Page 51 of The Autumn Wife
“I promise you,” Lucas said, shaking Theo’s hand as if he were trying to set it loose from his wrist, “if you had tried to take a canoe and leave this girl behind, I’d have sent you off in bruises.”
A warning as well as a congratulations, Theo thought, and both enthusiastically spoken.
Lucas came around the table, seized him by the shoulders, and gifted him with a bone-rattling shake.
Marie, having put the baby in the cradle, approached to embrace Cecile. Both women spoke at the same time in high, merging voices. The excitement in the room was palpable even to little Charles, who pushed to his feet and hurled himself at his father’s calf. The captain released Theo only to sweep the toddler up into his arms.
“We heard Ceci sneak off last night,” Lucas said, a grin taking the place of outrage. “Those porch floorboards—I haven’t fixed them on purpose. I know if someone’s coming—or going.” He winked. “If my wife hadn’t held me back, I’d have come roaring out of bed, rolled up my sleeves—”
“‘Mind your own affairs,’ I said,” Marie interrupted. “I knew the two of them would figure things out, if they ever got a moment alone.”
Cecile looked abashed, standing with Marie’s hands tight on her shoulders. She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth in a way that made Theo’s pulse leap.
“So, you’re staying here for the winter, then.” Lucas hugged the toddler in one arm as he smacked Theo on the shoulder with his free hand. “Good. I can always use a strong hand to keep the woodpile stocked, clear a path to the smokeroom, and hunt some elk. Cecile can help Marie with the children. And come spring, we’ll figure out Cecile’s peskywidowhood issue, get you two married, and you’ll build me a stone church.”
Gratitude rushed through Theo faster than he could think.
“Since nobody is leaving today,” Marie announced, “I’ll serve breakfast. Lucas, you can feed Charles.”
Lucas sat on the creaking chair and settled the toddler on his lap. Marie took the wooden spoon from Cecile’s hand and bustled back to the pot. Cecile slipped to the table, slid into her seat, and patted the seat of the chair beside hers until Theo rustled up enough sense to lower himself into it.
“There’s plenty more of this.” Marie placed in front of him and his future wife two bowls of steaming sagamité, scattered with dried blueberries and a swirl of maple syrup. “Eat your fill. New lovers need sustenance.”
Cecile choked on her first bite.
“Oh, Ceci, we’re all adults here.” Marie’s gaze slid to her son. “Except for Charles, who is too young to understand. So, no shame in asking for a second serving to keep up your stamina. Lucas and I understand.”
Theo caught the silent communication that passed between his hosts. The air throbbed like a heartbeat. When he looked at Cecile, it throbbed again.
“One more thing.” The captain filled a spoon and lifted it to Charles, who leaned forward, mouthopening. “I’ve been saving a fine plot of land just west of here for someone Marie approves of. I’m always looking for good tenants, and you’ve proven to be a hardworking man. Now that you’re free, if you’re willing to throw up a cabin and work the land, I’d be much obliged.”
“It’s walking distance from here.” Marie settled in the fourth chair with her own bowl. “What do you think?”
Theo was still trying to absorb Lucas’s offer to stay for the winter. And now, the captain offered housing and land.
He spoke the only truth he could muster. “I don’t know what to say—”
“Fortunately, I do.” Cecile slipped her hand over his. “Theo and I are grateful for the offer, Captain, but we haven’t had time to discuss many things, including the future.”
“Haven’t had time?” Marie raised a brow. “And here I thought you spent an entire night—”
“Wife.” Lucas nudged her shoulder, then returned his attention to wiping sagamité off his son’s chin. “There’s no rush. You two have the entire winter to decide your future.”
“And,” Marie added, with a softer look for the both of them, “we’ll be very glad for your company.”
Theo patted his heart in silent thanks, then turned his attention to the porridge. As the tartness of a blueberry burst on his tongue, he realized how hungry he was. He took another spoonful, and yetanother, the sweet flavor of maple filling his mouth. Sagamité had never tasted so good—yet it was the same recipe as every morning. Even back in Guéret his breakfast had often been a wheat porridge, nothing unusual.
Still grappling with the swift change of events, he shook his head and then opened his eyes in a way that went beyond just lifting his lids.
In one deep sweep of the room, he took in the golden glow and the people within it, chattering away with ease. He saw how the captain made a face at his son, prompting a toddler’s laugh like the ringing of chimes. A crackling hearth fire warmed them all, and the light played among the strands of Cecile’s blonde hair.
The sight melded with a dream of a future he hadn’t planned for, but that now lay promised before him like a sky full of stars.
“Do you hear that?” Lucas straightened to glance at the oilskin-covered window, while his son on his lap lunged toward the spoon held suspended before him. “Marie, are we expecting visitors?”
“Maybe it’s Hateya, coming to check on me again.”
The captain shook his head and so did Theo—for he heard more than one body shuffling through the new powdered snow in the clearing outside. A family of deer, perhaps, cavorting into the clearing to scrape for grass? Venison would make a hearty dinner.
