“But you have a baby to feed. I’m just helping out.”
Lisa knew that Maryanne enjoyed helping those less fortunate than her, so she didn’t say anything else about the other girl’s help. “I promised Wesley I would try to go pick pumpkins in a patch north of the village with the natives today.”
“The natives? Did you find out what tribe they are?”
“Wesley said they’re Kaska. He wants us to make an effort to become friends with the women, if possible. Their language will be difficult for us, but we can try.”
Maryanne nodded. “I’m more than willing.”
After the cougar was fed, they left Sophie with their charge and started walking north, using the sun as a guide. When they got to the pumpkin patch, they saw many of the native women there gathering the ripe fruits. Lisa knew that even at her best, she could only carry one or two of the pumpkins…but she did want to get them, so she did her best to squat down next to one of the women, ignoring how uncomfortable it made her.
The woman looked over at her questioningly.
“I’m Lisa. I’m married to Wesley.”
“Wesley good man.” The woman spoke better English than Lisa had dared hope for.
“Yes! A very good man!” Lisa used a knife to hack away at the vine to remove the pumpkin from the plant, and carefully set it to one side, before reaching to cut one more.
The Indian woman watched her carefully, making Lisa a bit nervous. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“Laurel. Father white gold hunter. He name Laurel.”
Lisa smiled. She’d had no idea the woman was half-white until she said something. “Did he find gold?”
Laurel nodded. “Mother think so. He never come back.”
“I’m sorry. That’s not the way a father should behave.” Lisa wanted to apologize for her entire race, but she realized it wouldn’t be helpful at all. She looked up to see Maryanne watching her. She had cut four pumpkins from the vines and was gathering them in her apron. “My friend’s ready to go back. You should come and have tea.”
“No go Wesley’s cabin. Big cat hiding there.” Laurel continued her work, not realizing the effect her words had on her companion.
Lisa slowly got to her feet, careful not to twist her leg. She gathered her two pumpkins in her apron and waved goodbye to Laurel. “I hope to talk to you soon.” She walked as quickly as her leg would allow toward the village. “The Indians know about Clara. We have to find a different place to hide her.” She hoped her friend would understand without her having to come right out and say it.
Maryanne shook her head. “I don’t know where!”
“Your house. I need you to take her, Maryanne. You can hide her for a while. That way if Wesley hears there’s a cougar there—and if the Indians know, he’ll find out—she’ll be gone before he can do anything.”
“I don’t know…I don’t want to make Preston angry.”
“But that’s the brilliance of my plan.” Lisa was out of breath, because she was trying to walk too quickly and carry the pumpkins as well. “By the time he finds out, you’ll have given her back to me. Or maybe one of the other ladies. I hope they’re around soon.”
“Preston said something about all the Mounties meeting on Mondays. Do you think they’ll bring Elaine and Isabelle?”
“I hope so. I don’t want them to disappear from our lives, just because they’re not living in the same village we are.” Lisa turned the subject back. “Will you hide Clara? Please?”
Maryanne sighed. “Why do I feel that you’re going to be getting me into a lot of trouble as we become closer?”
“You must have some sort of ability to see the future,” Lisa responded with a grin. “How can we truly be friends if we haven’t gotten into trouble together?”
“You have a very odd way of looking at life. I’m not sure being your friend is a wise thing for me to do.”
Lisa laughed. “Of course it is. Where would you be without me? You would be cougarless!”
“I want to be cougarless!”
“I’m glad you already said you’d take her then, because she needs a new mama.” Lisa opened the door to her cabin, quickly setting down the pumpkins on the table. Sophie had her entire head under the bed, and Lisa hurried over. “Leave the kitten alone!” She pulled Sophie out from under the bed, where she was bothering Clara.
“Kitten? Tell me you’re not calling that baby cougar a kitten!” Maryanne groaned softly.
“Well, what else should I call it?” Lisa pulled Clara out from under the bed and got her some milk and a rag. “I’m glad Sophie made friends with her.”
“Are we going to move her to my house before we do laundry, or after?” Maryanne didn’t sound excited at the prospect, but she did sound resigned. She knew what she needed to do, and she’d do it.
Lisa frowned. “I think we need to do it before. I’m expecting Wesley to come here any moment, trying to find her.”
“Then we should do it now.” Maryanne scooped the baby cougar out of Lisa’s arms. “You bring her box.”
Ten minutes later, they had hidden the animal in Maryanne’s cabin, and Lisa felt relieved. If Wesley came looking for her now, he’d never find her.
Together the two women did the laundry and then took a break for lunch. “Are you planning to make pumpkin pie as a dessert tonight?” Maryanne asked.
Lisa shrugged. “Wesley made it clear that he’d like some, but I don’t know how to make it.”
“I do. We’ll make a couple of pies after lunch, and then we’ll get the washing in.”
By the time Wesley came home, supper was waiting on the table. Lisa made fried chicken with mashed potatoes and carrots. She didn’t mention the pumpkin pie, but she had it covered on the work table.
“I heard the strangest story from one of the Indians today,” Wesley said, watching as Lisa hurried to put supper on the table.
“You did?” Lisa was careful to keep her face blank. She knew he was going to bring up Clara.
“The Indians think that we have a cougar in this house. Now, there’s no possibility of us having a cougar in here, is there?” Wesley’s voice was resigned. He obviously believed the Indians without even giving her the benefit of the doubt! Of course, she’d had a cougar there, so maybe that was right, but she still wanted him to trust her.
Lisa shook her head. “Of course not! I wouldn’t get another pet without your approval.”
“A cougar is not a pet. A cougar is a wild animal. No wild animals.” He looked at her sternly.
“I don’t have a wild animal here.”
“You won’t mind if I check the cabin after supper then, will you?”
Lisa shook her head, thankful that she and Maryanne had taken the time to move the little creature. After supper, she served the pie to him, and he smiled. “That’s just what I was wanting tonight. Thank you.”
After they had their dessert, Wesley looked through the whole cabin, searching under the bed as well. “I guess there’s no cougar here.”
“I told you there wasn’t.”
He frowned at her. “I guess I should have trusted you.”
She shrugged. “If you’ll wait for me to do the dishes, I’d love to go on your walk with you tonight. I’m having a particularly good day, and I’d love the exercise.” Now that she didn’t have to feed Clara while he was gone, a walk would be nice.
“Really? It won’t hurt you?”
“I keep telling you, I’m stronger than you think I am.”
“I’ll wait then.” Wesley watched her as she worked, amazed that her arm was cooperating so much better than it had the day before. Even her limp was much less pronounced. “Do you feel that much better on some days than you do others?”
Lisa nodded. “I do. Yesterday was hard for me. My arm barely moved, and my leg was making me crazy. Today, I feel like a new person. I’m still limping, and I can’t use my arm like most people can, but it’s so much better than it was.”
“Do
you know what causes the good days and the bad days?”
She shrugged. “I wish I did, because then I could have more good days by creating better circumstances. I just don’t know.”
When she’d finished the dishes, he offered her his arm and she took it, feeling special walking under the stars with such a handsome Mountie. “Are you glad you decided to be a Mountie? Or do you sometimes wish life had taken you on another path?” After getting to know him the little she had, she couldn’t imagine him as anything other than a Mountie. He was made for his red serge jacket.
“I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. I almost feel transformed as I put on the jacket and the Mountie hat. It makes me feel like I’m walking taller and prouder. Growing up in the orphan’s home, I believed I was a burden on everyone around me. As soon as I was old enough, I joined the Mounties, never wanting to be a burden again.”
Lisa rested her face against his shoulder for a moment. “I can’t imagine anyone ever considering you a burden.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I’m glad you think so. But trust me, I haven’t always been tall and strong. When I was little, I was just one of a number of boys in the house, and there was no one to tell us when we did something right. Only when we’d done something wrong.”
“I was lucky with my parents. They were always there supporting me. I think in a way, they smothered me. I needed to come here to realize how strong I really am.” And she was determined to make sure everyone knew she was even stronger than she thought she was.
“What about school?”
“I had my two friends with me in school. They were with me everywhere until they moved away.” Lisa shook her head. “I know that I’m strong, but I never needed to be with them, or with my parents. They were there to shelter me from all of life’s storms.”
Wesley smiled. “I’m glad they kept you safe for me. Now it’s my turn to shelter you.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t shelter me, and instead, we should work together. I don’t want to spend my whole life being taken care of. I want to be able to take care of myself. And others.” She stole a glance at him in the dark. “I want children. If I can’t take care of myself, how can I take care of a baby?”
“Can you have a baby without harming yourself?”
She shrugged. “I believe so. My doctor has said there’s nothing to indicate that I couldn’t.”
“That surprises me. It just seems like it would hurt you to have a baby. Are you sure?”
“I am sure. I talked to him about it when I was a teenager and started wanting to be a mother.”
Wesley looked over at her. “Is that why you got Sophie? Because you wanted to be a mother?”
“I think so. That and because she had no one else to take care of her. No one else wanted to put in the time and effort to take care of a very young, sick puppy. I was willing, because I had the time. She gave me something to take care of so I could stop worrying about myself.” She took a breath. “I guess I feel like it’s my job to take care of animals that no one else cares about, because someone took care of me when I was an infant. And people still try to take care of me.”
“You’re really an amazing woman, aren’t you? I had no idea when I first met you. I guess I tried to judge you by your appearance. I’m sorry I didn’t believe in you.”
Lisa sighed. “That’s the story of my life. Everyone wanted me to only be the girl who was hurt. No one thought I should be the sassy, incredibly brilliant woman that I really am.”
He laughed. “Incredibly brilliant?”
“A girl can dream, can’t she?”
Sophie sniffed around at their feet, and Lisa loved watching her. She was obviously fascinated by their new surroundings. “I think Sophie likes it here.”
“Sophie has good taste!” Wesley stopped at the edge of the river that ran along the edge of the village. “This is my favorite assignment I’ve had so far. The people here are good people. They accepted me quicker than other assignments, though I’m not sure why.”
“Maybe because you’re more experienced now, and they could tell they could trust you?” Lisa suggested. “I think that would make it easier for you. I know your confidence has to show through. Laurel told me that you’re a good man today.”
He frowned. “Laurel’s had a tough life. Her father was a gold miner, so she doesn’t really fit in with the other Indians, though she was raised almost entirely by her Indian mother. The others just don’t accept her as readily.”
“I don’t understand that.”
“You’ll see that the Indians feel like they should all stick to the old way. A half-breed is proof that everything is changing around them, whether they like it or not. If she marries an Indian man, all will be forgiven, but it’s hard for her to find a man who wants her, because she’s half white. It’s a strange thing.”
“I think I can understand that. She seems like she’ll be a friend to me, though. She was the only one of the women in the pumpkin patch who spoke to me today, but maybe that was because she was the only one I tried to speak to.” Lisa wasn’t entirely sure that was the truth though. The others had seemed wary of her.
“That’s probably true. None of them would have snubbed you with you being my wife. They all know I’m the law around here.”
“You and Preston are the law, right?”
“Preston is new. He hasn’t been here nearly as long, and they wait for newcomers to leave. He needs to be here for all four seasons before they truly trust that he’ll stay.”
They turned around there and headed back to the cabin. “Do you have to work tomorrow?” It was Sunday, and she wasn’t quite certain if the Mounties worked on Sundays or not.
“No, but I do have to preach in the morning. The four of us take turns preaching, because we have no regular pastor around here. That’s why the pastor was in a hurry when he married us on Thursday.”
“That makes sense, I think.” Lisa rubbed the back of her neck. “Do you spend time with the other Mounties on Sundays?”
He shook his head. “Not usually. Most of the Mounties have church services where they are. Preston will be there, and we could have dinner with him and his wife if you’d like.”
“I’d like that a lot. What about on Monday? The other men come to town on Mondays. Will they bring their wives?”
He shrugged. “I’m really not sure. Would you like them to?”
Lisa nodded. “I would like that a lot. I’m not as close to the others as I am to Maryanne, but I’d still like to spend time with them and get to know them better. They’re good women.” Lisa wondered briefly how many meals Isabelle had managed to burn, but she didn’t ask. She knew that the other woman wouldn’t like for her to make fun of her, and she didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She’d been very kind.
Once they were back to the cabin, Wesley stayed outside while Lisa got ready for bed. He was determined to wait until she was ready before consummating their marriage, but he was also determined that they would consummate. It was a complete change from how he’d felt on their wedding night.
When he joined Lisa in the cabin, she was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for him. He walked to her, sitting beside her. “Church is at nine tomorrow morning. Occasionally one of the Indians will come and listen, but for the most part, it will just be me, you, Preston, and his wife.”
She shrugged. “I don’t think we need a big congregation to worship. As long as we’re gathering to talk about the Lord, we’re doing the right thing.”
“Do you want to invite Preston and his wife to have lunch with us after our service in the morning?”
“I’d like that a lot. Maryanne and I really enjoy one another’s company.”
“I’m really glad. I want you to have a friend here.” Wesley covered Lisa’s hand with his and leaned toward her for a kiss.
Lisa tilted her face up to meet his lips, glad that he was no longer acting as if they would never consummate their marriage. Sophie jumpe
d up onto Lisa’s lap, putting her head between theirs and making her laugh. “You make it awfully hard to get romantic, Sophie.”
Sophie licked each of their faces and jumped back down to the floor. She was obviously content now that she’d gotten in on some of the action.
Wesley laughed. “She does make it hard to keep the mood, doesn’t she?”
“At least she’s lovable.”
He got off the bed and put his pile of blankets onto the floor. “I won’t be sleeping on the floor for much longer.”
Lisa smiled. “I hope not. It’s going to be cold in this bed come winter.”
“Winter’s coming before you know it! Very soon, it will be here.”
“I’m glad we’ll be able to spend it together.” She was surprised at how quickly he’d come to accept her. Maybe there was hope for them after all.
Chapter Six
There were only five people at their church service the following morning. Other than Lisa and Wesley were Preston, Maryanne, and Laurel. After the service, Lisa once again invited Laurel to have a meal with them.
Laurel seemed indecisive, but finally shook her head. “Too many wild animals.”
Lisa cringed mentally, worried that Wesley had heard, but he didn’t seem to react. “Well, I hope to see you soon then.”
Laurel nodded. “I see you.” She left the small building that served as their church.
Maryanne met Lisa’s eyes, shaking her head. Lisa knew she was worried about getting caught, but she wasn’t really sure what to do about it. “Let’s hurry ahead of the men, so we can start lunch,” Maryanne suggested.
“I think that’s a great idea.” Lisa looked over at Wesley. “We’re going to hurry to our house to get lunch ready. You two take your time to get back.”
Wesley’s eyes narrowed, as if he suspected they were up to something, but he didn’t argue.
Twenty minutes later, the men walked into the cabin. Lisa had gone over to Maryanne’s and fed Clara, while Maryanne started lunch. She got back to her own home shortly before the men were there, so she hoped their secret was still safe.
RNWMP: Bride for Wesley (Mail Order Mounties Book 5) Page 5