Chapter 3
D ottie was waiting on pins and needles at Thistlewind for Ben to arrive home. She chewed on her thumbnail as she stared out the window of her office in the cottage they lived in. Thistlewind was the Sangster family property. Poppy and Angus lived in the main house, while she and Ben moved into the cottage as a newly married couple almost two years ago.
She loved life at Heaven’s Gate. The Sangster family and the MacCandish family roots went back several generations. Thistlewind had been deeded to the Sangster’s for their generations of loyal service when Ben’s great-grandfather was still alive. So technically, even though the Sangster’s now owned the land they lived on, it was still part of the Heaven’s Gate estate which was the largest privately owned land mass in the northern highlands.
The sun was slowly setting behind the mountain peaks casting a golden glow over the twilight of the coming evening hours. It was so beautiful it almost brought tears to her eyes, and she wished it wasn’t so cold outside. She’d grab Ben’s Artic Cat snowmobile and chase the sleepy sun until she couldn’t see it anymore. But with the rising of the waking moon, it would grow even colder and the surrounding hillsides would turn hostile with their naked black limbs and shrubs. Dottie shivered and put her fanciful thoughts aside.
The darkness of the night always weighed heavy on her like a wet blanket you could barely shift. She’d gotten lost once while picking berries with her sisters, and they hadn’t found her until long after the warm sun had given up residence to the moon. The night calls of the insects, the rustling of small animals in the underbrush, and the shadows that seemed to flit between the trees as if looking for her hiding place had left an indelible impression on her six-year-old mind. She didn’t like the darkness, no matter where she found it. Not even in a crowded theatre with other people around or walking down a well-lit street with company. It just made her uneasy and she was suspicious of every shadowy corner.
On automatic pilot, Dottie got up from her computer and began turning on every light in the cottage, plus all the outside ones she could turn on from inside. The warm glow of the lights pushed the darkness back and she felt immediately safer. Sure, Ben gave her a hard time about the extra cost of electricity, but he understood and he didn’t make fun of her or shoot her disgusted looks. He really was the best husband which made her deception about the food that much harder. She’d been so stupid to let her pride get the best of her.
She could have gone by Neamh and they could have eaten with everyone else, but she was afraid she would give herself away somehow. At least with Ben collecting some of the dinner for them, she’d know they hadn’t thrown it away. She wondered what they were saying about it right now? Did they like it? Was it good? She hadn’t even tasted it herself, but she was sure it would be wonderful. Everything Helo the chef cooked was amazing. She nibbled on her other thumb, her nerves still on edge.
When her text alert sounded in her pocket, she grabbed her phone and checked her messages. It was from Ben; he’d just left Neamh with their supper and the smell was making his stomach growl. He couldn’t wait to try her new recipe.
With another flash of guilt, Dottie headed for the kitchen to put the tea on. She was hungry too, but with her deception weighing so heavily, she wasn’t sure she could eat. If she didn’t though, Ben wouldn’t be happy. Her well-being was important to him and it was one thing he could be very stern about.
Dottie loved his protectiveness and tried to please him as much as possible, but she had never had a big appetite. He was just used to the amount of food his dad could eat. She would taunt him about that and the look in his eye always made her wonder if he was thinking of putting her over his knee, but so far, that hadn’t happened.
As the tea kettle heated the water, she took plates out of the cupboards and set the table for the two of them in the cozy little kitchen area. She had one window over the kitchen sink with cheerful white curtains sporting red apples all over them. The blinds she twisted shut with a grimace to close out the darkness.
The cottage was a simple design with the living and kitchen area visible when you came in the front door. There was a tiny hallway with four doors just beyond the kitchen. Two bedrooms on the right side and a bathroom and utility room on the left. The utility room held a washer and dryer and led to the backdoor which led straight out to the barn behind the cottage. It was small, but cozy for just the two of them.
When they had children, they would have to move or she would have to give up her office in the second bedroom, but that was for the future. Right now, they were saving as much as they could. Maybe they would even expand the cottage, who knew?
She glanced up at the ceiling where the big construction beams were visible. Ben had created extra storage for pans and other things since the cabinets were limited on space. It gave the whole cottage a very rustic aura. The big fireplace was banked in the living room, the heat from it helping to keep them very snug in the winter.
Her ears perked up when she heard the crunch of tires on the snow outside and then the slam of the car door. She eagerly went to the front door to open it for her husband.
“Ben,” she exclaimed as he stepped up on the small covered deck and met her at the open door.
“Dottie,” he replied just as eagerly as he stepped inside with his hands full. He bent down to kiss her on the lips.
“Oh, yer lips are frozen,” she squealed.
Laughter lit up his eyes, the gray dots in his dark pupils seeming to twinkle in the light. “That’s because it’s colder than the ice it takes to freeze the flames of hell,” he retorted. He handed her the warm dish in his hand. “Here, take this, honey, it’s nice and warm.”
“I’m not planning on kissing a dish,” she retorted dryly.
He chuckled, a rich deep tone that had her insides jiggling. Then he closed the door behind him and took off his outer gear as Dottie carried the dish to the kitchen and set it on the table. As she took off the lid, the rich aromatic odor of the pasta and spices made her tummy growl. “Wow, this smells wonderful.”
Ben padded over in his sock feet. “Well, ye made it, my little wonder chef, ye should know that already.” His tone was quizzical as he cocked his head at her. Then his long arms closed around her and his hands slipped up the back of her red sweater.
“Ben, yer hands are cold,” she squeaked as he drew her up to his big body.
“Then warm them up fer me,” he teased as his hands dipped below her buttocks and lifted her bottom up and into his arms.
She swung her jean-clad legs around his waist and enveloped their faces between her locks of blond hair, their warm breath mingling together as his lips warmed from their kiss. Dottie found the hardness of his strong body against her lady parts and the ying and yang of hot and cold between their mouths was sending her senses spiraling out of control.
How she loved this man .
The tingling in every cell of her body told her that he could do anything he wanted to her and she would respond with a passion that couldn’t be denied. When he carried her into their bedroom, she reflected briefly that dinner might get cold before they got back to it, but she didn’t care. At that moment, she needed her husband, and he needed her just as much.
***
B en took the first bite of the once again re-heated lasagna and his tastebuds watered in his mouth. “Oh, my gawd,” he groaned as the luscious pasta melted in his mouth, the bursts of flavor teasing him unmercifully. “Dottie, make sure ye have this recipe saved, it’s the most heavenly lasagna I’ve ever eaten, I swear. Thank ye so much fer doing this fer Lucerne, I know they all appreciate it at Neamh. Ye are the best little wife a man could have.”
Dottie smiled at him, but her eyes looked wistful for some reason. “Thank ye, Ben. It wasn’t much, just some stuff I threw together hoping it would all work.”
He took another bite, a huge one this time and chewed with delight while holding up his free thumb in the universal sign of approval. When he could finally speak, he said, “Oh, it works all right, honey, it totally works. I think I could eat this every day.”
“I’m glad ye like it. Ye think the others will like it?”
“Dad insisted on one pan fer him and Darro and the others would have to share one,” he responded with a deep chuckle.
Dottie snickered. “I bet that went over like a lead balloon.”
“Aye, ye got that right.”
He was half-way through his second plate and working on his second garlic toast when he finally realized that Dottie was only picking at her food. He knew she was hungry; he’d heard her stomach growl when he came in earlier. It was true that she didn’t have a big appetite, he knew that already, but he’d seen her eat with a lot more gusto than she was putting forth now.
He eyed her carefully. Had she been hurt in the accident and wasn’t saying? He hadn’t seen any hidden bruises earlier, and he’d checked. Sometimes she’d get so tensed up about things that she’d get a stomach ache or a headache just from stress. “Is something wrong? Ye aren’t eating much.”
She glanced up and waved her hand around somewhere behind her head. “This turned out really rich and it doesn’t take much to fill me up. Ye know that,” she responded with a quick smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
Then she took a nibble off her garlic toast and started spearing another bite as if to placate him. He watched her bent head for a moment while he chewed, suddenly sure something was bothering her. They weren’t so newly married that he couldn’t tell when something was amiss. Whatever it was, she didn’t appear to want to share it with him. She was like that sometimes though, a private little thing. He often felt like he needed a mental can opener or something to see into her mind.
“There was no damage to yer car,” he finally offered.
She looked up again, relief evident on her face. “I was just going to ask about that. I was worried with it being the holiday season and all. Being down one vehicle would be hard right now.”
Her eyes slid back to her plate and he got the distinct impression she’d grabbed onto his reassurance like a man scrambling for a life preserver in deep water. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why though.
“Are ye sure something else isn’t bothering ye?” he tried again. “Ye seem a bit out of sorts or something.”
She shot him a guarded smile. “Just wondering what to get my family fer Christmas,” she replied. “Ye know my mum, no matter what it is, she’ll still find something wrong with it, even though she’ll still use it. And of course, Cherry’s gift, no matter how useless it might be, will be the best thing ever,” she added with extra snark.
Ben shook his head. As much as he’d like that to not be true, he figured it probably was. Dottie’s mother wasn’t the easiest woman to get along with. Steeped in tradition and set in her ways, no one could tell her anything. Dottie was sensitive to her criticism and when her mother pitted the girls against each other, it really hurt her. She tried to pretend it didn’t, but he knew it did.
Her father wasn’t quite as bad, but he was set in his ways as to what proper behavior for a young lass should be, and was more than willing to share his opinions and beliefs whenever he had a captive audience. Luckily, politics wasn’t something that interested the man, for which Ben was grateful. Politics and religion could easily alienate the best of families at times. He just seemed to focus on his daughters. He wasn’t even sure her father liked him, although Dottie said her parents approved of him because Ben’s family was a part of Heaven’s Gate Estates.
“I’m sorry, I know yer mum is a hard pill to swallow at times. Ye could always make them a dish of this delicious lasagna fer Christmas,” he teased. “I can’t believe she could find a single negative thing to say about it.”
Dottie snorted bitterly. “Then ye don’t know my mum as well as ye think ye do.” She pushed her chair back and picked up her plate. “Do ye want the rest of this? I’m finished with it.”
Not wanting to see half of the generous piece she’d taken get thrown away, he nodded. “Aye, I’ll take it. I’ve got plenty of room.”
When she walked around the table, he took the plate from her and set it on the table, then grabbed her hand and pulled her down on his knee. With a gentle finger, he pushed the fall of hair back that was hiding the side of her face. “I love ye, Dottie. Whatever is bothering ye, I wish ye’d share it with me. Ye know ye can tell me anything,” he added softly, running his thumb down the delicate skin of her flushed cheek.
She glanced up and then shifted away again. “I just told ye,” she replied stiffly. “The Christmas season always does this to me. My family drives me crazy every year.”
He knew she wasn’t telling him everything because she kept avoiding his gaze. Finally, he turned her chin around to face him. “Okay, honey, I won’t push ye.” He dropped a kiss on her lips and let her go. She jumped up and headed towards her office.
“I have one more email to answer and then we can watch a movie or something,” she threw over her shoulder.
Ben watched her saucy buttocks gyrate as she walked away and felt his body tighten. “Aye, mayhap a Christmas movie. The Grinch comes to mind,” he teased after her.
She shot him a sizzling look before disappearing into her office and he chuckled as he scraped her offering onto his plate. No point in having something this good go to waste. The chickens would lose out on this dinner tonight.
Remembering how the leftover Habanero Roast Lamb supper she’d fixed last spring had turned the chicken’s egg whites pink ran through his mind. He’d been too late to warn her not to give the chickens the left-overs from that meal. They were right hearty chickens though, they kept on laying even if their eggs weren’t usable for the next three days. He grinned at the memory.
After finishing off the meal and scraping the pan, Ben tidied up the little kitchen and headed for the recliner and the television. As he thumbed through the Christmas movie offerings, he thought about his secret surprise for Dottie. He was feeling a tad guilty because he’d cautioned her so much about keeping expenses down to pay for the used SUV they had bought for a second vehicle. She needed a car to get back and forth from town, and she hated feeling stranded when he was out working with the truck, so it had been an important purchase.
Still, he’d wanted to do something special for her for Christmas. Snowmobiling was a sport his lass totally loved, so he’d borrowed some money from his dad and bought a barely used Polaris Switchback from one of his cousins. It was stored at Neamh right now in the shed where Darro kept all the snowmobiles for Heaven’s Gate.
Polaris was well-known for its easy handling and durability on and off the trails and he wanted her to be safe. The red Switchback would appeal to her since red was one of her favorite colors. Maybe one of these days he could afford one for himself to match hers, but for now, he’d stick with the reliable Artic Cat. It was a beast, but it worked great for helping the dogs with the sheep in the winter.
She was going to be so surprised and he couldn’t wait to see her face. It was difficult for him to keep his secret, but he was determined that she wouldn’t figure it out. He knew she’d already been in the closet and shaking packages under the tree, but he hadn’t put any names on his gifts yet. The sneaky little devil would have to wait.
***
T hree days later, Dal was trying to figure something out. He was leaning against the back door of the barn and watching the lone snowmobile making rounds behind the barn and the house and back again.
Delilah and Cory had returned from their stay at a cousin’s house while Lucerne was in the hospital birthing baby Darro over the weekend. He knew the kids were out of school now and Ainsley had them out on Darro’s big Artic Cat. He wanted to go talk to her, but the few times he’d tried to approach her so far had been met with a disdainful look from her icy blue eyes. Eyes just like her brothers, except Darro’s eyes were boss intimidating. Ainsley’s were beautiful.
He sighed and scratched his nose with a gloved finger. Girls didn’t normally treat him this way. The gift he’d bought, knowing she’d be home for Christmas, wasn’t going to be given to her if he couldn’t even have a decent conversation with the lass. How would he explain it?
“What are ye lookin’ at, lad?” growled a voice from behind him. “Ye know it’s Tuesday, right? Time to be working, not gawpin’ at the boss’s baby sister.”
Dal turned to see Angus staring at him in amusement. “Just keeping an eye on the kids,” he responded warily.
Angus lifted the cup of coffee he’d brought from the barn office in his hand and took a sip from the steaming brew. “Is that yer assignment today? Cause the last I heard, ye were supposed to be checkin’ the sheep in the north pasture and givin’ jabs. Ben replaced the ones he borrowed for the herd at Thistlewind, so there’s no excuse fer puttin’ it off.”
Dal shot him an irritated glare. “I know that. It just seemed to me that Ainsley was taking the kids around a little fast, that’s all. I wanted to make sure they didn’t get thrown off.” He pulled his cap down around his ears and headed for the snowmobile barn. It would be the best way to get up to the north pasture. He picked up the medical bag holding everything he needed and went back through the barn to the paths already cleared in the snow to get to the smaller barn.
As he walked, he could hear the growl of the Artic Cat making its way back around again but he didn’t look. If she was going to ignore him, then he could do the same. It passed along behind the snowmobile barn and headed around the house again, the kids’ childish whoops of laughter ringing in his ears. Dal really liked kids. He would have loved to be out there with them, or even take them somewhere else, but he hadn’t been invited. Besides, he was working and Darro expected a fair day’s work for a fair wage, as he put it.
Once inside the small barn, he grabbed a blue Yamaha on a small wheeled trailer, pulled it to the back door, and opened it from the inside. There he was able to get the snowmobile off the trailer and directly into the several inches of snow that covered the grounds outside. Once he was clear of the doors, he closed them behind him.
He secured his bag on the back of the snowmobile and then swung his leg over the seat and turned the rumbling engine on to warm up. It was cold out today. Hopefully, the jabs wouldn’t take too long and he could get back to the barn and check on the inside stock, then have the afternoon off. With Christmas only ten days away, the crews were on half shifts unless there was a snowstorm or something that required them to take extra care with the stock.
His ears in tune with the rumbling of the Artic Cat, he cocked his head to listen. He didn’t want to pull out in front of Ainsley and he knew she was about to fly around the corner. When she did come around, she was hugging the wall far too close and he instantly realized they were going to collide. Her eyes opened in a wide panicked look and the kids screamed.