AN: This felt like it took foreve to write. Thanks to Amy for betaing for typos and clarity and Katie for letting me know if some of my 'fluffy' stuff would be too fluffy at this stage of the relationship. I hope you all enjoy it, especially you, Lauralyn!
As they finished grace, Faith looked down at the plate. Everything looked so good. She wasn't sure what she should try first.
"The food doesn't bite. That I can promise you."
Gabriel's comment caused Faith to look across the table at her supper companion. Though he was busy cutting his steak up, he cast a glance up at her. The grin on his face and the merriment dancing in his eyes relayed his amusement.
Faith giggled. "I was just thinking that everything looked so good that I didn't know where to start."
"In that case, I suggest the steak," Gabriel told her. "Though if you have an issue with the sauce, we won't tell my mother. There is no reason to give her an easy reason not to like you."
"I take it the sauce is her recipe then?" Faith said as she began to cut a piece of the steak.
"Well, it goes back a few generations, but it is something she is very proud of," Gabriel replied before popping a piece of steak into his mouth.
Faith did likewise, and immediately closed her eyes in pleasure as the tastes delighted her tongue. She savored the bite, taking her time chewing and swallowing it. Opening her eyes, Faith met Gabriel's gaze. "That is delicious, sauce and all."
"I'll be sure to tell my mother. She'll say you're a keeper without even meeting you," he told her.
"Happy to hear that," Faith replied as she set about cutting the rest of the steak up into bite size pieces. "You mentioned sisters, so do you have any brothers?"
"Just Matthew. I was the baby of the family until he came along when I was thirteen. I have a feeling having him at home made it a bit easier on my mom when I left for the Mountie Academy. Not that she liked the idea of me joining the Mounties, but she at least says she is proud of me even if in the next breath she is fussing over my safety and how dangerous my job is. My superiors told me she gave them quite the talking to while I was unconscious after being shot by the Brookfield bank robber. When I went to apologize, they stopped me, saying it wasn't the first time."
"I guess a lot of wives and mothers lash out at the superior officers when their husband or son is injured. It's human nature to want to hold someone accountable, and the criminal who did it is usually just a name in a story and it hardly seems fair to blame the person they love for getting injured."
"Sounds like you might be speaking from experience on the subject," Gabriel ventured.
Faith waited until she swallowed her food before replying. "As I mentioned, my mother was a nurse. She worked at the hospital and picked up typhoid fever, which she passed from. My response was to want to be a nurse like her to help keep others from having to suffer losing a mother like I did," she told him, finding it easier to talk about the subject now than when she had told Carson. "My father's response was to blame the profession for my mother's death. When he found out that I was going to follow in her footsteps, he called me a fool among saying other things."
"Oh Faith, that must have been hard."
"It was. It felt like I had lost both parents," Faith confessed.
"I know how it feels to not have your father's approval on your life choices," Gabriel told her. "My father wanted me to stay and work with him on the ranch. I know he wanted me to take over one day, but I had a desire to see things beyond our little patch of this country. The Mounties gave me that opportunity. I know he was disappointed when I left for the Academy but he never called me any names and we still talk."
"What about your mother?" Faith asked, as she picked up her biscuit. She idly pulled a piece from it and popped it in her mouth as she waited for an answer.
"She thinks being a Mountie is too dangerous. Even more so now. Any conversation with her is bound to involve her asking me to choose something else to do, but I know she loves me. They both do," Gabriel admitted.
"At least you have that," Faith commented. Across the table, Gabriel nodded, taking a bite of his dinner as she ate another piece of the biscuit she held. "These are really light and fluffy," she commented off hand. "Another recipe from your mother?" she inquired.
Gabriel shook his head with a chuckle. "Those are baked using Eleanor's recipe. They are better than my mother's," he confessed. "However, should you ever repeat that to her, I will deny it to my last breath, and she will believe me. I was her 'baby' for thirteen years after all."
The innocent look Gabriel wore as he said the words were the final straw for Faith holding it together, and she burst out laughing. Gabriel laughed along with her, helping to break the somber tone their conversation had so quickly taken.
"I promise I will not tell her," Faith promised as the laughter subsided.
"Good," Gabriel replied. "So, you promised to tell me how you ended up coming west from Hamilton over our meal," he ventured, steering their conversation into a different direction.
Faith nodded. Starting with a brief recount of meeting Jack while she was taking care of his younger brother, she told about her relationship with Peter and how that engagement had led her West.
"In the end, I realized that he wasn't right for me," Faith concluded. "Though there was pain involved, I think it was better it ended there rather than continue. I think a relationship with Peter would have resulted in further heartache had it continued."
"Maybe so," Gabriel agreed. "And while I am sure it wasn't easy for you to break off the engagement, I have to admit I feel for Peter. I know what it is like to have the girl you care about suddenly end the relationship."
"Are you talking about with Lillian?" Faith inquired.
Gabriel shook his head. "No. With Lillian the relationship never really went past friendship. I think the feelings were there for both of us, but life's circumstances were not." Gabriel paused for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face before continuing. "Perhaps, Sam is better suited to her life's calling," he said with a shrug. "If another posting came in for me, moving an orphanage is not feasible. One of us would have had to give up something and while I am not saying under no circumstances would I ever consider leaving the Mounties. I guess," he paused a moment as if he was gathering his thoughts. Faith watched him push a piece of meat across his plate. "I want there to be options and compromises to discuss and choose as a couple rather than we do this or we do that," he finished, looking up and catching Faith's gaze.
Faith could sense Gabriel trying to gauge her own feelings as he waited for a response. "I think that is a good mind set to have," Faith said, holding his gaze as she replied. "I thought I was all right with giving up my career for Peter but when it truly came time to do that, I found that I couldn't do it. It wasn't the following him wherever his job took us that bothered me, but his ultimatum that I not work. Nurses are needed everywhere. I could have found a way to make both work, but Peter wouldn't hear of it. He needed a woman who would be happy to simply be a homemaker and that just isn't me."
"Well, just for the record, I have no problem with a wife working if she wants too. My mother had different responsibilities on the ranch than my father but they worked together to make it work. My Dad would often say he wouldn't be able to run the ranch without my mother at his side. Besides, being a Mountie means being away from home at times. I have observed that the marriages that seem to work within the ranks are the ones in which the wife find interests outside the home, whether that is paid work, volunteer work, a hobby or simply aiding her Mountie husband."
Faith watched as Gabriel's complexion suddenly took a pinkish hue in the flickering candlelight.
"Not that I am assuming that this will go any further than supper tonight," Gabriel replied, speaking quickly. "It is just that having always wanted a family of my own, figuring out what has worked for my fellow Mounties had been something I have thought about a lot. Especially, after my first disappointment with a relationship. I didn't mean to sound presumptuous. Especially on the first date."
Faith smiled even as she reached across the table to lay a hand on his forearm. She found his concern endearing and while maybe this wasn't a typical first date conversation, given where they both were in their lives perhaps having these conversations near the beginning instead of further along were inevitable.
"It is fine," she told him softly. "In a way, it is kind of flattering. It means you can see a potential future with me."
Gabriel put down his fork and lay his hand on top of the one resting on his forearm. "I can and it isn't because I am getting desperate to have that family of my own in my old age. There is something about you, Faith, though to be honest, that also scares me."
"Why?" Faith asked, hoping that he would answer the question.
Their eyes met across the table. Faith could see the candlelight flicker in his hazel eyes bringing out different shades of color. Holding that gaze felt natural and Faith knew that getting lost in those eyes was something she could easily do and never get tired of doing.
"Because the last time I felt this way about someone was before I went to the Mountie Academy. Vanessa and I had known each other our whole lives. We started courting as soon as our parents would let us, always chaperoned of course. I bought her a ring and picked a time to ask her. The thought that she would say 'no,' never even crossed my mind. We were destined to be together. I thought my promise to marry her after I got through Mountie training was what she was expecting. In the end, it turned out that she had been hoping I would change my mind and ranch with my father. She turned me down saying that she had not intention of being a Mountie's wife."
"That must have been hard," Faith said with sincere compassion. "But I can promise you, if a future together is where this ends up, the idea of being a Mountie's wife does not scare me."
"Are you saying I am the man of your dreams?" Gabriel asked, his tone flippant as a smirk came to his face.
Slipping her hand out from under his, Faith sat back in her chair. "That, Constable Kinslow, remains to be seen," she told him coyly as she returned to her meal.
Across the table, Gabriel chuckled softly as well as he returned to his own meal. After taking a few bites in silence, Faith asked him to tell her some about his Mountie training as the continued their meal.
The conversation continued to flow through the end of the meal and into dessert. Though capable of baking, Gabriel had elected to buy a cheesecake from Pearl's Bakery this time. Claiming to be too full for even a small slice of the cheesecake, Faith asked if they could split a piece. Gabriel happily agreed, and if he noticed that Faith did not protest to the size of the slice, he did not comment.
To make sharing their dessert easier, Faith had moved her chair around the table and next to Gabriel's while he was getting the cheesecake. She sat innocently in the chair as he returned to the table. Placing the plate on the table between the two closely arranged chairs, Gabriel sat down next to her.
"If you haven't tried Pearl's baking, it is worth every penny," Gabriel told her.
"I have had her breakfast baking but not the desserts."
Having picked up his fork, Gabriel motioned toward the cheesecake with it. Following the silent prompt, Faith picked up her own fork and slid it effortlessly into the creamy dessert. She was very aware of Gabriel watching her expectantly as she placed the sweet confection into her mouth. As the delicious sweetness tingled across her tongue, Faith closed her eyes, savoring the taste.
"That reaction says it all," Gabriel said, his voice light with happiness. He sank his own fork into the cheesecake and took his own bite.
"I still miss Abigail's scones but even she couldn't make cheesecake this good," Faith commented before taking another bite.
"Brookfield held a small fair my first year here and had several baking contests. Pearl won everyone she entered and she deserved those wins."
"Was a certain man in red asked to judge?"
"Yes," Gabriel admitted. "I am actually surprised that no one tried to organize another fair last fall. Perhaps they had just been through too much and no one had wanted to take on the endeavor."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, there was the bank robbery early last year."
"The one during which you were shot?" Faith asked. Gabriel's eyes rose in surprise. Faith shrugged as she replied. "I may have asked a few people about you. Those I did say they were surprised to see you come back."
"I couldn't shake the feeling that there was more going on then how it seemed on the surface," Gabriel replied. "I was right."
"Another Mountie couldn't have investigated?" Faith asked, truly interested in Gabriel's reasoning of not letting someone else handle things.
"I had no proof, just a feeling. I couldn't risk that someone else wouldn't have just dismissed the whole thing. After all, the bank robber was behind bars. Yes, there was the discrepancy with the money, but I think most involved with the case by that point were willing to accept it as a discrepancy. A lot of people thought the robber had hid the other money somewhere."
"And you?" Faith asked, in between bites of cheesecake.
"I just wanted answers. Things didn't add up and I wanted to know why. Coming back to Brookfield gave me a way to find those answers, which I did. However between everything with Sinclair, the fire, and some struggling to accept the presence of the orphanage, people just were feeling up to organizing a fair."
Faith nodded as she pondered the idea floating around in her head. "Life does have a way of getting us focused on simply getting through a day," she commented. "Sometimes though, a day of fun and fellowship can do wonders for people who didn't even realize they were missing it."
"Faith Carter, I do believe you are plotting something."
Faith batted her eyes at Gabriel innocently. "Yes, but nothing you need to concern yourself with, Constable. I promise to abide by all town ordinances," she told him, putting down her fork and placing that hand over her heart.
"Good to hear," Gabriel told her. "And should you need any assistance, helping the citizens of Canada is in my job description," he added, with a wink.
"Glad to hear it," Faith said, retrieving her fork and returning to the dessert.
After dessert, Gabriel put the plate and forks in the sink with the other dishes.
"Can I help you wash up?" Faith asked.
"No, you were my supper guest. I will take care of the dishes later."
"I don't mind."
"My mother would if she ever found out," Gabriel replied. "She would insist she raised me better."
"Fair enough," Faith replied, letting the matter drop.
"Now, should you want to join me for a cooking lesson tomorrow evening, I would let you help with clean up in that instance," Gabriel ventured.
"Well, that does sound like better company than eating supper alone at the hotel," Faith said. "As for the quality of the meal, I make no promises."
"I am a fairly good teacher," Gabriel said. "But should the cooking lesson fail I promise to treat you to supper at the hotel afterwards."
"Then I can't say no, can I?" Faith replied lightly. "What time?'
"Five o'clock?" Gabriel suggested.
"Looking forward to it already," Faith said.
"I suppose I should be a proper gentleman and walk you home before it gets too late," Gabriel said, taking a couple steps toward where Faith still sat and holding a hand out to her.
"I wouldn't mind if the walk home was a bit scenic," Faith suggested, as she placed her hand in the proffered one.
"I wouldn't mind either," Gabriel told her as he helped her to her feet.
Walking her to the door, Gabriel helped her with her shawl, donned a light jacket himself and picked up an oil lamp. Gabriel held the door and motioned Faith outside. Once outside, he offered Faith his arm. Faith happily slipped her arm through his, her shoulder brushing against his upper arm.
Gabriel led them, to the front of the building and onto the town's only street. Keeping propriety in mind, he led them down the street in the direction of New Hope Orphanage instead of the opening prairie. In this direction, there was a possibility of spying eyes and thus less chance of people speculating what they may have been doing in the dark. If they made it as far as the orphanage, he fully expected to find Lillian and Sam sitting on the front porch as he had often found them when his duties had him out after supper. On those occasions, the motion of the orphanage's curtains always led him to believe that Eleanor was very aware of what was going on out on the porch.
While in the past that sight had bothered him, Gabriel knew that wouldn't be the case tonight. If Sam made Lillian happy, then he was happy for her.
Glancing at the blonde beside him, Gabriel knew exactly what that happiness felt like again. Though he didn't want to set himself up for yet another heartache, Gabriel couldn't help but see a future with Faith. He found himself saying a silent prayer that she would feel the same.
