God, no!
“Miss Lewis?”
She shook herself mentally. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
“Just farewell and—” Will cleared his throat. “I wondered if I might call on you again sometime soon.”
“Of course. That would be lovely.”
He gave her a pleased grin before striding purposely for his horse.
Amanda closed the front door and leaned her back against it, feeling like she might collapse from the weight of her burdens. She quickly reminded herself that God wouldn’t give her more than she could bear. He would help her through this wretched time.
Now, if only she could remember that Bible truth.
Gathering her skirts, she headed upstairs to prepare the bedrooms for the imminent lodgers.
Chapter 2
Cade hadn’t known what exactly to expect when Samuel Harringer’s steward announced that he, Jenny, and Benkins would be staying with two female lighthouse keepers, but he certainly didn’t envision the likes of Miss Amanda Lewis. When Will Trekman had mentioned “the Widow Lewis and her daughter,” Cade imagined an old woman and a tall, skinny spinster with a jutting chin and a wart at the end of her pointed nose. Instead he’d been introduced to a comely young lady with light brown hair, freckles, and sparkling hazel eyes.
“I hope you’ll find these rooms comfortable,” she said as they stood in the wide, upstairs hallway.
“They’re plenty comfortable,” Cade replied. “We’re indebted to your kindness, Miss Lewis.”
She blushed prettily, and Cade couldn’t help a grin.
“If you’ll pardon me,” Benkins cut in, “I’m going to snooze the afternoon away.” He yawned audibly as if to prove his point. “I have to lie down before I fall down.”
“Please, Mr. Benkins, by all means get your muchneeded rest.” She turned to Cade. “And you, too, Captain…and Jenny.” She smiled at his daughter, who gazed back in respectful fascination. “I’ll have you know I prayed for your ship last night while I kept the beacon burning.”
“But how’d you know it was us?” Jenny asked.
“I didn’t. I simply prayed for any ships out on the lake, lost in the storm.”
“That was us, all right,” the girl declared. “Except, we weren’t lost. My father knew where we were and what he was doing the whole time, didn’t you, Papa?”
Cade sent his daughter an affectionate wink since he didn’t have the heart to tell her he’d been thrown off course by the storm. He might have sailed into the steep bluffs and missed the harbor entirely had it not been for the North Point Light guiding the Kismet to safety.
He looked at Amanda Lewis and gave her a mannerly grin. “Thank you for your prayers. The Almighty answered them.” Cade wondered for the umpteenth time why his prayers for his beloved wife hadn’t been heard years ago. He had begged and pleaded with God to spare her life, but to no avail.
And he hadn’t prayed since.
“Forgive me for noticing,” the young mistress of the lighthouse said, “but you do look weary, Captain.”
Cade shook off the past. “Yes, I am. Actually, we’re all quite exhausted after last night. I hope you won’t think us rude if we sleep for a few hours.”
She smiled. “I must confess I am as fatigued as you. I can only thank the Lord my guests want to nap…so I can too!”
They shared a brief, polite laugh.
“I shall be downstairs if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Miss Lewis.”
Cade observed Jenny staring after the young woman with an expression of awe on her face. Then she turned her blue-eyed gaze on him. “Papa, can I explore the lighthouse? I’m not tired.”
“Yes, you are. You’re overtired. That’s why you don’t feel sleepy.”
“But—”
“No arguments, my dear. You will rest this afternoon even if you don’t actually sleep.”
Jenny pouted but obeyed and whirled into her ascribed bedroom. Cade followed to be sure she did his bidding.
“Papa, just look at all these doll babies on the shelves. Aren’t they beautiful?”
“Yes, they are.” A stab of guilt cut to his heart. Jenny should have dolls in colorful lacy clothes too, but instead Cade had forced her into a sailor’s lifestyle. “When we move into our own house, I’ll see that you have every doll you ever wanted,” he promised her.
“And a pretty quilt like this one, Papa?” The girl ran her hand over the blue-and-white patchwork piece on the bed.
“Just like it.”
Jenny glanced at him as a little frown began to mar her brow. “I think I’m going to miss the Kismet,” she said.
Cade chuckled. “You’ll miss her for a week, princess. But soon you’ll meet so many new friends, you’ll become a regular landlubber. Why, you might rue the day your father ever whisked you off on a sailing ship.”
“I’ll never ‘rue’ it,” she stated doggedly. “Whatever that means.”
After a good-natured laugh, Cade said, “It means you’ll be sorry, but I hope you never are.”
“I won’t be sorry,” Jenny vowed earnestly. “I have loved our years on the Kismet, but I’ll love our new life just as much.”
How Cade wished her declaration would continue to ring true in the weeks, months, and years to come.
“I wonder if this is Miss Lewis’s room and she’s letting me borrow it,” Jenny murmured, letting her gaze roam over all four corners of the light blue walls.
“Could be.”
“But where will she sleep if I’m in her bedroom?” Jenny wondered.
“That’s Miss Lewis’s business. She and her mother are our hostesses, and we ought not question their decisions. Now lie down and get some shut-eye.”
“Aye, Captain,” his daughter said with a mock salute.
Cade shook his head as she giggled and bounced back onto the bed. “Benk has influenced you, I see. Well, no matter. Soon you will have socially upstanding playmates and you’ll forget all about that pirate.”
“I heard that, Cap’n,” his friend called from the next room.
Chuckling, Cade crossed the room and kissed Jenny’s forehead. Then he made his way to his designated chamber, stretched out on the soft mattress, and promptly fell asleep.
Amanda stoked the fire in the cast-iron cookstove near the enclosed porch. Her mother lay pallid on the daybed close by. During the summer months, the porch was open to the cool lake breezes, but in the wintertime, sturdy glass panes were tapped into the window frames so the room could be enjoyed all year round. It was Mother’s favorite, so when she’d taken ill, Amanda immediately had set up a sickroom on the sunporch. However, it hadn’t seemed to provide any measure of a cure. Then again, the doctor had said there wasn’t a remedy for consumption. Gazing at her mother’s ashen face, Amanda knew it wouldn’t be long now.
Her mother’s eyelids fluttered open and she stared back at Amanda. Her gaze was amazingly crystal-clear for a dying woman.
“Do we have company?” she asked in a brittle voice.
“Yes, Mother. A widowed skipper, his young daughter, and their friend, Mr. Hosea Benkins, are staying with us for a short while. They had nowhere to go, and I feared if I didn’t take them in, news would spread of your illness.” Amanda blew out an annoyed breath. “And the last thing I feel like doing is answering to that high-handed John Sloan and his indolent son.”
“Mmm…a widowed skipper, you say?”
“Yes, his name is Captain Danfield.”
“Captain…I dreamed about him.”
Amanda shook her head and sat down. She raised her mother’s listless hand and held it between both of hers. “You probably just heard Will Trekman making the usual introductions.”
“Yes, I thought I heard Will. He’s such a nice young man. But, no… this dream was different. It was unlike any I have ever had.” After several labored breaths, she said, “Tell me what he looks like, this captain.”
“Well, he’s—”
Amanda laughed softly, remembering the captain’s dark blond hair, blue eyes, and bushy mustache that twitched whenever he smiled, as though he were trying to conceal the gesture. “Yes, Mother, he’s handsome. I imagine he’ll have a string of ladies at his doorstep by the end of the week.”
“Mmm…”
A fanciful expression clouded her mother’s blue-green eyes, and Amanda wondered if she envisioned herself young again. Perhaps she would have enjoyed being swept off her feet by the charming Cade Danfield, except he looked too young for her mother. Amanda guessed he was in his early thirties.
“The Lord has promised me He will take care of you,” Mother suddenly rasped. “Now, I’m assuring you. Don’t be sad when I leave this world, Amanda. Don’t cry for me. I’ll be in a better place, and you’ll be taken care of by your heavenly Father, who loves you more than I ever could.”
She closed her eyes, looking so very tired.
“Wait, Mother,” Amanda pleaded, “please don’t leave just yet.”
“You…you have been a…a good daughter,” she managed to whisper before lapsing into a deep sleep.
Chapter 3
I’m telling you, that little lighthouse keeper is hiding something, Cap’n.”
Cade sat back on the settee near the fire and watched his friend pace the parlor rug. He wondered if there were any truth to Benk’s suspicions.
“Didn’t you notice her brooding expression at the dinner table?” he asked. “And didn’t you see how skittish she was when Jenny wandered into the kitchen and happened near the back porch door?” Benk shook his dark brown head. “I’d wager Amanda Lewis is hiding a man in there.”
Cade threw his head back and hooted. “Not likely.”
Benk raised a thick brow. “Oh?”
“She’s not the type,” he said, still chuckling. He’d seen the young lady’s innocent blush at least twice since they’d first met that afternoon. However, he did have to agree about the somber countenance; obviously something troubled Amanda Lewis to the point of distraction.
“All right, then I’ll bet she’s involved in something illegal.”
Benkins scrunched his face into a frown. For all his twenty-eight years, the man looked twice his age. But Cade knew a harsh upbringing, flagrant lifestyle, and military duty were to blame. Still, he marveled at the fact that Hosea Benkins had been gloriously born again some six years ago. They’d been on the Atlantic, patrolling the North Carolina coast. The sea had rippled like black velvet as their gunner sliced through the water. That very night Cade had led Benk to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
It was the year before Isabelle died.
“And where’s her mother?” Benk railed on, drawing Cade from his reverie. “Miss Lewis told us the woman had errands but changed her story not an hour later and said her mother was visiting a sick friend. Bah! I don’t believe it.”
“Amanda Lewis is not a good liar, is she?”
“The worst.”
Cade grinned at the retort. Sure, he had picked up on the variance in explanations, but he figured it wasn’t any of his business to challenge the young lady.
Exhaling a long breath, he sat forward and lifted his cup and saucer off the polished table. He sipped his coffee thoughtfully.
“You know, Cap’n, I heard it said lighthouse keepers are sometimes the worst of pirates. The rumor goes they loot disabled ships that run ashore. Could be the Lewis women are hiding booty right under our noses.”
Cade raised a brow. “I think you possess an overactive imagination, my friend.”
“Is that right? Well, let me remind you that your daughter is up in the lighthouse with our little buccaneer as we speak.”
Cade narrowed his gaze, and then Benkins nodded emphatically.
“All right,” he said in vexed agreement. He set down his coffee cup. “I’ll supervise Jenny’s lighthouse tour if it’ll make you feel any better.”
“Good. While you’re gone, I aim to have a look-see in the back porch.”
“It’s none of our business what’s out on that porch. We’re guests here, remember?”
“I ain’t plannin’ on doin’ no harm, Cap’n.” Benkins’s features were masked by a virtuous expression.
Cade snorted. The wag. Benk could get him to laugh during the worst of times.
“Oh, very well,” Cade said in parting. “Just mind your manners.”
“Of course, sir.”
He shook his head over his friend’s intentions while making his way to the lighthouse.
As Cade crossed the dusky, moonlit yard, he felt the snow crunching beneath his feet and heard the roar of the waves pounding against the shoreline below. Immediately, he took note of the bluff just beyond the lighthouse, which was located some one hundred feet from the house. To his dismay, he realized if the incline became just slick enough, Amanda Lewis might find herself sliding off the cliff and into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan.
She and her mother need to hire a man to build some sort of safety fence, he concluded, wondering why no one had thought of the danger till now.
Reaching the lighthouse, he climbed the stairs. The structure wasn’t terribly tall—Cade guessed some thirty feet high—and it had been manufactured in cast iron or steel, which made for icy walls along the winding stairwell. Nearing the top, he could hear Amanda speaking to Jenny about her work.
“The lantern must be lit every night by the time the sun sets, and I have to be sure it doesn’t go out all night long.”
“You stay up all night?” Jenny made it sound more like a privilege than a chore.
“Well, my mother…” Amanda cleared her throat. “My mother and I have always taken turns.”
“I see. Well, on our ship, Kismet, I sometimes stayed up all night. But mostly Papa made me turn in before ten o’clock.” She paused. “I wonder what my bedtime will be now that we’re not going to live onboard anymore.”
Cade grinned as he eavesdropped.
“Miss Amanda?”
“Yes?”
“Wherever did you get all those dolls? And is that your bedroom I’m sleeping in?”
“Yes, it’s my room, and I received my doll collection from my older brother, David. Each Christmas, he buys me another one.” Cade heard the smile in her voice. “David says, as a baby, I looked like a doll to him. I believe he still thinks of me as a child, even though I’m nineteen years old.”
“Practically an old maid!”
Cade winced. Obviously he and Jenny needed to discuss primary social graces…and soon. But much to his relief, Amanda’s light laughter echoed down from the lamp room.
Nineteen years old, he thought. She was thirteen years younger than he, closer to Jenny’s age than his own—and hardly an “old maid.”
With a lull in the conversation, Cade decided it might be an opportune time to make his presence known.
“Hello?” he called.
“Papa? Is that you?”
“ ’Tis I,” he answered in feigned formality, climbing the last few steps.
“It’s very bright up here,” Jenny informed him.
“Yes, it is.” Squinting, he gave the device a quick inspection. “Fresnel lens, isn’t that correct?”
“Yes, Captain. Fourth order.” Amanda smiled, looking impressed by his wee bit of lighthouse knowledge.
“Miss Amanda says she has to trim the lantern’s wicks every four hours during the night,” Jenny explained. “It’s in the rules for lighthouse keepers.”
“And a good thing it is for us lake-faring sailors.”
“But, Papa, we’re not sailors anymore, remember?”
“How could I forget?” Cade replied, grinning at his daughter.
“I think my work is done up here for the time being,” Amanda announced. “Shall we walk back down?”
“Certainly. Come along, Jenny.”
“Yes, Papa.” The girl paused. “Know what Miss Amanda said? She said she has to b
rave the catwalk that goes all around the lamp room to clean the outside of the windows. She’s not afraid of heights or anything. Just like me.”
“Is that so?” He tried not to envision the young lady out there on a windy day. Then again, he didn’t have to; she painted a verbal picture for him.
“One time I was frightened,” Amanda admitted, “when a bird flew into one of the panes and broke the window. It was during a fierce storm, and I had to go out on the catwalk and hold the tarp in place while Mother tried to secure it on the inside.”
Cade berated himself. And he’d been worrying about her sliding off the edge of the bluffs? Blown from the catwalk seemed like the real threat.
“You sound like a courageous woman, Miss Lewis,” he managed.
“I have to be, I suppose.”
Cade purposely continued descending the wooden staircase at a snail’s pace, hoping Benk had finished his snooping. Next, he entered the house noisily, complimenting Miss Lewis on a fine supper of homemade turkey soup, bread, and leftover Thanksgiving Day pumpkin pie.
“It really wasn’t much, Captain, I assure you. But I’m glad you enjoyed the meal.” She paused in the kitchen. “Um…if you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of something.” Her somewhat nervous glance included himself and Jenny. “Please make yourselves comfortable in the parlor, and I’ll join you there shortly.”
Cade nodded politely before escorting his daughter into the other room. Much to his relief, Benk stood by the hearth, one arm dangling from the mantel while he gazed pensively into the flickering flames.
“Jenny, run along and get ready for bed.”
“But Papa, Miss Amanda promised to tie up my hair in rags so it’ll be curly tomorrow.”
“Then more’s the reason you should change into your nightclothes.”
Jenny gave an aggravated huff but stomped up the steps in a semblance of obedience.
“I’m definitely going to have a talk with that girl,” he muttered in her wake. He glanced at Benk before striding purposefully toward him. “What did you discover?”
Lighthouse Brides Collection Page 15
