“Very pleased to meet you, Nora. I think I saw you talking to Simon at Maddie O’Rourke’s wedding. I hope you brought lots of news from town. Things get a little quiet out here at times.”
Unlike Simon’s sister, it seemed.
“Go on in,” Beth continued, reaching for Nora’s cloak, which she hung by the back door next to several other brown coats like Simon’s. “I’ll fetch another place setting. I can’t wait to become better acquainted.”
What a lovely way to be welcomed to the family. Nora was smiling as Simon doffed his coat and led her through an arch beside the stove. On the other side lay the cabin’s main room, a wide, warm space, with ladder-back chairs scattered here and there along the log walls and a bentwood rocker next to the rounded stone fireplace. Nora’s gaze immediately lit on the small quilts, most likely the work of Simon’s mother, draping the chairs.
But a noise to her left alerted her to the long table there, flanked by benches on either side. Those benches were crowded with people all gazing at her with looks ranging from eagerness to surprise.
“Simon.” His mother looked up from her seat at the foot of the table. “Have you brought us a guest?”
Even as his mother’s green eyes crinkled in welcome, Nora was struck by the lack of resemblance to Simon. Where he was lean, his features razor-edged, his mother was round and soft, her face more closely resembling her daughter’s. Her green wool gown was clean and well-tailored, for all it favored an earlier style.
“Not precisely a guest, Ma,” Simon answered, and Nora was surprised to hear his voice come out stiff.
John, who had just come in the front door, stopped at the sight of Nora and raised his head heavenward as if petitioning the Lord for help.
Simon took Nora’s hand in his, his grip sure, firm. “Allow me to introduce my wife, Nora.”
Nora smiled at them all. Only Levi and John smiled back. The rest of them looked to be in a state of shock if the paling skin and widening eyes were any indication.
“Wife?” his mother gasped out. “Oh, Simon, what have you done?”
* * *
Simon’s stomach knotted. Beside him, Nora’s whole body tightened. She glanced up at him, her eyes wide, no doubt realizing for the first time that he had never told them the truth. She didn’t deserve to hear their protests. He’d been the one who’d been unable to find a way to explain the situation.
Knowing he would have as difficult a time now, he slipped his arm about her shoulders and gave her a nod he hoped was encouraging, then turned to face his family.
“Nora and I introduced ourselves at Maddie O’Rourke’s wedding,” he said. “We discovered we share a similar philosophy.”
“Family,” John put in helpfully as he slipped into his seat at the table. “Sacrifice for those we love.”
Nora offered his brother a tremulous smile.
“You knew about this?” Ma demanded.
John visibly swallowed. “Levi and I stood as witnesses.”
Levi held up his hands as his mother’s glare pinned him. “Don’t look at me. It was Simon’s idea. And I say he made a good choice. She can fix a sailing ship.”
His mother frowned at that, but Drew rose from the head of the table. It was a point of pride that Simon was the only one who could look Drew in the eyes, for all his brother was more muscular.
“Forgive our manners, Nora,” Drew said in his deep voice. “We were just surprised by Simon’s news.” The look in his dark blue eyes told Simon his oldest brother was merely saving his questions for later, in private. “I’m Drew, and this is my wife, Catherine.”
Catherine rose as well. Dressed in a light blue wool gown, the pale-haired beauty rested a hand on her swelling middle and smiled. “Nora and I are acquainted from our time aboard the Continental. Welcome to the family, Nora.”
Simon could feel Nora’s body thawing a little.
James’s wife, Rina, nodded a greeting as well. Simon had never understood what the lovely schoolteacher had seen in his brother. Even now, her golden-brown hair was elegantly confined behind her head, and her purple wool dress might have graced royalty.
“I remember Nora from our journey, and her kindness since,” she said. “She is a good friend and a talented seamstress.”
“A seamstress!” Beth’s cry turned all gazes her way as she rushed in from the kitchen. Simon had seldom seen his sister so excited, and that was saying something, for Beth seemed to live in a giddy sense of delight.
“Oh, I knew I’d seen that dress before,” she said, turning her head to gaze with obvious rapture at the back of Nora’s skirts. Simon wasn’t sure what was so special about the gown. Of the dresses he’d seen on Nora, this was the most severe with its gray wool and black braid trim.
“It’s from the October Godey’s, isn’t it?” Beth demanded. “Only, you’ve changed the trim—braid instead of fringe. I thought the fringe was entirely too fussy. How would you keep it clean?”
“Beth.” Ma’s gentle admonition stopped her daughter in midgush. His mother stood and came to Simon’s and Nora’s sides.
“God blessed me with one daughter,” she said with a smile to Beth, who was turning pink. “And now He’s blessed me with more through my sons’ wives. Please know that you are welcome here, Nora.”
She opened her arms. Simon released his hold on Nora, and his mother hugged her close. Over Nora’s shoulder, however, Ma’s gaze was narrowed at him. If that was the worst he had to deal with, he would survive. His family had certainly had more reasons to complain about him in the past.
Beth set a place for Nora, and everyone shifted around so Nora could sit next to Simon at his customary place on the bench facing the window. She was smiling again, her cheeks rosy with pleasure at their attentions. Whatever trouble he’d had with his family over the years, he knew they would be kinder to Nora than her brother and sister-in-law had been.
It was him they had the most trouble with.
Everyone had just settled down, with Beth and their mother bringing in the food from the kitchen, when James returned from the barn.
“What did I miss?” he asked, taking a seat beside Rina.
“Simon and Nora are married,” his wife told him.
James tilted his head to one side as if shaking something out of his ear. “I must have spent too much time logging today. The crack of the ax has addled my hearing. I thought you said Simon got married.”
“I did,” Simon gritted out, readying himself for an endless barrage of his brother’s teases. “Nora is my wife.”
James rose and extended his hand across the table to her. “Welcome to the family, Nora. It’s refreshing to find one of us who knows his mind when it comes to brides.”
“Yes,” Catherine said with a look around him to Rina. “We did have to do a bit of convincing to help you see the value of marriage.”
James sat back down. “At least Levi didn’t have to kidnap me a bride.”
Drew flushed.
James leaned back. “Indeed, Simon always knows what he’s doing. You must be someone special, Nora, for him to ask you to marry him.”
“Actually,” Nora said, “I asked him.”
James blinked.
“Simon,” Drew put in, his voice catching on a laugh, “say the blessing so we can eat.”
Normally, his brother’s habit of ordering them around grated on Simon’s nerves. But the honor of saying grace usually fell to Ma or Drew. That his