RNWMP: Bride for Theodore (Mail Order Mounties Book 0), Page 3

  She smiled. “Well, we got as far as Boston, and we were both staying in a hotel for the first time in our lives. We were way up on the fifth story, and the view was amazing. Anyway, your mom decided we needed to go to a play, and she called to see what was in town. So we went to see a play. While we were waiting to be seated, she struck up a conversation with a stranger.”

  “I’ve asked her to stop doing that! In this modern age, you never know what can happen. Maybe it was safe to do that when she was a girl, but it scares me nowadays. And in Boston of all places!”

  “I know! Anyway, this stranger told Miss Hazel that she matches up women from the East with men from the West, and sends them off to marry as mail-order brides. The next thing I knew she told me I was going to marry you. I tried to talk her out of it. Mrs. Tandy tried to talk her out of it. But you know your mother. She wouldn’t listen. I finally told her I’d agree if she got your permission, which is why I thought you knew.”

  “I wondered why she worded her letter so strangely. She said, ‘Do I have your permission to bring my traveling companion with me when I come to visit you?’ Of course I said yes. I’m not an ogre!” Theodore shook his head. “We’ve both been fooled by her.”

  “Your mother is a force to be reckoned with. Everyone is afraid of her.” Jess took a sip of her water. “They all kowtow to her.”

  “Not you.” He could see that her character was made of stronger stuff than that. She was…special.

  “No, not me. Though I did let her talk me into coming out here with her. Maybe between the two of us, we can convince her to give up and let us go about the rest of our lives unencumbered by a spouse.”

  He smiled. “Maybe I should introduce you to my friends. Five Mounties live here, not just one.”

  “That sounds good to me. I don’t fancy the idea of going back to Ottawa.” She knew she’d never marry anyone else, but if he wanted to introduce her around, she wouldn’t say no.

  3

  Jess woke the following morning, and felt the sadness wash over her in waves. She was close to Theodore once again, but he’d rejected her. Proximity didn’t matter at all. He had no desire to even be around her, let alone marry her.

  She got out of bed, washed her face, and dressed quickly by the thin light coming in through the closed drapes. She hoped she hadn’t slept too late, because she needed to get breakfast made. She went into the kitchen and started a fire in the stove, mixing up enough pancake batter to feed a small army.

  As soon as the batter was mixed, she removed bacon from the icebox, and she sliced off piece after piece. If she had the bacon done before anyone was there for breakfast, she could easily make a few pancakes at a time.

  She had been certain the night before that Miss Hazel wasn’t really sick, and had only wanted her to be alone with Theodore, but now she wondered. The older woman was always awake and fidgeting in the kitchen before she woke.

  Putting the coffee on, she made the first four pancakes, because she didn’t want anyone to be hungry for a moment longer than usual, and flipped them onto a plate, putting a plate over the top to keep them warm.

  Thirty minutes later, she had a small mountain of pancakes, and was relieved to hear a knock at the door. She didn’t want to keep cooking and have no one arrive. Theodore had said the night before that all the men would be there for breakfast.

  She rushed to the door, averting her eyes and blushing when it was Theodore. Would she ever get over the embarrassment of thinking he actually wanted to marry her, when he’d really only agreed for her to come as his mother’s traveling companion? “Good morning,” she said as brightly as she could.

  “You’re up! Good. We’re ready for breakfast anytime you are.” He rubbed his stomach. “I know it sounds like we’re only happy you’re here for food, and that’s not true, but we’re very glad you’re feeding us.”

  Jess smiled at him. “Breakfast is ready. Come in!”

  Theodore waved his hand, and four men appeared behind him. “We’re awfully eager to have a breakfast without broken eggshells in it.”

  She opened the door wide and watched as five men traipsed into the room. They were all quite young—around Theodore’s age, give or take a few years. All of them wore the bright red coats of their profession, but each one removed the brown Mountie hat he wore as he stepped into the small house.

  Jess frowned as she watched them. The cabin wasn’t really big enough for five Mounties and two ladies, but she figured they’d make it work. Hurrying to the stove, she served up the pancakes, bacon, and coffee she’d made. “I thought you might want pancakes this morning.” Theodore had mentioned how much he’d missed his mother’s pancakes and how he couldn’t wait for her to cook breakfast at least six times at supper the night before.

  “What gave you that idea?” Theodore asked with a sly grin.

  Jess was startled to hear herself laugh. She’d thought she’d never be comfortable around the man, but here she was, laughing at his jokes. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

  Three of the men automatically sat on the floor as she gave them their plates and coffee. They didn’t complain, and acted as if they would sit anywhere for the food Jess was providing for them.

  After she’d served the last man, Theodore nodded to the remaining chair. “Sit and eat with us. You’re not here to serve us, though we’re all mighty happy you’re cooking for us.”

  Jess took a seat hesitantly. It felt strange to eat surrounded by men in uniform. After one of the men said a quick prayer for all of them, Jess turned to Theodore. “Will you introduce me to your friends, please?”

  “Yes, of course.” He gestured to the man beside him. “This is Joel. He’s the commanding officer of our unit. We were in the same training class at the academy.” Then he pointed to the three men on the floor, sitting in a row with their backs against the wall. “On the left is Kendall, the newest man in our division. In the middle is Elijah. And on the right is Nolan. Be careful of Nolan. He eats three times what the rest of us do, and he’s still always hungry.”

  Jess eyed the lean man curiously. “That can’t be true!”

  Nolan shrugged. “I’m afraid it’s very true, miss. I can’t seem to stop eating.” He held his empty plate out to her. “In fact…”

  Jess laughed softly, taking the plate and walking to the stove where she piled another four pancakes on it. “Don’t get up. Do you want butter and syrup?”

  “Please!”

  She carried his plate back to him, noting that everyone else had only eaten a few bites. “Let me know if you want more.”

  “These are the best flapjacks I’ve ever tasted,” Elijah told her, a curl hanging over his forehead. Jess couldn’t help but wonder if he knew how young the curl made him look.

  “Thank you. I do enjoy cooking.” Jess would happily cook for all of them the entire week. “If you’ll tell me what you want for supper tonight, I’ll get started on that as soon as I can.” She planned to give the cabin a good scrubbing while she was there, simply because it needed it.

  The men each seemed to be considering her words. “I’d like pot roast,” Theodore finally said. “That okay with you men?”

  “And a lot of it!” Nolan said enthusiastically. He seemed to realize how rude he’d sounded and bowed his head for a moment. “Please, miss.”

  Jess laughed. “Call me Jess. My full name is Jessica, but Jess is what my older brother called me when I was little, and it just kind of stuck.”

  Nolan smiled. “I like it. Thank you for making such a wonderful breakfast, Jess. Is there more by any chance?”

  She realized all the men were looking at her expectantly, and she smiled, got to her feet, and served them all more of the pancakes. She’d have to make a few more for Miss Hazel when she finally emerged from Theodore’s bedroom.

  The men chatted about what their plans were for the day. Joel looked at Theodore. “Are you still planning on staying in town and me taking your rounds while your mother is in to
wn?”

  Theodore nodded. “I’d prefer to be on rounds, but I can’t leave my mother and the lovely Jessica by themselves.”

  Lovely? Did he just call me lovely? “You only think my food is lovely,” she murmured under her breath.

  Theodore looked at Jess. “Do you think I’m blind? Of course, I think you’re lovely. You always have been. Even when you were a little girl skulking around the playground you were pretty. We all talked about how beautiful you’d be. Why haven’t you married yet?”

  Jess blushed, feeling all five sets of Mountie eyes on her. “I’ve had a few men interested in being my suitors, but…no one ever was quite who I was looking for.” She ate her last bite of pancake without meeting Theodore’s eyes and walked to the basin. She poured hot water from the kettle on the stove into the basin and began washing the dishes.

  The men continued to talk behind her, and she could feel Theodore’s eyes on her, but she just kept washing the dishes. She didn’t really want to have a discussion with him about why she was unmarried. He was the reason. He would always be the reason.

  The men brought her their plates one by one, each of them thanking her for the meal. Theodore was last, and he lingered for a moment after the other men had left. “Would you allow me to show you around town later?”

  Her heart screamed yes, but she couldn’t. Not just yet. She had to make sure he wasn’t toying with her affections. “What about your mother?”

  “I’m sure Mom’s all right. She’s just not used to the kind of travel she’s experienced in the past few weeks. She’ll need a couple of days to recuperate, and we should stay out of her way.”

  “Why?”

  “Why should we stay out of her way?” Theodore frowned. He didn’t understand what she was asking.

  “Why do you want to take me for a walk? You’ve made it very clear you’re not interested in having anything to do with me.”

  “That was before I tried your cooking,” he said with a laugh. When she didn’t grin in response, he sighed heavily. “When you got here, I recognized you as a girl I didn’t have exactly fond memories of. And then Mom announced she’d brought you here to marry me. Even if I had fond memories of you, I would have been angry at her presumption. I was rude, and I’d like to make it up to you by taking you for a walk.”

  She stared at the dishes for a moment before finally nodding. “All right. I’ll walk with you.” She didn’t know if she was agreeing to a walk around the town or the chance for him to court her, but either way, she’d have memories. Memories she could live her whole lifetime on.

  “I take an hour for lunch at noon every day. If lunch is ready when I get here, we could walk after.”

  “Why don’t I make up a picnic for the three of us?” Jess asked softly.

  “Three of us? Well…if my mother really wants to come, she can, but…I’d rather spend a little time alone with you.”

  Her eyes flew to his. “You would?”

  He nodded. “I definitely would. It’s not every day we get a beautiful young lady here in town.”

  “And you’d like to start a flirtation before you put me on a train and send me back from whence I came?”

  “Something like that.” Theodore picked his hat up from the table and walked to the door, stopping to turn and look at her for a moment, standing there washing dishes at his basin in his tiny little cabin. Why did seeing her there feel so good?

  When Jess realized he was watching her, she turned to give him a questioning look. He tipped his hat to her and left, closing the door firmly behind him.

  Jess smiled a little. She knew Miss Hazel hadn’t had a chance to talk to him, so maybe he just liked her. She put her hand over her heart to still it, sopping herself because it was covered in soapy water. No matter. Dresses dried.

  She all but danced about as she finished the dishes up and cooked one more plate of pancakes for Miss Hazel. She’d start on the floors in a little while. She was going for a walk and a picnic with Theodore Hughes—the only man she would ever love.

  Theodore hung his hat on the hook in the Mountie office, taking his seat at the desk and frowning at the stack of paperwork waiting for him. One of the Mounties always stayed in the office, both because they wanted someone on-hand for an emergency, but also because there was always paperwork. They all dreaded it.

  Theodore leaned back in his chair, his eyes gazing out the window for a moment. Jessica Sanderson. Who would have ever thought he could want to spend time alone with Jessica? Not him.

  He smiled to himself. Her cooking was far superior to any he’d ever eaten. Her manners were impeccable. And she was a beauty. Every time he looked at her, his heart beat faster. It had been all he could do not to kiss her while she’d done his dishes. Who kissed a woman while she was washing dishes with his mother just in the next room? Not him. But he’d wanted to. Oh, how he’d wanted to.

  When Miss Hazel finally emerged an hour after all the men had left, Jess looked at her in surprise. “It’s half past eight, Miss Hazel! Are you feeling all right?”

  “I’m just travel weary, child. What made me think I could make it all the way around the world?”

  Jess studied the older woman, but she didn’t look tired. No, she looked like she’d been awake for a long time. “How many chapters did you get read before you came out?”

  Miss Hazel’s eyes danced mischievously. “Only three. The men sure seemed to like your pancakes. You didn’t think to save me any, did you?”

  Jess shook her head at the older woman’s deviousness. “On the work table, next to the stove. Would you mind washing your own dishes? I want to give this cabin a good spring cleaning before we go.”

  “I don’t mind a bit. I don’t believe I’ll help with the spring cleaning though. I think Theodore will be more impressed when he realizes you did it all yourself.”

  “Theodore doesn’t want to keep me, Miss Hazel. He’s made that very clear.”

  “Maybe he has, but I heard him ask you to go with him on a walk today. And you’re making a picnic. He was quite clear that he didn’t want me to go!”

  Jess frowned. “Were you eavesdropping?”

  “Of course I was! I also could see on his face that he really wanted to kiss you. Why, I think if I hadn’t been in just the next room, and you hadn’t had your hands soaking in soapy water, he’d have swept you into his arms and kissed you right there and then!”

  “He would not have! We’re not courting. He’s just showing me around town.” The blush on Jess’s face belied her words. She’d felt something between them as well, and it hadn’t felt one-sided as it usually did.

  “Oh, pshaw! What are you wearing for the picnic? You have that beautiful white day dress with the blue ribbon running along the bodice and the hem. That would be perfect, don’t you think?”

  “Oh, but I wanted to wear that when I—” Jess stopped talked, turning her back to the older woman as she fussed with using the dust cloth in her hand to chase away a couple of cobwebs.

  “When you married my Teddy? But I thought the wedding was off? Why have a pretty dress if you’re not going to wear it?”

  Jess was glad she couldn’t see Miss Hazel’s face, because she could hear the self-satisfaction in her voice. “I think I’ll wear my mint green day dress. It’s brand new, and it seems just the thing to wear for a picnic. And I have a bonnet to match. I’m going to wash all the bedding later, so I’ll have to hunt for a clean quilt for us to sit on.” She walked to the door, still keeping her back to the older woman and shook out her cloth. “Would you like me to fix your lunch as well?”

  “I would adore that. In fact, I think I’m going to let you do the cleaning and cooking by yourself. I want to know what’s going to happen to that wicked Mr. Darcy!” Miss Hazel had a huge grin on her face as she tucked into her breakfast. Whether or not Jess knew it, she was about to be her daughter-in-law. Nothing would make her happier. Except maybe grandbabies, and they’d only be a matter of time. Who didn’t want grand
babies, after all?

  4

  Jess cooked up a big ham, and she used that for ham sandwiches for the picnic. There was enough left that she could make some lovely omelets for breakfast for all the men the next morning. She left a sandwich with some of her potato salad in the middle of the table as she packed up a basket with lunch. It was obviously a basket used for marketing, but she knew it would work for a picnic just as well.

  She called out as she left, “Your lunch is on the table, Miss Hazel! I put a pile of mending out for you as well.”

  “That’s fine, dear! We’ll do the mending together.”

  Jess shook her head. As much as she loved Miss Hazel and knew the older woman loved to take care of her boy, she was shouldering all the work. Jess liked to work, so it didn’t bother her, but it did surprise her that Miss Hazel was shirking.

  She walked toward the Mountie office and enjoyed the quiet of the street. There were few people out and about. It was a quiet little town, and just the opposite of what she was used to in Ottawa, but it was a welcome change.

  Jess stood for a moment outside the door to the office, wondering if she should just walk in, but she decided it was a place of business. A knock would be conspicuous and out of place. She opened the door to find Theodore leaning over his work, his dark hair falling into his eyes. He needed a haircut.

  She cleared her throat. “Constable Hughes?” She felt like she was being too formal when she referred to him that way, but he hadn’t yet asked her to call him Theodore…or Teddy. She always thought of him as Theodore, but Miss Hazel insisted upon calling him Teddy. She couldn’t help but wonder which he would prefer from a woman he had almost kissed at a dish basin.

  Theodore looked up, his green eyes flashing. “Jessica. Thank you for coming to rescue me from my paperwork!”