Winter Dreams

by Simmons, Trana Mae

  "It's breaking her heart. She wants to say here."

  "She won't stay here anyway if the Dyers win. They'd take her back to Alaska, and I'd never see her again. I know it's going to hurt her, but I'd like to think it wouldn't hurt as much as if she lost me, after losing her mother."

  Her anger evaporated, along with any smidgen of hope. Tears clouded her eyes, and she bowed her head. "I understand now," she agreed. "Go ahead. Put Tracie to bed."

  "Go on to Alaska, Laura. Fight for your dream. At least you'll have that."

  "All right."

  She didn't hear him leave, and after a few seconds she looked at the doorway. But he was gone.

  #

  Early the next day, Laura stood at her father's office window, staring out over the frozen cove. At the head of the trail to Duluth, a crowd waited to see her and Pete off. Among the crowd were Sandy and Tracie, since Tracie had informed them that morning that her father would bring her to town in time to say goodbye. But they had to wait. She wouldn't go until she made sure her father and David understood what she wanted done.

  "I hate to tell you this, Laura," David said. "But I can't do this on your orders."

  She whirled on him. "What do you mean? I told you I'd pay you."

  He shrugged. "You don't have an interest in this, Laura. You can't contact an Alaskan attorney and file a motion to appeal the court order up there. I'll admit, you've got a good idea. We can send Buck up there to testify, and also take a copy of the charges filed against George Dyer in Duluth and show them what he tried to do down here. I can't say that it will win the case for Sandy, but it will put a slur on Dyer's reputation and show his dishonesty."

  "Will you at least go to Sandy, then, and tell him what he needs to do? Ask him to take this chance?"

  The new Mrs. David Hudson walked over to Laura. With a smile on her face, Cristy said, "Laura, my sister, maybe you can't request an appeal of that order, but I believe I can. If Sandy refuses to do it, I'll do it on behalf of my niece. And since I have an attorney who will do it for free, my brother can't get his nose out of joint about that — or his pride, either."

  "Thank you, Cristy. I promise, I'll never bother Sandy if he will at least stay here with Tracie."

  Her father walked over to her and wrapped an arm around Laura's waist. "You're in love with him, aren't you, sweetheart?"

  "Yes, Daddy," she admitted. "But he doesn't want me. I was awake most of the night trying to figure everything out, and I don't think it's just the worry he has about losing Tracie if he stays around here. I think it's because we've got money and he doesn't. It's his pride, and I can't fight that."

  Tom nodded his head. "He wouldn't be the man you fell in love with if you could, darling. Sometimes pride is the only thing a man has left after life deals him several hard knocks. I wish I could make it better for you, Laura, but I can't. I'm proud of you, though. You're thinking of Tracie's happiness before your own."

  "How could I not, Daddy?"

  #

  Well back from the gathered crowd, Sandy wrapped his snow anchor around a tree to hold Keever and the sled in place. Lifting Tracie into his arms, he carried her toward the crowd. Suddenly she struggled, demanding to be put down.

  "I don't think I want to go watch Laura leave," she said when he looked down at her. "Let's go back home."

  "Tracie, it wouldn't be very nice of us not to say goodbye to Laura and wish her luck."

  "I don't care," his daughter said with a mutinous pout. "It's gonna make me hurt to tell her 'bye and make me cry. I don't wants to do it."

  "Sometimes we have to do things that hurt us, sweetheart."

  "You didn't. You left Alaska 'cause Grandma and Grandpa Dyer was doin' stuff to you that made you hurt. And you's gonna leave here 'cause we mights get hurt. I want to go now. We can go off on our own and never see nobody ever again, like you told Aunt Cristy we was gonna do. That way, we won't get to like nobody else and then gets hurt when we leaves them."

  My God, what had he done? Sandy stumbled back to the sled and sat down, holding his daughter in his lap. She didn't understand, though. How could he take a chance on losing the most precious thing he had left in his life, his daughter? He'd thought he knew love when he and Colleen got married, but it hadn't been anything like the first time he held Tracie in his arms. He'd wanted to give her the world — shield her from ever being hurt or ever crying. Shelter her from life's unfairness.

  He remembered once when he came in from work and heard her crying. Colleen was calmly getting up from her rocking chair and replacing her needlepoint in the seat. When she saw him, she smiled and walked towards him.

  "Tracie's crying," he said needlessly. "Go on to her. I'll get my welcome-home kiss later."

  "She just woke up as you opened the door," Colleen had said. "I'm not neglecting our daughter, but it won't hurt her to cry for a few seconds until I greet my husband."

  He hugged her and received her kiss, then said, "I can't stand to hear her cry."

  Colleen patted his cheek. "If there weren't a few tears in the world, Sandy, we wouldn't appreciate the joy nearly as much."

  She'd hurried off to comfort Tracie, and Sandy hadn't thought of her words once since then. He'd only been relieved to follow and find Tracie in Colleen's arms, her tears dry and a gummy smile on her face, appreciating the joy of her mother coming to comfort her.

  Colleen had done what she knew best for the baby and her husband both. And what had he done? He'd taught Tracie that running away to avoid the hurt was the best thing to do. He'd taught her it was useless to try to fight back against the hurt.

  Sandy stood and started toward the main street of town.

  "Where's we goin', Daddy?" Tracie asked.

  "We're going to tell Laura we love her," Sandy said. "That we're going to Alaska with her, and we're going to fight your grandma and grandpa as long as we have to in order to prove to them they've got no right to try to separate us. And we're going to ask Laura if she'll marry us."

  "Oh, Daddy! Oh, Daddy, do you means it?"

  "I means it, darling. With all my heart."

  Tracie sat up in his arms, settling her rump on his forearm and throwing her little arms around his neck. The strength of her hold caught him by surprise, almost strangling him. But Sandy never slowed his steps.

  "I don't think Miss Laura can marry me and you both, Daddy," Tracie said a second later with a giggle. "But that's all right. She can just marry you."

  Suddenly horses hooves pounded down the street behind him, and someone shouted Sandy's name. He glanced over his shoulder to see a large sleigh, with a driver on the front seat and two people in the back. Recognizing George and Elvina Dyer in the rear seat, he halted and placed Tracie on the walkway.

  "Go on to Tom Goodman's office and wait for me, darling," he said. "It's right there, just two doors away. Tell Laura I'll be along in a moment."

  "No. I wants to stay here and go with you when you get ready."

  He sighed as the sleigh pulled to a stop beside him. "All right. But you stay quiet and let me handle this."

  "I will, Daddy."

  Elvina Dyer was closest to the walkway, and she climbed out of the sleigh when the driver pulled down a set of steps. She staggered a little, catching herself on the side of the sleigh.

  "Hello, Sandy," she said. "I haven't been out of that sleigh more than a couple times all night, so my legs are a little stiff. I'll come up there on the walkway in a moment."

  "You might as well get back in and leave, Elvina," he said. "You're not coming near Tracie."

  "Will you at least give me a chance to say what I came for, Sandy?" she asked in a pleading voice. "I'm not here to try to take Tracie away from you. On the contrary, George is going to tell you how sorry he is for everything that's happened since Colleen died." She turned to glare into the sleigh. "Aren't you, George?"

  Her answer was a harumph, and Elvina sighed. Picking up her heavy skirts and cloak, she climbed the steps to the walkway. Sand
y shoved Tracie behind him, and Elvina's eyes clouded with tears. She leaned a little to one side and said, "Hello, Tracie. Oh, my darling, Grandma's so sorry she hasn't been able to hold you for so long. Can I have just one hug?"

  Sandy heard a door open on down the walkway, but he never took his eyes off Elvina. He felt Tracie grip his trouser leg in one hand, then she said, "I don't wants to hug you 'long as you tries to take me away from my daddy, Grandma."

  "I'm not going to do that ever again, darling," Elvina said. "And neither will your grandpa. I've come here to tell your daddy that we've rescinded the court order, and we'll never, ever try to do anything like that again."

  When Tracie moved out from behind him, Sandy bent down and swept her into his arms. Elvina held her hands out, biting her lip and tears streaming down her face. "Oh, please, Sandy." A heart-wrenching sob escaped her, but Sandy hardened his heart.

  "I'll need proof, Elvina."

  "I don't think Grandma's telling a fib, Daddy," Tracie said. "And I really would like her to hug me."

  Sandy cautiously examined Elvina's face. She met his gaze steadily, and after a moment, he glanced at the carriage in time to catch sight of George's face before he turned his head. The naked longing on the other man's face as he stared at Tracie gave him some hope that Elvina spoke the truth. Still, he'd assumed Elvina was as involved in the attempt to take Tracie away from him as George.

  "I just don't trust you, Elvina."

  Digging in her cloak pocket, Elvina pulled out a yellow piece of paper and thrust it a Sandy. "This is the telegram I demanded George have the Alaskan court clerk send him, confirming that we rescinded our request for sole custody. And — "

  Elvina fumbled some more in her coat pockets, but came up empty. She turned to glare at George, who had something ready to hand to her. Grabbing it, she passed a black bank book on to Sandy. "That's the account in Duluth, where George deposited your money."

  Sandy opened the bank book, confirming the amount and finding it even included interest. He shook his head in amazement, yet his desire for revenge burned deeply yet. Until he looked at Elvina's face and saw tears streaming faster and her blotting at them with a half-frozen handkerchief.

  He handed Tracie to Elvina. With another sob, she clasped the child to her and rocked her back and forth.

  "Oh, Sandy," she said over Tracie's head. "I'm so sorry. So sorry. My only excuse is that I was so heartbroken over Colleen's death, I couldn't think straight. Maybe if you'd stayed in Alaska, we could have worked things out, but I'm not making excuses for what we did. I just want you to know that I told George I'd leave him if he ever tried something like this again. And he's going to apologize for swindling you out of that money."

  "I didn't swin — "

  Elvina swung around and glared at her husband, who had scooted across the back seat and was gazing longingly at his wife and granddaughter. Immediately, George dropped his gaze and huddled on the seat, burying his face in his hands.

  "I did," he admitted. "And I'm sorry." He raised his head. "I didn't really do anything illegal, but it was unethical."

  Stunned, Sandy shook his head. In only a few minutes, his entire life had turned upside down again, this time for the better. He didn't have to worry about the Dyers trying to separate him from his daughter ever again, and the money he'd worked all his life to make was restored to him. The only thing now that could make his happiness complete would be to have Laura Goodman for his wife and Tracie's mother.

  "There's one more thing you're both going to have to accept," Sandy said. "I plan to ask Laura Goodman to be my wife. If she says — "

  "Yes!" came Laura's voice from right beside him.

  He turned, and she flung herself into his arms. "Yes," she repeated. "Yes, yes, yes, I'll marry you, Sandy! I love you."

  Tightening his arms around her, he said, "I want you to know, I was coming here to ask you before Elvina and George showed up. Tracie's my witness. I realized I didn't love you too much to stay with you. I love you too much to be able to leave you."

  "I'm glad you told me that. Not that it makes any difference in my answer, but you can tell me that over and over again as many times as you want for the rest of our lives."

  He kissed her then, kissed her for the first time without all the turmoil and trouble coming between them. Kissed her as he'd always wanted to. Kissed her as a prelude to the millions of kisses they would share in the future. Kissed her to the accompaniment of the claps, shouts and whistles from the crowd of people, who had filtered down the street when they got tired of waiting for Laura to show up at the head of the trail.

  He finally broke the kiss, lifting his head to see Laura's cheeks pink with embarrassment, but a loving warmth in her eyes. He glanced at Tracie and found her now in George's arms. George gave him a tremulous look, and Sandy slowly nodded his head. His own happiness was too complete now for him to withhold his acquiescence for George to hold his granddaughter at last after all these months.

  Pete pushed his way through the crowd, with Buck on his heels. "Buck and I want to be the first ones to congratulate you, Sandy," he said, holding out a hand. Sandy reluctantly removed one of his hands from Laura's back to shake Pete's and shifted the other one to pull her close to his side. "I need to know if I'm still going to Alaska, though. I was all set to go up there and show them what a team of Minnesota dogs could do."

  Sandy glanced down at Laura, but before he could speak, she said, "How do you feel about a honeymoon in Alaska, darling? If I have any say in the matter, that's what I'd like. And we can take Pete and Buck, with their dogs, too."

  Tom Goodman stepped forward. "Welcome to the family, son," he said. After Sandy also shook his extended hand, he said to Laura, "Man might want to have his first few weeks alone with his wife, Laura, not with an entourage of people tagging along on his honeymoon. That's what it would be like if you took your honeymoon like that."

  "Oh," Laura said, a renewed flush staining her cheeks. "I didn't think of that."

  "Laura, darling." Sandy tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her face. "I say a honeymoon in Alaska and running in that race is the most appropriate thing I can think of. What do you say?"

  "I love you, Sandy Montdulac."

  He cuddled her head against his shoulder. "I love you, too, Laura. And since the whole town is already here, we could get married right now if you want."

  "I want. Oh, I want, Sandy."

  ***

  Chapter 24

  Tracie counted the number of sled dogs racing across the finish line until she got to five. None of the teams were led by Keever or Blancheur, but her friend Buck and his pretty lead dog, Snowstorm, came in second. Tracie strained to see down the trail as Buck circled his team and headed back to what Grandpa had told her was the winners' circle. She'd hope to see either mommy or daddy in that circle, but being able to count, she knew they wouldn't be now. Grandpa had said there were only places for three mushers in the winners' circle.

  "Hold me higher, Grandpa," she said.

  "You won't be able to see any better even if I do, Tracie, honey," her grandpa said. "But don't worry. I'm sure your daddy and Laura are all right."

  "She's not Laura now, Grandpa," Tracie insisted. "She's Mommy."

  "Then I'm sure your mommy and daddy are all right," Grandpa corrected. "They'll be along."

  "Look! Look, there's Pete's dogs!"

  She bounced up and down in Grandpa's arms as Pete's dogs flew across the finish line. He whoa'ed the team on down the street and turned it to come back toward them. As soon as he settled the team over where the race people had fenced off a place for the dogs and patted his lead dog to tell it what a good job it had done, he walked over to them.

  "Where's mommy and daddy?" she asked. Then she hurried on, "Oh, I's sorry, Pete. I should've said congrad'shuns for finishin' the race. Grandpa says that's a 'complish . . . 'complishment all by itself."

  Pete rumpled her hair. "Thanks, Tracie. And don't worry about your mommy an
d daddy. They were just late getting on the trail this morning, as usual."

  "Oh," Tracie said wisely. "They's more interested in honeymoonin' than winnin' the race, huh?"

  Pete looked at her in surprise, and she shrugged. "I heard Grandpa tellin' Grandma he betted mommy and daddy wouldn't win, 'cause they'd rather honeymoon than race. What's honeymoonin'?"

  Pete threw back his head and laughed, and when Tracie looked at her Grandpa, she saw his cheeks real red, almost like they were hot. But when she touched them, they were as cold as her own.

  "You ask your Grandpa what honeymooning is, Tracie," Pete said, still snorting with laughter. Then he glanced at her Grandma, and Tracie looked at her, too. Her cheeks were red, also.

  "Or maybe you better ask your Grandma," Pete said, "while me and your Grandpa go look over my dogs. Some things are for women to talk about together."

  Grandpa shoved her into Grandma's arms real fast and walked away with Pete. "Thanks," she heard Grandpa mutter. "Us men gotta stick together."

  "Grandma," Tracie said. "What's . . . ."

  "Look, darling." Grandma pointed down the trail. "That looks like Sandy and Laura coming there!"

  For a second, Tracie wondered why Grandma sounded so funny, but she guessed Grandma had been a little bit worried and now she was glad to see Mommy and Daddy coming. And yes, it was Mommy and Daddy coming down the trail.

  Suddenly, just like Daddy had told her it had happened back in Duluth, Mommy yelled something and bent over her sled handles. Daddy did, too, and their dogs ran even faster. A minute later, they both crossed the finish line, with Keever's head just a little bit in front of Blancheur's.

  Now Mommy and Daddy were even, she guessed. They'd each beat the other one once. Wonder if they would have to race one more time to break the tie?

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