by Cassie Hayes
As eager as she was to see Easton, Molly spared a few minutes to poke her head into Sinead’s new office at the Institute. Her friend looked every bit the competent doctor, sitting behind her desk and scribbling notes about her last patient.
“I just wanted to let you know Constance is doing well,” Molly said. “I’ll check on her every day, but that baby is as stubborn as its mother.”
Sinead laughed. “Or you?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Molly said with a prideful sniff, then gave Sinead a wink. “I’m on my way home and just wanted to let you know. Better run!”
Sinead laughed and shouted something Molly didn’t hear as she ran down the hall toward the main doors, but she couldn’t be bothered to stop to find out what it was. Her first priority was seeing Easton before he left for work, and if anyone tried to stop her along the way, she’d plow through them like Rocky the Reindeer plowed through snowdrifts.
Despite her eagerness — or perhaps because of it — Molly couldn’t help wondering if Easton felt the same. He’d had an entire week to enjoy life without her constantly making a mess of his perfectly ordered life. Not a doubt remained that he’d done just as she’d suggested and hid every sign she ever existed. Deep down it stung a little. Her new home was so warm and comforting to her, so to know Easton thought otherwise was disappointing.
Hopefully, he wouldn’t be too cranky about her putting the place back the way she liked it. As much as she wanted to please him, she also realized that she deserved to make their cabin feel like home to her as well. Together they could make the place suit both of them, if Easton was willing.
As Molly trudged along the snow-packed sidewalk, she made a mental note to write a long-overdue letter to Mother Superior. She’d written to her own mother three times a week since arriving, but she had yet to receive a response. A fresh wave of guilt clutched her heart in its fist, knowing she’d broken her mother’s heart. What kind of daughter did that?
Molly stopped in her tracks — right in the middle of the main street — and spun a slow circle, taking in her town, her home. A light dusting of snow had fallen overnight, and it appeared no one had taken a horse or wagon thought it yet. A lone set of hoof prints marked the virgin white, and at the end stood Rocky, just staring at her.
“Good morning, Rocky,” she murmured, wondering if the animal recognized her. She’d seen him around town enough that she certainly recognized him. The chip knocked from the tip of one prong of his antlers made it easy to distinguish him from the other reindeer that roamed through town occasionally.
Rocky snuffled, then cocked his head, as if he’d just asked a question. Molly nearly laughed at the ludicrous sight, but sobered quickly as the answer popped out of her mouth before she could stop it. “Of course I love him.”
Molly gasped, while Rocky turned and trotted for the tree line.
“I love him.” Full, white plumes drifted from her lips as she whispered the words she knew in her heart to be true.
“I love him,” she said again, this time more loudly and with more force. As much as she loved her mother, Molly’s life resided in Cougar Springs now, and regardless of whether her mother responded, Molly would continue to send her letters. She loved her mother, and that was what mattered.
“I love him!” Her shout startled a flock of mourning doves from a nearby tree and sent them darting into the slate grey sky.
Grinning like a maniac, Molly hurried through the snow as quickly as she dared. She just had to tell Easton. Even if he didn’t say it back, she had to tell him. Her love would sustain them until he felt the same. And she knew he would, in time. God wouldn’t have sent her here otherwise.
Stomping the snow off her feet as she bounded up the steps, Molly threw open the door and was faced with something she’d never expected. Instead of the sparse, bachelor cabin she’d originally arrived at, the main room looked exactly as it had when she’d left. A fire roared in the fireplace, and only a few steps away sat the table. Steaming bowls of oatmeal sat on it, with a beautiful vase filled with a fan of juniper between them. Even the trinkets her siblings had made for her were neatly organized on the mantel.
Easton stood next to the table in his civilian clothes, giving her a hesitant, lopsided smile. “Welcome home.”
For a moment, Molly was so overcome by emotion she didn’t know what to say. Then she flew into his arms and kissed him with all the love that was bubbling up inside her. At first, he stood stiffly in her embrace, as if he wasn’t sure how to respond, then his brain shut off and his heart took over. When they finally broke apart, Molly gazed up at her husband with adoration and gratitude.
“I love you, Easton,” she said, fully expecting him to withdraw from her. But something that looked awfully close to tears shimmered in his eyes.
“I love you too, Molly.”
“I need to get ready for work,” Easton said, trying to sit up, but Molly pulled him back down and snuggled into him. He was powerless to resist, so he wrapped his arms around her, tucked his nose against the top of her head, and breathed deeply. “I still can’t believe you came back to me.”
Molly pulled away, an adorable, crooked crease digging into her brow. “What? Why?”
He snuggled her back into the crook of his shoulder so she couldn’t read his expression. The woman had a knack for knowing exactly how he felt, even if she didn’t think so.
“Never mind,” he murmured, loving the way she felt in his arms and wondering how he’d lived a week — really, his entire life — without her.
“Come on,” she said, pulling a few of his chest hairs. “You can’t say something like that and then not explain yourself. Why on earth would you think I wouldn’t come home?”
“I thought I might have driven you away with…the way I am.”
Molly propped herself up on an elbow and stroked her fingers lightly across his brow, easing any remaining doubt in him. “Easton, I don’t love you in spite of the way you are. I love you because of the way you are. You’re the calm to my crazy, and I like to think I make your life just a little more exciting.”
He grinned up at her. “Boy, do you!”
Instead of grinning back, Molly dipped her head and gave him a long, lingering kiss, then nestled back into his arms and gave a sigh of utter contentment. Easton didn’t have much experience in matters of the heart, so when his heart swelled at her sigh, he thought for a brief moment he might be having a heart attack. When he realized it was just the love he felt for her, he smiled and started talking.
“I was three when my mother left us.”
Molly stiffened for a moment, but stayed silent, which allowed him to gather his thoughts and continue.
“I don’t really remember her, but Pop spoke of her often over the next year. He loved her with everything he had and was never the same after she left. He died a year later, to the day. I was too young to understand at the time, but I put the pieces together later. The official report might say he died of accidental poisoning, but I know the truth. Nobody puts that much rat poison in their coffee by accident and still drinks it all.”
Molly gasped and made the sign of the cross, but said nothing else. His devout bride was no doubt praying for the soul of his father, and he loved her for it.
“What he really died from, though, was a broken heart. Even at the tender age of four, I knew that much. Love killed my father. It was a harsh lesson to learn so young, but it helped protect me in the orphanage.”
Molly finally gazed up at him, tears making her grey eyes sparkle like sad stars. “I hate to think of you growing up in an orphanage.”
He brushed away the few that fell. “Don’t remember much from before, honestly. Still, I felt a bit like a paper boat bouncing around on stormy seas. You have no control over anything in your life in an orphanage. Not when or what you eat, when you go to bed, or even what you wear.”
“Is that why you like things to be just so? It gives you that feeling of control yo
u never had as a child?”
Easton had never thought of it that way before, but it made sense. “Probably.”
“So you never had anything of your own either?”
“Nope.”
Molly rested her cheek on his chest and cuddled him. He’d never felt more complete before in his life. What a revelation! What a joy!
“Well, I grew up in the totally opposite situation, and I still could never have something just for myself. As the oldest of fifteen, I spent my life helping to raise my siblings. All my clothes went to the next girl in line, the same with all my toys. We fought over food at the dinner table, and while we rarely went hungry, none of us ever really got our fill.”
“Sounds like heaven to me.” It might have been a bit of a joke, but it held a lifetime of truth. “I would have happily shared everything for the chance to have brothers and sisters and parents who loved me.”
Molly’s body tightened for a moment. He wasn’t sure why, but it hadn’t gone unnoticed by him that she’d mailed a lot of letters to her mother back in Ottawa. As far as he knew, she’d never received one back.
“I suppose,” she murmured.
“Still, it must have been difficult for you to play caretaker at such a young age.”
She shrugged. “It was expected. It was also expected that the oldest child of every Flynn family — that’s my mother’s side — go into the service of the church. There wasn’t a time in my life when I wasn’t told my path lay in the sisterhood. As a good Catholic and a good daughter, I never questioned my fate. But I also never truly embraced it. Secretly, on the rare occasions I found time alone, I’d daydream about being a wife and mother to my own brood. I’d pretend I was marrying an imaginary husband in front of an imaginary priest inside an imaginary church. No, not just any imaginary church. I wanted to be married in the Notre-Dame Cathedral. It’s so breathtakingly beautiful, Easton. I’d love to take you there for mass someday.”
“I’d like that very much, my love.”
“I know Mother Superior and the sisters would love to meet you. They were all sad to see me go, but even Mother Superior could see right through me. In fact, she’s the one who guided me to the path that led me to you.”
“I’ll be sure to send her a thank you note,” he teased, kissing the top of her head and breathing in her heady scent again. Never in his life had he been happier, and there was a lifetime of these moments to look forward to.
“My mother didn’t thank her, I can tell you that much. She was devastated at the news I was leaving the order before my final vows. She even refused to let me move back into the family home, despite my father’s cajoling. Only by the grace of God and a gossipy organist did I learn of Miss Hazel and her plan to marry off every member of the Royal North West Mounted Police.”
Easton was relieved to learn that Molly had put as little thought into their mail-order marriage as he had. But his heart broke for her at the same time. He’d been too young to remember his own mother, and still the pain cut deep. He couldn’t imagine losing the woman who’d loved and raised you from birth.
“I’m sure she’ll come around eventually, Molly.”
“I thought so, but I don’t know anymore. She is now the only one on the Flynn side whose eldest didn’t follow the rules set down generations ago. I brought her great shame, and I’m not sure she’ll ever forgive me. She won’t even meet with Mother Superior to discuss the matter. No one refuses to meet with Mother Superior.”
Molly sniffled against his chest, and her shoulders shook with a silent sob. Easton hooked a finger under her chin and tipped her head toward him.
“Enough of that, now,” he whispered, then kissed the tip of her nose. As if they had a mind of their own, his lips moved down to hers and her whimpers turned into sighs.
She pulled back, smiling while tears still sparkled on her cheeks. “And now I know why my mother had so many babies!”
Easton barked out a surprised laugh and hugged her to him. When they separated, she gazed up at him as if she was looking at some strange, new species.
“What?” he asked.
“You laughed.”
He looked around the room, as if doing so might help him make sense of what she’d said. “So?”
Molly nibbled on her lower lip, biting down a smile for some unfathomable reason. “It’s a nice laugh. I like it.”
“Good,” he said, “because you’re such bright spark of sunshine in my life, I have a feeling you’re going to hear it a lot.”
Their lips met again, and for the first time in his life, Easton didn’t care if he was late for work.
Chapter 7
“What’s that tune you’re whistling?” Easton asked, hopping on one socked foot as he pulled a coal-black Mountie boot onto the other. They’d spent a little too much time doing their ‘duty’, and now he was in a hurry to make his shift at the station.
Molly laughed as she folded a towel around the lunch she’d prepared for him. “I didn’t realize I was whistling. It’s a song my mother used to sing to us at bedtime.”
Her mother was never far from her mind, and hope still lingered she’d eventually come around and accept Molly’s decision to live her life as she saw fit. As happy as Easton made her, Molly would always feel a pang of sadness thinking about her mother.
“Oh, that reminds me,” Easton said, jamming the next foot into a boot. “A letter arrived for you yesterday. It’s under the vase.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Molly dropped his lunch on the table for him to take and snatched up the letter. The beautiful vase he’d bought just for her teetered, but didn’t topple, thank goodness.
Ripping into it, she held her breath, then let it out in a disappointed whoosh when she recognized her sister’s handwriting. “It’s from Colleen,” she told him, trying to keep her voice light.
“Which one is she?” Easton asked, adjusting the brown strap across his red serge coat until it suited him.
“The next one after me. She’s less than a year younger, if you can believe that.”
He laughed. “Your parents were busy!”
Molly smiled and dipped her head to read.
Dearest Molly,
I hope this letter finds you happy and in love with your new husband. The mind boggles at what living in Cougar Springs might be like. All those rich folk prancing about, the hot springs, the magnificent scenery. Nothing at all like cold, grey, boring Ottawa, I imagine. I know it’s a sin, but I truly envy you, sister dear.
Your life makes me wonder if I should contact your Miss Hazel to find a husband of my own. Since Mother has disowned you, she has been hinting that I should take your place, so when she discovered I have been inquiring about positions as a maid all around town, she was less than pleased. I thought she would be happy that, at 26, I am finally leaving the family nest, but apparently she has other ideas. She has yet to demand it, but I am not nearly as brave as you, so if she insists I join the sisterhood, I almost certainly will not be able to resist her. You know how forceful she can be.
All is well enough in Ottawa. The boys and girls are all doing well, especially Caitlyn, who just secured a position as a secretary. She sends her love, as do all the others. Please write to me. I am desperate to hear what life in the mountains is truly like. Also, please put in a good word for me to Miss Hazel. I might require her services very soon, if things go awry.
Your favorite sister, Colleen
Molly gripped the edges of the letter so tight the paper began tearing. Her entire body vibrated with emotion she couldn’t identify, but it certainly wasn’t happiness. From the corner of her eye, she barely noticed Easton setting his hat on his head and turning to her.
“That’s nice your sister wrote,” he said.
Without warning — to him or herself — Molly burst into tears. Great, heaving sobs wracked her body so violently she crumpled where she stood. If Easton hadn’t been there to catch her, she would have fallen to the floor.
“Mo
lly, what’s wrong? Is it bad news? Did someone die?”
Easton carried her to his rocking chair and brushed the hair from her face as she tried to pull herself together. She couldn’t manage coherent speech, so she shook her head and jabbed a finger into the letter. It took a few minutes for her sobs to ease into hiccups, and then she could explain.
“I-I’m sorry, Easton. I just… I didn’t know…” She sniffled and gulped the bitter lump of agony down. “I didn’t know they’d disowned me. I just thought she was angry.”
“Disowned you? For marrying me?” Easton’s eyes grew wide, then anger flickered in them.
“For leaving the convent. For not becoming a nun. But I suppose it’s the same thing in the end.”
Easton pulled her into a ferocious hug. “I’m so sorry, my love,” he whispered in her ear. “You don’t deserve that.”
Molly wallowed in her misery for a moment, but it was no match for the glowing warmth of Easton’s support. She might never be welcome in her childhood home again, but that didn’t matter anymore. This was her home. Wherever Easton was, she would be home. No doubt her broken heart would take time to heal, but the solace she found in Easton’s embrace would make the healing time quicker.
Brushing away her tears, she gazed up at him. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you didn’t pack away all my things while I was gone. It makes me feel like this is really, truly my home now too. It’s like I’ve finally found my place in the world, after a lifetime of wandering around in the darkness.”
Easton’s eyes grew wide and all the color drained from his face. “But…I…you…um…”
The man normally played the strong, silent type to perfection, but his reaction was over the top. “What?” Molly teased.
He blinked a few times, color returning to his face full force. “You said… You told me to put it all away, remember? So I did.”
At first Molly thought she misheard, but the truth of his words finally hit her like a runaway train. All the emotions that had pulsed through her since reading Colleen’s letter, coupled with the blissful reunion she and Easton had just shared, overwhelmed her. Under normal circumstances, she might have felt a twinge of annoyance that he’d wiped out every memory of her existence, but that feeling was amplified tenfold after such a tumultuous morning. With no warning at all, the rage consumed her to the point of blindness.