His Convenient Wife Page 14

  She’d never been particularly interested in the outdoor chores. Her pa and brothers spoke of them often while she was growing up, so she knew enough about them, which allowed her the luxury of only paying half attention. Her mind was mostly on the close proximity between her and Stan. He didn’t make it a habit of sitting this close to her when they ate at the table, but the blanket only allowed for so much space.

  And from time to time, his arm brushed hers. Too late she’d thought to suggest that Maggie sit between them. It was just another symptom of how flustered she got around him. No matter what she tried to do, she couldn’t think straight when he was near.

  Maggie finished eating before they did, and she turned to Harriett. “May I play?”

  “Oh, well…” If the girl left, then it’d be just her and Stan, and she wasn’t sure she was up for that, even if the meal had been pleasant so far.

  “Ate food,” Maggie said.

  “I’d like to talk to you,” Stan told Harriett, his voice coaxing her to allow the girl to leave so they could have some privacy.

  She had absolutely no resistance when it came to him. If he asked her to walk on coals, she’d probably do it. With a sigh, she relented. “I need to see you at all times, Maggie.”

  The girl jumped up and promised to stay close before she headed off to the grass where flowers were starting to bloom.

  “I have to admit,” Stan began as he reached into the box and took out another slice of bread and cheese, “I didn’t know what to expect when I adopted her. It was a scary prospect at the time. I was the youngest in my family, and I never took care of children before.”

  Realizing she had to say something, she collected the remaining blueberries on her plate and smiled. “It was an honorable gesture for you to adopt her.” And it was just one more thing she had loved about him, but she ate the blueberries before she added that.

  “Not a day goes by that I don’t wish my friend had lived,” he whispered then cleared his throat. “I don’t want to be morbid. I want this to be a good memory, something we can both look back on in years to come and say we’re glad we did it.”

  “It is a nice picnic.”

  A minute passed before he spoke up. “What do you enjoy doing?”

  “What?”

  “I was thinking the other day, and it occurred to me that I don’t much about you. I mean, I know who you are, and I know your family. But I don’t really know you.”

  Finally looking over at him, she asked, “You really want to know what I enjoy?”

  He set his empty plate in the box and nodded. “Yes. You’re my wife, and what you like is important to me.”

  She wasn’t sure how to take that since it could be taken a couple ways. While it would be nice to think he wanted to get to know her because he was truly interested in her, she suspected he was doing this out of obligation since she was, as he pointed out, his wife.

  Either way, she knew she had to respond. “I enjoy doing things that most women do, I suppose.” Except for her sister who loathed cooking and sewing.

  “I know I have a mother and two sisters, but I’m not really sure what that means. What do women enjoy?”

  She broke off a piece of her cheese and shrugged. “Cooking, sewing, cleaning—”

  “Cleaning?” He laughed. “I didn’t think women liked to clean. My sisters always grumbled when they had to do it. They used to threaten me and my brother within an inch of our lives whenever we came into the house after it rained or snowed.”

  Catching his teasing tone, a smile tugged at her lips. “I like how the house looks after I clean it. I don’t particularly care for the actual process of cleaning.”

  “I see your point, but I am wondering about something.”

  She swallowed her cheese. “Oh?”

  “Do girls and women ever make a mess?”

  “Sure, they do.”

  “Next time you see my sisters, would you tell them that?”

  Surprised he’d make such an unusual request, she forgot the rest of the cheese on her plate and turned her gaze to him. “You really want me to go up to them and tell them something so silly?”

  “Growing up, all I ever heard was how disgusting I was because they were always cleaning up after me. I tried to tell them they made messes, too, but they insisted girls weren’t gross like boys were.”

  “I’m not going to tell them any such thing because boys are gross compared to girls. I have a couple brothers myself, and I did three times as much work keeping up after them than I ever did going after Rose.”

  As soon as she said her sister’s name, she regretted it because she didn’t want him to remember he had to be with her instead of Rose. She ate the last piece of cheese so she wouldn’t say anything else to ruin the day.

  “It hardly seems fair to blame boys for messes,” he said. “I mean, if you enjoy cleaning because of how nice things look when you’re done, then aren’t we doing you a favor by being gross?”

  Fortunately, she swallowed the cheese right before he finished his ridiculous statement, for in the next moment, she burst out laughing. “I’ve never heard of anything more absurd,” she said once she could manage to speak.

  “I’m being serious.”

  “You’re being seriously daft.”

  Though he gasped, his lips curled up. “I’m not being daft. I don’t understand why women get upset about messes when they like cleaning.”

  “You know why.” Before she continued to argue the point with him, she shook her head. He was baiting her. That’s what he was doing. And worse, she was falling for it. “I didn’t realize you had such a mischievous side to you.”

  “I’m not mischievous.”

  “Yes, you are. If you tell your sisters I said I like to clean, I’ll deny it.”

  “You will?”

  “Of course, I will. No woman wants her brother or husband to intentionally make a mess for her.”

  “I don’t understand you women at all,” he replied. “It makes no sense that you’d get upset over something you enjoy.”

  She opened her mouth but then realized he was still baiting her. “I will not have this discussion anymore.”

  Chuckling, he scooted closer to her, this time his arm and leg brushing against her. Her skin warmed from the contact, and she thought about putting some distance between them. But she didn’t. Not only did it thrill her beyond her wildest expectations, but he probably didn’t realize what he was doing. And there was no sense in making him aware of how much he was affecting her.

  “What other things do you like doing?” he asked. “What do you do when you aren’t cooking, cleaning, or sewing?”

  She thought over his question. Unlike Rose, she didn’t care much for reading. Unlike Eli, she didn’t care to play the piano. Unlike Adam, she didn’t want to spend her free time carving things out of wood. She’d never given it serious thought, but it was quickly occurring to her that she’d spent so much time worrying about meeting the needs of others, she hadn’t taken time to think of what she wanted to do.

  “I don’t know,” she finally said.

  “You don’t know?”

  Noting the tenderness in his tone, she looked over at him. She didn’t realize his face was so close to hers. Surprised, she jerked slightly. Then, to cover up for her embarrassing reaction, she put her plate into the box. “I never thought about it. I just did what my parents told me to do.”

  “Are you telling me you never took time to play when you were a child?”

  “I played. My brothers, Rose, and I would chase each other and hide while the others looked for us. But those aren’t things I do today.”

  “No, and I don’t either, though it was fun back then.”

  A moment of silence passed between them, so she glanced over at Maggie who was humming to herself as she collected some flowers, even the ones that hadn’t bloomed yet.

  “I like flowers,” Harriett finally said. “I only planted them a couple times, but I liked it.
Flowers are pretty, and they smell nice. There’s nothing quite as lovely as the smell of fresh flowers first thing in the morning.”

  “There’s some space along the front and side of the house. I can get the ground ready for you, and we can get some seeds for the flowers you want to grow.”

  “You don’t have to go through all that trouble.”

  “I know I don’t have to, but I want to. Besides, it’d be nice to have some flowers around the house. It’d pretty things up.”

  Amused, she shot him a skeptical look. “I didn’t think men cared whether a house was pretty or not.”

  “Sure, we do. We just don’t want to be the ones to do it. Do you know how humiliating it’d be to tell someone that we planted flowers to make the place look better?”

  She giggled. “No, I suppose it’s not something men would do. But do they really like that kind of thing or are you being mischievous again?”

  “They like it. Granted, some like it more than others, but I think having a woman’s touch makes the house more,” he shrugged, “comfortable.”

  “Comfortable?”

  “It’s hard to explain, but the house feels more like a home ever since you moved in.”

  “It does?”

  “I’m telling you the truth.”

  “I didn’t say you weren’t.”

  “Not in words, but your eyebrows furrowed in the way it usually does when you have a hard time believing something.”

  She watched him for a moment, wondering if it was true, if she really did furrow her eyebrows when someone told her something she didn’t believe. But why would he lie about that?

  “I think it’s cute,” he said.

  This time when she was aware that her eyebrows furrowed, she reached up and touched her forehead.

  “I can’t believe you don’t believe me,” he said, chuckling.

  What she didn’t believe was the fact that he took the time to notice anything about her.

  He leaned toward her and placed his finger in the middle of her forehead. “You have two small lines that form right here.”

  She didn’t dare breathe until he stopped touching her. How she wished she didn’t feel like she’d swoon just because he smiled at her or touched her. If he picked up on her critical side, did that mean he knew when he made her tingle with excitement? Were all her feelings obvious to him?

  “Do you like horseback riding?” Stan asked.

  Tucking a stray hair back into the bun at the nape of her neck, she shook her head. “I’m not like Rose. I don’t like to get on horses.”

  His smile faltered a bit. “I know you’re not like Rose, Harriett. Do you think I’m comparing you to her?”

  She never should have said Rose’s name, but it came out without her meaning to—again. And this time he didn’t ignore it. Nor did he have to. She was the one who mentioned Rose. Why couldn’t she just stop? Feeling foolish, she started putting all the things from the picnic into the box, except for the blanket since they were still sitting on it.

  “Harriett, wait.” He placed his hand on her arm. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. The reason I asked if you liked horseback riding is because I was thinking of taking you out to see the land and animals. I thought it’d be nice to show you around. I can take you in the buggy if you’d prefer.”

  She relaxed, glad he hadn’t laughed or criticized her for reacting the way she did. “I’d prefer to go in the buggy.” She cleared her throat. “I can ride a horse, but I never cared for it.”

  “Then I’ll take you in the buggy. Would you like to go tomorrow?”

  “Will I be intruding on your work?”

  “No. I can do the chores before or after I take you out. It’s one of the benefits to working on the land.”

  Venturing a shy smile, she nodded. “I suppose it isn’t too much different from doing things in the house. As long as things get done, it doesn’t matter when you get to it.”

  “Yep.”

  Maggie ran over to them, her arms filled with an assortment of new flowers and weeds. Harriett couldn’t help but grin at the odd arrangement. Undoubtedly, the girl couldn’t tell the difference between them and had selected the ones most appealing to her.

  “Keep them?” Maggie asked.

  “Of course, we can keep them,” Harriett told her. “We’ll put them in a vase and set them in your room so you can be with them tonight.”

  “I don’t have a vase,” Stan interrupted.

  “Well, I’m sure we can find something,” Harriett replied.

  “There is an old container that will work.”

  He stood up and held out his hand to help Harriett to her feet. She hesitated for a moment, but then accepted it. Though he released her hand as soon as she was standing up, her hand remained warm long after they returned to the house.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Stan hitched the horse to the buggy the next morning after breakfast. Maggie followed him in the same manner she’d been doing for the past two days. Amused, he glanced over at her as he slipped the bridle on the horse.

  “Are you afraid if you let me out of your sight, I’ll disappear?” he asked.

  Her eyes grew wide as if she’d suddenly considered that an option. “Could you?”

  He chuckled. “No. No one can disappear. It’s just that you follow me all over the place. Don’t you want to spend any time with your ma?”

  “She boring.”

  “Boring?”

  The girl nodded. “Like being here.”

  “Oh.” So it wasn’t him, specifically that invited the girl’s interest. She just liked to be in the barn and with the animals. “You’re a lot like your aunt Emily. She used to go everywhere with your grandpa when he did his chores.”

  “Horses and cows fun.”

  “Yes, she thought so, too.”

  “Ride horse?”

  “You already do. With me,” he reminded her.

  “Alone.”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. You’re not old enough.”

  She stuck her lower lip out but didn’t argue. He couldn’t believe it. A month ago, she would have lain down on the ground and kicked and screamed. He wasn’t sure what caused the girl to start behaving better, but he was sure Harriett had something to do with it.

  A movement caught his eye, and he looked over at the barn door. A smile tugged at his lips. Harriett stood in the entrance wearing a lovely pink dress that brought out the color in her cheeks. At the moment, she was struggling with a knot in the strings of the white bonnet that matched the white ribbon tied around her slender waist.

  He hurried to finish up with the horse then went over to her. “Here, I’ll help you with that.”

  She looked up at him, and he caught the flicker of embarrassment in her eyes.

  “You have nothing to be embarrassed about,” he assured her as he took the strings and carefully worked through the knot.

  “You could tell I was embarrassed?” she softly asked in a way that made his skin warm with pleasure.

  Ignoring the sensation, he chuckled. “I’m afraid so. But there’s nothing wrong with it. I like not having to guess what you’re thinking. It helps me know what to say.”

  “Oh?”

  He noted the worried expression on her face and tapped her nose, hoping to ease her fears. “I never realized you were so adorable.”

  Her face turned red, and he knew that was a sign of pleasure. His smile widened, glad he’d managed to do something to please her. When he finished untying the knot, he retied the strings for her.

  “There,” he said when he was done. “Perfect. You’re a pretty woman, Harriett.”

  Then, before she could pick up on his sudden wave of nervousness, he put his hand on the small of her back and led her to the buggy. Maggie was already sitting in the seat, so all he had to do was help Harriett in. He took her hand, noting how soft it was. Usually, Harriett wore gloves, but he suspected she saw no reason to dress so formally when they were just going
for a ride on their land.

  She sat down, and it was with reluctance he let go of her hand. He wasn’t sure what it was about touching her that appealed to him so much, except maybe it was because it seemed to establish a connection between them that words couldn’t. At any rate, he supposed the reason didn’t matter. She was his wife, and he had the rest of his life to touch her, and that was something he was looking forward to.

  After he got into the buggy, he released the brake and tapped the reins to urge the horse out of the barn. “I think winter is officially over,” he said, glancing past Maggie, who was in the middle, so he could get a good look at Harriett.

  Harriett turned her gaze in his direction, and her eyes widened again. She was such a curious thing. It almost seemed as if she had a hard time believing everything he said.

  He led the horse by the house and slowed it to a stop. “I was thinking that these would be good areas for your flowers.” He pointed to the front and the side of the house. “The sunlight is best in these places. It should help them grow nicely.”

  “You really don’t mind if I plant them?” Harriett asked.

  “Of course not. Like I said, they’ll make the place look a lot better.” He looked down at Maggie. “What do you think of having a bunch of flowers around the house?”

  Maggie turned her big eyes to Harriett. “Can I help?”

  “Yes, if you want,” Harriett replied, sounding surprised.

  “She only wants to be with me when I’m with the animals and in the barn,” Stan told Harriett.

  “It’s fun,” Maggie said.

  “See what I mean?” Stan asked.

  “It is fun planting flowers,” Harriett began, “especially when you know how beautiful the place will look when they bloom. When they’re ready, you can pick them and have them in the house.”

  “My room?” Maggie asked, excitement in her voice.

  “Some, but I’d also like some in the kitchen or parlor.”

  The girl nodded, and that seemed to settle the matter.

  “My ma plants flowers,” he said. “I can get some seeds from her if you wish.”