by Regina Scott
As the song ended, the shepherds came in from the other side, led by Frisco. Callie could hardly wait to hear what her other brother would say.
He pointed toward the manger. “Baby Jesus is trying to escape.”
Sure enough, Peter was halfway out of the manger. Victoria nudged him back in. He frowned at her.
Frisco cleared his throat and struck a pose, chin up and feet planted. “We shepherds bring the Prince of Peace all our devotion.”
Pride surged through her. Those were her brothers up there. Again she looked to Levi and saw that he was watching Frisco and Sutter with just the same amount of pride.
“We heard the angels’ call and left our fields and flocks to answer,” another of the shepherds said.
Just as Levi had left the gold fields to heed God’s call. She reached out her free hand and gave his a squeeze. A smile played about his lips.
“There He is, just as the angels said,” a third put in, nodding to the manger.
“He’s escaping again!” Frisco warned.
Dottie moved out of her seat and went to join Victoria by the manger.
“Who are you going to play, Aunt Dottie?” Victoria asked.
Dottie colored. “Baby Jesus’s nanny.”
A murmur of laughter ran through the crowd, but the children all seemed to accept that. Rina was rubbing the bridge of her nose as if she felt a headache coming on. Callie wasn’t sure why. This was better than any play she’d ever watched.
The fourth shepherd stomped her foot. “It’s my turn!”
“You’re right,” Frisco said. “Everyone be quiet so Jenna can speak.”
The cast fell silent. Everyone in the audience waited expectantly.
The little girl turned red and wrung her hands. “I forgot!”
“Praise God who...” a woman who was likely her mother urged from the benches.
Jenna blew out a breath. “Praise God who revealed Himself to such as us.”
“Good work!” the man beside her mother called.
“I did it.” Jenna wiggled her relief.
“Now can we sing?” the last shepherd asked with obvious relief.
“While shepherds watched their flocks by night, all seated on the ground,” Frisco started. “The angel of the Lord came down and glory shone around.”
Once again the audience joined in, singing until Callie’s heart swelled and she thought the walls of the hall might tremble. She kept her hand firmly in Levi’s.
As the song faded, she sat taller and craned her neck, eager for the next part of the play. Three more students came from the left. Their robes were richer, with touches of velvet and fur. All three wore gold paper crowns on their heads.
“We three kings give of our riches,” the first said, setting a gold-colored box by the manger. Peter reached for it, and Dottie nudged it a little farther away.
“We saw His star rise in the East and followed it here to Wallin Landing,” the second said, laying down a cut-glass bottle that glittered like a jewel.
“Bethlehem,” Frisco corrected him.
“Oh, right, Bethlehem. I always get that wrong.”
Some parent groaned.
“Won’t you help us sing?” the third asked, setting down a small, potted plant. “We three kings of Orient are / bearing gifts we traverse afar.”
She’d heard the song in Vancouver and San Francisco. Maybe it was because it featured gold, but the miners had loved belting it out. Her voice added to the wave that crested through the hall, bringing praise, joy. Levi let go of her hand, but slipped his arm about her shoulders. She had no need to be anywhere else.
“What wonderful gifts to welcome our son,” Sutter said. He looked out into the audience. “What gift will you give to welcome Jesus this Christmas?”
“I think He’d like one more song,” Victoria said. “Silent night, holy night.”
Around Callie, voices were raised, solemnly, thoughtfully. Callie let the sound roll over her, touch her heart. But Sutter’s words lingered through the melody.
From what she was learning, Jesus had only asked for one thing: love. What gift could she give the man who had welcomed her, her brothers and Mica into his home and his heart?
* * *
Levi rose with the others for a standing ovation. He couldn’t have been prouder of Frisco and Sutter. He knew from experience how hard it could be to stand in front of people and speak. He’d nearly forgotten his line the last time he’d been in one of Rina’s plays, and he’d been eighteen at the time.
“That was so good,” Callie said beside him. Her eyes were still shining, her cheeks glowing, as if she’d been the one to perform. The touch of her hand, the feel of her beside him, had made every moment more precious. He almost didn’t want it to end. But he knew his duty now.
“Yes, it was,” he agreed. “Let’s collect our actors and congratulate them.”
Most of the audience had the same idea. The stage was mobbed with reuniting families. Sutter and Frisco fought their way to Levi and Callie.
“Did you see me, Callie?” Sutter asked, eyes bright. “I was Joseph.”
“I was the head shepherd,” Frisco bragged. “I had to make sure the other shepherds knew what to do.”
“So I noticed,” Levi assured them. He put an arm about each boy. “You were both marvelous.”
“That was such a good play,” Callie kept repeating as if she’d never seen anything finer. “How’d you know what to say, what to sing?”
The boys launched into a complicated story about how Rina had come up with the lines, how they’d practiced, who’d struggled and how they’d helped each other. Levi found himself watching Callie. She nodded along with the story, exclaimed over the troubles and complimented them on their triumphs. Such a simple thing as a school play with all its flaws and imperfections, and she was in awe. What else could he do to make her life happier?
He thought about it the next few days as they all finished preparing for Christmas. The play had concluded school until the new year, so Sutter and Frisco were free to do other things. Levi had been concerned that the boys might chafe at being inside, but they threw themselves into the Christmas work, stringing popcorn for garlands and helping Beth make wreaths for the hall and the church. He was fairly sure part of the time they spent with Beth they were making Callie’s hat with the feathers they’d collected.
All the more reason for him to find her something, as well.
As Christmas Eve approached, he went to seek his brother’s advice. The store on the shores of Lake Union seemed emptier than Levi remembered as he entered. Some of the shelves were bare, and he could see a great deal more of the planks of the floor as he crossed to his brother, who stood behind the counter as if looking for his last friend.
“Happy Christmas Adam,” James greeted him. Levi knew he’d have to explain the greeting to Frisco and Sutter, if Beth hadn’t already. It was a family custom to call the twenty-third of December Christmas Adam, because it was the day before Christmas Eve, and Adam had come before Eve.
Levi nodded to James now, glancing around again. “Happy Christmas Adam to you, too. Is everything all right?”
James leaned on the counter as if weary. “See for yourself. Between the cold weather making it difficult to reach Seattle and the coming of Christmas, I’ve been cleaned out.”
Levi frowned. “Isn’t that good?”
James grinned, straightening. “Excellent. It will make for a very merry Christmas for my family.”
“I’d like my family to feel the merriment, as well.” He leaned closer, then chided himself. There wasn’t anyone else in the store. He didn’t have to speak confidentially. It wasn’t as if Callie could hear him up in the parsonage.
“Ah,” James said. “Well, I can tell you the twins have
been eyeing the steel fishhooks over there.”
“I’ll take them,” Levi said. “And I was thinking about a sled.”
James’s lean face lit. “Excellent idea. I have one left. It’s yours. And for Callie?”
There lay the rub. Levi shook his head. “I have no idea. She doesn’t like dress goods and ribbons and such.”
“A natural beauty who needs no adornment,” James agreed. He rearranged a display of taffy on the counter. “Still, perhaps an accessory—handkerchief, shawl, wedding ring?”
Levi groaned. “Not you, too?”
James spread his hands. “What can I say? I’m a hopeless romantic. But even Simon thinks it’s logical.”
Had his brothers been discussing him and Callie? “Simon doesn’t know all the facts.”
James nodded knowingly. “I thought I noticed her eating with her mouth open. I could never marry a woman like that, no matter how pretty and spunky.”
“She eats perfectly well, as you know,” Levi told him.
James leaned his arms on the counter. “Then she must snore. I suppose you can hear her through the floor of the loft.”
“I don’t hear a peep out of her and Mica.”
James straightened. “Then why the hesitation? Marry the girl!”
Levi felt the strain in his smile. “I’m just here for a Christmas present, and you aren’t helping.”
James sighed. “All right, but I still say she’d prefer a wedding ring to anything else I have to offer.”
“I’m surprised you have a ring at all,” Levi countered. “How many can you need out here?”
“Six,” James told him. “One for Harry, Tom, Dickie, Beth and you.”
“That’s five.”
“One as a spare,” James said. “You never know when Scout will return home.”
Levi very much doubted Scout would ever return to Wallin Landing, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell his brother that.
“What happened between you and Scout?” James asked quietly.
Was Levi that transparent? “Enough that he never wants to lay eyes on me again.”
“I doubt that,” James said. “You two got into a lot of scuffles when you were boys. You always made up in a few hours at most.”
“This was more than a scuffle,” Levi assured him. “Suffice it to say I nearly cost Scout his life.”
James paled. “That bad?”
Levi nodded. “Worse. And if Callie ever learned the truth, it wouldn’t matter what I get her for Christmas. She’d never speak to me again as long as I lived.”
“Then you have to tell her,” James said.
Levi raised a brow. “That’s mad, even for you.”
“You’re not the only one who’s been in a scrape or two,” James reminded him. “Think about it. How much better to hear from you than someone else?”
Zachariah and Willard came to mind. His blood had been ice when Callie had approached as they’d confessed they knew about his past. One of the miners involved must have broken his promise to Thaddeus and told the story. What would he have done if Willard had told her?
“I’ve tried,” he admitted to his brother. “It’s hard enough reliving it, much less watching someone you care about realize how craven you are.”
James wiggled his eyebrows. “It seems you do care.”
“I’m not ready to talk about that, either,” Levi told him. “So you and Beth and the others can stop asking, at least until Christmas is over.”
Chapter Seventeen
It was Christmas Eve. Callie knew because Frisco and Sutter woke her early to tell her so. She’d been dreaming of white feathers drifting from the sky when she heard the door open, and suddenly two bodies bounced onto the bed with her.
“It’s Christmas Eve,” Frisco informed her as if she should have been up and moving by now.
Sutter nodded, wiggling on the bed as if appreciating the springs for the first time. “Yesterday was Christmas Adam, and Adam comes before Eve. Miss Beth said so.”
“And that means we have to hang our stockings,” Frisco finished. They both gazed at her expectantly.
Callie smothered a yawn as she peered over the side of the bed at Mica, sleeping soundly in her cradle. “Why would we hang our stockings? Do we wash on Christmas Eve?”
Frisco and Sutter looked horrified at the very idea.
“We hang our stockings on the mantel because Father Christmas is coming,” Levi called from the other room. “Leave your sister alone, boys. I’ve got cocoa.”
Grinning, her brothers jumped off the bed and ran out.
Father Christmas. She remembered the shenanigans at the camps surrounding the name—lumps of coal stuck in boots, men running through camp pelting each other with oranges. It was all nonsense, but as apparently the Wallin family thought Father Christmas fun, she supposed she should let Frisco and Sutter enjoy the myth, as well.
They weren’t the only ones anticipating, she saw after she dressed, woke and changed Mica and came out of her room. Levi had just finished nailing his stocking to the mantel. Sutter’s and Frisco’s hung next to it.
Levi shot her a grin. “Bring me two of yours for you and Mica. I’ll hang them, as well.”
“You take this seriously,” she accused.
He drew himself up. “Christmas is a solemn occasion, madam. As minister to this community, it is my duty to uphold tradition.”
He didn’t fool her. She could see the twinkle in his eyes. She set Mica in her chair and went to fetch a stocking for each of them.
He had porridge on the table when she came back, and her brothers were already gulping it down while Levi fed Mica.
“What’s the hurry?” Callie asked, joining them.
“It’s Christmas Eve,” Frisco reminded her, sounding a bit exasperated that she would have to ask.
“So I heard,” Callie informed him. “But bolting breakfast isn’t going to make Father Christmas come any faster.”
There was a knock on the door.
“He’s here!” Sutter shouted, running to answer.
“Father Christmas doesn’t come until night, silly,” Frisco said, but he followed as if to make sure.
Beth was standing on the stoop. A heavy wool coat bundled her figure, the fur-lined hood pulled up around her face. Her breath fogged the air. “Good morning! Happy Christmas Eve.”
“Father Christmas is coming,” Sutter told her.
“So he is,” Beth agreed with a smile. “In the meantime, we need help with a different kind of delivery.”
Levi frowned, but the boys wiggled to see around her. Callie went to join them.
A wagon was trundling up the hill in the snow. The driver reined in the horses in front of the church. Squeezing past Beth, Sutter ran to see them.
The driver, an older man with a grizzled chin, hopped down. “The invoice said you’d have men here to do the unloading.” He looked pointedly at the boys.
“Plenty of men,” Beth assured him. She glanced at Callie. “May I put your brothers to work?”
Callie eyed the bulky, blanket-wrapped item on the back of the wagon. “I’m not sure they can carry that.”
“Very likely not,” Beth agreed. She called Sutter back. “Put your coats on, boys. Frisco can run up to the farm and ask Simon to help us. Sutter will go fetch James from the store. John should be here shortly. He will have seen this go past on the road.”
“But what is it?” Callie asked as the boys ran to do Beth’s bidding.
Levi brought Callie her coat and pulled his on. “What have you done, Beth?”
Beth grinned. “You’ll see.”
Just then, John came striding up the hill. “I saw the wagon. Is that it?”
Beth nodded, rubbing her mitt
ened hands together. “Oh, I can hardly wait.”
Her excitement was contagious. Callie exchanged glances with Levi and saw him grin, as well. But neither Beth nor John would say anything further until Simon and James arrived to help, having sent the twins up to stay with Nora.
“It’s heavy,” John advised, jumping up into the bed of the wagon. “And a little fragile. But we can move it with the right leverage.”
As Callie watched, Mica snuggling closer and Beth calling suggestions, the four men maneuvered Beth’s surprise down from the wagon. Callie’s gaze kept straying to Levi. He was so strong, so sure. He must have noticed her looking his way, for he stood a little taller.
“You don’t have to carry it all by yourself to impress your lady,” John teased him. “There are three more of us, you know.”
James straightened. “You can carry my side anytime. My lady’s not here.”
Callie blushed and thought she saw pink working its way into Levi’s cheeks. Still, all the men were sweating by the time they shuffled the thing into the church and set it against the wall.
John stepped back and wiped his brow. “Beth, would you like to do the honors?” He pulled a knife from his belt and handed it to her to cut the twine holding the blanket in place.
Beaming, his sister moved forward and snapped the twine, pulling off the blanket with a flourish. Callie took in the black lacquered sides, the gold paint outlining the name. Fingers tingling, she pressed closer and ran a hand along the smooth wood. Mica’s eyes were wide.
“A piano,” Simon said, face lifting.
“Egg money must be better than I thought,” James put in, rubbing his chin.
Beth blushed. “I used part of my inheritance from Ma. A real church needs a real piano.”
Callie glanced at Levi. The tent used for church meetings at Vital Creek had never boasted a piano. Her mind boggled just thinking of carrying the thing up the wild mountain passes. But, oh, to have such an instrument here!
