“Good idea. I’ll get my jacket.”
The night was cold and clear and still, the kind of night when every squeaky step into the frigid snow is magnified a hundred times and when the lonely hoot of an owl carries for miles. As Susan and Riley made their way from the driveway to the house, Susan paused and breathed deeply. “I could get used to this. I don’t ever remember this kind of quiet in Chicago.”
“If it’s quiet you want you’ve come to the right place. When I was a kid and I’d get sick of my family, I’d sneak to the park sometimes at night. In the winter, with nothing but silence all around, I could convince myself I was alone, that I didn’t have to share a bathroom with three brothers and a bossy little sister, that no one was going to tell me it was my turn to dry the dishes. Of course, after a while I’d get lonely and head back to the chaos. I guess I’m just not cut out for too much quiet.”
“Mmmm,” Susan sighed and leaned into Riley. “I could have used a place like that when I was a kid. Being the only girl was…difficult at times.”
“You and Shauna should get together and share stories. She was always complaining about us—that we were slobs, that we were noisy, that we were smelly. She was kind of a pain, really.”
“It’s not easy living with a bunch of boys. Trust me.”
They made their way inside and while Riley set out the paperwork for Cindy, Susan ran upstairs to the bedroom where she remembered having left her bag. Riley was making a few notes for Cindy when he heard Susan.
“Riley? Riley…Riley!”
He made a mad dash for the stairs and was in the bedroom before she could scream his name again. “What? What’s wrong?” He looked around wildly trying to figure out what had happened, but saw only Susan, stock-still and staring out the window.
“Look.”
Coming up along side her, he looked out the window and over the lake. The sky was lit with a dizzying array of color. Shades of green, dark in some places, nearly yellow in others, swirled and danced across the sky. As they watched, the colors bent, expanded, and shrunk, ever fluid and changing.
Susan was mesmerized. It took her a while to find her voice and when she did it was barely more than a whisper. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“The Northern Lights. It is a pretty incredible show.”
“You’ve seen this before? Does it happen all the time here?”
“Yes, I’ve seen it before, but only a few times. It doesn’t happen often that we get a show like this. You need to be farther North, usually.”
They were silent for a while, just watching. Riley’s hand found it’s way up Susan’s back and his fingers toyed with the ends of her hair. She rested her head on his shoulder for a minute then startled him by jerking away.
“Ha! I’ve got it. I knew it would come to me if I just waited. It always works that way, no use in forcing things like this, they just happen when the time is right.” She bounced around the room, a triumphant gleam in her eyes.
“Care to let me in on the secret?”
“It’s no secret. Remember that night when Jake asked about quilts or something, about designing a room around a quilt?”
Riley grinned mischievously. “Sure I remember. We talked about he and Mom sharing the honeymoon suite.”
“I think you decided it was Cupid’s Delight but that’s beside the point. We never really finished the conversation about the rooms seeing as we got a little sidetracked by your story.” Riley was laughing to himself but Susan continued. “I always planned on naming the rooms, giving them each a character of their own. I tried thinking of names a couple of times, even started to scribble ideas in my notebook…” At the mention of the notebook, Riley forgot Cupid’s Delight and paid attention. “But I couldn’t come up with the right names, the right ideas. I finally told myself that’s not how it works. I can’t just sit down and name the rooms. They have to name themselves.”
Now he was confused. “Name themselves?”
“Sure. Something would happen in a room or there’d be something unique about it that would lend itself to a name.”
“Okay…”
“So now I have the first name. This room will be Northern Lights. It’s perfect. It sounds romantic and mysterious at the same time. Once in a lifetime, even. The kind of place where a couple may want to spend their first night together or spend a night commemorating the hundreds or thousands that have come before.”
Riley considered for a minute then nodded his agreement. “I get it. Kind of like Jake talked about with quilts, but not with quilts. Each room will have it’s own personality, so to speak. Maybe you can add the first room name to the website, start building more anticipation.”
“That’s a good idea, adding names and information one room at a time.” She was grinning at him, pleased he understood and touched he showed so much interest in the future of the inn. “Now just six to go.”
14
Susan found she had a few minutes to spare before heading to work so decided to take another look at her website. It had been live for a couple of weeks but it still gave her a little thrill to see it pop up on her laptop screen. She clicked through the pictures she had decided on and tried not to second-guess her choices. She’d leave the site alone for now, then add pictures as more construction was completed, she promised herself. She was anxious to start adding details about the rooms, especially since she had decided on the first name. Northern Lights. The more she thought about it, the more she loved it..
She daydreamed a little and imagined the special touches she could incorporate in the room. A deep blue rug was a must, she decided, as deep as the night sky. Maybe a cluster of white birch branches wreathed in tiny blue lights. Lit up at night with the lights reflecting off walls or off a mirror, the effect could be breathtaking. She’d have to test it out. Glass tile in the bathroom, maybe with a bluish tint. It would give the illusion of moving, shifting light. She ran a couple of quick searches for examples of tile and was ecstatic when she discovered heat-sensitive glass tiles that started out dark then flowed through the color spectrum as warm to hot water heated them. Exactly like the Northern Lights. Perfect. She made a mental note to ask Riley to look into the product.
On a whim, she decided to check the email account she’d created for the inn. She didn’t check it often as she didn’t expect any activity yet, so it had been several days since she’d taken a look. It was a shock to see an email in her inbox. Well, she reasoned, she’d named a room the previous night, that was a step forward. This was another one, the first comment or inquiry regarding the inn. Glancing briefly at the subject line that read only ‘owner,’ she quickly opened the email. And froze. In large, red letters a three-word message screamed at her, ‘You will pay.’
For a moment, Susan just stared at the screen. You will pay? She turned the words over in her head and couldn’t make sense of them. The brief flash of fear at seeing the big, red letters was quickly replaced with disappointment. Her first email was nothing more than garbage. Probably someone stumbled across her website and thought he was being funny. Or thought he’d scare her. Whatever the case, Susan simply shrugged and deleted the email. Oh well, maybe tomorrow would be the day, she told herself as she headed out the door for work.
That afternoon Riley was hanging drywall when Jake and Joe clomped into the room. Funny how he knew it was them before he turned around. Years of living in the same house, listening to their footsteps on the stairs and throughout the house, left him able to detect the slight differences, the slight variations, in the sounds of their footfalls. Entirely too much time together, he told himself.
“Unless you came to help, you should probably turn right back around,” Riley said, his back still to his brothers.
“A tad cranky this morning, little brother?” Jake asked.
“A lot busy this morning, big brother.”
Looking around, Joe nodded his approval. “Haven’t been inside in a few weeks, you’re making some good headway.”
Resigned to the fact that he was going to have to take time out to talk to his brothers, Riley sighed and stepped down off the ladder. “So…reason for this visit?”
“Nothing special, just wanted to see how things are coming along.” Jake ran his hand along a section of drywall. “Are you on schedule? Ahead? Not behind, I hope.”
“On schedule. Maybe a little ahead.”
“Good. Sucks to get behind,” Joe said matter-of-factly.
Riley looked from one to the other trying to figure out the real reason they were standing in the middle of his jobsite, wasting his time, and starting to piss him off. “Everything okay with Mom and Dad? The gift certificate for the dinner theater and the night in the hotel is all taken care of?”
“Yep. Karen got the gift certificate ordered and booked the hotel room. Guess she’s having them put a bottle of champagne in the room, too. All wrapped up and ready for Christmas.”
“Good. Thanks for handling that.”
Jake looked out the window. “Saw Cindy on the way in, she’s looking good.”
“Yes, Cindy’s fine. What the hell are you doing here? Don’t you work?”
“Christmas vacation. One of the perks of being a teacher.” When Riley narrowed his eyes, Joe continued. “Did you happen to catch the Northern Lights last night?”
Apparently this was going to take a while. “Actually, I did. Susan had never seen…” And then it hit him. They were there on a recon mission; sent, no doubt, by their mother. God love her, the woman didn’t know what to do with herself if she wasn’t busy poking her nose in her kids’ lives.
Jake and Joe looked from one to the other as if both willing the other to speak first. As annoyed as Riley was, watching his brothers squirm almost made up for it.
“So,” Riley began, “did she give you specific questions or is this just a casual fact-gathering mission?”
Jake ran a hand over his face. “Come on, Riley, you know how she is. You miss a couple of family dinners, she starts asking questions.”
“Isn’t she busy enough with your wedding,” he waved an arm in Jake’s direction, “and your baby?” He turned and pointed at Joe.
Joe simply shrugged. “She raised five kids. She knows how to multi-task.”
When Riley scowled Jake said, “You’re going to have to give us something. If we show up empty-handed she’ll just send us back.”
“Tell her I’m busy. Tell her this is a big job. Tell her whatever the hell you want.”
“So we should tell her when you’re not working here, you’re spending time with Susan. And that even when you are working, you’re spending a lot of time with Susan?”
“She hired me to do this job. Obviously I’m spending time with her.”
“Then the dinners at The Brick, a few Saturday morning coffee dates, and the afternoon at the antique place were all just business?” Joe smirked.
“Yes. There are details to work out, questions that need to be addressed. If we do it over a pizza or a cup of coffee, what’s the difference?” Letting Susan talk him into going to the antique shop to look at furniture was a little harder to explain so Riley chose to skip over it. “And how do you know every move I make?”
“Really?” Jake raised a brow. “It’s Misty Lake. Do you honestly believe that you can go out with a woman and half the town won’t comment on it? You’re going to have to take Susan out of town—far out of town—if you want to keep it a secret.”
“I didn’t say I’m trying to keep it a secret. There’s nothing to keep secret. There’s nothing…damn, just…” With that he stomped out of the room. When he returned a minute later with a roll of drywall tape, his brothers were grinning like fools.
“I guess we’ve got enough to report back to Mom,” Joe teased. “He seems to be at a loss for words.”
“Bite me.”
“Oh, and now he’s getting mean. What are we going to do about that?” Joe asked, looking at Jake.
Jake casually lifted his hand and rubbed his knuckles. “We could take him outside and do the same thing we did when he was a bratty little kid.”
Riley shook his head, called his brothers a list of inventive names under his breath, and turned back to the drywall.
“He sure is a touchy thing. I’d say Susan’s got him wrapped around her finger and he doesn’t quite know what to do about it,” Joe said.
“I’d say you’re right. And that’s one determined woman. If she’s made up her mind, he doesn’t stand a chance.”
Riley knew there wasn’t much point in arguing, but his pride demanded he try. “You two may forget you have balls when those women of yours tell you what to do, but I don’t. I make my own decisions.”
“As long as those decisions fall in line with Susan’s,” Jake said and Joe hooted and nodded in agreement.
“You should talk,” Riley said poking a finger at Jake then giving the bright red sweater he was wearing a tug. “Does Sam pick out your clothes now? Nice sweater. And what about the wedding? Are you sure you even need to show up? Sam and Susan seem to be making all those decisions, too.”
“Weddings are girl’s stuff…” Jake mumbled.
“And you,” Riley turned on Joe when he started laughing. “Shouldn’t you be home folding diapers or baby-proofing the house or reading some childbirth book?”
Joe looked slightly panicked and tried, unsuccessfully, to glance at his watch unnoticed.
“See? You’ve been away for what? An hour? And all you can think about right now is getting back and doing more baby stuff. Pathetic.” Riley shook his head in disgust. “Don’t you two talk to me about being wrapped around a woman’s finger. You two are the poster children.”
Jake considered for a minute then nodded. “Yep. He’s done. No one argues that hard against something unless he’s trying to convince himself it’s not true.”
“Welcome to the club, Riles. How does it feel to finally admit it?” Joe asked.
“I haven’t admitted anything! I…aw, hell.” Riley raked his hand through his hair and, with one big sigh, gave up.
“It’s going to be okay. It’s all going to be okay,” Jake said, patting him on the back. “Many men before you have survived this. You will, too.”
Riley paced around the room unsure of how he felt. In a way, talking to his brothers was comforting. As Jake said, they’d survived. Thrived, actually, if he was being honest. Both were happier than he had ever seen them. Jake was head-over-heels for Sam and, for as much grief as he gave Joe, he knew Joe was thrilled with the thought of being a father and Riley knew he was going to make a terrific one.
But, on the other hand, was he ready to admit to everyone how he felt about Susan? He hadn’t even really told her…well, not in so many words. What was he supposed to do about that? So many things to think about. Women were complicated, he decided.
Turning back to his brothers he said, “Just promise me one thing. When it’s Frank’s turn, I get to be part of the posse. Three on one will be fun.”
“Deal,” Joe chuckled. “And when it’s Shauna’s turn, all four of us can gang up on her.”
They all started to laugh but quickly froze, staring horrified at one another. They were silent, unpleasant thoughts racing through their minds. Finally Jake spoke.
“She’s just a kid.”
“And she’s a girl,” Riley added.
“And our sister,” Joe said, a panic-stricken look on his face.
“I’m sure we won’t have to think about it for years. And years,” Jake said uncertainly.
“Right. Years,” Riley echoed.
They were quiet again, glancing hesitantly at one another, and each waiting for the others to come up with a solution to what seemed to be an enormous problem.
“I know,” Joe brightened. “Sometime down the road—and I’m talking years here,” his brothers were nodding, their expressions hopeful, “we’ll have Karen and Sam, maybe Susan and whoever else is in the picture, talk to her. It will be better c
oming from women, anyway. Right?”
“For sure,” Riley said, nodding vigorously now.
“Absolutely,” Jake agreed on a sigh of relief.
They all shifted, still somewhat uneasy. To break the tension, Riley said, “You know, if you guys are going to hang around you might as well give me a hand. I’ve got a lot of drywall to hang.”
Joe glanced at his watch. “Actually, I need to get going. There’s some ba—” Clearing his throat, he continued. “There’s some stuff I need to take care of at home.”
“Yeah, Sam asked me to pick up a few things at the store for her. I mean, she knew I was heading out so it’s really not a big deal…”
Somewhat awkwardly, Jake and Joe bundled back into their coats and gloves and headed for the door. On some mumbled goodbyes and see you soons, they made their way to their cars.
Disgusted, Riley frowned and muttered, “Wimps.”
15
On Christmas Eve the house was full, much as it had been just a few weeks before, but for Susan, nothing could match the excitement, the enchantment, the joy of Christmas Eve. By five o’clock it was dark already and the tree, set against the inky black windows, sparkled and twinkled brightly, as if it knew tonight was the night to give its all. Dozens of packages, carefully wrapped in glittering paper and topped with dazzling bows and ribbons, created a sea of color underneath. Next year, Susan thought, the tree and packages wouldn’t be safe for a minute from the curious little fingers of Joe and Karen’s son or daughter. The idea warmed her heart and brought a smile to her face. The same would be the case at her parents’ house, she knew, with her niece or nephew. Again, a smile spread on her lips but a tiny pain tugged at her heart.
There had been a few moments earlier in the day as she and Sam were hustling with their last minute preparations, when the melancholy threatened, but she had brushed it aside. Yes, she missed her family, and yes, Christmas would be different, but it was still Christmas and, she figured, there was no point in thinking about what could be or what should be. Instead, she’d focus on what was in front of her and surrounding her with the kind of love families provide on Christmas. Even if they’re not your own.
The Inn at Misty Lake: Book Two in the Misty Lake Series Page 11
