CHAPTER 2

After working straight through the night to repair the flume, the Bolt brothers meet up at their tent around two o'clock AM. Exhausted, they all three collapse on their beds.

Candy rides up in her buggy around six o'clock. She had awoke at five like usual and noticed Jeremy wasn't home. She was worried something had happened to him so she rode up to the camp to check on him.

Walking up to the tent, she hears the three brothers talking and laughing. Jeremy says, "Even though it was a long night, I did enjoy being with the two of you again. I've really missed this. It was like old times."

"We'll have to do it again sometime," Josh replies.

Candy opens the tent flap and walks in, anger evident on her face.

"Candy! What's wrong?" Jeremy asks as he stands up and reaches for his pants. "What are you doing here this early?"

Fingering the bottle of whiskey that is sitting next to three glasses on the table, she whirls around to face Jeremy and says, "I was worried about my husband since he didn't bother to come home last night. Silly me!" She turns and storms out of the tent.

By the time Jeremy makes it outside, she is driving away from the camp. "Candy! Candy!" he calls out to her.

Going back inside, he runs his hands through his hair. "Well, I guess I'll be sleeping in the parlor tonight. That is if she'll even let me in the house."

"Jeremy, you did send word to her last night about not making it home for supper, didn't you?" Jason asks his weary brother.

"Oh damn! No, I forgot to do that," Jeremy exclaims. "No wonder she's upset with me. She probably thinks we were up here drinking and having a good time. I really need to go talk to her."

"Don't worry about Candy, she'll be all right. We need you up here helping us. We've got to get these trees cut or we have to pay Stempel a hefty penalty fee," Jason says in his booming voice.

"I know that, Jason!" Jeremy shouts. "This won't take long."

"Fine, go! But don't dawdle!"

Jeremy leaves the tent in a huff.

"Don't you think you need to give him a little slack, Jason? Jeremy is having a rough time adjusting to having to split his time between the camp, his marriage, and us. This is all new to him," Josh says.

"Well, he should have thought about that before he married Candy. He knew how demanding she is. Come on, let's see if breakfast is ready. Then we've got to get the crews busy on those trees."

X X X

Jeremy arrives home and sees Candy's buggy in front of the house. He goes inside. Molly and Christopher are eating a slice of bread smeared with strawberry jam.

"Where's your sister?" he asks.

Molly says, "We don't know where she is. She didn't have breakfast ready so we fixed our own." She turns towards her brother. "Hurry up Christopher. We can't be late for school."

Jeremy says, "Have a good day at school and be good. Stay out of trouble." He runs up the stairs to their bedroom. Candy is not there. He runs back down the stairs and out of the house. Stopping to look around, he spots Candy sitting down by the water.

"Candy, I'm sorry," he says as he sits down beside her. "I'm sorry I made you worry."

Candy brushes the tears off her cheeks and replies, "Sure you are."

"I am. I don't want you to worry about me or anything else. I was all set to leave when the flume collapsed. I was going to send someone down to tell you I would be late coming home when someone yelled that Alan was hurt. I hurried to help forgetting to send word to you."

Candy gasps, "Is Alan all right?"

"He's at the clinic with a broken leg and some broken ribs. Allyn says it will be a slow recovery but he will be all right."

"I'm glad he'll recover. Did you get the flume fixed?"

"Yeah, we got through around two o'clock. We were exhausted so we all stayed at camp. We went straight to sleep after having a drink. I was so tired, I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow."

"Really? It sounded like the three of you had a good time last night. I guess you enjoy your brothers' company more than you do your wife's." She jumps up and rushes towards the house.

Jeremy runs after her and stops her by grabbing her arm.. "You know that's not true. I love being with you."

"You sure haven't acted like it lately."

"Candy, I promise I'll. . ."

"Jeremy, don't make promises you can't keep. Your promises don't amount to a hill of beans anymore."

Jeremy shakes his head. "Is this all because I broke a promise and didn't come home to meet your friend? I had a good reason as to why I broke that promise."

"You always do. If that were the only promise you had broken, I could overlook it. But Jeremy, there are so many more."

"More? Like what promises did I break?" he sneers.

"You promised me a honeymoon for one. I'm still waiting for that one after three months. You promised to turn one of the spare rooms into a sewing room. You've promised to spend time with me so we can, well, be alone together. But something always happens and you have to go see your brothers. But the one that hurts the most is you promised we'd start a family right after we were married. There are others, should I name them?"

Jeremy rubs his fingers over the bridge of his nose. "No, there's no need to. I will get to those as soon as I can. Just give me a little more time. Don't be so impatient. Candy, what has gotten into you?"

"Me? What has gotten into me? I think I could ask you the same thing. You find every excuse in the book not to spend time at home. We've only been married a little over three months. I think I saw you more before we got married. Your brothers have seen you more than I have."

"Aww, that's not true and you know it."

"Oh really? Jeremy, how many times have we planned a family day to go fishing and have a picnic? Then when the day arrives, after you do your daily morning chores, you announce that you can't make it. That you're going over to see your brothers."

"A few I guess," he smirks. "But you and your brother and sister always go on with your plans. You don't need me to be there."

Candy shakes her head. "A few? Try once a week for three months. Okay, I admit you have gone maybe two or three times. But Jeremy, that's not the point. We may not need you to go with us, but we do want you to go with us. We want to spend time with you. I wish you would want to spend time with us, too."

Jeremy looks down at the ground as he crams his hands in his pockets.

"Jeremy, is it Molly and Christopher? Are they a problem for you?"

"No, Candy. I love your brother and sister. You know that."

"Well then, are you already bored with me? Have you realized that you don't love me? That you made a mistake when you married me?"

"None of those. I am not bored with you and I definitely don't think our getting married was a mistake. I love you," he pleads his case. "Look, I have to get back up to camp and I don't know when I'll be back home. Jason is thinking about making everyone stay there until we get this damn contract finished." He hears Candy gasp. "But if he does, I'll try to sneak down here and spend a little time with you. Maybe we can, you know, continue making up under the sheets." He starts to put his arms around her waist.

Candy tugs free from him. "Forget it, Jeremy. Stay at camp. I want to be treated like your wife, not your mistress with all the sneaking around."

"Now you're just being ridiculous."

"I don't think so. I tell you what. I want you to go to camp. Stay there until your contract is through. Don't even think about me or our marriage. That shouldn't be hard for you to do. Have fun with your brothers and your men. Live it up. Play cards, drink and whatever else men like to do. Relive the good old days. Then. . ."

"But. . ." Candy stops him from saying anything by placing her finger over his lips.

"Then when you're finished with your work, I want you to take a few days for yourself to figure out what you want. Do you want to come back home and be a husband to me or do you want out of this marriage so you can be your fun loving happy self again with not a care in this world."

"Candy. . ." he starts before her finger is placed over his lips again.

"Jeremy, I love you and I want to be your wife. But I want to be treated like a wife and not just your cook and housekeeper. And certainly not your mistress. If you can be a husband to me and show me love and respect, then I'll welcome you home with open arms." She gives him a quick kiss on the lips before she runs to the house and disappears inside.

"Women!" Jeremy moans.