South of Stavewood (Stavewood Saga Book 2) (11 page)

      “I think the thing I am most tired of right now is resting,” he smiled faintly.

      Louisa eyed him cautiously and then walked up and patted his knee.

      “Mr. ‘Couver?” she asked. “Is your leg better yet?”

      “Almost.” He studied the child’s face. She had the look of Rebecca, her hair dark, eyes green and complexion fair, but she had her father’s height and was tall for her age. There was no mistake, to Roland’s eyes, that she would grow to be a stunning woman and he mused that Tim would have his hands full keeping suitors at bay.

      He reached out to the child and she jumped up onto his knee eagerly.

      “Is that why you wondered about my leg, so you could jump up onto me?” Roland chuckled.

      “Yes,” she peered at his face. “I wanted to ask you sumthin’.”

      “What’s that?”

      “Can I touch your moustache?”

      Roland looked at the child curiously. “If you like.”

      “Loo,” Rebecca reprimanded, “I don’t think Mr. Vancouver wants you to touch his moustache!”

     “She’s fine,” he reassured.

      The child put her finger on the man’s cheek cautiously and then onto his moustache and giggled. “It’s not picky at all!” she exclaimed. “Mr. ‘Couver?”

      Roland laughed, “Yes?”

      “If you marry ‘tousin Emma will you be my ‘tousin too?”

      “I suppose so.” Roland looked at Rebecca questioningly.

      “Yes, Loo, then Mr. Vancouver would be your second cousin.”

      Louisa thought hard while rubbing the man’s moustache back and forth with her forefinger vigorously. “I would like that. Then Mr. ‘Couver would be in my family too!”

      The child jumped down, satisfied, and followed a small white butterfly across the lawn.

      “Rebecca,” Roland looked at the woman frankly. “I know you have reservations about me. I’m not an open man like your husband. I’m not always one to go about with a smile on my face and my hand out to shake easily. I just want you to know that I love Emma and I will do everything in my power to make her happy. I never had much of a family, and I may not know all the right things to do, but I’ll always do my best for her. You have my word on that.”

      Rebecca swallowed the lump in her throat and placed her hand on his. “I know she’s crazy over you. Emma is her own person. I could always count on her for the truth and she can speak for herself. That’s not a trait too many men look for in a woman. As long as you always love her for who she is I will try to do the same for you.”

      Roland sighed deeply and smiled.

      Emma stood up to stretch her back and noticed the three on the bench. She watched Louisa rubbing Roland’s moustache and smiled. She realized that she wanted to see the man as a father. She thought he’d be good at it, strong but kind. When she saw Rebecca touch his hand tears began to well up in her eyes and she turned away. Her cousin was so precious to her, and although she knew Rebecca didn’t see Roland the way she did, she knew that Rebecca wanted the best for her. Emma ran the back of her arm across her eyes and took a deep breath.

Chapter Twenty

    
 
B
efore two weeks were out, Roland was walking the road back to his homestead, watching Emma pick wildflowers along the path, her hair pure gold in the afternoon sunlight. His gait was halted, and he noticed that she stalled along the way so that he could keep up with her. She spotted a collection of plants off the road and headed towards them. He followed her, picking his way through the undergrowth.

      “Oh, Roland, look at the view from here!” The woodland opened up to a magnificent panorama of tree covered peaks and an open vista of meadows and grasslands. A winding creek snaked through the landscape beyond them as they stood in an expanse of open field. “It’s breathtaking!” she gasped. “I have never seen anything like it.”

      “Do you know how far away we are from the cabin?” He watched her expression closely.

      “Not so far,” she replied distractedly. “It’s close enough that we could come here. We could picnic here maybe. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Do you think it belongs to anyone? Would they mind terribly?” She stepped down several feet and turned in a full circle slowly, breathless at the view.

      He followed her unhurriedly until he reached her side. “You like this?” He looked into her eyes.

      “It’s like heaven, Roland. Look at it!”

      “I’ve seen it a million times.” He was captivated by her open appreciation of the landscape and the look of fascination in her eyes.

      “Emma.” His voice was calm and serious. “This is my land. All of this, nearly as far as you can see.”

      “Yours?” She turned to him, shocked.

      “This is the exact location I wanted it all for.”

      “But the house, it’s off that way somewhere. Why didn’t you build it here? Right here would have been the most magnificent place in the world to live. Just look at it!”

      “I know,” he smiled. “It had been my plan all along.”

      “Then, why not?” She turned to him, her expression that of complete confusion.

      “The cabin was only supposed to be temporary. I came here and got this land from Elgerson. I wanted to settle here, start a new life. I thought it the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Even more beautiful than Canada.”

      “Where the gold is,” she looked at him frankly.

      “Ah, the gold.” He chuckled to himself. “There aren’t many secrets in Minnesota. Come here, Emma.” He gestured to a smooth stump and indicated that they sit down.

      He looked out over the land, while he sat beside her and began. “I grew up south of here. I didn’t have much of a family life. I never knew my father and my mother was Dakota. I went off to find something better. I thought that finding gold would fix it all.

      “I’ve never been afraid of work and I worked like hell. I staked a claim and I did find gold. Plenty of gold. Then I had nothing to do with myself. I met an Indian woman up there. She had a son and she was shunned by her people. I don’t know why. I had a cabin and I let them stay there. I had no ties to her, but I liked the child. But they were not my family. I didn’t spend any time there. When I wasn’t working I was drinking.

      “I’ll tell you right out, Emma. Drink does not make me a better man. I lived on a bender and when the cabin burnt to the ground with the girl and baby in it, I left. Just took that damned gold and left.

      “I went home. Ma was dead and I never found out who my father was. I just roamed. I looked for work, stayed away from the whiskey and one day I found this.” He looked out over the valley.

      “It changed everything for me. It was the picture of hope. I had a hell of a time convincing Elgerson to sell it to me. I made offer after offer and he kept saying it wasn’t the money. I knew that. He told me he needed a bull headed man like me to run his saw mill. His wife was running around on him and he couldn’t run his business.

      “I drove a bargain with him. I would manage his mill until he could run it himself if he would sell me this piece of land.” He ran his hands through his hair and it fell straight and glossy through his fingers.

      “He asked me why I wanted it. I told him because it was a piece of heaven and if all the damn money in the world couldn’t buy that then what the hell was it good for?” He chuckled.

     “That crazy bastard gave it to me. Imagine that.” He shook his head and turned to look over the valley.

      “I’ll tell you what. Timothy Elgerson is either the dumbest or the smartest man I have ever met.”

      Emma watched Roland closely and drew in her breath.

      “Yeah, there’s gold money, there’s plenty of damn gold money. I’ll give it all to you if that’s what you want, but I know you don’t. I knew the day you cleaned the cabin like it was a palace, putting in curtains and such, a cloth on the table top and dirt all over your face.

      “Marry me and we’ll build, right here.” He spread out his hands to the open landscape. “I don’t care if it’s logs or board, stone or sod. You decide. As long as you are in it and you don’t notice when your face is smudged with dust, it’s all yours.” He dropped his hands to his sides.

      Emma choked back tears and turned to him, putting her hands around his neck and lacing her fingers together. “I don’t care about the gold either, but if it buys a home for us on this piece of heaven we ought to enjoy it.”

      He pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. “I love you,” he whispered, his breath close and warm in her ear.

      She returned his kisses as he stood to face her. “We need to finish our walk to the cabin very quickly,” he muttered hoarsely into her ear.

      “Why?” she asked provocatively, unfastening the buttons on his starched shirt and slipping her hand inside.

      “That is exactly why,” he rumbled deeply.

      “If this is a piece of heaven then this place is perfectly fine for now.”

      She began to untie the ribbons on her bodice and dipped down onto her knees on the soft grass. “Right here is perfect,” she laid her hand on the ground beside her.

      He lowered himself down in front of her and pulled her to him firmly, and she let her dress fall from her shoulders.

      Her camisole was light and sheer and he could not keep himself from touching her.

      Emma gasped with pleasure and whispered softly, “Roland, I love you.”

      She lay back against the soft earth and pulled him to her, kissing him and whispering his name again and again.

      He fought for control as she put her hand against him, touching him boldly. He swallowed hard as he struggled to kick off his boots. She stood up in nothing but her sheer camisole and bloomers and straddled his leg, to pull off his boot, her backside in clear view and he thought he would lose his mind. When she lifted his foot to remove the second boot he could stand it no longer and reached up and pulled her to him.

      “You have enchanted me entirely,” he whispered to her and he rolled her onto the grass.

      “Had I known you were a rich miner earlier,” she giggled, “I would have had my way with you much sooner.”

      “Then I would have offered it all to you immediately,” he groaned and pulled her to him.

“Enchanted?” Emma tied the ribbons on her bodice, while Roland lay in the grass beside her, chewing on a piece of wild grass.

      “Since it is abundantly clear to me that you are simply after me for my coin I can only surmise that is why you are trying so hard to drive me completely insane.”

      Emma shook out her hair as Roland fell back on the grass.

      “Are you alright?” She crawled over to him.

      “I fear you have slain me and I’ll never recover.”

      “Oh, Roland,” she scolded. “You scared me, I thought maybe you fainted or something.”

      “But I have. I have fainted away and all of this is a dream in oblivion. I have not woken from Jude Thomas’ blow and I am simply dreaming.”

      “Then you must wake up and marry me quickly, so I won’t be left defiled and without a man.”

      “If I have to,” he stood up and offered his hand. She took it and stood up beside him.

      “I have to warn you that when this leg has completely healed you will never escape me.”

      “I can hardly wait,” she smiled.

Chapter Twenty-One

    
 
E
mma stood in the middle of the dressmaker’s shop while Rebecca and Anja chatted away, exchanging opinions on what type of dress she ought to wear to her wedding.

      “The dress, it should be the formal, like your wedding, no? But not so much, this is a taller body. She needs something entirely different. But white, and formal, no?”

      “No,” Emma stated clearly. “No white.”

      Rebecca and the dressmaker stared up at her as if they had just discovered that she was in the room.

      “No white?” the women repeated in unison.

      “White is for virgins,” Emma was frank.

      Rebecca scowled at her forthright cousin and rolled her eyes.

      “Ah,” the plump dressmaker peered over her glasses at the tall blonde. “But formal, yes?”

      “The ceremony will be smaller, Anja. Not the big wedding that Timothy and I had. Something simpler would be better, and better on her as well, don’t you think?”

      “Yes, of course. Much more willowy, more refined. I see long in the waist. Her bust, it is ample enough. A delicate neckline would be best. Inviting, but not too much.” She lifted her head slightly to examine the girl more closely through her tiny glasses.

      Emma frowned.

      “Who is the groom?” The woman turned to Rebecca suddenly.

      “Roland Vancouver,” Rebecca responded, looking over her cousin and scrutinizing her closely.

      “Ah, no!” The dressmaker exclaimed. “The dark one?”

      Emma looked at Rebecca and twisted her face.

      “He’s the one,” Rebecca smiled.

      “Ah, a moody man. He always likes pink.”

      “Pink?” Emma wrinkled her nose.

      “I have the perfect thing!” The squat woman toddled into the back room and returned with a large bolt of a fine satin, being carried by two very petite young girls. “This!” Anja announced.

      “Oh, this is superb!” Rebecca pulled out a length of the fabric and the girls spread it across Emma as if she were a mannequin. She eyed the fabric suspiciously. The shade was lovely, unusual and soft.

      “The petal pink, she will be a vision and Mr. Vancouver will be most pleased.”

      Emma looked down at the fabric wrapped around her and had to marvel at the lovely color.

      Rebecca and the seamstress rattled on about the line of the dress, where the darts ought to be and how long the hemline. Emma soon tired of their prattle and watched the shoppers hurry down the street through the front window. She thought she noticed Roland out on the thoroughfare and pointed him out to Rebecca.

      “No, no!” the women gasped.

      “The groom cannot see the dress before the wedding. It cannot be!” Anja exclaimed.

      Emma stood and waited until the woman had finished measuring and fussing over her and then walked out to find Roland.

      She finally spotted him across the street where Mina Caudell was speaking to him energetically.

      Emma held back a moment until she saw the man’s face darken. She stood up straight and walked directly towards the two.

      “Good day, Miss Caudell,” Emma nodded politely.

      “Miss Harris,” Mina looked sidelong at the girl.

      “Ah, there you are. I ran into Mina while I was looking for you. Timothy said you were at the dress shop. Are you finished there?” Roland took Emma’s hand protectively and tucked it into his arm.

      Mina looked Emma up and down slowly. Roland’s fiancé wore a lavender gown of soft linen, a row of tiny white buttons along the bodice. Her hair was gathered in a loose tumble on the back of her head. Mina thought the girl plain, and detested the fact that she had allowed her face to freckle.

      “Perhaps you ought to take your intended shopping for a parasol. They are so necessary to keep one’s complexion fair.” She turned to Roland, touching his arm familiarly.

       “I came to town to take Emma to choose her engagement ring, the wedding is coming up very soon and she’ll need a ring.”

      “Oh,” Mina scowled.

      “Have you heard any news regarding Jude?” Roland watched the woman’s face narrowly. “I know you’re close to him.”

      “Not a word.” Mia turned and walked away quickly.

      “That took care of that,” Roland remarked.

      Rebecca walked up to them with Timothy at her side. “Emma, I finished up with Anja. We’ll come back next week for the fitting.”

      “Fine.” Emma twisted her gloves in her hand.

      “Ah, the dressmaker!” Timothy chuckled. “Did you ladies enjoy your visit there? I know how much I relish it.”

      Rebecca glared at her husband playfully as Emma rolled her eyes.

      “We are headed over to the hotel for dinner. Will you be joining us, Roland?” Timothy tugged at the cuffs of his jacket.

      “I’d like to take Emma to the jeweler’s first, if you don’t mind.”

      “Then we’ll meet you there.” He escorted Rebecca across the street towards the big hotel. She entered the opulent lobby and looked around thoughtfully. On her first visit to the establishment she had been penniless and dressed like a street urchin. Today she was warmly greeted by the staff as she and Timothy were shown to the restaurant’s finest table.

      The jeweler sized Emma’s finger and then walked to the back room.

      “I don’t need anything nearly as huge as these, Roland, honestly,” she protested gently.

      “Let’s see what the man has. Tim told me that Rebecca turned down all the original pieces. Just wait.”

      “Becky’s ring is perfect for her, but it’s also very unusual.”

      The jeweler returned with three more trays of rings, all with large settings and elaborate designs. Emma shook her head.

      “Would this suit your taste, perhaps?” The salesman took a small tray out from under the others. Sitting in the center of the tray was a gold ring with a pale rose oval diamond. The stone was entwined in a single swirl that held the diamond as if it were framed, like a mirror. The ring was elegant in its simplicity and Roland lifted it from the box gently. He held it up to the jeweler’s lamp and then offered it to Emma.

      He slipped the band onto her finger and Emma exhaled. The color was so subtle against her warm complexion it was as if the stone adjusted to her personally.

      “This is lovely,” she sighed with satisfaction.

      “There is a band, here.” The jeweler showed her an interlocking piece that completed the framing of the stone. He found a complimentary band that fit Roland’s fine hand and placed the wedding bands into velvet boxes.

      Emma swooned with excitement as the two left the shop and she kissed Roland appreciatively. “It’s perfect.” She couldn’t stop admiring the piece.

      “Then you will have something to show off.” He smiled proudly at her excitement.