal love, and that ideal love—at least at this time in her life—was standing right beside her. Dare she give up her memories of Stanley and marry this man?
George wrapped one arm around her and pulled her close to him. “Thank you for telling me what you did about Stanley. I feel like it’s helped me to know you better.”
Miss Hazel looked up at him, her head tilted to one side. “Does it help make sense of the crazy things I do?”
“I’m not sure anything could do that . . .”
She shrugged and sat down on the ground, pulling her shoes and stockings off. “If you already think I’m crazy, I might as well go wading in the lake. It’s all I’ve been able to think about since we got here tonight, and I am just going to do it.”
He grinned. “Do you ever not do the things you want to do, Miss Hazel?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t grab you and kiss you earlier when I wanted to. Aren’t you glad I showed restraint?”
“Actually, you could show a little less restraint in that instance. I wouldn’t mind one little bit . . .”
She laughed. “I’m sure you wouldn’t. George, you are something I was not expecting at this time in my life, and I’m going to need time to figure out exactly what I’m supposed to do with you.”
“You have all the time in the world. I don’t retire for another three weeks. As long as you make a decision by then, we’re good.”
Hazel sighed. Three weeks. It wasn’t nearly enough time. She would do her best to make the most of it though.
6
As they walked toward the lake once again, Miss Hazel was thinking about the man beside her. She was very attracted to George, but she didn’t know if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. That was a major decision, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to make it on two days’ acquaintance. And she wasn’t sure he was ready to make it either—though he did sound as if he was.
“What would it take for you to be convinced that I’m the man of your dreams?” George asked quietly. He knew she was attracted to him, but what would it take to completely win her heart? What had Stanley had that he didn’t?
Miss Hazel frowned, shrugging. “I really don’t know. There’s something special about you, George, and I feel more for you than I have for any man since Stanley’s death. If anyone could convince me to marry again, it would be you. But . . . I’m not sure I’m ready to commit . . . especially to a man I’ve only known for a few days.”
“So getting to know me better would help you?”
“Yes, of course it would. We’ll spend as much time together as we can during my time here . . . and we’ll make a decision together.”
“I don’t need to make a decision. I already have. If you’ll have me, then I’ll marry you. It’s that simple in my eyes.”
Miss Hazel stopped walking. “Have you ever pursued a woman the way you’re pursuing me? Have you ever put everything you had into trying to convince one woman to marry you?”
He sighed. “I haven’t. I’ve never looked at a woman and known my life wouldn’t be complete unless she was at my side. That’s wha
t I thought as soon as I saw you.”
They walked down to the lake and stood watching Bob and Betty build their dam for a few minutes. “Have you made a decision about what to do about Bob, Betty, and their babies? We should probably name the kits, but I can’t figure out how many there are . . .”
“No decision has been made. I promised I wouldn’t kill them, but I think they will need to be moved so they don’t destroy farmland. I know you love the critters, but them keeping their homes here is far less important than the famine that would result from reduced farmland. Human life has to be more important than beaver life.”
“I guess it does. I just think the beavers are cuter and better behaved than most humans I’ve met.” Miss Hazel watched as Bob swam through the water with a stick in his mouth to put on the top of the dam. “There you go, Bob! Dam it!”
“Did you say what I think you said?”
“I told him to dam it. Build his dam on the lake. Why would you think I said anything else? Do you look for people to use bad words, George?”
George sighed, putting his arm around her shoulders. “May I kiss you, Miss Hazel? Without you running away this time?”
“I don’t know why you’d think I would run away. Do you know me at all, George?”
He shook his head. “I must not. May I kiss you?”
“No.” Miss Hazel turned to George, fisted his jacket in her hands, and pulled his head down for a kiss. She was the aggressor that time, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him for all she was worth. When she finally took a break to breathe, she said, “I kissed you instead.”
George stood looking down at her, his eyes shining and his breath uneven. “You are some woman. Do you know that?”
Miss Hazel laughed. “I always have been. It takes a strong woman to raise a son after her husband dies . . . and to do such a good job of it. Teddy is a wonderful Mountie and a good man. Jess sings his praises in every single letter to me.”
She took George’s hand and pulled him toward the main street of town, wanting to sit on a bench she had seen. When she found the bench, she sat down and pulled George down with her. “Do you know what I like to do? I like to watch people walk by and make up stories for them.”
George blinked a couple of times. “I can’t really do that because I know all these people.”
“Well, I don’t, so you can tell me if I’m right.” She caught sight of an old man walking down the street, his hand in one pocket as he jingled some change. “That man right there? He lost his wife about six months ago. His whole life he has lived for her and their ten children, and all the children are grown, and his wife is now gone. So instead of staying in his lonely house at night, he walks up and down the street, playing with the change in his pocket.”
George sat quietly for a moment, wondering if he should tell her the man was the town drunk. He liked her version of Old Man Riley so much better than the truth that he didn’t want to disillusion her. “I think that’s a better story than the real one, so we’ll go with it.”
Miss Hazel wasn’t certain she wanted to know the truth, so she nodded to the next person. She was a young woman, wearing spectacles and rushing through the night alone. “The girl is a librarian, and she has given up all hope of love and a family for her love of books.”
That one wasn’t too far off, so George just nodded. She had seemed to be a bit interested in one of the Mounties who had been stationed there before the men who were there now. What had been his name? Mark? He thought that might be it. “Close enough.”
Then there was a young couple walking down the street, hand-in-hand. “Those two have known since they were knee high to grasshoppers that they wanted to marry, but their fathers got into a huge fight over who had the best wheat crop about five years ago, and they’ve been forbidden to even speak to one another since. Now they sneak away at night to spend time together, and they know that, eventually, they will marry and leave the area, so as not to give fuel to their fathers’ fires.” Miss Hazel liked that story best, and she watched the young couple until they were out of sight before turning to George. “Well?”
He laughed out loud. “That is a nice little story you told, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Their mothers have been best friends since they were small, and they have just realized they were attracted to each other in the past few weeks. They are the primary target of gossip in this town, and there’s even a betting pool with people trying to figure out just when they’ll marry.”
Miss Hazel wrinkled her nose. “I liked my story better.”
“I did, too, but it’s just not the case. Now they can live in this town forever, and their mothers can share grandbabies, though.”
“I supposed that works, too.” Miss Hazel looked around for more people, but the street was quiet. “What can you tell me about the couple I’m staying with?”
“The Dandys? They’ve been married for a very long time. Mrs. Dandy loves to paint, and she sells the paintings in the store. They don’t need the extra income, but she enjoys it. I think that’s why they take in people to board as well. They just enjoy having new people in their home on occasion.”
“That sounds like a good reason to me.” Miss Hazel thought she and Stanley would have been very like the Dandys if Stanley had lived longer. There would be no way to ever know, though. “Why did you never marry, George?”
He shrugged. “The force has always been against Mounties marrying. It’s not strictly forbidden, of course, but it’s not encouraged either. When I became a Mountie, I knew what I was giving up, and truly, there was never a woman I saw who made me feel like I wanted to do anything against what I had been taught. Then I saw you, and I knew I wanted to change things up.”
“If I said I’d marry you, would you want to marry immediately, or would you want to wait until you retired?”
“I’d want to marry right away, but I’d be willing to wait until I retired if that would make you feel better about it.” George turned to her fully, hoping she was saying what he thought she was saying. “Does that mean you’re agreeing to marry me?”
She shook her head. “That means I’m willing to think about marrying you. I can’t make a decision like that so quickly. I need to know every little thing about you.”
He sighed. “I don’t know how you can travel across the country with young ladies, expecting to make them marry whatever men they meet, and yet you won’t marry whomever you meet yourself.”
She shrugged. “I tend to feel something when I touch the letters. I know who is right for whom. Of course, this last time, I dropped two of the letters, but I’m sure I ended up giving them to the right girls. They’re all doing all right anyway.”
“And you said you matched your son to his wife? Was he happy with the match?”
“Well, he would have been if I hadn’t surprised him with it.” She briefly explained how she had told Jess she was going there to marry Teddy, but she’d only told Teddy she was bringing a traveling companion. “We almost left to go back to Ottawa, but Teddy finally realized what he’d be missing out on without Jess in his life. And now they have little Jack, and that baby just makes me the happiest woman alive.”
“And that’s before you meet him. Just think about how much you’re going to love him when you get your hands on him.”
Miss Hazel grinned as she nodded. “I cannot wait for that day. I sometimes think I should wrap things up here soon, and then go there to spend time with my Jack, but then I think I should stay here as long as I can, so I can get to know you. It’s odd to be pulled in two different directions.”
He frowned. “You still have to make sure the girls are settling in before you leave, right?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, if the girls settle in before you make a decision, you could go and meet your grandbaby and spend time with family, and then I could go there and meet you. I would like to meet your son anyway. It sounds like without him, you never would have started this business of yo
urs, and we never would have had a chance to meet.”
“You’d do that? You’d follow me, unsure whether I was going to marry you or not?”
“If I thought there was the slightest chance, I would follow you. You’re awfully special to me, Miss Hazel. I can no longer imagine growing old alone.”
“Are you sure you’re not already old?” she asked, a twinkle in her eye that did not escape his notice.
“I’m sure. Because you make me feel young again. I’m not sure what is so special about you, but there’s something. I feel like I can do anything with you at my side.” George felt like a bit of a fool, putting his feelings into words, but he could tell they were what she needed to hear.
“Anything?”
He nodded. “Well, within reason. I don’t think I could jump from a tree and fly or anything.”
She pouted at him. “Well, that’s not anything then, is it? I climbed a tree last summer. It wasn’t something I should have done.”
He grinned, picturing her in the tree. “What happened?”
“The poor bride I was with had to run to the local Mountie office and find someone to come and rescue me. It was humiliating. And then Teddy heard about it, and he told me to stop climbing trees . . . like I would do it again after that embarrassment. It’s like he thinks I’m a child sometimes!”
“I can promise you that I will never think of you as a child, Miss Hazel. I think you’re a mighty fine woman.”
She shook her head, truly wondering what it was he saw in her. She started to ask, but then she changed her mind. It felt too good to have a man like him enamored with a woman like her. She wasn’t going to make him question his feelings and try to figure out what he saw in her. It wasn’t wise. “You’re a special kind of man, George.”
He wove his fingers through hers, continuing to sit looking out at the quiet street. It was after ten, but the sun had not yet set. It was a beautiful time of year, and he was happy to just sit there with her. “What are your plans for tomorrow?”
RNWMP: Bride for George Page 5