Love on the Horizon (A Northern Woods Novel) (8 page)

The door was slightly ajar, and
she could see Nick doing paperwork at his desk. She tapped lightly and stepped
inside. “Hi Nick,” she said softly.

Nick looked up and saw Anya
leaning back against the door frame.

“Hello Anya. Jake went to
Huntington to pick up supplies. He isn’t due to return for an hour or so. I’ll
let him know you stopped by.” When he noticed the look on her face, he wondered
whether she even understood him.

“Oh, okay. I can wait?” she
asked. Her curved and parted lips turned into a smile. He watched as she
purposely bumped into the door, while she removed her arms from her coat. When
it fell open, Nick understood exactly what this woman was up to. She appeared
before him wearing a pair of black leather knee-high boots with six-inch heels,
a sexy black leather mini dress with a laced-up front, which began at her
diamond-studded navel, leading to her firm, very enticing breasts.

Fury almost choked him when he
stood. His face twisted in anger, as he moved quickly from behind his desk,
picked up her wrap from the floor and tossed it at her.

“Get out of here,” he responded
sharply.

His seething reply caught her off
guard, and he could see she wasn’t accustomed to a man turning away from her.

She laughed to cover her annoyance
then lifted her chin, to meet his icy gaze.

“You will not tell Jake of this,”
she replied in a low voice.

“Put your coat on and leave.
Now!” he spat in anger. He gave her a brutal, unfriendly stare.

She pushed her arms into her
sleeves, tied the belt tightly and hurried out the door. Art was about to knock
while he leaned on his cane, when Anya came flying out of the office, knocking
it from his hand.

“What the… watch where you’re
going young lady,” Art said.

Nick opened the door and watched
as she rushed out. When he was confident that she’d actually left the building,
he helped Art into a chair.

“I’ll be right back,” he said,
and strode to the exit, to reassure them both that she actually returned to her
car and drove away.

He walked back into his office,
sat down at his desk, and shook his head in disgust.

“What the heck was that about?”
Art asked, with a puzzled look.

Nick explained all she’d done. “I
don’t know what she was trying to pull here. I think we’d better hold off on
telling Jake. Who knows if he’d be able to handle it? Let’s hope it was a
lesson learned on her part. From what I’ve read about these women, some are
very evil, but I didn’t expect something like this.”

“She should have noticed how
happily married you are when they came to visit last month,” Art said.

“Marriage means nothing to this
type of women, Art. They only want a man’s money, and with the clothes she was
dressed in, it looked as though Jake furnished her with a credit card, so she’s
well on her way.”

“Why, what was she wearing?”

“Not much of anything. She wore
very expensive clothes, if that’s what you’d call them. She must have purchased
them on the Internet. I don’t believe there’s a store around here that sells
that type of clothing. Hell, Art. This is ranch land. I doubt there’s a cat
house anywhere nearby, and that was exactly the way she looked.”

“That bad, huh?”

“You better believe it.”

“This would crush Jake, ya know.
I guess you’re right. We’ll keep quiet and see where it goes from here.
Hopefully, you put her to shame.”

“I’m not going to tell Mariah
about this. I don’t want her to worry. She has more important issues on her
mind right now."

Art nodded his head and sat with
his arms crossed, a frown on his face.

“Jake should be back any minute.
I sent him over to Huntington for supplies. We’re almost out of oats, and we
need more bands for the horses’ manes. I want to have everything purchased for
the horse show this summer. Mariah said she’d like Precious Angel shown this
year.”

“That palomino can carry a show
of her own,” Art said.

“For sure, and Mariah is so proud
of her. Hopefully, she’ll feel up to riding by then; lucky for her that it
won’t be until the end of July.”

He stood up with a long exhausted
sigh. “I’m going out to check on the men. Would you like me to make another pot
of coffee for you?”

“Nah, but I’ll stick around here
in case any more excitement appears. I wouldn’t want to miss out next time,” he
remarked with a grin.

“There better not be a next
time,” Nick said in disgust. He sighed again in frustration, and then he
stepped out and closed the door behind him.

* * *

Mariah let Nicky take his own
bath, which made him one happy little cowboy. Tired from his day at school, he
fell asleep after she’d read the first paragraph of
The Little Pony
.

She sat on the couch dressed in
her soft fleece pajamas, her Christmas gift from her son. When Nick had taken
him shopping, Nicky chose her favorite color of cherry rose. She smiled when
she heard the door open and Nick walked in.

“You’re early tonight, honey. I just
put Nicky down. Come sit by me for a while.”

He removed his parka and gloves,
then his heavy boots. “Give me a few minutes, sweetheart. I need to warm up a
bit.”

He stood on the hearth, his back
to Mariah, and held his hands toward the heat from the burning logs.

“Anya stopped by today, Nick.”

He lifted his head abruptly when
that alone set the alarm bells ringing. “Really?”

“I’d been sleeping, and by the
time I got to the door she was driving away. I just missed her.”

Nick sighed with relief. As casually
as he could manage, he asked, “Didn’t she even bother to call before she
stopped by?”

“No, but she must have been in a
hurry. I only heard the doorbell ring a couple of times, and Bess hadn’t
returned from taking Nicky to preschool.”

He turned around and sat on the
couch. His hands were now warm from the fire, and he placed one of her feet
into his palm and gave her a foot massage.

“Ahh… that feels so good,” she
sighed.

He enjoyed being able to help her
in any way that he could. He placed her foot down and moved on to the other. He
noticed as she watched him intently.

“Is something bothering you?” she
asked.

He searched for a plausible
explanation, and she burst out laughing.

“Why are you so disturbed about
my having a friendship with Anya? She won’t bite,” she said with a smile.
Hastily, he looked away. He didn’t want her to know what Anya had done. It
would only upset her, and she doesn’t need that.

He gave her feet a pat and stood.
“Is there anything you’d like me to help you with?”

“No, I’m fine,” she answered,
with a quizzical look on her face.

“Well I’m going to head for the
shower. It’s getting late. I’ll be in bed shortly.”

When he entered the bedroom,
Mariah was sleeping soundly. He climbed in beside her, careful not to wake her.

He was uncomfortable with
Mariah’s ability to figure him out.
If Anya tries anything more, I’ll have
to let Mariah know about it,
even if it might upset her.
He didn’t
want her to assume something that wasn’t.

Chapter
Fourteen

Mariah sat in front of the living
room window and admired several deer as they stood near the edge of their
property. All of a sudden, they raised their heads in alert, then turned and
rapidly spread out across the land. What a beautiful day. It was the first week
in February, and the sky was clear blue, not a cloud in sight. The sun shone
brightly and the snow sparkled like diamonds. It would soon be time for the
birth of the twins. Their due date was the eighth of April; however, Dr.
Wisenberg informed her that they might arrive sooner. Mariah hoped so; she’d
been feeling very uncomfortable for the past couple of weeks.

Nick had to make a quick trip to
the feed store, and he assured her he’d be back shortly. That had been two
hours ago and Mariah had become quite concerned, until a few moments later,
when he hurried through the door.

“I’m sorry I took so long,
Mariah. On the way home, a rear tire blew out on my truck. I tried to call, but
the battery went dead on my cell phone. Thankfully, I had a spare, and here I
am,” he said. He hung his jacket on the coat rack, smiled and placed a kiss on
her cheek. “I was worried. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Oh don’t worry so much, Nick. If
I needed anyone, there’s always Art, Lillie, or any of the ranch hands, for
that matter. Other than having to haul this heavy load around with me everywhere
I go, I’m fine.

“Before I forget, Anya called me
today. She asked if I’d like to have lunch with her tomorrow since Zak is
attending classes now, and Nicky will be having an extra day at preschool for a
birthday party.”

“Oh Mariah, I wish you wouldn’t
go with Anya. I have a very bad feeling about her.”

“Now Nick, we’ll only be going
over to the café on the county road. She’ll pick me up, and it’s a short
ten-minute drive. You worry too much.”

“Well according to Jake, she
can’t drive worth a darn. Where she’s from, they don’t care about their
vehicles. They act as though they’re driving bumper cars and leave the scene as
if nothing happened. He said that was why he bought her a used car. He found a
few dents in his truck that weren’t there before, and she only denied having an
accident. She told him someone must have run into it while she was in the mall.
Please don’t go, Mariah.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake, we’ll only
be driving on the dirt road from our house to the county road, and the café is
on the east side. I’ll be fine, now stop worrying.”

“Well, I have to head back out to
the stable. Is there anything I can do for you before I go?”

“No, Bess will be home with Nicky
soon. I’m going to lie down for a short nap.”

“Okay honey, but call me if you
need anything.” He pulled up the hood of his jacket. “It sure is a beautiful
day today, isn’t it? The air smells nice and fresh, even though it does
thoroughly freeze your nostrils.”

Mariah giggled, and he shut the
door behind him.

* * *

Anya showed up at noon and helped
Mariah out to her car. Once she was safely seated, she called Nick to let him
know that Anya assisted her into her vehicle and they were about to leave.

“Okay Mariah, but please don’t be
gone long.”

“We won’t. I need to get out of
the house for a bit. We’ll be back before you know it.”

Art looked at Nick when he closed
his cell phone. “What’s up? You look worried. Is Mariah okay?” Nick stared off
into space.

“She just left with Anya.”

“What? Are you serious?”

He sighed and then gave a
resigned shrug. “I can’t tell her she’s not allowed to go, Art. She’s right.
She does need to get out. She’s so tired of being unable to drive anywhere.
They’re only going as far as the café at the Pinewood Hills Country Market. She
convinced me she’d be okay, since they’ll be on the dirt road. What harm could
that be? I guess the one place to worry about Anya’s driving would be when they
have to cross to the other side of the county road. Anya hasn’t pulled any more
of her tricks since the episode in the stable, so hopefully she learned her
lesson." Nick rubbed the back of his neck and sighed heavily.

* * *

“Let’s sit over there.” Anya
pointed to a vacant booth in the corner.

“I think the table would be more
comfortable for my heavy load. I’d be able to move my chair away from the table
and have more room for this bundle,” she said, and placed her hands on her
stomach.

“Okay,” Anya smiled pleasantly.

The waitress poured a cup of
coffee for each of them. After she’d taken their order, Anya sat and stared at
Mariah.

“So,” Anya began, “how long have
you and Nick been married?”

“We’re going on six wonderful
years,” she said with a smile. She stirred the cream in her coffee and placed
her spoon on the saucer. “We’ve been very happy. We’re both so excited about
the twins.”

“I’m sure you are,” Anya said.

Mariah noticed when Anya’s mouth
twitched with amusement, then turned into a tense, but mysterious look. After a
long pause she asked, “What? Why are you looking at me that way?”

“Oh, I was thinking about your
husband, that’s all. Nick is very flirtatious for someone who is happily
married.”

Mariah looked across the table in
surprise. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I probably shouldn’t say
anything, the condition you’re in.”

“You know, for someone who knew
not one word of the English language when you arrived in the United States, you
quickly learned to speak it,” Mariah pointed out. “Now what are you implying
about my husband?”