Mark grinned. “Apparently we think alike, Mr. Hart. I’ve already started working on that.”
The bell on the front door of Thorton’s Lunch Counter jingled. Lilly backed through the swinging door from the kitchen with a fresh order of fluffy scrambled eggs and pancakes in her hands.
“Be right with you,” she said, scooping up an extra napkin before turning. She stopped when she spotted Claude Hart, and her pulse thundered. Swallowing hard, she delivered the plate to the customer and walked over to greet her former father-in-law.
“I’m afraid you’re a bit early for pie. It’s not out of the oven yet. But can I get you pancakes and coffee?” She smiled. Please, Lord, help me extend this man grace and season my words with kindness.
“You know perfectly well I have no intention of eating here.” He motioned for her to sit down at the empty table in the corner. “We need to have a discussion.”
She bit back the acidic replies that threatened to roll off her tongue. Kindness. Kindness. Kindness. With a slight nod, she took the seat he offered.
He lowered his large frame into the chair across from her and placed both hands on the top of his cane as if he were there to comment on the lovely weather they’d been having. He dipped his head. “I heard that Nick Perrin has been having some difficulties with his roller coaster construction.”
Lilly clutched her apron at the mention of Nick’s name. “Why do you care about that?”
“I care about everything—and everyone—who comes in contact with my grandson.” His hard mica glint bore into her.
She shivered but forced her voice to remain calm. “Nick can tend to his own affairs.”
“If you care about the man, perhaps you should consider what any alliance with you might do to his precious project.” He tapped the cane on the floor twice and stood.
“Are you threatening his roller coaster project? Because of me?”
“I’m merely pointing out that Mr. Perrin might be wise to spend more time there and less with you.”
“Or?”
“Or he may find it nearly impossible to finish this job. It’s the first roller coaster he’s designed, isn’t it? I’d hate to see him fail.” He tipped his hat. “Good day, Lilly.”
“How’s the boy and his stubborn mama?”
Nearing Sean’s work area, Nick grinned. The Irishman had a way of cutting to the chase. “Levi’s fine, and I think I made some headway with Lilly while we were mushroom hunting.”
Sean drew his paintbrush across the first of over twenty short boards. After they were painted green, the boards would be secured and used to keep the roller coaster cars from rolling backward if the chain would slip on the first incline.
“You’re getting rather attached to those two. Sure that’s wise?”
“I can’t help it. It’s like we’re being drawn together by some invisible force.”
Sean chuckled. “Sounds like the hand of God is doing some powerful nudging.”
“And Lilly digs her heels in at every turn.” Nick handed Sean his bucket of paint. “She takes two steps forward and one step back.”
“Ya can’t blame her. The lady needs time to adjust to the likes of ya.” Sean drew the back of his hand over his brow. “Besides, can she trust ya?”
“What do you mean? Of course she can trust me.” Nick motioned to the men to bring the rest of the short boards over. “I’d never do anything to hurt her.”
“Not intentionally anyway.” Sean set the brush in the bucket and crossed his arms over his chest. “So, what do ya want me to tell the boys concerning yet another delayed supply shipment? We needed that lumber to finish the safety rail.”
“If need be, we can use the scrap lumber on the machine shed and exchange them with the whole boards there to use on the railing.” Nick raked his hand through his hair and pointed to the pile under a tree. Another delay in the arrival of supplies had sent the roller coaster crew scrambling, but if they could keep on, they might make it within a few days of the park’s opening season. “We’ll replace the siding after the shipment comes in.”
Sean scratched his head. “That’ll work, boyo, but I’m still worried about the lift chain. She’s not arrived, and without her, the whole coaster is a bust for opening day.”
Nick flipped through his notepad. “True, but if we have everything in place, we ought to be able to install the lift chain as soon as it arrives.”
“It’ll take at least two days to hook her up, get the tension set, and check her out, but we could rush that a wee bit, I suppose.”
Nick shook his head. “No, we’ll open a day or two late rather than let anyone on this coaster before it’s been checked and rechecked.”
“Whatever ya say. Yer the boss.” Sean reached in his pants pocket. “By the way, Lilly sent this note with me when ya didn’t stop for lunch. She seemed a mite upset.”
Nick tugged his leather glove off with his teeth and unfolded the paper. His blood ran hot through his veins as he read the contents. The Harts had gone too far this time.
“Sean, can you hold things down again for a while? I need to take care of something right away.”
“If yer sure ya can spare the time away, boyo.”
Nick stuffed the paper in his pocket. “I’ll have to make the time. This can’t wait.”
The screen door banged open as soon as Lilly sat down in the shade in back of the diner. She jerked, nearly toppling the large bowl of apples on her lap. What did Eugenia need now?
But instead of seeing Eugenia, she looked up to find Nick marching toward her, his face filled with fury. Her heart thudded to a stop.
Since the day they’d gone mushroom hunting, things had changed between them. All week they’d spent time together talking, laughing, and sharing. No words concerning an official courtship had been declared, but they were there all the same.
He thrust the note toward her. “When was he here?”
“This morning.” She set the bowl on a picnic table. “I won’t let you sacrifice all your hard work for me.”
“And I won’t let that man bully you!” He hit the table with his fist, and the apples jostled in the bowl. He stepped closer. “Tell me what he said.”
“Nick, please, calm down. You have to see the wisdom in my decision. He made it clear that as long as I continued to let you spend time with Levi and me, your coaster project would be in jeopardy.” She backed away until a tree stopped her. With her back against the oak, she dug her nails into the bark.
Lord, help me do this. I can’t let Nick suffer for me. Help him understand I have to still this storm before it destroys him.
“I know you’ve already had supply shipments delayed over and over. You said yourself that the lift chain you ordered from the ironworks company back east has yet to arrive. I’m certain now Ben’s father made that happen. He’s a powerful man. I can’t let him ruin you.”
Nick’s chest heaved. After a minute, he met her gaze and held it. “He’s not going to blackmail you.”
“It’ll only be for a while.” Lilly closed her eyes. She couldn’t look in those telling blue eyes or she’d lose her nerve. “Once the roller coaster is running, I’ll bring Levi by again.”
Nick stepped so close she could feel the warmth of his body. She opened her eyes and blinked.
He put one hand beside her head on the tree. “No.” The answer was soft but firm.
“But, Nick—”
“No.” He traced her cheek with his thumb. “Lilly, he’s not going to use me to get you to do his bidding. I won’t let him hurt you ever again. That’s my choice.”
“And don’t I get a choice?”
“Sure you do.” A rakish smile curled his lips. “You get to choose whether I kiss you now or later.”
Her pulse raced. His masculinity engulfed her, but it was his eyes—so honest, so sincere, so safe—that begged her to accept his offer. But what would Ben think? Would he approve of Nick Perrin? Would he want her to be with another man?
And Nick did make her happy.
“Now,” she whispered.
His eyes darkened, and he slowly dipped his head and brushed her lips with a feathery kiss. Pulling back, he waited for a second as if giving her time to change her mind. He lowered his head again, and her lips parted beneath the pressure of his kiss. Her knees weakened, and he tightened his hold—both the hold around her waist and the one on her heart. Oh yes, even with all this turmoil, Nick Perrin definitely made her happy.
Nick broke the kiss even though it was the last thing he wanted to do.
He trailed his hand down her arm and squeezed her hand. “I still need to go take care of this problem with your former father-in-law.”
“I’ll get my cape.” Her eyes dared him to argue with her.
He nodded, but there was no way she was going with him. This was between Claude Hart and him. The only way to deal with a bully was to stand up to him, and that man needed to understand that anything concerning Lilly was off-limits. And Nick was willing to make his point in whatever way he found necessary.
As soon as Lilly went inside, he slipped away.
Begging forgiveness later would be easier than getting her to agree with him now.
Nick and Sean approached the large brick building housing the law office of Claude Hart. Although Nick had planned to go alone, when Sean learned what was going on, he insisted on joining him.
Nick glanced at his beefy friend whose hot temper had settled more than one dispute in what Sean liked to call the “McGready way.” He clapped a hand on Sean’s shoulder. “Why don’t you wait out here for me? If I need you, I’ll call.”
“Why don’t I come in with ya? I know yer thinkin’ to talk this out, but sometimes ya got to back up yer words.”
“Sean, he’s a lawyer. I don’t think he’s given to violence, and I certainly don’t want to hit the man.”
Sean tented an eyebrow.
“Okay, I’d love to punch him, but God wouldn’t want me to handle things that way.”
“Yer a better man than me, boyo.” Sean opened the door for him. “I’ll be out here if ya need me.”
Nick stepped into the foyer of the office. He looked down when his foot sank into a thick Oriental rug.
“May I help you?” a prim, middle-aged lady asked from behind a desk.
Nick glanced at the nameplate on her desk. “Miss Fallwell, I’m here to see Mr. Hart.”
“And you are?”
“Nick Perrin.”
She ran her long, slender finger down a ledger. “He doesn’t have an appointment scheduled for you, Mr. Perrin.”
“If you’ll tell him I’m here, I’m pretty sure he’ll see me anyway.”
Miss Fallwell folded her hands. “He’s not in.”
“When do you expect him to return?”
“I can make an appointment for the day after tomorrow.” The stenographer picked up a pencil. “Say, ten o’clock?”
“No, that won’t be necessary.” The door opened, and Nick turned to see a familiar person walk in. “Mr. Snodgrass, what a surprise to see you here.”
The jumpy freight clerk pushed up his glasses and cleared his throat. “I … uh … have some legal matters to attend to.”
Miss Fallwell opened a drawer and withdrew an envelope. “Here you go, Mr. Snodgrass. Mr. Hart said it’s all there and to thank you for a job well done.” The stenographer passed the envelope to the clerk, but Mr. Snodgrass’s hands shook so badly the envelope fluttered to the floor.
Nick snatched it from the floor. Miss Fallwell and Mr. Snodgrass both dove for it, but he stepped beyond their reach and opened the unsealed letter. After a peek inside, he released a long, low whistle. “What did you do for Mr. Hart that earned you such a lucrative profit?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Really?” Nick counted the bills inside. “I wonder if the railroad would feel the same way if I share what I know and your possible connection to missing freight.”
Sean filled the doorway. “Problems?”
“No. Mr. Snodgrass, the freight clerk, was about to help us find something we need quite badly.”
Mr. Snodgrass swallowed hard. “What do you want?”
Nick stepped close and pressed the envelope against Snodgrass’s chest. “I want to know where the lift chain is that I ordered for my roller coaster.”
“I really must protest to this treatment of Mr. Snodgrass.” Miss Fallwell rose to her feet. “If you don’t cease badgering him, I shall be forced to telephone the police.”
Sean moved next to Snodgrass and draped an arm around his shoulders. “We’re not badgering ya, laddie, are we?”
“No,” Snodgrass croaked. He tried to shrug off Sean’s arm, but Sean held firm. “Mr. Perrin, your chain is in Atlantic, Iowa.”
“And how can I get it here?” Nick crossed his arms over his chest.
“Please, Mr. Perrin, I shouldn’t have told you as much as I have. Certain people will be furious with me if they learn I said anything. Besides, all the trains heading this way have full loads.”
Anger bore a hole in Nick’s gut. “I guess I’ll have to pay the clerk in Atlantic, Iowa, a personal visit. You’d better hope he’s willing to make an exception.”
Sean let his arm drop from Snodgrass’s shoulder and turned to the stenographer. “And it’ll please me to bits if ya let Mr. Hart know that Mr. Snodgrass is no longer in his employ. Isn’t that right, laddie?”
“I think that might be in my best interest.” Mr. Snodgrass shoved his glasses up again.
Sean clapped him on the shoulder, nearly sending the frail man sprawling. “Now yer being a smart lad.”
“Come on, Sean,” Nick said. “We’ve wasted enough time here.”
Nick Perrin’s men deserved to eat Eugenia’s burnt sponge cake. They could eat her dry pork chops too.
It was Nick’s fault for abandoning Lilly. She’d gone in to get her cape only to find smoke wafting from the oven. By the time she’d gotten Eugenia, her charred cake, and Levi settled and returned to meet Nick, he’d taken off. She had to hurry to keep him from doing something foolish enough to land him in jail.
Quickening her steps, she made her way from the streetcar stop down the block to Ben’s former law office. Since Ben’s death, she’d not been inside. She pulled the heavy door open, and instantly the heady scent of dusty law books and leather pulled her heartstrings taut. She used to keep a baby carriage in the office’s back room. How many times had she met Ben there for lunch or run her hand over the mahogany of his desk?
“Lilly?” Nick’s eyes widened. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“And you shouldn’t have left me.” She turned to the stenographer. “Miss Fallwell, I want to see my father-in-law.”
“As I told these men, he’s not in.”
“Then give him a message from me.” She leaned on the desk. “Tell him to leave me and my son alone. I’m not afraid of him.” She glanced at Sean, then Nick. “Anymore.”
She spun and marched from the foyer, letting the door slam behind her. Outside she leaned against the cool brick building, her pulse racing and her body trembling. She took a deep breath. What a lie that had been!
Sean climbed in the rig and rode off, but Nick joined her. “You okay?”
She took another shuddery breath. “I’m fine.” She should still be furious with him, but the concern on his face removed all her resolve to remain angry. What was Nick doing to her?
“You were quite something in there.” He placed his hand on her arm. “But you’re shaking.”
“It’s not what I said to the clerk. It’s being here.”
“I figured that it would be hard. That’s one of the reasons I left.”
“And the other?”
“It’s my fight now.” Nick glanced at the gold letters on the window of the office. “He’s messing with my roller coaster and�
�”
“And?”
“And the woman I love.”
26
Lilly blinked.
“Miss Lilly, I’m really sorry about the cake.” Eugenia poured the blackened ring of sponge cake into the trash basket. “I’ll try to watch things more closely.”
Shaking her head, Lilly removed her hands from the sudsy dishwater and dried them on a towel. What was Eugenia prattling on about? Lilly needed to focus on the moment and not on what Nick had said.
He loved her.
The thought warmed her to her soul but sent a paralyzing bolt of fear through her at the same time. Nick was a man she could respect. He was honest and thoughtful, and although she believed his declaration, he wasn’t being practical about the two of them. He wouldn’t be around much longer. That was the nature of his job.
She placed the towel back on the hook. She’d already let him into their lives more than she ought. When he left, how was Levi going to take it?
And how would she handle it?
The all-too-familiar pain of loss knifed through her. She couldn’t do this again. But the lurch in her heart told her what she already knew.
It was too late.
She loved him too.
But he didn’t have to know that.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get the hang of this.” Eugenia slipped the empty cake plate into the dishpan.
Pushing her thoughts of Nick aside, Lilly turned to Eugenia. “You are improving. Learning to cook and bake takes time and practice, and I’m impressed with how far you’ve already come. As soon as we get these lunch dishes done, why don’t I show you how to make cinnamon rolls?”
Stepping back, Nick surveyed the coaster and grinned. They wouldn’t make opening day tomorrow, but the next day she should be running. His men had worked harder in the last two days than any men ought to have to, but they’d done it. Tomorrow, when they were testing the coaster, at least folks would get to see what it was like.
Lorna Seilstad - [Lake Manawa Summers 03] Page 18
