The animal was riled, no doubt a prisoner of its own natural instincts to fight, and hunt, and kill.
The cat swiped, its claws catching the pitchfork and almost pulling it free of Max’s grip. A cat that size had incredible strength and would do damage to any of the lodge’s horses or guests.
Lauren ducked back as the horses became more agitated, shaking their heads, rearing, and clopping their hooves. Max had no choice, throwing himself forward at the deadly cat, feeling those four prongs pressing against the thick hide and reedy muscles. The animal cried out and bolted but got trapped under the hooves of an agitated horse. The hunter had become the prey and the unlikely victor, Speckles the mare.
Death had returned to the lodge, and what the ramifications would be, neither Max nor Lauren could know for sure. Word would get out and much sooner rather than later.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lauren
Lauren’s body shook uncontrollably. The fight with the big cat had come out of nowhere and ended horribly. It was almost impossible for her not to take it as a sign—a bad sign.
“We can’t have a winter village attraction with big predators running around like that.”
Max shrugged. “It’s the season, global warming; it’s too hot, and there’s too much competition on the mountain for food.”
“There’s nothing we can do about that, but I can’t lure my friends and neighbors or anybody else here just to serve them up as a hot lunch!”
“It could be a fluke,” Max said. “He was a lone predator staking out his territory. It’s been so quiet here lately, but with the winter village, the place will be packed, and that’s way too much activity for something like that to happen again.”
She wanted to agree, but the sight of that animal, and knowing how powerful it was, how dangerous it could be, made her doubts impossible to ignore.
“Seems like a terrible risk.”
“I know it was upsetting, and I won’t sit here and tell you to go against your heart. You can take this is as an omen and see it as the straw that broke the camel’s back, and that’s fine. If you feel that way, I’ll help you accomplish whatever you want to achieve, but you might also be overreacting.”
“Overreacting? If there’s even the slightest chance that it could happen again, I wouldn’t call that overreacting.”
“Then close the place now,” Max said. “Look around you, you live on a mountain in a changing world. Life changes here, as it does anywhere. There will be new challenges, new doubts, but our choice will be whether to rise to those challenges or to shrink from them. Whatever you choose, I’ll support you. I want you to make that decision with confidence and care. We’ve come so far, and we’re so close. I’m not sure how but look at what we’ve overcome already; all that history between our fathers, the changing weather, and now this. It may tempt you to stop, to give up, but if word gets out about that cat, and it will, and we shut down as a result, nobody will ever come here again.”
Lauren knew he was right, and the thought of letting go of her family home went too hard against the grain. She wanted to succeed, to survive, and she wanted Max to be right. It was getting harder to believe, but she mustered the strength and nodded, wiping a lone tear from her eye.
“What about an extra guard or something?”
Max nodded. “We’ll monitor the area. We can get a ranger out here, but my guess is that it won’t happen again.”
“Well, you’d better be right.” She let go of a hysterical laugh. “Maybe we should change it to a spa and weight loss center.” She attempted a weak smile. “Come visit Sunshine Lodge and lose weight, one bite at a time.”
Max shook his head and went back outside to deal with the disposal of the cat and see to the construction workers.
Getting them back on track was important if they wanted to meet their completion date. The petting zoo pen was going up, but the other booths were dragging behind schedule.
Lauren went to the lobby reception desk to take up her usual station. Swiping her tablet, she was once again looking over columns of numbers that assembled to tell a new and different story, to write a new chapter in the lodge’s history, maybe even a historical document showing its demise.
Ruthie walked by with her eyes fixed on Lauren, and her expression almost bursting with worry. Lauren followed her, knowing she’d hear about it, eventually.
“What, Ruthie?”
“You know what child. Dat man have you all turned around.”
“Did you see what he did? He saved my life, and you still don’t trust him?”
“You are not wrong. We can’t have children on the mountain. He only wants money.”
“Ruthie, he’s the one who signed the loan. If he was untrustworthy, he’d be encouraging me to shut down, use the loan against me. Is it so hard to believe that he’s a good and decent person? It’s Christmas time, so stop being a Grinch and become a Cindy Lou Who.”
She shook her head, obviously confused. “You’ll see, and let’s hope when you open your eyes, it’s not too late!”
Chapter Thirty
Max
Max made sure construction was back on track before taking some time out to hit the internet. Lauren had raised some good points, and he thought more research on the matter of big cat attacks would reassure, if not enlighten.
These kinds of attacks happened from time to time, in locations all over the United States. Bigger populations were pushing into otherwise natural areas, forcing the cats and the humans into contact. Cats were becoming more emboldened and desperate as their resources shrank.
Moss Creek hadn’t expanded in that way, and the lodge stood just where it had been. It seemed like a fluke, and there wasn’t much information to show the place wouldn’t be perfectly safe. At least as safe as any such place could be.
It brought his father to his mind and how things could be as they appeared. Random balances and imbalances in nature are resolved, old feuds are healed over. It was easy to believe the cat was a coincidence, and that his father’s anger had come and finally gone in the same way. Whatever had changed his mind, just as whatever had sent that big cat into their midst, made Max glad things had worked out as well as they did. It was hardly a Christmas miracle, but the fact that it hurt no one was miraculous.
He thought about Jane and wondered if she was as bad as he thought. She only wanted what everybody wanted; to love and be loved, to have some measure of success and security. There was no way she’d be able to manipulate his father, not Eaton Hunter. If she made him happy, and his happiness made him wish for Max and Lauren’s contentment then why not support them—support her? She was keeping his grandmother alive, and that was an important contribution to everyone’s life.
He’d have to go back and apologize for his mean words and thoughts. All he wanted was to protect his father and his family. Surely, she could understand that. They were all on the same side. It was the Christmas season, after all. A time for giving. A time for family.
Maybe they should have them over for dinner, finally bring the two families back together.
He found Lauren in the lodge, standing behind the desk.
“What would you say if we had my family over for dinner? They could see the lodge and see how happy it makes us.”
She smiled. “Are you trying to make my father turn over in his grave?”
“You’re joking, right?” he asked, not so certain.
He watched her eyes for any sign of distress, but only a sly smile showed.
She rocked her head back and forth. “If anything would make my father rise from the dead, it would be Eaton Hunter dining in his lodge.” She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she grinned. “I think it’s a great idea. You can’t cross a canyon without a bridge. We can be that bridge.”
Lauren seemed genuinely excited. Her ever-present cook, Ruthie, not so much. Lauren calmly decided on a menu of filet mignon and lobster tail, steamed and buttered asparagus tips, a fresh garden sala
d, potatoes au gratin, and chocolate mousse for dessert. She was bent on impressing his father, and that impressed him.
She didn’t like his father, but it was important for the two families to unite. It was the only real chance for a future between them, and Lauren seemed to see that as clearly as he did.
To see her take command and not second-guess herself in the face of her obviously skeptical mentor, Ruthie, filled Max with awe.
He could already imagine their family holiday meals. Their children sitting at the table. Girls and boys with her hair, her eyes, and her strength.
Their future together had never felt more certain. To imagine that his father might sit at the Matthews’ table was almost inconceivable.
It felt like a miracle, like the power of the season had softened the old man’s heart to allow the magic of the lodge to secure their futures as a single family.
Chapter Thirty-One
Lauren
Lauren tried to ignore her nervousness. She hadn’t been in the same room with the legendary Eaton Hunter since she’d been a kid. She hardly had any memory of him at all, though she’d had plenty of opportunities to imagine what kind of man he was: ten feet tall, ate cars for breakfast, and belched fire after lunch.
The facts were reassuring after her childish imagination ran away.
He was far less terrifying than she had believed.
“Welcome to Sunshine Lodge,” she said and stepped aside so Ethel, wheeled by Jane and Eaton, could enter. She guided them to a table off to the side that she’d reserved and set up for their family dinner.
Max pulled out her chair, and when he slid it in, he whispered, “Thank you,” in her ear.
Eaton was a robust, barrel-chested, aging man. Sure, he was intimidating, but she could sense that he didn’t mean to be, it was just how he presented.
Her nerves were in a titter as she watched him take in the surrounding lodge. Even the slightest glance made Lauren worry that they hadn’t sufficiently dusted, or the pine logs in the fire weren’t fragrant enough.
Max took her hand and gave it a squeeze of support.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here.” Eaton scanned the dining room. “Not much has changed.”
She wondered if that was meant as a jibe.
He cleared his throat. “Sometimes, keeping things the same is important. One should feel comfortable in one’s skin,” he looked at Max, “In one’s home.”
Lauren smiled. “I’m so happy you could come to my home. To truly see its beauty and appreciate its intrinsic value.”
Eaton smiled. “I’ve always seen its value.”
He was very polite, almost too polite.
Ruthie arrived with a scowl but didn’t say a word. She served dinner and disappeared to most likely sulk in the kitchen.
As Lauren savored the tender meat, covered with cracked peppercorns, juicy and flavorful, she silently thanked Ruthie for doing her part to make the proper presentation.
The merlot was tangy and dark, the asparagus colorful and firm, slick with butter and sprinkled with glittery crushed kosher salt.
Holiday music played softly in the background, while the dining room was cast in a golden glow from flickering candles. The few other guests ate at a cluster of tables not far off, but it seemed to Lauren as if they weren’t there at all. Her attention was fixed on her present company, Max and his father, his grandmother, and her nurse, Jane.
Poor Ethel sat in her wheelchair, staring straight ahead, barely moving the entire meal.
Max occasionally turned to speak to her as if she could answer like there was nothing wrong.
After one remark, he turned to catch Lauren’s eyes. There was a glint of sadness and resignation as if he knew the futility of his loving little gestures.
Lauren had already heard about Jane, the nurse assigned to care for both elderly Hunters, but in drastically different ways. Lauren had never thought of doing such a thing herself and found the very idea of gold digging distasteful. But watching the woman sitting at her table as a guest, quietly respectful of Eaton and Max, and even Lauren, made her admit that there was something altogether too human about her to condemn.
Eaton was powerful and wealthy and handsome, and Lauren could too easily understand how a woman would be attracted to him.
Lauren only had eyes for Max. Their love was of heart and mind, and not money, but it was fairly obvious why Jane had become entranced with Max’s father.
She wanted to be angry with her for trying to manipulate Max, but she also knew how prone some people were to such things. She was a good deal shy of perfect herself. However, she was grateful to have them in her house and even excited at the prospect of having them all together as a family.
She envisioned Max as the new father, and she the new mother of a new generation of the Matthews-Hunter family.
If Jane was to be a part of that family, Lauren resolved to accept her with an open heart, as her parents would have, and as she received Eaton and Ethel, and Max. The time for old judgments, and perceptions, and feuds to be put aside had come.
“Well, I must say,” Eaton said, “I’m very intrigued with this Holiday Village.”
“We’ve decided to call it a Yule Village,” Lauren said. “This way, we can preserve the rustic approach but still appeal to everybody’s festive spirit.”
“Very clever,” Eaton said. “Have you arranged for advertising?”
Max nodded. “We’re finishing construction as soon as we can so we can shoot a commercial for the lodge’s website. Costumes are just about ready, and I’ve started casting a few locals.”
“Maybe Mayor Shipley would like to be Father Christmas, at least for the big opening. That could draw attention.”
Eaton broke out in a little chuckle. “He might be better served making a speech and introducing the place.” After a moment to consider, he said, “What if I played Father Christmas?”
Lauren glanced immediately at Max, whose mouth had dropped open, eyes wide. “Pop?”
Eaton shrugged. “Well, why not? It’s a position of respect and authority. I think that would be fitting.”
Max seemed dumbstruck, eyes shifting to Jane, and to Lauren, and to his grandmother, expecting somebody to explain. It took the old man himself to shrug and say, “Look, Max, the way things are, and the way they’ve been, isn’t good.” Eaton wrestled with his words, uncharacteristic for the normally forthright businessmen. “Your way of doing things makes some sense, I’ll admit. Maybe putting out a different image for myself and for Hunter Properties would be good. I’ll do it in the spirit of the season.”
Lauren felt like she wanted to break out in a relieved sob. Her attention drew back to Max as his own heart seemed to swell.
He said, “That sounds great, Pop.” He turned to Lauren. “It’s your decision.”
Lauren couldn’t help but smile. She nodded. “I think it’s a wonderful idea, Max. Thank you, sir.”
He repeated, “Sir? Sir was my father’s name.” They all shared a little chuckle while Lauren enjoyed another sip of wine.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Max
“You, Father Christmas?”
His father laughed, the robust sound filling the room with warmth.
“Why is that so hard to believe?”
“It’s not, but it’s unexpected.”
“Haven’t I told you to always expect the unexpected?”
That much was true, but this was different. This was a complete about-face.
“What about you, sir? How are things going for Hunter Enterprises?” Lauren asked.
“Swimmingly well. We’ve got a few new opportunities on the horizon, but let’s not talk business. This is a time to celebrate the season.”
Max could hardly disguise his devotion, but he continued to try. His father had never been a man given to a public display of affection, and while he seemed to make progress, Max didn’t want to push his luck with a gush of family love.
There
was no way to deny the feeling he had, having his father as a guest. Even though the lodge wasn’t his home, he felt as if it was. He certainly felt like Lauren was his family, even without a proper marriage proposal.
As we sat around this dining table, it was easy to imagine the next generation of Matthews-Hunters gathered around respectfully listening to their grandfather’s tales of business and adventure. However, they would be raised to be friendly and welcoming and to never harbor a grudge, or scheme, or backstab.
Max had little choice but to look back on his reunion with Lauren. He’d been sent under dubious circumstances and taken a gamble on his father’s better nature. Still, his father had come around, and Max was looking at the shape of things to come.
“Dinner is delicious,” Eaton said. “You must give my regards to the chef.”
Max considered inviting Ruthie out for an introduction, but he couldn’t take a chance that she’d arrive with a sharpened blade and a need to flay someone open. That person would most likely be his father or him.
“You might remember, Ruthie, she’s been with my family for years.”
“Jamaican woman?”
Lauren smiled. “Yes, have you met her?”
Max’s father shook his head. “No, but her stew is a legend. I’d love to know what she puts in it to make it special.”
Lauren laughed. “I think it’s jerk seasoning, but for all I know, it could be some kind of island voodoo that makes it so delicious.”
He chuckled. “Don’t let Pastor Higgins hear that, or he’ll kidnap her, baptize her, and soak her in holy water until she’s either pruned or pure.”
“She’s already pure. Pure of heart and intentions.”
Up to Snow Good: A Small Town Holiday Romance Page 10
