by Regina Scott
He lifted Mica higher, so her little head cuddled against him. “My sermon? Did I say something to confuse you?”
“You made me wonder,” Callie allowed as they reached the house. “What’s my destination?”
His smile deepened. “Wherever you want.”
Easy to say, not easy to know. Callie frowned at him, but he was turning toward her brothers.
“Time for bed, boys,” he called.
“Why?” Frisco asked.
Levi looked taken aback.
“School tomorrow,” Callie told them. “You want to be ready for studying.”
Frisco and Sutter exchanged glances. “The play,” Sutter said, and Frisco nodded. As one, they headed for the stairs.
“That was easy,” Levi said, recovering himself.
“Too easy,” Callie told him. “I’d watch them if I were you.”
“Will do.” He handed her Mica, then stepped back. “And Callie, I truly believe you could do anything you put your mind to. All you have to do is decide.” With a nod, he turned for the stairs.
Callie carried Mica into the bedroom, propped the baby on the bed where she curled up on the quilt, then went to the chest. About to shove it over the door, she paused. All she had to do was decide, he said. Decide to learn, to dream. Decide to trust him and his family. Decide to love.
She left the chest at the foot of the bed.
The next week, she did her best to give as she had been given. She sat dutifully beside Levi at the table as she practiced her reading. She learned new letters and words every day and warmed at his smile. She worked with Dottie to shelve more books in the new library, Mica and Peter playing on the rug in the middle. She and Beth washed clothes, including her mother’s quilt and Levi’s shirt. She helped Beth make chains out of strips of red and green paper to use for Christmas decorations.
She and Levi took the twins fishing again and managed to catch a trout big enough to suit James. She’d never seen her brothers stand so tall as when they delivered it. She also laid out the red-and-green plaid fabric so Nora could cut out the pieces for the new dress she was making for Callie. It was to have little black buttons all down the bodice and ruffles at the high neck, just under her chin.
“It will flatter your face,” Nora promised, working with the shears. “And the fitted bodice will call attention to your figure.”
Callie almost told her to stop right there. She hadn’t worn anything fitted since she was fifteen. Then she remembered she was safe here. There was no need to hide herself anymore.
Even from the likes of Harry Yeager.
He came by early in the week just as she was overseeing the twins cleaning up after dinner. Levi had gone to fetch something from the church, and Mica was in her chair, banging on the table with a wooden spoon, grinning at each smack.
“I thought I could chop some wood for you, Miss Murphy,” he said when she answered his knock.
“Sorry,” she said. “That’s Frisco and Sutter’s job.”
“Oh.” He shifted on his feet, then glanced at her, head cocked so that a lock of brown hair fell across his brow. “Then maybe you’d like to walk to the lake with me. It’s beautiful in the moonlight.”
Callie glanced around him at the gathering dusk. “Should be dark of the moon tonight and mighty cold. Not a good time for a stroll.”
He puffed out a breath. “Then maybe I could come in and visit a spell.”
“I have chores,” Callie told him. “Good night.” She shut the door, turned around and found Levi grinning at her from the door to the breezeway.
“What’s so funny?” she demanded. “I suppose I should have been a lady and invited him in. Did you see the size of him? He’d probably eat all our food.”
Levi crossed to her side. “We’re in no danger of running out of food, Callie, so please invite anyone you like to visit. I just found it amusing that Harry is trying so hard to show you he likes you, and you won’t let him.”
Callie shook her head. “You’re wrong. A handsome fellow like that wouldn’t chase after me. He’s looking for something. I’d sure like to know what.”
Levi hurried to help her brothers finish the cleaning.
Still, when both Tom Convers and Dickie Morgan showed up at the door the next day, she began to suspect Levi was right. And that confused her all the more. It wasn’t like when the miners at Vital Creek had first noticed she was female. The looks in their eyes had made her feel as if she’d fallen onto the muddy creek bottom. Harry, Tom and Dickie were more respectful, admiring even. But why would they so much as look at her with the beautiful Beth around?
She said as much to Nora one morning as they sat sewing in the parsonage while the older children were at school and the little ones played together. “I’m nothing special.”
Nora smiled, taking a careful stitch. “I disagree with you, Callie. I think you’re quite special indeed.”
Callie blushed. “So is Beth, and she’s unmarried.”
“Ah, but Beth is related to their employer. That might make a fellow think twice.”
“I certainly wouldn’t want Drew Wallin angry with me.” Callie focused on the seam. Her stitches were nearly as small and neat as Nora’s. “But if they’re as proper as they’ve been to me, I don’t see why they can’t court her.”
“I believe Beth made it clear she isn’t interested.”
“So have I,” Callie insisted. “But they keep coming around like mosquitoes in the spring.”
Nora raised her dark brows. “I hope they aren’t that bad. I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit. I can see why they’d be interested in you.”
Callie snorted. “And I haven’t even put on your new dress yet.”
“It takes more than a new dress to interest a fellow,” she said, pulling the thread tight. “I made myself all kinds of fancy dresses, and very few gentlemen showed the least interest.”
Callie glanced at her friend. A little gray had wormed its way into the black hair, but it wouldn’t have been there eight years ago, when Callie had heard Nora and Simon had married. After having two children, Nora might be a little plumper than she had been then. Still, she was a handsome woman now and one of the sweetest Callie had ever met.
She stabbed her needle into the fabric. “Maybe those men needed spectacles.”
Nora’s smile deepened, until it lit her gray eyes. “Perhaps. But I was so certain no gentleman I’d want would ever want me that I asked Simon to marry me.”
“Did you?” Callie regarded her with new respect. “He must have said yes, because you’re his wife.”
“He agreed, but only because I brought one hundred and sixty acres with me. As his wife, I could file a claim for land he needed.”
Callie wrinkled her nose. “He married you for the land?”
Nora nodded. “But somewhere along the way, he fell in love with me. It was more than I ever dreamed possible, and all I could ever want.”
She’d never seen so much joy. It was shining from Nora’s eyes, glowing from her round cheeks. It almost made Callie want to fall in love, too.
She pulled the thread taut. “Well, from what I see, most of the land in this area has been claimed, so Harry and the others can’t be after me for it.”
“No,” Nora admitted. “They can’t.”
Callie blinked. “Then that must mean they really like me.”
Nora nodded with a giggle that made the children raise their heads and laugh, too.
“So,” Nora said, leaning closer to Callie, “which one do you like?”
A face came immediately to mind—strong cheekbones, golden curls, deep blue eyes. Callie busied herself sewing.
“None of them,” she told Nora. “I suppose I better let them know it if they haven’t guessed already.”
* * *
Levi finally tacked the last of Beth’s chains to the wall of the hall and climbed down from the ladder. His sister turned in a circle as if counting the swags of red and green paper, the little cones made from pictures cut from her precious magazines, waiting to be filled with candy, nuts and raisins on the big night.
“Very festive,” Levi told her, taking the ladder to the big pantry that opened off one end of the long room with its windows looking out on the forest. “You and Callie did a fine job with the decorations.”
“And we’re not done yet,” Beth replied, pausing as she turned. “I want a wreath on every wall, the Christmas tree in the corner there and a kissing bough near the top of the room in front of the stage.”
Levi shook his head. “A kissing bough?”
He must have sounded as doubtful as he felt for Beth wagged a finger at him.
“I thought you’d be all for it. Don’t tell me that now you’re a minister you’re against kisses in public places.”
“Not at all,” Levi said, heading for the lantern they had lit to brighten the space on the gloomy day. “But the married couples don’t need the excuse, and the unmarried couples don’t need the encouragement.”
“Callie does,” Beth insisted, following him.
Levi stopped, hand on the brass ring at the top of the lantern. “Callie has no use for a kissing bough.”
“Of course she does! Haven’t you noticed Harry, Tom and Dickie buzzing about her like bees to pollen?”
Levi snatched up the lantern. “Making cakes of themselves, more like. You heard her when we went to visit Old Joe. Callie isn’t interested in courting.”
“I know,” Beth said as she followed him to the door. “It’s clear she doesn’t fancy Tom, Dick or Harry. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find her a match.”
He felt as if his sister had punched him in the chest. “No matchmaking, Beth. You promised.”
Beth lifted her skirts and scurried along beside him, as much to keep up with him as to escape the cold, he suspected. “I most certainly did not. I said I’d wait until after Christmas, but why wait when it’s such a romantic time of year?”
Was he the only one in the family who hadn’t taken their father’s adventure novels seriously? “Callie won’t thank you for this,” he told his sister as they reached the parsonage.
Beth’s face puckered. “But I only want her to be happy. What about Mr. Pentercast, the new fellow who’s been talking to James about opening a livery to the north?”
Levi cast her a glance as they entered. He knew that look on his sister’s face. Few people could ever win an argument with Beth. He was just glad Callie had taken Mica to visit Nora so she was spared his sister’s attempts at matchmaking.
“Pentercast came to see me last week,” Levi said, setting the lantern on the table. “He has a sweetheart traveling from Georgia to marry him and asked if I’d perform the ceremony.”
“That handsome Mr. Everard in town. I adore his English accent.”
“So do most of the ladies, I hear,” Levi warned her.
“Mr. Cropper who recently joined the sheriff’s office?”
He tried to picture the gregarious redhead with Callie and failed. But then, he was having a hard time seeing anyone with Callie.
Anyone but him.
“I doubt they’d have much in common,” he said. “Let her find her own way, Beth.”
Beth slumped. “Well, I’ll keep thinking.” She came to give Levi a hug, and he allowed himself to absorb the love it represented.
Suddenly, Beth pulled back. “Oh, Levi, I know who would be perfect for Callie.”
Not again. Levi started to protest, but she grabbed his arm.
“You.”
A jolt shot through him. Levi disengaged from her, stepping back. “No.”
Beth pursued him, face eager. “Yes, you! I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. She’s already comfortable with you, looks to you for support and encouragement.”
“I’m her guardian,” Levi reminded her, backing away. “She’s supposed to look to me for support and encouragement.”
Beth waved a hand. “It’s more than that. She’s prickly with everyone else, but not with you.”
“I assure you, she’s just as prickly with me, perhaps even more so.”
“Really?” Beth clasped her hands. “Oh, Levi, you know what that means? She likes you!”
He could not follow her logic. “I’d say she tolerates me. We agreed to partner to raise the twins and Mica. That’s all.”
“So, she trusts you with what she finds most precious—her family.” Beth lowered her hands. “I call that love.”
“I call it survival,” Levi argued. “You can’t appreciate the life she’s led, Beth. You can’t understand how she thinks, how she feels.”
“But you do,” Beth insisted. “That’s clear as day. Admit it, Levi. You admire her.”
“Of course I admire her. She’s taken care of Frisco and Sutter with little help from her older brother that I can tell. She’s raising Mica. She’s had to shoulder burdens few men could handle.”
“And too many women have had to bear,” Beth agreed. “All the more reason she deserves someone at her side through life.”
“A partner,” Levi said.
“A husband,” Beth countered.
Levi bent to put his eyes on a level with his sister’s, dark blue meeting dark blue. “I’m not going to marry Callie Murphy.”
“Oh!” Beth stamped her foot as he straightened. “Why do you all have to be so pigheaded? Catherine was perfect for Drew—everyone could see it, but he was worried about taking on another person after Pa told him to care for all of us.”
“He couldn’t see we were grown,” Levi remembered.
“Simon’s logic got in the way of love,” she continued, obviously warming to her theme, “and James and John seemed to think they weren’t good enough to marry, which was utter nonsense.” She put her hands on her hips. “So, what’s your excuse? Too busy being a minister to manage a family? You already have one, Levi. And you’re doing a fine job. Why can’t you open your heart a little more?”
Because his heart had shriveled the day he’d betrayed his best friend. Because it would take a lifetime to atone. Because Callie deserved better.
“Perhaps,” Levi said to his sister, “you should think about finding a husband of your own and stop trying to find one for Callie.”
Beth’s face tightened. “Why do I need a husband when I have five brothers to tell me what to do? I’m just about ready to wash my hands of you, Levi Wallin.”
Levi turned away before she could see that her words had scored. “You have ample reason to do so. Let’s leave it at that.”
Chapter Fourteen
Callie met Beth on the path up the hill as she was returning with Mica from Nora’s. Beth’s lavender skirts whipped about her legs and lightning flashed from her dark blue eyes.
“My brother is the most stubborn, annoying fellow,” she declared as they drew close. “I begin to believe you could do better.” She stomped past before Callie could disagree with her.
“What did you say to Beth?” she asked as soon as she entered the parsonage. Levi was sitting at the table, Bible open, paper in front of him and pen in hand. He frowned as he looked up.
“What did she say to you?”
“Only that you were stubborn and annoying,” Callie supplied, going to set Mica in her chair. The baby waved at Levi, and his frown eased.
“I’d think you’d agree,” he said, rocking the pen in his fingers.
“Stubborn, certainly,” Callie said, shucking off her coat. “Annoying, occasionally. But kind
and helpful and forgiving, too.”
“Those who had been forgiven much should be the first to forgive,” he murmured, gaze returning to the Bible, and she thought he was repeating something he’d read.
She hung her coat on a peg beside the door, brought Mica a wooden spoon, then came to slide in beside him on the bench. She could pick out most of the words on the page, but a few escaped her. He seemed to be reading about a son who had left home. She looked to what he’d written on his paper. “What’s a prodigal?”
He pulled the paper a little closer as if to keep her from seeing what else he’d written. “Someone who turns his back on everything he knows and goes away, then regrets it later and comes home.”
“Must be hard,” Callie said, gaze returning to the Bible. “You’re used to a certain way of life, but you think there’s something better over the next hill. Sooner or later you have to learn the truth and come home.”
He was staring at her. “That’s it exactly. How did you know?”
Callie shrugged. “It’s the way Pa and Adam behaved. It’s the story of most every prospector I’ve ever known. Only some of them never come home.”
She had been thinking of her family, but his shoulders slumped as if he felt her pain. “No, some never do,” he murmured, smoothing the thin pages of the Bible.
“At least Adam tried to shake off the gold fever,” Callie told him. “He’d claim he wanted to settle down to farm, make a good effort. But sooner or later he’d meet another prospector or hear about a strike. Then he’d fill his pack, promising to be back. Only this last time, he didn’t keep that promise, either.”
Mica brought her spoon down on the table with a mighty whack as if just as frustrated by the pattern.
He set aside the pen and pressed his hand over Callie’s on the table. “I’m sorry, Callie. Sorry that he disappointed you. Sorry that he left you. All I can promise is that I’m not going anywhere.”
She wished she could believe that. “Even preachers get assigned to new churches. You might be needed in another town, another territory.”
“Then I’d take you and the boys and Mica with me,” he said. “We’re partners, remember?”
