I scrunched my nose.
“It fed her kids,” he reminded me.
I changed my mind.“Go Clementine.”
“She was also, according to the lore, a pretty little thing.”
And the story gets better.
“Caught ole Chisolm’s eye, did she?”I asked.
“Guess she did one day when he took his washing to her.Once he met her, he came into MP a lot more often.But he was up here, in his cabin, shootin’ the shit with another trapper who had gossip from town.The lady at the boarding house had to shoot one of her boarders who broke into her room in order to take liberties.”
I stuck out my tongue before I said, “Yuck.I’m suddenly not a fan of this story.”
“She didn’t kill him, May.But she did stop him, considering, whether by accident or design, she shot him in the groin.And the sheriff back then wasn’t having it.Said she washed his clothes.He wasn’t putting her behind bars for defending her virtue.He’d lose his laundress.”
I grinned.“Okay, now I’m back to loving this story.”
“Chisolm heard this story, hitched his wagon to his horse, drove into town, asked for her hand, married her in church the next day.Packed up her and her kids.Brought ’em up the mountain.Gave her another baby.To this day, their grave markers are in the woods about fifty yards east of here.He went first, but she never left this mountain.They say she didn’t because he was still here, and she refused to leave him.Two years later, she was back where she belonged.Lying at his side.”
Damn.
Now I wanted to cry.
I didn’t.
I remarked, “And somewhere along the way, he ordered a proper kitchen for her.”
“Story goes, her boarding house was the most popular in town because of her cooking.Story also goes, she always said it was good because she cooked with love, and that had taste to it.”
“My mom wasn’t much of a cook, so I wouldn’t know.”
“I do.I had your herb rolls tonight.”
Oh God.
This, I knew for sure, wasn’t FWB territory.
“Hutch,” I said shakily.
He rolled into me and gathered me in his arms.“Baby, you put love into everything you do.It’s just you.It’s not a statement, you making those rolls for me.I get that.I’m not making a statement either.Relax.”
“Okay.”
Though, I wasn’t sure I wasn’t making a statement with the rolls.
“They were fuckin’ good, though.”
That bought him another grin.
He looked down between us and back at me.“I like you in my shirt.Can you sleep in it?”
It was a lot of material, and the arms were super long.
But I was going to sleep in it.
“Yes.”
