Dreamkeepers

by Dorothy Garlock

  “I’ve got to get these dishes done.” She had to get away from him. The ache in her body was too much to bear. She had to keep busy.

  “And I’d better fill the woodbox. That was one of Clyde’s jobs, wasn’t it?”

  “That and keeping the fires going, the ashes hauled out, the wood cut, etc., etc. etc. . . .”

  “Keeping the heat tapes on the pipes, checking the well pump, keeping the motors going, necking with the cook, etc., etc., etc. . . .” He grinned. “You think I can’t manage a few simple chores?”

  “Seein’ is believin’.” She turned her back to him and plunged her hands into the dishwater.

  “Some of those chores can wait until I wipe a few dishes.”

  They worked silently side by side. Kelly’s hands moved automatically while her mind strived to sort out Jonathan’s confusing behavior. It would be wishful thinking to believe he felt more than pure desire for her. His determination to stay with her arose from simple frustration. A spoiled little boy had grown into a hard, sophisticated man who had been denied something he wanted very badly.

  Once she had given him her love, and he had dropped it carelessly. Now, he wanted back the toy that had been snatched away from him. In his determination to possess her, he was robbing her of any chance to forget him, any chance for finding happiness with someone new.

  She finished the last dish and straightened her aching back. “You’re tired, you silly girl. Sit down and have a cup of coffee.” Jonathan pushed her gently into a chair. “I’ll see about the ribs in the smoker and fill the cookstove before I check the fireplace and take a run down to our house to be sure it’s warm enough there.”

  “All right, Dangerous Dan McGrew,” she said without humor.

  “If I’m Dan McGrew, you’re the lady that’s known as Lou,” he said softly.

  “Don’t tell me Yukon poetry was included in the curriculum at your fancy boarding school.”

  Jonathan stood before her, his expression serious, and began reciting:

  “There are strange things done in the midnight sun

  By men who moil for gold;

  The Arctic trails have their secret tales

  That would make your blood run cold;

  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

  But the queerest they ever did see

  Was the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

  I cremated Sam McGee.

  That, my darling wife, is from a poem by Robert Service, poet of the Yukon, who worked in a Whitehorse bank that’s still doing business.”

  “Hear! Hear!” Kelly cheered, a big grin on her face. She loved poetry, especially ballads. “We’ll work up a floor show and let you entertain the guests,” she teased.

  “And run the risk of losing me to Las Vegas?”

  “I wouldn’t be so lucky.” There was no sting in her tone; her eyes were still warm with laughter.

  “No appreciation. That’s what’s wrong with you, my girl.” She watched him put his coat on and thought how easy it would be to fall back into the trap of blind adoration, accepting the desire he offered as a substitute for the love she craved. “Don’t go away,” he said lightly.

  Preparations for the evening meal went smoothly. The food Bonnie had cooked that morning helped ease the workload, and Jonathan proved to be far more capable than Kelly had imagined. He scrubbed and oiled the potatoes, while she prepared greens for the salad. Finally, she couldn’t suppress a giggle.

  “What’s funny?” he asked.

  “You’d know if you could see yourself. I never expected to see the perfectly groomed, cool, no-nonsense Jonathan Templeton with soot on his face.” She began to laugh. “You don’t look very elegant,”

  He laughed too. “You look elegant!” He grabbed a stack of plates. “What’s the program? Do we all eat together?”

  “I’ll be waitress. Set places for the five guests and yourself.”

  “I’ll be waiter. We can eat together afterward. How about Mike?”

  “He said he’d be up later.”

  “When did he say that?”

  “While we were waiting for the helicopter to come for Bonnie.” She glanced around the kitchen and dining area. It looked neat and cozy. With the exception of the potatoes baking in the oven, the meal was ready to be served. She whipped off her apron, and took a large tray from the shelf.

  “Now what?” Jonathan asked.

  “Drinks. I think we should serve before-dinner drinks.”

  “Good idea. That’s my department. Move aside and let the bartender take over.” He loaded the tray with glasses, mix, whiskey, and rum. Kelly filled a bowl with ice cubes and reached for cocktail napkins. Jonathan looked over the tray with a critical eye then, with a conspiratorial wink, he headed for the swinging doors.

  He was a perfect host. Why not, Kelly thought. He’d certainly had enough practice. As the murmur of amused chatter flowed ever her, Kelly experienced a feeling of unreality. It was almost as if she and Jonathan were entertaining guests in their own home.

  While she served the meal, Jonathan set two places at a small table at the far end of the room. He smiled a lot in a slow, endearing way that lifted his mouth at the corners and spread a warm light into his eyes. She hadn’t seen him smile like that since . . . Anchorage.

  Kelly bantered pleasantly with Andy. The girl who had been so attentive to Jonathan the night before seemed to have transferred her attention to Andy tonight. Her nonstop chatter didn’t leave room for much other conversation.

  Jonathan and Kelly were silent during their own meal. When they’d finished, Jonathan carried their empty plates to the sink.

  “Charlie will love the rib bones,” he said, returning with the coffee pot. It was cozy and quiet and music from the stereo drifted softly into the room. “It went off without a hitch, didn’t it?” He had a satisfied smile on his face.

  “Yes, it did,” she admitted.

  The back door opened and Mike entered. “Smells good,” he said. “Anything left?”

  “Sure. Help yourself.” Suddenly the room felt cold. Jonathan leaned back in his chair, maddeningly in command of himself. A look flashed between them. Don’t freeze Mike out of my life! Kelly’s mind shrieked. Her eyes shifted to Mike and she smiled. “Fill a plate and join us.”

  Jonathan was watching her shrewdly, eyes narrowed, as he sipped his coffee. Kelly didn’t know what to expect next.

  “Bring a cup, Mike. The coffee pot is here,” he said, his eyes still on Kelly.

  “The potatoes are in the warming oven,” she added.

  “All this and potatoes, too? I’m hungry as a bear.”

  They spoke polite words, but might as well have snarled at each other. Kelly was surprised at how confidently Mike approached them, and felt a flash of pride. He was family and she loved him. She was sure that one day soon he would realize he loved her like family, too. Her eyes softened when she looked at him.

  “You’ll have to clue me in on what’s to be done around here while Clyde’s away, Mike,” Jonathan said easily.

  “Think you can handle Clyde’s chores? I can always get a few no-good loafers to come out for a while. I would have done that before, but I wouldn’t leave Kelly out here alone with most of them.”

  Kelly met Jonathan’s eyes with a pretense of calm. Mike was handling himself just fine.

  “I appreciate that.”

  Kelly flushed. Those three words set his seal of possession on her.

  “If you think you can manage it, we’d better get on the ends of that crosscut in the morning. I cut enough wood this fall for my own use, but I didn’t know Kelly was coming back or that she’d want to open the lodge. Heat is top priority in this country.”

  “Have you looked into propane gas for heating?” Jonathan asked.

  “Can’t afford it. It would cost an arm and a leg to heat this place with gas. Maybe later when we get the business going.”

  Here it comes, Kelly thought. Jonathan would reveal that he own
ed the lodge and Mike would be furious! She felt caught between two hungry dogs.

  “I’ve been thinking,” she interrupted anxiously. “Now that hunting season is on and the moose are coming down out of the timber, we could hire someone to butcher the animals our guests shoot. It might be an added incentive to bring hunters to the lodge. They could take the meat home in neat packages instead of draped over the top of the car.”

  “You should be banned from thinking, woodenhead,” Mike said affectionately. “How many hunters would drive out here? If they come at all, it will be by train. Besides, they’ll want to take their prize back and show it off before it’s butchered. We’ve got the truck to haul it to the station. Anyway, if we set up that kind of operation, we’d have a hundred inspectors out here with a thousand different regulations.”

  “He’s right, sweetheart,” Jonathan said. “It’s out of the question.”

  Jonathan and Mike were agreeing on something—and against her! She wanted to be angry, but instead felt relief. “Well, if that’s the way you feel about it . . .” She gave them both a mocking smile and got up from the table. “I’ll take my ideas to the dishpan. That’s one idea you’ll both approve of, I’m sure.” Both men laughed and suddenly Kelly was almost happy.

  “I’ll help you.” Jonathan began to clear the table. “About tonight, Mike. What do you suggest we do about . . .”

  “I’ll stay in the lodge tonight,” he said quickly. “I can’t do much to fill in for Clyde, but I can stay up here nights.”

  “Do we have to socialize with the guests?” Jonathan asked when he brought a load of dishes to the sink.

  “I can do that, too,” Mike said with a grin. “There’s a cute little blonde in there who’s been giving me the eye.”

  Kelly could scarcely believe the evening had ended so pleasantly. The weather was cold, hovering around the zero mark, when she and Jonathan walked down the snow-packed path to her cabin. Charlie came bounding out to meet them, the ever present, battered frisbee in his mouth. He headed straight for Jonathan.

  Later, when Jonathan lifted the blankets, slid into bed beside her, and took her flannel-gowned body in his arms, she made no protest. She was so tired. She snuggled against his warm body and was asleep almost instantly.

  CHAPTER TEN

  MARTY AND TRAM arrived with the announcement that they had been married the day before in Fairbanks.

  “We decided we didn’t need that little piece of paper to stay together,” Marty explained. “Then as long as we didn’t need it, we thought we might as well get it.”

  Mike glowered at his sister, yanked a box out of the utility truck, and carried it to the cabin where she and her new husband would live. Tram had already disappeared inside and Jonathan was at the lodge.

  “It’s a shock to Mike that you’re all grown up,” Kelly explained with a laugh.

  “Gripes! I don’t know why it should be. We’re the same age. All three of us, as a matter of fact. The best thing for him would be to find himself a woman!” Marty picked up one of the suitcases and reached for a smaller one. “Let’s leave the rest of this for Tram and get in out of the cold.”

  Tram was a tall, thin man of thirty. His hair was thick and curly, a warm, golden toffee color. He was attractive in an unconventional way. The sudden smile that came over his face when he looked at Marty plainly said he adored her, which endeared him to Kelly immediately.

  “Mike said your husband is here. Is he going to stay?” Marty shrugged out of her coat and dumped it on a chair. She was a slender girl with full breasts and narrow hips. She raised her straight brows and her wide mouth tilted into a grin. “I’m anxious to meet the fabulous Jonathan Templeton. I saw his picture in Newsweek a couple of months ago.”

  “What was that all about?” Kelly asked quietly.

  “He resigned as chairman of the board of some big company and turned over the management of several other companies. I don’t know anything about business, but it was something like that. The stock market did something or other when that happened.” She looked closely at Kelly. “What’s a man like him doing here? Are you going back to him?”

  “I’m not going back with him, if that’s what you mean. And as to what he’s doing here, he says he’s going to stay and help us run the resort.” Kelly’s voice dropped on the last word and Marty shook her head sadly.

  “Are you still in love with him?” When Kelly didn’t answer, she said, “You are! Well then, what’s the problem?”

  “I don’t know if I love him or not. Sometimes I think I do and other times I know I don’t. We don’t fit, that’s the crux of the whole thing. I was out of my depth, Marty. The months I spent in Boston were the most miserable of my life. I can’t explain it. I was a different person there and so was the man I married. I was afraid to move in case I did something wrong. His friends made it clear I was an intruder. His sister despised me. And he became cold and remote. It was awful!”

  “How is he now?”

  “At first he was belligerent. Now he seems more relaxed and at times I think he enjoys himself.”

  “Do you sleep with him?” Marty asked bluntly.

  Kelly’s tongue moistened her lips. “Yes, I do.”

  Marty’s blue eyes grew warm. “You crazy girl! I know you wouldn’t sleep with him unless you cared for him!”

  “Jonathan isn’t an easy man to refuse.” Kelly lifted stricken eyes.

  Marty whistled. “Hell’s bells!”

  “Did you whistle for me, lover?” Tram came in and planted a kiss on Marty’s mouth.

  “Would you come running if I did?”

  “Try me,” he said, and pinched her bottom.

  “Did Mike leave?” Kelly asked.

  “Just a minute ago.” Tram sat down to take off his boots and Marty hung up his coat.

  “The blockhead! Now I’ll have to walk up to the lodge. You two come on up around six-thirty and we’ll have a before-dinner drink. I made a special dinner for your homecoming, if Jonathan hasn’t let the fire go out in the cookstove.” Kelly pulled her yellow wool hat down over her ears and wound her red scarf about her neck. “I’ll leave you lovebirds alone.”

  Out in the crisp cold she walked with head down toward the lodge. She felt rather depressed about her own situation, but happy for Marty. Marty deserved to be happy. If only she and Tram and Mike could stay here. If only Jonathan hadn’t paid those taxes . . . There she went again, she chided herself. Instead of worrying about the if onlys, she should be concerned about the what ifs. What if Jonathan told them he was the man in charge here? What if he made Marty feel unwelcome?

  Jonathan did neither. He was relaxed, friendly, charming, helpful, and made it blatantly clear that he and Kelly were a team.

  “I like him,” Marty said while she and Kelly were cleaning the kitchen. “I can see him as the big business executive, though. He’s very possessive of you, isn’t he? He could scarcely keep his hands off you. I think he’s head over heels in love with you.”

  “You’re right about everything up to that point.” Kelly lifted a big bone out of the roasting pan for Charlie. “It wounded his pride when I left him, but love me? . . . He doesn’t! He hasn’t mentioned a word about love. It’s want, want, want, and you’re mine. I won’t be used that way!”

  Marty looked at her for a long time before she said, “I wish I had some earth-shaking words of wisdom for you. The only thing I can say is to hang in there. He may change, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

  “Count on what?” Her twin came up behind her.

  “None of your business, brother. If you’re going to butt in, grab a towel.”

  “That’s woman’s work!” He put an arm around each girl. “Never thought I’d get both of my girls back to take care of me. I’ve got the biggest washing, and . . .”

  “Chauvinist! Get your own woman!” Marty kissed him on the cheek.

  “Good idea. This one’s spoken for,” Jonathan said from behind Kelly. His arm went about her w
aist and he pulled her back against him.

  “Ah . . . ha!” Marty cried. “You’ve lost out again, brother. You should have let me fix you up with Geraldine Jenkins. She can cook fabulous meals, sew, make jerky, tan hides . . .”

  “But she’s fat!”

  “So? She can go on a diet come spring.”

  “By spring she couldn’t get through that door!”

  “Complain, complain, complain! Never satisfied, is he, Kelly? Tram! Tram, darling. Come take this brother away and tell him about the birds and the bees so Kelly and I can get this mess cleared away.”

  Pulled tightly back against Jonathan, Kelly listened to the light banter between these two people she loved so much. Her husband’s warm breath tickled her ear and his heart thudded against her back. If only he could see Mike and Marty as she did. Why did she have to feel so pulled between him and them?

  “Do you want help?” Jonathan asked against her ear. She turned her head slightly and warm lips found the corner of her mouth.

  “There isn’t that much to do. Marty and I’ll do it.”

  Jonathan removed his arm after a brief squeeze. “Come on, Mike. I know it’s a mind-blowing thought, but I don’t think they appreciate us.”

  “Before you go, take this pan out for Charlie.” Kelly held out the deep pan filled with table scraps.

  His smile was charming, endearing, and Kelly’s heart did a flip. Jack! Damn . . . she had to stop thinking about Jack.

  “Charlie will appreciate me,” Jonathan grumbled and headed for the door.

  Minutes later, Kelly and Marty joined the men before a huge fire in the family room. Jonathan was reclining on a bearskin rug with his back to an ottoman and pulled Kelly down beside him. She curled her feet up under her.

  “Feet cold? Hold them close to the fire. It’s below zero out there.” His arm tightened around her. Just another way to let everyone else know I belong to him, Kelly thought drily.

  “What do you think, Mike?” Tram took up the conversation. “Do we have a level enough space over in that clearing to launch a glider?”