please call me Colt. I’ve never been able to get used to being called mister. It makes me sound like an old man.”
His ma scowled at him. “Now, young man. Your pa was well respected around here and many people addressed him as Mr. Hammond. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“No, Ma. You’re right. But it suited him better than it does me.”
He caught the smile on Miss Reeve’s face as she quickly turned back to stirring the pot of beans before replying, “Well, I’ve told you to call me Kathryn, and until you do so, I won’t be using your given name either. It wouldn’t be proper.”
Colt sighed and shook his head. It was ingrained in him to address a woman by her correct title but even so, he said, “How many times do I have to tell you that out here on the frontier we aren’t too worried about what’s proper and what isn’t.”
“Colt Hammond. Just because you don’t care about proprieties, it doesn’t mean the rest of the folk around here don’t.”
He bent over and kissed his mother’s cheek, feeling the heat that came off her reddened cheeks. He knew he shouldn’t rile her up so much, but sometimes it was just too easy. “Ma, you’re the most proper woman in the Dakota Territory. But even you have to admit we all have to make certain concessions out here that might not be acceptable in the cities back east.”
“Well, you’re right about that. I just don’t think you should be encouraging everyone to become total heathens either just because we don’t follow proper rules out here all the time.”
He laughed and went over to sit on a stump he used for chopping wood. “Be careful you don’t get too close to that fire, Kathryn. I see a spark just about landed on your skirt.”
He made sure to emphasize her name to see his mother’s reaction. But he was more shocked at his own reaction as the word had rolled off his tongue. It had seemed so intimate to call her by her given name, and something inside his chest clenched.
But the woman in front of him just laughed, completely unaware of his sudden discomfort as she patted at the fabric of her skirt. “I’m actually surprised I haven’t completely burned my skirts. Until I came out here to live, I hadn’t ever considered how dangerous cooking could be.”
He held his breath when she looked back at him and smiled.
“Thank you, Mr.…I mean, Colt. I should have changed into my other clothes after school today, but I was in a hurry because after we eat, I need to get back home and make my pies for the fair tomorrow. I brought the one I made last night for you all to try for supper tonight. Hopefully, they’re getting better.”
Along with the regular cooking his mother had been showing her, Kathryn had been determined to learn how to bake a pie after she’d heard about the upcoming fair to be held in Promise. Every year after the crops were all in the field, the community came together for a summer celebration where the kids could play, food was plentiful, and good-natured contests abounded to see who would take home the ribbon for the best pies, jams, and quilts.
In truth, it was just an excuse for the townsfolk to be together, have some fun, and relax before the harvest season began.
And Kathryn had been practicing for days to make a pie to put into the contest and one to auction off. All money raised went to the church and she was hoping to have something to contribute.
But Colt was worried about the chances she would have to even get anyone to bid if they tasted any that she’d made to this point. He gave her credit for trying, because truthfully it was more than his wife had ever done when she moved out here. However, it didn’t change the fact that the first few pies he’d tasted of Kathryn’s had left him with nothing more than a great deal of pride in his own acting abilities. While he’d managed to swallow a few bites and convince her they weren’t completely terrible, his children hadn’t been able to hide their distaste as well as he had.
Thankfully, she seemed to know she wasn’t as skilled in the kitchen as she would like, and had even laughed when the children had quickly spat their first bites back onto their plate.
She was getting better, and