by Lori Wick
They took the buggy and horse to the barn and then went to the kitchen door. Both Harry and Liz were right there and came straight to the door as soon as they realized McKay and Pup had arrived. They both took Pup and their son into their arms, Liz’s eyes suspiciously moist when she saw the radiant looks on their faces.
They were in love; it was impossible to miss. McKay had written to her and even managed to visit once. Pup’s name had been on his lips the entire weekend and prominent throughout every letter, but other than saying they wanted to come for a long visit, he’d never actually come out and said what their plans were. Pup had not been back to visit since the first time.
“Come in and sit down,” Liz now bid them, wanting to know everything but forcing herself not to ask. She led the way to the living room.
“Did you want anything to eat or drink?”
“I’m fine,” Pup told her.
“Nothing for me, thanks, Mom,” McKay said, sinking onto the couch next to Pup, his hand finding hers.
“How was the train?” Harry asked as usual. He didn’t travel much and enjoyed the thought of getting on at the station and heading off to new places.
“It was fine. No delays. It’s certainly easier to come from Boulder than it was to come from Denver.”
“I’ll bet. How’s the job?”
“Good. The cold weather was a little rough when I had to track a man into the mountains two weeks ago, but it’s a great job. My supervisor is a fair man, and he’s hinted that when Mark Wesley transfers to Evans, he has me in mind for Mark’s position.”
“That’s excellent. Are you still living over the general store?”
“Yes, but I think I found a house. It’s on the edge of town, a little way out, but that’s what I was looking for. The downstairs has a parlor, large kitchen, and dining room, and upstairs there are three small bedrooms with built-in closets.”
“Is it yours if you want it?”
“Yes, it is. It isn’t for sale, but the rent is reasonable.”
Liz suddenly smiled. “It’s so good to have you here. How long can you stay?”
“I think about ten days.”
Liz beamed at them; this was more than she’d expected. “I made myself not plan a host of activities, but if you’re going to be here that long, the family will want to see you.”
“That’s fine, Mom. Just as long as we can take it easy today.”
“We knew you would feel that way,” Harry inserted. “We don’t have anything planned and can spend the day doing anything you want.”
His words caused Pup and McKay to exchange a look.
“I’m glad to hear that.” McKay’s voice was so serious that it was Harry and Liz’s turn to share a glance.
“Is something wrong, Mickey?” his father asked.
“No, Dad, but Callie and I have wanted to talk to you for some time, and we thought this trip would be the right time.”
“Of course,” Harry replied without hesitation. “As I said, we have no plans beyond anything you want to do.”
McKay nodded. He knew they would understand. A moment later, Pup’s hand still in his own, he began.
“I haven’t come right out and asked Callie to marry me, but we’ve been doing a lot of talking about it, and even met with Pastor Henley a few times.” McKay looked over at her and smiled. “One of the things we wanted to do first was get to know each other better, not just each other, but our families and church families. When Callie was here before, there was so much I couldn’t tell you, and now we want to do that so you’ll know Callie a little bit better. It’s especially important to Callie.”
Harry and Liz looked to her. “We want you to know, Callie,” Harry said before McKay could go on, “that you don’t have to do anything to gain our approval.”
“Thank you, Harry,” she said gratefully. “I understand that, but there have been a lot of events in my life I’ve had to keep secret. Some of them will always remain secrets, but there are some things I want to tell.”
“Is it about your family, Callie?” Liz asked compassionately.
“It starts there,” Pup admitted, realizing the explanation might take a while. “Or I guess I should say it starts with the war. I was 15 when the war was half over. I wasn’t willful, but I’d been raised to have a mind and opinion of my own, and I decided I believed in the war enough that I wanted to get involved. So with my mother’s help, I cut my hair off, climbed into some of my brother’s clothes, and went off to fight.”
The color drained from Liz’s face, and Pup smiled at her in understanding.
“At times it was horrendous. I didn’t think I’d be able to stand it, but I stayed. My name was Peter Crandall and my commanding officer was Nick Wallace.”
“Nick Wallace? From the treasury?” Harry asked.
“Yes. The same man. The end of the war came and those of us who’d signed on in Denver came home. Nick went back to his job with the treasury, and he asked me if I’d like to work for him. I told him no and went home, but my father had died, and my brothers had gotten wild and started running around. In order to take care of my mother, I went back to Nick, still dressed as Peter, and asked if he could still use me. When he learned I was a woman, he set me up as an undercover agent.”
She could see that she had stunned them speechless, but their looks were open. It wasn’t as hard to talk about as she had imagined, so she went on with some ease.
“From there I lost track of how many identities I assumed. My disguises were all stored at Nick’s house. His wife, Camille, and I became very close, and when notified of a job, I would report there. Usually Camille would cut my hair off, and I’d head out as a man.”
“Oh, Callie.” Liz’s hand had come to her mouth. “Not your beautiful curls!”
“Do you remember the bonfire?” Pup asked quietly.
Liz’s eyes became huge and Pup nodded.
“I’d started a job in May, so my hair was still pretty short.”
“And this, Callie,” Liz asked as she pointed to her head, “is this your hair now?”
“It was before Camille Wallace had it made into a wig,” McKay supplied with a smile.
Pup turned to him. “Should I show them?”
“It’s up to you. It’s shorter than the wig but already longer than it was.”
Pup reached for the wig. Both Liz and Harry stared in amazement. Her head was covered with black, curly ringlets.
“How long will it be before you can go without the wig?” Harry wished to know.
“Hopefully by Christmas.”
The wig seemed to uncork the Harringtons’ questions. Over the next two hours Pup revealed more, and many questions were asked and answered. Not only did she explain Peter Crandall, but also Bryan Daniels and Morton Barnes and the role she played in Longmont. She went on to tell how her brothers had been involved, and also the way Nick had used her to crack the Duncan Phipps case. She understood how much her work had helped rid Colorado of crime, but she also told them about her conviction before the Lord to become herself again.
“Callie Jennings isn’t my real name,” she added. “It’s Andrea May Hackett.” She had stunned them again but went on to explain the importance of staying Callie. She also explained her feelings about the way she’d deceived people. Although they’d laughed today over some of her past antics, her decision never to mislead people again was a serious one. Harry and Liz agreed with her wholeheartedly.
“Don’t forget the last disguise,” McKay prompted her, wishing his parents could have seen her in the costume that had so taken him by surprise. “The one with the blonde wig and maid’s uniform.”
“Inga,” Pup supplied.
“Inga?” Liz asked, eyes still wide.
“Yah. Das me, Inga.”
Both Harry and Liz burst out in laughter. Pup laughed with them and looked over to find McKay’s eyes fixed on her. She grinned at him, and although noticing his intent gaze, she didn’t comment.
“What
did Inga do?” Harry asked, as intrigued as he’d been all afternoon.
“She got into the Phipps mansion as a maid. It took a few days to penetrate Duncan’s private office, but there was valuable information there. I can’t say too much, but the case should be open and shut because of it.”
“Oh, Callie,” Liz said on a sigh; she looked almost drained. “We had no idea, but we’re so pleased that you could tell us.”
“I hated not telling you before, and then when I had to leave so suddenly, I thought you would never want to see me again.”
“We can’t say we understood,” Harry told her, “because we didn’t, not really. But we weren’t angry, and Mickey explained that you didn’t have a choice.”
“Thank you, Harry. Thank you, Liz.” She felt as if a weight had been taken from her shoulders.
“I think we all need a little something to eat and drink. I know I do,” Liz proclaimed and stood. “Harry, will you help me?”
“Indeed I will.”
Husband and wife exited. They had no more walked from the room than McKay grabbed Pup and kissed her.
“Talk like Inga again,” he said when he raised his head.
“I won’t,” she told him on a laugh, but he kissed her again anyhow. There was little Pup enjoyed more than McKay’s kisses, but now was not the time or place. She wriggled from his arms and stood. He reached for her again, but she evaded him, moving around the back of the sofa. McKay stood as well, never taking his eyes off of her.
“Go ahead, Pup,” he cajoled softly, “talk like Inga.”
She laughed but still refused. He started toward her and she darted away.
“What has come over you, McKay Harrington?” she asked, her eyes huge.
“I just realized how much fun being married to you is going to be,” he said softly as he circled the sofa.
“Well, we’re not married yet, so you just stay over there.”
She was roundly ignored. This time he literally jumped over the back of the davenport to get at her, but she somehow escaped his arms. When they faced each other again, his eyes narrowed and Pup shook her head. She darted toward the front door and all but ran to the kitchen.
Liz and Harry looked up when she entered so suddenly, but she drew up short and gave them a nervous smile, stopping just inside the kitchen door. They smiled in return when McKay followed close at her heels. He wasn’t moving as fast, but it was clear who his prey was. They didn’t continue to stare at them, so McKay stepped close to her side, slipped an arm around her waist, and whispered in her ear.
“I’ll take this up with you later,” he warned her softly, and pressed a kiss to her temple. Pup only smiled.
The chase over, they both helped with the meal. An hour later the four of them sat down to a wonderful feast. The fellowship was beyond sweet. Pup felt free to leave her wig off the rest of the evening, and her heart swelled with thanks to God who had brought her to this precious place and these days of rest and communion. McKay’s heart was feeling no less full as he watched his parents with the woman he loved. It was to be the start of a wonderful ten days for all of them.
As often happened when they were at the Harringtons for the evening, McKay and Pup had gone out by the lake and were watching the sun rapidly drop behind the mountains. Seeing it, they were both reminded that their stay was drawing to a close. McKay held Pup’s hand, content for a time to just stand with her in silence.
“Have you enjoyed your stay?”
“Oh, yes,” she told him and meant it. “I’ll miss your parents when we go home to Boulder.” Her voice was rather sad, her eyes still on the water.
“I love you,” he told her and watched as she turned to him. “Will you be my wife?”
McKay knew that if he lived to be 90 he would never forget her answer. Her eyes sparkled with pleasure, but she bit her lip over the wonderful question, her eyes on his. He held his breath, suddenly unsure of what she might say.
“I’ll marry you, McKay,” she said softly, “but I do have one request.”
“Anything.” McKay kept his voice light but felt as if his heart had stopped.
“Can we wait until I can go without my wig?”
His relief was so great that he laughed and hugged her.
“I take it that means you can wait for my hair.”
“You name the date, and I’ll be there,” he told her. Pup hugged him fiercely and gladly accepted his kiss when he bent his head. McKay broke apart long enough to study her face and hair.
“How much time are we talking about here?” He suddenly realized what he had agreed to.
Pup laughed in delight and kissed him again. McKay’s worry about the time went up like a puff of smoke. It didn’t matter when. God had taken them this far; He would take them the rest of the way. And the journey would be everything they’d hoped for and more.
Epilogue
Boulder
Six years later
McKay dished some food into Daniel Harrington’s plate and watched as his son’s three-year-old hands went to work, not seeing any need for ceremony until his father handed him a spoon. McKay made sure a few proper bites went down and then turned to his oldest child, five-year-old Grace. She was working on a slice of apple, a piece stuck at an odd angle in her mouth. McKay’s heart smiled. Sitting right next to her plate was the front tooth that had fallen out of her mouth just that morning.
“How’s it coming?” he asked.
“Okay. It feels funny.”
“Before you know it, they’ll all be out and you’ll have to live on soup.”
This earned him a smile so like his wife’s that for a moment he stared at her. He realized then that it was going to be hard to head back to Boulder. They were all at the cabin and had been for more than a week. In just a few days McKay’s vacation would end, and they would all go back to their house in town. Although they missed the church family and the Boulder townsfolk, the quiet of the hills and lazy days in the woods would be hard to leave.
McKay’s eyes were still on Grace when 18-month-old Melissa, the youngest of the Harrington children, started to hum from her place in the high chair. She had taken a long nap and was in a fine mood, dark eyes bright, cheeks rosy. Putting some apple slices and a few pieces of chicken on her tray, McKay wondered if she would ever fall asleep that night. Days filled with playing in the sun and swimming in Lake Anne made for great sleep, unless of course you took a two-hour nap.
It wasn’t that long until the children’s bedtime, so McKay decided he would have to do something to wear Melissa out. Pup would have had ideas, but at the moment she was taking some time on her own. She had left the cabin just before dinner, telling McKay and the children that she was not hungry. McKay assumed she had gone for a walk.
Daniel chose that moment to slosh the contents of his cup onto the table. McKay grabbed the washcloth and was seeing to the mess when someone knocked at the door. McKay answered it and blinked in surprise. A man bearing a striking resemblance to Morton Barnes stood on the doorstep.
“Is Gracie Harrington here?” the man asked in a rusty voice.
“Yes,” McKay smiled. No one called their daughter Gracie; she would be delighted with her mother’s latest disguise and use of that name.
“I’m the Tooth Trader. I need to see Gracie.”
McKay opened the door wide, his smile huge. His welcome didn’t penetrate the Tooth Trader’s look, however; Pup was taking her role seriously.
“Grace,” her father called. The children had all turned and were staring at the stranger in their midst. Grace and Daniel giggled, but both played along. “There’s someone here to see you.”
“Are you Gracie?” a voice that sounded nothing like Pup’s asked of Daniel. He giggled and pointed at his sister.
“You’re Gracie?” Pup deliberately looked at Melissa. “You’re kinda little to be losing teeth.”
“No,” Grace spoke up. The man was looking for her, and she had to help him. “I’m Grace Harrington.�
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The Tooth Trader looked to her in surprise, his eyes narrowing as if in concentration.
“I’m here about the tooth.”
Grace only stared at her mother in awe. If she hadn’t seen her eyes, she would never have guessed.
“You have lost a tooth, haven’t you?”
Her small mouth still open in surprise, Grace got hold of herself, picked up the tooth, and held it out in her palm. Pup bent low over the proffered item.
“There it is all right. Are you sure this came out of your mouth?”
With her free hand Grace pulled down her lower lip in order to display the gaping hole in the front line of teeth.
“Oh, yeah,” Pup said, inspecting the mouth as though looking for gold. “It’s your tooth all right. What’ll you take for it?”
Grace’s eyes saucered when Pup pulled some coins from “his” pocket. She was a bright girl and knew in an instant that she was supposed to trade for the tooth. The bargaining began. At first the trader tried to get it for free, but Grace was firm, and at last had talked her way into three whole cents. Her brother, who knew those coins from seeing similar ones in his father’s pocket and from buying candy at the general store, looked on in excitement. Having been left momentarily alone, Melissa was fending for herself. The dark-haired toddler had climbed from her chair and was now kneeling in McKay’s seat. Happily working on her father’s dinner, she was giving little notice to the evening’s charade.
“Well, I’d better go,” the Tooth Trader announced. “You send for me if any more teeth fall out.”
Clutching the precious coins, Grace nodded, her eyes still shining with delight. Pup pocketed the tooth and turned toward the door. McKay, always slightly in awe that she hadn’t lost her touch after all these years, stood aside. His eyes told her that he’d have grabbed this tooth trader and kissed her if the children hadn’t been watching. A moment later she was out the door, walking in character until she was at the edge of the house, where she removed her hat and rushed to the stable to change back into her dress.
