Hope Springs (9 page)

“So you enjoy having your own room, do you?”

“It makes me feel very fancy.” Her smile was a touch whimsical. “A person feels less—I don’t know, less dispensable when she has a space all her own. She feels more important, I suppose. A person has to be truly needed for her to be worth more than a tiny corner of an attic or a blanket on the kitchen floor.”

Tavish knew in that instant exactly how he meant to spend the bit of savings he’d set aside. He meant to court Katie and, in time, he’d ask her to marry him. But when he brought her to his home—to
her
new home—she’d find a room waiting there just for her. If a room was what she needed to feel essential in his life, that was exactly what he would give her.

He turned the buggy in at Ian and Biddy’s. He and Ian shared ownership of the buggy. Ian had acquired it in a shrewd deal two years back whilst they were down at the train depot selling off grain. It was something of an extravagance—not useful really, but a fine thing to have for riding about or making a quick trip into town.

Tavish brought the buggy to a stop just outside the barn. Katie made to climb down, as she always did.

“At least give me a chance to be a gentleman,” he lightly scolded.

They’d had this very conversation a few times. She stopped at the edge of the bench and waited for him to make his way around. He reached up and lifted her down.

“I don’t know why it is you insist on doing this,” she said as her feet reached the ground. “I can get down on my own.”

“Oh, I know you
can.
” He kept his hands at her waist and leaned in toward her. “But it gives me a rare opportunity to stand particularly close to you.”

Color stained her cheeks when she looked up at him. She made no attempt to slip away. A good sign, he felt certain. She could sometimes be jumpy, quick to put up walls between them. A past filled with too much pain and heartache had left her wary, but she was well worth the time and patience he’d need to win her over, if only life would grant him more time to court her properly.

He lightly brushed his lips along her hairline, not kissing her, just barely touching. Her hands slid from his shoulders to his neck. Tavish closed his eyes and tried very hard to think clearly. He was never entirely sure what to do around Katie. If he pulled her tight to him and kissed her soundly, would she melt or would she run? Each possibility was equally likely.

He took a deep breath in through his nose, hoping to calm his thoughts and his pulse. “Did you know you smell like flowers?” He had no idea which variety, but he’d noticed that about her almost from the beginning.

“Scented water.” She whispered the reply. Clearly she was not entirely indifferent to his touch.

He slipped one hand from her waist to behind her back, pulling her ever so slightly closer to him. She made no protest. Tavish lowered his head, giving her ample time to push away or pull back if she wanted to.

Katie tipped her head in his direction, and their lips came within a breath of each other.

“Looks to me as though I ought to be taking my wife out for a Sunday afternoon drive so I can get myself a nice squeeze afterwards,” Da’s deep, gravelly voice said from nearby.

“Quit interrupting
my
squeeze, will ya, Da?” He didn’t release Katie by so much as an inch.

“Can’t do that, son. The lass hasn’t a father here to see to it suitors treat her as they ought. I’ve taken that task to my own self, I have.”

Da
would
set himself to such a task. What was more, he’d undertake it in earnest.

Katie pulled back from him, not entirely, but enough to look over at the door of the house where Da stood.

“He’s been a perfect gentleman, I assure you.”

Tavish grinned. “I’ve been
perfect,
have I?”

Katie pressed her lips together. He’d wager she was holding back a smile of her own.

“Aye.” Da’s tone hadn’t lightened. “And he’ll continue to be a gentleman, else I’ll take a switch to him like I done when he was little and making mischief.”

Tavish took her hand in his and pressed it to his lips. “Off with ya, then, before my father decides to flog me.”

“That’s quite enough, lad. Let the sweet
ógbhean
go on inside.”

Tavish smiled at her. “When he starts speaking Gaelic, I know I’m in trouble.” He kissed her fingers one more time before letting her go.

She stepped around him. Tavish watched her go. Da met her just at the edge of Ian’s porch.

“He really was behaving himself,” he heard Katie say.

“Oh, I know it,” Da said. “And Tavish knows I know it. And he further knows it would be a
scalladh-croidhe
to his poor mother should she hear of him acting elsewise.”

Tavish could hear him well and clear, just as he imagined Da wanted him to. He leaned against the buggy with his arms folded across his chest, watching the two of them. Da had a way with ladies, young and old. He wove a kind of spell about them all, putting them at ease and making them trust him. He’d been able to soothe the often-prickly Katie from the earliest days of their acquaintance.

“What has brought on the sad face, Katie?” Da asked.

“Hearing you speak Gaelic puts me in mind of my father. He spoke Irish more often than English.”

“I’m told your father is ailing,” Da said.

Tavish stood up straight, intending to jump into the conversation if need be. Katie was not bearing up entirely under the weight of her father’s impending death. Da would make her cry with such a topic.

“He is,” Katie answered simply.

Da stuffed his hands in the pockets of his trousers, nodding slowly. “Do you think your da would allow me to look out for you while you’re here?”

Tavish fully expected her to avoid the topic as she’d done many times before. She surprised him.

A bit of a smile touched her lips. “I think he would thank you for it. And I’d thank you for it too. I’ve not had a father to care about me in many, many years.”

Da’s very Irish, very blue eyes twinkled back at her. Tavish relaxed, torn between gratitude that Da had worked his magic once more and wishing he himself could so easily earn her faith.

“In that case,” Da said, “if any of the other lads hereabout come around courting you, I fully expect you to tell me so. I mean to make it a particular duty of mine to be certain they’re good men and treating you as they ought.”

“I will, though I don’t imagine there’s likely to be a great many men knocking on my door.”

“We’ll see.” Da nodded quickly and firmly. “Now, I’d be much obliged if you’d step inside and say hello to Biddy before you make your way home. She’s missed you this past day or more.”

Katie looked back at Tavish, a smile playing about her lips, though not fully blossoming. He winked at her, and she slipped inside the house. Da remained behind on the porch.

“A sweet lass,” Da said.

“Aye. That she is.”

Da had given Katie a look of tender concern; the gaze he turned on Tavish was edged with warning. “You’re treating her as you ought?”

“Aye.”

“Don’t let me hear otherwise.”

Tavish nodded his understanding. He moved to unhitch the horse.

“And, son?”

He looked back to the porch.

“Our Katie’s quite a catch. Don’t let her slip through your fingers.”

“I don’t intend to.”

“That’s a good lad.” Da crossed to where Tavish stood. Together they unhitched the horse. Da rubbed its nose, something he’d done with every horse they’d ever had. “We’ve trouble ahead of us, Tavish.” Da’s hands slid over the horse’s head.

Tavish patted the animal on the back, following as Da led it into the barn.

“More of the same?”

Da nodded. “Johnson told your ma after services today that he means to raise prices on a few more things.”

That sounded decidedly bad. “What things?”

“He didn’t give particulars. Only mentioned it with that smile of his that makes you feel as though you’ve been drinking sour milk.”

Tavish rubbed at the back of his neck. “He means to starve us out, then? Keep us from buying food this winter?”

“Food. Clothing. Supplies. We’re to freeze and starve and, should any grow ill, suffer all the more for want of medicines.”

Tavish took the bridle off the horse and hung it on its peg. “How many will he drive away this year, do you think?”

Da only shook his head.

“Katie gave up Ireland for this, Da. She stayed to make a future here.”

“I know, son.”

“I can’t let it fall apart. Not when it means so much to her.”

Da took to rubbing down the horse while Tavish leaned against the stall wall.

“You know, I was having me a fine bit of courting until you pushed your nosey self out the door.”

Da kept at his work. “I’d wager our Katie doesn’t have a lot of experience with proper courting. I worry about her. About both of you. She’s likely to have her head turned by sweet words and lingering kisses, not really knowing how to discover what it is that she wants and needs most.”

He looked at his da. “Isn’t that what courting is supposed to do? Turn a person’s head?”

“Unless that courting turns her
heart,
it won’t be enough.”

Tavish shifted a bit. “I have to convince her to fall in love with me, is that it?”

“To fall
the rest of the way
in love with you,” Da corrected. “She likes you well enough, cares for you truly and deeply, but you’ve some work yet to do.”

“I don’t know how to make someone love me, especially her.” Though he’d thought it many times, he’d never admitted his misgivings out loud. “Katie isn’t like anyone I’ve known before. ’Tis fully impossible to know exactly what she’s thinking or feeling. Sometimes I am certain she loves me. Other times—” What could he do but shrug?

“Well, then.” Da took a step away from the horse. “Best of luck to you with that.”

That brought a smile back to Tavish’s face. “You are no help at all.”

They laughed as they returned to Ian’s house. But underneath the smile, Tavish’s mind spun.

Unless that courting turns her
heart,
it won’t be enough.

How could any person truly win a heart as closely guarded as Katie’s?

Chapter Nine

“Well now, Tavish, you seem to be having a party and I wasn’t invited.” Katie stood in the doorway of Tavish’s house. He and the women of his family were up to their elbows in glass jars and berries.

He tossed her a lopsided grin. “This here is one of our famous preserving parties.”

Tavish had told her once about his female relations gathering to help him put up jellies and such from his berries. ’Twas how he made his living, going about the territory selling what they preserved. Why, then, hadn’t she been asked to join in?

“Is there room for one more?” She tried to keep disappointment out of her voice.

“There is always room for you, Katie,” he said as he set back to his work. ’Twasn’t the most flattering invitation, but it was a welcome one at least.

Always room for her.
That, she knew all too well, was not true. There’d not been room for her in her family’s home by the end of things. She was supposed to go to Manchester because they couldn’t keep her, because there’d not been a place for her in her own home. That reality haunted her even now.

It would have been different going back. If she’d returned, her parents would have wanted her there. They needed her. She might have helped during the few remaining months that lay ahead of Father. She might have been a balm to her mother’s loneliness. She would have been welcomed. They would have made a place for her. Surely they would have.

“Katie?”

Tavish’s voice broke through some of the fog of memory, but it was his gentle touch on her hand that brought her fully back to the moment.

She tried for an unaffected smile. He clearly didn’t believe it.

Still, she pressed ahead. “I am quite handy with a canning jar or a paring knife. Give me a task, Tavish. I’m looking for a spot of work.”

He squeezed the hand he held. “You’ve had a difficult couple weeks, Katie. What you need is rest, not more work.”

Katie plopped her hands on her hips. “And where do you get off, Tavish O’Connor, dictating to me what
I
need?” Work had been her escape for a very long time. Music soothed her, but work gave her purpose.

The scolding widened his eyes. Perhaps she’d snapped a bit more than necessary, but she never had liked being told what to do. He likely hadn’t meant the words to feel that way, but they had just the same.

“Biddy’s had a harder go of it than I have, and she’s here.”

Tavish’s gaze slid to his sister-in-law. “She needed the distraction.”

“At the moment, Tavish, I need one as well.”

His free hand slipped around her waist and he pulled her close. “There are far better distractions than putting up preserves,” he whispered to her.

Her entire face heated even as a tiny smile echoed from her heart. “Do you never stop flirting, Tavish O’Connor?”

“Of course. But I needed to see that smile of yours, Sweet Katie.” He spoke quietly, his breath tickling the hair near her temple. “Everything’s right in my world when you smile.”