Wanted: Family (Silverpines Series Book 20)

by George H. McVey

  She finally stopped crying and looked up at him. “No, you are right! We are dirty, tired and hungry. We will go rest up like you suggested. Tomorrow is soon enough to marry.”

  He started walking toward the orphan house. “Can you tell me what I did to upset you?”

  She shook her head. “You didn’t upset me. You put what you thought I would need above your own. I’m not used to that.”

  “But surely lass, your husband before did so for you.”

  She shook her head. “No, his needs were all he thought about. It’s what led to his death and my not having a home.”

  Ian’s brow wrinkled in concern. “I don’t think I understand.”

  Carol sighed. “When I married my husband, it was all about what he needed. He needed a wife to care for him, to cook and clean and help take care of the farm. He needed a wife who would see to his husbandly needs and keep his clothing clean. The week before he died I became ill, so ill I couldn’t get out of bed except to run to the necessary. I couldn’t cook, I couldn’t clean, and I couldn’t take care of his husbandly needs.”

  “Of course you couldn’t lass, ye were sick.”

  “He didn’t see it that way. While he could eat at his parents that wasn’t his biggest concern. He tried to force me to do my wifely duty and I vomited all over the bed. He left, telling me if I couldn’t take care of his needs he’d go to the saloon where someone would be willing and able to do so.”

  “You mean he went to see a strìopach, a brògan?”

  She looked at him funny and he realized how upset he was. Only when his emotions got the better of him did he slip into the old tongue. “A soiled dove?”

  She nodded as a tear rolled down her face. Ian reached up and wiped it away. She took a breath. “He got drunk and from what we were told, took one of the girls to her room. When he was done he came down and drank more. On the way home the sheriff said he must have passed out and fallen off his horse. He hit his head on a rock on the side of the road and died. His family came the next day and told me that his death was my fault for not taking care of his needs and that I needed to leave the farm and never come back. So no-one has ever looked to my needs. Not even my own brothers, who tried to force me to marry a man I’d been engaged to before my husband, a man who didn’t suit. Only when we arrived he was already engaged to another. She at least helped me get to Celeste’s House. Along the way my brothers both got sick and couldn’t travel with me, so I went on alone. That was eighteen months ago now and since then I’ve taken care of me and Collin. No one has thought of putting us first. Not until you. It overwhelmed me with your kindness.”

  “Mo ghràidh, I will always put you and Collin first it is what a an dune nice and athair does.”

  She giggled. “I didn’t understand half of what you just said, Ian MacGregor. Was that another language you were speaking?”

  He laughed. “Aye lass. I’m sorry, when I get emotional I tend to forget to speak English. That was Gaelic, the language of the Highlands.”

  “You mean Scottish?”

  “Aye. I said that putting you and Collin first is what a husband and father does.”

  “And that other word. You’ve said it several times. Mogarye?”

  Ian looked at her eyes. “I called ye that several times, did I?”

  She nodded at the twinkle in his eye. “You know you did, what does it mean?”

  He leaned so close she could almost feel his lips on her ear. “It’s Mo ghriadh, and it means my dear one.”

  She shivered and he pulled away. “Now let’s get you settled for the night. Is there anything you need in your trunks?”

  She thought and shook her head. “No, I have what I need for tonight and in the morning in my carpet bag.”

  “Then I will introduce you to Miss Ethel and Missus Hunter. Miss Ethel and her sister ran the orphanage until her sister married a few months ago. Mrs. Hunter grew up here. She married a few months ago as well and she and her husband will be taking over the orphanage. They’re right bonny people. I think that ye will like them.” He bounced the sleeping lad in his arms as he led Carol up the stairs. The door opened before he could knock, and the stern face of Ethel Howard greeted them. “Miss Ethel, how are you tonight?”

  She looked at him and then her eyes fell on the tear stained face of Carol Brown. “Mister MacGregor, have you been making your intended cry already? You know how I feel about a man mistreating any lady.”

  His bride stepped forward toward the older lady. “Oh it isn’t like that, he did something nice for me and I cried from the joy of having a man treat me special.”

  Ethel looked at Carol, studying her, and whatever she found must have appeased her for she nodded. “That’s different then. I’m Ethel Howard, welcome to my home.”

  “Thank you for your generosity, Miss Howard. Ian told me you offered to allow Collin and I to stay tonight and rest from our long trip.”

  “Your intended asked and explained that he thought, with the child, you would be more comfortable away from the hotel and someplace with other children. Having raised girls since I was barely a woman myself, I agreed with him. Come in and let us get you two settled into your room. Then there’s water heating in our new bathing room for you to have a nice bath. I’ll watch over your little one while you wash off the travel dust.” Ethel looked back at Ian. “I expect you’ll want to take supper with your intended tonight, Mister MacGregor?”

  He nodded. “If it isn’t too much trouble, Miss Ethel, I’ll take her and Collin to the hotel for supper.”

  “Nothing doing. While I admit that Mrs. Donlinson is a good cook, your bride has been eating restaurant and train food. She deserves a good home-cooked meal. Supper is at six; do not be late, Mister MacGregor.”

  “Aye Miss Ethel, six o’clock it is. I’ll leave you to it, then?”

  “Yes you will. Now get on with yourself.”

  “Aye.” He took Carol’s hand and kissed it. “Until tonight then, lass.”

  “Until then, Ian.” His bride blushed as she stumbled over using his first name. He smiled at her and then turned and headed outside. He had a few hours and needed to go have a talk with Mister and Mrs. McMillian. After listening to Carol’s story, he knew that his days of hanging out at the saloon had come to an end. He needed to let the couple know why and arrange for them to have the girls keep their ears open for anything Ian would need to deal with before it became a problem for the mine.

  Chapter Two

  Carol watched as the man she’d come to marry made his way down the stairs, leaving her and her son in the hands of yet another stranger. But the lady of the house seemed like she was strict yet friendly. “Well come along, dear. Let’s get you settled in your room and then I’ll show you where the bathing room is and watch your little one while you get a proper soak and clean up. I imagine you’ve got to be needing some time to relax and rest after that train trip.”

  Carol nodded and picked up her carpet bag and followed the woman down the hall. “I’m putting you in the room that used to be my sister’s. She married a few months ago and moved in with her new husband. That will keep my girls out of your hair for the most part. Though I expect that the twins will want to help you with this little one.” She smiled at Collin.

  “Thank you for taking us in for the night. I thought I’d be getting married right off the train and didn’t realize that Mister MacGregor would make arrangements like this for us.”

  They entered a room that was neat and tidy. The bed looked like it would be very comfortable and suddenly Carol realized just how tired she was. “Think nothing of it Carol, I was glad to do it. Truth be told, even with a house full of girls I’ve felt a bit lonely since Edith married. I realize you are just here for the one night but having someone in this room even for the night will make me feel less alone.”

  Carol sat her bag on the empty dresser and then spied the cradle in the corner of the room. She laid Collin in it. He’d be waking soon she was sure, and then he�
��d be trying to get into everything. If she was going to get that bath she needed to hurry. She turned to the dresser and pulled clean clothes out of her bag.

  Ethel had walked over to the cradle and was looking down at her son. “They look so sweet when they’re asleep, don’t they? Then they wake up and give you a fit every minute and yet we love them and can’t wait for those moments they are active.”

  “Yes and Collin is just at that age where he is starting to crawl and put everything in his mouth.”

  “Oh I remember that stage. Edith and I had so much to learn the first time we took in a baby. Now it seems like we’ve done it so often you’d think the wonder of their sleeping sweet would have lost its appeal, but it hasn’t. Let’s get you to the bathing room and I want you to take your time and try to relax, honey. I’ll keep an ear out for young Collin here, and the girls will be done with their lessons soon and they’ll all help me keep him entertained.”

  Edith led her back up the hall to a room that looked like it had recently been converted from something else into a room with a large copper tub. “This is new for us. We used to have a big washtub that we filled in the kitchen for the girls and ourselves; but Katie’s husband is a builder and put in a new wing for him and her to live in. He put in this bathing room for us when he put in Katie’s.”

  Carol took in the room. A shelving system along one wall seemed to hold clean folded towels and there were several hooks along the wall with towels hanging on them already and a small wood burning stove with two large buckets of water heating on it. “This looks wonderful Miss Howard, thank you.”

  “It’s Miss Edith, dear. I guess I’m the only Miss Howard now, but for so many years there were two of us, so we grew accustomed to Miss Edith and Miss Ethel. But my sister is Mrs. Worthington now and if she has her way I’ll be a Mrs. Worthington myself. Then I guess we will be Mrs. Ethel and Mrs. Eddie or Edith.”

  Carol’s face must have shown her confusion because Miss Ethel laughed. “She and I sent for husbands for each other without telling the other. Brothers showed up to marry us. My sister married and is desperately in love. I’m just not certain I should marry and neither was Walt, so we are getting to know each other.”

  “Oh that explains it. If you marry your brother-in-law’s brother, you will once again have the same last name.”

  “Yes I suppose we will. I’ll leave you to it. Take your time and don’t worry about your baby. My girls and I have him well in hand.”

  “Thank you again.”

  Once the door was closed Carol began to pump cold water into the tub and then dumped the two hot buckets of water into it before picking up a rose scented soap and a washing cloth. She slipped out of her yellow day dress and climbed into the tub. She was appalled at how grey the water quickly became as she washed. She hadn’t realized that the train was such a dirty way to travel. What must she have looked like to her intended husband when he met her at the train station.

  That thought led her to thinking of the handsome man who had asked her to come and marry him. He was so different than Carl had been. Carl would never have thought that she might be tired from her travels and caring for an infant at the same time. He would have marched her to the preacher dirty, tired, and nervous and married her. Then he’d have demanded she fix him supper and fulfill her duties as his wife. She knew the last two were true because it’s what he had done.

  Jake, on the other hand, had been more like Ian MacGregor. She’d just been young and sheltered and didn’t realize what a good man she’d found before she set him free and went home to a selfish man. She again said a prayer for Jake and his feisty bride. If not for Fiona’s kindness in the face of her less than pleasant encounters, she wouldn’t be where she was. She and Fiona had become friends of a sort, writing to each other often. She realized she needed to write the woman who made it possible for her to get a fresh start and let her know she was starting hers.

  She wondered if Ian would always be so sweet and caring or if it was just a ploy to get her to marry him? Would he change once she was legally tied to him? Not that it mattered much as long as she and Collin had a home to live in and a chance to make a life for themselves. She’d handled one and knew she could handle another demanding husband if she needed to. It wasn’t like she’d not enjoyed her time with Carl, she just hadn’t been happy or in love with him. He was pleasant as long as she was meeting his needs and wants. But to have a man think about her needs and wants, that had been such a pleasant surprise. For him to be so handsome and so caring had been enough for her to begin to let her heart hope that maybe this fresh start could become something more. Could she have found a man she could actually come to love? Could he come to love her? It had happened for other women from Celeste’s House, including Celeste herself.

  Carol had watched how Callum treated Celeste and she now knew what she’d been missing in her life. She thought she might be marrying the same rare breed of man that Callum was, and then she started as she realized Callum was also Scottish. Maybe men in Scotland were just raised to be selfless and caring. She’d have to think on that, but one thing she knew: she wanted to raise Collin to be that sort of man. Maybe if Ian was truly that sort of man, her son would learn to be caring from him. Either way, she’d see that he knew to put the needs of his family above his own like Callum Bing, and it seemed, hopefully Ian MacGregor as well.

  Ian walked back to the Howard house. He’d met with the McMillian’s and they’d agreed to have the girls keep their ears open for potential problems with the miners. They’d understood his reason for not being able to remain a patron of their establishment and had offered him a case of the Scottish whiskey they kept on hand. He’d turned them down, not because he didn’t want the whiskey he did; but because he didn’t need it and honestly it didn’t do for him what it seemed to do for other men. He never lost his head or even seemed to have any ill effects from it. He didn’t think Carol would appreciate him having a case of it in her house.

  He smiled at that thought. He was about to have a wife and a son. A family to come home to. No, it would be no hardship for him to give up the saloon life. He was going from the man who drank alone in the corner, where he occasionally shared a glass with one of the men who worked with him, to going home to home-cooked meals and two smiling faces waiting for him. He thought he might actually be getting the better end of the deal.

  He’d been shocked at how such a small thing to him had reduced Carol to tears. He was grateful her first husband was dead because when she’d told him her story he’d wanted to go find the man and beat him like the Scunner he was. To have such a bonny lass and turn to a pub fanny because she was sick, served the dunderhead right for falling to his death. Ian said a quick prayer that he would always be kind and caring to both Carol and Collin.

  He picked up his pace, he couldn’t wait to see her again. She was a right lovely lass and he was lucky that she’d been willing to move to Silverpines and become his wife. On top of that, the wee one had fit so perfectly in his arm he hoped the lad would be awake tonight. Ian wanted the chance to see the lad in action. He also hoped that Miss Ethel would allow him to take a walk with Carol so that he could show her their house. He wanted to make sure that she was satisfied with it and he wished to discuss things with her away from eyes and ears that might overhear the discussion.

  He stepped onto the porch and knocked on the door, it was opened almost instantly by Cindy Lou who was dressed in a very nice dress with her hair done up like she was going out. “Oh it’s just you, Mister MacGregor. I thought it would be… someone else.”

  “Nay lassie, just me. Peter was just coming down a pole in town when I passed him. I expect he’ll have to go home and change before he comes by to pick you up. There seemed to be a wee bit of sawdust on his clothes.”

  He kept his smile from his face at her blush. “Oh well, that explains it then. He’ll make sure that he changes before he comes to pick me up. Miss Ethel told him if she caught any more sawdust on my
clothes she’d shoot him with her rifle. It doesn’t explain why you are here though, we were told to expect you for supper.”

  “Aye that is true. I wanted to see if I might be able to visit with Mrs. Brown and Collin for a spell.”

  Cindy moved back. “Well come on inside and I’ll go let Carol know you’re here, she’s in the kitchen with Miss Ethel.”

  Ian moved inside and heard the sound of giggles in the parlor. He stuck his head around the corner and saw the younger girls sitting around Collin, who was sitting watching as they stacked blocks four or five high. Then he would crawl over and knock them down, then sit up and clap. All the girls would clap with him and then another tower would be erected. “Well now lassies, what game have ye made up for the wee laddie to get into?”

  They looked up at his voice and one of the twins laughed; he could never get them straight. “You always talk so funny, Mister MacGregor.”

  “Aye that I do lassie, that I do; and it be no more funny than the way you talk sounds to me.”

  Just then the infant crawled over to him and pulled at his trouser leg, babbling the whole time. Ian bent down and scooped the lad high above his head causing the infant to squeal and laugh. “Now then, my lad, what is it ye be wanting to tell me? Is it about all the lassies and the towers ye been demolishing?”

  The babe looked at him for a second and then babbled some more. Ian looked at him so seriously and said “Nay, they would never do that. Why these are good lassies, lad, why would ya say such a thing about them?”

  The other twin looked up at him. “He’s not saying anything, he’s just making noise. You know that, right Mister MacGregor?”

  Ian looked at the babe and then down at the girl standing in front of him. “Well now lassie, how do you know he isn’t saying anything? Do you happen to speak bairn speak?”

  The other one frowned at him. “Barns don’t speak, are you funnin’ us, Mister MacGregor?”