Leather and Lace (Gold Sky Series Book 5)
Page 9
Family.
The one word was enough to make Mary ache and she drank up the steady feel of Alex’s arms beneath her hands. They were married, there was no undoing it, the entire town knew of their vows, and even if they were arranged it was quite enough for Mary. Tomorrow she would begin to mourn the loss. But tonight? She smiled up at her wife and felt her heart speed up at the flash of teeth Alex sent her way.
Why, tonight she would celebrate her marriage and her future.
Chapter 10
The wagon ride to Alex’s, no… their new home, Mary reminded herself, was pleasant enough. They were only ten minutes outside of town and she was happy to know she could make the walk if she so chose. She had never driven a wagon and wasn’t sure she could manage it, though when she expressed her fears to Alex the other woman had chuckled and told her they would ‘learn it together then.’
Together. Mary loved the thought of them doing anything together.
They entered the home, a respectably built cabin, single story with a small porch and a cheery yellow door. She liked that door. Mary also liked the simple but comforting feeling of the cabin. There were handwoven rugs covering the wooden floor and curtains to match the door hanging in the windows. She glanced about the entryway and saw there was not one but two overstuffed settees, a fireplace and a small bookcase full of books. Beyond that she saw what looked to be a combined kitchen and dining room. She paused, looking off to the right where there was a hallway, she took a curious step towards it before Alex spoke from behind her where she was bolting the door.
“The bedrooms and washroom are down that way,” she said with a nod of her head. “I can give you a tour now if you like. It’s a simple home but we have plenty of room to grow and build as we see fit. It’s too dark to show you the barn or the paddock really, but we can walk the land first thing in the morning if you like.”
Mary nodded but then paused. “You would allow me a say in how you build?” she asked.
“Of course. This home is yours as much as mine, I mean, for as long as you see fit to be married to me that is. It’s all your choice, Mary.” Alex gave her a smile and reached out catching her hand. “I’ll show you to your bedroom.”
Mary nodded and followed along, but she was turning over the words Alex had spoken. ‘All her choice.’ What precisely did the other woman mean by that? This was of course a favor to her and her unborn child but to hear Alex speak of it...well, Mary had questions. Questions that she hardly knew how to ask on their wedding night.
“It’ll have everything you need for now but if there’s anything you need write it down and we can order it this week.” Alex opened the door to reveal a well-appointed and neat bedroom. There was a canopy bed, a thick woven rug covering the wooden floor, a small plain bedside table holding a basin and pitcher, a chest of drawers, and a writing desk.
Mary walked into the room; arms wrapped around herself. It was more than enough; it was all perfect. And it was hers. “I love it,” she whispered. “Thank you but…” her voice trailed off, lips turning down in a frown as she looked over her shoulder to Alex.
“But what?” Alex asked from her spot by the door. She was leaning against the door frame, a hand on her hip, the other resting on the frame above her head. It was a fine picture and Mary pressed her lips together to stop herself from uttering something foolish. What it might be she couldn’t be sure but she had an inkling it would have something to do with her new wife’s current enticing pose.
She looked away and licked her lips. “Are you staying somewhere else?” she asked when they came to a stop in front of a door. She paused, daring to look in Alex’s direction. “I mean to ask where you’ll be sleeping.”
Alex’s brows knit together, and Mary nearly groaned at her clumsy enquiry. A more refined and skilled lady would have found a subtle turn to ask her question, not stumbled towards it as she had.
Mary cleared her throat and tried again. “What I mean to ask is, ah, is this all for me?” She gestured towards the bed and desk. “It’s all too much if it is”
“No.”
Mary’s heart leaped into her throat at Alex’s answer.
“No?” she whispered starting forward, the beginnings of a smile pulling at her lips. If her new wife meant to stay with her, then perhaps there was room enough for her to test the boundaries of their new arrangement. An arrangement that would not have to remain as such, one that could with care and a guidance blossom into more.
Into a relationship.
Alex gave a slight nod of her head and pushed away from the doorway. “No,” she said, “my room is just down the hall. You’ll holler if you need anything?”
Mary jerked to a stop. Alex’s clarification worked as surely as a bucket of cold water to cut through the haze of infatuation she’d been practically swimming in.
“Down the hall. Right, of course.” A nervous laugh escaped Mary and she wrapped her arms around herself with a tight smile. “That makes all the sense in the world. I cannot thank you enough for what you did for me. It means everything to me, Alex.”
“Of course, it would have been remiss of me to leave a lady such as yourself in such a predicament.” Alex raised a hand to her chest and dipped her chin nodding towards Mary. “I was powerless to resist, you know.”
“Ah, that makes perfect sense but once more, I must insist that you do not call me a lady. I am no such thing.”
Alex scoffed, the sound of it deafening in the quiet bedroom. She crossed the room until she was standing in front of Mary, each and every footstep she took forward causing Mary’s heart to pound faster and faster until she was sure Alex must hear the deafening beating of it. Mary watched her wife with wide eyes and the other woman reached out a hand, a fingertip brushing against an errant curl of hair. Mary let out a shuddering breath, eyes riveted to where Alex’s finger was gently twisting her hair round and round until she tugged the lock free from the fine hairstyle Alice Hill had painstakingly pulled her hair into for her wedding.
Both women remained silent as Alex raised her free hand and once more plucked a loose curl to work free from the rest. Alex took another step forward, the length of Mary’s skirts pushing up against her legs as she did so. Alex’s hand lifted and she buried her fingers into Mary’s hair, tugging gently. The full weight of Alex’s hand caused her eyes to drift closed, a content sigh slipping from her lips.
“You are as much of a lady as I have ever hoped to know, Minnie.”
“Then I fear you have a misunderstanding of what a lady is, but I will not fight you.” She opened her eyes and smiled at Alex. “That is, if I am your lady.” Her jaw snapped shut with an audible click and Mary moved, her feet carrying her away from the blonde. “I mean--ah, I am your wife, so it is, well, I mean if I am a lady then--”
“Then you are mine,” Alex finished for her.
“Yes, yours,” Mary replied, the words falling from her mouth far too quickly for her to have a prayer of stopping them. Alex held her gaze then, brown eyes burning into her and Mary wished she were braver. If she were then she might have crossed the room and thrown her arms around her new wife, she might have pressed her body close to hers, slanted her mouth to the other woman and taken what she wanted. As it was, Mary was not nearly as brave as she hoped and stayed where she was.
“I like the sound of that,” Alex told her. She paused, and for a moment Mary felt the wild hope that she might be the one to come forward flutter wildly in her chest. Though it went still when Alex moved away, her path taking her back, towards the door and most likely her room. That damnable place that was just down the hall and far from where Mary wished Alex to be.
“Goodnight, Minnie.”
“Goodnight, Alex.”
Chapter 11
Farm work was not for the faint of heart. There was nothing gentle about the hours kept on a farm, nor the work to be put in to collecting eggs, milking cows, putting down new hay in stalls, or lifting bags of feed. Mary looked up from the bucket into whi
ch she was currently doing her best to coax a respectable portion of milk, to catch a glimpse of her wife exiting the barn, a bag of feed slung over one shoulder.
After an earlier rise than Mary was accustomed to, the pair had shared a quick meal of oats and coffee, with tea for Mary as the smell of coffee had made her stomach turn. From there they had dressed quickly for the cool weather and Mary had been given a tour of the homestead and all of its inhabitants. She was delighted to learn that they were in possession of three dairy cows, five goats, six horses, and a goodly number of hogs and one sweet tempered barnyard cat. Not to mention all of the cattle. There were also the numerous laying hens Alex was now tending to.
Alex had done the lion’s share of the labor intensive work that morning but Mary was doing her bit, or at least attempting her best efforts which so far consisted of gathering the morning eggs, helping lay down hay---though Alex hardly let her finish a stall before shooing her out to rest, feeding the barnyard cat, and of course, learning how to milk a cow. Or at least, in theory. It turned out Mary was not a natural when it came to cows, but what she lacked in natural talent she made up for in determination. She gave a quick nod and set upon the cow’s udders once more but she had scarcely been at it for a minute or two when the poor creature she had been working on let out a less than pleased sound.
“I’m sorry, this is difficult for me as well,” Mary muttered trying to give the cow an awkward pet. Did one pet cows? She frowned and shook her head giving the animal another pet. “I’m sorry, I’m not good at this am I?” she asked, reaching again for the udders with a sigh. “But I promise that if you help me, I will finish quickly, and all I’m asking for is half a pail of milk, which is really hardly anything. Alex tells me you will feel so much better once I’m done.”
Mary continued on talking to the animal, head bent low, hands working into a semblance of the rhythm she had observed Alex execute with ease. How was it that she was so damnably bad at this? It should be that difficult, and yet, here she was trying to strike a bargain with a cow as the sun rose.
“What if I bring you two sugar lumps? Cows like those don’t they? An apple? Surely you like apples, it would be a lot tastier than the cud you’ve been eating. I swear it and--” she stopped speaking when a spurt of milk hit the side of her pail. She leaned forward to peer into the bucket to see that she had indeed managed to get milk, however slight, from the cow.
“That’s lovely!” Mary praised before she tentatively resumed her ministrations. She nearly wept when the cow continued to yield milk for her. “Oh, thank god, I thought I was going to have nothing to show for the morning. You lovely beast, you!”
“She’s prone to taking bribes, it seems.”
Mary smiled at Alex’s voice and continued working, though this time there was a slight lift of her head and she did her best to showcase her posture as difficult as it may be while milking a cow.
“Is she now?” she asked.
“Oh, yes, and she adores apples.” Alex came to stand beside the cow and gave its head a stroke. “Isn’t that right, Andromeda?”
“That’s quite the name for a cow as humble as this.”
Alex chuckled and leaned her head against the cow’s forehead giving it’s ears a scratch. The gesture reminded Mary of what one might do with a loveable dog or pet and she stopped milking to lean back to watch her wife. There was affection in her actions, not at all like what she thought a rancher would show their livestock, and it was a lovely sight to see.
“Who said she’s humble?” Alex looked away from the cow to Mary a jerk of her chin towards the stalls where the other cows were. “Why her sisters Medusa and Cassiopeia show that she comes from quite the storied background.”
“That’s quite an affluent group to socialize within,” Mary said and smiled, leaning forward once more to continue her task. “Perhaps I judged too quickly.”
“I would say that you did, but it is an understandable mistake.”
“Oh, is it?”
Alex lowered her voice and leaned closer to where Mary sat. “Oh, yes, the thing is that Andromeda is quite shy and does not disclose such facts about herself to new acquaintances. However,” she shrugged and smiled as she spoke, “for an apple she will perform or divulge a goodly number of secrets.”
Mary laughed and leaned back on her stool. Her task was complete, and the bucket was well over half full with milk. She had done well, and she smiled broadly up at Alex. “I see that I settled too easily if such things can be bought with a single apple.’
“It’s true. You did. But it is a common mistake. Now that you know, you may strike a better bargain, hmm?” She inclined her head and Mary felt her breath catch, whatever blithe reply she was about to make dying on her lips the moment the rising sun lit upon Alex’s hair. The honeyed golden hues of it were brightened and made warm, coming to life like firelight in the early morning and she blinked in surprise.
Who would have known that seeing her wife in such a domestic scene, one that was so utterly and completely common would render her speechless?
“Are you well?” Alex raised an eyebrow and lifted a hand, a beautifully formed hand to push back the hair that had fallen into her face.
“I--sorry?” Mary blinked and remembered to breathe. She steadied herself with a hand on Andromeda’s side and focused back on Alex to see that her wife was staring at her.
“You look as if you might faint.” Alex squatted down beside her and placed a hand to her cheek. “Is it the baby? Do you need to lay down for a spell?”
“I-well, no, no. I’m fine.” Mary swallowed thickly and pushed back, rising from the stool though every part of her body screeched at her to stay where she was, her body so close to Alex’s, the other woman’s thighs brushing her skirts, concerned hands on her face as they were. But this was not a marriage of love or even lust. It was one born of necessity and kindness. She would not take more than was offered to her, she would not, she would not, she would not.
And with a choked sigh Mary rose from her seat and gave her wife a bright smile. She raised the pail and motioned towards the house. “I’ll just see this in and then come back to deal with Andromeda and--”
“No, no,” Alex waved a hand and stood. “There’s no need to fuss. I’ll handle her. You put that away and stay indoors for a bit. I’ll come in and we can see to the list of things you might need to purchase.”
Mary stopped in surprise. “Purchase?”
“Yes, for the house. I reckon you’ll be inclined to set it up in a way that agrees with you.” Alex gestured at the barn and gave her a rueful smile. “I’m more inclined to the outdoors and the house may be lacking in comforts I hadn’t thought of.”
Mary bobbed her head and gave a quick murmur of thanks before she turned and hurried towards the house. It was only when she entered the home that she realized she hadn’t the slightest clue what to do with a pail full of milk.
“What do you mean ‘my accounts?’” Mary asked, looking down at the neat notebook of papers Alex had slid across the table to her moments before.
“Exactly what I said, Minnie. Your accounts. Inside you’ll find all the information you need to access your account at the bank, and there’s paper enough in there to keep an accurate balance. I’ll make deposits regularly and you are free to add as you wish to it. I have already sent word to the mercantile, grocer, bookstore and dress shop that you will be in today to begin your own lines of credit.”
“My own...lines of credit?” Mary felt foolish parroting every word Alex spoke to her, but it was almost too much to believe and she swallowed thickly at the news. Her mother had never so much as given Mary anything more than pocket money and only enough to buy a meal here or there. Her father had ensured Mary was set up with accounts but those had all been closed and lost to her with his passing. Her fingers touched the coarse material of the bank book and she could scarcely breathe as she flipped it open to find her name typed in neat script.
Minnie Pierce.
“I did,” Alex said and then she cleared her throat and gave her wife a pained look. “Ought I not to have? I mean….well, it’s just that I’ve thought of you as nothing else but Minnie,” she hurried on to add when Mary gave a slight sniffle, “but we can have it changed first thing to Mary. It’ll be an easy fix, you’ll see.” Alex pulled a handkerchief out and held it out to Mary with a grimace. “Oh, I’ve made a right mess of this haven’t I? I’m sorry, Min--Mary, please don’t cry. I’m an idiot and---”
Mary reached out, catching her wife’s hand and gave a quick shake of her head. “No, don’t say it like that.”
“Say it like what?”
“Mary,” she said, voice scarcely above a whisper and she sniffled past her tears as she spoke. “Call me Minnie. Please, Alex. I--that’s what I would have you call me.”
“Then why are you crying so?”
“These are happy tears.” Mary laughed when Alex gave her an unconvinced look. “I swear it.”
“Do you promise?” Alex leaned across the table and pointed a finger at her wife with a solemn look. “Swear it now, or I’ll have them change it.”
Mary gave a shaky laugh. “I swear it, Alex. I do. I love it. She raised the bank book. “I love this, and I-I would have you call me nothing else than Minnie. I swear it.”
Alex looked at her for a moment longer before she nodded and relaxed. “I’m awful when you take to crying. You’ll see. I’ve never been any good at it.”
“It’s only tears.”
Alex snorted. “To you perhaps, but I have no clue how to help or stop them. Tears are-are…”
“What are they?”
“Frightening is what they are.” Alex crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “You’ll never know the fear they strike into the hearts of good spouses across the world.” She clasped a hand to her chest in emphasis making Mary giggle.