by Sarah Banks
She hesitated. “A little.” That was a little white lie. After only eating half of her dinner last night she was absolutely ravenous, but whatever was cooking didn’t smell particularly appetizing.
“It’s porridge,” Thea warned, catching Jane trying to peer around Gabriel’s shoulder.
“It’s always porridge,” Brandon chimed in.
Jane glanced at Brandon who made a gagging face. She suppressed a giggle and excused herself as she went outside. After using the privy, she slowly walked back to the house, stopping for a detour at the cellar. The scene of the crime. She pulled out the board and opened the door as wide as possible shedding as much light as she could inside which still wasn’t enough for the large, cool space. Spying a lantern near the door she lit it and ducked inside. The cellar was about half full but very disorganized. She finally found the items she was looking for and quickly returned to the house.
“I hope it’s okay that I grabbed a couple things from the cellar for the porridge,” she said setting down some dried fruit, butter and brown sugar on the table. The brown sugar was dried out but she didn’t think it would make much difference when melted into the oatmeal along with the butter and dried fruit.
Gabriel looked at the items looted from his cellar, then her and then back to his plain porridge without a word. Jane went to the stovetop and scooped herself a bowl of porridge and poured a cup of hot coffee before returning to the table and taking a seat.
“Leave some for Jane, you pig!” Thea scolded Brandon, making a swipe for the sugar.
“Now, now, settle down you two, there’s plenty for everyone. Brandon, please pass the butter,” she asked. Jane added a generous amount of everything to her bowl and started eating.
“Mmm, it’s good,” Thea remarked.
“Really good,” Brandon agreed, his mouth full.
Jane would have to agree as well, swallowing a large spoonful and closing her eyes in pleasure. Much better than last night’s supper. When she opened her eyes Gabriel was staring at her. She couldn’t quite decipher his expression so she gave him a small smile and scooped up another heaping spoonful. She noticed his bowl was empty and he hadn’t added any of the fruit, sugar or butter.
He pushed his chair back from the table, the chair legs squeaking across the floor breaking the silence. “Time to get to work,” he announced.
“Aww, but I was going to have seconds,” Brandon complained.
“There’s not enough time for that. Work, then school.”
“Leave the dishes for me, I’ll take care of them,” Jane said, collecting their bowls, spoons and cups, stacking them. “Do you have lunch?”
“Just ham, apples and milk,” Thea informed her glumly.
“What’s wrong with that? It sounds good.”
“It’s what we eat for lunch every day,” she added, making a face. “Just like porridge for breakfast.”
Jane didn’t know what to say to that. She could feel Gabriel’s disapproving gaze boring a hole into her back. “Well, don’t worry about supper, I can make it.”
“You don’t have to do that Jane,” Gabriel said from behind her, closer this time.
She turned and gave him a brilliant smile. It was the first time he had used her name. She liked the way it sounded when he said it.
He looked confused at her smile.
“It’s the least I can do. Besides there’s nothing else for me to do while I’m waiting for the stage unless…”
“No, there’s nothing else. Supper’s fine.” He went to the pegs by the door and put on his hat and jacket. “Stay out of trouble and try to remember I’m not made of money.” He gestured both Brandon and Thea out the door before closing it behind him. Thea had given her a small wave and then they were gone.
Jane bit her lip, wondering what he meant by his parting comment. Perhaps she had erred bringing the sugar, butter and fruit from the cellar for the porridge. She thought it would be a nice addition. It certainly made the porridge more palatable. But she knew better than anyone what it was like scrimping and saving to make ends meet. She shouldn’t have taken those things without asking. Normally she never would, but her hunger had overwritten her usual common sense. She would be sure to apologize to Gabriel later.
For now she was on her own, probably until close to sundown and it wasn’t much past sun-up as it was. She had two days to do who knew what. She usually always woke up with a never-ending list of things to do. Jane slowly spun around in a circle. She would start with making the beds, washing the dishes and then finding something to make for supper later. After that, she would give herself a tour of the property since no one else was around to do it, as much as her leg would allow anyway, and maybe tonight she could go to the hot springs again.
∞∞∞
“You’re still here!” Thea exclaimed several hours later bursting inside the house.
“Of course I am, silly. Where else would I be?” Jane said from the sofa where she sat bent over some mending. She wasn’t as talented with a needle as her grandmother who had made all of their clothes growing up, but Jane could mend a rip or tear or loose hem well enough.
Thea bounced on the sofa next to her and Jane pulled the needle away just in time not to pierce skin and set the shirt aside. She smiled at Thea’s exuberance.
“How was school?”
“Fine. I still have some chores to do. Brandon’s already doing his. He sent me in to ask what we’re having for supper.”
“Bacon, eggs and biscuits.”
Thea flopped her head back on the sofa. “Again? But that’s what we had last night,” she complained.
“Yes well, there were a lot of eggs. They have to be eaten sometime. I wouldn’t want them to go to waste.”
“Yeah, we always have more eggs than we can eat. I take the excess twice a week on the way to school and sell them to the mercantile. They don’t pay much but it’s something. Gabriel lets us keep the money.”
“What a kind older brother you have.”
Thea nodded but still looked glum.
“Well, I’m not as good of a cook as my grandmother but I’ll try to improve on last night’s supper.”
“It’s not that Gabriel’s such a bad cook. It’s just that he always makes the same things and he’s always rushing so sometimes things are raw or burnt, usually burnt. I tried to cook once. Brandon said I almost burned down the kitchen, but he was exaggerating. See those marks on the wall behind the stove?” Thea pointed.
Jane turned and looked at the scorched wood. “Oh dear.”
“Gabriel won’t let me in the kitchen again other than to do dishes, even then he insists on boiling the water.”
Jane suppressed a smile and patted Thea’s shoulder sympathetically.
“It’s just that I’ve never had anyone to teach me,” she said in a small voice. “If I did, I know I could learn.”
Jane’s smile slipped. She knew she could be the one to teach Thea to cook if Gabriel truly had sent for her to be his wife. But as it was, she’d be gone, day after tomorrow. Jane changed the subject. “Did I mention I’ll be making blueberry cobbler as well?”
The girl’s eyes widened. “Really?”
Jane smiled and nodded.
Thea sniffed. “I don’t smell anything.”
“That’s because I haven’t made it yet. I didn’t trust myself to be alone with it. I have a bit of a sweet tooth,” she confessed.
Thea laughed. “So do Gabriel and Brandon. And okay, so do I.”
“It won’t take long to make. I’ll have supper and dessert ready same time as we ate last night. I promise.”
Thea jumped up from the sofa. “Okay, I’ll go tell Brandon. See you in a little while.”
“Okay,” Jane said, picking up the mending.
Thea stopped at the front door but didn’t make a move to turn the knob.
Jane paused mid-stitch and looked up. “Was there something else Thea?”
Thea slowly turned and leaned back against the do
or. “Well, it’s just that… Yes, um… Well, it’s your hair!” She finally blurted out.
“My hair?” Jane asked, her hand immediately going to her hair that she had coiled and pinned to the base of her neck. She had tidied the windblown tresses after coming in from her tour of the farm earlier. It felt as if it was still intact.
“Yes, I was wondering, well, I was wondering how you get it to be so shiny. Not like mine,” she said glumly, waving a hand toward her hair that was pulled back from her face in a messy ponytail.
“Well, I brush it every night before bed, one hundred strokes. I learned that from my grandma,” Jane said with a fond smile. “And sometimes I make a special conditioner, a recipe I got from her as well.”
“Oh.”
“Would you like me to make some for you?”
Thea clasped her hands together. “Would you?”
Jane nodded. “Of course. After supper. And if you like, I can trim your hair as well.”
“Trim it?” Thea repeated, her hand going to her hair. “I’ve never cut my hair before, except for when I got pitch in it two summers ago. Gabriel cut it out as best as he could but I still cried anyway.”
Jane gave her a sympathetic look. “I would just cut a little to tidy it up but only if you wanted me to.”
“Alright.”
“Alright,” Jane agreed with a nod. “After supper.”
Thea disappeared with a happy smile on her face that warmed Jane’s heart. She was rarely around children back in Tumbury. She only really ever saw them when she walked down the hill to the store. The youngest person on the estate had been the elder Mr. Tumbury’s daughter who had been around Jane’s own age and even though they grew up in the same house, they never played together or even talked to each other as children. It was another rule of the house and it had been strictly enforced by both Mr. Tumbury and especially Mrs. Tumbury.
Jane set aside the mending. That was enough for today. She had gotten through about half the clothes that had been on top of Gabriel’s dresser. She would finish the other half tomorrow. She hadn’t even looked for the children’s clothes that might need mending. After breakfast she had done the dishes and given the kitchen a more thorough clean. Then she had made the beds before venturing outside for hours.
She had gone to the barn hoping to catch a glimpse of Gabriel in his element but the barn was empty, nor did he return for lunch, so she introduced herself to the barn animals instead. She spent an inordinate amount of time with a trio of kittens she had found in the tack room. The mother kept her distance but an eye on her nonetheless while Jane petted and cuddled them. She even named them Gabriel, Brandon and Thea although she had no plans to tell that to anyone, especially Gabriel. It just seemed fitting on account that there were two males and a female and one of the males had a grumpy looking mouth.
After reluctantly parting from them she had gone for a short walk. She was tempted to make her way back to the hot springs, certain she wouldn’t get lost if she followed the path. She wanted to know what it looked like in the daytime but since she was planning to return there tonight, she thought it best to rest her leg for tonight’s exertion. It was feeling much better than today than yesterday and she knew it was because of the hot springs. Never had her leg been so sore one day and feeling almost like there was nothing wrong with it the next.
On her stroll in the late morning sunshine she had discovered an overgrown blueberry bush and returned to the cellar for a bucket that she filled half full, more than enough berries to make a cobbler for the four of them. She knew Brandon would like it and based on Thea’s excitement she had made the right choice.
She skipped lunch after eating such a large breakfast plus the blueberries she had skimmed from the bucket and spent the entire afternoon mending. There was only one more full day before it was time to go back to town for the stage and return east. She was already dreading it and so she decided she wouldn’t think about it and instead distracted herself by making supper for the family she would never have.
∞∞∞
“You’re a really good cook Jane!” Thea declared halfway through her blueberry cobbler.
“Thank you Thea. You would have loved my grandmother’s cooking. It all came so natural to her. She never measured anything. I finally insisted on writing down her recipes and she grumbled the entire time having to start measuring things so that I could get the recipes just right. But I’m so glad I did. Now I have a book full of them. And a piece of her.”
Jane snuck a peek at Gabriel’s bowl of cobbler. It was empty and she added another large scoop to it before he could protest. She wanted to reach forward and wipe her napkin against the crumb on his lip but she dare not do such an intimate thing. He already walked a wide enough berth around her as it was. She looked at him and tapped the corner of her own mouth. He immediately found the crumb with his tongue and swiped it away. She blushed and forced her eyes back to the children.
Brandon had devoured his first serving as well and was halfway through his second. He was almost half his brother’s age but he ate just as much.
“You should make us some of your grandmother’s recipes. I’d like to try them all,” Brandon said around his spoon.
“I don’t think there’s time for that. I’m only here for another day,” she reminded him gently. Avoiding Gabriel’s eyes she turned to Thea, “Speaking of the time Thea, it’s getting late. If you want me to do your hair before dark, you’ve got to take a trip to the hot springs first. I have a special soap for you to use.”
Thea pushed away her nearly empty bowl and jumped up from the table. Jane handed her the towel and soap she had set aside earlier and Thea practically ran outside.
“I’ve never seen her so excited to take a bath,” Brandon remarked, slyly sliding Thea’s bowl to his end of the table.
“Maybe she’s growing up,” Jane replied, retrieving Thea’s bowl and moving it a safe distance away. “Leave Thea’s portion alone. I have enough berries left to make a double-batch tomorrow.” She started to collect the dishes and was pleasantly surprised when Brandon helped her clear the table.
Thea was back by the time the dishes were washed and Jane retrieved the book of her grandma’s treasured recipes, flipping the pages until she found the one she was looking for.
“Ugh, stinks like vinegar,” Brandon complained from the table where he was playing cards with Gabriel.
“That’s because it is vinegar, amongst other things.”
Thea looked unsure. “Ignore him,” Jane said, leading her outside to the front porch where she brushed out Thea’s hair. It took much longer than she anticipated to get all of the tangles out. Then she produced a pair of scissors and trimmed just enough to even the length out. Afterwards she added the conditioner and wrapped Thea’s hair in a towel.
“Let it sit for about half an hour before rinsing thoroughly with cool water. Then come find me and I’ll braid your hair before bed. That’ll keep it from getting so tangled at night and it’ll be easier to run a brush through it each morning.”
Jane stayed on the porch because it was so peaceful and beautiful out, even at dusk. She was staring at the tall treetops gently swaying in the breeze when Gabriel joined her on the porch.
“You’re spoiling them.”
And he was trying to spoil her good mood but Jane wouldn’t let him. “Hardly,” she said dryly. “It’s just blueberry cobbler and hair conditioner.”
“They’re already treating you like a mother.”
“They are not,” she said, abandoning her seat on the top step and coming to her feet to stand before him, one hand on her hip. “Maybe more of a cousin that’s come for a visit. Besides, they weren’t advertising for a mother, they were advertising for a wife for you.”
He made a scoffing sound. “Except they’re growing attached to you and day after tomorrow, they’re never going to see you again.”
After his parting words Gabriel sauntered to the barn without looking back and she watched h
im the entire way. When he disappeared from sight, she stamped her foot. “Frustrating man! What am I supposed to do, ignore them?” She muttered. She couldn’t do that. She might have only known the children for less than two days but she already quite liked them, and she liked their stubborn older brother too, more than she cared to admit.
Chapter Seven
It was fully dark and everyone was abed by the time he caught Jane sneaking out of the house heading in the direction of the hot springs.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Jane barely managed to stifle her scream. She whirled, hands on hips.
“Gabriel Campbell, what do you mean by sneaking up on me and scaring the life out of me like that?”
Gabriel chuckled. It had been quite some time since someone used his full name like that and if she had known his middle name, he had no doubt she would have thrown that one in there as well.
“I wasn’t trying to scare you. Not exactly. Okay, maybe a little,” he admitted when he saw her glare. “But only because you practically thrust the opportunity right onto my lap. You walked right past me.” He pointed to a spot in the shadows where he had been sitting.
“Oh, I didn’t notice you there.”
“Clearly,” he replied dryly.
“What are you doing out here anyway? It’s late.”
He was waiting for her, not that Gabriel would admit it. When she hadn’t asked him to take her to the hot springs as he had expected, he figured she might get it into her head to go there on her own. He guessed right. She might be a woman alone in the world, but she seemed fearless. He ignored her question and asked one of his own.
“Where are you headed?” He asked, eying her towel.
She noticed him staring at the bundle she held. “Don’t tease.”
“Why didn’t you ask me? I would have taken you.”
“I didn’t want to impose. More than I already am, that is. Besides, you look tired,” she said softly.
“I’m always tired. It comes with the territory of running a ranch and raising two kids.”
