Authors: Maya Stirling
Tags: #Romance, #historical 1800s
"My oh my. Look what we have here. What beautiful children," the housekeeper enthused. She reached out a hand and pinched Daisy's clear skinned cheek. "And look at you. Aren't you lovely," Mrs. Brodie exclaimed.
Zack straightened, trying not to drop the trunk. "Mrs. Brodie. May I introduce Lydia, Gretchen, Kate. And the person whose cheek you just tried to remove, is Daisy," he said trying to hide the fact that breathing was starting to get difficult.
Everyone shook hands with Mrs. Brodie.
"Are you hungry?" Mrs. Brodie said, addressing all four of them. The silent look she received was all the reply she needed.
"Well. I've cooked some lunch for you all. Just get yourselves freshened up and settled in, and it'll be down here, waiting for you," she said.
"That's very kind of you, Mrs. Brodie. I'm sure the children are already looking forward to that. Isn't that right?" Lydia said glancing at all three girls. They nodded in unison and Lydia smiled with satisfaction.
The housekeeper glanced at Zack, a look of light hearted concern on her face. "I think you better get that upstairs before you collapse," she said.
"Follow me," Zack said and started up the stairs. He heard the sound of the footsteps behind him. It sounded like an army had just moved into the ranch.
Zack led them down the hall and stopped outside the bedroom where he'd spent so long trying to fit in the three small beds.
"This is your room, ladies," Zack said addressing the three girls. Zack felt something sink in his gut when he saw the expression on their faces. They weren't impressed. He could tell that right away.
Gretchen's mouth opened and he could see she was about to say something, but Lydia spoke up first. "It's lovely, Zack. Exactly what I asked for." Lydia wrapped an arm around the girls' shoulders and drew them all close. "You know how you all like to sleep in the same room, girls. Think how cozy it'll be. Nights can be a little cold out in Montana. That's right, isn't it, Zack?" Lydia said glancing at him.
He hesitated, then agreed. "Uh. Sure. Maybe once you're all settled in we can rearrange things," he said.
"That won't be necessary," Lydia said. "They're going to be very comfortable here," she said following Zack into the room. He laid the trunk down. He turned to the children and watched them file into the room, seeing their expressions of uncertainty as they peered at the beds. "In any case, the ranch is a big place," he said. "You've got plenty a space to roam. You'll see."
Lydia gave him a smile.
Zack straightened. "I'll leave you ladies to unpack. And see you downstairs. I think Mrs. Brodie will be glad to serve you all some good, wholesome ranch food."
Gretchen rolled her eyes, but Zack just smiled.
Lydia looked at Zack. "Thank you, Zack. That sounds lovely. We'll be down in a short while."
Zack nodded and locked his eyes on Lydia. He couldn't believe it. She was here, standing in his home, speaking with him, being polite, well mannered, cold even. And that was the only thing that really bothered him as he turned and made his way out of the room.
Lydia had been formal, polite and reserved. All the times he'd thought about their reunion, Zack had never once thought that it would be like this. Polite. Cold. Formal. He'd imagined something entirely different. Something warm, passionate, even tender.
But it just hadn't been like that at all.
And, as he made his way downstairs, Zack Buchanan asked himself if he'd made the biggest mistake of his life in asking Lydia to come back to him, children and all. Above all he asked himself how he was possibly going to formally ask her to become his wife.
CHAPTER THREE
She was here. In Zack's house. At last. After so much deliberation and so many letters. He'd been so polite and gentle in the way he'd welcomed them to his ranch. Lydia wondered if Zack had felt the same rush of emotion that she had felt on seeing him for the first time in nine years. So much had happened. So much had changed. But one thing was the same as it had always been. The effect that Zack Buchanan had upon the beating of her heart.
Just sitting on the buggy, watching him emerge slowly from the inside of the ranch house, had made her pulse begin to race, her throat to tighten. He looked so different and yet still recognizable as the man she'd left behind. It had taken all her strength to contain the urge to call out to him as the buggy had pulled up in the yard. But she'd had to restrain those impulses, those expressions of relief and delight. Lydia wanted this to be as easy a transition for her children as she could make it.
So, she had forced herself to stay seated on the buggy and watch him approach her with that smile of sheer delight written all over his face.
Lydia had never forgotten Zack. But, it had been such a long time since she'd seen him that she'd lost sight of one very important thing.
Zack Buchanan was the most handsome man she had ever seen.
Thinking that one thought brought a sharp stab of guilt to her middle.
She shouldn't be thinking like that. Not when Daniel had passed away only weeks before. Lydia wanted, above all else, to respect her dearly departed husband. And for that reason, all the thoughts about Zack had to be banished, taken fully and entirely under control.
Lydia gazed around the tiny room and watched her daughters start to negotiate about who would have the best bed. It was inevitable really, that they would argue over such an important thing. Lydia already knew who would win out in the end, but even so, she felt a simple pleasure listening to her children discuss which bed was the best and who deserved to claim it.
Lydia started to unpack their belongings from the trunk. She opened up the drawers of the small dressing table which was jammed into the corner of the room, and started filling them with the girls' small clothes. She instructed the three girls to start to hang the few dresses they had brought with them in the small wardrobe. Lydia watched the girls follow her instructions.
One thing was for sure. In a room as small as this there would no space for the kinds of pillow fights that had been such a regular occurrence back in San Francisco. Lydia smiled at the memory of their life back in the city. The family had lived in a small apartment. Daniel had assured Lydia that their stay in the slightly down at heel district would merely be a temporary arrangement. But, one by one, the children had arrived, and life in the apartment had become more and more restrictive.
Lydia glanced out the window. There would be no shortage of space out here, in Montana. She wondered how her three daughters would cope with such a dramatic change. It had been hard enough to console them to the loss of their beloved father. And Lydia was sure that all three of her girls were putting on the bravest face imaginable, hiding the real hurt they were all feeling.
Lydia glanced at Kate and watched her hanging up one of her pretty petticoats. Kate, in particular had taken the death of her father very hard. Lydia frowned when she saw Gretchen push Kate's hand away from the hanger.
"I want to hang my dress on that one," Gretchen stated firmly, pushing against her sister. Kate leaned back and acquiesced in a manner which Lydia thought too quick.
"Gretchen. Don't speak to your sister like that," Lydia ordered.
Gretchen turned and looked at her mother, a flash of defiance in her eyes. But it was soon replaced by a slight tightening of the lips and a nod of the head. "Sorry, mama."
Kate glanced at Lydia who nodded at her relieved daughter. Kate went back to hanging the petticoat.
Lydia sighed quietly. It was going to take time. The girls were bound to find things strange, here on Zack's ranch. Especially after having lived all their lives in a city like San Francisco, with all that bustle and activity. Lydia wondered how on earth she was going to keep her girls from being overwhelmed by the sheer difference in the life they were about to embark upon. There was so much to think of. Schooling, friends, how to keep the girls occupied.
And then there was the issue of getting reacquainted with Zack Buchanan.
How was she going to do that? Had she just made the biggest mistake of her life?
But then again, she hadn't had much choice, had she? Lydia's children were the most important thing in her life. She'd had to find some way to ensure their safety and give them at least some chance of a future. Daniel's sudden death had left them with no income and thus no money.
Not even a dollar.
Lydia frowned as she recalled the fear she'd felt at the prospect of city life with no visible means. She'd heard stories of unfortunate women who'd fallen on hard times, unable to make ends meet. The choices they'd had to make were not ones that Lydia had been prepared to consider for even a moment.
And so there had been only one thing she'd had to fall back upon. Words that had been spoken to her nine years before, by a man she hadn't seen since. Words that had echoed inside her mind during many quiet moments in the intervening years. Words that she'd never considered to have been uttered with anything other than total sincerity.
They had been spoken by Zack on the day when she'd last seen him, before her father had brought her to the train that would take himself and Lydia away from Helena to San Francisco.
And, as she handed the last of the dresses from the trunk to little Daisy, Lydia could hear Zack's voice from all those years ago. She could see Zack's face as he clutched her for what he undoubtedly thought would be the last time. His eyes had been narrow, his gaze pleading.
"If your life doesn't turn out the way you want it to. If you ever need to come back, Lydia, I give you my word, my promise. I will marry you."
****
"How's the chicken?" Zack asked Gretchen. Lydia smiled as she saw Gretchen quickly glance toward her mother and reluctantly admit that it was, indeed, very tasty.
They were all seated at the dining table, having what Lydia realized was the very first family dinner. She briefly considered that they might sitting at this very table for a very long time to come. She realized she didn't find that thought particularly displeasing.
Zack smiled at Gretchen's comment. "I think Mrs. Brodie will be pleased to hear that. She was worried that you might not like it," he said.
"I don't think there was any chance of that happening," Lydia said.
They'd all finished the unpacking. Zack had brought up the remaining cases. All that was left to unpack were Lydia's things. Zack had taken the case containing them to a room across the hall from the girls' room. He'd started to explain that there weren't a whole lot of rooms on the upstairs of the ranch house and that there might be temporary problems fitting all the newcomers in. Lydia interrupted him, explaining that she understood, and that maybe they could talk about the sleeping arrangements later. After dinner.
Zack had sighed in obvious relief.
Now they were all at the dinner table which was laden with plates of cooked chicken, vegetable, glasses of cordial and fruit.
Lydia glanced around the room as she lifted a fork to her mouth. Zack had done a wonderful job of making the children feel at home. The dining room was small, and perhaps hadn't seen as many guests as were squeezed into it at this moment.
But they weren't guests, Lydia realized with a start.
They were all residents. This was to be their home.
Lydia glanced at Zack. Every once in a while he would make a little teasing joke with one of the girls, working hard to put them at their ease. The sound of giggling had been frequent since Mrs. Brodie had ladled out the first plates of soup.
Lydia felt a rush of relief when she saw the efforts that Zack and his housekeeper were putting in to making them all feel that this was the only place where they belonged. And it was working. Lydia looked at the girls and felt a calmness settle on her.
When Mrs. Brodie came in at the end of the meal with a huge sponge cake topped with icing the gasps of amazement from the girls made Lydia smile with pleasure. Portions were cut and put onto plates. In spite of Lydia's caution, the girls ate the cake quickly. Soon tiny lips were lined with creamy icing.
Lydia glanced over at Zack and saw the visible pleasure he was taking at the simple pleasures of a family dinner. She realized this must all be so new to him. He'd lived as a single man all his life. And now he had acquired an instant family.
Lydia peered at Zack and wondered how on earth he was maintaining such composure when faced with such a dramatic change in his life. But it had been a change he had agreed to, even if perhaps he might not have fully comprehended the scale of the change that welcoming Lydia and the children into his life would cause in his otherwise simple existence.
"Good cake, Lydia?" Zack asked her suddenly with a smile.
Lydia took a piece on her fork and tasted it. One thing was for sure, Mrs. Brodie was a fine cook. "It's lovely. I better not eat too much of this, though. I might need to shop for more dresses if I do?"
"What's wrong with buying more dresses?" Zack asked with a grin. "There are some good stores in Great Falls. Maybe not as fine as the ones you've been used to in the city. But the folks that run them are mighty friendly. And they do their best to get what you want, if they don't have it immediately to hand," he said.
"I'll remember that," Lydia said.
"Mama. Can we go and see the horses?" Gretchen asked, her mouth still filled with cake.
"I'll wait until you've finished eating before I answer that, Gretchen," Lydia said.
Zack glanced at Lydia and slowly put the last piece of cake on his own fork into his mouth, his eyes moving back and forth between mother and daughter.
Gretchen swallowed the last of her cake and asked her question again.
Zack put his fork down on his plate. "I think Ned could be persuaded to show you girls around the stables," he said.
Daisy squealed with delight and started clapping her hands. Kate dug an elbow softly into her sister's side and gave Daisy a look that seemed immediately familiar to the youngest sister.
Lydia looked at the girls. "You're not too tired for that. Are you?"