Chapter Three
They went out to join their guests for a short while. Lachele had ordered a wedding cake, because she realized neither the bride nor the groom would think to. There was little other than the cake at the reception, and that was fine with both Beverly and Colin. Neither was all that interested in sticking around and hanging out with their guests. They were ready to be alone, which surprised Beverly a great deal.
Every time her eyes met Colin’s she’d feel a frisson of heat climb up her spine. Every time their hands brushed, she’d want to stop what she was doing to kiss him. Lachele had been right. He was exactly the kind of rugged wilderness man she thought of when she thought of Alaska. And she was ready to have him all to herself.
When they finally broke away from the others, she walked to her SUV, and he walked to his pick-up truck. He stopped, realizing she wasn’t beside him. “Does that thing have four-wheel drive?”
She nodded. “It does!”
“Is it specially geared for high altitudes?”
“Of course.”
He frowned. He’d almost hoped she’d say no, so he could insist she not drive much through the winter. “Follow me then!”
She drove the twelve miles south following him to the park entrance. Once they were both inside and on their way, she enjoyed the scenery. The pace in the park seemed very slow to her, but she supposed the tourists were trying to see the animals as best they could. She vowed to herself she’d never take the beauty surrounding her for granted.
Once they reached his cabin, she got out, walking to the front door. He hadn’t locked it, which surprised her a bit, until she remembered where they were. This little cabin was a far cry from her home in Manhattan, but she’d never tell him that. As far as she was concerned, this place was her home for the rest of her life.
He led her into the house, showing her the rooms slowly. “This is the main room. The wood-burning stove is the primary source of heat. I have a gas furnace for when it gets really cold, but I prefer to use the stove.”
The room was cozy. It had quilts lying over the back of the couch and chair. She wondered if she’d be allowed to make a few changes. She liked the idea of it being her quilts on the back of the furniture. The art on the walls seemed to be paintings of the park, and she couldn’t help but wonder who the artist was.
He led her to the kitchen, where there was a small table for eating, a stove, sink, refrigerator and microwave. It was nothing fancy, but it had what she’d need to feed them. She suspected she would be the one feeding them all the time. “Do you cook?”
He shrugged. “When it’s the only answer to starving. I’m not a fan, but I can make do in a pinch.” Canned beans and beef stew had been his staples through the winter for a lot of years.
Since he’d lived alone there for twenty years or more, he must have had a lot of pinches. “I enjoy cooking.”
“Good. Someone needs to. Nearest place to shop for groceries is Fairbanks. We can drive there tomorrow, if you want. I took the week off work, so we can get to know each other.” He seemed to think that taking the time off work had been a special favor to her, and she hoped he wouldn’t always think that his time was a precious gift he was giving her.
“That would be nice.” She wanted to check out the stores around them, so she could have an idea of what she was dealing with. She had a feeling that using Amazon Prime would be very different out here in the wilderness. Same day shipping was a thing of the past for certain.
He led her to another room, and she realized quickly it was a spare room. She had moved from a thirteen-bedroom mansion to a two-bedroom cabin. Life was changing faster than she could keep up with at the moment. “This is where I store stuff for the winter. There are times when we’re snowed in here for a few weeks at a time, so I make sure I’m always prepared for at least three months.” He lifted the edge of the quilt to show her the food that was stored under the bed. Many cans of beans. She hoped he was all right with the changes she planned to make to his eating.
There was a freezer against one wall that she assumed he used for his winter food storage as well. She opened it to see a couple of packages of ground beef, but nothing else. She’d have to plan to fill that soon.
There in a small room beside the spare bedroom was a washer and dryer. She breathed a sigh of relief, thrilled she wouldn’t have to go all the way into town to do laundry.
He led her the other way, down a short hall, and showed her the bathroom to the right. It was a small, serviceable room. There was no tub, and just a shower, and she knew she’d be kissing her baths goodbye. She’d just started taking them again after her mother died, and now they’d be gone again. “Small.”
He shrugged. “Only one person uses it at a time. It’s big enough for that.” Across the short hall was another bedroom. This time the bed was obviously used. She could tell because of how sloppily it was made. This is our room.”
She bit her lip at the idea of sharing the big bed with him. “It’s a nice room.”
He nodded. “Feel free to make any changes you want. Don’t get rid of my bed, but it’s fine to put a different quilt on it.”
“All right. Thank you.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, seeming a bit nervous himself. “Why don’t I bring your suitcases in. You wander around and look at everything, and think about all the changes you’re going to make.”
“I won’t change that much.”
He shrugged. “I really don’t care how much you change. It’s a bachelor cabin now, but I think you’ll enjoy it more when it’s decorated to your taste.”
She looked around her at the sparse furnishings. She could add some homemade pillows and quilts. Everything would look a lot better when she was done. And he’d said it was all right! “You’re right. There are changes I want to make.”
Colin grinned. “Good girl. Make it your own. You’re going to be living here with me. No point in not loving it just as much as you can.” He left and shut the front door as he went to get her suitcases.
Beverly stood for a moment, wondering what she should do. It was such a strange situation to be in that she was very confused. Nowhere in her upbringing had she been taught the right way to act when you marry a man you’ve never met before. She went to the kitchen to take inventory. She had a feeling he expected her to cook that first night.
She dug through the refrigerator and freezer, immediately making a shopping list on her cell phone. She needed to know what she’d be buying the following day when she went to the store with him.
She pulled some chicken breasts out of the freezer, found some rice in a cabinet, and immediately searched for spices. She could make something tasty out of those ingredients if she just had a few spices.
She didn’t find much and immediately added more spices to her shopping list. She could make do with what she had, though. There had been plenty of time for practice while her mother was ill and the funds were short.
Beverly thought briefly about the money she had in her bank back in Manhattan and decided not to mention it just yet. She didn’t know if he was the kind of man who would run through her money, or if he gambled or drank his money away. She would have to get to know him before she could truly trust him. She knew she should automatically trust Lachele not to have married her to someone like that, but it was hard.
Colin came into the cabin carrying her two suitcases, a pillow, and an afghan. “I do have pillows and blankets here.”
“I figured you would. Those are special. I’ve had that pillow since I was a little girl, and the afghan is the first one I learned to make after the accident.” She took them from him, hurrying into the bedroom they’d share. Unpacking her suitcases, she hung most of the things, and put some in the two drawers he’d cleaned out for her. “The clothes that I purchased in Fairbanks when I first arrived will be shipped here. Lachele wouldn’t give me your address, so it was a comedy of errors to get her to give it to the salespeople.”
“Did you buy a lot?” He eyed the clothes she was unpacking and putting away, and he had no idea how she was going to be able to make it through the winter with them. He hoped she’d been more practical when she’d shopped in Fairbanks.
Beverly shrugged. “I bought the stuff the saleswoman suggested. Lots of winter clothes. I had Manhattan winter clothes, but not many, so I bought a lot before I left. I think it was a mistake, because those clothes were meant to make me look good in the winter, not to help me keep warm.”
Colin smiled. “I was thinking that while you were unpacking. I was getting a bit worried we’d have to make another drive into the city, so we could get you some decent winter clothes.” He shook his head. “After all these years of living in Denali, the idea of going to a city as big as Fairbanks is overwhelming.”
She grinned. “Fairbanks? Big? I moved here from New York City. Fairbanks seemed like a tiny place to me.”
“Small? Fairbanks is about thirty-two thousand people. That’s big by my standards.”
Beverly shrugged. “New York is eight and a half million. That’s a city.”
“Are you going to miss being able to shop and eat out all the time?”
“I haven’t been able to do that for years. Money’s been too tight since my father died. It was all I could do to keep us from going bankrupt.” She continued unpacking, preferring not to discuss how difficult life had been for her.
He frowned, watching her. “You seem like someone who comes from money.”
She shrugged. “We had money when I was a girl. After the accident, money was tight. Mom’s hospital bills were outrageous.”
He didn’t like to think of her scrimping and saving. “I make a decent salary here. Nothing big, but you won’t have to worry about where your next meal will come from.”
“I can see we’ll be living simply, and that suits me fine.” She put the last of her things away. “I found some things I can throw together for supper. Are you hungry?”
He glanced at the clock on the wall. With as late as the sun set at this time of year, there was no telling what time it was by the sun. “I’m getting there. I could take you out for supper tonight. It is our wedding night.”
“I don’t mind cooking. I’ll make something tonight, and you can take me out for lunch tomorrow, before we go grocery shopping.” Beverly went into the kitchen, moving efficiently. “You’ll have to give me an idea of what foods you like, or I’ll just be cooking what I like. You might be disappointed.”
“I like lots of meat and potatoes. I’ll eat green stuff, but just to stay healthy. It doesn’t make me happy to eat it.”
She smiled at that. “I will keep that in mind.” As she preheated the oven and started the rice cooking, he stood watching her. “You can go sit and watch television or something if you’d like. I can do this myself.”
“I’d rather watch you cook.”
She blushed at that. “I promise I won’t break into song or dance. I’m just going to put together a few things, so we have a meal tonight.”
“I don’t expect song and dance.” As Colin watched her cook, it occurred to him that she had no idea just how beautiful she was. That wasn’t a bad thing for him, but maybe it was for her. “Why did you decide to contact Dr. Lachele?”
Beverly thought about what she’d say for a moment, trying her best to not sound like she’d been coerced into anything. “Lachele was a good friend of my mom’s. One of the last things Mom said to me was that she wanted me to talk to Lachele after she died. I thought she wanted me to be counseled by her, but Lachele knew differently. She approached me at the funeral and asked me to meet with her. When I did, she explained about Matchrimony. I had never even heard of it.”
“So did you agree to marry me for you or for your mother?” Colin was surprised at how much her answer mattered to him. He held his breath as he waited for a response.
“I have to honestly say that it was a bit of both. I was at loose ends without Mom to take care of, but I don’t know if I’d have come here without her nudging me. I will make the best out of our situation, and I’m glad I’m here, but would I have done it without Mom’s encouragement? Probably not.”
He frowned. “I don’t want to be married to someone who doesn’t want to be married to me.”
Beverly shook her head. “That’s not what I’m saying though. I’m happy to be married to you. I made this choice, and I’m glad I did. I don’t know that I would have ever discovered what Lachele did with Matchrimony if I hadn’t been nudged in that direction by my mother, though. Does that make any sense?”
He shrugged. “I guess so.” It made some sense, but he didn’t like it. He liked the idea that she’d flown there of her own free will to marry a stranger.
“I’m sorry if that wasn’t the answer you wanted. I try my best to always be honest, even if the truth hurts.”
Colin nodded. “All right. I appreciate the honesty then.” He watched her as she began mixing the ingredients she’d made in different places into one dish. It didn’t look fabulous, but it sure smelled good. “I’m glad you can cook!”
She grinned at him. “I didn’t learn to cook until after the accident. I had to let the cook go, along with the maids. I needed to eat, so I taught myself to cook out of necessity. I ate a few burnt meals that first year, but I made it through.”
“I’m happy to benefit from your errors.”
She shook her head at him. “It’s time to eat. Would you mind getting a couple of plates down for me?” She’d found the silverware in her search, but she had yet to find the plates. She assumed they were in one of the high cabinets, but she’d had no time to check for them yet.
Sure enough, he reached above her head and took down two plates with a simple pattern on them. “Anything else?”
She shook her head, carefully putting some of the casserole she’d made onto each of the plates. “Thanks for the help.” Handing him one of the plates full of food and a fork, she took her own to the table. “Is water all right with supper? Or do you prefer something else?”
“Water’s fine. We have really good water here, too. The last time I went into a city, I couldn’t even drink the water it tasted so bad.”
She filled two glasses of water from the faucet before joining him at the table. “Well, I’m sure I’ll prefer it to Manhattan’s water. I couldn’t drink that at all. Thankfully we had a water filtration system that made it better. I can’t imagine what the cost would have been if we’d had to continually buy bottled water.”
He ate several bites of his meal. “This is wonderful!”
She smiled. “It’s just something I threw together. I probably couldn’t mimic it if I tried.”
“I’m surprised you don’t want kids,” he said finally, after polishing off half of his meal. “You seem like the type that would love them.”
She shrugged. “I’ve had female problems for years. The doctor told me I’d never be able to have kids, so it wasn’t a big deal to agree to that stipulation.” She was even past wanting children…mostly.
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not. I can’t imagine having kids at my age, and I’m glad you don’t want them.” He was forty-three, and the idea of kids just made his skin crawl. He was too old, and he’d never been particularly fond of kids anyway.
“Well, it’s not a problem. We will be too old for kids together.”
He eyed her, frowning. “How old are you? You don’t look too old for kids.”
“I’m thirty-eight. Maybe that’s not technically too old for kids, but it feels like it is.”
“I can understand that. Once you reach a certain age, I think your desire for children—if you ever had one—goes right out the window. I know I’ve never really had one, which is part of the reason I never married. The other part was that I don’t meet a lot of single women. Denali is a place that families and married people come. Not single women looking for park rangers.”
She grinned. “Maybe you should have taken to riding around on a white horse, trying to rescue women from the stupid things I know they must do.”
Colin shook his head at her. “Most of the stupid things they do are too dangerous to be rescued from. No, I think I’m glad I left my white horse in Wisconsin.”
“Are you from Wisconsin?” She was surprised, because she hadn’t noticed a Mid-Western accent at all.
He nodded. “Farm boy born and bred. I think that’s part of the reason I ended up here. I loved the outdoors, and wanted more places to be like the woods near my family’s house. Here, that’s what I get.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re here.” She reached out and tucked her hand into his. “I’m glad we’re married.”