Ivory Snow

Things around the farm settled into a comfortable routine over the next week.

Ivory woke up with the sun every morning and went straight to cooking or baking. When she wasn’t in the kitchen, she was cleaning somewhere in the house. There was always something that needed a good scrubbing.

By the end of the first week, there wasn’t a speck of dirt left inside. Not even on the brothers. She made them bathe every night before they could eat. They stopped rumbling after the second night. With them working on the farm all day, and collecting the grains from the harvest, they were in bad shape when they came back in.

The only brother not helping outside was Gabe. Ivory made sure to put him to work inside, so he felt useful somehow.

On Friday, Ivory began making the pies for the market. While she was at it, she made two large pot pies for dinner.

Brian caught one of the chickens for her. Ivory had been a little unsure whether they should, as they needed them for eggs. He assured her though that they had plenty of chickens and they did this every now and then. Besides, it wasn’t like they couldn’t save eggs for the chickens to hatch.

Looking at the headless bird made her queasy. Brian took pity on her and plucked the feathers for her. She watched carefully as he did so, learning. She was determined to be more of a help than a hindrance during her time there.

By Sunday morning, Ivory and Gabe had packed up half a dozen Apple pies and four dozen apple turnovers, with two dozen peach turnovers. There would be plenty for them to sell at the market.

If they sold well enough, Ivory was thinking about making meat pies as well. She’d have to test those out on the brothers first though. They didn’t seem to mind the idea of being her guinea pigs. They had faith in her abilities.

That and the brothers hadn’t had stew for over a week. They would do anything to keep that going.

Brian and Charles left just after dawn for the market. The rest stayed home and took a much-needed day off.

The two brothers were one of the first vendors to set up in the Sunday market. Most days there were vendors who sold the basic goods; produce, milk, bread, meats. All things people needed to get by daily.

On Sundays, the size of the market doubled in size. Those with trades to sell, like the traveling salesmen, would come into town. People who wanted to buy more than just food would come out and look around. This was often turned into a family affair.

Occasionally they even had performers hanging around. The brothers didn’t mind when this happened, it always encouraged visitors to stay longer and brought in more customers.

Brian was grateful harvest time rarely saw performers. He didn’t care much for working the market. He preferred to have lazy Sundays at home by the fire. Maybe read a book and fall asleep. You can’t go wrong with a set up like that.

Although, there was this one time when Dean got mad at him because the book fell into the fire while he slept. He ignored Brian for nearly a month after that. It was months ago and yet it still came up from time to time. He had looked more like Adam with the scowl he wore around the house.

Before the crowds got packed, Charles took off to get what they would need. Oddly it wasn’t much. Ivory was making do with what they grew at home. They didn’t even need to buy bread this time around.

Ivory’s was better.

“Good morning, young Brian. My how you have grown! There must be something in the water out your way, all you pups are so big. If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume you were all a year or two older than you are.”

Brian turned and smiled, stifling the yawn he felt coming. “Good morning, Innkeeper. How are you on this beautiful day?”

“Fine, fine. I do hope you’ve got some tasty treats for me today. I have been craving one of those turnovers, ever since Adam left town.”

Brian chuckled. “Yes, sir. Dean has been going to town in that little kitchen of ours. I told him if he wasn’t careful, I’d pick up some material and buy him a dress!”

The Innkeeper laughed. “Don’t scare him away from the kitchen now. That pup has a talent, one that many of us are looking forward to enjoying!”

Brian snorted. “That pup has many talents and many more years of discovering new ones. You should have seen him during his medical phase. He was diagnosing random ailments and trying to stitch up every cut!”

The Innkeeper laughed heartily. “Yes. I remember Adam mentioning something about that. Being so far away from the town doctor, it must be nice to have someone with some level of medical know how.”

Brian chuckled softly. The Innkeeper had no idea how in handy it had already come.

“Alright, what do you have for me?”

Brian turned and picked up the small basket covered with a cloth.

“Six apple pies and two dozen apple turnovers. If you’d like, Dean also made up a batch of peach turnovers as well. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.” Brian rubbed his belly and licked his lips.

The older male laughed some more. “Give me one dozen of the peach and we will give them a try as well. I know the harvest has started, but did any of you get out to fish this week?”

“Yes, sir. Dean and the young pups had quite the catch yesterday.” Brian leaned over and held a hand to the side of his mouth to continue in a stage whisper. “Don’t tell Adam. He was worried about them fishing without a guard. He’s such a worry wart.”

The Innkeeper patted Brian on the back. “You’re a good brother, Brian.”

They settled for the load and Brian set the order aside until one of the Innkeeper’s helpers could bring around the handcart and pick it all up.

Charles came back with everything they needed, about an hour later. He had something that Brian didn’t recognize as well.

“What is that?” He asked him.

Charles blushed and looked around. “Material.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “I see that! But what’s it for?”

“Making clothes. I thought Snow might like to try making some.”

Brian scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. “Why? No one needs anything new. We’ve always passed everything down, you know that.” Adam had even taken to wearing their dad’s clothes recently.

Charles smacked his own forehead, frustrated with his older brother’s denseness.

“It isn’t for us to have clothes. It’s for Snow. Who has been wearing our clothes, remember?” Charles was speaking out of his teeth by the end, trying very hard to keep it down so no one would hear them.

Brian lifted the corner of his lip. “Huh.”

Charles shook his head. “You’re an idiot. Just think about it for a minute, would ya?”

Brian finally caught on by the time Charles was done helping another customer. From the look of self-recrimination, Charles didn’t feel like he needed to say anything else. Brian was useless without his mid-morning nap on Sundays.

During the whole conversation, both brothers had been more concerned with watching for curious ears in front of them. Neither had noticed that the Innkeeper had shown up with his helper, behind them. He didn’t hear it all, but he heard enough to wonder what was really going on down at the farm. He was fairly certain he would have remembered it snowing recently as well.

The Innkeeper helped his servant load up their cart, then he thanked the pups again. He tucked away the little tidbit he heard for later use and dissecting.

Just past midday, they sold their last turnover. The brothers were clean out of stock already. With no reason to stay longer, they went ahead and began packing up. They even had nearly a dozen orders for next week.

Brian was convinced they would need to discuss frequent trips into town with Adam. Quite a few people asked if they would deliver during the week.

With the harvest, the villagers understood it was not a good time though.

When they arrived home, they were surprised to see that no one was in the house. A little worried, they decided to move the wagon and horse to the barn before searching for the others. Which just happened to be where they found the rest of their family.

Dean was teaching Snow how to milk the cows.

They watched from afar as the cow she was trying to milk kicked the bucket, causing her to jump backward off her stool with a yelp. They laughed along with the rest.

Ivory’s head spun when she heard them and jumped up, wiping off the long pants she had rolled up.

“You’re back early! Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Brian grinned. “A good thing. We ran out of everything! And we have orders for even more next week!”

Dean’s cow kicked his full bucket of milk when they all screamed out, startling her. They were all too happy to care. This was good news for them. Adam would be thrilled when he got home. Maybe it would make him smile for real, and for longer than two seconds.

Brian spent the next few hours teaching Snow how to grind the wheat into flour, so she could make all the dough she needed throughout the week.

They didn’t have the largest grain fields in their surrounding area, but they had more than enough.

The brothers had the harvest nearly complete before the next week ended. Ivory had made all the orders and had them ready to go.

Dean even managed to find time to fish for a few hours with the pups. It wasn’t much but it would be enough, especially with the help of Snow’s baked goods.

Ivory pouted from the front steps where she and Gabe were sitting. “I wish I could go with you. I’ve always wanted to go to a market.”

“No!” Nearly every male shouted at her.

“I know!” She fumed back at them, standing up in a huff. “I was just saying. Gees. And here I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone hovering with Adam gone. Now I’ve got more of you.”

She turned on her heel to go back inside, but Charles caught her elbow and stopped her.

“Snow, it’s not that we are trying to hover. It’s just that we see you as our sister now. It isn’t safe for you out there. Not one of us would dare put you at risk. Please, understand that.”

Ivory softened her face and patted his hand on her arm. “I do know that. But you all can’t jump down my throat just because I made an innocent comment.”

He shook his head. “We didn’t mean to do that. You just took us by surprise, that’s all.”

She gave him a small smile and continued into the house. She picked out a book and pretended to read the rest of the day. She needed space, as she was still worked up. Downtimes were not her friend. Neither were the nights.

Unbeknownst to the rest of them, she was getting more and more restless. She needed Adam back. The nights were easier to handle when he was around. Right now, she was all alone. Ivory knew she could wake any of them and they would be with her, but it never felt right.

Charles and Brian were set up and already helping people when the Innkeeper showed up again.

They prepared his order and negotiated the price for everything. Snow had made extra peach turnovers this time, assuming he would want more. That female knew what she was doing.

The Innkeeper had thoroughly enjoyed the treats and made a good deal of money off them. He had tried the apple pie that very night, before making a profit of his own in the dinner rush. It took him a couple of hours to figure out why it tasted so familiar. When the realization hit him, he nearly fell over.

He knew the brothers’ secret. Since then, he had been fighting the urge to run over to their farm to see for himself if he was right.

“Did I ever tell you pups about the time I spent as an apprentice?”

Charles and Brian looked at each other. The tone of the Innkeeper seemed a little different. But they didn’t deal with him as often as Adam had, so they could be wrong.

“No, sir. I don’t believe you have.” Brian answered politely, hoping this didn’t take long as the market was beginning to get busier.

“It was around the time your mother and father met. My father wanted me to learn new trades that he thought would help with the Inn. So, he sent me to another town to apprentice with a famous baker.”

Brian felt a small chill creep up his back. The Innkeeper was watching him carefully, so Brian worked to keep the interested smile on his face.

Charles wasn’t as good at it, so he lost himself in helping a new visitor to their booth.

“Yes, I learned so much from her that year. Not long after, her youngest daughter also found her mate, someone living right there next to her all that time. That sweet older female taught me everything she knew. I studied her recipes carefully. After all these years, I still remember her secret ingredient. New bakers may change things to their will, but the best parts always remain the same. Her most famous dish was her apple pie. The Prince himself was obsessed with it. In fact, that’s how he found his mate. He went down to the kitchen, hoping to find a slice of pie left over. My master’s daughter was there, preparing rolls for the next day.”

The Innkeeper looked deeply into Brian’s eyes. Brian fought the urge to look away.

“Do you know who my master was, pup?”

Brian swallowed. “The Queen’s mother, sir?”

The Innkeeper smiled softly and nodded. “Yes. One of the best years of my life. I left before the Princess was born. I never had the privilege to meet her. They say she was the essence of beauty and inherited her mother and grandmother’s talent for baking. I’ve heard many rumors of late. Some say she died, and Mother Nature mourned to the point of taking her masterpiece into her protection. Others have said she is out there still, hiding. I was torn. But now, I’m with the latter group. I’m hoping where she ended up that they know how to take care of her and protect her. Because, pup, the day is coming when she will need to come out of hiding. This kingdom needs its rightful Queen. Do you understand what I am saying?”

Brian knew the Innkeeper had figured it out, but he also knew he couldn’t divulge their secret, especially with all these people around. He swallowed carefully and spoke even more carefully.

“I agree, sir. If she is out there, I hope there are lots of people protecting her. Keeping her safe. What she decides will be her choice. Of course, that’s if she survived something that the King himself was unable to.”

The Innkeeper chuckled softly. “Mother Nature knows how to take care of her own, mark my words, young wolf. Now, about my pies...”

With that, Brian finished his dealings with the Innkeeper.

As soon as he was gone, Brian collapsed into a chair. Charles finished with the customer he had before turning to Brian.

“Did he just say what I think he just said?”

Brian looked back up at him. “Yes. He knows about Snow. We need to finish up here and get back home.” Brian stood back up, more determined than ever to sell everything they had quickly. He hoped Adam would be home soon. It was too stressful being the one in charge.

Less time for naps too.

All those who had placed orders the week before came early to pick them up. And just like the previous week, they ran out around midday.

Brian and Charles hardly spoke a word the entire way home. This time, everyone was still in the living room of the farmhouse. Dean took one look at his twin’s face and jumped out of his seat.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

Brian’s eye connected with Snow’s when he answered. “The Innkeeper apprenticed with your grandmother. He recognized the apple pie.”

Ivory stood and walked over, shaking her head. “That’s impossible. I changed the recipe. It wasn’t her pie.”

“But you didn’t change her secret ingredient. It took him some time to pinpoint it, but he figured it out.” Charles added softly.

Ivory closed her eyes and sighed. Her grandmother had always used a touch of honey. Ivory had tried variations without it but in the end she decided that was small enough that no one would notice.

“What did he say? Do we need to send for Adam?” Eric was panicking.

Gabe latched onto Snow’s hand, not wanting to let her go. She had been exactly what he needed. No one understood him the way she did. He loved his brothers, but he wasn’t like them. No matter how hard he tried.

Brian shook his head. “No. It actually sounded more like encouragement to keep her safe.” He then took them through everything the Innkeeper told him, from beginning to end.

They all agreed that Snow was safe for now. Adam was due back within the next week, well, that was the hope. They could wait to tell him until then. Calling him back early would only make him worry more.

To keep herself busy, Ivory played with the fabric Charles had bought for her. It was very sweet of him. He needn’t have bothered though. She had already grown accustomed to wearing their old clothes. The pants provided her with quite a bit more freedom to move around. She certainly had more room to breathe with their shirts than the dresses she had to wear back home.

Ivory had giggled when she saw how much material he had gotten for her. It wasn’t really enough for even one shirt. Instead, she made hair wraps that helped her keep her hair out of the way while working. She promised Charles that she would practice making herself something.

If he ever asked, she would tell him she was such a bad seamstress that the hair wraps were the only way to save the material. She was hoping he didn’t ask, at least not for a while.

Another few days passed by with no sign of the Innkeeper, or anyone else, so they began to relax again.

Ivory was in dire need of fresh air, so she and Gabe decided to milk the cows themselves. She was determined to get Agatha to let her milk her!

Even though Gabe didn’t speak much, Ivory had gotten good at reading his body language. The pup stayed near the barn doors, acting as though he were on guard duty. Only, his eyes were more towards the fields than anywhere else.

“We’re not going to get into trouble, Gabe. Honestly. Adam said I had to stay hidden on the farm. I am hidden and I am on the farm. Besides, we need milk, and all the others are out in the field. Who else is going to get it?”

Gabe turned enough to glare at her, and she laughed. He wasn’t convinced. With a shrug, Ivory settled onto her stool and set the bucket down gingerly.

Adam had walked in through the other door of the barn just moments before they had come out. He heard the whole conversation and had to admit, he was impressed that she learned to talk to Gabe so well.

He had to press his lips together when she directed her comments to the cow next.

“Alright, you heifer. We are going to try this again. And we are going to keep trying this until you settle your big rear end down and get over yourself. You’re not the only female in town anymore, you know. Now, I’m going to put my hands on your utters here. You are not going to kick the bucket over this time. We got a deal?”

“Moo.”

“Well, alright then. Let’s do this.”

Ivory quickly reached over and pulled on one of the utters, causing the cow to moo louder and kick the bucket again. Even Gabe was laughing at the very unprincess-like words coming out of her mouth.

Apparently she had already been spending too much time with Adam’s brothers.

Ivory huffed and picked the bucket back up again. “That was not part of our deal, young lady.”

Ivory reached over to grab the utter again, Adam knew what was going to happen before she did. In her frustration, Ivory was too rough and probably pulled too hard. That time, the bucket went flying across the barn.

Gabe ran over to grab it for Ivory. He looked up and saw Adam, his eyes widening with happiness. Adam put a finger to his lips and winked. Gabe smiled and tried to wink back. He at least succeeded in blinking both his eyes.

Once she had the bucket back in place, Ivory went to try again.

Adam softly walked up behind her, not wanting to startle either female. Both were likely to kick him if he did.

He bent down and placed his hand gently on top of Ivory’s. She gave a small jump and tried to pull away. Adam wasn’t having it though.

He spoke in a voice barely over a whisper. “Stay very still and very calm. Agatha is a jittery old bird. If you pull too hard or make too much noise, she will kick. Now, very slowly, wrap your fingers around.”

He moved with Ivory, guiding her as they began milking the cow together. The bucket was nearly full before Adam realized she could probably finish on her own.

Regretfully, and confusedly, he let go of her and stepped back. Gabe was waiting to wrap his arms around his oldest brother, welcoming him home in his own way. Adam wrapped an arm around him and held him by his side as they watched.

Everyone stayed quiet until they moved the bucket a safe distance from Agatha. Then Ivory cheered and threw her arms around Adam’s neck.

“Thank you!” She exclaimed as she stepped away. “Dean’s been trying to teach me, but it hasn’t worked out so well.” She blushed, feeling embarrassed that she struggled with something.

Afterall, Adam had called her pampered on more than one occasion. Instead of being upset, as she expected, he was smiling. Which was odd.

“I thought you’d be upset that I was out here.” She explained.

Adam shrugged. “Your body is probably mostly healed by now. I don’t see why you can’t be.”

Ivory cleared her throat and picked up the bucket. “Right, no reason, whatsoever. Come on, Gabe, we have work to do.”

“Snow? Did something happen that I should know about?” Adam called after her, his long legs quickly catching up to her.

Had he always been so much bigger than her?

“Nope, not a thing. All quiet around here.”

Gabe pulled on her hand that he held, stopping her from walking further, and scowled at her. She looked down.

“He asked if anything happened. I’m not lying. Nothing has happened.”

“Gabe, what isn’t she telling me?” Adam rarely demanded that he speak.

Gabe gave Snow a pleading look. She sighed and looked back at Adam.

“I changed most of the recipe for my apple pies. But I didn’t change my grandmother’s secret ingredient. I wasn’t aware that she had ever shared that information with anyone outside of mom and me, honestly!”

Adam’s face paled. “Who?”

Ivory was on the verge of crying out of pure frustration and fear that he would send her away. She didn’t want to leave.

Gabe seemed to realize that she was struggling as much as he was with having to talk, so he spoke up.

“The Innkeeper. He apprehended with her grandmother.”

“He.... what?” Adam had no idea what that meant.

Ivory giggled, feeling a little better at the small pup’s effort to help her. She was touched too.

“He means apprenticed. The Innkeeper apprenticed with my grandmother. He recognized the taste of it. I didn’t think anyone would catch it.” A traitorous tear slipped out of her right eye. She turned to walk inside, hoping Adam didn’t see it.

It was too late though. He had already seen it.

He stopped her easily enough and wiped it away. “Hey. It’s alright. Did he threaten you or something? Why are you scared?”

“Am I going to have to leave again? Hide somewhere else? I feel safe here.” When her voice cracked, Adam pulled her in for a hug.

He forgot how tiny Ivory was compared to him. Her head barely came to his chest. It wasn’t her that was small, not by any means. All the brothers were just that much bigger, well, except for Gabe. But that could come one day. If not, so be it.

“None of that. We will do everything we can to keep you here.” He kissed her forehead, confusing both of them by the action. He hadn’t done that before leaving.

“I’m going to head out to the fields and talk to Brian, I want to hear the whole story. Stay in the house. I’ll be back soon.” He also needed a minute away from her. He had been gone just long enough to forget that she always made him, and his wolf, feel weird.

Adam waited until both of the pups were in the house then ran as fast as he could to where he could hear his brothers in the field. Wolf senses really came in handy once in a while.

“Adam!” Fitz yelled when he saw him. Adam had to laugh when the pup jumped him. Soon followed by Eric.

He was surprised when the bigger ones hugged him too. Especially Brian. Which worried Adam.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you!”

“Why didn’t you send me a message? I would have been back sooner. What happened with the Innkeeper?”

“You’ve already been by the house?” Brian grimaced. He was hoping to see him first.

“No, they were in the barn. Snow was trying to milk Agatha, again apparently.” That got the rest of them laughing. Adam was still scowling.

Brian leaned over and picked up his scythe again and the others followed suit. As he began cutting the section of wheat down he retold the story of his conversation with the Innkeeper.

They all worked in silence, letting Adam think every word over in his head. They were nearly done bundling this last section of the fields, the last of the harvest, when he finally spoke up.

“No one has heard from him since?”

“No. If we had, I would have sent for you. He didn’t seem like a threat to me, so I didn’t want to bother you yet.”

Adam nodded. “You’re probably right. We will have to watch him carefully though and pay attention to any strangers in the area. Both new and old. How did the market go?”

The others animatedly shared with him all the success they had seen and the requests for mid-week orders. If that was the case, maybe Adam would go to the market more often.

Between Ivory’s sales and his work with the Baron, they would be comfortable over the winter.