Just then, they made their way into an opening in the trees, and Annie gasped. "It's beautiful here. What a wonderful little hidden spot."
The area was completely surrounded by trees, except for the land that was cleared in the middle with a row of small cabins, making a circle around a central spot where children were racing around chasing each other. A fire danced in a pit where some ladies were placing small items on a rack beside the flames.
Sunlight shone over the back row of trees, leaving a beam of bright light glowing off the snow on the ground.
Once the children noticed them riding in, a few of them ran over, forgetting the games they'd been playing. A man walked out to meet them, with a small child holding his hand. The child was looking at the ground, their head completely covered in a fur cap. Malcolm dismounted, leading the horse toward them with his hand outstretched in greeting.
"I'm Commander Malcolm Wilson. I've just taken over command of the outpost in Reindeer Rock."
The man nodded. "They told us there would be new Mounties coming in. I'm David Hawk, but everyone just calls me Hawkeye." He waved his hand in the direction of the cabins. "This is land belonging to my family. We've stayed here for many years, trapping and trading with the whites in the area."
Malcolm reached up to offer his assistance to Annie as she dismounted. "Hawkeye, this is my wife, Annie."
Annie shook the man's hand, then smiled down at the child beside him. "And who is this?"
The child still wouldn't look up, so Annie crouched down. "My name is Annie. What's your name?"
The child shuffled in closer to the man. "Lily, the lady is talking to you."
When the man spoke, the child lifted her head slowly to look at them. "This is Lily, my niece."
As the small face looked up, Malcolm took a sharp intake of breath at the same time Annie gasped softly.
"Oh, you dear, sweet girl." Annie's voice was filled with pain.
But the girl's face had suddenly filled with awe as she moved closer to Annie and put her fingers out to carefully touch the scar on Annie's lip. "Just like me?"
Annie nodded and brought her hand up to hold the little girl's fingers to her lip as she nodded. "Yes, just like you."
Chapter 8
"You will have to forgive Lily. She's never seen anyone who looks like her."
They were sitting inside one of the small cabins now, with Lily's mother Ida, and Hawkeye. Lily was on Annie's knee, still completely in awe at the sight of someone else with a scar on their lip indicating a cleft palate. Lily's cleft was still open, unlike Annie's which had been surgically fixed, leaving the familiar scar she tried to hide.
Annie could remember too well the pain and embarrassment of knowing how different she looked and talked. The constant stares from people they passed, and the teasing from the other children was still fresh in her memory.
Her father had never hidden his feelings about her disfigurement. She knew if it weren't for her mother's insistence he pay for Annie surgery, he would never have done it. He hadn't wanted to waste any of their money on something that would never completely fix how his daughter would look anyway.
"My sister was married to a white man, and he left when Lily was born five years ago. They've lived with me ever since, and I'd do just about anything for my niece." Hawkeye smiled over at Lily as Ida came and pulled the girl from her lap.
Ida was stunning, with long black hair that hung to her waist, and eyes as dark as night. She smiled at Annie. "My husband wasn't a nice man. So I wasn't sad for him to go. At least I have Lily." She sat down and pulled her daughter onto her knee.
"A doctor from Cochrane has seen her and said she could have surgery to fix it, but it will cost a great deal of money. So I've been saving from trading my furs to take her to Ottawa." Hawkeye reached over and ruffled his niece's hair. "Even though I think she's beautiful just the way she is. But I want her to have the best chance in life. I know how cruel the world can be."
Annie's heart swelled as she watched the love this little girl's family had for her. Malcolm reached over and took her hand, gently squeezing it. "Well, I agree with you that Lily is beautiful, just like my wife. And if there's ever anything we can do to help, you know to come to us."
"Yes, and when it's time to go to Ottawa for her surgery, I know a wonderful lady who I'm sure would open her home to you. It would help to keep the cost down, and she'd welcome the company." Annie somehow knew without a doubt that Miss Hazel would love Lily and would be more than happy to help in any way she could. That's just the kind of woman she was.
Hawkeye and his sister shared a glance. "Well, it might take a bit longer than we'd hoped. Most of the money I'd already saved up was stolen last fall, and we haven't been able to find out who did it. The Mounties who were here before you tried to figure it out, but by now it would be too hard to catch them."
"Yes, we went over all the recent happenings before they left, and they said there’d been a theft in a few of the cabins around here but they hadn't found any evidence. Where did you have the money hidden?"
Malcolm took a small notepad and pencil from inside his uniform pocket to take notes.
"In a box under one of the floorboards. No one knew about it. Or, at least I didn't think they did."
Hawkeye stood up and walked over to the stove, bending over to move the woodbox out of the way before pulling up one of the floorboards. "We'd gone into Reindeer Rock for some supplies and when we came home, the woodbox was pushed to the side and the box was sitting empty."
Malcolm went over and crouched down to look into the floor’s hole. "Was there anything else out of place?"
Ida shook her head. "No, just the money was gone."
"So someone had to have known the money was here." Malcolm stood back up and looked at Hawkeye. "I'm sorry this happened to you, and I assure you that I'm going to do whatever I can to find out who did it. I can't promise you'll get your money back, but whoever did it needs to be brought to justice."
Hawkeye nodded. "I'd appreciate it. In the meantime, I'll keep saving and hopefully soon Lily can have the surgery she needs."
Just then, Lily decided to join the conversation. Pulling herself off her mother's lap, she came back over to Annie. "Did they fix you?" She pointed at Annie's lip. The girl struggled a bit with her English, combined with her speech problems from the cleft, but Ida said she did understand what people said to her.
Annie smiled. "Yes, they did. But you know, even if they hadn't, I wasn't really broken, and neither are you. What you have makes you special."
Lily squinted her eyes slightly as she contemplated Annie's words. Finally, she shook her head. "No, not special. They make fun of me." She pointed outside.
Annie reached her hands out and put them on the girl's arms, pulling her closer. The big brown eyes stared at her, and Annie just wanted to take away any sadness the child had endured. She knew only too well how it felt.
"You are special, Lily. Don't ever let anyone tell you anything different. Kids can sometimes be mean when someone doesn't look the same as them, but that's just because they don't understand. What matters is knowing the people who love you see what's in here." She placed her fingers on Lily's chest. "What you have in your heart is always going to be more important than what you look like on the outside."
She didn't know if the girl understood what she was trying to say. Even Annie was surprised at the way the words were tumbling out. But she desperately wanted to save the child from the pain she'd gone through.
As they made their way home, Annie sat quietly, lost in her thoughts. Malcolm's arms were wrapped securely around her, and she was able to rest against him, taking in the warmth he was offering. The temperature had dropped throughout the day, and now it was bitterly cold as Lady's hooves crunched along the ground.
"Who would have stolen from that poor girl?"
She couldn't fathom how anyone could take money that was being saved for a child's surgery. But then, if she'd learned anyth
ing from growing up with her father, it was that you couldn't always trust people to be honest.
"Whoever took the money knew it was there, so they had to have known what it was for. That means it was someone from right in the small village itself, or it was someone who’d been keeping a close watch and saw where the money was being kept."
Malcolm's chest vibrated as he spoke. "I don't know who did it, but I'm not going to let them get away with it. That little girl will have her surgery if it's the last thing I do."
Smiling to herself, she let herself lean into him even more. "Somehow, I believe you."
He laughed low in his throat. "You sound surprised."
She shook her head. "No, not really. It's just nice to be around a man for once who's determined to make things right for someone else."
As soon as she said the words, she cringed, hoping he wouldn't ask her what she meant. Thankfully, just then they came around the bend into Reindeer Rock. "I see your friend Finnegan is keeping watch."
She laughed as she saw the familiar figure of the white fox walking through the bushes across from them. "He seems so lonely. I think he just wants someone to love him."
Malcolm stopped the horse in front of their cabin and dismounted. He smiled up at her as he reached up to put his hands around her waist. She let her hands go to his shoulders and he helped her down. When her feet touched the ground, he held her in front of him, not letting go of her waist as he looked down into her eyes.
"You have a kind heart, Annie."
She wasn't sure what to say. Her pulse was racing, and her mouth was suddenly so dry she didn't know if she could speak anyway.
His gloved hand came up and he gently tucked some hair back under her hat, then brought the back of his fingers along the side of her cheek. She'd never stood this close to a man, having him look at her so intently. Even the day they'd been married, he'd given her a quick peck on the lips without standing and looking at each other like they were now. After everything she'd tried to make Lily believe today, she fought a battle within herself not to let her insecurities win.
"I have to take Lady back to the stables and will stop at Harper's shop to grab some supplies. But first I'll go inside and put some logs on the fire to warm things up for you."
She swallowed against the dryness in her throat, unable to move as he still held her in his arms. Finally, he moved back, leaving a coldness where his hands had been. He went to the woodpile on the side of the cabin and loaded his arms up. As he walked toward the door, he turned and looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Are you going to stay out here in the cold with Finnegan, or could you come get the door for me?"
Giving her head a quick shake, she ran over to let him inside. How could this man go from standing and looking like he was finally going to kiss her, to casually stoking a fire like nothing had happened?
When he was finished, she stood in the open doorway watching him as he led Lady up the street toward the stable.
She wasn't sure what it felt like to be in love, but she was beginning to believe if she could fall in love with anyone, it would be this man she'd married.
But she couldn't help wondering if he'd ever love her too.
Chapter 9
"It's really starting to come down out there. I don't think anyone will be going anywhere for a while."
He stomped the snow from his boots as he came through the door with another armload of wood. Placing them in the box by the stove, he turned to see Annie staring out the window.
"Do you think Finnegan will have somewhere warm to go? It's so windy out there, and he never seems to have any other foxes with him he could cozy up with to stay warm. I haven't seen him for a while, but I know he won't be far away." She was pressing her face as close as she could, without touching the cold glass of the window as she peeked around, looking for the animal.
He was glad she wasn't looking his way as his eyes rolled before he could stop them. "Annie, that fox is a wild animal that has survived on its own long before you, or any of the other women who seem to have taken a liking to him, arrived in Reindeer Rock. He will find shelter somewhere during the storm."
She turned to look at him, and he was shocked to see the worry in her eyes.
"But he looks so young, and he has no family around him. What if he doesn't know how to find shelter? Or what if he can't find anywhere warm?"
What was he supposed to say to her? It's not like he could come out and say that it was survival of the fittest in the wild, and if an animal couldn't survive, there was nothing they could do about it. He was quite certain that would just upset her even more.
She was pleading with him without saying a word. He could see it in her eyes as she looked across the room at him.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes briefly to give himself a moment to think. But he already knew what he was doing, even if it was going to make him look just as crazy as these women who'd fallen in love with this animal.
"I suppose I could go out and place some blankets in the corner by the woodpile. But I can't promise he will even come and use them."
Her smile lit up her face with relief as she came over to him.
"That would be perfect. Let me grab some blankets from the trunk in the other room."
He hoped the other men never found out about this. As soon as the storm passed, he was going out and picking those blankets up.
"I could put the food bowl you've been using over by the blankets so he might find it easier."
He grinned as she came to a stop on her way to the other room and slowly turned. "You knew I was feeding him?"
"Well, I was worried that you might have had a problem that was requiring you to use the outhouse a bit more than normal. So, I soon figured out it was either that or you had some ulterior motives."
Her face instantly went a dark red as he mentioned her use of the outhouse. Her eyebrows came together in annoyance, and he had to fight back his laughter. "You could have just said you saw the bowl outside without going into so much detail."
He shrugged and walked over to the door to wait for her to get the blankets for him. He convinced himself he was only agreeing to do this because he still had all his outdoor clothes on. If he'd already taken them off, he wouldn't be going back out.
She handed him some blankets, then turned toward the stove. "Just hold on. Since you’re aware I've been leaving food out for him, you may as well take his dinner out with you. Use it to coax him over to the shelter you're making."
She reached down and pulled out some leftover bacon and bread from their breakfast she'd cleverly hidden behind the woodbox. She gave him an innocent smile as handed the bowl to him.
He just shook his head. "Honestly, I don't think you understand the concept of what wild animal means, do you?"
She shrugged. "I do. But I also know that sometimes it's just good to do something nice for another living creature."
Opening the door, he was met with the biting wind against his skin. He pushed through the blowing snow around to the back of the cabin. The wood was piled in a shelter against the far wall. He could just make out the shadow of the trees lining the edge of the woods leading out of town.
After he tucked the blankets into a crevice between some of the wood and the back of the cabin, he turned to go and grab the bowl he'd seen hidden behind the outhouse. He leaned into the wind, squinting against the snow that blew into his eyes. Reaching the other side, he had a sense of being watched, so he lifted his eyes and saw the animal he’d been sent out here to look after.
Of course Finnegan would be sitting close by. The animal was never far away. Muttering under his breath as the cold seeped into his bones, he headed back with the bowl to set just outside the shelter he'd created. He threw the food in and shook his head at the animal who he was certain was sitting there laughing at him.
"You're just lucky you have a lady like Annie willing to look after you, you foolish animal. How will you ever learn to survive on your own if you keep r
elying on handouts?"
He groaned to himself as he realized he was standing outside in a bitter snowstorm talking to a wild animal. He wasn't sure anymore who really was the crazy one.
All he knew was that somehow, Annie had a way of making him feel like he would do anything she asked of him. Even if it was ridiculous.
He was supposed to be the tough commander of the Mounties here in Reindeer Rock. Yet, he was sure the other men were all sitting inside their warm cabins right now, possibly even having a nice meal with their wives.
They weren't being sent outside to make a warm bed for an animal that likely already had a place where it stayed during cold weather.
Well, this was the last time he was going to be swayed by pretty brown eyes. He didn't care what happened to Finnegan. Next time, he was going to put his foot down.
He grumbled the words to himself while he trudged back through the snow. But he knew all it would take was one look from his wife, and he'd be doing anything else she asked.
And he didn't know what a man could do to stop it.
Chapter 10
The sound of the fire crackling beside her, comforted her against the raging wind that was pounding outside. She couldn't remember a time when she'd ever felt so safe and comfortable, especially during a brutal storm blowing around her. Lifting her eyes from her knitting, she peeked over at her husband's head, which was looking down at some papers spread out on the table.
His thick black hair hung in waves. Normally, during the day he kept it tucked back and neat under his hat. But in the evenings, she loved how she could make out the small curls as it relaxed. Of course, being a Mountie meant he had to keep it trimmed neatly, so around the ears and neck it was always quite short. It was the top that seemed to be so much thicker than the rest.
He raised his head, catching her staring. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart pounded in her ears as their eyes met. His head tilted slightly, and she cringed when his eyebrow raised. He'd obviously been aware she was staring.
Bride for Malcolm Page 4
