Chapter 3

Bear liked the way the woman cupped Number Two’s head. She looked tired to death, and she’d been jilted by the man who was supposed to marry her, but she still took time to be nice to the girls.

Not that he wanted to get married. No sir. But if he was going to get married, it would be to someone who understood heartbreak.

And he did need someone. Number One looked at him with pleading eyes, and Number Two inclined her head toward the woman as if telling him to make an offer before she disappeared.

He started to wipe his mouth with his sleeve then remembered his manners and used his napkin.

“Ma’am, what the girls say is true. I do need a wife in a powerful hurry. They got sent to me completely out of the blue, and I don’t have the foggiest notion what to do with them. I tried to find a place for them, but that didn’t work out so well. If you were prepared to become a mail-order bride, then I guess you aren’t one of those women with their heads all full of romance and nonsense about courting and love and such.”

Her lips twitched, and he thought she might be trying not to smile. Had he been too blunt?

“Anyway, I live up past Idaho Springs. I have a cabin and a claim, and I have enough money to support you and the girls.”

The woman moistened her lips, and her hand crept up to smooth her hair into the knot at the back of her neck. “Sir, I don’t even know your name.”

“You can call me Bear. Everybody does.”

She had blue-green eyes, the same color as the mountain lake just below his cabin.

“Bear?”

“He growls like one, doesn’t he?” Number Two tugged on the end of her braid. “You should’ve heard him when that lady at the boarding school called us weeds. I’m glad she didn’t want us. I didn’t want to stay there.”

Trying to drag the conversation back to the point at hand, Bear glared at the girl before turning back to the woman. “Look, I know this is all kind of sudden, and you don’t have to decide tonight. We don’t leave until nine tomorrow morning. For now, I’d best get these girls up to their room. Number Three’s already asleep, and the other two should be, too.”

“Number Three?”

Glad that his beard hid the red he was sure crept up his neck, he shrugged. “That’s what I’ve been calling them. Tell her your names.”

Number One stood and gravely held out her hand. “My name is Miriam DeWitt. I’m pleased to meet you.”

“I’m Emmylou Paxton, Miriam.”

Number Two bounced up on her tiptoes. “I’m Deborah. And that”—she pointed to Number Three—“is Tabitha. Can we call you Emmylou? I like that name. We have Bible names, because Ma liked Bible names. Is Emmylou a Bible name?”

“No, sweetie. It’s a combination of my parents’ names. My mother was Emma and my father was Louis.”

“My ma’s name was Isabelle. And my pa’s name is Oscar.” She wrinkled her nose. “If I was named after both of them, my name could’ve been Isacar or Osabelle.” Her giggle hunched her shoulders.

“Bedtime.” Bear cut across the giggles. Little girl giggles made him uneasy.

Number Two—Deborah—clung to Miss Paxton’s hand. “I want her to put us to bed.”

“She’s got work to do, I’m sure. She doesn’t have time for that.”

“Please, Miss Emmylou? It’d kinda be like when Mama would tuck us in and hear our prayers.”

Again Emmylou caressed Deborah’s head. “I don’t mind, if it’s all right with your … with Mr. Bear.”

Truth be told, it would be a mighty relief. “Sure. If you want to.”

Emmylou and Deborah started toward the foyer, and Miriam took a couple of steps after them before turning around. Number Three—Tabitha—he needed to start calling them by their names—still knelt on her chair, her head on the tablecloth, sound asleep.

“Do we wake her up?”

Miriam shook her head. “You couldn’t wake her up if you tried. Once she’s asleep, she don’t wake until morning. You’ll have to carry her.”

His stomach muscles clenched. Bending, he moved his hands first one way then another, trying to gauge the best place to grab hold of her without breaking her. She was so tiny, his hands looked like ham hocks next to her. Eventually, he had her cradled in his arms.

Her head rested on his upper arm, and her little feet dangled over the opposite forearm. She snuggled in like a kitten into a quilt, her mouth pursing then relaxing. He stood for a moment contemplating how she didn’t weigh more than thistledown and how her lashes looked dark against her cheeks.

What on earth had Isabelle been thinking to put them in his care?

Emmylou couldn’t believe she was even contemplating accepting his offer. She felt all shaken up inside, like a marble in a canning jar.

The cook had a point, though. She had come out here intending to marry a complete stranger. That had taken some gumption. But did she have enough gumption to marry a surly mountain man?

Deborah chattered all the way up the stairs, still holding Emmylou’s hand. Miriam followed behind, and Bear … surely that wasn’t his real name … brought up the rear carrying Tabitha.

The hotel room had one bed.

Bear stood in the doorway. “Where do you want her?”

“Tabitha sleeps in the middle so she don’t roll off.” Deborah dragged a battered valise up onto the bed. “Her nightgown is in here.”

Bear eased Tabitha onto the mattress and backed up. “I’ll wait in the hall.” He scooted out like his tail was on fire, and Emmylou smothered a laugh. He might be as big as a mountain and twice as rough, but that man was flat-out scared of these little girls.

She helped them brush and re-braid hair, scrub faces and hands, and change into nightgowns. Miriam could use a new one, and hers should be passed down to Deborah. The girls were thin, their clothes threadbare, but she could see where the gowns had been carefully mended. They might not have had much money, but their mother clearly loved them and cared for them as best she could.

“You gotta sit in the chair while we say our prayers.” Deborah led her to the rocker in the corner then knelt and put her head on Emmylou’s knee, squinching her eyes shut and folding her hands into a ball.

“Dear Jesus, thanks for the good dinner tonight and that Cousin Bear didn’t like that lady at the boarding school. Please help Emmylou to like us so we don’t have to live with him all by ourselves. Amen.”

She popped up and skipped over to the bed, diving under the covers next to Tabitha.

“Miriam?”

“I’ll say my prayers by myself. I’m big enough.” Miriam folded her dress and laid it in the valise. She’d been quiet since coming to the room, her face drawn and her eyes troubled.

“That’s fine.” Emmylou stood. “Climb in, and I’ll tuck the covers for you.”

When they were lined up, three little red heads on the pillows, Emmylou turned down the lamp and went into the hallway, leaving the door cracked.

Bear stood at the end, looking out the window, his hands jammed in his pockets and his hat shading his face from the moonlight falling through the glass. He turned. “They asleep?”

“Nearly.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

He shifted his weight, took off his hat, and shoved his fingers through his hair, which fell just below his shoulders.

“I don’t want a wife.”

She sucked in a quick breath.

“I mean, I need a wife to take care of those little girls, but I don’t want a wife-wife, not a real wife. If you go ahead and marry me tomorrow, I promise I won’t … pester … you in any way.”

This time he took her breath completely away. She fumbled for words, but nothing came out.

“If it wasn’t for the girls, I wouldn’t ever have a woman in my house again. But I’m backed into a corner. It sounds like you are, too. You’d sure be helping me out of a tight spot, and the girls seem to like you. I can provide for you. I’m not poor. And like I said, all you’d have to do is take care of the girls.”

Tugging on her lower lip, Emmylou studied him. He might be intimidating at first sight, but she’d caught glimpses of something vulnerable inside that big frame. How he’d let the girls have any dessert they wanted, the way he’d carried Tabitha up the stairs as if she were made of spun-sugar icing, how, though scared, he was willing to take on the care and raising of three little girls.

Still, she’d made one bad decision in becoming a mail-order bride already. Perhaps she should at least sleep on it.

“I’ll give you my answer in the morning. Good night, Mr … Bear.”

By morning, she’d made up her mind to say no. The girls were very sweet, and he did need someone to help him, but marriage was too much. Emmylou had dodged one catastrophe with Cletus Bloggett. She wasn’t of a mind to walk into another by marrying Bear … she didn’t even know his last name.

At five, she was up and tying on her apron. The cook was back to mumbling in Russian and pretending he didn’t understand anything she said. Fortunately, the dining room wasn’t nearly as full as it had been the night before, and the customers were more subdued. She carried plates of biscuits and gravy, hotcakes, and scrambled eggs without trouble. Perhaps the job wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Then Bear and the girls came in.

He had a haggard, stressed look as he directed them to a table. Emmylou grabbed a coffeepot.

“Good morning.” She poured him a cup.

Miriam gave her a nod, and Deborah beamed, her smile splitting her face and making her eyes into crescents. Her braids were askew, as if she’d tried to do them herself, and Emmylou longed to fix them for her. Tabitha’s sweet smile chipped away at Emmylou’s resolve.

Still, she needed to stay her course and not let emotions sway her. Balancing several plates, she brought them their breakfast. Things were going much better than yesterday.

A commotion in the doorway drew everyone’s attention, and Emmylou’s heart sank. It was a few of the rowdy men from last night. Maybe she’d best get a wooden spoon. They jostled past her as she set the plates before the girls and Bear, and as she went back toward the kitchen, the rudest of the men reached out and swatted her on the behind.

She yelped, but the sound was drowned out by a roar and breaking dishes. Hand to her chest, she whirled in time to see Bear grab the man who had smacked her, haul him out of his chair and up so that his feet dangled inches from the floor. Though the man struggled, Bear seemed to have no trouble keeping hold of him.

“If you ever touch her again, I’ll break every bone in your miserable body. Is that understood?” The words were all the more fierce for being whispered an inch from the man’s nose.

Emmylou’s mouth went dry. Bear’s eyes bored holes through her assailant, and his grip on the man’s collar was so tight, the man’s face went red.

“Is. That. Understood?” With each word Bear shook the man like a dusty rug.

The girls stood together beside their table, eyes wide, faces pale. Emmylou stepped close to Bear and spoke softly. “He can’t answer you until you turn loose of his neck.” She put her hand on Bear’s massive forearm, conscious of the muscles and heat. When he didn’t ease up his hold, she said, “You’re frightening the girls.”

At that he let go, and the man sank to the floor, gasping and choking. Standing over him, hands clenched, legs braced, Bear growled, “Apologize to the lady.”

“Sorry.” The man scrabbled at his throat, inching back until he hit a table leg.

“Now get out of here. Find somewhere else to eat.”

The beaten man and his companions crowded out, and Bear finally relaxed. He ran his fingers through his hair and down his face. “That tears it, doesn’t it? I could tell you were going to turn me down when we came in this morning. Guess this didn’t help.”

“Actually, I’ve decided to take you up on your offer.” The words slipped out before Emmylou could call them back, but the sight of him standing there like an avenging angel, defending her honor, had tipped the scales in his favor. Nobody had looked out for her in such a long time. It made her feel … safe. “If you’re still willing, I will marry you.”

Deborah hopped in place, and Miriam sighed, some of the tension going out of her face.

Bear’s lips parted, and his eyes widened. “You sure?”

Emmylou nodded. The girls needed her, and living with Bear couldn’t be as bad as waitressing here for a wage that would barely keep her.

“We’ll take care of things as soon as the girls finish eating then.” He turned back to the table.

“Boy, are we lucky. I didn’t think you’d find anyone to marry you.” Deborah climbed back into her chair and dug into her hotcakes.

In what seemed an indecently short amount of time, Emmylou found herself married to Bear McCall.

No, not Bear.

Courtney.

His given name was Courtney, but the warning glare in his eye told her she must never use it.

Deborah had giggled then clapped her hand over her mouth while Miriam nudged her.

Barely waiting for the ink to dry on the marriage certificate, Bear hustled them to the depot and aboard the westbound train. In order to save time, they’d found a justice of the peace rather than hunting up a preacher. Emmylou felt the loss of not having even a minimal church wedding, but considering the circumstances, she didn’t complain. Tickets, luggage, one last trip to the facilities for the girls, lots of growling, and they were aboard.

Miriam chewed her bottom lip and kept constant tabs on her sisters. Deborah bounced up onto the seat on her knees to stare out the window. Tabitha slid onto the seat next to Miriam, keeping a tight grip on her sister’s sleeve with one hand and chewing on the index finger of her other. Every few moments she peeked at Bear.

Bear sat across from Emmylou, his knees bumping hers occasionally in the cramped space. Every so often he would look at all of them and shake his head, as if he had no idea how he’d gotten in this predicament.

Now married and on the train with them, Emmylou knew just how he felt. Still, she’d put her hand to the plow, and she wouldn’t look back.

“Why does she keep doing that?” Bear crossed his arms and frowned.

“Who?”

“Number Three. She keeps staring at me like she thinks I’m going to pounce on her or something.”

Tabitha ducked behind Miriam’s shoulder, one round eye peeping out.

“She probably does. You’re a very large man.” Not to mention gruff and forbidding.

His brown eyes widened, and his thick brows rose. “I’d never do that. What kind of man do you take me for?”

“Since we hardly know each other, I can’t really judge, but if you try a little kindness, you might be surprised at the results.”

“I’ve been kind. I fed them, put them up in a hotel, and to top it all off, I married you. That’s a heap of kindness in my book.”

She fell silent. He had gone out of his way to look out for them, and most likely trying to change him the first hour of their marriage wasn’t the best idea. He’d said he would leave her alone. Perhaps she would extend him the same courtesy.

By the time the jolting, rocking train arrived in the town of Idaho Springs, Emmylou was so tired she could barely think. She hadn’t slept well in days, and last night she’d spent hours wrestling with Bear’s proposal. She smoothed her hair and gathered her reticule. Bear hefted down their bags from the overhead rack, and Miriam herded the girls behind him up the aisle.

“Have we far to go?”

“Couple of hours.” He dropped the bags on the platform and swung each of the girls down from the train before reaching up for her.

His huge hands spanned her waist, and before she could protest that she was more than capable of walking down the iron steps, he set her beside Miriam. The top of her head came to just below his chin, surprising since she was a tall woman. He made her feel small, even delicate.

She liked that altogether too much.

Perhaps this was the start of a new life for her and these girls.

Three hours later, she wanted to throttle him.

Her mule balked at every turn, her backside was killing her, and Deborah hadn’t stopped talking the entire way up the mountain. Emmylou had never ridden an animal before, much less astride a blockheaded beast with no notion of what it meant to obey. Bear had gotten so frustrated, he’d taken the reins from her and tied them to his saddle horn.

Bear, with Tabitha in front of him and Miriam hanging on behind, never looked back, doggedly winding his way up the precipitous trail.

“I thought you said two hours.” The words she’d been determined to keep to herself flew out as the mule scrambled up a rock-strewn incline, bouncing her hard against the saddle.

“Takes me two hours.” She didn’t miss his inflection that more than suggested that she and the girls were slowing him down.

“Are we there yet? Look at that squirrel. It’s as big as a cat. Sure is a long way down, isn’t it?” Deborah leaned to her left, and Emmylou reached behind to grab the little girl.

“It is, and if you fall, you’ll bounce all the way to the bottom. Sit still.” Her other hand gripped the saddle horn so hard she was sure her fingers were imbedded in the leather.

“I’m tired.” Deborah swatted a mosquito and wrapped her arms around Emmylou’s waist again.

“If this is you tired, I’m afraid of what you truly rested might look like.”

“I know. Mama said I’m jumpier than a grasshopper in a frying pan. I just can’t seem to be still. Miriam says I wear her slap out sometimes.”

When they’d climbed for another half hour or so, Bear led them through a high cleft of rock and pulled up.

Emmylou sucked in a breath. Before them, in a bowl surrounded by peaks, lay a mountain lake, flat as a mirror, reflecting the puffy clouds and perfect blue sky overhead. Aspens stood like golden torches along the lakeshore, and in a glade, a sturdy cabin sat under the pines.

“Is this it?” She didn’t mean to sound disparaging, but the square building looked so small, dwarfed by the towering mountaintops and trees. She scanned the grassy meadow and could see no other signs of habitation, no other people.

“What were you expecting, downtown Denver?” He kicked his horse and tugged on the mule’s reins. They finally halted in front of the cabin, and before he dismounted, the door swung open.

“That you, Bear? Where you been? I expected you back before now. Figured I’d best keep an eye on the place for you till you got back.”

Emmylou blinked. It was as if a hairy stump had sprung to life and started talking. Mounds of white hair and beard, inky eyes, and leathery wrinkles.

“Who’s that with you?” The black eyes grew round and the mouth hung slack. “Is that a woman?”

Bear helped Miriam slide to the ground and swung down himself, a drowsy Tabitha in his arms.

“By sugar, there’s more of them.” The old man scrubbed his eyes and leaned forward.

Deborah used Emmylou’s leg as a ladder to climb down, not waiting for Bear’s assistance. “Who are you?” She hopped over to stand before the man. “Are you Bear’s pappy?”

The man snorted and shook his head. “Don’t believe Bear had a pappy.”

“Knock it off, Charlie. These are my cousin’s kids. This is what I was supposed to pick up at the train station.” Bear began unsaddling his horse.

“Well, if that don’t take the biscuit.” Charlie scratched the hair over his ear and squinted at the girls. Tabitha took refuge behind Bear’s leg, peeking out from beyond his knee. Miriam edged away from the stamping and blowing horse.

“This one of your cousin’s kids, too?” Charlie eyed Emmylou, still atop the mule.

Bear let the saddle thump to the ground and turned. His raised eyebrows seemed to ask what she was still doing up there. Emmylou continued to grip the saddle horn for dear life.

“’Smy wife.” He stalked over, grabbed her by the waist, and hauled her down. She shifted her grip to his shoulders as her heart lurched.

“Your wife?” Charlie choked on the question.

Emmylou’s legs quivered, and her back felt as if she might break in two. Bear seemed to sense her distress and didn’t let go.

“I’ve never ridden a horse before—or a mule,” she whispered.

“I could tell.” His voice this close to her ear, held a hint of humor and rumbled in his chest, sending a strange sensation through her middle. “You think you can stand now?”

She nodded and stepped back, letting her arms fall to her sides. Scanning the area, she gasped. “Deborah, get down from there this instant.”

“But I can see a long ways up here. I can see clear across the lake.” Using the log ends jutting from the corner of the cabin, Deborah had shinnied up to the eave and now hung on like a squirrel.

Bear reached up and plucked her down. “Stay on the ground.” He gave her a frown as if that settled the subject.

“Three kids and a wife?” Charlie repeated, tugging on his earlobe. “You’re not joshin’ me?”

Bear’s grim look did nothing to make Emmylou feel more welcome. “I’m not joshin’. Help me unload this gear. You girls can go inside.”

Deborah was the first into the cabin, and Emmylou followed with Miriam and Tabitha behind.

“Look at this place.” Her hands on her hips, Deborah turned a slow circle in the crowded space. “Mama would have a conniption.”

Emmylou took the pins out of her hat and let her eyes adjust to the dimness. She bit her lower lip and surveyed her surroundings. The place wasn’t exactly a mess, but it was crowded. Every inch of wall and most of the floor space was taken up with Bear’s possessions. Traps, snowshoes, a buffalo coat, shelves of foodstuffs, three long guns, a pistol in a holster, and the one thing that gave her a little ray of encouragement. A row of books ran along a high shelf.

Bear was a reader.

“Where are we supposed to sleep?” Miriam fingered her collar. Two bunks stood against one wall, each spread with a striped wool blanket. Deborah squatted before the fireplace to stare into the glass eyes of a grizzly bear head. The rest of the bearskin covered the floor of the cabin.

“Lookit his teeth.” She touched one of the ivory spikes. “I bet he could bite your head clean off.”

Tabitha took one look at the bear’s frozen snarl, gave a yelp, and ran toward the door, only to collide with Bear’s leg. She bounced off, landed on her bottom, and burst into tears. Bear backed off, guilt and confusion clouding his expression.

“What’s wrong with her?” His voice caromed around in the cabin as if looking for a way out, and Miriam clapped her hands over her ears.

Emmylou rushed to Tabitha and picked her up, cuddling her close and whispering against her curls. “It’s all right, sweetie. Shhh.”

Bear slung the bags onto the bottom bunk, ripped his hat from his head, and thrust his fingers into his hair. “Can’t you make her stop?”

“I’m trying,” Emmylou snapped. “Do you think this is easy for any of us? We’re tired and hungry. We’ve been dragged up a mountain far away from everything we’ve known, and then to wind up in this … storage shed …” She turned her back, lest he see her tears, only to come face-to-face with a giant mounted elk head. She squeaked and closed her eyes, trying to hold on to the last shreds of her composure.

“This place is full of dead things, ain’t it?” Deborah made her observation from the top bunk.

Emmylou locked eyes with Miriam, who seemed to be searching for reassurance.

Too bad Emmylou had none to give.

That evening, Bear laid out his expectations, and it was all Emmylou could do to bite her tongue as he paced the narrow open space in the center of the cabin.

Emmylou was to confine her attention to caring for the girls. The only reason he married her was for the sake of his cousin’s children. There was to be no hen-pecking, no nagging, no crying, no moods, and no manipulation. If she or the girls needed something, she was to tell him in plain English. She should not expect him to read her mind, and she would absolutely not say one thing when she meant another. He would mind his own business, and she would mind hers.

As for the girls, they were to mind Emmylou and not get into his things. They were to stay within eyesight of the cabin and not wander off. They would not touch his guns or his traps.

“And I want them to stop giggling and crying. I don’t like it.”

Emmylou boggled. “You don’t want them to giggle or cry?”

“No.”

“And how do you propose they go about doing that? Both are natural, especially to little girls. It sounds like you’d prefer to stuff them and mount them to the walls.” She knew she was being snappish, but it had been such a long, confusing day, she didn’t seem to be coping too well.

His scowl would scare a statue. “I’m just telling you the way things need to be.”

And I’m telling you the way things are going to be. Some of his rules made sense, and some were downright silly. It would be up to him to discover the difference.

Following a dinner of cold biscuits and canned beans, which nobody was too enthusiastic about, the sleeping situation was solved by putting Tabitha and Miriam in a quickly fashioned trundle bed, Emmylou on the bottom bunk, and Deborah on the top bunk. Bear removed his bedroll from a hook on the wall.

“I’ll bed down in the toolshed for now. We’ll have to figure out something different before the snow flies.”

At Emmylou’s gasp, he rolled his eyes. “I mean something like adding a room or two to the cabin.” He slammed the door behind himself.

Tabitha was the first to fall asleep, having cried herself out and been reassured time and again that neither the bear nor the elk would suddenly leap to life and harm her. Or the bobcat on the mantel or the turkey in frozen flight on the wall. Miriam curled beside her little sister, and her lashes soon fanned her cheeks in deep sleep. Deborah didn’t settle as easily, popping her head over the edge of the bed every few minutes.

“Bear’s awful grumpy, isn’t he? I guess I would be, too, if four people moved into my house and I had to sleep in the toolshed.”

“Go to sleep, Deborah.”

Emmylou’s brain whirled as she tried to get comfortable on the lumpy mattress.

“Do you think he shot that bear? It sure has big teeth. I’d hate to meet up against something like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Deborah.” Emmylou’s voice sharpened. “That’s enough. Not another peep. You might not be tired, but the rest of us are. Go to sleep.”

With a huff, Deborah’s face disappeared.

With Deborah finally silent, Emmylou had time to contemplate just what she’d gotten herself into. In the space of two days, she’d gone from jilted spinster to wife and mother.

The feeling of water closing over her head made her sit up, taking deep breaths. In the dim glow of the banked fire, the eyes of the elk gleamed at her, and she slammed her eyes shut, dropping back on the pillow.

But if she was feeling unsettled and panicky, how must Bear be feeling? He’d had four women dropped into his life like baggage, and now he was ousted from his home and his normal existence. No wonder he was a bit grumpy.

Perhaps tomorrow, when they got their bearings, things would be better.