by Lee Savino
A tall, dark haired man stood there, handsome face twisted in a mock scowl. "What's this I hear from Calum? My own brother is in town and married?"
"Lyle—" Jesse started, but his brother grabbed his arm, pulling him onto the porch. Both Susannah and Rose came to their feet, knocking over their chairs in their haste to get to the door.
Outside, the two brothers tussled in the yard.
"You didn't even invite us to the wedding?" Lyle bellowed, and tried to box his brother's ears. Jesse ducked and backed away, weaving as his older sibling advanced, fists out.
Susannah squeaked in shock as the two brothers flew at each other, wrestling and trying to knock each other in the dirt. Lyle seemed to have a slight advantage of height, but Jesse was more compact and quick, though he didn't seem as intent on hurting his older brother. Lyle got him in a hold.
"I was going to write," Jesse grunted. "We got sidetracked." He twisted, and got away.
"You're a rascal," Lyle sang out happily. "I'll teach you some manners." The two brothers circled for a moment, and Susannah held her breath. There didn't seem to be any mercy left in Jesse's rough face.
"What in God's name are you doing?" Rose sounded livid, but the men didn't even glance up.
Susannah cried out as the two brothers rushed each other, grabbing each other's bodies and trying to throw the other down. Dust rose from their wild scuffle.
The fight ended when Rose threw a bucket of water over the two of them. "Stop it, both of you!" The pregnant woman's cheeks were bright with anger. "I've never seen brothers so willing to act the fool. What will Susannah think of the two of you?"
"Ah, yes." Lyle pushed his brother back and leaped up the steps towards Susannah. The blonde bride backed away, throat working, but her new brother-in-law only stooped, and taking her head in his hands, kissed both cheeks. Under the drops of water, his face was finely featured, and his blue eyes danced. "Welcome to the family."
Susannah couldn't find her voice in time to be polite.
"Let her go, you oaf." Rose swatted her husband from behind.
Turning, he grabbed the redhead's arm and pulled her in for a kiss. "You look beautiful as always, wife. Thanks for the bath." He pressed in closer with his wet clothes threatening to mar hers, and she wrinkled her nose. "Don't you dare get me wet! To the stream with both of you, and wash up for dinner. Lyle, get your brother a change of clothes. They've come with very little."
"What?" Lyle tsked his brother.
"We had a little trouble," Jesse admitted.
"He'll tell us about it later," Rose ordered. "I'm getting Susannah a change and then dinner."
"I'll make it," both brothers said simultaneously.
"Go!" Rose roared, and threw the empty bucket. The two Wilder brothers jumped back, both wearing similar grins. Side by side, Susannah could see the difference in the two brothers. Jesse was a rougher cut than his brother, but Susannah thought he was handsomer, more manly.
He winked at her and pulled his brother towards the woods. "Better get clean quick. Otherwise Rose will burn the fish."
The two women waited on the porch, watching their husbands go. Halfway to the woods, Lyle reached out and grabbed his brother's hair, gripping it and giving it a shake before pounding him on the back in obvious affection. Jesse laughed as he fended his brother off.
Rose sighed. "They're rough with each other. But mostly they get along."
"I understand. Jesse's often rough with me," Susannah said, then blushed bright red.
"Mmm, yes, Lyle can be too. It's not always unwelcome." Rose's smile was wicked and her hand rubbed her belly as if she was thinking of a happy memory.
* * *
They all ate together, fish, peas and potatoes, with a tangy-tasting bread Jesse called sourdough. Rose boiled a few eggs, too, in case there wasn't enough food. To Susannah's eye, there was plenty, though the two women were long done and drinking their tea before the brothers stopped shoveling food into their mouths.
"Nothing like summer fare." Lyle leaned back and sighed.
"It's delicious," Jesse said around a mouthful of food. Susannah poked him and he turned to her. "What?"
"Don't talk with your mouth full," she said primly. "And sit up straight. I know you have better manners."
Jesse complied, looking aggrieved. Rose coughed to hide her smile, and Lyle laughed outright.
"Susannah, we're glad you're with us."
"Thank you, Mr. Wilder."
"Call me brother."
"Have you put any thought to where you might live?"
Susannah glanced at Jesse, who grimaced, swallowing hurriedly so he could answer.
"He hinted that he had a fine house for us to live in," Susannah said, teasing.
The younger Wilder had the grace to look sheepish.
"I intended to rent one. You can pick your own when we get into town."
"Jesse," Rose scolded. "You wooed a bride without a house to put her in?"
There was a flush growing on Jesse's cheeks. It was the first time Susannah had seen her husband embarrassed, and she didn't like it. She put her hand on his shoulder. "It's all right," she said, surprising herself, and her new relatives. "I can sleep under the stars. I don't mind."
Jesse's rough hand covered hers, and his look was tender. "Susannah's gotten to be a regular pioneer."
"You can't do that forever," Rose pointed out. "Frost is coming."
"You're welcome to stay here until you decide. We built an addition for all our children, starting with this little man." Lyle had his arm around his wife's chair, and cupped her belly with the other one.
"Lyle thinks this is a son." Rose told Susannah, and rolled her eyes, even as her hand threaded with her husband's, resting on her belly. The pregnant woman seemed to glow with an inner light, and her lips curved slightly with a private smile.
"It makes sense for you to stay with us, or at least live close by. The baby will come soon, and we'll need all the help we can get," Lyle said.
"It may be better for you, too," Rose said to Susannah. "When I first came here, I wished I had a friend next door."
"I always wanted a sister." Susannah smiled. "One I could play house with."
Rose stilled, but then she smiled too, this time with a touch of sadness. "Me too."
"It's decided then." Lyle lifted his wife's hand and kissed it.
* * *
It was late before Susannah and Jesse crawled onto the pallet in the little side room. Susannah undressed and put on a borrowed nightgown, and brushed out her long hair.
"What do you think of them?" Jesse asked, setting the candle on the floor.
"They're lovely, of course." Susannah didn't pause in her brushing as Jesse stretched out beside her.
"Rose has quite the tongue."
"Nothing wrong with that."
"What do you think about my brother?"
"Lyle?" She shrugged. "He seems a good man."
"Most ladies think he's good looking."
"He is," Susannah said, her ears pricked up to her husband's insecurity.
"Would you prefer a man to look like him?"
"Oh, I don't think so," Susannah sniffed, careful not to let her grin onto her face or into her voice. "I should never like to be married to a man prettier than me."
Jesse chuckled, and Susannah crowed silently. "My family likes you."
Susannah smiled. "I think they like me more than you."
"That's probably true." Jesse laid his head back with a sigh.
She poked him in the ribs.
"Watch it, baggage. That's becoming a bad habit."
Putting the brush away, she turned to face him. His finger stretched out to trace her breasts through the thin night rail.
She swatted his hand. "Not here. Not with them in the house."
He looked pained, and she laughed, rolling onto her side away from him. There was something she wanted to ask him, but it would wait until morning. Better not risk an argument, and the amorous ex
ercise that always seemed to follow their fights.
Blowing out the candle, Jesse settled behind her, his head up by her ear. "We're getting a place of our own. As soon as I can."
"That's what you said before," Susannah said, but, reaching back, she found his hand and drew it around her waist, squeezing it to let him know she was only teasing.
* * *
Susannah woke the next morning to the smell of fresh frying donuts. To her delight, her own husband was crouching at the hearth, cooking breakfast. She sat down next to Rose and accepted her offer of coffee. Squeezing his wife's shoulder so she'd stay in her seat, Lyle jumped up and got it, along with a plate of fresh donuts.
"Dig in." The older Wilder set the plate right in front of Susannah, and her stomach growled in readiness.
"There's eggs and bacon, leftover fish and potatoes coming too," Rose said. "But we always eat the donuts first while they're hot."
Susannah wasted no time filling her belly. She ate with an appetite she'd never had before, and to her surprise, cleared half the donuts before pushing the plate towards her new relatives. Rose waved them away, saying that she'd already eaten her fill.
"Good to see a woman who likes her grub." Lyle winked at Susannah, and took the rest of the plate. "And you married a decent bean-master."
"Bean-master?" Susannah asked.
"Camp cook," Jesse answered, taking his seat with a plate of his own piled high. Coffee in one hand and a donut in the other, he ate and drank, and the pile disappeared rapidly. Lyle took a turn at the hearth, cooking up bacon and eggs and potatoes, and refilling the coffee pot.
"Wilder women don't cook," Rose explained with a smug smile.
"Can't cook, is more like it." Lyle came to the table with the coffee pot, and his wife swatted his behind.
"I can cook porridge. But why should I, when Jesse makes donuts so well?"
"Can you cook, baggage?" Jesse asked Susannah.
"Did you just call your wife 'baggage'?" Rose looked appalled. Lyle laughed.
"Yes." Susannah blushed. "It's a silly nickname. I don't mind it." Ignoring Jesse's cheeky wink, she went on. "And yes, I can cook a few things. But it's not high on my list of talents."
"That's all right," Lyle said. "The thing about Wilder men, we marry women who can't cook, but more than make up for it in their looks and their charms." And then it was the older Wilder's turn to get a tongue lashing from Rose.
* * *
After breakfast, Susannah put on a dress borrowed from Rose, as her sister-in-law had promised to launder her travel stained one. As she dressed, she could feel how her body had changed in the past few days. Though she kept the same soft curves she had before, her muscles were stronger and her body leaner. She felt tough, and ready to live in the wild.
"Need help?"
Her husband leaned against the doorframe, a smirk on his face. She hoped he hadn't opened the door while she was still dressing, but she wouldn't put it past him.
Reaching out, he tugged her hastily made braid, and loosened the thong to redo it. Presenting her back to him, she stood still and meek, feeling his heat at her back and marveling at how much she'd changed in the past few weeks. From pampered perfectionist to a woman who slept on a pallet on the ground and woke up refreshed. Instead of a dainty breakfast seated at a long table across from her aunt, she chowed down on heavy food and licked her fingers with delight. Instead of servants, her new family made sure she had everything she needed, and once she got used to their teasing conversation, she'd never enjoyed herself more.
Her new husband tugged her braid again to let her know he'd finished. "All done, baggage," he said, his voice low and husky. Stepping closer, he put his arms around her and Susannah closed her eyes. The heat of his body close to hers, and the rasp of his unshaven chin as he nuzzled her neck filled her body to the brim with longing. Turning, she slid her arms around his neck and went up on tiptoe to kiss him. He responded, and a thrill went through her. Here was a man she could admire and kiss anytime. She didn't even mind the annoying nickname anymore.
By the time they broke away from each other, their breathing was ragged.
"We need to get our own place," she reminded him, and he dropped his forehead to hers with a groan.
"Where are we going today?" she asked in a whisper, not wanting him to pull away just yet.
"To see your friend Carrie."
That broke the mood. Susannah had forgotten her friend lived so close by. Her hands fluttered to her hair, then her clothes. What would her East Coast friend think of the new, rugged Susannah?
"You look fine," Jesse said, drawing her closer with his hands on her hips. She could feel his manhood press into her, and pushed him away.
"We have to go," she reminded him, and after one more bruising kiss, he let her go.
* * *
Susannah's face still burned from Jesse's whiskers when Jordan burst through the trees into the wide clearing where her friend lived. Her friend's husband, Miles Donovan, had built a log house on a hill, along with a few stables, pens and outbuildings in the front, and a fenced garden in the back.
Swallowing hard, Susannah took it all in, feeling very out of place.
Carrie's brother had come to tutor Susannah for a brief period when she was ten, and he'd brought along his young sister. The two were close in age, and had bonded quickly, even though her aunt didn't approve of the connection, their friendship survived through letters.
As Jesse helped Susannah down, a short, curvy woman came from the back gardens, a wealth of chestnut curls tumbling around her back from under her bonnet, and a child in her arms.
"Susannah?" The young mother hurried forward.
"Carrie," Susannah choked out, overwhelmed at the sight of a familiar face. Her friend was just as she remembered, with a few more freckles splashed over her cheeks, and a glow that came from more than fresh mountain air. Carrie swung her daughter down and flung her arms around her Boston friend.
"It's been too long." Carrie squeezed her hard, and then held her away. "Look at you!"
"Do I look very different?" Susannah bit her lip.
"Not very much. You just... look so happy."
Beside them, Carrie's daughter grabbed at her mother's skirts and started to cry.
"Oh, Mary, it's all right. I'm here. Come meet Auntie Su." Carrie swooped up the little toddler. Instantly the child calmed.
"Hello, Mary," Susannah crooned. Carrie's daughter had a round face like her mother, and a little thatch of reddish brown hair. Susannah reached for her, and the child burst into tears again.
A shout from the stables heralded Miles Donovan. Carrie's husband was broad and built, striding forward with the same air of power and ease that all the western men seemed to have. With his tanned face and dusty clothes, he looked almost as rugged as Jesse.
"Donovan," Jesse said, and greeted him almost with relief as the two women tried to soothe Mary. Miles Donovan was frowning so fiercely that Susannah thought he was angry at first, but as soon as he grew close to his wife and babe his expression softened.
"She's still getting used to strangers," Carrie said apologetically over Mary's anguish. "We're so alone out here, we don't often see people."
"She's all right," Miles said gruffly, but he put an arm around his wife and stroked his daughter's hair with a gentleness that belied his stern manner. "Just needs her mother."
"She's beautiful," Susannah said, and was rewarded with a grateful look from Carrie.
"You'll stay for lunch?" Miles invited.
Carrie pressed forward. "Oh yes, you must."
Susannah glanced at Jesse, who nodded. "Of course. Go with Carrie; Miles and I have some business."
The two women made for the cabin. Once inside her home, little Mary calmed enough to play on the floor as Susannah helped Carrie prepare the meal, chattering nonstop.
At one point, Carrie looked up from shelling peas.
"Susannah, I must say, I'm glad you're here, but I was very s
urprised to hear of the marriage. Calum MacDonnell came around last night and told us."
Susannah nodded, making a note that the wild Scot wasn't so isolated as he seemed.
"It's not my place to question you, but... Jesse Wilder? I don't mean to pry... it's just, he's very rough."
"Yes." Susannah flushed, remembering just how rough her new husband could be, and how much she enjoyed it.
Judging from Carrie's raised eyebrows, her friend could guess exactly what she was thinking.
"Well, well," Carrie said, sounding very wise.
"It's not been easy," Susannah hastened to say.
"That's to be expected." Carrie shrugged. "It took some time for Miles and me to come to an understanding."
"Is he a good husband?"
"The best." Carrie's voice softened.
"He seems very stern," Susannah said.
Carrie flushed. "He is. But he's gentle, too. And when I first came here, I needed someone strong to take me in hand. In the end, his rules made me feel protected, and loved. He's everything I need."
"I'm glad you have that. I don't think Jesse cares much for rules."
"That might be good for you. You certainly had a lot of them growing up, too many, if you ask me. I mean, I'm a mother now, and I want my Mary to be safe, but also to feel loved. You know?"
"I know." Susannah watched Mary playing on a blanket on the floor with one of her mother's clean cooking pots, and her heart ached a little for the tender childhood she never had.
Leaning forward, Carrie put her hand on her friend's. "Jesse loves you. Anyone can see it, after a moment. I don't know what sort of man he is, but I think, for you, he'll become a better one."
Susannah nodded.
"It's good to have you here, Susannah," Carrie said.
"It's good to be here," Susannah said, and meant it with all her heart.
* * *
At lunch, Susannah finally got to hold Mary, as long as Carrie didn't stray too far. She fed the baby peas.
"Looks like your wife will make a great mother," Miles remarked to Jesse. Susannah glanced at her husband, who looked uncomfortable at the thought.
"So, Susannah," Miles scooted closer to her and wiped his baby's mouth with his handkerchief, "you came all the way from Boston? That's very brave of you."
