An Engagement in Seattle (28 page)

“I’ve decided I’ll have a bath, after all.” She planned to soak out the stiffness of all those hours cooped up inside planes.

“There’s one problem,” he said, sounding chagrined. “I don’t have a tub.”

Lesley stared at him. “Pardon?”

“There’s only a shower. It’s all I’ve ever needed. At some point we can install a bathtub, if you want.”

“Okay. I’ll manage.” A shower instead of a bath was a minor inconvenience. She’d adjust.

Chase needed to make a couple of calls and while he was busy, Lesley showered and readied for bed. Her husband of four days undressed, showered and climbed into bed with her.

The sheets were cold and instinctively Lesley nestled close to Chase. He brought her into the warm alcove of his arms, gently kissing her hair.

“Good night,” Lesley whispered when he turned off the light.

“’Night.” The light was off, but the room was still bright. She’d adjust to sunlight in the middle of the night, too, Lesley reasoned. But it now seemed that she was going to have to make more adjustments than she’d realized.

She rolled onto her side and positioned the pillow to cradle her head. She was too tired to care, too tired to do anything but sleep.

Chase, however, had other ideas.…

Lesley smiled softly to herself as he whispered in her ear.

“You know what I want.”

“Yes.” She slipped onto her back and lifted her arms to him in welcome. She
did
know what he wanted. And tired or not, she wanted the same thing.

Chase was awakened by the alarm. His eyes burned and he felt as if he were fighting his way out of a fog before he realized what he needed to do to end the irritating noise.

Lesley didn’t so much as stir. He was pleased that the buzzer hadn’t woken her. He’d like nothing better than to stay in bed and wake his wife and linger there with her.

That wasn’t possible, though. Not this morning. There’d be plenty of other mornings when they could. He looked forward to those times with pleasure.

Chase slipped out of bed and reached for his jeans and shirt. Wandering into the bathroom, he splashed cold water onto his face in a desperate effort to wake up. He’d report in to work, do what needed to be done and leave again. It shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes, an hour at the most. There was a chance he’d be home before Lesley even woke up.

He smiled the whole time he made himself a cup of coffee. He sat in the recliner and laced his boots, put on a light jacket and let himself out the door.

Pete was just pulling into his yard when Chase walked down the two front steps. He sipped from his coffee in its travel mug and walked toward his friend.

“Trouble,” Pete greeted him.

“What’s going on?”

“Don’t know.”

“It isn’t going to take long, is it?” Chase knew the answer to that already. Nothing was ever easy around the pump station.

“I gotta tell you,” Pete said to him good-naturedly, “your arrival back couldn’t have been more timely.”

Chase released a four-letter word beneath his breath. He’d wait an hour or so, call Lesley and explain. This certainly wasn’t the way he wanted their lives together to begin, but it couldn’t be helped. Too bad she’d learn the truth so soon.

Lesley woke to blazing sunshine. That was how she’d gone to sleep, too. She turned her head toward Chase, surprised to find the other half of the bed empty. Swallowing her disappointment, she tossed aside the covers and sat on the edge of the mattress.

Chase had parked their suitcases by the bedroom door. Lesley decided to unpack first, and by the time she was through, she hoped Chase would be back.

She dressed, then looked in the cupboard for something to eat. As soon as Chase returned, they’d need to do some grocery shopping. Since he’d been gone for several weeks, they needed to restock the essentials.

The phone rang while she was munching on dry cereal.

“Hello,” she answered enthusiastically, knowing it was likely to be Chase; she was right.

“Lesley, I’ve run into some problems here at the station.”

“Will you be long?”

“I don’t know. Do you think you can manage without me for a while?”

“Of course.”

“I can send Pete if you’d rather not be alone.”

“I’ll be fine, and I certainly don’t need a baby-sitter.”

He hesitated. “Don’t go wandering off by yourself, all right?”

“Don’t worry. With bears and wolves roaming around, I won’t be taking any strolls.”

“I’m sorry about this,” he said regretfully.

“I’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“Chase, stop worrying, I’m a big girl.”

“I’ve got to go.”

“I know. Just answer one thing. We need groceries. Would you mind if I took your truck and drove into town and picked up a few items?” She eyed her bowl of cereal. “We need milk, eggs and so on.”

She heard him curse under his breath. “Groceries. I didn’t think of that. Hold off, would you, for a little while? I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“I know.” She was lonely for him already, but determined to be a helpmate and not a problem.

Another hour passed and she’d completely reorganized their bedroom. She consolidated the things in Chase’s dresser to make room for hers and hung what she could in his cramped closet. When Chase had a few minutes to spare, she needed him to weed out anything he didn’t need.

The sound of an approaching car was a welcome distraction. Hoping it was Chase, she hurried onto the front porch—to see Pete driving toward the house in his four-wheel-drive vehicle.

“Howdy,” he called, waving as he climbed out of the truck. “Chase sent me to check up on you.”

“I’m fine. Really.”

“He had me pick up a few things on the way.” He reached inside the cab and lifted out two bags of groceries and carried them into the house.

“I could’ve gone myself.” She was disappointed that Chase didn’t trust her enough to find her way around. Just how lost could she get?

“Chase wanted to introduce you around town himself,” Pete explained. He seemed to have read her thoughts. He set the bags on the kitchen counter and Lesley investigated their contents. For a bachelor, Pete had done a good job.

“What do I owe you?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Chase’s friend responded, helping himself to a cup of coffee. “Chase took care of it. He’s got an account at the store and they bill him monthly.”

“How…quaint.”

Pete added two teaspoons of sugar, stirring vigorously. “Chase said you like to cook.”

“I do,” she responded. Since he didn’t show any signs of leaving, she poured herself a cup of coffee and joined him at the kitchen table.

“There’s plenty of deer meat in the freezer.”

“Deer?”

“You never cooked deer before? What about caribou?”

“Neither one.” Didn’t anyone dine on good old-fashioned beef in Alaska?

“Don’t worry. It cooks up like beef and doesn’t taste all that different. You’ll be fine.”

Lesley appreciated his confidence even if she didn’t share it.

“So,” Pete said, relaxing in his chair, hands encircling the mug, “what do you think of the cabin?”

Lesley wasn’t sure how to answer. It was certainly livable, but nothing like she’d expected. However, as she’d said to herself countless times, she’d adjust. “It’s homey,” she said, trying to be diplomatic about it.

“Chase bought it ’specially for you.”

Lesley lowered her eyes. That couldn’t possibly be true. He hadn’t known her long enough to have chosen this cabin for her.

“He’s only been living here a few months,” Pete went on. “He decided back in March that he wasn’t going through another winter without a wife, so he started getting ready for one. The first thing he did was buy this place and move off the station.”

“Do you live at the station?”

“Nope. I bought myself a cabin, too, year or so ago.

“Chase has lots of plans to remodel, but he wanted to wait until he found the right woman so they could plan the changes together.”

Lesley looked around, the ideas already beginning to form. If they knocked out the wall between the living room and kitchen, they could get rid of the cramped feeling.

“Chase did all right for himself,” Pete said, sounding proud of his friend. “I gotta tell you, I laughed when he told me he was going to Seattle and bringing himself back a wife.”

“Why didn’t he marry someone from around here?” Lesley asked. She already knew the answer but wanted to see what he’d say.

“First off, there aren’t any available women in Twin Creeks. He might’ve met a woman in Fairbanks—used to go out with a couple different ones—but he figured his chances were better in Seattle. And he was right!”

“I’m glad he did go to Seattle.”

“He seems pleased about it. This is the first time I’ve seen Chase smile in a year, ever since his father died. He took it hard, you know.”

Lesley pretended she did. Although she’d told him about her own parents, Chase hadn’t said much about his, just that they were both dead.

“So soon after his mother—that darn near killed him. He’s all alone now, no brothers or sisters, and he needed someone to belong to the way we all do. I don’t know that he’s ever said that, but it’s the reason he was so keen on marryin’.”

“What about you?” Lesley asked. “Why haven’t you married?”

“I did once, about ten years back, but it didn’t work out.” Pain flickered in his eyes. “Pamela didn’t last the winter. I hope for Chase’s sake you’re different. He’s already crazy about you, and if you left him, it’d probably break his heart.”

“I’m not leaving.” It would take a lot more than a harsh winter to change her mind about her commitment to Chase. She’d never taken duty lightly and she’d pledged before her friends and God to stand by Chase as his wife, his lover, his partner.

“Good.” Pete’s twinkling blue eyes were back.

“Chase sent you out to babysit me, didn’t he?”

Pete laughed. “Not exactly. He was a little afraid you were gonna get curious and do some exploring.”

“Not after the conversation we had about the bears.” Lesley shuddered dramatically.

“They aren’t gonna hurt you. You leave ’em alone and they’ll leave you alone. You might want to ask Chase to take you to the dump and that way you’ll get to see ’em firsthand.”

“They hang around the dump?”

“Sure do, sorting through the garbage lookin’ for goodies. We’ve tried plenty of ways to keep ’em away, but nothing seems to work and we finally gave up.”

“I see.” Lesley wasn’t impressed. “Has anyone thought to bury the garbage?” The solution seemed simple to her.

“Obviously you’ve never tried to dig tundra. It’s like cement an inch below the surface.”

“What’s wrong at the station?” Lesley asked, looking at her watch. It was well past noon.

“Can’t rightly say, but whatever it is will have to be fixed before Chase can come home. Trust me, he isn’t any happier about this than you. Chase isn’t normally a swearing man, but he was cursin’ a blue streak this morning. He’ll give you a call the minute he can.”

“I’d like to see the town,” Lesley said. She was eager to meet the other women and become a part of the community. It was too late in the year to apply for a full-time teaching position, but she could make arrangements to get her certificate and sign up as a substitute.

“Chase will take you around himself,” Pete said again. “It wouldn’t be right for me to be introducin’ you.”

“I know.” She sighed. “Tell me about Twin Creeks, would you?”

“Ah…there’s not much to tell.”

“What about stores?”

He shrugged. “We order most everything through the catalog and on the internet.”

“There’s a grocery store.”

“Oh, sure, but it’s small.”

Well, she wasn’t expecting one with a deli and valet parking.

“What’s the population of Twin Creeks?”

Pete wasn’t one who could easily disguise his feelings, and she could see from the way his eyes darted past hers that he’d prefer to avoid answering. “We’ve had, uh, something of a population boom since the last census.”

“What’s the official total?”

“You might want to talk to Chase about that.”

“I’m asking
you,
” she pressed, growing impatient. “A thousand?”

“Less ’n that,” he said, drinking what remained of his coffee.

“How many less?”

“A, uh, few hundred less.”

“All right, five hundred people, then?”

“No…”

Lesley pinched her lips together. “Just tell me. I hate guessing games.”

“Forty,” Pete mumbled into the empty mug.

“Adults?” Her heart felt as if it’d stopped.

“No, that’s counting everyone, including Mrs. Davis’s cat.”