RNWMP: Bride For Gilbert (Mail Order Mounties Book 17) Read online

  She finished the dresses, noticing that it was getting very dark in the cabin. She rushed over to the window to see that it was snowing hard. She frowned, not wanting Bert to get stuck out in it.

  Instead of fretting, she went to the stove and started the fried chicken she’d planned for his homecoming. Hopefully the storm wouldn’t delay him too much.

  She served supper at six as he’d told her she needed to do, and the girls ate it greedily. They were halfway through the meal when Millie asked, “Where’s Daddy?”

  “I’m sure he stopped somewhere to take shelter from the storm,” Madelyn told her.

  “He’s all right?”

  Madelyn nodded, pasting a smile on her face and praying she wasn’t lying to the girl. He had to be all right. That’s all there was to it. She couldn’t raise these girls on her own, but more importantly, her heart would simply break if anything happened to him.

  He still wasn’t home when it was time for bed, but then the storm was still going strong. She took to their bed exhausted, wishing he were there.

  Waking early on Wednesday morning, she immediately went to the window, checking to see if the storm had stopped. When she saw that it was still going, she sighed. He probably wouldn’t be home for another day or two. She could handle it. There was plenty of firewood, and there was food to spare. They’d be just fine.

  It was Friday morning before the snow stopped finally, and she was beside herself with worry. There were snow drifts almost as high as the roof on one side of the cabin. Andrew came by that morning to check on her and the girls.

  “Has Bert been in touch?” he asked her.

  Madelyn shook her head. “I haven’t seen him since just before dawn on Monday morning.” She wanted to ask if he thought her husband was all right, but she just couldn’t get the words out. Her throat was almost closed with fear.

  “I’m sure he stopped somewhere to take shelter. He’ll be back soon.” His voice sounding very convincing, but his face . . . well, his face looked as worried as she felt.

  “I’ll have him come see you if I see him first. I’d appreciate it if you’d do the same.”

  “Absolutely. You need to stop worrying, though, because he’s going to be just fine. He’s new to this area, but he isn’t new to being a Mountie. He’s very good in a crisis. You’ll see.”

  Madelyn smiled. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

  Andrew shook his head. “No, after a storm like this, there’s a lot to do around town. I need to get to work.” He tipped his hat to her and hurried away.

  She turned to go and make coffee, planning to have some on at all times until Bert arrived home. She knew he’d need something warm when he got back.

  All of her sewing projects were finished on Saturday afternoon, when Bert finally walked in the door. She had been mixing up a cake for supper when she heard the door open, and she dropped her spoon and ran toward the door, throwing herself into his arms. “I was so worried!”

  Bert closed his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. “I was fine. I holed up with the Andersons outside of town. They have a couple of spare rooms, and I was close to there when the snow started. I thought it would be smarter to stay there than to try to make it home.”

  She took a deep breath, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. Why would she cry now when she knew everything was all right? That made no sense at all!

  “I’m just glad you’re safe now. The girls have missed you.”

  He pulled away a bit and tilted her face up to him. “How about you? Have you missed me?”

  She nodded emphatically. “More than I should have. I was so scared.”

  “Well, I’m here now. And I’m starving!”

  She laughed. “Didn’t Mrs. Anderson feed you?”

  “Sure she did, but nothing tastes as good as one of your meals.”

  “I can fix something, or we have some leftover meatloaf and mashed potatoes in the ice box. I could heat that up for you.”

  “Sounds wonderful. Thank you.” He stripped off his heavy coat and removed his gloves. “I really am sorry that I worried you.”

  “It wasn’t your fault. But don’t do it again!” She grinned at him as she got the food from the ice box and put it on the stove to heat. “Have you seen Andrew yet? He was by yesterday morning looking for you. He looked as worried as I felt.”

  “I’ll go talk to him as soon as I’ve got some food in me. It took me three times as long as it should have to get home because the snow was so deep.”

  “I can run over and tell them you’re all right while you eat.”

  “No need. I’ll do it when I’m done. That’ll be soon enough. Most likely the livery has already told him that I dropped my horse off there, and he’ll be here to make sure I’m not hurt.”

  He was right. He’d just taken his first bite when a knock sounded at the door. Madelyn hurried over. “He’s home and safe. He was going to come see you as soon as he finished eating,” she told Andrew.

  Andrew grinned. “I figured it was something like that. May I come in?”

  Madelyn opened the door wide. “Are you hungry? I just made Bert something to eat.”

  “No, ma’am. I’m just fine.” He walked to the table and sat down across from Bert. “Glad you’re all right.”

  “I’m doing just fine. Do you want some coffee?” Bert asked. He wasn’t about to stop shoveling the food into his mouth, so he needed to at least offer his friend something to drink.

  “No thanks. I just came from home when I heard you were back in town. You get caught in it?”

  Bert shrugged. “As soon as the first flakes of snow hit, it was blowing hard, so I turned around and went back to the Andersons. I wasn’t much past their farm, and I knew they’d put me up until it was over. I almost missed the house with as heavy as the snow was, but I happened to see a light from their window.”

  “Thank God you did. You’d have been lost in it otherwise.”

  Madelyn turned her back on the men at those words. She didn’t like hearing how close she’d come to losing her husband, and the men talked about it as if it was an every day occurrence.

  She was happy when the girls came out, so she had something to concentrate on.

  “Daddy’s home?” Millie asked, running to her father. “You were gone a long time!”

  Bert reached down to lift his little girl onto his lap, but he kept eating. Madelyn caught Mary before she went over, carrying her to the table, and putting her on her own lap. “I’m sorry I was gone so long. There was a very bad storm, so I stayed with a nice couple who live outside town.”

  Andrew stood up. “Well, I’m going to let you eat and spend some time with your family. I’ll let the others know you’re safe. We were giving you until Monday, and we were going to send out a search party.”

  “Glad you didn’t have to do that.” Bert didn’t stand, but he offered his hand to his friend to shake. “Thanks for checking on me.”

  “You’re very welcome.” With that, Andrew was gone, leaving Bert there with his family.

  Bert looked at Madelyn. “I know you’ve had a rough week, and it looks like you haven’t slept much. Do you want to take a nap, and I’ll watch the girls?”

  She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “No, thank you.” She was tired, but she was so happy he was there, she didn’t want to miss even a moment of his homecoming. “What would you like for supper tonight?”

  He polished off the last of his lunch and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t even care as long as you cook it. Is that a cake you were working on?”

  Madelyn laughed. “You’re always hungry. Yes, it’s a cake. We’ll have it for dessert.”

  He sighed happily. “It sure is nice to come home to someone who is ready to take care of me.”

  “I always will be.”

  8

  Most of the snow had melted by the time they went to church on Sunday. When the twins went out to see Bert in their pretty n
ew dresses, he smiled at them and praised them for their beauty, but the whole while he was looking at his amazing new wife who had used his absence to accomplish tasks she’d set before herself.

  When it was time to leave, he offered her his arm, realizing they still hadn’t had the talk she wanted, and it had been longer than he’d said. He’d still not come to any conclusions about where he wanted to go though, so hopefully she’d give him just a little bit longer.

  When they reached the church, both girls hurried over to play with their new friend, Lily, and Madelyn smiled, pleased they had found someone they liked. Her eyes caught Ida’s, and her friend nodded at her, obviously pleased as well. A few other children joined them at the back of the church.

  Since Bert wasn’t preaching this time, he led her around the church, introducing her to different people.

  After the services, they invited Ida, Andrew, and Lily to have Sunday lunch with them, and the girls were all happy to be together for a little longer.

  As they left the church, Madelyn caught sight of a bison, standing across the road and staring at them. “Look!” she said, pointing toward the beast.

  “You haven’t seen Chip before?” Ida asked, obviously surprised.

  “Chip? He has a name?” As she asked it, she slipped a little bit. Looking down at her shoe, she saw she’d obviously stepped in one of Chip’s namesakes. A buffalo chip. She wrinkled her nose, but kept walking, trying to rub it off as they went.

  Ida giggled. “I see you understand now.”

  “Unfortunately!” Madelyn shook her head. “Who named him Chip?”

  “No idea. I just know that’s what they call him, so I call him that, too. He doesn’t come when called or anything, but we couldn’t expect him to. He’s not a dog after all.”

  Madelyn had left a pot of stew on the stove while they were at church. A loaf of bread was ready to stick into the oven. “I’m just going to bake this bread, and as soon as it’s done, we’ll have stew with fresh, hot bread.”

  The girls immediately ran into the twins’ area of the cabin, and Madelyn put the bread in the oven, checked on the stew, and set the table.

  “How can I help you?” Ida asked.

  “I don’t need any help. Just sit.” A moment later, Madelyn sat with her friend. “I hope you don’t mind waiting a few more minutes for lunch. The bread will be done in about thirty minutes.”

  “That sounds good.” The two women sat and talked softly about being mothers, and so many other things that only women talk about. Madelyn wanted to confide in her friend about how things were going with Bert, but she wasn’t certain whether or not that would be disloyal to her new husband.

  “Are you happy?” Madelyn finally asked.

  Ida shrugged. “I don’t know. I think I could be. We’ll see how things go from here. I’m happy that Lily seems to be adjusting well to the new situation.” She studied Madelyn. “What about you?”

  Madelyn shrugged. “I love the girls. They couldn’t behave better. I’m very impressed by their manners.” Her eyes drifted over to her husband, and she saw him watching her. She lowered her voice even more. “I just wish their father was as happy to have me here as his girls are.”

  “He seems to really like you. You don’t think he does?”

  “He’s still in love with Sally, the girls’ mother. She died four months ago, and he can’t get her out of his head. I feel like every time he looks at me, he’s thinking of her.”

  “Do you want me to ask Andrew what she was like? Would that help at all?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. I just don’t want him to know it came from me.” Madelyn shook her head, sitting up straighter. “I don’t want you to. I feel like that would be playing schoolgirl games, and I’m a wife and a mother now. I can stand on my own two feet, thank you very much!”

  Ida smiled, nodding. “I know just how you feel. All right. Do you mind if I say a little prayer that things work out well for the two of you?”

  “That would make me very happy.” Madelyn stood and took the bread out of the oven, calling everyone to come and eat.

  After their prayer, Andrew took one bite of her stew and closed his eyes. “I’ve been hearing about your cooking, but you’re better than I thought.”

  Ida nodded. “I told you she was an amazing cook!”

  Andrew nodded. “You can say that again.”

  “I told you she was a good cook!” Ida said with a grin.

  Bert smiled as the girls ate with their friend. They all chattered together, keeping the conversation lively. “I’m really glad the three of them are hitting it off so well. The girls need friends other than just each other.”

  “But they’ll be forever friends,” Madelyn added. “I wish I had a twin to be my forever friend.”

  “Maybe. Twins can overshadow you as well. Ernie made me feel like I was almost nothing,” Bert said, taking a bite of his stew. “It was strange how easily he could make me feel badly, when someone else could do the same thing and it would never bother me. Ernie was just larger than life at times.”

  “I didn’t know you were a twin,” Andrew said, frowning at him. “What does your brother do?”

  “He’s a Mountie.” Bert said nothing else, letting his friend infer what he would.

  “Who decided to join the force first?”

  “I did. I always wanted to be a Mountie from the time we were boys. We joined together, went through the academy together . . . just like we’d done everything else together our entire lives.”

  Madelyn stood up, trying to take the attention away from Bert. She could see he didn’t like the conversation they were having. “I made a cake. Who’s ready for dessert?”

  Bert smiled at her, obviously pleased by her change of subject. “I would love a piece.”

  All the girls asked for one as well. Madelyn rushed away to come back with clean plates with the cake on them. Ida jumped up to help her, whispering to her, “Bert doesn’t seem to be thrilled to be a twin.”

  “I don’t think he is.” Madelyn shrugged. “I can understand what he’s saying, though.”

  “I think I can, too.” Ida carried the plates of cake to the table while Madelyn cut more.

  After the cake was eaten, the two ladies did the dishes together while the men talked and the children played. Madelyn was thrilled to have more time with her friend. It surprised her just how connected she felt with Ida, especially now that she was a mother as well.

  The other family stayed until it was time to start supper. Madelyn made the fried chicken she’d planned for Bert’s homecoming, complete with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans.

  Bert watched her move around the kitchen, his mind on the talk they’d had, and what he planned to say to her once the children were in bed. He knew he had to give her some sort of answer. It wasn’t fair to keep her in limbo the way he had.

  After the girls were in bed for the night, he sat down at the table with her. “I think I’ve come to an answer to your question for me.”

  She thought for a moment about pretending to not know what the question was, but she decided that was beneath her. She wanted a little extra time before the inevitable, but she also knew this whole discussion was difficult for him. “What’s the answer?” she asked.

  “I want to court you. I think we should take the normal time a couple would have before marriage and get to know one another better. We will decide after that what kind of marriage we should have. It may stay just like it is depending on how we feel about each other at the end of our courtship. We may decide to court a little longer. We may decide that we want a real marriage.”

  “What kind of time frame are you thinking about?” she asked. It sounded to her as if she’d still be in a state of not knowing where the future would take her. She needed to get out of the position of uncertainty she was in.

  He shrugged. “I was thinking just a week or so? Unless we decide we need longer.”

  “And how do you propose we have a courtshi
p with two small children?” That was her real question. How could they possibly court with Millie and Mary around?

  “Would Ida be willing to watch them? We can go for drives with the girls, or we can do things without them. I’m all right either way. We also have time after they’re in bed every night.” He covered her hand with his. “Will you let me court you, Maddie?”

  “It seems odd to be courted by my husband, but yes, you may court me. We’ll see how things go.” She hated that she was still uncertain about what her future would hold, but at least they were making an effort to decide things.

  He smiled. “Good. It will let us know if we’re a good match.” He looked around the small cabin. “If we were courting, I’d take you for a walk. But with children in bed, we could walk around the outside of the house a few times and just chat. Of course the ground is muddy from the recent snow melt . . .”

  “There’s a bench outside in back. We could sit there, and if one of the girls cries, we’d hear her.”

  “Brilliant idea.” He stood and offered her his arm, still feeling a pang of guilt every time they touched. How would his Sally feel about him courting another woman?

  She smiled and took his arm, walking with him out the door and around to the bench. It was hard to believe there’d been such a hard snowfall only days before because it was lovely outside tonight. She was a bit chilly but didn’t want to go back inside for a shawl.

  They sat down, and she looked at him. “Do you enjoy reading?”

  “I do! It’s always been one of my favorite things. I particularly like the works of Dickens and Twain.”

  “I really enjoy Louisa May Alcott, and there’s a new author I’ve just read one book by that I believe will be a favorite. She’s a Canadian woman, and she’s written a beautiful story about a young orphan girl named Anne. I hope to introduce the story to our girls when they’re a little older.”

  He loved the way she said “our girls” as if she truly did believe they were hers as much as his. “What’s the name of the book? Perhaps I’ve heard of it.”