by Jane Shoup
Once Lizzie was better, he’d find a job. Anything out of doors would suit. He also wanted to try his hand at wine making.
The morning was cold, with a pale sky that promised snow. The light wind that whistled through the barren trees smelled like snow, and he was ready for it. He retrieved his satchel from the place he’d dropped it and continued on to get the children. He heard a horse approaching just before Emmett came into view, riding toward him. The older man lifted his hand in greeting. “I think I got a good solution,” Emmett said as he came close.
“What’s that?”
Emmett reached him and dismounted. “Landreth wants to sell the Six.”
Jeremy was stunned by the implied suggestion.
“Howerton offered to buy it, but Landreth said he’d rot in hell first. He hates Smythe just about as much. Truth is, he’ll let it go for a lot less to anyone other than his former competitors.”
“What are you saying?”
“The mine is going to be bought and restarted. There’s just too much money in coal for that not to happen. And Six was a productive mine. What if—”
Jeremy shook his head. “Oh no.”
“Now, just hear me out. Someone could buy the mine and run it right. Build it safer, not that a mine can ever be completely safe. We both know better. But he could treat the miners fairly. Pay them better. Pay them in cash. Have medical care available. Better housing.”
Jeremy’s expression slowly changed as he considered what Emmett was saying.
“Not only that, but the man who did that could make sure children didn’t work. That they went to school. I’ve got this theory that workers who are treated better will be better workers.” He paused, but Jeremy didn’t say anything. “I can try to broker a deal. Keep your name out of it, if you want.”
“The families that lost someone should be helped,” Jeremy said.
Emmett nodded. “Why don’t you let me see what I can arrange? About buying the place. Rebuilding. Compensating the families of the lost miners.”
Jeremy didn’t know what to say. Emmett was still acting as if this was Jeremy’s money. “I think it’s a good plan, but it’s not my money. I trust you to do what’s right. I like the plan.”
“Okay, then. I’ll see what I can find out and report back,” Emmett said with a smile that made his face seem even rounder than usual. He mounted again. “You know, sometimes folks are given a second chance for a reason.”
A second chance? Jeremy shifted on his feet. “Did you hear about Ethan Ray?” he asked.
“In a town this size? What do you think?”
“You think they’ll arrest me?”
“For what? He drew on you and you had to shoot him. That’s what I heard. That’s not a crime.”
“You’re sure?”
“The law is my business. I’m sure.”
Jeremy felt himself deflate with relief.
“How’s Lizzie?” Emmett asked.
“She’ll be fine.”
“With a man like you to look out for her? You bet she will. Give her my best?”
“I will. Thank you, Emmett. For everything.”
“You bet.” Ethan tipped his hat to Jeremy and rode back toward town.
Jeremy walked in the side door to the kitchen of the farmhouse and heard group singing from the parlor. “Do Lord, oh, do Lord, oh, do remember me.” He set his bag down and walked on. Before he reached the parlor, the song had morphed into “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”
Rebecca was seated next to April May, who had her arm wrapped around the girl, and Cessie held Jake, who was dressed in an old-fashioned nightshirt that was too big for him. A blanket was draped over their laps. April May’s hair was bound loosely and Cessie, still wearing a dressing robe, wore her hair loose. A fire was burning in the hearth and all three dogs were stretched out in front of it.
The singing stopped and they all looked at him expectantly, half fearful. He smiled to relieve their anxiety and he felt the collective sigh of relief. “Ready to go home?” he asked the children. “Your Mama’s anxious to see you.”
Jake started crying and buried his face against Cessie’s shoulder. Cessie held him tighter and kissed his head.
“I told you she was fine,” April May said tenderly. “A little banged up is all, but she’ll be good as new before you know it. Isn’t that right?” she said, directing the question to Jeremy.
“It is,” he said as he walked in and sat in an overstuffed chair. “She’s going to be just fine. Did you know the bakery wants to buy her stuff?”
Rebecca smiled, although tears shone in her eyes. She was fighting hard to keep them in check. “They do?”
He nodded and saw Jake peek out at him. “You ready to go home?” he asked the boy. “You ready, Lucky?” he said to the dog, who stood up at once.
“You know,” April May said, “that’s a pretty sharp dog.”
“He barked,” Jake said to Jeremy.
“I know,” Jeremy said. “I was glad to hear it.”
“He went to protect Mama.”
Jeremy nodded. It was hard to know exactly what to say. Everything he thought of to say seemed wrong, since the “bad man” had been their father. Maybe it was best not to say anything. “Let’s go home.”
“Jake—” Rebecca started with a sheepish look on her face.
She was about to say he’d wet the bed and had no clothes to wear. “Jake’s fine as he is,” Jeremy said, rising. He picked the boy up and Cessie made sure the blanket went as well. “He can get dressed when he’s home. I don’t want to wait.” As Jeremy turned, he didn’t miss the pleased expression on April May’s face.
“I’ll get our coats,” Rebecca said, popping up.
He turned back to the ladies, who were rising. “Saying thank you isn’t enough,” he said quietly.
Cessie patted his arm. “It isn’t necessary at all.”
Lizzie was dressed and sitting in the kitchen, which smelled like cookies and freshly made coffee. Half a dozen gingerbread men were laid out to cool on the table. Jeremy set Jake down, and Rebecca and her brother stood frozen momentarily, taking in the black eye, cut lip, and bruised face of their mother.
“I’m not the prettiest thing,” Lizzie said, “but I’m all right.”
The children rushed forward and she opened her arms to embrace them, kissing one and then the other. Lucky tagged along, wagging his tail.
Jeremy got a cup of coffee and went to sit at the table. Rebecca was wiping away the tears that embarrassed her. Lizzie had pulled Jake into her lap. “Who wants to decorate gingerbread men?” she asked.
“I do,” Jake said.
Lizzie kissed him again. “After you get dressed.”
He nodded, got down, and ran off.
“He wet the bed again,” Rebecca said quietly. “And he had a nightmare and woke up screaming.”
“It’ll go away,” Jeremy said. “It got better before and it will again.”
Rebecca looked at him. “What happened to my father?” she asked guardedly.
“He’s gone,” Jeremy said solemnly.
“Is he dead?”
Lizzie stiffened.
“Yes,” Jeremy replied calmly.
“Did you kill him?”
“Rebecca,” Lizzie admonished.
“I did,” Jeremy said. “We fought. He drew on me, but I drew faster.”
Rebecca had locked her gaze with Jeremy’s. “I think I’ll call you Papa,” she said.
He swallowed, surprised by the statement. “That’d make me proud.”
“I’ll check on Jake.” With great dignity, Rebecca started for the door.
Lizzie watched in amazement. It felt as if her child had aged years overnight.
At the door, the girl turned back. “You’re wrong about one thing, though,” she said to her mother.
“What?”
“You are the prettiest thing ever.”
Touched by the words, Li
zzie smiled and Rebecca returned it. In fact, she glowed with it.
Chapter Fifty
“Shouldn’t they be back by now?” Rebecca fretted for the fourth or fifth time. She and Cessie were sitting together on the sofa, putting a hem in the green and white gingham curtains that would hang in Rebecca’s new room—which had been the room she’d shared with Jake. Jake’s room would be where Jeremy had slept.
“Honey,” April May said without looking up from the cranberries she was spearing for the Christmas tree garland, “they’ll be here when they get here, but they will be here.”
The fragrant, eight-foot tree was decorated with colorful, blown-glass balls that were placed around hand-sewn fabric ornaments. Sy and Livie Blue had liked a colorful tree, and so the Blue household had never known any other kind. The children’s artwork had also been added this year. In the minds of Cessie and April May, it had never looked better.
“Why do people go on honeymoons, anyway?” Rebecca muttered. “You’re going off to be together when you’re already going to be together every day from now on.”
Cessie and April May chuckled. “They didn’t go far, you know,” Cessie said. “Only to Roanoke. It’s just to be different. To have a different setting. It’s romantic.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes. “I’m never getting married.”
“Maybe you will and maybe you won’t,” April May replied. “Although don’t you think you might want to give it a few months before you decide for good and all?”
After a moment of consternation, a grin broke through on Rebecca’s face. Jake was stretched out on the floor in front of the fire, playing an intense game with his toy soldiers, which, given his expression, must have been locked in an angry confrontation. The dogs were stretched out around him, mostly dozing. It occurred to April May how much these children, this family, had filled their lives.
Jeremy and Lizzie had tied the knot the day before yesterday. It had been a small ceremony with only the family and a few others in attendance. Of course, she counted herself and Cessie as family, and then there had been Emmett, Fiona and Wayne Jones, Doll Summers, Tommy and Em Medlin, and the Howertons. Gregory Howerton had purchased a majority holding of Number Six from Jeremy, and he and Jeremy were working together on plans to rebuild it better and safer than before. Emmett had brought it all about. In fact, the man had brought quite a bit about. He’d also taken a shine to Cessie. Cessie refused to acknowledge it, although it was fun to see her light up a little bit around him.
“What are you thinking about?” Cessie asked her sister.
April May looked at her. “I’m thinking life is good and I’m just awful glad to be alive and kicking.”
“Alive and kicking,” Jake laughingly repeated.
“Did those soldiers get their war worked out?” April May asked him. “It looked to me like they were going at it pretty hard.”
Jake looked unsure for a moment and then he nodded.
“That’s good. Peace is better than war. Especially at Christmastime.”
Wags’s head popped up moments before they heard the sound of a tinkling bell from outside.
“What’s that?” Rebecca jumped up and hurried toward the front door before anyone could reply. Jake followed. She opened the door and saw a sleigh coming. “It’s a sleigh! It’s Mama and Jeremy,” she said happily, “and they’re in a sleigh.”
Her mother saw them and waved, and they waved back. It had begun lightly snowing again.
Jeremy drove around the side of the house, and the children closed the front door and went running to the side door in the kitchen.
“Where’d they get the sleigh?” April May wondered aloud as she placed the strand she was working on in the bowl of cranberries and set it aside. She followed Cessie toward the kitchen as the door opened and excited greetings were exchanged.
As everyone was hugged, Jeremy and Lizzie seemed to glow, and the pink of their faces wasn’t caused by just the cold. Snowflakes clung to their coats and hats.
“I didn’t know it was snowing again,” Rebecca said, wiping away the cold wetness from her face where a snowflake had fallen from Lizzie’s embrace. “Until I saw you. We heard the bells.”
Lizzie nodded. “Mr. Rice met us at the station and offered us the horse and sleigh for our ride home,” she explained. “We drove him to Tommy and Em’s farm and we’ll go back for him in a few days.” She looked at April May and Cessie. “We’ve all been invited for lunch the day after Christmas. Will you come?”
“Really?” Cessie asked. “Us, too?”
Lizzie nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Doll said to insist that you come.”
“Well,” April May said. “If she insists.”
“We’d love to,” Cessie said. “And you’re still coming to Christmas dinner with us?”
“Of course. With my best rolls and carrot cake.”
“And sugar cookies,” Rebecca reminded her.
“Yes,” Lizzie replied. “And sugar cookies.”
“You ready to go home?” Jeremy asked the children.
They took off to get their coats without bothering to reply.
“Walk,” Lizzie called to them.
“Thank you both,” Jeremy said, looking from one to the other.
April May waved off the thanks. “What are grandparents and great aunties for? The question is, did you have fun?”
“It was wonderful,” Lizzie said, looking to Jeremy, who smiled back at her adoringly.
“It was,” he agreed. “Maybe we could all go in a few months. Take the train, eat in a nice restaurant, stay in a hotel.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Cessie said exuberantly.
Jeremy smiled with great affection and led the children outside once they’d hugged Cessie and April May good-bye and said thank you. They were eager for the sleigh ride, apparently their first.
Lizzie lingered. “This isn’t your Christmas present,” she said, pulling two small boxes from her pocket. She handed one to each lady; they were marked with their names. “And don’t open them until I’m gone,” she said with tears glistening in her eyes. “It’s just, I want to say—” Her voice broke.
“We know,” April May said.
Lizzie nodded. “I know you do, but I want to say it. I want to say how much I love you.” Tears spilled from her eyes, and Cessie stepped forward to wipe them away, despite the fact that tears slid down her own cheeks.
Cessie kissed Lizzie’s cheek. “We love you, too.”
April May stepped up and gave her a hug. “Now get on home. You got little ones out there who can’t wait for a ride. In fact, I want one tomorrow.”
Lizzie sniffed and laughed. “You’ve got it.”
“And I plan on belting out ‘Jingle Bells’ at the top of my lungs.”
“I’ll join you,” Lizzie promised as she stepped back. “Good night.”
“’Night, darlin’,” April May said.
Cessie’s hand was pressed to her throat, her voice trapped within from raw emotion. “How did we ever do without them?” she said when she could.
April May held the gift up. “You ready?”
Cessie nodded and they opened the gifts at the same time. Inside were monogrammed gold lockets. Cessie’s was rectangular, April May’s oval. “Oh my,” Cessie said as she opened her gift. “Look how lovely.” Each woman had received a picture of herself as a young woman on one side of the locket, and on the other side, a photograph of the children. “How did she do that?”
“Mine’s from the family picture,” April May said with an amazed smile. “Damn, was I a nice lookin’ thing. Let me see yours.”
“How did they get it so small?” Cessie wondered. Hers was a smaller version of the photograph from her sixteenth year of life—the year before John passed.
“I’m glad I admired mine before I saw yours,” April May grumbled.
Cessie smacked her lightly. “You’re so silly.”
Handing back Cessie’s locket, April May noticed the inscription
on the back She read it and handed it to her sister with a smile that was strained in an effort not to tear up. Cessie read the inscription as April May read her own. Cessie’s read, To my dream mother with love. April May’s said, To my favorite aunt with love.
“That girl,” April May said with a shake of her head and a swelling of her heart.
Chapter Fifty-One
Shortly before noon on Christmas morning, the hands at the Martin-Medlin ranch lounged around the parlor of the bunkhouse watching Caty’s comical attempts at walking. Wood was on the floor, as were Hawk and Jeffrey. Doll stood watching with wry amusement, commenting frequently on “fully growed men sitting on the floor talking baby talk.”
They ignored her.
Caty fell onto her bottom and Wood scooped her back up and put her back on her feet. “If at first you don’t succeed,” he said.
Emmett was also watching in bemusement, a cup of hot coffee in his hand. “I’m picturing the day she goes off to school for the first time, surrounded by all of you,” he teased.
“I think it’s a nice picture,” Hawk replied as Caty made it to his outstretched hands. He lifted her in the air. “Don’t you, Caty-did?”
“Stop calling her that,” Doll scolded.
Hawk put her down and pointed her in the direction of Jeffrey, who clapped his hands in encouragement.
“Growed men,” Doll said again with a shake of her head. “Pretty soon you’ll start singing patty-cake.”
“Only ’cause we learned it from you,” Joey said from the table where he and Edward were involved in a game of two-handed spades.
“You’re only mad we took up the floor space first,” Wood said to Doll.
“If I want to get down there, I will move you aside,” Doll retorted.
Wood threw up his hands in concession. “Not going to touch that, because I want my Christmas supper.”
Tommy and Em, meanwhile, strolled back to the house after a walk to the end of the drive. Every Christmas, they made their way to the welcome sign. Presenting it had been a meaningful moment for both of them, and they spent a few precious minutes each year in remembrance of that day and in appreciation for the blessing of their life together. After the mining disaster, their gratitude had a new dimension.
