Page 8 of Chasing Trouble
She scrunched up her forehead, trying to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything for dinner.Of course, they didn’t have much.She’d used the last of their flour to make bread and a pumpkin pie, a special treat because they were very low on sugar, too.The pumpkins they had grown in their garden, along with potatoes, peas, green beans, cucumbers, squash, and onions.Her mom had taught her all about canning and gardening.She had even canned rabbit, which she had poached from Mac’s property.Her father had taught her how to fish, and she’d canned some of the fish she caught.
Since Mac had more of everything than they did, she saw no point in stripping their six acres bare of edible animals.Six acres had been all her dad could afford.So, Mac’s seemingly endless acres had provided a lot of food.
It’s too bad he’d found out what she was doing.A few more months, and she could have had it all her way, not having to deal with the man.She’d been trying to stretch the food supply they had until her dad came back—or spring came—whichever happened first.
True, she did feel guilty about stealing, but necessity was a demanding taskmaster.If it had just been her, she wouldn’t have done it, but there was no way she would let Luke and Amelia suffer if she could help it.She’d repent later when they had the opportunity to return to a church.
Sighing, she looked out the window at the overcast sky.It sure looked like snow.Soon, she would have to make the trip she’d been putting off to get down to Bolton and pick up some supplies like salt and flour from the local grocery store.It was twelve miles down, though, and she’d have to take their mule, Abraham, to carry things back.Dad had their only horse, a sorrel named Buck.She hated to leave Luke and Amelia alone for a whole day, but she didn’t have any choice.If she waited much longer, it would be too late to go.
As she went to the small bedroom that she shared with Amelia to change into a dress, her thoughts turned to Mac and the spanking he said he owed her.Her heart beat faster in trepidation as she took the pretty pink dress with a cinched-in waist out of the wardrobe, one that her mother had made.She only had a few dresses, and all of them had seen better days.
As she took off her shirt and pants and slipped the dress over her head, she wondered if Mac had been serious.Surely not; he had no right.He wasn’t even a family member.The only person who had ever spanked or strapped her had been her father.Mac was a stranger to her, although he had made her pulse race when he touched her yesterday.
Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she liked the way the pink looked on her.At least it wasn’t threadbare like her panties and bra.As she brushed her thick blonde hair and braided it with a pink bow, she wondered if Mac might think she was pretty.She scrunched her nose up at her freckles.Probably not.Who liked freckles?They were just dots all over your face where the skin should be clear and creamy.
Impatient with herself for even thinking about Mac like that, she looked away from the mirror.He was going to make things hard on her; she just knew it.She might even have to leave and take Luke and Amelia with her to get away from him.There was no way she was going to ask for help in town before her birthday.She might try to get back to her parents’ families as a last resort, but she didn’t want to.Still, she would do what she had to.
She wondered again when her dad would be back.Or if he was even coming back?She gnawed on her lip.What if something bad had happened to him?It must have, or he would surely have been back by now.She refused to consider that he might not have wanted to come back.He’d been heartsick and sore since her mom died, but would that make him forget about his three children?
Walking into the warm kitchen, she sighed and grinned at Amelia and Luke squabbling amiably over their dough figures at the kitchen table.When a polite knock sounded on the door, Luke ran to open it.It was Mac—and her heart rate immediately picked up.
He came in with a burst of cold air, and Amelia threw herself at him, clamoring for him to pick her up.Laughing, he shrugged out of his coat, handed it to Luke with a greeting, and then bent down to pick up the excited little girl.
For an instant, Whitney wondered what it would be like if Mac were her husband coming home to greet her and their own children?Then she brushed the thought aside and remembered that he was the enemy—the threat to their happiness.
She couldn’t help feeling a bit proud as he sniffed the air appreciatively and eyed the hot pumpkin pie.“Hmmmm...someone sure knows how to cook,” he said, looking down at her with a lopsided grin.
Whitney tried to push her animosity aside as they enjoyed dinner together, expressing their appreciation to Mac for the “gift”of the turkey.Stoically, she put up with the nonsense, hoping to influence him to favor staying.Though she was on pins and needles, she watched him with resentment.He didn’t have the right to tell her what to do, but he did have the law on his side, and she couldn’t argue with that.Still, she fumed, having the feeling that she already knew what he was going to say.
Too bad for him, though.
Chapter 3
Mac chuckled at Lukeand Amelia’s childish enthusiasm, but noticed that Whitney was much more reserved.Figures.After all, she was the one who stole the turkey, although he could appreciate her situation.
She was on edge—probably plotting what she was going to do if he said no.He wasn’t fooling himself for a minute that she wouldn’t make a run for it.The girl was stubborn, no doubt about that.But it would be disastrous at this time of year, and the thought of finding them all frozen in a snowdrift, or the victim of the reported rogue cougar, made his stomach turn.
