by Linda Bridey
Seth bent down until his head was on the level with her belly and said, “That’s right. You listen to your ma, now. Don’t be in such a rush to get out into this world.”
Maddie laughed and said, “I always love how you talk to our babies. You did the same thing with J.R. and Kayla. I think that’s why J.R. took to playing fiddle so easily. He heard you playing all the time.”
“That’s right, and it’ll be the same with this one. We’ll have a fiddling family,” Seth said.
Maddie finished the letter to Mike and handed it to Seth. “There you are, husband. I’ve done my part, and now you can do yours in the morning.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Seth said. He kissed his wife and said, “I better get over home and make sure those kids aren’t up to no good. I’ll be back in a little while.”
“Seth, you can stay at home, honey,” she said.
“No, I’d like to come stay a while longer,” Seth said with a shake of his head.
“All right.”
Seth took the letter and Maddie watched him leave, admiring the view as he did so. She laughed to herself as she thought that if Seth wasn’t still as virile and exciting as he was when they’d first met, she wouldn’t be pregnant again. Rubbing her belly again, she suddenly couldn’t wait until their little one came along.
Chapter Thirteen
Mike Samuels grinned as he read the letter from home describing the birth of his little sister. He was overjoyed for his parents and for himself, as well. He was also relieved that the baby and his mother were both doing well. He laughed when he read that his parents had decided to give his little sister a Lakota name; Nagi šuŋǧíla, which meant Spirit Fox. It was a combination of Black Fox and Wind Spirit since his aunt and uncle had been instrumental in helping the baby be safely born. They were going to call her Sunny for short.
“Sunny Samuels. Huh. That has a nice ring to it.”
“Shh!”
Mike had forgotten that he was in the library. He gave the librarian a sheepish grin and almost signed “I’m sorry” to the old codger. Catching himself at the last second, Mike simply returned to the letter. As he read the rest of it, he felt a wave of homesickness. It was the worst part of being at school. He wasn’t popular, first because of his near-perfect scores and secondly because of his spiritual and personal beliefs, none of which were shared by many of his peers.
He only had a couple of friends on campus, but off campus was a different story. He had a bunch of friends, including some young women. A couple of them were interested in him romantically, but he didn’t share their feelings. He’d been honest with them, and they still wanted to be friends with him.
Even with these friends, Mike was still lonely and he lived for the holidays and summers when he could be home. He was glad that Christmas break was coming up soon. He had tried to get permission to take his midterms early so he could leave sooner, but his professors had denied his requests, stating that they couldn’t keep doing that for him or all of the students would want to do it. Mike wasn’t happy about it, but he understood.
He finished the letter and tucked it away in his bag along with his books. He looked at the clock in the library, since it was an overcast day. Had it not been, he wouldn’t have needed a clock to tell him what time it was. Seeing how late it had gotten, Mike frowned. He was supposed to meet some of his friends at a pub they frequented.
Mike didn’t drink, especially after a recent episode in which his Uncle Rick had gotten him drunk for the first time, and he’d almost compromised his principles regarding the female gender. He didn’t care if others drank, but he didn’t want to give up that kind of control over his actions. Some called him a stick in the mud, but he didn’t really care.
Arriving at the pub, Mike spotted Cal Barton and went over to the table where his buddy sat. It didn’t take long for the rest of their group to show up, including Hope Carver, who had a rather rough home life. Her father was a strict man who rarely let her out of the house. She only came to the pub when he was away on business. Her mother never said anything about her going out at these times because she knew the girl was being smothered by her overbearing husband.
Mike smiled at the pretty blonde. “Hi, Hope. How are you?”
She rolled her blue eyes and said, “Horrible. My parents are making me go stay with my aunt and uncle while they go away for the holidays. Dad says it’s a business trip and he needs my mother to occupy the wife of his boss. I don’t understand why I can’t stay home alone. I’m twenty-one for crying out loud. I need to get married and get out of there so I can have some freedom.”
Mike held up a hand. “Don’t look at me. I’m nowhere near ready to get married.”
She smirked at him. “So you keep saying. Besides, I don’t think we’d get on well together as a married couple. You’re going home to the vast wilderness of Montana and I’m a city girl.”
Cal said, “Marry me, Hope. I’m a city boy, and I’d treat you right.”
Hope said, “Your idea of marriage is that I stay home while you go out with other women. You’re no more ready to settle down than Mike is.”
“Ok, then how about we just play house?” Cal said.
Mike promptly smacked Cal on the back of the head, a habit he’d picked up from his father and uncles. “Knock it off, Cal. Have a little respect.”
Cal rubbed his head and said, “I keep forgetting you’re the perfect gentleman. It’s really annoying. Have you ever been with a woman?”
Mike said, “Define ‘been with’.”
Cal rolled his eyes while Hope listened attentively. “I mean in the Biblical sense. Have you even known a woman in that sense?”
“Nope,” Mike said. While some men his age wouldn’t have admitted such a thing, he wasn’t bashful about it in the least.
Cal looked at him like he was crazy. “Why not? You’re not a bad lookin’ fella, plus you’re gonna be a doctor. That would go a long ways to getting—”
Mike smacked Cal again.
“Hey! I was just gonna say getting some female attention,” Cal protested.
Hope said, “Shut up, Cal, and let Mike answer the question.”
“It’s a simple answer. I prefer to wait until I’m married,” Mike said with a shrug. “There are several reasons for this, but I’m not going to go into them right now. So, Hope, back to your problem. I have a solution. Come home with me for the holidays. I’ll have my pa write your parents a letter stating that it would be a supervised, educational trip.”
Now Hope looked at Mike like he had two heads. “What? Why would I do that?”
“Because it would be fun for you. A lot more fun than going to stay at your Uncle Simon’s place. Our family is pretty crazy and there are a lot of us. We’d keep you entertained,” Mike answered.
“Won’t your parents get the wrong idea about us?” Hope said.
“No, because I’ll tell them the truth, which I almost always do, and they’ll understand. Plus, I’ll put in an emotional plea. It’ll be fine with them,” he assured her.
“It would certainly be something different. I won’t get eaten by wolves, will I?” she asked with wide blue eyes.
“I won’t let any wolves or bears eat you. I promise,” Mike said.
“All right. See if your parents are willing to do that, and I guess we’ll go from there,” Hope said.
“Done,” Mike said.
*****
Dean sighed and looked over at his wife where she lay against the headboard feeding Sunny. The baby was a little over two weeks old and had gained just a tiny bit of weight, which was better than none. He smiled as Tessa finished feeding her and proceeded to burp her. He smiled at the sight. He’d forgotten how much he’d enjoyed their kids when they’d been infants.
Tessa caught his look and smiled at him. “What?”
“Just enjoying watching you with her,” he said. “You’re even more beautiful than the day I met you.”
“Yes, I’m sure I am. I’ve barely
been out of bed, and I’ve yet to do a thing with my hair outside of washing it,” Tessa said.
“Honey, you know I like you with your hair down. You’ll get back to moving around more. Just be patient and rest in the meantime.”
Tessa smiled tightly and then changed the subject. “What are you sighing about?”
“That letter Mike sent home. I don’t know how to write to some people we don’t even know about what an educational trip it would be for this girl. You’re gonna have to write it,” Dean said. “You’re the writer, not me.”
Tessa shook her head. “Not right now I’m not. It’s a wonder I have enough brains to write my name at present time, let alone a letter like that.”
Dean groaned. Then he gave her a speculative look and said, “Marcus could write it. He’d know exactly what to say.”
She laughed softly. “So we’re back to Marcus writing letters for you, are we?”
“Don’t you start that, lady. We settled that a long, long time ago.”
She grinned. When she’d become a mail-order-bride to Dean, he’d had Marcus write the letters to Tessa, so she wouldn’t think he was stupid. It had caused a lot of trouble in their early marriage. Tessa liked to tease him about it once in a while.
“I think that sounds like a fine idea,” she said and yawned. “Here, burp your daughter. She always burps for you. I don’t know why.”
“You’re not bouncing her enough, that’s why. She’s just like Jack that way. Sadie burped easily, but not him. If anyone would have seen me with him, they’d have thought I was killin’ the kid.”
Dean took Sunny from Tessa and stood up to begin walking with her. Tessa smiled as she watched her husband with the wee one and remembered when Mike had been born. It was strange to think that her handsome, soon-to-be a doctor son had once been Sunny’s age. She sighed to herself over how quickly the time had passed.
“I’ll talk to Marcus tomorrow and see if he’ll write it. I hope so. Sounds like this girl could use some friendly faces. I can’t believe her parents are up and leaving her alone for Christmas. No one should be alone for Christmas,” Dean said.
Tessa grinned. “That’s what you said when you brought your other woman home.”
Dean laughed. “I know. You were so jealous of Sasha. You really chewed me out good. It was very nice to know you still felt like that about me.”
“I still do, Dean. If I ever caught you with another woman both of you would wind up dead, or wishing you were,” Tessa said. “Black Fox would help me.”
“Humph,” Dean said. “That’s only because he wants you for himself.”
She laughed. “I guess I’m not the only one who’s jealous.”
Dean grinned. “I guess not.”
Sunny burped loudly for a baby of her size and Dean said, “What a good girl you are. Are you gonna sleep a little bit for us? Even a couple of hours? We need a nap, young lady.” He kissed Sunny and laid her in the bassinette by Tessa’s side of the bed. Then he stretched, blew out the lamp and got into bed. “C’mon, honey. Let’s get a little shut-eye.”
Tessa snuggled against Dean and smiled. “I love you.”
He kissed her cheek and said, “I love you, too, honey. Goodnight.”
*****
Rachel felt giddy as she rang up another sale and watched another satisfied customer walk out the door of Foster’s Furniture. It was the day before Thanksgiving and Rachel was excited about the holiday. She and Will were spending part of the day with his family and then they would join hers out at the Dwyer estate for their big holiday bash. Due to extenuating circumstances, they hadn’t had it the year before, but they had revived it again.
She ran into the workshop and hurried around to where Will was doing some work with the band saw. Not wanting to startle him and cause him to cut off a finger or something, she came around in front of him so he could see her. He stopped peddling, which stopped the saw.
Will grinned when he saw how excited she was. “Which one?”
“The oak china cupboard.”
“Holy smokes!” Will said, as he remembered the price that they’d put on it. “Way to go, honey.”
“I didn’t have to do hardly anything. Although I did hint that someone else had been looking at it,” she said with a devilish glint in her eyes.
He laughed and shook his finger at her. “I keep telling you that you have a little bit of witch in you.”
“I didn’t lie. Various people have looked at it,” she said.
He chuckled and said, “I guess it’s a good thing I’m making another china cupboard, huh?”
“A very good thing. Now, finish up what you’re doing because we are going to have a nice relaxing dinner. I’m locking up the front. I’ll go home and cook, so don’t be too long,” Rachel said as she kissed his cheek.
Will grabbed her and kissed her playfully. “Ok. Now you can go.”
She laughed and said, “Don’t be long. Goodnight, Hawk.”
“Goodnight,” Hawk said.
“Goodnight, Switch,” she said.
“See ya. Don’t keep him up too late,” he said with a wink. “He’s gotta be in shape for work, you know.”
“Switch, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We’re closed, remember?” she asked with a smile.
“What? Nope. Didn’t remember. Thanks for the reminder. Speaking of reminders, I found a note in my pocket the other day reminding me that I was supposed to go see Dr. Walker, but I forgot the note was in there. So that didn’t work out too well, huh?” Switch said.
Rachel laughed. “I guess not. See you at Joe’s tomorrow.”
“Yep. I’ll see you then,” Switch said and turned upside down on his rocking chair again.
Rachel shook her head and laughed. Over the last couple of weeks, she’d become fond of Switch. He’d taken to hanging around the shop a lot. So much so that he’d bought the rocking chair from the people who’d originally bought it. He’d given them twice what they’d paid for it, telling them they could now buy a matching set from Will with the money. For whatever reason, he’d become attached to the chair and had even had Will engrave “Switch’s Seat” on it.
She put the money from the till in the lock box and put it in the floor safe behind the counter. Only she and Will knew the combination to it. She would go to the bank on Friday to deposit it into their account. She smiled at the thought of both their names being on it. Blowing out the lamps, Rachel went out the front door and locked it.
It didn’t take long to walk to Will’s house. Upon finding out that Sadie had given her Will’s spare key, he’d told her to keep it. She let herself in and lit a couple of lamps in the downstairs. As she began dinner, Rachel thought of how nice it was to do this sort of thing for her and Will. She enjoyed all of their time together and thought that she’d never been happier.
Suddenly, she stopped peeling potatoes as that realization hit her. She began examining the reasons she was so happy and each one came back to one starting point– Will. Will was the reason for her happiness in her work, for her happiness in everything. How had she not seen it before now? She put her paring knife on the counter and, sitting down at the table, Rachel thought about how she’d moved forward over the last several weeks.
All of her worries over what kind of person she was now seemed to have dwindled away to nothing. Her new behavior was proof of how much she’d changed. No longer did she scheme for her own gain. She was honest, and she put others before herself. Didn’t all of that make her a good person? Will was right, why should she keep beating herself up about the things she’d done in the past? Obviously she’d learned her lesson because she wasn’t repeating those past mistakes.
She smiled as she thought about everything she had shared with Will the last month. They were working together toward a common goal; building a successful business. They spent so many evenings together, whether it be at someone else’s house for dinner or whether she cooked for them. They went over furniture designs together, and Rachel sketche
d out things she wanted to paint.
Will had proved that he was someone she could count on, and she woke every morning excited to see him again. In fact, she often met him at his house for breakfast because she couldn’t wait to kiss him and say good morning. Even now, sitting here at the table, she couldn’t wait for him to get home. Tears stung her eyes as she realized that she loved him.
Rachel went over everything she loved about Will. He had an incredible work ethic, he was intelligent, kind beyond belief, funny, handsome, and passionate. She found herself getting warm at work when she watched him work. This was especially true when he was sanding or doing carving. As he shaped the wood, he sometimes caressed it as he got rid of sawdust or shavings, and she wanted to feel his hands do that to her.
She shivered in desire just at the thought and laughed. “Oh my. You’re a naughty girl, Rachel.”
“I could have told you that,” Will said from the parlor.
Rachel laughed. She hadn’t realized that he’d come home, or that she’d spoken aloud.
He grinned at her from the doorway. “And just what makes you so naughty?”
The sight of him brought all of her newfound feelings to the surface. She rushed out of her chair and embraced him. Will closed his arms around her and said, “Ok. So far this doesn’t feel too naughty.”
She looked up at him and said, “You are the most wonderful man I’ve ever met Will, and I love you.”
Will wasn’t sure he’d heard her right. “You love me?” he asked, as he gazed into her dark eyes.
“Yes! Ever since I got home tonight, I’ve been thinking about you and missing you. I can’t tell you what the last months have meant to me since I came back to Dawson. I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and it’s all because of you. Every morning when I get up, I can’t wait to be with you, and I love spending all day with you. I love you so much, Will,” Rachel said.
Will saw it in her eyes then and joy swept through him at the sight of it. He’d been praying for this and his prayers had been answered. “I love you too, Rachel. You know that. I’m so happy that you feel the same way about me.”