CHAPTER EIGHT

 

 

 

 

Annabelle rolled to her side as she felt movement and realized Colten was just leaving the bed to start the morning.

“Good morning, Annabelle,” he said when he noticed she was awake. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did, thank you. No nightmares this time.”

“That’s good news.” Colten dressed quickly as Annabelle looked up at the ceiling to give him some privacy. “I’ll be at the boarding house again. I’ll come home around lunch time and we can head back to the creek and go fishing. Then hopefully we’ll have fish for dinner tonight. Also, don’t let me forget to gather some more fallen trees for firewood.”

“That’s right.” Annabelle looked up at him as he moved toward the door. “I’ll try to remember.”

“See you soon,” Colten said as he disappeared out of the room.

Annabelle laid there for a moment longer as her confused emotions and feelings battled to decide which was strongest. Frustration won out and Annabelle huffed then threw the covers off herself and got dressed for the day. The sooner that boarding house was finished, the sooner they could move on with their lives.

She hurried about her morning, eating a quick breakfast that Elizabeth, or Mother had made. It was still difficult to decide which name to call her, but as Colten’s mother brought in some fresh biscuits to the table, Annabelle smiled up at the woman. She really did feel like family. “Thank you, Mother.”

“Of course, dear.”

“What can I help you with today?” Annabelle asked.

“The store won’t be a problem at all, so I won’t need you there most likely. If you’d like to stay in here working on your quilts, that would be fine.”

“How about lunch?” Annabelle asked. “Colten and I will go back to the creek again today. He’s going to show me how to fish, and we’ll also get the wood we forgot yesterday.”

Mrs. Howard explained the options of a mid-day meal and after a few quick instructions on how to do more biscuits, she was out the door and Annabelle was left to herself.

In the quiet of the room, she set herself to work on laying out the quilt and piecing the rest of the top together. That machine was a wonderful help and Annabelle decided that as soon as it was possible, she’d ask Colten to order her one. That would allow Susan to have her machine back and Annabelle would be happy to teach her more about how to use it.

As she worked, Annabelle allowed her mind to wander. It wouldn’t be long until she and Colten had moved out of this house, and she knew the small cabin they’d take over from Susan and Michael didn’t have as much room to work in. Maybe, before they worked on building their own brick home, Colten might be willing to build a small shop she could set up as a sewing parlor. If she had a room in the back where she could have her work space, and a place in the front where she could display her dresses and quilts like the kinds she’d seen on the streets in New York, she could just advertise her services by window displays.

Hopefully Colten would be agreeable with the idea of her wanting to work, and set up a shop. She knew his mother was an incredible business woman in connection with his father. Of course, a lot of it depended on if they had children or not. She hoped they would. But sewing and stitching and seamstress work would go well with mothering.

With a smile on her face, she allowed herself to daydream.

 

 

 

***

 

 

Colten surveyed his work and felt a congratulatory slap on the back.

“You outdid yourself, Colten,” Michael said. “I thought I was working hard, but you’ve put me to shame.”

“I just want to make sure you and Susan can get here before the baby is born.”

“That’s mighty kind of you,” Michael said.

Colten knew Michael was well aware of his ulterior motives, but was kind enough to not mention them.

“I think I’ll bring Susan over today and give her a tour. She’ll be able to decide if it feels done enough to move over here. If she does, then you can help me move our things out.”

“Be happy to,” Colten said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go pick up Annabelle so we can try our hand at fishing.”

“And more kissing?” Michael suggested.

“Not one to say no to something like that,” Colten said with as much seriousness as he could muster. “But fishing is the main goal.”

Michael nodded and slapped his shoulder once more. “Thanks again. I’ll see you later today and let you know what Susan thinks. Good luck on the fish.”

Colten left the building before Michael could say anything else and walked briskly back to the store. After making sure the wagon was hitched and thanking his father for preparing it for him, Colten went to find his wife. He checked inside the store first, saw only his mother and a customer, then waved to her in passing as he went inside the house.

“Annabelle?” Colten called as he entered.

“In the parlor,” Annabelle answered. “Almost done with this piece. The basket is packed and on the kitchen table.”

Colten didn’t even glance at the basket as he worked his way to where his wife was. She was at the little bench and sewing table. Her foot moved back and forth in order to move the gears on the sewing machine and he watched in fascination as she finished the stitching on the cloth she held.

She pulled it away from the machine, snipped a piece of thread with some scissors and held it up to examine the back side while the front faced him.

“That looks nice,” Colten said. “How long did it take?”

“This is the second top I’ve put together. I got all the pieces in order yesterday, so it was just the stitching today.”

“You’ve done two?”

She nodded and pointed to a folded up section of quilt. “I now need to make sure the bottoms are the right size, and will have to piece some of them together. Then later on, your mother said we’ll take them to a quilting bee. This one will be for our bed, and that one will go to the boarding house for Susan.”

“You are talented,” Colten said, coming close enough to kiss her cheek. He didn’t dare trust himself to kiss her lips, not being in the house where his mother might come in when her customer left.

“Thank you, Colten,” Annabelle smiled brightly. “It feels good to work on things like this off my own ideas instead of just following the rules someone else established for their factory.”

“Now that I see this, I think that idea you had to sell some of your product will actually work. We could set it up in the store.”

“At first,” Annabelle said. “Though someday, I hoped to talk to you about a shop of my own.”

“You must think highly of my building skills.”

“From what I’ve seen at the boarding house, I believe you could build almost anything.”

“Someday,” Colten said. “Though I do hope you’ll let me build us a house first.”

Annabelle smiled widely. “I would like that.”

Colten kissed her once softly, then as she leaned into him, he pulled back. She immediately straightened as if ashamed, and he placed his hands on her waist.

“It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you,” Colten said. “I would gladly spend all afternoon kissing you. I just thought you might want some lunch, and to try your hand at fishing. Then we can maybe consider swimming a little?”

“I don’t know how to swim,” Annabelle said.

“Don’t let that worry you. I’d teach you. And the water isn’t all that deep. You could probably touch the ground. It will just feel nice to cool off in the creek.”

“I don’t have any kind of swimming attire,” Annabelle said.

“We always just swam in our underclothing. Your shift and bloomers would be just fine.”

Annabelle’s eyes widened and he knew she was considering all the implications that came with his suggestion, and when she nodded in agreement, his heart soared. She felt comfortable enough with him to give it a try.

“Let’s grab our lunch and head out. The wagon is all ready. And this time, I’ve placed the axe right next to the fishing gear so I’ll remember to bring some wood home.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

Annabelle wasn’t sure whether to smile or bite her lip. Every moment with Colten was even better than the last. They’d found a good place to stop the wagon and they sat in the wagon bed, eating the lunch she’d packed. Colten then took the axe to a tree that had fallen and chopped it into manageable chunks that Annabelle could lift and put in the wagon bed. It would be split into smaller pieces back home, but for now, they gathered what they could from already dead trees.

“Nice work, Mrs. Howard,” Colten said giving her a wide grin.

“Same to you, Mr. Howard.” Annabelle brushed the remaining bits of dirt and bark off her dress.

“You ready to try your hand at fishing?”

“I suppose,” Annabelle said, looking at her husband and loving how excited he seemed to be teaching her something new.

Colten showed her how to bait a hook and how to dangle the line in the right spot in the creek.

He stood right behind her, holding her hand in his as she gripped the pole. “You should be able to tell the moment a fish takes the bait. You’ll feel a tug. As soon as that happens, you need to pull hard downstream. That will help set the hook and then you can reel him in.”

“All the fish we ate in New York was brought in by huge fishing ships. I’ve never even seen a creek fish before.”

“I’d venture to guess they’d look a lot the same.”

“The different fish often tasted different,” Annabelle said.

“Same here,” Colten nodded. “But still taste like fish all the same.”

Annabelle laughed. “The same way a sheep tastes the same as a cow?”

“Yup,” Colten said. “Same and different. A cow doesn’t taste like a fish.”

Annabelle laughed and Colten’s arms tightened around her. She turned to face him, needing to feel his full embrace. She kept hold of the fishing rod, but brought her other hand to his shoulder then up along his neck and then the back of his head to pull him down closer to kiss. He obliged without a complaint and they lost themselves in a kiss for only a moment before she felt the tug on her pole.

“I got something!” Annabelle squeaked and turned around, pulling hard on the pole and in the process yanking a fish out of the water and onto the grass.

The poor thing flopped about and she squealed. “Get it!”

Colten took her pole and moved it far enough from the water that it wouldn’t manage to get back to the creek with its continued flopping. She watched in amazement as Colten took care of the fish, unhooking it from the hook, and then untangling the line while still holding the fish in one hand.

He put it inside a canvas pouch and turned to her with a big smile. “Excellent catch. Now to get a couple more about that size and we’ll have enough for dinner.”

It didn’t take long before they had bagged another three fish and Colten declared it enough.

“Now that you’re mostly wet already, should we try out swimming?”

Annabelle looked at the water. “Are you sure it isn’t going to be too cold?”

“Not the part where we dug it out to give a quiet swim place. It’s got some sunshine on it, and it doesn’t get as much of the cold fresh water straight from the snow melt.”

“I suppose I could learn,” Annabelle said. “But don’t be too disappointed when you see how much I really don’t know.”

“We’ll have to walk a little way to the left. Let me just tie this pouch in the water to keep the fish fresh.”

When he finished, he wiped his wet hands on his pants and went to the wagon and took the blanket from the picnic basket. “This will be to wrap up in after you get out. Hopefully you won’t be too cold, but you never know.”

“Thank you, Colten.”

They walked together in silence and Annabelle wondered if he was as nervous as she was. She glanced at him and thought he looked just as relaxed as ever. She needed to get over her concern. They were married. It didn’t matter if he saw her in her underclothes while they swam. She could do this and be just fine.

When they reached the pond that had been made, Annabelle looked it over. It didn’t seem that deep and with the heat of the day and the sun shining on the pond, it would definitely be warmer than the water directly from the creek.

Colten took off his boots and stockings as she did the same. She stepped behind a tree and slipped out of the outer dress, keeping her underclothes on and then when she heard a loud splash and a moment later a shout from Colten. Annabelle darted out from behind her tree, fear gripping her heart until she saw his head and upper body dripping with water.

“Are you all right?” Annabelle asked, her arms wrapped tightly across her middle.

“Yes,” Colten said. “The best way to get in is to do it all at once. It’s only cold for a moment, then it feels great.”

Annabelle shook her head. “You scared me half to death. I thought you’d fallen in.”

“Nope,” Colten said. “Not fallen, jumped. Now you do it.”

“I, um, I’m not sure I want to anymore.”

“You can’t change your mind on me like that.” Colten said. “How else can I teach you to swim if you don’t get in the water?”

“You know, I’m not sure how important it is for me to know how to swim.”

Colten laughed helping to ease her worry that he might be mad. He moved until he was lying on his back in the water, then after a moment he straightened back up, standing once more and revealing his chest, outlined so wonderfully with the water pressing the fabric against him.

“It might not be all that important to swim,” Colten agreed. “But it does feel nice. And I’m getting my clothes clean at the same time. But you could stay there in the heat and I can admire you from afar.”

Annabelle did feel rather heated, and not all of it was from the temperature. She placed her bare foot into the water and though it was cold, it wasn’t too bad. She closed her eyes and decided she would just do as he had done. Without allowing herself to think it over too long, she ran forward and gasped in surprise at the way the cold water gripped her tight.

Her bare feet slipped in the muddy bottom and her left foot hit a jagged rock that made her pull it back in pain just before her head went under.

Seconds later, before she even got her own footing, strong hands found their way under her arms and she was pulled up and out of the water, crushed against Colten’s chest.

She sputtered for a moment, and pulled her arms free of his embrace in order to wipe her face off just as Colten asked, “Are you all right? Did you swallow any water?”

“I’m fine,” Annabelle said after a moment. “Just colder than I’d anticipated and I hit my foot. Thanks for helping me get steadied.”

She tried to step back a little, feeling her feet barely touching the ground, but Colten kept a tight hold around her. She didn’t try again to move away, instead loving the way it felt against him. His body was warm and solid and a perfect contrast to the cold water all around them.

“Maybe I don’t want to swim,” Annabelle said softly after a moment. “I like this part too much.”

A deep rumble started up from Colten’s chest, sending heat waves through her middle, but that was nothing compared to the way she felt herself light on fire when he kissed her.

She didn’t know how long they kissed, all she knew was she didn’t want it to end. Eventually, it did stop, but instead of letting her go, Colten kept hold of her waist and moved further into the center of the pond.

“First thing we need to do is get you used to the water.”

“I forgot all about the water with your kisses,” Annabelle said, then felt her cheeks heat up. But Colten just kissed her again.

“Now,” Colten said. “We’ll let you try floating on your back. I’ll hold onto you so you won’t sink, but you need to learn the difference in the way your body works inside the water.”

Colten slowly moved one hand to the upper part of her back, then reached down and tucked his hands behind her knees, then lifted her and lay her back in the water. “Relax your whole body. Trust me. I’ve got you.”

“I do trust you,” Annabelle whispered. “I trust you more than any person I’ve ever known.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

Colten felt the power of her words. He would do everything he could to keep that trust and to be worthy of it. He still couldn’t believe this incredible and lovely woman in his arms was his. He’d only been married to her for two days and already he thought he might possibly lose his heart to her. If he hadn’t already.

He carefully talked her through what she needed to do to relax and float in the water. She still had her eyes closed as she faced the sky and he took a moment to appreciate her beautiful face and neck and shoulders, trying to keep his attention to her head so he didn’t get distracted by her figure in front of him and accidentally drown his wife.

She took to floating with ease and he gently spoke. “I’m going to remove my hands from under you. Keep yourself just like you are, and you’ll see how simple it is to float.”

He took his hands away from her back and she only faltered for a moment before she steadied herself and floated easily.

“You’re doing it, Annabelle. I’ll have you swimming in no time.”

The two practiced for a while more, and Colten did his best to not hold and kiss her too much, but she never seemed to mind at all when he pulled her close and held her tightly in the water.

It was a good thing that boarding house was mostly finished. Colten looked into the sky, making a guess that it was around three in the afternoon.

“It’s probably about time we finish up here and go dry off. You’ve got lots more fabric than I do, so if you want to squeeze some of the water out and sit on that rock and wait for a bit, I’ll go back to the wagon and bring it closer. Go ahead and use the blanket to dry your feet off so you can get your boots back on.”

“Are you sure you don’t want any help?” Annabelle asked as Colten dried his feet and slipped his stockings on as quickly as possible before shoving his feet into his boots.

“Only have the one horse. It won’t take long to harness him again. So go ahead and start drying off, then you can put your outer dress back on.”

He turned around and left the water, needing to put some distance between them so he didn’t see her get out with the water making the fabric cling to her. She was already too tempting and he didn’t want to make her worry about his self-control. He would treat her right. She deserved that. Besides, knowing that he could still be trusted made the anticipation that much better.