by Sky Winters
Footsteps and other indistinct sounds could be heard on the other side of the door, and Anna leaned back on her heels and willed herself to be patient. As she waited, her gaze wandered to the right, and it was there that she spotted a barn through the trees. There was also a long fence that surrounded it and the large valley behind it. In the back of her mind, she wondered what the sky looked like from that open valley—no trees cluttering her view.
The door opened, making Anna jump and look forward. The man before her was tall and bearded, his green eyes so vibrant that she was mesmerized by them.
“Yes?” he said, eyeing her.
She jumped again and blushed. “Oh, hello. I’m Anna McLeary.”
He continued to stare at her.
“Your new bride?” she said. Nervousness and embarrassment jittered through her. “You are Earl Smith, aren’t you?”
His eyebrows shot up. His facial muscles went slack for a second before he clenched his teeth and narrowed his gaze. “I would have received notification of your arrival if that was true.”
“You didn’t get a letter from…” Anna realized she didn’t even know the man’s name from that office back home. Panic constricted her lungs, quieting her voice. “From the office?”
“What?”
She flinched. “He said you were looking for a wife and that you were having a difficult time finding one because you live in the middle of no—” She stiffened when Earl deepened his glare. “Here. Because you live here, which I think is lovely.”
“Look,” Earl said, his lips curling downward as he spat out the word, “I don’t trust easily. Now, if what you’re saying is true, then a letter will come to me to prove that.”
Anna relaxed. “Yes, exactly.”
“So you won’t mind sleeping in the barn until that happens.”
“Of cour—wait, I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t care that you’re a woman. I don’t trust you. I don’t even know your name.”
“Anna McLeary.”
“Nice to meet you, Anna. Are you willing to sleep in the barn for days? Weeks?”
Anna thought about Mr. Marino. “Yes, I am.”
Earl cocked an eyebrow. “Is that so?” He made a noise of thought. “Well, then, you won’t mind doing some work around the barn, too. To pay for your keep while you’re here.”
Again, Anna thought about Mr. Marino. “Are you going to beat me? Threaten me? Have your friends hurt me?”
A look of disgust flashed over Earl’s face. Then he sneered at her. “What if I do?”
“Then I’ll leave.”
A silent moment past between them, Earl still sneering at her and Anna waiting patiently for him to do something horrible. She wasn’t really worried though—she couldn’t imagine anyone being worse than Marino—and Earl obviously noticed that. Clearly annoyed, he huffed and leaned back.
“Fine,” he said. “You can stay in the barn and work for your keep until I get that letter that may or may not show up here.”
“It will,” she said, smiling with triumphant.
He rolled his eyes. “Wait here.” He slammed the door in her face before she could respond.
“Sure thing,” she muttered, sagging a little with relief and exhaustion. This man was going to be more troublesome than she thought, but again, as long as he wasn’t Marino, she would manage.
When Earl opened the door again, he had a few blankets in his arms and he was walking past her and toward the barn. “Come on,” he said, sounding annoyed.
Anna grabbed her bag and did as he instructed.
Chapter Three
The following weeks were awkward and grueling as Anna struggled to learn how to milk each cow, how to clean the horse’s stall, and how to deal with a chicken who kept eating its own eggs. She had never done any kind of work outside when she was in New York, and her lack of experience was obvious. Earl griped at her when she didn’t complete a task quick enough—when she wasn’t working hard enough to earn her grip.
A sense of loathing was starting to build up within her—due to her own sense of feebleness and to Earl’s harsh behavior—but she still felt better here than she had in New York City. Earl never went near her, much less laid a hand on her. If the worse he did to her was complain and criticize, she would be fine. And, whether Earl wanted to acknowledge it or not, she had been getting better at handling the animals—at outside-work, in general.
When the letter arrived, Earl actually looked surprised and guilt-ridden. Standing before her in the barn, he held the letter by his side and blew out a breath. “You weren’t lying.”
She glanced between his face and the paper he held. “I wasn’t.” Behind her was the pile of hay and blankets she had been using as a bed the past couple of weeks. Beside her feet was her bag, half-opened and stained with various brown spots now.
She didn’t want to think about what those brown spots were made of.
Earl pressed his lips together in a thin line and glanced at her bag. “Well…we should get married then. I know the church in town. We can get it done in a matter of days.”
“Oh,” she said, disappointment tainting her sense of validation. She hadn’t expected love-at-first-sight, but a little romance would have been nice. “Alright. That would be nice.”
Earl scratched the back of his neck. He seemed to sway toward her a bit before he turned and picked up her bag of dirty clothes. “Sorry,” he said quietly, sounding as if he was spitting out the word. He hesitated, his eyes glued to the bag in his hands. Then he swiftly walked toward the barn doors. “I’ll get things ready for our journey into town.”
She smiled at his retreating form. Romantic or not, this was progress, and she could appreciate that. He no longer saw her as a suspicious stranger, trying to swindle him, but as his fiancé. He was being polite now, even if it did look it pained him to be that way. Again, he was much, much better than Marino.
“You coming?” he called back to her. He stopped right in front of the large barn doors and turned to her.
“Am I allowed inside your home now?” she asked, crossing her arms. Appreciative or not, she still wanted to revel in this moment for as long as she could; it felt like a victory of some sort. A playful smirk widened her lips.
Earl sighed. “Yes, you are allowed inside the house. Again, I’m sorry about…everything, I guess.”
She walked to him and, for the first time, patted him on the shoulder. “How very kind of you.” She continued forward, feeling confident and triumphant with each step she took.
Earl grumbled as he followed her back to the house. She nearly laughed at some of the strange things he said, the twang in his dialect amusing her immensely. She wondered if she had a city accent that he found funny, but decided it was better not to ask. She finally had some leverage over him now, and she didn’t want to ruin it by having him explain to her why she sounded funny to him.
“You don’t want a fancy wedding, do you?” Earl asked as they grew closer to the cabin.
She snorted. “No, not at all. I just want to make sure I will always have a roof over my head and access to food. The ceremony that provides that certainty does not need to be ‘fancy.’ For me, it just needs to be done. Is that fair?”
Earl nodded. “Yes. That is fair.”
A kind of peace settled between them, making Anna feel reassured and secure. She was convinced that the hardest part of this arrangement was over.
As expected, their wedding was very small, the pastor and the guests acting out of ceremony more than familiarity. These townspeople had seemed to recognize Earl, and they had agreed to attend and help him with his impromptu wedding, but they acted as if they were surprised to see Earl was even alive. And they barely looked at Anna, even when she walked down the aisle in her cheap white dress. It made the entire ceremony very awkward—everyone distant and weary of…well, of her and Earl, Anna supposed. She couldn’t be sure since no one was telling her anything.
However, as uncomfortable an
d confusing as all of that was, the worst part was Earl’s reaction as the pastor in between him and her read from the Bible. Earl’s expression had crumbled, his eyes wide and watering; he looked devastated, and it broke Anna’s heart. Regardless, she smiled through it, saying “I do” when the pastor told her to, and then kissing Earl before the married couple hurried out of the church and headed back home on the two horses they had rode into town on.
Following Earl through the forest on her horse, Anna reflected on these occurrences with a heavy heart. The sky was growing dark, as was the trim of her white dress. It was hard to care about these things though when Earl didn’t seem to want to care about anything. Or maybe he was caring too much about things, but why? Did those townspeople and pastor know why?
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” she asked over the loud footsteps of their horses.
Earl glanced back at her but said nothing.
“Earl, what’s wrong? Why was none of our…why was no one looking at me? Did I do something wrong?” She clamped her mouth shut after speaking those words. Though he had apparently trusted her enough to marry her, she knew she was crossing a line by speaking out like this. But, at the same time, a part of her didn’t care; she deserved to know what kind of life she had gotten herself into. “Earl?”
He slowed his horse and guided it to the side; this allowed Anna and her horse to move forward and walk beside him.
“I was married before you,” he said, his gaze forward. “And some of those people used to be her friends. And mine. But…I haven’t been into town since she—since my wife…” He clenched his teeth, his jaw twitching in response.
Anna’s breath hitched, her grip on the reins tightening. She honestly hadn’t expected him to be so open so quickly, and…and he had a wife? Remarkably, even though anxiety clawed into her torso, being here was still better than being near Marino.
“She died a year ago,” Earl said, his tone placid but his facial muscles tensed.
Anna nearly sighed with relief, but caught herself and held her breath instead. A bit of shame clawed at her for responding in such a way to the news of someone’s death, and she lowered her gaze.
“And I’ve missed her,” he continued, regaining her full attention. “Out here, by myself, loneliness got to me and I…I’m still not sure if marrying you was right. I…I promised her I would be hers forever, but…I can’t. I just can’t.” He bowed his head, a shudder passing through him.
A weighted calm settled over Anna, her shame fading and her respect for Earl growing. Seeing him be so sincere—so vulnerable—soothed away her earlier worries. Now it was her turn to do the same for him. “You saved me, you know.”
He finally looked at her, his eyes a pinkish hue. He was exposing so much of his emotions to her at once—it took her breath away for a moment, making her dizzy.
“I had a terrible life in New York City,” she said, surprised when her voice wobbled at the admission. She swallowed thickly in hopes to clear her throat. “A mob boss had raised me, treated me terribly…hurt me. You saved me from all that—given me a good, safe home. I don’t need to…to take your wife’s place, if that is what’s worrying you. I can just be a…a companion, who helps around the house. Nothing more.”
Relief washed over his expression, and he nodded.
The rest of their trip continued on in comfortable silence. The night air blew through the pine trees, making several pine needles fall through the branches and to the ground; it sounded a lot like rain, and Anna found that fact astounding. She had never been in a forest before, and she had never expected such a…a nice experience. Her lips quirked up when she realized she probably would have many of those in the future now.
When she and Earl were back inside his—their house, a very obvious issue came up when she blindly followed Earl to his bedroom. He stopped at the door and turned to her, his face alighting with shock and discomfort.
“Oh,” Anna blurted, stepping back and blushing. She was still in her white dress, though it was heavily stained with dirt and sap…or what she chose to believe was sap. “I didn’t—I mean—do you have another room? For me?”
Earl winced. “No. Not yet, anyway.”
Anna withheld a sigh and fought against her disappointment. “Alright. I’ll sleep in the barn for now until we get this settled.” She turned to go search for her bag, which she assumed Earl had put somewhere in the house, when he grabbed her wrist. She jumped at the skin-to-skin contact and gaped at him.
Earl immediately released her. “You shouldn’t have to do that. We are married.”
Her eyebrows shot up at the implication of his statement.
“Nothing will happen,” he said, rolling his eyes. “We can just sleep. I’ll be a perfect gentleman.”
Anna’s face became warm, thoughts and fantasies running wild in her mind. Her flesh flushed—burning with too much awareness of herself. She cleared her throat and nodded, trying to appear indifferent. “Sounds reasonable.”
Earl snorted. “Reasonable. Yes.” He walked into the dark bedroom.
Anna took a deep breath, hesitating a moment as nervousness seized her. She had never shared a bed with anyone before, much less a man. And she was still in her dirty dress, so…was she going to change in front of him? The thought made her face red.
“Anna?” Earl said from…somewhere in the darker room. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” she blurted, her throat constricting. She rubbed the place over her hammering heart and tried to think clearly. “I just…can’t see properly.”
She jumped again when she felt Earl gently grab her wrist. “Can I guide you? Will that be alright with you?”
Her widened eyes scanned over her own arm, down to her wrist and his hand. His grip was limp, his fingers ghosting over her skin—over her pulse. She was nodding before she could even think about it. “Yes,” she croaked.
He tugged her forward and led her into the blackness. Soon, her legs bumped into the bed, and as Earl kneeled down to it, she did, too. Together, they crawled beneath the covers and got comfortable. The bed was small, but Earl kept his distance from her as much as he could.
He didn’t mention that both of them were still wearing the clothes they had worn in the church, so she didn’t either. This might be the first time she ever slept in clothes rather than a comfortable nightgown, but she supposed it didn’t make that much of a difference. Her dress was scratching her and pressing into her in places that a nightgown never would, but...she released a frustrated breath. She doubted she was going to get much sleep that night, anyway.
“Thank you,” she whispered to Earl before turning away from him. She was still too aware of herself—her blood racing through her, burning her—but she was still…okay with this. If she was going to be awake all night, then this was the best situation for her to be in for that; she was simply nervous, not threatened.
“You’re welcome,” he whispered back, his breathy voice sending shivers down her spine.
Anna smiled, in spite of herself, and closed her eyes. She listened intently to Earl as he breathed evenly, his body moving the covers every so often as he shifted and stretched. And the longer she listened to him, the more relaxed she became.
She was fast asleep within the hour.
Chapter Four
Early the next morning, Anna gathered some eggs from the chicken coop beside the barn and then went into the kitchen and made breakfast. Since she was the wife of the household now, she figured she should be in charge of the cooking.
The cramped kitchen—adjacent to the front room of the small house—made the stove’s heat a little suffocating at times, but Anna tolerated the heat with determination. Her skin was coated with sweat by the time she had cooked everything, but she didn’t care; a hot kitchen would be a fantastic place during the colder times.
As she placed two plates of scrambled eggs on the table, her husband walked into the kitchen. His hair mussed and his eyelids fluttering a bit, he star
ed at the table with a look of disoriented wonder.
Anna couldn’t stop herself from laughing at him. “What? You didn’t know I could cook?”
“I didn’t expect you to,” he said, his attention narrowed on the eggs. He wandered over to one plate before taking a seat in front of it. His wooden chair wobbling, he grabbed the utensils already set on the table and began digging into his breakfast. “Thank you.”
She poured two mugs of coffee before bringing them over and placing them on the table. She smirked when Earl’s eyes snapped to the steaming cup beside his breakfast.
“You’re welcome,” she said.
“You know,” Earl said, talking around his bite of eggs, “if you’re able to focus on work in the house, I can do the barn-work by myself.”
Anna sat in her seat, a smile breaking out over her face. “Really? That would be terrific.”
Earl nodded. “Consider it done.”
“Good.” She took a small bite of her breakfast and swallowed. “I did not like working outdoors.” She brought her cup of coffee to her lips.
“Yeah, I noticed. You also weren’t good at it.”
Having been in mid-sip of her coffee, she nearly spluttered out the hot liquid as indignation flared through her. “I did well enough!” She lowered her coffee as carefully as she could, but the beverage still sloshed around from the motion.
Earl smirked at her, his eyebrows raising. “Well enough? I think you made one of my cow’s cry—you pulled that utter so damn hard.”
“That was my first day!”
“Really? I’m pretty sure it had been your nineteenth day.”
Anna shook her head, her lips quirking upward as he failed to hold back a chuckle. “Well, maybe I needed a better teacher.”
Earl’s smile widened, his eyes warm with amusement. He was truly a handsome man, and his handsomeness shone brighter when he smiled like that. She found herself feeling…happy—delighted, even—as she observed him. There was also a hotter sensation pooling within her belly, but remembering his wife, she did her best to ignore that feeling.
