“She’ll be over the moon.” An image of Bea’s reaction when she’d spotted the sleigh brought a smile to Ellery’s face. “I’ve never seen a girl who loves horses more than Bea.”
“Thank you for voting in my favor, Ellery.” Carter grabbed his coffee mug. “Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I have to check on Bea and finish getting ready for work.”
The moment they were alone, Ellery turned to Karen.
“I said that Bea loves horses. How is that voting in his favor?”
Karen’s face clouded. “Because Carter is afraid Bea will form an attachment to something and then get hurt when it’s time to say goodbye.”
“But if a person closes himself off like that, he’ll miss out on the good things, too,” Ellery protested.
“I agree. Carter will leave the final decision up to me, but there’s a reason why he is protective. There was a time when he...couldn’t be there for Bea and I believe he’s trying to make up for it.”
Ellery felt a tug on her heart. “It must be difficult when servicemen and women are away from home when something bad happens. How...how long ago did Bea’s mother pass away?”
Karen appeared shocked by the question. “Carter isn’t a widower,” she said after a moment. “Jennifer is alive and well and, from what I’ve heard, still jet-setting around the world. She walked out on Carter and Bea three years ago and never looked back.”
Carter’s ex-wife had abandoned her family?
Ellery could hardly comprehend it.
“That must have been devastating.”
A shadow darkened Karen’s eyes. “Carter blamed himself and I think he still carries a lot of guilt.”
Remembering their conversation at the wishing bell the night before, Ellery had another theory. It was more than what Carter carried. It was what he’d lost.
Hope.
* * *
Carter closed Bea’s bedroom door and backed into the hallway, careful not to disturb her.
Even on the days she didn’t attend kindergarten, Bea was up with the sunrise, but this time, she hadn’t even stirred.
Apparently, his little girl needed some extra sleep to recharge her batteries after last night’s outing. What Carter needed was another cup of java before he started his shift.
And one more opportunity to talk some sense into his mom.
He couldn’t believe she was actually contemplating the idea of fostering an animal.
We have the space, Carter. It does seem like the perfect solution, Karen had said reasonably.
The perfect solution for Sunni Mason. But all Carter could see was a fifteen-hundred-pound problem.
He cut through the dining room on his way to the kitchen, expecting to see Ellery enjoying breakfast with the new guests.
But no, she was gliding between the table with a coffee carafe. Wearing a bright smile and one of the white aprons his mom kept on peg behind the door.
“These are the best popovers I’ve ever tasted,” one of the women declared. “Will you share the recipe?”
“I’ll talk to the chef and see what I can do,” Ellery promised before disappearing into the kitchen again.
She wasn’t supposed to be in the kitchen.
Or his thoughts.
But lately, Carter hadn’t been very successful at keeping Ellery out of either one.
He cut between the tables and found Ellery standing beside Karen at the butcher block island, working in tandem as they plated the main entrée.
Jennifer hadn’t stepped foot in the kitchen after the wedding and acted more like a paying guest than family. Carter had expected his mom and Jennifer would become close over time, but a month after his deployment, Jennifer had packed up her things and moved back to Chicago.
And yet somehow, in the space of a few days, Ellery Marshall had managed to charm her way into the hearts of both the women in Carter’s life.
“I never would have thought of using cranberries and fresh rosemary as a garnish.” Karen looked down at Ellery’s handiwork and grinned. “It looks like a Christmas wreath.”
Ellery stared down at the tray as if she hadn’t realized what she’d done. “I’m sorry...”
“Don’t you dare apologize!” Karen cut off her apology. “I love it.” She added a sprig of rosemary to the plate. “I’m beginning to think you’re an undercover restaurant critic or a reporter who wants to write about the inn and make us famous,” she teased. “‘Fess up, Ellery. What’s the real reason you’re here in Castle Falls?”
Carter shifted his weight and the floorboards creaked, giving his position away. Ellery’s head snapped up. In that brief, unguarded moment, Carter saw something in her eyes that he recognized.
Guilt.
Ellery covered it with a smile but the tense set of her shoulders, the way she averted her gaze, set off Carter’s inner alarm system as she picked up the tray.
“I’ll take this out.” Ellery slipped past Carter but he followed her back to the dining room.
Was she avoiding the question? Or him?
“I’ve got it from here.” Carter relieved Ellery of her burden. He didn’t typically serve the guests while in uniform, but it wasn’t Ellery’s job to serve them at all.
Someone had to follow the rules.
“Thank you.” A man sitting with his wife at a corner table thrust out his hand after Carter set the plates down. “And be careful out there, Deputy.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Carter saw Ellery disappear through the doorway that led to the lobby.
“I will,” Carter murmured.
He wondered what the man would think if Carter admitted that the slender woman who’d poured their coffee a few minutes ago was more dangerous than any criminals he might encounter during his shift? At least when it came to Carter’s peace of mind.
Chapter Nine
Snow crunched underneath Ellery’s feet as she hiked between the tidy rows of apple trees on Monday afternoon, the bells on her scarf tinkling like miniature wind chimes.
It was the first time she’d explored the grounds since her arrival, but the old orchard visible from the upstairs window had beckoned to her.
Karen had left to pick up Bea from school shortly before Ellery set out on her walk, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
After Ellery had stumbled into the middle of Carter and Karen’s “discussion” the day before, she’d spent the remainder of the day in her room, sifting through some old issues of the local newspaper with the hope of finding a mention of her brothers.
And avoiding Carter in the process.
Once again, with a frequency that was starting to concern her, Ellery’s thoughts returned to a handsome deputy.
Jennifer is alive and well and, from what I’ve heard, still jet-setting around the world. She walked out on Carter and Bea three years ago and never looked back.
Ellery didn’t know why she’d assumed that Carter’s wife had passed away. Maybe because it had never crossed her mind that a woman would simply walk away from her husband and child.
Ellery was well acquainted with grief. Knew that losing a person you loved changed the landscape of your life forever. But if that person chose to leave... Was it any wonder the walls around Carter’s heart were as impenetrable as his bulletproof vest?
Karen had said that Carter had moved back to Castle Falls three years ago. Bea would have been a toddler at the time. Did she even remember her mother?
Ellery wasn’t naive enough to believe that every marriage was as idyllic as her parents’, but she couldn’t imagine a woman completing severing ties with her child.
The sound of laughter interrupted Ellery’s thoughts and when she followed it to its source, spotted a pickup truck and trailer parked near the barn.
The inn’s four-legged guest had arrived.
Karen stood outside w
ith Bea, chatting with a woman Ellery instantly recognized from one of the booths they’d visited after the parade. Only today she wore a stocking cap instead of a white wig and had traded her red velvet coat for a more practical one made of fleece.
Ellery waved as she cut across the yard, but Bea intercepted her before she reached the door.
“We’ve got a pony, Miss El’ry!” she shouted. “And it looks just like Snowflake! Come see!”
Bea slipped her hand into Ellery’s and tugged her toward the barn.
Ellery laughed as snow sifted over the tops of her boots. The sound caught the attention of Karen and her companion. Both women turned toward her with a smile.
“Ellery, this is Sunni Mason.” Karen made the introductions. “The president of the animal shelter’s volunteer board. Sunni, Ellery Marshall. Ellery is a guest but she’s been so helpful, I’m beginning to think she’s an answer to prayer.”
“Ellery and I met on Saturday night, when I was dressed up as Mrs. Paws.” Sunni’s eyes twinkled. “Carter and Ellery and Isabella stopped by the animal shelter’s booth and it looked like they were all having a wonderful time.”
“Carter didn’t mention he’d met up with you and Bea.” Karen looked astonished—not to mention a little intrigued—by the information.
Uh-oh.
“I enjoy Bea’s company.” Ellery smiled down at the girl. She didn’t want Carter’s mother questioning her relationship with Carter, too.
Because there was no relationship.
“We went on a sleigh ride,” Bea said. “And Daddy played games with us, didn’t he, Miss El’ry?”
“A sleigh ride,” Karen repeated. “And...games?”
Ellery nodded.
Fortunately, she was saved from having to answer more questions about the evening when a series of loud thumps drew everyone’s attention to the barn.
“We’re waiting until my boys get Sugar settled into her new home before we go inside,” Sunni said.
Bea’s shoulders rolled with her sigh. “It’s taking a looong time.”
More thumps...and a muffled groan.
Sunni and Karen exchanged a wide-eyed look over Bea’s head.
“How about I take a quick peek inside and see how they’re doing?” Ellery offered quickly. “I used to do a fair amount of riding when I was younger.”
“Fine by me,” Sunni said. “Sugar is a tad...um...bigger than the animals we usually deal with at the shelter.”
Ellery stepped into the barn and the first thing she saw was the broomstick tail of an enormous white horse blocking the narrow aisle that bisected the building.
Ellery couldn’t see anyone, but she could hear an animated conversation taking place on the opposite end of the barn.
“You’re the one who claimed that putting a horse in a stall would be as easy as steering a canoe,” a masculine voice grumbled.
“My canoe doesn’t have a mind of its own...and the, um, stern isn’t nearly as wide” came the swift retort.
“Try to lure her inside with the apple we brought along.” A third person joined the conversation.
A moment of silence. And then, “That was for the horse?”
“Seriously?” A huff of frustration echoed through the barn. “You aren’t supposed to eat the bribe.”
“I know that now.”
Ellery smiled and reached for the candy cane she’d tucked into her coat pocket before she’d ventured into the woods.
Ellery patted Sugar’s flank as she eased through the narrow gap between the horse and the wall. “Easy, girl. Coming through.”
An abrupt silence descended on the barn when she ducked into the empty stall.
Sugar’s nostrils quivered in anticipation when she spotted the treat. Without hesitation, the horse plodded into her new home and took the candy cane from Ellery’s hand with all the manners of a well-behaved golden retriever.
Ellery patted the velvety nose and made a break for it.
She slid the door slid shut, turned and found herself on the receiving end of three engaging grins.
Sunni Mason had referred to her sons as “boys,” so Ellery was taken aback to see grown men in their mid-to-late twenties, not the teenagers she’d expected, standing in front of her. Ink-black hair provided a striking contrast to eyes in various shades of watercolor blue. And in spite of the fact they looked as if they’d been rolling in the straw instead of using it as bedding, all three were tanned and fit and handsome enough to grace the cover of an outdoor magazine.
“I don’t know who you are,” the tallest one said cheerfully. “But we appreciate the help.”
“I rode when I was younger,” Ellery admitted, the memory of her parents cheering from the sidelines during her dressage events finding the tender places in her heart. “Peppermint was a treat.”
“So are apples.” The group’s spokesman shot a meaningful look at the guy standing next to him, who looked to be the youngest of Sunni Mason’s offspring.
“Sugar obviously has a discerning palate.” He grinned back, totally unrepentant. Unlike the other two, who were as clean-cut as Carter, this man’s hair brushed the collar of his flannel shirt and a shadow of a beard accentuated his jaw. He was also the only one with the bring-it-on gleam of a daredevil in his eyes.
He glanced at the third man, who’d remained silent during the exchange. “Which one would you prefer? An apple or a candy cane?”
“Oh, no. Don’t look at me,” he said mildly. “I’m Switzerland, remember?”
While Ellery tried to keep up with their good-natured banter, Sunni poked her head around the door. “How is it going?”
“Piece of cake.” Ellery found herself on the receiving end of a mischievous wink. “Or should I say candy?”
“She’s a sweetie, all right,” Sunni agreed. “That must be why her owner named her Sugar.”
“Her disposition?” Switzerland mused. “Or her eating habits?”
Ellery grinned.
“Don’t pay any attention to my sons, Ellery. They might be a little overwhelming in triplicate, but I promise they’re harmless.” The affection in Sunni Mason’s voice was in direct contrast to the exasperated look she rolled toward the ceiling. “Now, you boys scrape up the manners I taught you and say hello to Ellery.”
“Do we introduce ourselves by birth order or order of importance?” Laughter danced like a flame in the daredevil’s cobalt blue eyes.
“Both. Which means you go last.” The man who’d spoken to Ellery first stepped forward with a smile. “Brendan Kane. And thanks again for your help.”
“She could probably tell it was our first rodeo,” his companion said. “I’m Aiden. And the quiet guy holding up the wall over there is Liam.”
“Aiden only thinks I’m quiet.” The man’s lips quirked at the corners. “Most of the time I’m ignoring him.”
Ellery’s knees had turned to liquid. Somehow, she managed to shape her frozen lips into a caricature of a smile as she shook their hands.
Brendan, Liam and Aiden.
Sunni Mason’s sons.
And her...brothers.
“I better tell Karen and Isabella the coast is clear,” the woman was saying. “That little girl is so excited to meet Sugar, she’s been jumping around like a pogo stick the last five minutes.”
“I’ll tell them.” Ellery somehow reached the door without stumbling. Kept her voice from cracking when she told Karen and Bea they could meet Sugar.
Made it back to the inn before the tears started to fall.
* * *
Carter pulled into the gas station and saw a pickup emblazoned with the Castle Falls Outfitters logo hogging two spaces in the parking lot. The empty horse trailer hitched to the back of the truck proof his mom’s soft heart had prevailed once again.
He got out of the squad car and plucked
the nozzle from the fuel pump just as the Kane brothers spilled out of the station. They spotted the squad car and in what appeared to be a synchronized choreography, changed direction and ambled toward him.
“Officer Friendly.” Aiden, river guide turned temporary wrangler, grinned at Carter. “How’s it going?”
“That’s Deputy Friendly to you,” Carter drawled. “And everything is great.”
One would think that a guy fluent in sarcasm would be able to read the room, but no. If possible, Aiden’s grin grew even wider. He hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his faded jeans, leaned a hip against the squad car and made himself comfortable.
“We left your place a little while ago,” Liam said. “Sunni was thrilled your mom agreed to give Sugar a home.”
“Temporary home,” Carter corrected. His eyes narrowed as a thought suddenly occurred to him. “Its name is Sugar? It’s a white horse?”
“Uh-huh.” Brendan cocked his head. “Do you have a problem with white horses? Or horses in general?”
Can I tell you what I wished for, Daddy? I wished for a real live horse that looks just like Snowflake.
Bea had whispered the words when Carter had tucked her into bed after they’d returned home from the parade.
Carter hadn’t known what to say. He never knew what to say in the face of a child’s absolute certainty that life would unfold exactly the way you thought it should.
Bea would have been ecstatic when the animal arrived. Just like he knew she would be inconsolable when the Kanes loaded Sugar back into the trailer and took her away.
So, no. Carter didn’t have a problem with horses. He had a problem with anything that would potentially break his daughter’s heart.
“Mom got the call about Sugar and remembered Karen had agreed to host the live nativity this year,” Brendan said, not waiting for Carter’s answer.
“Which means you have a barn,” Liam added. “Sunni decided it was an answerer to prayer.”
After all the times Carter had called out to God, he found it a little ironic He’d chosen this particular situation to intervene. But then again, Sunni Mason was the one whose prayers had been answered.
The Holiday Secret (Castle Falls Book 4) Page 7
