Читать книгу A Montana Christmas - Kristine Rolofson, Kristine Rolofson - Страница 9

Monday, December 16

Havre, Montana

TAKE GOOD CARE OF HER.

Those were Will’s words on the phone. Well, of course he would do as Will asked. That’s what a brother did, and Jared Stone took his family duties seriously. Maybe a little too seriously, some would say. But there was nothing wrong with that, Jared figured, working his way through the crowd in a train station filled with holiday travelers and the people who waited to greet them. A man took care of his own.

Jared saw a lot of people with shopping bags filled with gifts, tired mothers holding on to toddlers, grandmothers kissing squalling babies and a few businessmen trying to avoid walking into groups of families huddled together to say hello or goodbye.

There were skiers, too. There were always skiers heading somewhere in Montana. Jared took a second to admire a long-legged blonde carrying skis and wearing tight black leggings and a sheepskin jacket, but he kept moving through the crowd as he headed toward the board that would list the arrival times of the trains. Sure enough, the train named the Empire Builder from Chicago had just arrived.

Her name is Melanie Briggs. And she’s special. Jared wished he’d asked Will for more details, but Aunt Bitty picked up the phone and started talking about cookies and presents and how much Fluffy liked spending Christmas on the ranch. Will wasn’t able to add much about his mysterious guest, but everyone at the ranch assumed that Will had finally found a woman. A special woman. He’d said so himself, hadn’t he?

The 318 on Monday. As Jared looked around the lobby he wished his younger brother had provided a better description of his guest. There had been something about a red jacket, but then Mom had taken the receiver from Bitty and asked Will if he preferred sage green or sea foam on the guest-room walls. Then Uncle Joe got on the kitchen extension and asked if the future houseguest played bridge.

I’ll fill you in when I see you. Then Will’s cell phone broke up and the connection was lost seconds later. Jared would have asked why the woman was making a three-day train trip instead of flying to Great Falls, which was what Will would do tomorrow to get home for Christmas.

He also would have asked how Will met her. And why he’d invited her to spend Christmas at the ranch, but Will was famous for inviting people to visit Graystone. His brother, always the adventurer, collected friends wherever he traveled. But he’d never invited one lone woman—one designated for special treatment—home until now.

So the next afternoon, after trying three times to call his brother and getting only Will’s voice mail, Jared drove the hundred and sixty miles north to Havre, a good-size town just south of the Canadian border, to meet a stranger. A stranger his younger brother called “special.” He’d practically had to hogtie his mother to the kitchen table to keep her from making the trip, but he’d needed to take the truck and he didn’t think either woman would be comfortable riding for three hours in the back section of the king cab.

“I’ll have dinner ready then,” Jenna Stone declared, with a sideways glance at Aunt Bitty, who was busy plugging her radio into a receptacle above the counter. “I wouldn’t have minded getting out of the house for a while, though.”

“No,” he’d said, figuring the next suggestion would be for Jenn to meet the train by herself, and with the way the sky looked, they were in for snow. And a lot of it. They might need the four-wheel-drive truck, and his mother’s Explorer was in the shop getting new brakes and wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow.

Jared continued searching through the crowds and looking for a special-looking woman who might or might not be wearing a red coat. He should have brought one of those signs chauffeurs hold, and the thought made him smile.

He skirted the edge of the crowd and looked for someone who appeared to be waiting for a ride. A middle-aged woman with two small children sat on a bench, her suitcases piled around her. And a couple of college-age girls, expectant expressions on their pretty faces, stood on tiptoe and peered over the crowd. He caught a glimpse of a cherry-red coat and dark hair curling to a woman’s shoulders and hurried toward her. If she would only turn around, he thought, he could say something like, “Are you waiting for Jared Stone?”

She turned toward him, almost as if hearing his unspoken plea, and revealed pale skin, large eyes and a heart-shaped face that was nothing short of perfect. Her red coat, age and the expression on her face, as if she was waiting for help, made Jared feel as if he’d hit pay dirt.

She was lovely, a fragile-looking young woman who obviously needed rescuing. Her eyes widened when she spotted him a few feet away from her. Jared knew no one could deny the Stone family resemblance. He and Will both looked like their father, though Will was leaner. Jared smiled, but was stalled on his way to greet her as two elderly women shoved suitcases in his path and waved gloved hands toward the exit. Jared reached down to help them, earning the fluttering thanks of the Bailey sisters, old friends of his grandparents who had moved to Havre a few years back.

“You look just like your grandfather,” one of them announced. “I’d know that Stone chin anywhere.”

“Are you looking for someone?” Jared asked. In other words, was there someone who could assist the Baileys so he’d be free to collect his guest and begin the drive home?

“Mr. Perkins is over there,” the other sister, the shorter one, said. “He’s come to collect us, but I don’t think he’s seen us yet. My, what a crowd this afternoon. It certainly is festive.”

Jared didn’t know who Mr. Perkins was, but he obligingly turned to look where the elder Miss Bailey pointed. He caught the eye of the station’s porter and waved him over to help.

“The porter’s coming to carry these suitcases for you,” Jared reassured the women. “Just stay where you are.”

“Thank you, dear,” the taller Miss Bailey beamed. “Please wish your dear mother a merry Christmas for us.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, tipping the brim of his Stetson before turning back to the dark-haired beauty in the red coat. She was no longer there, which gave him a jolt of unfamiliar panic. Jared Stone wasn’t a man to panic easily, if ever, but he sure as hell didn’t want to lose his brother’s special guest.

Jared pushed through the thinning crowd and saw the red-coated young woman seated, bundles of blankets on her lap, on a bench along the wall between the rest rooms. Her head was tilted back against the wall, almost as if she’d resigned herself to resting there for a long, long time. She clutched the bundle in her arms as if it was her only and most sacred possession.

This time he made sure he said her name. “Melanie?” She didn’t move, so this time he said it much louder.

“Melanie,” he called, surprising himself with how loud he’d said the word, but satisfied when her head lifted and she met his gaze. He willed himself to smile, though he felt as if a bolt of summer lightning had hit him right in the middle of the train station.

She was beautiful, he realized again, when her lips lifted into a smile of greeting. He moved around a chubby grandfather, who bent over a little boy to make sure his jacket was zipped shut, to approach her. Finally.

“You are Melanie Briggs, I hope,” he said, stepping close enough to see that her eyes were lined in dark shadows and she looked like she could use some rest. Two and a half days on a train couldn’t be much fun.

“Yes. Jared Stone?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m so glad to see you.”

“Same here.” He wished he’d thought to bring pillows; the woman looked tired enough to sleep all the way back to the ranch.

“I saw you a moment ago,” she said, her voice low and soft. “And then you stopped to greet the older ladies and I thought I had been mistaken after all.”

“I look too much like my brother to fool anyone,” Jared said, wondering why he wanted to scoop her into his arms and carry her out the door. Only because she looked as if she’d fall over if she stood, he assured himself. Not for any other reason than that.

“Will told me I would know you when I saw you, but I didn’t really believe him.”

“Come on.” He reached for the large suitcase at her feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I’d like that,” she said, adjusting the bundle in her arms. That’s when he looked down and saw the pink face of a sleeping baby. That’s when his heart stopped beating for a second or two, long enough to scare him, as he stared down at the baby in his houseguest’s arms.

“Will didn’t tell you I had a daughter?”

“No.” Jared looked up. The woman gripped the baby, wrapped securely in what looked like a mountain of blankets, with a fierce protectiveness. “It was a bad connection.”

“He told me it would be okay, that no one would mind.”

“No one will,” he said, silently cursing his brother for not warning them. Melanie stood, managing to sling a purse and an oversize quilted bag over her shoulder at the same time. The baby never made a sound, though Jared caught a glimpse of its eyes as they popped open to stare up at Melanie.

“The car seat is mine, too,” she said, so Jared picked it up. It wasn’t Will’s child, of course, he assured himself as he motioned the woman toward the exit. There was no way his brother could have kept such a secret from the family for such a long time. Besides, if the child was Will’s, she would have had the Stone name and live at Graystone ranch by now.

“The suitcase rolls,” Melanie said. “You can pull out the handle and—”

“This is faster,” Jared countered, holding the black case by its handle, along with the plastic seat contraption. The crowd had thinned now, and there was no sign of the Bailey sisters. “Go on toward the door. I’m right behind you.”

He stayed close enough to touch that dark hair with his fingers, not that he did so. This one was special, Will had said. This woman was Will’s and was, therefore, to be protected at all costs. Even if she was a stranger who carried an infant.

Their mother was going to be beside herself with joy. She’d longed for grandchildren for years, since her sons had been old enough to get married and bring brides to the ranch. There had been no brides, not until now. The Stone sons showed little inclination to settle down.

Melanie paused at the door and rearranged the blankets around the baby’s face while Jared reached out and pushed the door open for her. The cold wind hit them with cruel force, and Melanie hunched over the child and didn’t seem to notice that Jared’s arm lay across her shoulder to guide her to the parking lot. When they rounded the corner of the building, the wind eased and he dropped his hand from her back.

“So this is Havre,” she said, looking across the railroad yard to a restaurant famous for serving food quickly to train passengers who would continue west after a short stop in northern Montana. She pronounced the word “Hay-ver.”

“Have-er,” Jared said, raising his voice to be heard above the wind. They waited for a line of cars to pass before they could cross the street. “It was supposed to be named for a French town, but local legend has a different version.”

She looked at him and prompted, “Which is?”

“Two fur trappers were fighting over a woman, and one of them decided he wasn’t going to get killed deciding who won, so he said, ‘You can have-er.”

“Have her,” she repeated, and the briefest of smiles flashed across her face. “You’re not teasing? This is a true story?”

“I don’t know about true, but it’s on a sign here at the train station,” he declared. “You want to see it?”

She shivered. “Not today.”

“Then come on,” Jared said, urging her across the street by touching her back once again. She felt small and delicate, as if the north wind would pick her up and blow her to Wyoming if she wasn’t weighted down by a blanket-wrapped child. What was Will thinking by inviting this woman and her baby to Graystone? His brother would have a lot of questions to answer.

ANYONE WOULD KNOW THEY were brothers without having to ask, Melanie decided. Will and his older brother shared the same broad shoulders and dark hair, identical stubborn chins and skin color. Will’s eyes were brown, not Jared’s unusual shade of dark green. His face was narrower, his expression more relaxed, but their hair waved in similar patterns across their foreheads and both brothers walked as if they knew exactly where they were going, all of the time.

She would have enjoyed the walk to Jared Stone’s truck if she hadn’t been worried about Beth feeling the fierce wind that pushed at them from behind. Melanie didn’t mind the wind that much. Fresh air had been in short supply on the train. She noticed that Will’s brother adjusted his long strides so she could keep up with him, even though she was already walking as fast as she could without breaking into a jog.

He settled her and Beth into the passenger seat of an oversize truck, then went around to the driver’s side and proceeded to figure out how to install the baby’s car seat into the back section of the truck. “It’s a long ride” was all the man said. “Do you want to put, ah, her in the seat before we get started?”

“Yes. Thanks.”

He was around to her side of the truck almost instantly and helped her get down. She felt awkward and old and close to tears by the time she settled Beth into the seat, the straps adjusted over her tiny body. Luckily her daughter liked to ride and would sleep for a while. A long while, Melanie hoped. Jared Stone hadn’t been expecting a baby and wasn’t prepared for Beth’s fussing.

“All set?” His voice was a low rumble behind her, reminding Melanie that she needed to climb back into the truck once again. She needed to stop fretting, too.

“Yes,” she assured him. Things will work out, Will had promised Saturday afternoon when he helped her onto the train. Quit worrying. “Everything’s fine.”

“I guess you’ve never been to Montana before?” His question was polite, but his attention was on starting the truck and checking the rearview mirror before he backed out of the parking space.

“No. Will warned me that it would be cold.” And private, too. She rubbed the condensation from the side window and saw some of Havre before Jared drove the truck onto a main road. And then there wasn’t much to see except snow-coated grasslands and an occasional house. She unfastened her seat belt so she could check to see that Beth was breathing. Sure enough, the baby slept without a care in the world, her cheeks pink and her little lips pursed as if she dreamt of being fed.

“What else did he tell you?”

“He said your mother likes Christmas.” He said that I would be able to hide. And heal. And pretend that the huge black hole that was now my life would be invisible.

He chuckled. “Likes Christmas? That’s an understatement. Our mother is Santa Claus, Martha Stewart and Bing Crosby rolled into one.”

“Why Bing Crosby?”

“She sings along to his Christmas CDs while she cooks. Right now she’s decorating the guest room for you.”

“I hope she’s not going to any trouble.” She had made Will promise that her visit wouldn’t inconvenience his family.

“Don’t worry. She’s been having a great time since we got a satellite dish. Mom discovered the decorating and design channels and has been fixing up the house ever since.”

She heard laughter in his voice, and affection. “I’m sorry Will didn’t tell any of you that I was bringing a baby. I just assumed he’d said something before he invited us.”

“My mother is used to surprises from Will.” He turned on the defroster, then stepped on the gas pedal to pass a large van. Melanie looked out the window and rested her head against the back of the seat. It would be so easy to close her eyes and be lulled to sleep. In an attempt to be polite, she tried to stay awake. The oncoming cars had their headlights on now that the sky had grown darker. She looked at her watch. Four o’clock. More than twenty-four hours since she and Beth had boarded the train at Union Station. Her cousin Dylan would be having a fit, but she would have to understand that a Christmas with the family wasn’t something she was ready for. Not yet.

“We’re going to be on the road for about two and a half hours,” Jared said, breaking the silence. “Maybe more, because I think we’ll stay on the main highway and then pick up Highway 200 at Great Falls.”

“All right.” She had no idea what he was talking about.

“We’ll stop there for coffee and, uh, anything else you need for the baby.” He glanced toward Melanie and surprised her with the serious expression on his face. “Do you think she’s okay back there?”

“She’s sleeping,” she assured him. “She likes to ride.”

“Good thing,” he murmured. “See that sky? We’re going to get some more snow, and soon.”

Melanie looked out the window and craned her neck upward to see dark gray clouds and approaching darkness. “We won’t get stuck, will we?”

“No. We’ll be home in time for a late supper. Unless you want to stop and get something on the road. I should have asked if you were hungry.”

“I’m fine,” she said, though it had been hours since breakfast. Beth had been fussy most of the afternoon and there had been no time to eat the sandwich another traveler had purchased for her in the dining car.

“If you change your mind, just say so.” He switched on the radio and a woman with a country twang sang about love in the afternoon. Jared hurried to turn it off. “Sorry,” he said. “I forgot about waking the baby. What’s her name?”

“Beth. And the music won’t bother her.” At least the song had filled the truck and substituted for conversation.

She didn’t mind the silence.

JENNA LOOKED AT HER WATCH, then at the clock on the wall above the refrigerator. Jared should have their guest by now. They should be on their way home, but she’d been switching back and forth between the Carol Duvall show and the Weather Channel and now she was worried. She’d no interest in rubberstamping faux wallpaper when another storm was predicted and neither son was home safe and sound.

“They’ll be fine. No one’s more dependable than Jared,” Uncle Joe declared, reading her mind as he entered the large kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. He paused before putting the carafe back into place. “You want some, honey?”

“No, thanks. I’ve got enough jitters as it is.” But she gave the old man a smile she hoped was reassuring. He was the last remaining member of her side of the family and, at eighty-two, Uncle Joe was proud of his longevity and his skill with cards. He’d arrived the week before Thanksgiving and, declaring he was lonesome, moved into the enormous ranch house “until the New Year,” he’d declared. “Or until you kick me out.” He knew Jenna would never do such a thing, but it was a little joke between them. Uncle Joe liked his little jokes.

“You’ve got no reason to be nervous, honey. Christmas around here is always one hell of an occasion, thanks to you.” Uncle Joe pulled out a chair and sat down at the long worktable that had been at the ranch for four generations. “And Will was only in Washington for six weeks. He couldn’t get serious about no young woman, not that fast.”

“I don’t know about that.” She would fix a cup of herbal tea, Jenna decided. “My sons have big hearts, though Jared tries to hide it more than Will. And I sure wouldn’t mind having a daughter-in-law. I’d about given up hope of ever having another woman for company around here.”

“Bitty doesn’t count?” The old man shot her an evil grin.

“Aunt Bitty’s in a class by herself.”

“Where is the old bat, anyway?”

“Uncle Joe—” she began, ready to admonish him again to be nice to her husband’s aunt.

“I know, I know.” He held up a gnarled hand as if to ward off her words. “She’s an in-law and you can’t do anything about her. I don’t mind her radio shows, but that barking rat of hers is too much for a man to ignore.”

Jenna couldn’t help her smile. The “barking rat” was Bitty’s ancient Maltese, a nine-pound dog who was never out of his devoted owner’s sight. Fluffy did everything but eat his meals at the dinner table, and Jenna had no doubt that if she allowed it, that’s exactly where he would perch. “Fluffy doesn’t bark that much.”

“He isn’t ‘fluffy,’ either,” Joe grumbled.

“I’m sure his thyroid medication will kick in one of these days.” She looked again at the clock and wished she’d told Jared to call her when he left Havre. Her eldest didn’t think much of cell phones; he grudgingly kept one in his truck’s glove compartment, but rarely used it.

“You spoil us all, Jenn,” he declared, taking another sip of coffee. “Like you’ll spoil Will’s girl, once she gets here. You get that painting done?”

“Yesterday.” She hoped Melanie Briggs liked lilac.

“And dinner smells good.”

“Yes,” she said, taking the kettle off the stove. “I cooked a roast earlier, so no matter what time they arrive dinner will be ready.”

“You think of everything,” the old man declared, beaming at her. He plucked a deck of cards from his shirt pocket. “You want to play a hand of gin rummy, just to make the time pass quick?”

“Sure.” Between Joe’s cards, Bitty’s radio programs and Fluffy’s constant begging for treats, Jenna hoped she wouldn’t have time to worry about her sons.