Would-Be Wilderness Wife

by Regina Scott

  “If you need me tonight, come find me,” she told them.

  “I will,” Beth promised.

  Without another look in Drew’s direction, Catherine exited.

  John left Beth and Levi arguing over the answer to his riddle and joined Drew by the fire. “That didn’t go as well as it should have.”

  “No, it did not,” their mother put in, setting aside her mending. “Andrew Wallin, if you intend to court that girl, you’ll need to work harder than that.”

  John met his gaze, and Drew thought his own must be just as panicked. The last thing they needed was for their headstrong mother to throw herself into the fray.

  “No one said I was courting, Ma,” he started, but Beth clapped her hands, hopping to her feet.

  “Oh, you decided to court her after all!” She seized Drew’s hand. “I have so many ideas.”

  Perhaps a young lady’s opinion would help. His sister was entirely devoted to that society magazine after all. “Oh?” Drew said. “Such as?”

  Beth’s eyes glowed. “You could take her for a picnic by the lake.”

  “There’s a cougar running about,” John reminded her.

  “All right,” Beth said, undeterred. “A picnic in the barn, then.”

  “The barn?” Levi rolled his eyes. “What girl wants to be sweet-talked in a barn?”

  “There will be no sweet talk,” Drew said with all the solemnity he could manage. “Anywhere.”

  Beth shook her head. “Oh, Drew, there has to be some. That’s what courting is all about.”

  “I thought you never wanted to court,” John challenged.

  “I don’t want to marry,” Beth corrected him. “That doesn’t meant I don’t want to be courted. Every girl wants to be courted.”

  Drew frowned. “Why?”

  She stared at him as if appalled he had to ask. “Because it’s wonderful! That’s what that entire poem is about—the beauty of courting. Pretty words and longing looks and sweet sighs. Walking hand in hand, holding the prayer book together in church, sharing secrets.” She peered closer at her brother. “Haven’t you ever wanted to do those things?”

  “No,” Drew said. The panic he’d felt when he’d considered his mother’s interference was nothing to the fear that bubbled up at Beth’s outlandish ideas. “I appreciate everyone’s help, but I’m capable of courting a woman on my own.”

  “If that was your best effort,” Beth said, wrinkling her nose, “I don’t believe you.”

  “That’s enough, Elizabeth Ann,” Ma said, gathering up her sewing. “I think it’s time we all went to bed. Tomorrow will be another day, another opportunity.” She smiled at Drew. “And I know you will make her a marvelous husband.”

  Drew only wished he had his mother’s confidence. For he feared with all the demands on his life, he’d make a terrible husband for any woman, especially one as sought after as Catherine.

  * * *

  Catherine hurried across the clearing for the cabin, mist wrapped about her like a damp towel. Simon paced her on one side, rifle in the crook of one arm; James walked on the other side, lantern held high to light their way. Though the glow pushed back the darkness, she felt as if her escorts were walls closing in on her.

  Why? Simply because she’d all but asked Drew to propose to her.

  Where was her mind? Why had she slipped and used his name? The word John had been clearly written on the page. Her brother, Nathan, had once read the poem aloud to her and her friends over tea. She knew her part.

  Why did her heart persist in offering Drew’s name instead? Had she no control where he was concerned?

  “I hope we didn’t offend you, Miss Stanway,” James said, twisting his head as if to see more of her face. “I didn’t mean any harm.”

  “No offense taken, Mr. Wallin,” she said, detouring around a rocky patch. “It was simply time for me to retire.”

  From inside the barn came the neigh of a horse and the fluttering cackle of chickens.

  Simon’s hand shot out to stop her. “Something’s wrong.”

  Catherine felt as if the lantern had dimmed. “What should we do?”

  He glanced back at the house, and then, as if deeming it better to keep her near, he nodded to his brother. “Stay close to James and follow me.”

  Together they set out for the barn. James pulled open the big door with a rattle of metal, setting the chickens to clucking again. The lantern’s glow only reached the first few feet of the space, making Catherine feel as if they had entered a cave. As they ventured down the main aisle, she could see that the horses were backed up in their stalls, shifting and bumping against the wood. Their eyes showed white. Nearby, the oxen lowed a warning, and a pig let out a squeal. James hung the lantern on a hook and went to quiet the beasts as Simon moved through the building.

  Doubting she could be of any use in this instance, Catherine sat on a bench near the lantern, rubbing one hand up her arm. It did nothing to stop the chill that was overtaking her.

  “James,” Simon called, and his brother hurried to his side, bringing the lantern with him.

  Before the darkness could swallow her, Catherine rose as well and went to join them by the rear door. On the ground outside, something lay in a heap that glistened in the light.

  “What is that?” Simon demanded.

  James climbed out onto the ground and bent over the mass, then raised his head and stared at his brother. “It’s meat. A haunch of venison, I think. I don’t remember John or Drew hunting today.”

  “They didn’t,” Simon said, head turning as if he was looking for someone or something in the darkened forest. “And neither did I.”

  Now James was looking around as well, and Catherine peered deeper into the shadows, fearing that she might see those amber eyes looking back at her.

  “It’s not like a cougar to leave its kill uncovered,” James said, voice thick in the mist.

  “I don’t think it was the cougar.” Simon cocked his rifle. “Someone left that there on purpose. Trying to draw in the cat, I’m guessing.”

  James jerked upright, lantern flashing with the movement. “You think someone meant to bring the cougar into Wallin Landing?”

  “The same someone who poisoned the spring,” Catherine murmured. And perhaps had beaten Levi?

  Simon glanced her way. “Very likely. Come get the spade, James, and bury that thing.”

  James complied, scrambling back into the barn and handing the lantern to Catherine before going to find the shovel.

  “I’ll cover you,” Simon promised, watching him. Before his brother could leave the barn again, Simon turned to her, face grim. “I’m sorry, Catherine, but I think you’d better sleep in the house with Ma and Beth tonight.”

  She wanted to argue. Return to the house? Face Drew and answer the questions she’d seen in his eyes? Meeting the cougar or their unseen enemy in the dark almost sounded easier.

  Almost.

  “Very well, Mr. Wallin,” she said. “Your plan is sensible. But I hope you intend to explain all this to your brother.” That might keep Drew busy enough that he’d have time to forget her mistake.

  And give her enough time to convince herself she wouldn’t repeat it.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Inside the house, Drew made sure Levi and their mother were situated for the night.

  “You don’t have to hover over me like a mother hen,” Ma said as he tucked her in the big bed she’d once shared with his father. “I’m much better!”

  She was, and he was so thankful for that fact. If nothing else comes from this association with Catherine, Lord, thank You for sending her to help Ma.

  “Perhaps I just like to make sure,” Drew told her, bending to kiss her forehead. “Humor me.”

  “I suppose
I should be patient,” she said, snuggling under the covers. “But it’s not a trait I ever possessed. I was very proud of you for being so patient with your brothers and sister growing up. Don’t lose that ability now.”

  Drew straightened so fast he nearly banged his head on the ceiling. “If I’ve been impatient with you, ma’am, I apologize.”

  His mother shook her head, nightcap brushing the pillow. “Not with me. But you and your brothers seem to think all you need to do is show Catherine a little courtesy, and she’ll swoon at your feet.” She narrowed her eyes at Drew. “A wife worth the having is a wife worth the wooing.”

  So she was still plucking at that string. “I’m not going to follow after her like a moon-sick calf.”

  “And who asked you to act so foolishly?” she challenged, flattening her fingers on the quilt. “Your pa liked to say we fell in love at first sight, but the truth is that it took time and proximity for love to grow.” She reached out and took Drew’s hand in hers, her gaze touching his. “Show her the man you are. If she can’t appreciate that, then she’s not the woman for you.”

  Drew nodded and pulled away, but the sound of the door closing downstairs made him pause. Footsteps crossed for the stairs, and he turned to see Simon leading Catherine up. His brother’s face was tight, but Catherine’s pallor struck Drew in the chest.

  He was moving to their sides before they had reached the top. “What’s happened? Are you hurt?”

  Simon held up one hand. “She’s fine. I think it best she spend the night up here. We need to talk.” He nodded to Catherine before starting back down, as if assuming Drew would follow him.

  Drew couldn’t seem to move. He had no idea what had happened, but those same feelings he’d been fighting since he’d first met her wrapped around him, demanding action. He wanted to hold her close and promise to protect her no matter what.

  As if she knew it, she managed a smile. “Go with your brother, Drew. I’ll be fine.”

  “She can share my bed,” Ma called, patting the covers and smiling in welcome.

  Drew had to touch Catherine. He ran his hand up her arm, then rested his fingers a moment on her shoulder. “I’ll be in with Levi later if you need me.”

  She ducked under his hand and went to join his mother.

  Downstairs, Simon explained what they’d found. “James is keeping an eye on the barn. I’ll take the next watch, and John can take the watch after that. You stay with Ma.”

  Normally Drew might have bristled at his brother’s high-handed tone, but now he could only agree that the best place for him was in the house.

  “There’s something else you should know,” he told Simon. “Catherine suspects Levi didn’t fall out of that tree.”

  His brother frowned. “How else would he have earned those injuries?”

  Drew felt himself tensing just thinking about the possibility. “Someone beat him.

  Simon’s head snapped up. “Why? And why wouldn’t he name the bully? That makes no sense.”

  Drew couldn’t argue with him. “James might say he’s annoying enough to have earned it, but I share your doubts. Let him sleep for now. We can ask him when he’s had a chance to heal.”

  “Oh, we will,” Simon promised. He turned to head back outside.

  But when Drew returned upstairs and bunked down near a snoring Levi, he couldn’t seem to get to sleep. Instead of the troubles that plagued them, his mother’s words occupied his mind. She seemed to think it was easy to win a woman’s heart, that all he had to do was be himself. He hadn’t thought he’d been anything else, and Catherine didn’t seem enamored.

  He listened, trying to isolate her breathing among the other soft noises coming from the opposite side of the hearth. He could imagine her lying next to Ma, face relaxed in sleep, lashes fanning her cheeks. She was beautiful, she was talented, she was clever. Any man would be proud to marry her.

  So how did a man show a woman he was interested in matrimony? Catherine didn’t seem impressed by James’s wit, and she didn’t bloom under effusive praise. Not being married to her, he had only so many opportunities when it was appropriate for him to hug her, and it wasn’t proper to give her expensive gifts even if he could find them readily in Seattle.

  He thought back to how his parents had behaved. Pa always seemed to sit or stand close to Ma when they were done with work for the day, hand on her shoulder or arm about her waist. He’d thank her for what she’d done, even if it was her usual chores of cooking, laying in stores for the winter, washing, sewing or mending. At times, they’d work shoulder to shoulder, clearing a field, building a fence, raising a barn, raising a family. And Pa had always chosen the dirtiest work, the hardest labor, if that meant sparing her from it.

  He could do that. He already valued Catherine’s skills as a nurse. He could make sure she knew that. And while she was at the Landing, he could share every burden, even if that added to his own.

  Maybe actions really could speak louder than words.

  He rose the next morning prepared to tell his brothers that he didn’t require their help in courting Catherine. But, as usual, his family had other plans.

  The first person he saw when he came downstairs was James. His brother wore a black frock coat over his reclaimed vest, and carved leather boots peeped out from under his wool trousers. He adjusted his stiff collar, then pointed a finger at Drew.

  “You, sir, are shabbily dressed to appear before your Lord.”

  Drew glanced down at the shirt and trousers he’d slept in. “I didn’t plan on meeting my maker today.”

  James clasped his hands together. “None of us ever does, brother. Can I get an amen?”

  “Amen,” John obliged, coming in from the back room. He, too, wore a coat and trousers, but he’d wrapped one of Ma’s aprons about his waist, and the smell of frying ham told Drew he was making breakfast. “Did you forget, Drew?” he asked. “Today’s Sunday.”

  In truth, he had forgotten with everything that had been happening. Both his father and his mother had insisted that Sunday was the Lord’s day, a time for worship and rest. Basic chores like cooking and feeding the stock had to be done, of course, but there’d be no logging or other major tasks started.

  “I’ll be back for breakfast and service,” he promised his brothers before heading to his own cabin to clean up and change clothes.

  When he returned a short time later, wearing his one good suit of brown wool, all his brothers had gathered around the table. Beth was digging a hole in the braided rug as she paced from the table to the stairs. His sister wasn’t old enough, Ma insisted, for a fancy dress just yet, but she’d tied a ribbon at the waist of her blue gingham gown, and curls swung from either side of her face.

  Maybe Catherine really did know her way around a curling iron as Beth had hoped.

  Still, her agitation concerned him. “Is Ma all right?” he asked, catching Beth’s eyes as she swung past the table.

  Her nod was a jerk of her head that set her hard-won curls to bobbing. “Fine, fine. And I want you to know, Drew, that it was my idea, and Ma loved it.”

  He thought she must be talking about the curls, but before he could tell her they looked nice on her, she stopped to glance up the stairs. Following her gaze, he caught himself staring.

  Catherine was descending, hands carefully holding up the skirts of the dress his mother had given her to wear. He’d seen it any number of times over the years, but always packed away in a trunk. The elegant scooped neck with its lace collar topped a bodice that drew down in a V at the narrow waist, the blue-and-green-striped cotton brushed to a shine that rivaled the gleam of Catherine’s hair.

  It was the dress, his mother had told them, she’d worn to her wedding, and she’d never found a good enough reason to use it again, until now.

  Drew felt his chest rising with the emotions
inside him. Simon stood up from the table as if to escort Catherine, but Drew beat him to the foot of the stairs.

  “Catherine,” he said, offering her his arm.

  “Andrew,” she replied with a smile as she accepted. “Your mother said you all dressed in your Sunday best, but I hardly expected all this.”

  He heard the benches scrape the floor as the rest of his brothers climbed to their feet. Even Levi wavered on his splint.

  “I am blessed with the company of a fine set of gentlemen,” Ma said, following Catherine down the stairs in her favorite green wool gown. “And now two lovely ladies, as well.”

  Beth wasn’t the only one to blush at her praise.

  John’s breakfast of ham, eggs and corn bread with honey was quickly consumed, and the dishes were put in the washtub to soak. Simon had already brought over his fiddle, John the family Bible. They all gathered in the front room for Sunday service. Drew made sure to position chairs near the hearth for Catherine and his mother, then took a spot not too far away.

  “We’ve rarely had a minister come out this far,” Ma was explaining to Catherine as they sat. “So we’ve had to improvise when it comes to worship.”

  “Today we’re reading in Matthew, I believe,” John said, moving another of the chairs closer and jerking his head to Drew as if he wanted his brother to take a seat.

  Drew stayed where he was.

  “Or should that be Levi?” Catherine asked with a smile to Drew before looking at her patient, who was sitting on a bench with his leg propped up again.

  Levi stared at Drew. “You told her?”

  James settled next to his youngest brother. “What can we say? You are an endless source of amusement.”

  “You’re not,” Levi retorted.

  James pressed his hand to his heart as if gravely wounded.

  Normally, Drew took the first reading, but he found himself strangely tongue-tied with Catherine watching him. Simon seemed to take pity on him, for he, too, directed Drew to the seat next to Catherine and read the passage himself. Still, Drew couldn’t seem to focus, even when John followed with one of their father’s favorite psalms.