Sebastian laughed and pulled her closer.“Of course you are.”
“Thank you for accepting me for exactly who I am, Sebastian.I still can’t quite believe you’re not angry with me.”
“Oh, I’m angry.Just not with you.The way you were treated was wrong in every way.”He pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“I love you.”Lula needed him to know how she felt.It was time.
“Really?You do?You don’t love Bill anymore?”
“I’ll always love Bill,” she replied.“But my love for him was a youthful love, filled with hopes that would never be.My love for you is different.It’s a love meant to last a lifetime.”
He smiled at that.“I’m glad you can love both of us then.”
“My heart is big...”
“I love you as well.I hope you know that.”
She looked up at him by the light of the moon.“I think I knew that when you didn’t kick me out when I told you the truth.”
“You’re a very perceptive woman.”
“You’ll get used to it.”She pulled away but grabbed his hand as she headed for the cabin.“We’ll catch our deaths of cold out here.Besides, supper is waiting.”
“What did you cook?”he asked.“It smelled wonderful!”
“It’s a rabbit pot pie, but I didn’t cook it.”
“Then who did?”he asked, frowning.
“Myrtle.She’s trying different receipts to serve when she opens her restaurant in the spring.So, we eat it and let her know if it’s good.”Lula laughed.“Myrtle loves cooking and baking the way I love hunting.The two of us are a good team.And she’s going to buy meat directly from me the way Katie does.That way we’ll make a little more on it.”
“Sounds good to me.You know, I didn’t expect to marry someone who wanted to start her own business.I thought I’d just get a woman who would clean my house and warm my bed.”He washed his hands and face at the basin while she served the pot pie.“And I do enjoy the way you warm my bed.Everything else is a bonus.”
She laughed softly.“I promise you that I enjoy warming your bed as much as you enjoy having it warmed.”She set their plates on the table and sat down.
“I sure hope so!”he said, winking at her.
After their prayer, he asked, “Do you still think you’ll be able to hunt through the winter?”
She nodded.“I do.Maybe not as much, but I can hunt a couple of days per week.Most of the hunting dries up in the winter according to Belle.”
“There are always hares,” he said.“They don’t hibernate, and you can easily follow their tracks in the snow.”
“That reminds me.We want to trap a bunch for Ella to raise.She likes the idea of having one thing that’s just hers, as the rest of us do.Well, I guess hunting isn’t just mine, but I do the bulk of it now.”
“I’m not sure how that will work.From what I’ve heard, they don’t breed well in captivity.Maybe if you caught them when they were tiny, it would work.But it may be smarter to simply trap them all year long.I’m sure Belle can show you good places to trap them.”
“Surprisingly enough, Belle prefers to stay indoors as much as possible in the winter.I tend to always be warm, so I’m fine going out.”
“Well, then, watch the tracks, and you’ll find a good way to trap them.”
Lula nodded.“Perhaps.I’ll definitely look into that because I don’t want to give up my rabbit stew.”
He chuckled.“Rabbits aren’t indigenous to the Americas.The bunnies you think of are actually European rabbits.There are lots of hares in this area, though, and they are native to the area.”
“I had no idea.Thank you for that!I’ll bring it up to Ella tomorrow, and we’ll decide how to proceed.”
She finished the rest of her pot pie and settled back against the chair.“I think I really like this for Myrtle’s bakery.What do you think?”
