Before he went upstairs for supper, he walked down the street to visit Seamus McFry. He had a small greenhouse, and he grew flowers. Claimed that he needed flowers all year round to remind him of his beautiful Ireland. He’d left when he was just a boy, and now that he’d settled in Creede, he was determined to bring a bit of Ireland there.
Knocking on the man’s door, he waited for a moment. “Mortimer! What brings you here?” Seamus was a friend from church, but not someone he usually saw outside of that building.
“Flowers. I want to buy some flowers for my new wife. I think she’s unhappy here, and I want her to be happy.”
Seamus made a face. “Are you sure? She looked like she was loving it here to me.”
“She puts on a good act. Do you have any roses?” He liked roses for a lady. It was Grace’s favorite.
“Not ready for picking. Let’s see. Would you like to come with me?”
Mortimer nodded, never having been inside the greenhouse before. It was a place he’d always been curious about, but not curious enough to seek the other man out. “I’ve never been in a greenhouse.”
“It’s a magical place. Step lively, or you might crush one of the leprechauns or fairies.”
Mortimer started to tell him he was crazy, but he’d had a conversation with his dead wife a short while ago where she gave him advice about his new wife. If that wasn’t the pot calling the kettle black, he didn’t know what was. “What would you recommend for my wife?”
“I have some Irish wildflowers in one corner of the greenhouse, that I think will appeal to you and your wife. They’re a mixture of blue and purple, and they make me think of home.” Seamus led him into the glass building, fortified with wooden posts, and then he took him to the area he’d suggested. “I think a bouquet of these would make any woman’s heart sing, don’t you?”
Mortimer looked at them for a moment and then nodded. “I don’t know her favorite color or her taste in flowers. I knew those things about my first wife within a couple of days of meeting her. I am not being a good husband to Toria.” And she was being a wife beyond his wildest beliefs of what a wife could be!
Seamus frowned at him. “A beautiful lass like her, and you’re not doing everything you can to make her fall in love with you? Granted, she can’t sing, but that seems to be her only flaw. It’s time for you to work for her. She deserves it.”
Mortimer sighed. “She works for me. I’ve never seen a woman work quite like Toria does. She cooks, bakes, balances my books, fixes displays, and makes me socks…I get tired just thinking about everything she does.”
Seamus grinned. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve not even known her a week yet. Does love come that fast?” When he thought about it, he realized his emotions were becoming involved in his feelings for his wife.
“How long did it take you to know you loved your Grace?” Seamus had moved to town not long before Grace’s death, but he’d known her a little.
“It was different with Grace. I took one look at her, and I knew she was the woman for me. I fell for her beauty before she even learned to cook or do other things to take care of me.” It seemed to him that his love for Grace was an immature love.
“And Toria is the other way around, isn’t she? That doesn’t mean you love her any less.”
Mortimer frowned. “Possibly. How much for the flowers?” He’d picked a handful and was clutching them as if his life depended on it.
“They’re a gift. Make your Toria happy.” Seamus watched him go with a slight smile on his face. “If I had a woman like the beautiful Toria, I’d be going to her on my knees begging her to stay and be my wife.”
If Mortimer heard him, he gave no indication of it as he walked away. Going straight upstairs to their home over the store, he saw that she was working away in the kitchen. “Toria?”
She turned and looked at him, her eyes just a little red. He felt like the world’s biggest louse for making her cry. She was always so upbeat and happy. He’d obviously done something very rude to hurt her. He just wished he understood what that thing was! “Yes?”
“I’ve treated you badly, and I’m very sorry. I’m going to court you. No woman should have to skip the courting time with her husband, where he treats her as if he worships the ground she walks on.” He thrust the flowers at her. “I hope you like them.”
Toria looked at the flowers and then up at Mortimer. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.” She hurried to find a vase and rinse it out. There were many vases there in the small house, telling her that he’d been a great deal more attentive to his first wife’s needs than he was to hers. She couldn’t believe he’d brought her flowers. Maybe things would turn around a little.
“Do you like flowers?”
She laughed softly. “Of course I like flowers. Just because I can do math and enjoy working doesn’t mean I don’t have a love for all things pretty and feminine.”
“I’m glad,” he said softly. It was something he could bring her. And he could order her jewelry from the catalogue in the store. He’d given his Grace a beautiful engagement ring that he’d had to pay off over a few years. Toria wore no ring at all, and he had the means to just buy one outright. What was wrong with him?
“Supper will be ready as soon as John gets back.” She glanced at the clock on the wall, her brow furrowed. “I expected him a while ago.”
Mortimer frowned. “Maybe I should go see if I can find him.”
“I do think that would be a good idea. What if he went to the saloon again?” Her heart dreaded the idea that he’d gone back to his old ways, but if he had, she would continue to love him.
“I’m home!” John called up the stairs, and Toria immediately felt guilty for her negative thoughts.
“I was starting to worry,” she said.”
“It was snowing on the way back. I took it a little slower to be safe.” He looked between Toria and his dad. “Sorry to worry you. I did what I thought was best.”
Mortimer nodded, clapping him on the shoulder. “You did just right, son.”
Toria hurried to get supper out of the oven and on the table. “Supper’s ready.”
John shook his head. “It’s a good thing you made something else, since you gave away the supper we were supposed to have.”
Mortimer looked at Toria. “I’m glad you gave our supper to Willie’s family.”
“He didn’t want to eat his lunch, thinking he should take it home to his family instead. So I told him the two of you wouldn’t eat the same meal twice, and it would help me out if he took the rest of the chicken and dumplings home. I had planned to serve them for supper.”
Mortimer laughed softly. “Your big heart is going to hurt my stomach one of these days.”
She grinned. “I made you something else. We can afford to make supper twice. He can’t afford to make it once. I think it all balances out in the end.”
John smiled. “His mother was very excited to get some supper. She’s had a really hard time since her husband died in that accident. I don’t know what she’d do if Willie wasn’t doing so many odd jobs to help them.”