by Jodi Thomas
Wolf had never seen a man, much less a woman, offer to shake hands with Charlie. He decided Molly was right about the girl. She could stay with them as long as she wanted.
Charlie Filmore took her hand with no less honor than if he were shaking hands with the queen of England. He helped her and Callie Ann into the wagon while Wolf lifted Molly up with one effortless movement. When he climbed up beside her he let his arm slide easily along the back of the seat, bracing her against him.
Again, she didn’t pull away.
“To Granny’s?” Wolf asked, letting Charlie take the reins. “Surely she’s still got room for us. I can almost smell the gravy now.”
“Charlie?” Molly questioned.
Charlie smiled with pride. “It’s home this time, Captain.” He slapped the reins. “I moved your things over this morning.” He glanced at Wolf. “Wasn’t much of a move, a few books and a tin box.”
They crossed town along the side streets. Shadows stretched from house to house, making evening come earlier. Wolf thought of asking where they were going, but he decided to wait and see. If Molly had found another place, he was sure it would be fine. After all, he’d probably only be here a few days a month, no more, and any place would be grand if Molly was there.
They pulled up beside a square two-story house painted white and trimmed in blue. Charlie jumped down, so excited he looked like he was dancing.
“The man said he’d meet you at the bank first morning you’re back to sign the papers. Lease or buy, either way you like. He’s headed back East and wants to travel light. The house has got furniture and everything.” Charlie swallowed and lowered his head. “Including aunts.”
“Ants? Red or sugar?” Wolf asked as he helped the women down.
“No.” Charlie looked at Molly apologetically. “As in your father’s sisters.” He cheered slightly. “Or so they told me. Maybe you don’t have any aunts, and I’ll have to kick these two old bossy-biddies out on the street.”
Molly shook her head. “If they’re bossy-biddies, they’re probably mine.”
“There’s four bedrooms upstairs.” Charlie trailed Molly up the walk. “I told them the one with the fireplace in it is Wolf’s and yours, and the one next to it is Callie Ann’s. They had all kinds of questions about the fire and your marriage. I ain’t known ordering around like that since the army. But I didn’t answer them nothin’.”
Molly reached the long porch that ran the length of the front of the house. She couldn’t help but smile as Callie Ann squealed and ran to a swing.
“The aunts each took a bedroom. Where do you want me to put Miss Early’s things?” Charlie asked, seeming embarrassed he’d found such a small house.
“I’ll bunk in with Callie Ann,” Early offered. “If you still have room. If not, I’ll understand.”
“I’ll need a friend desperately the next few days. Can you stay?” Molly asked. “It would give you time to look about the town without having to find something immediately.”
Wolf could guess without asking that Miss Early had no other place to go and he’d bet she had little money.
Early lifted her head in pride at being asked and not told. “I’d be happy to stay and help.”
Charlie shoved the blue door open. “I saw the aunts walking in town just before the stage came in, so you’ll have time to settle before they get back. The house is a square. Four rooms down, four rooms up.”
“I’d like to check the kitchen,” Early whispered. “I could start lunch while you look around, if there’s supplies. If I’m going to be a houseguest, I might as well make myself useful.”
“Oh, the cupboards are full. The former owner had everything ready for his bride.”
“Did she die?” Molly hesitated before entering. She could see pictures on the walls, rugs on the floors, even curtains.
“Nope. She killed the marriage at the altar. Sent him a note with the preacher.”
Molly moved upstairs with Callie Ann as Charlie told Wolf the details.
The first door they opened had two beds with a doll in the center of one. “This must be your room,” Molly said as Callie ran inside.
Alone, Molly moved to the next door and opened it. A large room with a fireplace framed in colorfully painted tiles greeted her. It was airy and friendly, as if it had been ordered from a catalog. Molly put her one bag of belongings down and clapped her hands together. This would do fine. Just fine.
Charlie had found a house that was right for her. She’d felt it welcome her the minute she’d crossed the threshold and from the entry she could see the four rooms downstairs. They consisted of a parlor, a kitchen, a dining room with windows overlooking the street, and a small study. Upstairs, there were enough bedrooms for both Early and Wolf as soon as the aunts left.
“I guess I bunk in here.” Wolf clambered from behind her. He had his bedroll and the tin box Charlie had moved over from Granny’s. “We can sleep in shifts.”
Molly whirled, ready to argue, then realized he had no choice. He wasn’t being bold, he was being practical. There were no other rooms. If he went to Granny’s house, the town would know it within the hour. If he bunked downstairs, the aunts were sure to notice. She’d promised him a room as part of the bargain.
“Would you mind sharing?” she asked.
He lowered his gear slowly to the floor and placed the box atop a dresser.
Molly hurried to explain. “I wrote my aunts that I was married, without bothering with the details. I thought if they ever did visit, you’d probably be off somewhere. Believe me, once you meet them, you’ll understand why. But they’re here and you’re here. You can’t very well stay at a boardinghouse. They seem to have settled in already, so I can’t ask them to find a hotel.”
“It’s all right.” Wolf brushed her arm lightly. “We’ll work something out.”
Molly swallowed hard and jumped as always into a decision. “No, it’s not all right.” She’d been debating this very thing in her notebook all morning. It was time to make up her mind before she got so old she had no mind left to make up.
Wolf frowned. “You want me to leave?”
“No.” She lifted her hand and covered his heart. He was trying to do what she wanted. The problem was she couldn’t decide herself.
“What exactly are you asking me, Molly?” Wolf raised an eyebrow, as if he wouldn’t have been surprised to hear her say she wanted him to carry the aunts out bodily. “We can split the room down the middle if you like.”
Molly took a deep breath and tried to say what she’d written. “Shifts would never work. Splitting the room wouldn’t work.” The thought that had been haunting her for days jumped to life. “I’m asking you to be my husband, which you already are, but be my real husband, at least while they’re here. Share this room with me.”
Molly closed her eyes. There, she’d said it as bold as you please.
Wolf was not a man who liked playing games. He’d played enough of them during the war and promised himself he’d stick with the simple truth. “I’m not sure I can stay in this room with you all night and not touch you. I may be your friend, but I’m also a man. Molly, you’re asking the impossible.”
“Then touch me, Wolf. You’ve been doing it all morning and I haven’t backed away. I don’t find your touch unpleasant, I never have. Watch me like you do already when you think I’m not looking. I think it’s time we shared a room and a bed.”
There she went again, changing the rules. Why was it he felt like their entire relationship had been a series of games? About the time he learned one, she switched to another.
She stared at him as though she thought the problem lay in his lack of understanding rather than with her rules. “Be my husband, at least until my aunts leave.”
“Molly, you can’t pretend marriage. You can’t slice a piece of it off like it’s a pie. Make up your mind what you want.”
“I think I want a husband.”
He could see the uncertainty in her eyes. And
something else. A need. She was in uncharted water now.
“Are you sure?” He tried to show no sign of the storm his feelings were whirling into.
“No. But I like being married,” she answered him. “I like being your wife. I like not being alone. I don’t want to pretend anymore. I want you to stay in this room with me as my husband.”
“I don’t know,” he mumbled. After last night, he’d never expected this. But here she was, blindsiding his heart again. “I’ll probably get drunk and shoot myself for saying this, but I don’t want to play marriage with you, Molly. I might be able to do it in separate rooms, but not under close quarters. I failed that test last night. It’d be more than touching.”
Molly swallowed hard, fighting back tears. He was turning her down. For the rest of her life, she’d have nothing but a dream lover to hold her. Her make-believe husband didn’t want to play make-believe marriage anymore.
Turning to the window, she lifted her chin and fought back a sob. “I thought you wanted me,” she whispered, knowing she wasn’t being fair. He’d offered to be her friend, he’d never offered more. Betting on his needs as a man wasn’t right. But he’d said no. Even the need he had for her wasn’t strong enough to make him stay. No man in her life had ever been strong or real enough to stay.
He moved behind her, so near she could feel the warmth of his body through her clothes. “Are you offering what I think you are?”
“I am,” she said without turning. This was her one hand. She might as well bet it all. “If we’re to have a marriage, then let it be a real marriage. I’ll sleep with you. I’ll not run away again. I promise.”
Wolf would have sworn a month ago that this day, hearing her asking—begging—for a real marriage, would have been the happiest day of his life. But it wasn’t. He wanted his Molly to come to him, not surrender.
Gently, he placed his hands on her shoulders.
If she’d been any stiller, he would have thought her made of stone. He felt like a warden handing out punishment. If he said no, he’d break her heart. If he said yes, he was sure his own would take a tumble.
“Are you sure, Molly?” He pulled her back against the wall of his chest. No matter what she said, he wanted to feel her against him when the blow hit.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I want to live in the real world with a real husband. With a real marriage.”
She couldn’t know he understood what she meant. Molly was telling him she had to give up her dreams. She had to settle for him. His wife now delivered a double blow to his heart—saying good-bye to Benjamin and their perfect love—and accepting a loveless marriage with Wolf.
He wanted to yell at her and hold her at the same time. Couldn’t she see that he was the lover she wanted so dearly and the friend she needed? She’d chosen Wolf over Benjamin, not out of love, but out of loneliness.
His head and his heart were at war. Part of him could never walk away. Part of him knew she was asking him to stay for the wrong reasons. But deep down he knew that even if he left right now, his heart would stay. And this time he wasn’t sure he could leave her without dying inside.
“I’ll be your husband,” he whispered against her ear. “I’ll be your real husband.”
She twisted without leaving the circle of his arms and hugged him tightly, as if holding on for life. “Thank you,” she mumbled.
He felt a tear as his cheek touched her face and wasn’t sure if it was hers or his.
TWENTY
“WELL, ISN’T THAT THE SWEETEST THING YOU EVER SAW, HENRIETTA?”
Molly pulled away from Wolf at the sound of her aunt’s voice. She shoved a tear from her cheek and faced the two women, who, after sixty years of living together, resembled salt and pepper shakers. They were short, stout, and almost twins, except Alvina’s hair was snow white and Henrietta’s still held a touch of mousy brown.
As always, it was Aunt Alvina who headed toward her with open arms. The hug was too brief to be real and the kiss an inch short of touching Molly’s cheek. Alvina’s world revolved totally around Alvina and her way of proving herself perfect was to constantly point out flaws in others. “You look so thin, child. I’m sure you haven’t been eating properly.”
“It’s nice to see you, too, Aunt Alvina.” Molly wanted to laugh. In a strange way, her aunt never let her down with her criticism.
“I hoped you would be, child, after all we’ve been through to get here.” Alvina absently straightened Molly’s hair.
Another flaw Molly decided she’d almost forgotten was that Alvina still considered her a child. To Alvina Donivan, Molly would always be her brother’s poor motherless child in need of help.
“I’m sorry the trip was trying. Maybe you should have let me make the journey to see you.” Molly knew she was hoping, or maybe wishing, since they were already there. The aunts would do what they wanted, no matter what she said.
“The trip wasn’t all that terrible,” Aunt Henrietta said from the doorway. “It would have been passable if we’d run into competent help. From the conductor to the baggage men, we were surrounded by idiots.”
Molly knew better than to try and hug Henrietta. The woman hadn’t been touched in forty years, as near as Molly could figure. She’d been in love once, but the man, a farmer named Herbert Aldmen, hadn’t measured up to her father or her brother. No one had measured up since.
Henrietta folded her hands at her waist like a choir member making a grand performance. “And who is this giant you’re hugging? I hope to goodness it is your husband.”
Molly had the feeling she’d be in for a lecture if it weren’t, so she quickly announced, “Aunt Henrietta, Aunt Alvina, I’d like you to meet my husband, Captain Wolf Hayward.”
Wolf stepped forward and politely took Aunt Alvina’s hand. “A pleasure,” he managed to say before Aunt Henrietta interrupted.
“You were a captain in the war, sir?” Henrietta wasn’t about to draw near enough for the man to touch even her hand.
“With the Texas Rangers,” Wolf corrected, showing no sign of being intimidated by the woman. “We’re a group of lawmen who do everything from patrolling the border to protecting the frontier settlements. After the Union Army pulled out in ’sixty-one, the Rangers were just about the only law left in the state.”
“How interesting.” Alvina said the words so slowly it was obvious she was lying.
Wolf took Molly’s hand in his. “Welcome to our house, ladies. We hope you enjoy your stay.”
Henrietta grumbled about the heat and Alvina complained about how small their rooms were.
Wolf tightened his grip on Molly’s hand. He’d tried, but now he was at a loss on what to say.
Molly squeezed his fingers and decided to save him. “Please, ladies, join me downstairs. I’d like to hear all about your trip.”
They hurried out, but Henrietta paused at the door. “Do you always dress like that, Captain?”
“I’m afraid so,” Wolf answered without a hint of apology in his voice.
Molly poked him in the ribs and laughed. The aunts who’d driven her crazy for years actually seemed funny with Wolf around.
He knew better than to stay. As soon as they reached the ground level, he informed them all that he had to go into work for a few hours and not to wait supper on him. Before Molly could react, he pulled her into his arms in full view of both aunts.
“Good-bye, darlin’. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He kissed her on the mouth. She felt his lips spread into a smile as both aunts gasped.
Despite the aunts, Molly spent the day making the house her own. She had Charlie find the owner, then signed the papers before Wolf returned. He questioned why Wolf wasn’t there, but she explained that he was busy. The cash convinced him all was in order, and he asked no more questions.
The aunts tolerated Callie Ann without truly understanding why the child lived with Molly. They treated Early like hired help, which she didn’t seem to mind. It would have been far more disturbing to the g
irl if the aunts had insisted on talking to her. Charlie frightened Alvina into such a state, she carried her smelling salts in her pocket in case she ran into him. Henrietta watched him as if fearing he might go mad and kill them all.
Despite Molly’s father having been a doctor and a general, the aunts had seen very little of hospitals or war. They always approached the idea that Molly traveled with her father as weakness in Molly’s mind. At first, they’d say things like “poor thing, thinks she has to go with him.” Later, when the habit continued, they’d just shake their heads as though she were an alcoholic too far gone to pull the bottle away.
Charlie didn’t take offense at their dislike of him. He started calling out from the porch instead of entering the house, though. When Molly asked him to stay for supper, Alvina melted onto the parlor couch in a faint. Charlie thanked Molly kindly and asked if he could eat on the porch.
A moment later, Molly thought of taking a whiff of the salts herself when Early offered to join him for dinner.
Wolf didn’t make it back home until late, and when he did, Molly could see by the pain in his eyes that his head ached. He was a powerful man, but she’d seen him weak with fever and somehow felt closer to him because of it. Once, if only for a few hours, he’d needed her.
She set the meal she’d kept warm for him on the table while he washed.
Henrietta stormed into the kitchen. “I thought I heard you come in, Captain. Do you always come in so late?”
“No,” Wolf answered politely. “Some nights I don’t come in at all.”
She looked at Molly. “And you put up with this?”
“I’m afraid so.” Molly smiled. “He’s worth it, you see.”
Henrietta huffed. “Well, I would never tolerate such disregard.” She walked out of the room without so much as a good night.
“She’d have us divorced in a week,” Wolf said.
“Less,” Molly answered.
Alvina strolled through as though the kitchen were on the way to her bedroom. She complained about several discomforts. When no one seemed to be listening, she also disappeared upstairs.