To Alaska, With Love: A Touch of Silk

Everyone in Bear Creek was friendly, open, welcoming, so very unlike some of the New Yorkers she knew, who had a tendency to be curt, suspicious and unimpressed. They enthusiastically told her many things about their lives. They were so trusting. Too trusting, to her way of thinking. But that’s what she liked most about them.

Her New York life seemed very far away, and she couldn’t think of anything she missed.

Later, after she’d already compiled copious notes and recorded more than three hours worth of conversations, an attractive, middle-aged couple, holding hands and grinning at each other as if they shared the secret to long-term romance, came in for lunch.

The woman stepped carefully, slowed by a booted walking cast on her right foot. Her husband solicitously helped her up to the counter. They sat on Kay’s left, the man taking the stool Caleb had vacated.

He held out his hand to her and gave her a friendly smile. “Jim Scofield. We just had to come over to meet the reporter our son coaxed to come here all the way from New York City.”

“You’re Quinn’s parents? Thanks so much for letting me use your extra car.” Kay ran a hand self-consciously through her hair. She hadn’t bothered to blow-dry and style it that morning since she knew she would be wearing a woolen cap much of the day, but now she wished she had. Skimping on her grooming was not normal for her, and she felt exposed and at a disadvantage, even though she had already discovered most of the women in Bear Creek didn’t wear makeup or style their hair. Everything from their chunky Gore-Tex boots to their sensible parkas was geared for warmth and comfort. You’d never find a fashion show in Bear Creek.

“Yep.” Jim slung his arm over the woman’s shoulder. “This is my wife, Linda.”

“You did a fine job raising your son,” Kay told them as she shook their hands.

“We’re pretty proud of him.” When Linda smiled, her gray eyes softened into welcoming crinkles, just like Quinn’s. “And our daughter, Meggie. She’s an emergency-room nurse at a children’s hospital in Seattle. She’s visiting for a couple of weeks to help me while I’m out of commission.” Linda gestured at her cast. “You and Meggie ought to get together. She’s a city girl just like you, and I do believe you two are the only single women in town under thirty and over eighteen.”

“I’d love to meet her.”

Kay felt a tug of sadness in her heart, and she couldn’t really say why. Maybe because this couple were so different from her own parents. They wore woolen pants, nylon and flannel, where Honoria and Charles Freemont were never seen in public without being impeccably dressed.

Linda and Jim sent each other private signals with their eyes. Kay’s parents rarely even looked each other in the face. The Scofields touched frequently with simple, loving gestures. Her mother and father were rarely even in the same room together.

Without any encouragement, Quinn’s parents extolled his virtues.

“Did you know Quinn’s on the volunteer fire department?” Linda asked.

“No, I didn’t.” Kay scribbled on her notepad, Bet he looks good in fire boots and suspenders and nothing else.

“He’s captain of the local hockey team,” Jim bragged.

“Quinn has a bachelor’s degree in sports physiology,” Linda said.

“He’s owned his own business for ten years and each year he turns a bigger profit.” Jim nodded.

“And he still finds time to help us out at the radio station. You couldn’t ask for a better son.” Linda took a sip of her coffee. “Or better husband material. Write that down.” She waved a hand at Kay’s notebook. “I’m hoping this advertisement thing pays off for Quinn. I’m ready for grandchildren, and Meggie doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to accommodate me.”

Jim eyed Kay. “You wouldn’t be interested in our boy yourself, would you? You’re a beautiful young lady. You two would have the handsomest kids.”

“Oh, no.” Kay struggled to tamp down the telltale blush she knew was spreading up her neck. “I mean, I like Quinn very much, but I’m a New Yorker. And I just got out of a relationship. I’m not ready for anything serious. Quinn and I are at two different places in our lives.”

Immediately she realized she’d given too much information too quickly. Why had she said so much? That certainly wasn’t like her, spilling her guts to strangers. Probably she’d spouted off because she didn’t want them getting the wrong idea about Quinn and her.

But oddly enough, her nervous revelation seemed to endear her to Quinn’s parents. The Scofields smiled at her sweetly and Jim patted her on the shoulder. “No explanation necessary.”

“But you do like him,” Linda said.

Oh, great. How had she gotten herself into this conversation?

“Mom, Dad,” Quinn boomed from the door of the restaurant, “stop bending Kay’s ear.”

Relieved, Kay looked up to see him stalk toward them. Her heart gave this strange little thump and she suddenly felt all loose and melty inside. He was even better-looking than she remembered in that hard-edged, masculine way of his.

He stopped beside her stool. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” Inwardly she cringed. That sounded too flirty.

“Sleep well?” He grinned as if he knew she hadn’t slept a wink.

“Considering the circumstances.”

“Strange bed and all that.”

“And all that,” she echoed.

“We better be heading out.” Jim Scofield got to his feet, left some money on the counter, then turned to help his wife from her stool. “Linda’s got a doctor’s appointment in Anchorage at two-thirty, and Mack’s waiting to fly us over, so we better get a move on. Nice meeting you, Kay.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” She wriggled her fingers at them.

“Quinn, you must bring Kay to dinner on Saturday night,” Linda insisted. “We’re having a little get-together.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Scofield. I’d love to come.”

Linda whispered something in Quinn’s ear and nudged him in the ribs.

“All right, Mom. We’ll be there.”

“What’d she say?” Kay asked after his parents had left the restaurant. Quinn perched on the stool beside her.

“She said I was supposed to be nice to you.”

“Oh, really?”

“She likes you.”

“How can you tell?”

“I just know.”

“I like her, too. I like both your folks.”

Kay couldn’t help but think about her own parents again. Honoria and Charles would be as rejecting of Quinn as his parents were accepting of her. The vast differences between them yawned before her. Good thing her relationship with Quinn was purely sexual. They wouldn’t have to deal with sticky things like disappointed in-laws. Best leave that to the bachelorettes who would come pouring into Bear Creek with marriage on their minds.

“I dropped by to see if you’d like to come over tomorrow night,” Quinn said.

“Tomorrow? Not tonight?”

He smirked at the disappointment in her voice. “I’m playing hockey tonight, but I’d love to have you in the stands rooting for me, if you’d like to come.”

“And after the hockey game...?” She let her sentence trail off.

His grin widened. “I’ll take you to the B&B.”

“Couldn’t we go back to your place afterward?”

“No way.” He shook his head.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m clearing my calendar on Wednesday night for you. What I’ve got in mind, sweetheart, is going to take hours and hours and hours.” And with that, he winked, chucked her under the chin, pivoted on his heel and strode out of the restaurant.

* * *

THE TEN PLAYERS whizzed over the ice in a blur. Hockey sticks clashed loudly in the still night air. Bright stadium lights lit the perimeter of the frozen lake turned outdoor hockey rink. In the bleachers, Kay sat huddled under a blanket with Jim and Linda Scofield, her notebook and pen clutched in her gloved fingers. She had yet to write a word, so caught up was she in watching the game.

The players zipped by them again heading for the opposite team’s goal. If Quinn wasn’t so tall, Kay would have had trouble following him. He moved with a graceful power, pushing across the ice with smooth, long-limbed strokes. The expression on his face showed fierce concentration. He manned his stick like a gladiator doing battle.

Wow. Did he bring that kind of concentration to the bedroom? Kay shivered at the thought, grateful she had the cold as an excuse for her quivers.

She was so busy eyeing Quinn’s amazing bod, she never even noticed when he slammed the puck home until the crowd roared and jumped to their collective feet. Kay followed suit, dropping her notepad and pen into her seat so she could applaud without hindrance. “We Will Rock You” blared from the outdoor speakers mounted on the lampposts.

Because of his goal, the Bear Creek Grizzlies had taken a 2 to 1 lead.

“Quinn, Quinn, Quinn,” the crowd chanted.

He turned then and caught Kay’s eye.

A chill of excitement shuddered through her.

He put his hand to his mouth and blew her a kiss.

Kay’s heart fluttered and her belly went warm against the sudden adrenaline rush. Quinn skated down the middle of the ice alone, his stick raised over his head in victory, accepting his accolades, relishing his accomplishment with unabashed glee.

The man was truly magnificent.

A warrior, self-reliant and strong. He was brave and passionate and not the least bit hesitant about expressing what was going on in his head.

Oh! To be like that, instead of a repressed rich woman so alienated from her emotions she didn’t know if she would ever find the approval she needed to release herself from her societal prison.

“Kay, dear, you’re shivering, get back under the blanket.” Quinn’s mother smiled and held up the thick thermal cover, welcoming her beneath it.

Kay sat beside Linda, squashing her notebook and pen beneath her, but she didn’t care. Quinn’s mom tucked the blanket around her and snuggled close. It felt nice to be wrapped in this warm cocoon, to share body heat with Quinn’s family.

In that sweet moment she experienced an amiable sense of kinship she had never felt with her own mother. Linda Scofield, she knew with sudden certainty, would never advise her to marry a man who cheated on her.

Why can’t my mother be like this?

But Kay knew it was a ridiculous wish. Wishing her mother was different was like wishing that she was five inches taller or had been born in Bear Creek.

“Here comes Meggie,” Linda said. “Let’s scoot down.”

Kay looked up to see a woman about her own age picking her way through the stands. Unlike everyone else, who were clad in mackinaws, boots and woolen pants, Meggie wore an outfit more like Kay’s own stylish attire.

Meggie possessed an open, honest face and an understated but totally natural prettiness that would serve her well into middle age and beyond. Her eyelashes were enhanced with mascara, her cheeks heightened with rouge. Flame-red lipstick adorned her mouth. Her jet-black hair was tucked up under a bright red and orange cap.

Just like Kay, she looked out of place among the locals. City girls in the Arctic wilderness. Kay felt an instant kinship with her.

Meggie greeted her parents, then plunked down beside Kay. “Hi.” She slipped off a glove to shake Kay’s hand, revealing slender hands with short-trimmed but well-manicured nails. “I’m Meggie Drummond.” Her lively green eyes twinkled. “And you must be Kay.”

Kay nodded. “Nice to meet you,” she said.

“I hear you’re from New York City.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Wow, I’ve always wanted to go to New York. They practice some of the most cutting-edge medicine in the country.”

“That’s right, you’re in the medical profession.”

“Head nurse of the emergency department at Seattle Children’s Hospital.”

“Aren’t you awfully young to be head nurse?”

Meggie grinned. “I live and breathe pediatric medicine.”

“How are they managing without you?” Kay asked.

“Probably very happily since I’m not there to keep them in line.” Meggie laughed. “I’m known as something of a taskmaster among my crew. I strive to be fair, but I’ve got high standards when it comes to patient care.”

“I can see that about you.”

Meggie’s eyes sparkled at the compliment. Obviously, she loved her work. “I had lots of vacation time accumulated—in fact my boss was threatening to lock me out of the hospital if I didn’t take off—then when Mom broke her ankle and needed help around the house, I figured now was as good as any time to get away.”

The woman was so easy to talk to. Friendly, frank, uninhibited, with definite opinions about the world. Just like Quinn.

“I’m going for hot chocolate,” Quinn’s dad announced, getting to his feet and taking his wife’s hand. “You ladies want anything?”

Meggie, Kay and Linda all said they wanted one, and Jim climbed down the bleachers. When he was gone, Meggie turned back to Kay. “Quinn’s been unable to talk about anything but you since he came back from New York.”

“Really?”

“You’ve impressed the hell out of him.”

“He’s a special guy,” Kay replied, surprised at the sudden pressure pushing at her heart like champagne bubbles against a bottle cork.

“Yeah,” Meggie murmured, “real special. Can’t say I’m too keen on this modern-day mail-order-bride concept he’s instigated.”

“No?”

“Oh, Meggie,” her mother said, “give it a chance. You never know what might happen.”

Meggie shook her head. “He’s just going to get hurt.”

“You think so?” Kay asked.

“Uh-huh. You wouldn’t believe it by looking at him, but Quinn’s pretty tenderhearted. When he loves, he loves deeply.”

“That’s true,” Linda added.

Don’t worry, Kay longed to tell them but couldn’t. This thing between us is purely physical. He won’t fall in love with me.

“He needs an Alaskan wife,” Meggie said. “Someone who understands him and his love for this land. I’m afraid that all he’s going to get for his advertising dollars is a gaggle of giggling bimbos who’ll take him for a ride, then skedaddle out of here at the first sign of winter. Just like Heather did.”

“His ex-girlfriend.”

“He told you about her?”

“Now, honey, don’t judge Heather,” Linda interjected. “She just couldn’t get used to the quiet of Bear Creek. Besides, isn’t criticizing Heather’s reluctance to live in Alaska a little bit of the pot calling the kettle black?”

“Hey,” Meggie said, “I never pretended to want to stay in Alaska. Even though I happened to be born here, I’m a city girl through and through. I gotta have action.”

“Isn’t that the truth.” Linda rolled her eyes. “I swear you kicked like a mule to get out the entire last trimester of my pregnancy.”

“I love the city, too,” Kay said, happy to have found a kindred spirit in this land of ice and snow.

“Honey, you are the city.”

“I don’t understand what’s so fascinating about people being crammed on top of each other and driving like maniacs. What’s the attraction?” Linda shook her head.

“Stimulating conversation,” Meggie said.

“Great parties,” Kay added.

“Museums,” Meggie popped off.

“Shopping!” Kay grinned.

“Symphonies.”

“The theater.”

“Terrific Chinese takeout delivered right to your door!” they cried in unison, stared in awe at each other, then burst out laughing.

Kay felt instant camaraderie with Meggie, and the feeling astonished her. She didn’t make friends this readily. Ever. But they’d forged a connection. She knew by the merry gleam shining in Meggie’s blue-green eyes. She possessed the same irresistible magnetic personality as her older brother.

“My daughter, the cosmopolitan gourmand.” Linda smiled indulgently. “Who’d have thought it when she was spitting peas in my face at ten months?”

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