The Christmas Melody, page 6
part #7 of Hardman Holidays Series
She wasn’t interested in Carter. Was she?
The idea of it was preposterous. Wasn’t it?
Chapter Six
“May we go now?” Maddie asked, standing impatiently by the cabin door.
“Yes, sweetheart, we’ll go now. I just need to pull on my coat and gloves.” Gray gave the stew he’d left simmering on the stove another stir, set the spoon in the sink, then walked over to the pegs near the door and pulled on his coat. He wrapped a scarf around his neck, buttoned his coat, then bent down and buttoned Maddie’s. He looped her little pink scarf around her neck, pulled a knit hat Filly had made her last year over her ears, then made sure she had on her mittens before he tugged on his gloves, settled a hat on his head, and opened the door.
Sunshine glistened and sparkled on the snow that had fallen the last few days. He’d barely made it home from Hardman before big, fluffy snowflakes drifted down from the sky. Maddie was thrilled, dancing in the snow like a little winter fairy while he unloaded the wagon.
Grateful for all the wood he’d chopped and hauled onto the porch so it was out of the weather, they’d stayed inside where it was warm while snow fell, covering the world around them in a blanket of white.
Maddie had mentioned several times how nice it would be to have a real bathroom instead of having to bundle up to trudge out to the outhouse or use the chamber pot. There were so many things he wished he could give her, but he didn’t think she’d die if she had to use the privy instead of a nice bathroom.
It seemed each time he left her at Granger House, she noticed more and more of the luxuries available there and the lack of them at home. If things were different, if life hadn’t taken the unexpected turns right after she was born, she’d be accustomed to living with every luxury available close at hand.
As it was, he was glad they lived a simplistic life. He thought it was teaching them both good lessons. Their existence in the woods near Hardman had certainly given him a lesson in humbleness. One he had desperately needed to learn.
With the sun shining around them and both of them tired of being cooped up inside the cabin, Gray swung Maddie up so she sat on his shoulders then stepped off the porch into the snow.
“It’s bee-you-ti-ful, Daddy! Did fairies come and sprinkle the sparkles?” Maddie asked as he walked through the snow. Nearly a foot of it had accumulated, although if the temperatures warmed, he doubted it would last too long. Then again, it could remain cold and stay until spring.
“Do you think fairies add the sparkles to snow?” he asked, evading her question as they headed toward the glade. He wanted to prolong her child-like fantasies for as long as he could. As quickly as the past four years had passed, he was afraid he’d blink and she’d be sixteen and daffy about a boy. Then again, if he still kept them sequestered in the woods by that time, she’d not know there were boys around.
Thoughts of her someday falling in love and leaving him made his heart ache, so he chased away the pain by pointing to where a rabbit huddled beneath the cover of a bush, nibbling on a bit of exposed grass.
“I think fairies would add sparkles to snow like they do to the water sometimes. Maybe the animals help them.” Maddie glanced up at a chittering noise and watched a squirrel leap from one branch to another. “Look, Daddy. I don’t think that’s Claire’s lazy squirrel, do you?”
He grinned, thinking of the story and the charming girl who shared it with his daughter. The last person he expected to encounter at Luke and Filly’s home was Claire, but he couldn’t exactly say he didn’t enjoy seeing her. She’d looked lovely in a gown of deep wine that accented the rosy hue of her cheeks and the berry ripeness of her lips. He’d spent way too much time thinking of those very lips and how much he’d like to kiss them.
He should have asked Filly Claire’s age. He knew she was slightly younger than her nephew, but never meeting the man, he had no idea if he was twenty or thirty. There were times Claire seemed barely old enough to wear long skirts. Then she’d give him a look that made it perfectly clear she was a grown woman. A woman who intrigued him more than he wanted to admit any woman had for a long time.
Perhaps his fascination with her rested in the fact he hadn’t been around women the last four years, unless the few trips to town counted, when he generally only saw Filly Granger, Aleta Bruner, and perhaps a few females in passing on the street.
He’d vowed when he lost Laura he’d never wed again, and he planned to stick by that promise. But Claire was definitely a temptation.
If the woman wasn’t so silly and full of fun, he might have been able to ignore her and her undeniable beauty. However, it was hard to discount her ability to connect with Maddie and her lighthearted nature. It was as though she was just brimming with light and goodness and he’d had far too little of either in the past years.
“What’s that, Daddy?” Maddie asked as they entered the glade. She pointed to something sitting on the stump where she often played her violin when the weather was cooperative.
“It looks like a basket,” he said, hurrying his step. He brushed the snow off a section of the large stump with his arm then set Maddie down. A wicker basket with a lid sat on the snow. A red ribbon tied to the handle with an envelope attached to it caught his attention.
“What’s it say?” Maddie bent down until her nose nearly touched the basket.
Gray grinned at her as his fingers fumbled to untie the ribbon so he could open the envelope. He finally slid out a sheet of expensive parchment and unfolded it.
For Carter and Miss Maddie Mae —
These cinnamon buns are one of my favorite treats from Elsa’s Bakery. I hope you enjoy them. And I hope the bears don’t beat you to them.
With warmest regards,
Claire
Carter looked up and glanced around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Claire. He noticed tracks in the snow coming and going from the other side of the glade. They had to belong to her. No one else would have been out here.
The woman couldn’t have left too long ago, or something surely would have disturbed the basket by now. Part of him longed to race after her, to thank her for the unexpected treat, to see her smile, and ensure she made it home safely.
“I’ll have to tell her about bears hibernating,” he muttered as he slipped the note in his coat pocket along with the ribbon and lifted the lid on the basket. The scent of cinnamon and sweetness wafted around him, making his stomach rumble with hunger.
Maddie giggled and edged closer to him. “Your tummy is talking to you, Daddy. It said ‘feed me!’”
He chuckled and removed his gloves, stuffing them in his other coat pocket. “Sit on my lap, Maddie, and we’ll share one of the treats Miss Claire left for us.”
“Claire brought them? Where is she?” Maddie looked like she was ready to jump off the stump and chase after the woman. Gray grabbed her around the waist and settled her on his thigh as he sat on the stump next to the basket.
“She left these goodies for us. Her niece makes them.” Gray pulled out one of the sticky cinnamon buns and his mouth started to water. “Take your mittens off, Maddie, and I’ll share this one with you.”
The little girl didn’t have to be told twice to remove her mittens. It was a good thing they were fastened to a string that ran up her sleeves and around her back or they might have been lost until spring with the way she cast them off, eager for the treat.
With both little hands held up, ready to accept the pastry, Maddie’s smile broadened as Gray set a piece of the cinnamon bun on her hands.
“I don’t have a fork, Daddy,” Maddie said, looking from the gooey bun to Gray.
He smiled and lifted the cinnamon bun he held to his mouth. “I think, just this once, you can eat with your fingers.”
“Oh, goodie!” Maddie dove into the cinnamon bun and by the time she finished eating what Gray had given her, she had icing nearly stretched from ear to ear. It was a good thing he’d attempted to braid her hair or she’d most likely have gotten it in her curls, too. Frosting rimmed her mouth and both hands were a sticky mess.
He ate the last bite of his share of the bun then picked up a handful of snow and cleaned Maddie’s hands.
“That’s cold,” she complained, but didn’t try to pull away from him.
“I know it’s cold, sweetheart, but this way you won’t get your mittens all sticky.” Gray finished cleaning her hands and his, then he opened his coat, wrapped it around Maddie, and pulled her close against him. “Are you getting warm?”
“Yes, Daddy. I’m gonna smufercate.”
Gray leaned back and glanced down at her. “You aren’t going to suffocate, Maddie Mae. If you have enough breath to talk, I promise you have enough to breathe.”
“I’m warm now,” she said and started to jump down, but Gray held on to her. He hesitated to let her get down in the snow and get cold and wet, but she was wearing boots and pants. She needed to run off some of her energy or she might never settle down and go to sleep tonight.
“Put your mittens back on first and stay close to me.”
“Okay, Daddy.” She tugged on her mittens so fast, she missed getting her thumb in the proper hole, but didn’t seem bothered in the least and she ran and hopped, leaped and danced through the snow.
When she spun around and around with curls escaping her braid, he just sat and watched her, his heart overflowing with love for his precocious, precious daughter. He didn’t know what he would have done without Maddie, if she’d died along with Laura.
Emotion threatened to overwhelm him, so he stood, pulled on his gloves, grabbed the handles of the basket and motioned for Maddie to come to him.
“Since Claire was nice enough to bring us a gift of cinnamon buns, do you think we should make a gift for her in return?”
“Oh, yes, Daddy! A present for Claire,” Maddie said, clapping her hands together. “What kind of present?”
“I don’t know. What do you think she would like?” Gray asked. What did one give a woman-child who obviously came from money, had no immediate needs, and was as hard to pin down as it was to catch a butterfly in full flight twenty feet up in the sky?
“Flowers!” Maddie said, staring at him like he had suddenly dropped a notch in her hero status.
Of course his daughter would choose flowers. She was fascinated with them. Her favorite storybook was full of colorful paintings of flowers and a princess. Even before he could come up with another suggestion, Maddie was yanking on his coat and giving him an excited look.
“Claire is a princess, Daddy. And a princess needs lots and lots of flowers. We need flowers for Claire!”
“Flowers for Claire,” he grumbled, wondering how his child expected him to magically make flowers appear when it was below freezing outside.
“Maybe we could find…” Gray stared at the pine cone Maddie picked up. If one looked at it just right, it rather resembled a flower, something like a rose in bloom. An idea quickly formed in his thoughts and before he could tamp it down, he smiled at his daughter.
“Pick up more pine cones just like that one, sweetheart. I have an idea for a gift even a princess such as Claire will like.”
“Okay!” Maddie raced around, grabbing pine cones until her hands here stuffed full.
Gray ended up taking off his hat and letting her use it to hold the pine cones as they made their way back to the cabin.
By the time they got there, she’d filled his hat with pine cones.
“What are we going to make, Daddy?” she asked, and followed him inside the warmth of the cabin.
“A surprise for Miss Claire.” Gray smiled at Maddie. “One unlike any she’s received before.”
Maddie’s squeal of delight made him laugh as he set the basket of cinnamon buns on the table, removed his coat, and got to work.
Chapter Seven
“Where in the world did you find these?” Claire asked as Fred handed her a pair of wooden skis.
“Oh, I was helping the Nilsson family pack up the last of their things today and they had two pairs of these skis out in the barn rafters. They didn’t want to haul them to Portland, so they said I could have them. I thought you might enjoy them,” Fred said, setting two sets of skis down on the snow near the porch steps. “Have you ever used them before?”
“No, but it can’t be that hard to learn, can it?” Claire asked, studying the buckles a moment before she stepped onto the skis and bent to fasten them around her boots.
Fred stepped onto the other pair and buckled them on. “Shall we give this a whirl?”
“We shall,” Claire said with a giggle. She slid one foot forward, then the other, then suddenly everything seemed to be sliding at once and she fell over in the snow.
A shout from Fred drew her gaze to him as he tumbled into a pile of snow near the front walk.
“Are you hurt?” Fred asked as he tried to disentangle himself and get to his feet.
“I’m wonderful,” Claire said, laughing as she looked up at the blue sky above them. In a playful mood, she lobbed a snowball at Fred.
He shot one back at her and they both were laughing, still stuck in the snow with the skis twisted together when Elsa stepped outside and glanced from one of them to the other.
“What are you two doing?”
“Learning to ski?” Claire’s statement sounded more like a question and caused Fred to snicker.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Elsa said, stepping back inside the house and soon returning wearing her coat, hat, scarf, and gloves. “Let me see if I remember how to do this.”
“You’ve been on skis before?” Fred asked, removing the skis on his feet and straightening them for Elsa.
“My grandmother taught us how. We used to go to a park and practice,” she said as she buckled on the skis. “But I haven’t done this in years. Do you have poles?”
Fred went back out to his wagon and retrieved two sets of poles. He handed a set to Elsa and gave the other to Claire once he helped her to her feet.
With a pole in each hand, Elsa pushed off and was soon gliding across the pasture with Fred and Claire watching.
“I think she remembered how to ski,” Claire said to Fred as he watched his wife in awe. “Your Elsa is full of surprises.”
“She certainly is.” Fred beamed with pride as he watched Elsa. When she came back to where they waited, he gave her a big hug and kissed her quite passionately.
Claire had grown accustomed to their displays of affection at home. In fact, she thought it sweet and romantic that Fred was so besotted with his bride.
Face red and hat askew, Elsa pulled back from Fred and motioned to Claire. “Come on, I’ll show you how this works.”
Twenty minutes later, Claire kept stride with Elsa as they glided across the pasture together.
“This is such fun!” she said as joy bubbled out of her in the form of a laugh.
“It is fun. I’d forgotten how much I used to enjoy this,” Elsa said as they circled around and returned to the house. Fred waited for them there and helped them both remove the skis. “You might need to get a third pair, Fred, if you want to join us because I’m claiming one of them.”
“For now, I’ll let you girls play with them. Maybe Santa will bring me a pair if I’m a good boy.”
Elsa patted his arm with her mitten covered hand. “You’re always good, Fred. The very best man I know.”
Fred pecked her cheek then gave her a playful swat on her bottom. “You two get inside and warm up while I finish the chores.”
Claire followed Elsa inside and helped set dinner on the table. As they ate, they discussed current news, like the sheriff of Pendleton catching the men who’d blown up the Helix mercantile safe, and a woman from Portland who was offering a $500 reward for the return of her husband who’d suddenly disappeared.
“Maybe the husband ran off for a good reason,” Fred mused as they finished their dinner.
“What possible good reason could there be for a husband to abandon his family?” Elsa asked, narrowing her gaze at Fred.
“Well, maybe she got too cheeky with him, or stole the skis he just brought home,” he teased.
Elsa tossed her napkin at him, but he ducked then pulled her onto his lap and tickled her sides. Claire shook her head at the two of them then began clearing the table. She didn’t know what Fred whispered to his wife, but Elsa’s face turned bright red and she swatted his arm before she jumped to her feet and carried dishes to the sink.
Later, as Claire snuggled into the warm comfort of her bed, she thought about Fred and Elsa and how happy they were as husband and wife. She’d known the first time she’d seen the two of them together, when she and her sisters arrived a year ago, that they were meant to be married. Fred practically followed Elsa around like a puppy and the woman was clearly in love with him.
The love, respect, and friendship they shared reminded her of the affection her sisters held for their spouses. Ari absolutely adored Heath and the feeling was clearly mutual. Bett and Clark weren’t quite as openly affectionate, but their love was deep and abiding. She just hoped to someday find someone she could love that much, to be loved that much by a good, kind man.
Claire had adored her father and because of the wonderful relationship they’d enjoyed, the bar was set high for any potential suitors that came along. She had no intention of settling for anyone just to be married. Rather than do that, she’d remain a spinster all her days. Until she found someone who was even half as interesting and fun as her father, she’d remain blissfully single.
Thoughts of Carter made her smile in the darkness. For certain, he was an interesting, intriguing man. She had no doubt at all that if he got past being gruff and standoffish, he’d be loads of fun to know. In the few moments she’d caught him unawares with Maddie, she’d seen a lightness in his spirit he hid from the world. She had no idea why, though.
Her efforts to pump Filly for information were wasted. The woman was tight-lipped when it came to Carter and his daughter. Claire got the idea Filly really didn’t know much more than she did about the “mystery man” as the banker’s wife referred to Carter. Filly did say he’d been in the area since Maddie was a tiny baby, but Claire found it quite strange no one knew who he was or anything about it.
