Claimed on the Frontier (10 page)

I nodded and smiled. “Thank you,” I said, and he stepped away as the door to the cabin opened. It was time for my first-ever noonday meal with my new family.

It pleased me that I already knew Samuel and Matthew, and it was easy to surmise that the stranger entering the cabin with the boys was Aaron’s brother, Phillip. He looked older than Samuel, but younger than Aaron, and though he had the same eyes all the brothers shared, he was slighter than Aaron. He smiled at me when he entered the cabin, taking off his hat.

“Well, now,” he said in a low voice. “Mighty pleased to meet you, Pearl. Welcome to the family.” I hadn’t known what to expect of Phillip given his wife’s icy welcome. I smiled and bowed my head, grateful Aaron was still by my side protectively.

“And don’t you greet your wife, who’s laboring over your meal?” came Geraldine’s petulant voice. She smiled coyly at him, though her words were cloaked in rebuke. Phillip “tsk’d” her and dutifully came to her side and planted a kiss on her cheek. I looked up at Aaron, and briefly imagined such an interaction between the two of us. It seemed he had the same idea as he merely lifted a heavy brow and I smiled sheepishly. I’d not be rewarded with a kiss for such a rebuke, I well knew.

Ma was busily whisking things onto the table—plates, cups, and utensils. “I thank you for slicing the bread, Pearl,” she said. Geraldine snorted, and I had an irrational desire to grab the knot of chestnut hair at the back of her head and yank her head back. I was no pushover and would defend myself if necessary, but violent thoughts were foreign to me. It surprised me how forcefully the desire foisted itself upon me. Aaron’s hand at my elbow guided me to the table. I was thankful he couldn’t read my mind. What would he think of a wife who harbored violent thoughts?

“And I thank you for finishing the stew,” ma said to Geraldine. The boys were laughing and talking, all four of them, Phillip’s eyes gleaming at the return of his brothers, Matthew nearly bouncing off his seat with excitement, and even the staid Samuel spoke eagerly to Phillip of their travels and adventures. I merely took it all in, sitting beside Aaron, and somehow the ruckus of it all was comforting. I’d never had a real family before, and the meals I’d taken with the Fitzgeralds were anything but jovial and noisy. It was an altogether different experience, and quite pleasant. Except for Geraldine.

She simmered, her lips pursed together in a fine line, barely touching her food, shooting me sharp looks whenever she could. I could not understand her dislike of me. Up until a quarter of an hour ago, she’d never even met me. What possible gripe could she have against me? But I wasn’t foolish enough to allow her ill temper to affect my appetite. I ate two hearty bowls of soup and several slices of the warm, crusty bread with butter. Aaron sat to my left and ma to my right.

“The bread’s from yesterday,” she said. “Never did get my dough to rise this morning, but you and I, we’ll make do, won’t we? And you’ll teach me the sourdough biscuits?”

“Oh, yes,” I said. “I can show you this afternoon?”

But Aaron leaned over and whispered, “Not this afternoon or evening. You’ll help her in the morning. I want you to myself today.”

My heart thumped wildly, as I began to suspect why he wanted me to himself. My mouth went dry, and I placed my spoon down, suddenly wishing I hadn’t eaten such ample portions. I felt sick to my stomach. One of his large, warm hands nestled on my knee and squeezed gently.

Ma looked from him to me. “Well of course he’ll want you all to himself, new wife and all. Come and see me in the morning, when the menfolk do their work, and I’ll help you settle into keeping home.”

Keeping home! What did that entail? So many questions plagued me. I nodded to her. “Thank you, ma’am.” She smiled reassuringly, and carried on conversation with the rest of the family. I kept my own counsel. The food I’d eaten seemed to settle like a rock in my stomach, and my earlier enjoyment in being around the jovial atmosphere of the brothers had evaporated. Finally, I wished for my nerves to stop churning. I needed to be alone with Aaron, though at the same time, I was terrified of the very thought.

We rose, and he scraped his chair away from the table. I began to help ma and Geraldine clear the dishes, but Aaron’s hand at my elbow stopped me. “Come, now, Pearl. It’s time for us to get settled into our new home.”

I couldn’t just walk away from the first meal I’d ever shared with any of them, and not help in the cleanup. I was a woman. It was expected of me. “Just give me a minute. I need to help,” I said.

“For now I need you to come with me.”

I don’t know if it was my emotions that were strung up like sheets on a clothesline, or the exhaustion, or the pile of events that had taken me by surprise for the past few days, but I felt a flash of temper toward him. “Not
now
,”
I said. “We can go as soon as I’m done.”

Aaron’s eyes darkened and he shook his head. Ma came to my rescue, whisking the dishes from my hand and nodding.

“Go, go! Please, do. We’ve plenty of time to get to know one another, and I thank you for wanting to help, but you should go now and see your new home. We had a house-raising not one month ago, and everyone helped build your house with their own hands. Go, now, girl, and see it.”

I thanked her and she gave me a kiss on the cheek as Aaron took me by the hand, and I intentionally avoided looking at Geraldine before I left. To my surprise, when we exited the cabin, Aaron did not follow his brothers, who were traipsing through the pathway toward our house to the right of ma’s cabin, but rather tugged me so that I went in the opposite direction. I nearly tripped, I was so surprised, but what happened after that surprised me even more.

We were flanked on one side by the house and on the other, by the barn. It was the side of the house with no window, so we were quite alone. He pulled me to him.

“Sassin’ me so soon, young lady?”

I flushed. I knew what he expected. I knew back-talking and disobeying him was wrong. And I knew although I was overwrought and emotional, it wasn’t acceptable to contradict a man like Aaron. He expected obedience. But even then, in that moment, I knew that I liked that he expected my obedience. I was ashamed of having contradicted him, and wished for his approval.

“Yes, sir,” I whispered. “I’m sorry, sir.”

He gave one quick nod. “Very good. See it doesn’t happen again.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek, his whiskers tickling my skin. “We’ll let nothing spoil our wedding day, now, will we?”

As my heart thumped in my chest, I wondered what he had planned for me. But I had no time to ponder this, as I realized he and I were now walking hand in hand, just a few minutes’ walk from our new home. We were far enough away from his mother’s house that we would have our privacy, and I thanked God that Geraldine and Phillip’s home was even further away than that. Our house was set apart from the rest. The freshly hewn logs gleamed golden and brown, like spun molasses, and I could smell them as we neared the cabin. The other men had gone before us, and I stepped forward eagerly, but as my feet neared the entryway, Aaron tugged on my hand.

“Not so fast, you little imp.” I flushed and faced him. Was there a tradition in which a newlywed couple would be expected to do something like… kiss? I knew nothing of such things, but he aided me by pulling me close and to my surprise, quickly dipping down, and the world gave out under my feet as he carried me in his arms. I squealed and he laughed as he carried me over the threshold of our new home.

He placed me on my feet and I smoothed my skirts. His brothers were assembled inside, chuckling at my reaction.

“It’s quite proper for a man to take his new wife over the threshold of their new house,” Phillip explained. “Did you not know that tradition, Pearl?”

I held my chin high. “I know little of the ways of married folk,” I said.

“Oh, I’ve no doubt you’ll learn Aaron’s right quick,” he murmured, and he laughed at his own joke. Aaron’s eyes narrowed on him though his eyes twinkled playfully, and Samuel’s lips twitched. Matthew was far too busy scurrying around the cabin, looking at everything.

“Look at the table!” he said. “Look, Pearl, it looks like it’s brand spankin’ new. And you have curtains! Just look at ‘em, pretty as a picture.”

I smiled at his enthusiasm, following him around the neat little cabin, as the menfolk looked upon such things as the woodpile, the chimney, and the latch on the door, as of course Aaron’s concern was to make sure we were locked up tighter than a drum. It was cozy and warm, and I just loved it.

The doorway opened to a small kitchen. We didn’t have a stove like ma did, as stoves were hard to come by and quite expensive, but I had a wide open hearth to the right of our table upon which I could cook and bake, and already a large cast-iron pot hung over the fireplace. In front of the fireplace a rocking chair nestled, across from a higher, straight-backed chair. I smiled to myself, imagining what it would be like to nestle into that chair, my knitting in my hands, or rocking a newborn baby. Beyond the fireplace and table was a second door, and I followed Matthew as he opened it.

Here would be our bedroom. It was a simple, clean, neat room with a large bed in the center and the frame nestled upon wooden beams. To my surprise, a tiny desk and another chair stood against one wall, an unusual but not unwelcome fixture in the little room. A small window adorned with a neat red-checked curtain gave a little light, and a quilt was already atop the bed, neatly made and tucked in, smoothed over. I flushed when I thought of lying in the bed with Aaron. I quickly stepped out of the bedroom, taking in the small house again. A ladder led to a loft, and when I stepped back I could see that the loft was empty. It would work well for a guest bed and, eventually, children.

It was simple. But it was clean. And it was home.

* * *

Aaron went with his brothers to tend to the livestock and our land, and I was left to my own devices. There was a trunk in the kitchen, and I knelt before it and opened it in Aaron’s absence, removing a few blankets and other household things that would prove quite useful—soft knit cotton cloths for kitchen use, a set of sharp knives, a dark brown tablecloth, a hand-woven basket for bread, a few tin cups, carved wooden plates, and forks and knives. Someone—ma, I presumed—had known Aaron would be setting up house, and had likely hoped eventually he would set up house with a wife. I smiled to myself, fingering the items. Each had been lovingly made, or given to us from her own meager possessions. I couldn’t think of a better way to begin our new life together than surrounding ourselves with items from his mother. I’d felt more welcome and at home in the short time I was in this cabin than I had in the entirety of my existence at the Fitzgeralds.

I looked around the cabin and took inventory of what we had for food. I surmised they hadn’t wanted to put up many stores, not knowing when Aaron was returning home, and had likely brought them over just today. A few jars of preserves and a butter dish sat on a shelf near the table in the kitchen, and I found a tiny room that looked like it functioned as a pantry behind where the chairs lay by the fire. I flitted from one thing to the next like a child, taking it all in, hardly processing everything around me. Inside the little pantry were containers of beans, flour, and sugar, and a few other items that would make our first days here easier. I gave a cursory glance before moving along again.

I went back to where the trunk lay by the entryway and found tucked inside my basket with my needlework. It felt odd, lifting it out in a strange place like this, as if merging my old life with my new. And I became a bit unsettled, walking around the cabin. When would Aaron come? And when he did, what would we
do
?
I swallowed. It was all so new.

I needed to do
something
with myself while I waited for him. I wanted to take a walk, but wasn’t sure of my new surroundings, and knew it wasn’t wise to be traipsing around outside as dusk was beginning to settle. I looked at the trunk. Well, it wouldn’t do to have it sitting right there in the middle of the front room, so I bent to lift it and carry it to our bedroom. I heaved with the weight of it, and still, could not budge it. Angrily, I kicked the thing and frowned. Well, then, I would tug it. I grasped the iron handle on the side and began to tug, and it budged a bit, but scraped the floor along the way. I gasped. I’d not been in my new home longer than an hour, and already I’d damaged it! I was frowning at the damage when the door opened, and Aaron entered, removing his hat and nestling it on a hook by the door.

“What are you doing?” he said, as I must’ve made quite a picture, squatting by the trunk and frowning at the floor.

“I was trying to move this damn thing and it was too heavy, so I tried to drag it,” I sighed. “And I scraped the floor.” I gave it another kick as I suddenly realized I’d cursed.

“Now, Pearl,” Aaron said gently but firmly. He took me by the hand and led me to our bedroom. Panic set in.

“Oh. Maybe we should… have something to eat? Or… get some rest, seeing as we’ve had a long day? Or…I don’t know… maybe… I…” I was at a complete loss. Suddenly, the fear of the unknown consumed me entirely. I did not know what to say or do.

“Pearl.”

I stopped speaking. I had promised I would follow his lead. And now was time to do so.

He pulled me over until we stood in front of the bed… Oh, my. Was he already prepared to bed me? So soon? He released my hand, walked to the edge of the bed, and sat down. He crooked a finger at me, indicating I was to come closer. I stood between his legs as he took both of my hands in his. His eyes warmed at me.

“We’ve a few things to discuss,” he said. I nodded.

“Yes, sir,” I whispered.

“The past few days have been awfully tryin’ for you.” His voice dropped as one thumb traced along the edge of my cheekbone. “Haven’t they?”

“Yes, sir,” I whispered again.

“And you’ve forgotten your place.” His voice deepened. “Today alone, you contradicted me in front of my mother. You disobeyed me. And just now, you tried to lift something heavy, and when you couldn’t, you kicked it and cursed.” He raised a brow. “Is that right?”