Myles turned and smiled at her. "My mama would've been scandalized at the very thought of stuffing a goose herself. We had slaves who tended to such matters. I only remember the goose arriving at the table, golden brown and ready to eat." He scrubbed at a saucepan. "What was Christmas like when you were a little girl, Paige?"
She glanced at him in surprise. He'd never asked much about her childhood—it belonged to that other reality that caused such friction between them.
"Christmas? Oh, not much fun." She picked up a dishtowel and began to dry the dishes. "Nothing about my childhood was much fun. My mother died when I was five, and dad remarried a year later. Joan, her name was." Paige shook her head. “Talk about your wicked stepmothers, that woman wrote the book. She was mean as hell to Tony and me when she was alone with us, and if we tried to tell Dad on her she insisted we were liars. We were just little kids, we couldn't outwit her."
"You and your brother were close." It was a statement, and Paige nodded.
"Yeah, we really were. We grew apart as we got older, but as little kids we were inseparable." She grinned, polishing a glass until it shone. "If I was sick and couldn't go to school, Tony wouldn't go either. Joan would spank him until her hand nearly dropped off, but he just wouldn't go without me."
"You must miss him."
Paige nodded. "I do. My nephews too." She described the boys, the way she remembered them. "They must be getting big. They used to be so excited on Christmas Eve," she said in a wistful tone. "But I'll bet Jason doesn't even believe in Santa anymore." She thought about it and shook her head. "Heck no, he wouldn't, he's almost eight by now. And Matthew is nine, going on ten. They're too old to believe in Santa."
Myles tipped the dishwater into the slop pail under the counter and wiped his hands on a towel, changing the subject abruptly. "I never did ask you if Lame Owl said anything about the ceremony that you wanted to know about, the one that lets people travel through time." His voice was carefully casual.
"Oh, I asked her, all right. She got mad at me and walked out."
"Will you try to talk to her about it again?"
Paige frowned and tossed the dishtowel across a chair back to dry. She understood that the conversation wasn't casual any longer. "I don't think so, Myles." She struggled to find words that would convey what she felt. "Sure, I miss my brother and the kids terribly at times, and there's things I really miss about that other life in Vancouver, but—well, I've made a place for myself here. I have friends, and a practice, and patients I feel responsible for." She met his eyes squarely. "I have you, that's the big thing. I never had anyone like you back there. I'd never experienced this—this fantastic thing we have together." She reached out a finger and traced the line of his jaw, frowning with the effort to express what she felt, to get it right.
"I guess it's a bit like the way you feel about your home in Charleston, and the people you knew back there. It'll always be your home, and you'll always miss it, but it's gone. You've got a different life now, right?" She looked square into his eyes, and the words were easy and honest. "I'm happy here, Myles. I don't want to go back."
He coughed, as if something were stuck in his throat. "This isn't the time or place I'd planned to say this, Paige, in your kitchen over a pile of dishes with a damn stuffed goose looking on." A rueful smile came and went. "Although come to think of it, when I planned it, it didn't work very well either."
His voice deepened until it rumbled in her ears. "I love you, Paige, more than I've loved anyone or anything in my life. If you're planning to stay here, then I think we should get married, my darling."
She'd waited so long to hear him say it again, and now that he had, it caught her unawares.
"You really think so?" She drew in a shivery breath and let the words spill out. "Oh, Myles, so do I. I think we should too."
He drew her into his arms, and the kiss he gave her was chaste, as if this were a whole new beginning.
He turned and searched the pocket of his tunic, drawing out a blue velvet ring case. Opening it, he withdrew the diamond and emerald ring inside and slipped it on her finger. It was a little tight on her knuckle, but once it was on, it felt fine. It felt marvelous. It felt as if she'd never take it off again.
The gems flashed in the lamplight. "It's gorgeous," she breathed. It was beautiful, and it looked very expensive.
"It was my mama's. She'd want you to have it."
"Thank you." She looked up at him, knowing her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. "When—" She cleared her throat. "So, Doctor, when do you want us to get married?"
"As soon as possible. It's past time I made an honest woman of you, love. I'll send off a memorandum tomorrow to the commissioner, requesting permission to marry."
Her eyes widened. "You actually have to ask the commissioner's permission to marry me?"
"Yes, ma'am. The North West Mounted is based on formal British Army tradition."
"And what if this commissioner of yours says no?"
A glint of humor appeared in his gray eyes. "Then I turn you loose on him. I doubt he'd last long in a skirmish."
She put her hands on her hips, eyes flashing. "Just say the word."
He laughed and turned down the lamp, and then scooped her up in his arms. "Bedtime. The word is bedtime, my darling." He carried her down the hall.
There was a difference in their loving that night. Slowly and infinitely gently, Myles worshiped her body.
The next day, each of the women brought something to contribute to the dinner, which eased some of the terror Paige was feeling about there being enough to eat.
Tahny and Dennis were the first to arrive, and Tahnancoa contributed a delicious corn pudding and wild cranberry relish to go with the goose.
Clara came bearing fruitcake and shortbread cookies made from butter she'd churned herself. "Merry Christmas," she beamed, handing her gifts of food to Paige, who'd greeted her and Theo at the door.
From the moment Theo carried her proudly into the house, the focus of everyone's attention was Ellie. Dressed in red velvet and long, ruffled white drawers, with a red ribbon holding her single curl on top of her golden head, she was the belle of the party and knew it. Fifteen months old now, she was just starting to walk, but she talked like a child twice her age.
"That girl's going to give Theo some bad moments when she's sixteen," Paige remarked, watching the dainty child openly flirt with one man after another even before Theo wrestled her out of her warm coat and hat. Small boned and tiny for her age, Ellie was now the picture of health. The convulsions were nothing more than a distant memory.
The men, taking turns amusing Ellie, settled themselves in the parlor to discuss politics and farming and police matters.
Clara's face lit up when she walked into the kitchen and saw Tahny and her swollen stomach. She hurried over and embraced the other woman.
"You're in the family way. I sort of thought so when I last saw you in the fall, but I wasn't sure. When is it due?"
Tahnancoa glowed with health and pride. "Late in April."
"You must let me send you some of the loose dresses I made when I was expecting Ellie. They're my own design, and I found them very comfortable toward the end, when nothing else would fit. And of course, I'll make you a full layette."
"After you sew me a wedding dress, Clara," Paige said, trying for ultra-casual, but aware that a blush was creeping up from the neck of her blue dress.
Clara and Tahnancoa stared at her for a moment, and then both erupted in delighted squeals. Paige showed off her ring, and they hugged her and demanded details and a date for the wedding.
Paige, her face bright pink, told them about Myles having to ask permission. "As soon as the commish gives his blessing, then we'll set a date," she promised.
Of course, Tahnancoa already knew all about that quaint custom, and Clara wasn't at all surprised.
The news of the engagement was repeated when Abigail arrived, bearing pickled crab apples and an enormous tub of suga
r doughnuts she'd made that morning. "About time," Abigail exclaimed, her scrubbed little face alight with pleasure as she hugged Paige. "I told you long ago to set your sights on that handsome Dr. Baldwin."
Armand had brought his accordion, and while the women put the finishing touches to the dinner, making gravy and mashing potatoes, the strains of one lively Métis folk song after another filled the little house.
Christmas dinner was a huge success, in spite of the fact that the dressing in the goose was so peppery it made everyone sneeze.
Dennis and Tahnancoa left at dusk to ride home, but the Fletchers were staying until morning, so Paige went out to the barn with Myles when he was leaving to say a private good night as he saddled Major.
The night had turned cold, and frost gleamed on the windows. The sky was studded with faraway stars, and a half-moon was just rising over the town below them. Myles held her in his arms, and their breath puffed out above them and turned to steam.
He kissed her, deep and thorough and lingering.
"This leaving you at night is wearing me down," he grumbled. "I'm sending the commissioner a telegram in the morning saying that permission to marry is urgently requested."
"My God, Myles, he'll think I'm pregnant." She said the words without thinking, and a vivid image flashed into her mind of Myles holding Ellie on his lap tonight and making her giggle.
An old regret wormed its way into Paige's happiness. She whispered, "Do you mind terribly that we won't be able to have children of our own?"
"It's you I want, Paige." He bent his head and kissed her hard. "You're quite enough for me to handle, so don't start fretting about children. If we want some down the line, there's plenty of orphans that end up needing a home."
It was getting colder, and reluctantly he let her go and climbed on Major, leaning down to give her one last kiss.
She watched him ride off. He turned to wave at her when he reached the road that led to the fort, and she waved back and then scurried back into the warm house, shivering, silently chiding herself for being silly.
She was happy, wasn't she? Happier than she'd ever been. Her love for Myles was enough. It was foolish to have so very much and still long for what she knew couldn't ever be.
They'd made a makeshift crib for Ellie by shoving together two armchairs. Paige tiptoed in and looked at her. Ellie was on her stomach, round bottom stuck in the air, thumb plugged into her rosebud mouth.
Paige smoothed the blankets over the sleeping child, bending to press a kiss on her warm forehead, unable for one dangerous moment to stop herself from envisioning little girls with long-lashed gray eyes, and boys with black curls and their father's cleft chin.
Now and Then: Chapter Eighteen
Myles and Paige were married the twentieth of January, 1885, at two in the afternoon.
There'd been a blizzard the first week after Christmas, but when Paige awoke on her wedding morning and scratched away the frost on her bedroom window, the sky was periwinkle blue and sunshine sparkled like gems on the snowdrifts.
Her wedding dress hung on the wardrobe door, and she couldn't resist stroking it every time she passed. Clara had worked miracles in the short time she'd had for sewing. The dress was honey-colored taffeta, in the simple style that Paige had insisted upon. It had a simple V-neckline and close fitting bodice that flowed gracefully into a paneled skirt. There was a long row of tiny pearl buttons up the back, and Clara had taken a few liberties with the sleeves, making them extravagantly full at the shoulder and then tapering them past the elbow into a long, narrow column that fastened on the forearm and wrist with more pearl buttons.
Somehow, Paige got through the hours until the wedding. She was far more nervous than she'd expected, and by the time Clara and Tahnancoa arrived at the house, Paige was wondering irritably why she hadn't insisted on the small civil ceremony she'd wanted in the beginning.
To her astonishment, Myles had insisted on a church wedding, with all the trimmings.
"I only plan to do this once, Paige, and I don't want to rush through it. I want to have a celebration that everyone will remember. Leave the details of the party to me. We'll have it at the fort, and the mess hall will prepare the wedding supper."
It was his wedding too, Paige reminded herself. So she'd given in with good grace.
Myles had asked Dennis to be his best man, and she'd asked Clara and Tahnancoa to be her attendants, but Tahnancoa had gently refused.
"Thank you, my friend. It is a great honor to be asked, but my stomach is too big to stand with you in front of all those people," she'd demurred. "Maybe Clara will let me care for Ellie instead."
By one o'clock, Paige had bathed and donned her new underwear, slip, and the silk stockings she'd bought from the emporium.
Clara was helping Paige while Tahnancoa entertained Ellie in the kitchen.
Paige sat in front of the wavy mirror in her bedroom, trying desperately to bring some sort of order to her mass of black curling hair. She'd washed it that morning, and now it seemed impossible to tame.
"I should have had it cut long ago," she moaned. "Why hasn't someone thought yet of starting a beauty salon in Battleford?" She tugged a brush through the thick mass. "I knew it was getting too long, but I just kept tying it back out of the way, and now look at this mess. I'd give a lot for some mousse and a can of spray."
"Give me that brush." Clara, glasses perched on the end of her upturned nose, took charge, and within a few moments, Paige's hair was drawn and secured with hairpins into a high, loose knot at the crown of her head, with tendrils of curls escaping all around. Clara buttoned her into her dress, and then called Tahnancoa and Ellie in to admire the effect.
"Ooooohhh," Ellie crowed, clapping her tiny hands and rolling her eyes when she saw Paige.
The women laughed, and Paige relaxed a little.
But an hour later, entering the small church on Theo's arm, she could feel her knees shaking. She'd been collected and escorted to the church by what seemed to her an armed guard, four tall Mounties, resplendent in crimson dress uniform, had come for her in a carriage.
The church was filled to overflowing. There were people standing at the back, and everywhere she looked were more crimson uniforms. There were familiar faces as well. She saw William Sweeney in a shiny black suit, and Abigail in a hat that looked as if a bird had nested on the brim.
Theo patted her hand and the organist began to play, and for a fleeting moment Paige's heart was torn apart with longing for her brother.
It should be Tony walking beside her down this aisle. . ..
But there at the alter stood Myles, ramrod straight, tall and incredibly handsome in a dress uniform embellished with gold braid, his tawny hair falling over his forehead, his gray eyes filled with light and love and admiration as he watched her come toward him.
Afterward, she remembered the moment when she said I do, and the moment when the minister pronounced them husband and wife. She remembered the adoring look in Myles's eyes when he bent his head and kissed her, but the rest of the ceremony seemed like a dream.
She floated back down the aisle on Myles's arm with the organ trumpeting the wedding march, and when the doors of the church opened, Paige could only stare in wonder.
A column of smartly uniformed mounted men, a guard of honor, sat at attention on either side of the path, horses facing one another, the steel tips of their ten-foot bamboo lances meeting in an archway under which she and Myles walked toward the decorated carriage that would take them to the fort for their wedding dinner.
Each lance bore a small pennant, red at the top and white at the bottom. Myles later explained to Paige the significance of the lances and the pennants.
"The archway of lances means that the North West Mounted have taken you under their protection because you're my wife. The pennant is a symbol from the time when lances were used in combat. Blood would run from the tip to the handle, making the lance difficult to hold, so bunting was wrapped around the tip to absorb the bl
ood. Thus the red and white color of the pennant."
Myles didn't find anything gruesome about it, but Paige found herself wishing she'd never asked.
The elaborate dinner and the dancing that followed swallowed up the rest of the afternoon. Paige was whirled from one set of uniformed arms to the next as every member of the detachment claimed a dance with her, as well as Theo and Dennis and William Sweeney.
She was waltzing with a white-haired officer when Rob Cameron cut in and swirled her off, the top of his sandy head not quite reaching Paige's nose.
"Surgeon Baldwin's a lucky man," he said, his wide, freckled face somber, his steps just a trifle unsteady. Paige could smell whiskey on his breath.
"I trust ye'll be happy, Paige."
They'd never recaptured the easy friendship they'd shared, and Paige was sorry.
"I know we will be, Rob," she said, adding impulsively, "I miss you, my friend. You must come over and visit soon."
He accepted politely, but Paige suspected he'd never really come. The waltz ended, and Rob bowed stiffly. "If ever the day comes ye need anything, ye've but to ask me, Paige," he blurted. With a clumsy half-salute, he turned away.
It was nearly dawn before Myles brought his weary bride home to the house on the hill.
He opened the front door and swept Paige into his arms, carrying her over the threshold. She clung to his neck, almost too tired to walk, her face buried in his tunic.
"It's warm in here, Myles." Her voice was filled with surprise. "Someone must have come over and restocked the fires."
"Dennis took care of all that for me." He carried her straight through to the bedroom, setting her down on the bed. A small lamp was already lit, the wick turned low.
She touched the cover and gasped. "Oh, Myles, look at this."
When she'd left that day, a worn patchwork quilt had adorned the freshly made bed. Now, the quilt was gone and in its place was a beautiful goose down comforter, its white cotton cover hand embroidered in bright and intricate Indian designs.
Now and Forever: Time Travel Romance Superbundle Page 27
