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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