Читать книгу A Western Christmas: Yuletide Lawman / Yuletide Reunion - Renee Ryan, Louise M. Gouge - Страница 15
ОглавлениеAs he waited for Ellie’s answer, Caleb choked down an unexpected bout of nerves. Say yes, he silently willed.
Say something, he amended two seconds later. Anything.
Why wasn’t she speaking?
Why was she staring up at him, standing motionless, moving only her eyelashes in a quick, fast flutter?
Perhaps he’d been too abrupt with his words, too quick to get to the point.
At last, Ellie’s lips parted slightly, as if she meant to say something, but then she snapped her mouth shut.
Caleb’s agitation increased.
He couldn’t bear her silence a moment longer. “Before you respond, let me say again—”
“You want to marry me?”
He nodded, not sure why she sounded so confused. The more he worked the idea around in his head, the more he wanted Ellie to mother his daughters.
“Why?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why do you wish to marry me?”
Every muscle in his body tensed. He thought he’d made himself clear. The catch in her voice said differently. “I told you.”
She blinked again, three rapid flutters, then clasped her hands tightly together in front of her. “I... I think I need you to restate your reasons.”
Ah, now he understood her confusion. Apparently he’d spoken too quickly. An oversight easily fixed.
“Ellie.” He took one of her hands again, gently pressing his palms to hers. “You’re good with the girls, patient and kind. They like you. You seem to like them...and you’re frowning.”
“Am I?”
He gently squeezed her hand and immediately felt a sense of calm, as if all was right in the world.
The connection didn’t seem to have the same effect on Ellie. A storm of emotion brewed in her eyes, even a hint of pain.
Caleb hadn’t meant to upset her with his proposal, though it seemed he’d done just that. “Tell me what I said that’s made you so sad.”
“I’m not sad, I’m merely confused.” Her frown dug deeper. “I don’t understand why you want to marry me. Is it only for your daughters’ sake?”
He heard what she was really asking, but chose to bypass the loaded question. “The girls have experienced much uncertainty in their young lives. I’ve provided what stability I can, but they need a mother. A mother like you. You’re the steadiest woman I know.”
“There are other women in town who are equally steady.”
“Perhaps, but you’re also trustworthy, stable and reliable. And—”
“Kate Riley is all those things.” Still frowning, Ellie pulled her hand free of his. “As is the local schoolteacher, Lillian O’Hare. Either woman would make a perfectly acceptable mother for your daughters.”
True, and he’d considered them in the past, had even approached both women. Now he was grateful they’d declined his offer.
Ellie was special. They had a history. They were friends. He cared about her, liked her. “We’d be good together.”
Their home would be free of turmoil.
Sighing, she reached up and fiddled with the top button of her collar. “You don’t really want to be married. You’re simply looking for a woman to mother your daughters.”
“That’s not to say we won’t enjoy a comfortable, peaceful life together. I’ll keep you safe, Ellie. I’ll take care of you. I’ll never leave you, or allow harm to come to you.”
“What about love?”
Caleb’s throat seized at the question. His relationship with Lizzie had been a love match but had become tumultuous quickly, bringing only pain and disillusionment to them both.
“Love isn’t what the songs and poems claim.” He took his time, carefully choosing his words. “Love wanes with time. But friendship, now that, Ellie, lasts forever.”
“Do you really believe friendship is better than love?”
He didn’t just believe it. He knew it in the deepest part of his soul. “Yes.”
The disappointment in her eyes made his shoulders bunch again, the muscles drawing so tightly together a knot formed in the middle of his back.
“The kind of marriage you’re suggesting isn’t for me. I want to build a home, a future and a life on the solid foundation of love. Anything less would be nothing more than existing.”
“Companionship has its advantages.”
“God intended marriage for more.”
Caleb had never heard Ellie speak that passionately before. As he stared into her expressive gaze, he felt a moment of regret.
“As much as I like and admire you, my answer is no. I won’t marry you.”
The sense of defeat that shot through him nearly dropped him to his knees.
“I understand.” He sensed he’d just lost something precious, something that might have been, were he a different man.
His friendship with Ellie was strong. Even Lizzie had noticed their connection. She’d accused him of having tender feelings for Everett’s little sister. Caleb had told his wife any tender feelings he had for Ellie were based on a bond that had been forged in childhood.
He’d meant what he said. They could have a built a good life together.
But she wanted more than he could give.
He’d had his chance at love. Despite dedicating all he had to making his marriage work, it had failed. Love had only complicated matters, not helped. Lizzie’s constant dissatisfaction had thrown their home into chaos and his daughters had suffered. They were still suffering. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—risk their well-being again.
“I’m sorry, Caleb, truly I am.” Ellie’s voice went soft. “I hope we can remain friends.”
“Always.”
“Then in the spirit of friendship, I have a counteroffer. A compromise, if you will.”
The shyness in her voice was downright adorable. Caleb found himself smiling in response. “What did you have in mind?”
“Let me take over for Betsy while she focuses on her sister. I’ll keep your house and watch your daughters until you find another solution, or—” She paused, before continuing, “a woman to marry, whichever comes first.”
Now that he’d allowed himself to think of Ellie as more than Everett’s little sister, Caleb couldn’t imagine anyone else in his home but her. Unfortunately, they wanted different arrangements. “That’s kind of you, but—”
“You need me, Caleb, and I’d really like to provide your daughters with a nice Christmas, one they’ll not soon forget.”
The smile she gave him radiated from the goodness of her heart.
He desperately wanted what she offered. For the girls. “It won’t be an imposition?”
She waved the question away with a flick of her wrist. “Until I find another teaching position, my days are relatively free of obligation.”
Her words caught him up short. “You’re planning to leave town again?”
The thought weighed heavy in his gut. The sensation felt like grief.
“I can’t stay in Thunder Ridge indefinitely, especially since the only teaching position is already taken. I’ve sent out a half-dozen queries. No replies yet, but I’m sure I’ll hear something soon.”
He thought he heard a note of humiliation in her voice. Not for the first time he wondered why she’d left her job in Colorado Springs.
“You truly want to leave Thunder Ridge?”
“It’s not that I want to go, but once my father marries Betsy I’ll be in the way.”
“Neither would want you leaving town on their account.”
“Perhaps you’re right, but newlyweds deserve time to themselves. I want them to enjoy one another and find their rhythm as a couple without me around. So you see. I’m perfectly available to step in for Betsy, at least temporarily.”
He’d rather her in his home on a permanent basis. It wasn’t meant to be.
“What do you say?” Ellie’s smile shot through him like a sharp knife slicing through gristle. “Will you allow me the honor of watching over your daughters and giving them a Christmas with all the trappings? One they won’t soon forget?”
Under the circumstances, he really didn’t have much of a choice. “We can give it a try.”
What could possibly go wrong?
“Oh, Caleb, I won’t let you down.” She beamed as if he’d given her a treasured gift.
She’d never looked more beautiful. Her pull was strong, more powerful than he’d previously understood.
A crack split open in his heart, giving him all sorts of reasons for regretting his decision. Not a single reservation had to do with his daughters.
“Unless you can think of a reason I shouldn’t start immediately, I’ll arrive at your house first thing tomorrow morning.”
He could think of a hundred things that could go wrong with this plan. Starting with the fact that he and Ellie were at cross-purposes, with no chance of resolving their differences.
Despite his misgivings, he found himself saying, “That’ll be fine.”
* * *
The night’s chill still clung on the air when Caleb greeted Ellie at his front door the next morning. Despite the early hour and the heavy mist swirling around her feet, she looked eager to begin the day.
As was becoming a regular occurrence, her smile did something to his gut. The sensation wasn’t altogether awful. Just being near Ellie made Caleb think of better days ahead, of endless possibilities, of hope for the future.
Problem was he’d given up on hope a long time ago, at least in terms of himself. For his daughters, that was another story. He had countless dreams for them. It was a real shame Ellie wanted a love match, while he only wanted friendship.
“Good morning, Caleb.”
“Good morning.” He stepped aside to let her enter his house. A blast of cold air followed in her wake.
He quickly shut the door. After a cursory glance over the main living area, then a peek in the kitchen, Ellie focused her blue-blue eyes on him. “Where are the girls?”
“Still asleep.” He hitched his chin toward the hallway behind her. “They were so excited about the prospect of spending the entire day with you that I had a hard time getting them settled last night.”
Her widening smile suggested this piece of information pleased her.
“Probably best to let them rest. I have big plans for us today. I even brought supplies.” She showed him the large carpetbag slung over her shoulder. “You won’t recognize your home when you return tonight.”
Curious, he leaned over and attempted to glimpse inside the large tote. “What do you have in there?”
“A little of this, a little of that, all of which will require eager hands and resourceful minds.”
“Sounds fun.”
“That’s the general idea.”
He laughed. She joined in, and for the first time in months Caleb’s chest felt less tight, his heart beat easier in his chest.
“How about giving me a quick introduction to your home?”
“Follow me.” He dedicated the next ten minutes to showing her around the house, pointing out various places of interest.
Lastly, he escorted her into the room off the kitchen where the family’s coats hung on pegs.
Tour complete, he reached for his hat. “I’ll try to come home before sunset.”
“You’re leaving? Now?” She circled her gaze around the kitchen, stopping at the stove tucked in the early morning shadows. “But you haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”
“I’ll grab something at the Whistle Stop Inn.”
“Are you certain? I could make oatmeal.”
He was tempted, but decided to stick to his regular routine. No good would come from relying too much on Ellie, even for something as simple as an early morning meal.
“I need to get to the jail and relieve Deputy Kramer,” he said by way of excuse.
Two minutes later, dressed for the cold weather, Caleb trekked through the biting wind. His first stop was the livery stables three blocks south of where he lived.
Gideon greeted him with a toss of his regal head and a whinny that shook the rafters.
Caleb was just as pleased to see the horse.
The rest of the day went as expected. He ate a quick breakfast, checked on nearby ranches, then stopped in at each of the local businesses.
In the afternoon, he broke up a heated argument between the cooper and blacksmith that had begun over signage. Near the end of his shift, just as Prescott arrived to take over for him, Caleb dragged Skeeter Quinn, the town drunk, out of an empty horse trough, where the grizzled old man had decided to “take a little lie down”—Skeeter’s words.
Skeeter was far from pleased over his interrupted nap and proceeded to make his displeasure known at the top of his lungs.
His own temper turning dark, Caleb decided to lock up the blustering old coot in a jail cell to dry out. As expected, Skeeter turned even more belligerent the moment the door clanked shut. He continued ranting for a good five minutes then wore himself out and promptly passed out on the lone cot.
Caleb rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and studied the snoring form. Sprawled out on the cot, his head listing to port, Skeeter looked—and sounded—entirely too much like Caleb’s father in his final days.
“Keep an eye on Skeeter,” he told Prescott. “I’ll hunt down his son and send him over to collect him.”
“No problem, Sheriff.”
Skeeter snorted in his sleep, then took to mumbling over some incomprehensible grievance.
Caleb headed for the door.
“Hey, Sheriff,” Prescott called after him, a curious note in his voice. “I was wondering if you knew whether or not Ellie Wainwright had any plans for—”
“She’s unavailable.” To punctuate his point, Caleb turned and scowled at the deputy.
Prescott’s amused gaze held his. “How do you know?”
“I know.”
The deputy chuckled low in his throat. “You really aren’t going to introduce me to her?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Come on, Sheriff. I heard she’s sweet. Word around town is that no one’s officially courting her. Surely she would want to meet—”
Caleb slammed the door on the rest of whatever Prescott had to say.
His temper escalating yet again, he set out north of town where Skeeter’s son, Billie, lived. A block into his journey, he heard his name. “Sheriff Voss, Sheriff Voss, I have news.”
Glancing in the direction of the voice, he caught sight of Mrs. Jenson waving a letter high above her head.
Trepidation marched along his spine. Nevertheless, Caleb crossed the street with clipped strides and greeted the woman with a tentative smile.
Short, scarecrow thin, with gray-streaked black hair twisted in a knot at the nape of her neck, she wore too many ruffles, layers upon layers of lace and a self-satisfied smile.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Jenson. You’re looking rather...” He searched for the proper adjective. “Gleeful.”
“That’s because this arrived in the post today.” She lowered her hand and proceeded to wave the small stack of papers beneath Caleb’s nose. “You’ll be happy to know I’ve found your bride.”
This was the exact information he’d been waiting for, yet Caleb couldn’t drum up any real enthusiasm.
His silence didn’t seem to deter the woman. “Her name is Sadie Taylor.”
He didn’t know what to say. But the look of expectancy on Mrs. Jenson’s face suggested she was waiting for him to respond. “That’s a...ah, nice name?”
This earned him a nod of approval. “Isn’t it?
“According to her letter...” The older woman skimmed the front page a moment. “She’s twenty-two years old, recently widowed, with no children of her own. She lives in Blue Springs, Missouri, and is a schoolteacher.”
Caleb’s mind went straight to another schoolteacher, the one back at his house taking care of his daughters and providing them a “Christmas with all the trappings, one they won’t soon forget.”
“There’s only one concern.” Mrs. Jenson’s tone filled with distress. “Mrs. Taylor won’t be able to make the journey to Thunder Ridge until after the school year is complete.”
