by Cassie Hayes
“You think so, huh?” George said, the funny smile-like grimace still lingering on his weathered face.
“Of course! Everyone knows that men don’t have the knack for cooking and such.”
George shrugged. “I’ve been cooking for myself for many years now, young fella, and I’m not too shy to admit I’m a fair hand.”
Curtis rolled his eyes. “But you’ve never been married. You had to learn to fend for yourself. I’ve always wanted a wife to take care of the home, just like my mother. Now that she’s here, my life will be perfect.”
The train screeched to a stop and steam enshrouded them. Behind him, Curtis thought he heard George chuckling, but he didn’t want to risk missing Caitlyn disembarking to glance back at the commander.
“Good luck, son,” George said as several women stepped off the train.
Curtis held his breath, waiting for Caitlyn. The first woman was blonde. Not her. His bride-to-be was a redhead, according to the letter he’d received. The next had black hair. Then an older woman followed. Where was his bride? Where was Caitlyn?
Just as a crease burrowed into his brow, a lovely, petite redhead bounded down the steps to catch up with her friends. She laughed as she said something to the blonde, and his heart beat harder than that time he’d been chased by a grizzly bear.
Caitlyn.
Even at a distance, he could make out her sparkling green eyes, almost as if they were lit from within. Like a lighthouse.
He could barely hear past the blood rushing in his ears as Miss Hazel introduced herself. When she asked which of them was Curtis, he froze, unable to move, blink or breathe. George finally jabbed an elbow into his ribs and Curtis sucked in a lungful of air.
“Present!”
Just like in school when the teacher took roll! He wanted to slap his hand to his forehead, but he’d already made enough of a fool of himself. No need to make Caitlyn spin on her heel and run back for the safety of the train.
“Constable Lange,” Miss Hazel said, beaming at him as she pushed Caitlyn in front of him, “I’d like you to meet Caitlyn Hennessy, soon to be Caitlyn Lange.”
He lost himself in Caitlyn’s wide green eyes as she blinked up at him, waiting for him to speak. Obviously not the type to stand on ceremony, she spoke up first.
“Pleasure to meet you, Curtis.”
Her voice was honey and lavender, her scent lemon verbena. His fingers twitched when he noticed a strand of dark red hair had fallen free from the bun fastened low on the back of her neck. His first thought was to tuck it back in, but then he imagined stepping in close to her and reaching around to loosen her bun and let her hair fall over her shoulders in waves.
When the most adorable little crease dug into her brow, he realized he had yet to speak. He didn’t want her to think he was mute, so he cleared his throat and thrust the flowers at her.
“The pleasure is all mine, I can assure you of that, Caitlyn.”
Her smile erased the crease and the world around him exploded in light and joy. She took the flowers and buried her pert little nose in them, then wrapped her fingers around the crook of his elbow. Her touch burned through the red serge of his jacket instantly. They stepped off the platform to wait while the others were introduced.
“How was the trip?” he asked, at an utter loss for what to say.
“Beautiful! This is such lovely country.”
“In the summer,” he agreed. “Come winter though…”
Caitlyn laughed away the warning. “Well, we do live in Canada, not South America.”
He loved her sunny disposition and positive attitude. They were exactly what any woman who wanted to survive in such a harsh environment needed. Deep down, a niggling doubt worried at his gut that she might hate the weather or his cabin or, God forbid, him. But she seemed just as eager as he to start their life together.
As the others followed them off the platform, Curtis smiled down at her. “Ready to get married?”
Caitlyn grinned. “Just point the way!”
2
The ceremony was short and simple, almost exactly what Caitlyn had expected it to be. Not the glamorous affair she’d always daydreamed about as a child, but at least it was held in a church instead of a saloon or a clerk’s office.
Adele had already left with her new husband, Liam something-or-another, and Curtis wasted no time in dragging Caitlyn down the aisle after a perfectly chaste kiss to seal their marriage. Violet didn’t seem bothered that her friends had left her to marry without them, but at least Miss Hazel and the Mountie commander were there to act as their witnesses.
Curtis held onto her tightly as they descended the steps, almost as if he were afraid she might fall and shatter into a million pieces. His protectiveness was charming, so she gripped his arm a bit harder. She couldn’t have imagined a more charming and handsome prince to whisk her away, and she had no qualms about boosting his ego a little.
“How long have you been here in Flying Squirrel, Curtis?”
“A couple of years now,” he said, his blue eyes contrasting with his brown hair in the most heart-stopping manner. “This is one of my favorite postings, to be honest, but it’s not for everyone. The winters are long and very cold, and it’s not near any kind of real civilization.”
Miss Hazel had prepared the women for the reality of outpost living. They’d no doubt have to order any luxuries they might want, such as fabric and chocolate, but Caitlyn wasn’t used to luxuries — unlike Adele, who’d grown up wealthy. As long as she had a roof over her head, a couple of wool blankets and a garden, Caitlyn figured she could live just about anywhere.
“Seems as if we’ll have plenty of opportunity to make snow angels,” she said, bumping her shoulder into him.
She loved the sound of his laugh. It reminded her of river rapids and wind blowing through trees. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined ending up with such a handsome cheerful stranger. After making her decision to marry a Mountie, she’d had nightmares he’d be grumpy or have a massive hunchback — or both. But spending just a little time with him gave her hope they would share many exciting adventures in their life together.
“Ooh, there’s a cafe?” she asked, not quite believing her eyes at the building across the street.
“Yup, and a mercantile that can get you just about anything your heart desires — so long as you have the funds to pay for it. It’s right over there.”
The cute little yellow building boasted a large sign. Dandy’s Mercantile, it read, and judging by the display in the window, they stocked a bit of everything.
“I don’t require much,” she said, not wanting him to think she was a wastrel.
“That’s probably a good thing, considering my salary as a Mountie.”
His grin chased away any shred of doubt about her decision to marry him. Of course they’d have hard times — Miss Hazel had warned them that the start of any marriage could be tricky until they got used to each other — but if he just smiled at her like that every day, she’d die a happy woman.
He led her to a tidy looking place at the edge of town. It looked as if he hadn’t had a chance to clean the winter grime off the windows yet, but otherwise the small property seemed easy enough to maintain.
“Ready to see your new home?” he asked. “Oh, I should probably carry you across the threshold, shouldn’t I?”
Caitlyn blushed and giggled. “Okay,” she said, getting caught up in the excitement.
In one easy swoop, Curtis lifted her in his arms and kicked open the door with his foot. “Ta da!”
Caitlyn was too distracted by the warmth of his body pressed up against hers to notice much about her new home. She imagined frigid winter nights, snuggling with Curtis in front of a roaring fire as they read sonnets to each other. Then later, they’d keep each other warm in bed. Her cheeks flushed as she gazed up at him, but he didn’t seem to notice.
Only when he set her down and she was able to catch her breath did she collect herself enough
to look at her surroundings. The house was about the same size as the flat she’d shared in Ottawa, but that’s where the similarities stopped.
She and her flatmates had been very conscientious about keeping their shared home clean. Apparently living alone meant Curtis had no such qualms. Months worth of mud had been ground into the hardwood floor at the entryway and followed a path toward a door at the back of the house — no doubt the bedroom, since it was one of only two doors in the house. In the kitchen, dishes sat piled in the sink, as well as on half of the cast iron stove. Even more littered the small table. In front of the fireplace, where Caitlyn had just been dreaming of snuggling with her groom, sat a small, well-used love seat with most of the upholstery worn away until horsehair poked through. It was less filthy than the floor, but not by much.
She spun a slow circle, her skin crawling with each disgusting corner her gaze touched, until she faced Curtis. He was smiling down at her as if he’d just given her the best wedding present in the world, but he must have noticed her shock.
“What? Too small?” he asked, looking around as if the mess didn’t exist.
Caitlyn stood stunned and speechless. She didn’t want to insult her new husband on their wedding day, but he couldn’t possibly expect her to live in such filth. She decided to try diplomacy first.
“It could use a good cleaning,” she said, weighting her voice heavily with the suggestion that he might have thought of that before she arrived.
“You can say that again.” He chuckled as he tromped over to the loveseat and perched himself on one arm. “I bought some cleaning supplies for you. They’re in the kitchen.”
She turned toward the kitchen, her wedding bouquet sagging in her hands, and sure enough, right in the middle of the floor stood a wooden bucket, a mop and a big bar of soap. Her entire body started vibrating and heat flamed up her chest all the way to her hairline.
“What do you mean, for me?” she said through clenched teeth. “As far as I can tell, you made this unholy mess, not me.”
He turned a baffled expression on her. “I just thought you’d have your own way of doing things, is all. Thought you’d like to start fresh.”
Caitlyn’s eyes flew open wide in astonishment. “Of course I would have liked to start fresh! But starting fresh means starting with a space that’s been cleaned at least once in the last two years!”
His eyes clouded over and she could feel a wall go up between them. “Oh.”
She hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings, but just how clueless was the man? Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself enough to speak without cursing.
“What’s done is done. Together we can clean this place up by bedtime.”
“We?” Now he looked like a confused puppy, but she had no intention of letting him off the hook.
Laying her flowers on the counter, she strode over to the bucket and tossed the mop at him. He caught it deftly in one hand and looked at it as if he wasn’t sure which was the working end.
“You can sweep and mop while I get started on the laundry. I’m guessing your bedding hasn’t been washed any more frequently than the floors, yes?”
At this he perked up a bit. “Oh, Mrs. Dandy did all my washing every week.”
“Did?”
A smile started to touch his lips, then he frowned, no doubt second-guessing whatever he was about to say. “I just thought…since we’re married now…that you’d…”
“Well, isn’t this just the sort of wedding day every girl dreams about?” She sighed as she transferred the pile of dishes from the sink to the stove so she could fill the bucket.
When she turned back to him, the pained look on his face filled her with remorse. Insulting her husband on their wedding day also wasn’t what she’d dreamed about as a girl. Not that she was going to let him out of cleaning, but there was no need to be mean-spirited about it.
“I’m sorry, Curtis,” she said, offering him a small smile. “I’m fresh off a long, arduous journey, plus I think I’m a little hungry.”
He broke into a grin and barged into the kitchen to dig something out of the icebox. He plopped a huge, hard lump of something wrapped in butcher paper onto the counter.
“Here!”
“What’s that?”
“Moose. I shot it a few weeks ago and smoked it.”
Caitlyn’s stomach lurched at the thought of what sat before her. She reminded herself again that most people still ate meat. Obviously her new husband among them, and she hadn’t really expected anything else. But that was okay. She’d ease him into becoming a vegetarian, and before long, he wouldn’t miss meat in the slightest.
“You’re a what?” Curtis asked, more confused than when she hadn’t been excited about her new cleaning supplies.
“A vegetarian,” Caitlyn explained. “I don’t eat meat.”
“Oh.” His mind spun in circles as he tried to make sense of her words. “Well, there’s always chicken, I suppose.”
She shuddered at this. “That’s meat too.”
“So…you don’t eat any meat?”
“I’m Catholic, so sometimes I’ll eat fish on Fridays, but only when it’s served to me.”
He still didn’t understand. “So you just eat…potatoes?”
Her laugh sounded like the sweetest wind chimes on a light breeze. “There are other vegetables, you know.”
Curtis had not, in fact, known that. Maybe on an intellectual level, but he came from a ‘meat and potatoes’ kind of family. “Uh, yeah…sure.”
Caitlyn shook her head and chuckled, then turned to pump water into her shiny new bucket. “How have you survived this long on your own, Curtis Lange?”
Growing up, Curtis’s two older brothers had delighted in calling him dumb. As an adult, he recognized that he’d simply been a young boy, and his lack of experience wasn’t a matter of intelligence, but that didn’t matter a whit when he was confronted with something new and unusual. He’d never heard of people not eating meat, but Caitlyn made it sound as if everyone should know about her unorthodox lifestyle.
“Here,” she said, handing Curtis a broom. “The bucket is full, so when you’re done sweeping, you can start mopping. I’m going to start heating water for laundry.”
As his fingers wrapped around the broomstick, he couldn’t help wondering why she’d decided to get married if she didn’t want to keep a house. But those kinds of thoughts were no way to start off a marriage.
He supposed.
Curtis had never actually held a broom in his life and he wasn’t sure what to do with it. He vaguely remembered his mother sweeping, so he was pretty sure he could imitate the movement. The last thing he wanted was to look even dumber to his bride, although that was probably inevitable.
Better get started, he thought, as he dug his pack of gum out of his pocket and offered it to Caitlyn. “Want some?”
She wrinkled her nose. “No, thank you.”
He shrugged his indifference and set about trying to figure out how to sweep. After only a few minutes, he was shocked at the pile of dust, dirt, leaves and the good Lord knew what else that he’d piled up in the middle of the floor.
I’ve been living in that?!
Looking around, the place looked somewhat cleaner, but he could see the spots he’d missed on his first pass. Starting from the same spot, he made another round, collecting even more filth. No wonder she’d been disgusted when she’d first walked in.
As he stooped to sweep the stuff into a dustpan, Caitlyn started humming while she cleaned. If he had to perform women’s work, he might as well do it to the sound of a pretty girl humming a pretty tune. Except that it wasn’t a tune. At least not one he recognized — or that made any sense. It sounded like she was simply humming different notes in no particular order.
They spent the next few hours doing what all newlyweds long to do — cleaning. Curtis didn’t quite understand the urgency. After all, he’d been living quite happily for two years in the house without so much as owning a mop
, and here he was — on his wedding day! — spreading grime around with the thing.
Stepping out the front door, he tossed out the dirty bucket of water and spit out his gum. He’d garnered quite a collection of gum wads just off the porch and sighed. She’d probably want him to clean that up too!
As he turned to go back inside, Curtis spotted Liam and his new bride, Adele, strolling past. She smiled and waved, while Liam gave him a helpless shrug. Curtis shrugged back and tromped back inside, his mood souring that his friend had seen him. His expression had been full of pity, which didn’t set well with Curtis, but there wasn’t much else he could do.
Caitlyn had moved to washing the inside of the windows, still humming her nonsensical tune. He’d tried to think of things to say to her during their chores, but other than giving him commands every now and again, she didn’t seem to be much of a talker. He heaved another frustrated sigh, pulled out his pack of gum, and popped another piece.
“Sure you don’t want some?” he offered.
“Quite sure.”
He cracked his gum in acknowledgement and shoved the pack back in his pocket. When she sighed as heavily as he just had, he glanced up to see her lips pressed into a hard line.
What bee flew into her bonnet?
He got back to the seemingly endless business of mopping, although the buckets of water had grown increasingly paler in color the more he performed the boring task.
“What did your parents think of your decision to marry a stranger?” he asked.
“Oh, they’re used to it by now.”
“What do you mean?”
“My sister Molly was the first to go to Miss Hazel. She was matched with a very nice-sounding Mountie in Alberta and is expecting her first child in a few months. Then when Mam started nagging my sister Colleen about joining the convent, she called on Miss Hazel. She and her husband, Marshall, live in Manitoba. In fact, truth be told, I think my parents were rather hoping I’d go see Miss Hazel, just so they wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore.”