He found Ewan standing on the back porch, staring vacantly at the piles of snow. “Ewan?” he asked.
“I’m fine, Cail. Ye should be in there enjoyin’ yer family and friends,” Ewan rasped as he sniffed and turned away.
Cailean’s frown deepened. “I was surprised you and Jessamine didn’t make an announcement during the family meal today. It would have been the perfect time.”
Ewan let out a deep, stuttering breath. “There was no announcement to make,” he whispered. “She lost the bairn.”
Cailean gripped his shoulder and spun Ewan to face him. He saw the anguish in his brother’s eyes a moment before he pulled Ewan close for a bear hug. “Ye’ll have another, Ewan. Ye ken that, right?”
“I ken, but it doesna take away the pain. It near ripped out my heart to hold her in my arms as she sobbed. As she said she believed she’d failed me.” He pushed away from his brother as his eyes lit with anger. “Why should ye an’ Alistair have bairns, an’ I be denied?”
Cailean shook his head. “I don’t know. Life is rarely fair. Or logical.”
Ewan turned and faced the snowy scene again. “I want a child, aye,” he whispered as though answering an unspoken question. “But I’ll always want Jessie more.”
Cailean took a deep breath. “Be sure she understands that. I nearly lost Annabelle after we lost our first bairn. Don’t be a fool like I was.”
Ewan nodded. “I … I find it hard to be around the bairns just now. And that makes me a horrible uncle because I do love them.”
“No, Ewan, that makes you human,” Cailean whispered before spinning to the door as it creaked open. “Hello, Jessamine.” He heard his brother sniffle. He squeezed Ewan’s shoulder and then slipped inside, leaving Ewan with his wife.
“Why are you hiding from everyone on Christmas? You’ve always loved Christmas,” she whispered. She stroked a hand down his back, eliciting a shudder.
“I needed a moment, Jessie,” he whispered.
“I’m sorry to have intruded,” she said in a stilted voice. She gasped as he spun and grabbed her wrist, preventing her from returning to the living room. She paled as she saw the anguish and torment in his gaze and the tracks of tears down his cheeks. “Oh, Ewan.”
“Hush, love. Dinna cry,” he said as he pulled her into his arms. “I … I needed a moment away from the bairns.”
“Away from the reminder of what we won’t have,” she said as she clung to him.
“Yet, my love. We will have children,” he said as he eased her away and looked deeply into her eyes. “I meant what I said, Jessie. As long as I have ye, I will be happy. But I’ve learned I must mourn what I’ve lost, or I go a little mad.” He leaned into her touch as she cupped his cheek. “I love ye so.”
“What if I can never have a child?” she asked as she voiced what he suspected was one of her deepest fears.
“Then we’ll find another way to have a family.” He kissed her palm. “I will love any child we raise together, Jessie. As long as ye are by my side, I will want for nothing more.” He looked into her doubtful eyes. “I promise ye.”
Her eyes filled, and she stood on her toes to kiss him. “You—you and your love—are my Christmas miracles.” She sank into his arms, taking comfort from him as he comforted her.
Karl wandered into the kitchen for another cup of coffee and paused as he saw Annabelle sitting at the table, burping her daughter after feeding her. “I beg your pardon,” he said as he flushed and backed out of the room.
She laughed and motioned for him to enter the kitchen. “No, Karl, come in. I wanted a quiet moment with Skye, but she is nearly asleep.” She ran a hand over her daughter’s head and kissed it before focusing on Karl. “I hope you are well.”
He frowned as he stared at her. “I never thought I’d like you. You meddled in my life.”
Annabelle flushed and then shrugged. Her hand continued to rub her daughter’s back. “I know. However, it’s what I do for those I call friend.” She paused as she met his searching gaze. “For those I care about.”
He moved to the stove, poured himself a cup of coffee and then leaned against the counter as he thought through her words. “You provided Leena with a safe place to live.”
“Yes. I could not deny her such a place when I had provided it for myself at one time.” She watched surprise flit in his eyes. “Cailean and I had our own share of troubles when we first married.” Her smile was filled with sympathetic understanding. “Like you and Leena, we needed time and distance before we could reconcile.”
Karl nodded and sipped his coffee. “Thank you.” He nodded again at the surprise in her gaze. “Thank you for caring for Leena. For ensuring she was safe.” He cleared his throat and swallowed what more he might have said as Cailean entered the kitchen.
“You’re welcome, Karl,” Annabelle whispered.
He set down his cup, nodded to Cailean and slipped from the room to join the others in the main living area.
Leena stood to one side of the sitting room and watched as her husband spoke with Alistair MacKinnon and Bears, Karl’s shoulders relaxing as they appeared to tease him. When she heard him laugh, she smiled and glanced around the room. She stiffened when she saw Helen Clark approach her. “Mrs. Clark.”
Helen smiled and shook her head. “No need to be formal with me, Leena. I feel as though we are old friends, after hearing Warren speak about you recently.” Her wheat-colored hair was pulled back in a tidy chignon, and her cranberry-colored wool dress highlighted her lush figure.
Leena flushed and ducked her head. “I am most embarrassed.”
Helen chuckled and shook her head again. “I wouldn’t be. I imagine it felt wonderful.” She met Leena’s shocked gaze. “I spent too many years on the other end of her fist. It is good for her to know what happens when she pushes an honorable woman too far. I fear she believed you were like me.”
Leena frowned and shook her head. “I do not understand.”
“Malleable. Afraid of a bully.” Delight shone in Helen’s gaze. “You showed her the error of her assumption.”
“You are no longer that person,” Leena protested. “I cannot see you allowing her to treat you like that.”
Helen’s smile softened as she clasped Leena’s hand. “You’re right, Leena. Since I married Warren, and rarely interact with my mother or brother, my self-respect has grown.” She seemed to glow with happiness as her husband approached.
“Are you speaking about the fortunate incident with your mother?” Warren asked.
“Why fortunate?” Leena asked.
Warren fought and failed to hide his smile. “Mrs. Jameson is so angry with me for championing you and your version of events that she has said she will not acknowledge us for at least a year.” He sighed with contentment at the thought. “If only she were a woman of her word.”
“Warren!” Helen said with a giggle as she tapped him on his arm.
He shrugged unrepentantly. “I wouldn’t mind a few months’ reprieve from her natterings.”
Leena looked between the pair and smiled. “If I were to win my case against her, I fear she would ostracize you for some time.”
“A prayer fulfilled,” Warren said while he tipped his head back, as though hoping for such a benediction.
Leena giggled again and shook her head. “Thank you, Mr. Clark, for aiding me. I fear I would have been forced from the bakery had I not taken your advice.”
“Oh, I highly doubt that, as Annabelle has a will of iron. However, your acceptance in town might not have been as assured.” He smiled. “And it’s Warren for my friends.”
He took a sip of beer and then leaned forward to whisper to her. “As for your case, I have heard that she is willing to rescind what she said as long as you do not require her to pay any monetary damages.”
Leena tilted her head to one side and met the lawyer’s amused expression. “What do you suggest?”
“I suggest that she write a public apology for the newspaper and
be required to donate to the very tax fund she thought you should pay into. That way, the townsfolk will learn that they should not act in such a manner.”
“And you’ll get the fire equipment the town’s Improvement Committee wants that much more rapidly.”
“Every little bit helps,” Warren said with one raised eyebrow and a shrewd smile.
Leena laughed and looked toward Karl, who watched her with a curious expression. “I must speak with Karl first, and then I will let you know.”
Warren nodded, and soon they were enfolded into the larger group as they sang Christmas carols and told Christmas stories.
News and Noteworthy
It has come to this reporter’s attention that the one making such slanderous accusations against our honorable baker has been offered a generous reprieve. Rather than be made to suffer further with an injurious court case for any of the harm and anguish she has caused Mrs. Johansen, Mrs. Jameson believes a simple, insincere apology should suffice. However, our esteemed town lawyer believes that only through a show of contrition and sacrifice will Mrs. Jameson truly demonstrate her remorsefulness. And a donation to aid the town’s Improvement Committee fund seems little to ask after what she attempted.
* * *
What do you think, dear reader?
Leena and Karl walked the short distance from the bakery to the Odd Fellow’s Hall for the New Year’s Eve Dance. Nathanial would join them there, as would the MacKinnon clan. Karl had helped her transport her large gingerbread house to the Hall, and he had spent a large portion of his day making batches of glogg for the evening’s revelers. It too was at the Hall, waiting to be served to the guests.
When they entered the Hall, Leena paused with a gasp. “They said they would decorate, but I never imagined such a sight.”
Karl squeezed her arm and murmured his agreement.
Paper streamers hung from one rafter to another, and boughs of evergreen lined the windows. A small group of musicians sat to one side, playing music, although no one danced yet. On the far side of the room, a long table was laden with food while Karl’s glogg sat in a punch bowl next to it. Leena’s pepperkake house was on a round table to the side of the room, far away from the offered food and desserts.
Soon Leena and Karl stood along one wall, watching the townsfolk interact. “Why are you glaring at those men?” Leena asked as she sipped her husband’s perfectly spiced glogg.
Karl sent another glower in three miners’ direction before focusing on his wife, dressed in a velvet evergreen-hued dress that highlighted her blond hair and blue eyes. “They are a few of the men who commiserated with me about my errant wife. Miss Evans helped me to see they were hoping to cause problems between us so that you would leave me, and then one of them would end up with you.”
Leena’s eyes widened. “I was never interested in any of them. In anyone but you.”
“Hush,” Karl said with a tender smile as he tugged her free hand up to kiss her palm. “I know, my love. I was too stupid to realize I was being manipulated.”
Leena looked deep into his eyes and saw the truth in his gaze, flushing at the love she saw there. After a moment she focused on their friends as the MacKinnons arrived. Annabelle carried Skye in her arms while Leticia held Angus. Hortence raced off to play with friends from school.
“Please tell me that there are gingerbread cookies too, not just that huge cake that we all hope to win,” Jessamine said as she hugged Leena.
Leena giggled as she shook her head. “No. If there were cookies, no one would want my pepperkake house.” She looked with pride at the large gingerbread house, sitting on a table, while Irene and Harold Tompkins acted as guards, lest someone tried to break off a corner piece.
“You heard her, Ewan,” Jessamine said with a stroke down her husband’s back. “You must be the highest bidder.”
Ewan glanced at the large cake. “How do ye plan to eat the whole thing yerself, ye wee demon?” he teased his wife, although a sorrow seemed to cling to him. “Dinna fash,” he whispered into her ear as he kissed her on the side of her head.
“It’s wonderful to see you here, Fidelia,” Leena said as she hugged her friend.
Fidelia relaxed as the townsfolk had barely registered her attendance. This was only the second town function she had attended since escaping the Boudoir thirteen months before. However, her work at the bakery had accustomed the townsfolk to her presence outside of the confines of the Boudoir.
Nathanial joined their group, and they were all together, except for Bears, who never joined the festivities, and Sorcha, who remained at the ranch. Fidelia declined a miner’s invitation to dance, moving toward the back of their large group.
“You should dance, Dee,” Annabelle said to her sister.
“I already have enough notoriety in this town. I don’t want to cause a scene when a man takes liberties.”
Cailean frowned. “Some men are respectable and won’t take liberties. Someday you will have your faith restored in men.”
Fidelia shook her head with doubt at what Cailean said, nodding her thanks as Nathanial handed her a glass of glogg. “Oh, this is nice, rather than the sweet punch.” She flushed, looking around to ensure she had not offended the woman who made the punch for every town function.
“Karl made it,” Leena said with pride. She squeezed his arm as the MacKinnon men pounded him on the back in congratulations. “He also helped me decorate my cake.”
“An exemplary husband,” Fidelia murmured with a warm smile as she met Leena’s gaze.
Jessamine wandered off to scout out a story while the men discussed politics. As Leticia and Annabelle spoke about their children, Leena moved toward Fidelia. “I am sorry your friend Bears is not here.”
Fidelia stiffened and then forced herself to relax. “He is everyone’s friend, Leena.”
Leena frowned and shook her head. “Ja, he is friends with everyone. Yet you are the only one he knows where you are at every moment.”
“There’s nothing between us,” Fidelia whispered.
“Ja, but it’s always good to have a friend,” she said as Fidelia’s momentary panic seemed to ease.
Fidelia glanced around at their group, noting that the men had moved away and were out of earshot. She and Leena were against the wall, with no one paying any attention to them. “When are you going to tell your husband?”
Leena shook her head in confusion. “I don’t know what you mean.”
She leaned in and whispered out of habit borne from years of learning to be cautious. “That you are expecting his child.”
Leena froze, her eyes going round as she met Fidelia’s knowing grin. “I … I can’t be.”
“Why can’t you be?”
Leena flushed and then gave a tilt of her head. “Of course I can be,” she whispered, frowning. She raised her hand as though to put it over her belly and then quickly dropped it. Her eyes filled with wonder as she looked at her friend.
“He will be happy, won’t he?” Fidelia asked, unable to hide the concern from her gaze.
“Yes, yes, he will be … I don’t know the word in English.”
“Ecstatic, I think,” Fidelia said as she watched Leena’s husband, who frequently glanced in his wife’s direction as though to ensure she was well. “He seems a good man, now that you are past your disagreement.”
“Ja,” Leena said as she sniffled. “He always was a good man, but he was afraid.”
Fidelia nodded. “And men who are afraid can be irrational.”
“Anyone who is afraid can be irrational,” Annabelle said as she joined the conversation with Leticia. She glanced around the room and groaned. “Oh, no.”
Leena followed her gaze and stiffened as Mrs. Jameson approached their group. Karl noted her arrival and moved to stand beside his wife.
“What do ye want, crone?” Ewan asked as he winked at Jessamine who sidled up next to him.
Mrs. Jameson stiffened at Ewan’s insolent tone and then stood tall. “I fi
nd it hard to believe that this town has once again forgiven the transgressions of those who should be held in contempt.”
Jessamine smiled as she looped her arm through her husband’s. “Interesting way you have of apologizing.”
Mrs. Jameson turned her glare on Jessamine. “You should have been run out of town. Sent back with your father. Then my daughter would have made a worthy match.”
Ewan grinned as he kissed his wife’s forehead. “Ye have to ken no MacKinnon would wed yer daughter. An’ it wasna because we didna like Helen. It was because we couldna consign ourselves to a life tied to a woman like ye.” He sobered as he looked at Mrs. Jameson with disdain. “Besides, Warren would have done us bodily harm.”
Mrs. Jameson scoffed. “That man.” She glared as she looked around the small group, her glower intensifying as she saw Warren standing beside her daughter and Leena. “That man should know the meaning of family loyalty.”
Warren smiled as he placed a calming hand on his wife’s shoulder. “I do. I show it every day to my wife.” His smile acted as kindling to Mrs. Jameson’s ire, and she turned red in the face.
“You should show me as great a consideration. I am like your mother!” She pointed at Leena. “And that woman slapped me! She abused me! She attempted to cover up her … her licentious behavior by fabricating her husband was with her.”
Karl took a step toward her, his fists clenched at his side as he took in deep gulps of air. “I was with her. And you have no right to speak about my wife in that way. She is a fine, honorable woman. Only a woman lacking in her own honor would wish my Leena any harm.”
Mrs. Jameson blanched as she looked around the group now circling Leena with their support. She cast a glance at the townsfolk, watching the spectacle she had created, finding few sympathetic to her cause. She bristled with indignation. “You think you can demand that I pay a penny to that worthless Improvement Committee fund?”
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