A Lantern in the Window Read Free

Canadian prairies, which was why
he’d finally advertised in the blasted Toronto newspaper in the
first place. And there hadn’t been much choice, when it came down
to it; the only other woman besides Annie who answered his ad had
been the widowed mother of six small children.
    It seemed he was well and
truly stuck with her. Lies or not, he urgently needed this woman
he’d married. At the very least, he’d have to postpone judgment for
a few days, perhaps a week.
    With great reluctance, he
decided he’d take her and her sister out to the ranch, and if the
situation proved truly intolerable, he’d buy them a train ticket
back to the city.
    His voice was harsh. “Get
inside the depot and get yourselves warm while I bring the horse
and wagon around. The station master’ll give you hot coffee. Is
that your luggage over there?" He pointed down the platform, where
a single tin trunk and several carpetbags were all that was left of
the pile unloaded from the baggage car.
    At Annie’s timid nod, he
turned on his heel and made his way past the depot and down the
street to the livery stable, cursing himself for being a
softhearted fool.
    Afterwards, Annie had only
fragmented memories of the long, snowy ride to the
homestead.
    He'd been thoughtful
enough—in the back of the wagon, he'd made a cozy nest for them
from heavy buffalo robes he'd brought along, placing their trunk so
it blocked some of the wind. He’d lifted Bets as if she were as
light as a snowflake and plunked her into the wagon.
    Annie grabbed her long
skirts and started clambering in by herself, but suddenly his hands
grasped her waist, and she too was lifted, none too gently, up and
over the backboard. He said not a single word. She stowed her hat
safely beside her and snuggled down beside her sister amidst the
smoky, wild smelling fur robes. The wagon tilted as he climbed up
on the seat and clucked to the horse.
    Annie peeked out as they
lumbered through the small frontier town, past a building that said
Post Office, then a two-story log building with a sign proclaiming
“Lansdowne Hotel.” The rest of the town was made up of a few frame
houses, numerous shacks, and even a dozen tents. They crossed a
narrow steel bridge that spanned a river almost covered in ice and
finally set off across an expanse of frozen prairie.
    For a while, Annie worried
about Indians. She knew that the red-coated Mounted Policemen had
brought law and order to this barren land several years ago, but
she didn’t see any around here.
    She didn’t see any Indians
either, so after a while she worried instead about how Noah
Ferguson knew which direction to take. The whole flat, bleak
landscape looked exactly the same to her in every direction, cold
and gray and empty, dreary beyond measure. She’d never imagined
this much space with so little in it. She realized after a time
that he was more or less following the path of the frozen
river.
    Slowly, despite the cold
wind and the snow whirling around them, Annie’s body grew warm
beneath the heavy covering. The fatigue of the long train journey
coupled with intense relief at not being deserted at the depot
combined to make her sleepy.
    Bets had already cuddled
close beside her beneath the heavy robe. She was sound asleep, and
at last Annie too put her head under the covering, pulling it over
the two of them until only a small space remained for fresh
air.
    It was dark inside. It
smelled strange, but it was like being safe in a warm cave with a
storm raging outside. She slept, an uneasy sleep interrupted by the
sound of the wind, the jingle of the harness, and the occasional
word of encouragement spoken by Ferguson to his horse.
    His voice and the fierce,
joyful barking of a dog startled her awake. "Hello there, old
Jake,” she heard him say. "Good dog, good boy.”
    She stuck her head out,
shocked to discover how dark it had become. The snow seemed to
have
    stopped, but the air was
frigid.
    The wagon was still
moving, but past Noah's