by Fran Shaff
He touched his fingers to her mouth, stopping her words, and smiled at her. “If things hadn’t happened the way they did, I wouldn’t have had such an interesting way to pass this stormy confinement.”
She smiled back at him and pushed his hand away from her mouth. “Interesting?”
He touched her chin with his finger and drew back his hand. “Yes, interesting. Intriguing, in fact. Actually, down-right entertaining! How often does a man get drunk and end up married to a beautiful woman?”
“And not remember a thing about it!”
They laughed together.
Had he called her beautiful? Her cheeks burned.
He pushed a lock of hair from her forehead. “I can certainly think of worse ways to wait out a storm than being in the company of a lovely lady with long blonde hair and eyes the color of a July-blue sky.”
His flattery only made her cheeks hotter.
The whole room seemed suddenly warmer. Melinda decided to go the window closer to the storm outside so she could cool down the tempest raging inside her. This attraction she felt to Matthew was growing by the minute.
He followed her to the window and looked out. “As soon as the snow stops and the wind dies down, we’ll take the snowmobile to the county seat. It’s only a few miles from here.”
“I heard on the radio that all the county and state offices in the entire eastern half of North Dakota are closed. If you were thinking of checking out Sheila’s story to see if she really did fax a copy of the marriage license, we won’t be able to do that until the offices reopen.”
He looked at her and cocked a brow. “If the offices are closed when we’re ready to go, we’ll have to wait for them to open, of course. But I think we should be in the courthouse the moment the offices open. If we can intercept the fax Mom sent, if she indeed did send it, before it is officially received and filed we can put an end to this practical joke without any further damage or embarrassment.”
“You think we could pull that off?” His plan sounded both romantic and rather sleuth-like. “Wouldn’t it be illegal to take possession of a legal document and essentially steal it?”
“We wouldn’t be stealing anything. It’s our marriage certificate.”
Blast her racing heart! Her pulse throbbed more enthusiastically than ever when he reminded her once more she was married to this completely irresistible man.
She took a calming breath. “Matthew, this is so embarrassing,” she said, referring to their unusual situation…and also to her secret fantasies about really being married to him.
He rubbed his hand over his strong jaw. “For me it’s embarrassing,” he said. “Unbelievably embarrassing. For you it’s a terrible inconvenience.” He touched his fingers to her chin. “I am truly sorry, Melinda, for what my mother did. I swear she’s never done anything like this before. I don’t know what got into her.”
Those gorgeous eyes of his stared into her soul, and his gentle fingers against her chin warmed her clear to her toes.
What had he just said?
He dropped his hand. “I guess the lovely Ms. Sheila Pottaski wants me married even more than I thought she did.”
Melinda took a step back. She needed to put some distance between them before she blurted out something stupid--like maybe they should give their marriage a try…at least until the snowstorm subsided.
“Mothers are like that,” she said when she’d taken a few steps away from him. “My own mother has been nagging me to get married since I turned twenty-five.”
He grinned at her. “And you don’t want to be married?”
She chuckled and blushed at the same time. “I think I made myself abundantly clear last night. Obviously, I do want to be married. Why else would I be so upset about my sister’s wedding taking place before mine?”
“Do you have a fiancé? he asked tentatively
She shook her head. “I’ve been too involved in my work to become involved with a man.”
“Sounds like me,” he said, smiling at her. “I spend twelve hours a day six days a week at my body shop.”
“You fix cars bodies?” she asked, placing her hand over her chest. “I work on cars too. I’m a mechanic.”
“You’re a mechanic?” He gave her a skeptical look. “No way. You’re too beautiful to be a mechanic.”
She giggled like a teenager. “How a woman looks has little to do with her skills.”
His cheeks began to redden. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything negative by what I said.” He shrugged and smiled. “Most of the mechanics I’ve worked with have been paunchy or rail-thin guys named Rusty or Butch or Harvey. I’ve never worked with a mechanic who looked anything like you.”
The thorough examination he gave her sent her heart into overdrive once more. “Maybe you should,” she said, smiling. She hadn’t meant to say her coquettish thought out loud.
“Yes,” he said thoughtfully, “maybe I should.”
She turned away from him.
“Do you own your own business?” he asked.
She looked at him again. “Yes, I do. I opened my shop four…no, four and a half years ago.”
“That’s wonderful. I’ve been in business almost six years.”
“Excuse me,” Sheila called as she entered the room, “but I could use some help in the barn, Matthew. Would you mind?”
He looked at Melinda with a trace of disappointment in his eyes. Looking back at Sheila, he said, “No, Mother. I don’t mind helping.”
She nodded toward him. “Wonderful. You come along too Melinda. There’s plenty that needs doing.” She sent her a mischievous grin. “Maybe when we’ve finished working,” she said as she started to move out of the room, “the two of you could take a little roll in the hay.”
“You’re incorrigible!” Matthew shouted at Sheila’s rapidly retreating back. He looked at Melinda, his cheeks as rosy as a pair of ripe tomatoes. “I’m sorry, Melinda.”
The sound of the back door closing indicated Sheila had returned to the outdoors.
“Forget it, Matthew,” she said, waving away his apology and his mother’s colorful cliché--which she was certain was still hanging in the air.
He stepped toward her and pressed his hand to the middle of her back. “You’re wonderful to be so generous with her. She doesn’t deserve it, you know.”
“She deserves a lot more than generosity from me. I shudder to think what would have happened to me if you and your family wouldn’t have taken me in. I’ll never be able to repay you.”
“Don’t be too sure of that. When Mom finds out you’re a mechanic, she’ll have you working on every machine on the farm. She’ll keep you constantly busy until you’re able to leave if you let her.”
“She will?”
“Absolutely,” he said as they entered the kitchen. “Ever since Dad died she’s been without anyone to maintain the machinery in the way she thinks it should be cared for. She practically treats Dad’s tools and the machinery he left behind as though they were living beings, like they were an extension of him. That being the case, she’s very fussy about their care. Since she’s already terribly fond of you, she’s probably going to want to take advantage of having a mechanic available whom she can trust implicitly.”
“Thanks, I think. I mean, it’s flattering to hear that your mother thinks highly of me.”
Sheila, dressed in her winter gear, opened the kitchen door which led to the back porch and bobbed her head inside. “Shake a leg, you two. We’ve got a ton of work to do.”
“We’ll be ready in a minute,” Matthew said.
Sheila looked at Melinda and smiled. “We’ll find something for you to do, dear. I hope you don’t mind working for your keep. Everyone who visits works while they’re here. That policy cuts down on long-time visitors.” She wiped a drop of melted snow from her cheek. “Not that I don’t want you to stay a good, long while. I do. Daughters-in-law are always welcome, but they do have to work too.”
“I love to work,�
�� Melinda replied. “You just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
Sheila quirked a brow and sent another impish grin Melinda’s way. “Know anything about carburetors?”
Matthew chuckled.
Sheila waved a hand imperturbably. “Ah, I’m just teasing a little. I know you’re too pretty to know a spark plug from a manifold, Melinda, but that doesn’t mean you’re not as smart and as capable as anyone I’ve ever met.” With a flourish, she hustled out the door.
Matthew helped Melinda into her winter outerwear, put on his own winter coat and led her into the outdoors.
The Pottaski family and Melinda spent the remainder of the day working on various chores.
The storm subsided by evening, and Matthew and Derrik worked to clear the snow in the yard. The next morning Melinda and Matthew would attempt to go into town.
* * *
Melinda felt someone gently shaking her as she slept. She opened her eyes and saw Matthew looking down at her. “What time is it? Why are you waking me?”
“It’s about six, Melinda. We’ve got to leave within an hour if we want to arrive at the courthouse before it opens.” Matthew took her hand, and she sat up.
The memory of her marital predicament came rushing back to her. She brushed her hair off her face with her fingers. “Yes, of course. Thanks for waking me.”
Matthew sat on the bed next to her. “It is my pleasure.”
She looked up at him and tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. “What are you smiling at?”
“You,” he said, broadening his grin. “You are absolutely amazing. Not only did you get the tractor in tip top shape, fix the hydraulics on the scoop, and the hiss in the motor on the milk pipeline, you also managed to set Mother back on her heels with your mechanical prowess. She wants to hire you full time.”
Melinda ran her fingers through her hair and smiled. “I’m glad I could help.”
Matthew touched her cheek with his fingers. “And on top of all of your accomplishments, you manage to awaken in the morning after a very rough day looking as beautiful as ever.”
Her cheeks began to burn. “Matthew, don’t say that.” His intimate words made her uncomfortable. No matter how attracted she was to him, they were virtual strangers--even if they had a marriage certificate which indicated otherwise.
He drew back his hand and stood away from the bed. Mischief settled into his gorgeous, brown eyes. “But you are beautiful, Melinda. You’re so beautiful, in fact, that I have half a mind to dismantle the engine on the snowmobile so we can’t make our trip to the county seat. A man would be a damn fool to let a woman like you get away.” He smiled at her and casually turned to walk to the door. When he reached the doorway, he turned back to her. “The problem is, if I did fix the engine so it wouldn’t work, you’d have it repaired in no time, and we’d still be on our way to intercept that paperwork.” He nodded toward her. “I’m going make some bacon and eggs. I’ll see you in the kitchen in a few minutes.”
Melinda lay back on her pillows when he left the room. If only he weren’t kidding when he said what he’d just said. The more time she spent with Matthew, the more she liked him.
It wasn’t long before the scent of bacon forced her from the warm sheets. She dressed quickly, ate with Matthew and joined him on the snowmobile ride to the county seat.
A few of the streets in town had been plowed, but none of the roads they’d crossed in the country had been opened. Drifts ranged from four to ten feet high.
They arrived at the courthouse thirty minutes before the offices were scheduled to open.
They decided to use their extra time to make a plan of action. They’d talked a bit at the house before they left, but they didn’t have a lot of time to make plans. Sheila and Derrik had gone to the barn to help the hired men with the milking, but Matthew had feared they’d return and catch them preparing to make their clandestine trip into town in order to undo Sheila’s errors.
Consequently, they’d needed to eat as quickly as possible and leave.
They went to the café across the street from the courthouse and laid out a plan of action over cups of coffee.
At two minutes before eight Matthew and Melinda, confident they had devised a fool-proof strategy to retrieve the fateful fax before it was filed, went to the courthouse.
They’d decided if the clerk on duty at the hall of records were a man, Melinda would distract him. If she were a woman, Matthew would do the distracting while Melinda searched for the offending fax.
Melinda was pleased to see the only worker on duty at the hall of records was a man. She much preferred being the distracter to being the hunter.
She quickly got the attention of the forty-something fellow with the male-pattern baldness and the dark-framed glasses. She opened the conversation with a discussion of the terrible snowstorm.
He seemed to enjoy their engagement so keeping his attention away from Matthew was very easy.
When Matthew let her know via signals that he’d completed his search, Melinda told the clerk she’d enjoyed their conversation but she’d come to his department by mistake. She claimed she’d meant to go to the county treasurer’s office.
He immediately gave her directions to the office on the second floor and wished her safety in returning home through the snow.
Melinda thanked him again before she left the courthouse and returned to the café to meet Matthew.
She went straight to the booth when she saw Matthew. “Did you get it?” she asked as she slid into a seat across the table from him.
He shook his head. “I looked everywhere. I found a few male magazines, a drawer full of Twix bars and a file filled with women’s nylon stockings, but I couldn’t find the fax among any of the papers or in any of the files or drawers.” He gritted his teeth. “I think we’ve been had.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think Mother never faxed the license at all.”
“You think she lied?”
“Frankly, I don’t know what to think.”
Melinda started laughing.
“What’s so damn funny?” Matthew asked, giving her a hard look.
“Your mother. She’s hilarious. She is a real, honest-to-goodness genius when it comes to pulling pranks. I bet she and Derrik are at home right now laughing their heads off at us. Look at how far we’ve gone, how gullible we are!”
Matthew’s lips began to curve upward. “You really think this is all a joke? That she never did fax the license to the hall of records?”
“I think if she’d have faxed it, you’d have found it.”
He seemed to be giving what she said some thought.
“I suppose there is only one way to find out just what Mother did. We’ll have to go home and ask her.”
“We probably should have spoken to her before we left.”
He slid out of his seat, took her hand and helped her out of the booth. “Knowing what we know now, I’d have to agree with you. However…”
“Yes?” she said, looking up at him.
He rubbed his free hand over his jaw line. “I swear…the look on her face when she said she faxed the license…I swear she meant every word she said. I know her, and I don’t think she was lying.”
Melinda squeezed his hand. “Let’s go talk to her and see what she says. I’m sure we can clear everything up with a good old-fashioned conversation.”
He lifted their clasped hands and patted them with his free hand. “Maybe you’re right.”
“I’m sure I am.”
They walked toward the door of the little café, still holding hands.
Matthew stopped abruptly a few feet away. “What if…”
“What if what?” she asked, looking up at him.
“What if the clerk showed up early for work? He could have already filed the certificate, and we could be legally married.”
A mixture of fear and delight coursed through her veins. “What if indeed…”
Matthew took her to his s
nowmobile. Within a few minutes she was behind him once more, wrapping her arms around him as they rode back to the farm.
Sheila met them at the back door when they arrived. She appeared to have been returning from the barn. “Where in thunder have you two been? I could have used some help with the milking this morning. Lefty’s got a terrible cold, and Derrik’s bad shoulder is acting up. I had to send Lefty back to the bunk house, and I made Derrik return to bed with a heating pad and some pain reliever.”
“We had an errand to do, Mother. We’d like to discuss it with you.”
“Certainly. Come on in. I could use a cup of coffee, and I bet the two of you could too.” Sheila opened the door and let them inside.
In a few minutes three cups of coffee sat on the table ahead of three people who eyed each other carefully.
Matthew sat forward and took a sip of coffee. He stared at Sheila who sat directly across from him. He opened his mouth, but Sheila spoke before he could say anything.
“Did you go into town?”
“Yes.”
Sheila grinned broadly. “I was hoping you’d gone to town. Let me see the ring,” she said, reaching toward Melinda.
“What?”
“The ring, dear. Your wedding band. That’s what you went to town for, isn’t it?”
“Certainly not!” Matthew exclaimed. “We went to the courthouse to try to intercept the fax you sent before it was recorded.”
“Oh?” Sheila’s expression was impossible to read. She didn’t seem surprised or hurt or disappointed or confused.
“It wasn’t there, Mother. Either it’s already been filed, or you lied about faxing the license. Which is it?” Matthew leaned forward a little farther. “Did you lie about the fax?”
Sheila shook her head. “I didn’t lie. I sent the fax just as I said I did.”
“You sent the fax?”
“Yes.”
He let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. “Then I guess the paper’s already been filed. That complicates everything.”
“Not really,” Sheila said. “If the paper is already filed, it simplifies everything. Instead of going through the rituals of dating and taking months to learn what I already know, that you two are perfect for each other, you skip right to the part where you can start giving me grandchildren.”
