Evangeline turned when she heard the front door to the McKee house open again. She couldn’t keep from smiling as Hutch stepped into the entryway, glanced over to where she stood in the kitchen, and said, “Mmmm mmm! What smells so good? Have I died and gone to heaven?”
“Nope,” Evangeline answered, smiling at him. “But you have arrived just in time for supper.”
“Well, I’m glad I did!” Hutch exclaimed. “My mouth is already watering just from the aroma in the house!”
“You come in here and see your sister first, Hutchner,” Jennie giggled from the bedroom.
Hutch nodded to Evangeline, removed his hat, and placed it on the hat rack just inside the front door before heading to the bedroom to greet his sister.
Turning back to the stove to stir the stew, Evangeline shook her head and whispered, “Yep…he really is as handsome as I imagined he was.”
She could hear Hutch and Jennie laughing at something Calvin had said, and it warmed her heart. She thought of her own sisters—of sitting around the breakfast table with them and her father those first glorious days after they’d arrived in their new home in Meadowlark Lake. It was a comforting, blissful memory and at the same time bittersweet—for the Ipswich family’s move to Meadowlark Lake had begun a chain of events that would change every one of their lives, forever. For the better, of course—but change nonetheless.
“Calvin says he’d like to eat in the bedroom with Jennie instead of in the kitchen with us…if that’s all right,” Hutch said from behind Evangeline, startling her from her reminiscences.
“I’d expect nothing else!” Evangeline exclaimed. She was pleased with the way Calvin was so attentive to Jennie.
She smiled up at Hutch, momentarily mesmerized and unable to move by his purely alluring presence.
He grinned and asked, “You don’t mind if I join you in here, do you?”
“Of course not,” she assured him. “I’d hoped you would. Let me just serve Jennie and Calvin, and then we’ll have ours, all right?”
“Yes, ma’am, Miss Ipswich,” Hutch said.
Evangeline heard him rather collapse into one kitchen chair at the table, exhaling a heavy, weary-sounding sigh.
“It sounds as if you’ve had a long day,” she ventured.
“Yep,” he confirmed, “though not as long as yours, I daresay. I bet you’re worn out from traveling, hmm?”
Evangeline shrugged. “Not so much,” she answered as she took two bowls down from a cupboard and began ladling stew into them. She smiled. “And it’s so wonderful to be with Jennie again.” She giggled to herself. “I’d forgotten how amusing she can be.” She added a biscuit to each bowl and said, “I’ll be right back,” to Hutch as she headed for the bedroom.
Jennie was sitting up in the bed, Calvin beside her.
“It’s hot, you two, so be careful,” Evangeline said, handing Calvin his bowl and then Jennie hers. She reached into her apron pocket, retrieving two spoons and two napkins. “I’ll bring some water in, if you like.”
“Oh, don’t go to all that trouble,” Calvin assured her. “We’ve got Jennie’s water glass here.” He nodded toward the nightstand. “We’ll share that for now. You head on in and feed Hutch. He’s gotta be near to starving! I don’t think he took time to eat at midday today.”
“Well, let me know if you need second helpings or anything, all right?” Evangeline asked.
She watched with satisfaction and joy as Jennie placed her face over her steaming bowl of chicken stew and an herb biscuit. “Oh, Evangeline,” she sighed. “This smells simply delicious! Thank you so much.”
“Let’s hope it’s as good as it smells then,” Evangeline said. “Enjoy. And do let me know if you need anything else.”
“Thank you so much, Miss Ipswich,” Calvin said with a sincere smile.
“You’re welcome,” Evangeline said.
She returned to the kitchen, surprised to see Hutch standing at the stove, ladling stew into two bowls on the counter.
“I hope you don’t mind,” he said, looking over his shoulder to her. “I just couldn’t wait. It smells so good!” He took two biscuits out of the biscuit pan, plopping one on top of the stew in each bowl. “And besides,” he said as he strode to the table and placed one bowl on either side of it, “you worked hard making supper. Seems to me you deserve to be served more than I do.”
Evangeline smiled and bit her lip with delight as Hutch pulled her chair out for her, scooting it in as she sat.
“Thank you,” she said.
Hutch hurried to a kitchen drawer and retrieved two spoons, returning to the table and handing one to Evangeline.
Quickly he clasped his hands together, bowed his head, and said, “Thank you, Lord, for this delicious meal, prepared by two beautiful hands. Amen.”
Before Evangeline had even finished her own, “Amen,” Hutch had plunged his spoon into the stew and taken his first bite.
“Oh, be careful, Hutch! It’s very hot!” Evangeline warned too late.
“It’s all right,” Hutch said, however, as he puffed a bit of steam from his mouth. “I like my stew hot.” He took a bite of his biscuit and moaned, “Mmmm mmmm mmm!” He sighed and then said, “I never thought I’d hear myself say this…”
“But you were tired of bacon?” Evangeline finished, smiling at him.
Hutch chuckled and nodded as he took another bite of stew. “Jennie told you, huh?”
“She did,” Evangeline admitted.
“Well, me and Calvin only know how to cook two things between us—and one’s bacon and eggs,” he explained. “We knew bacon and eggs would be best for Jennie and the baby, being that jerky and hardtack were the only other things we each knew how to make.”
“I’m sure she’s very grateful,” Evangeline offered. She shook her head. “Anything sounds better than hardtack.”
Hutch continued to smile. “I can make oatmeal too,” he said. “But Jennie hates oatmeal, so me and Calvin stuck to the bacon and eggs.”
Evangeline took a bite of her own stew, and as it traveled down her throat, it warmed her from head to toe. In fact, she hadn’t even realized that she’d been a little chilled until the stew began to warm her from the inside out.
“I’m glad you told me that Jennie doesn’t like oatmeal, because I do, and I might have made it for her otherwise,” Evangeline said.
She watched, flattered and very pleased as she noticed that Hutch was nearly finished with his bowl of stew before she’d even taken her third bite.
As he stood up with his bowl in hand and strode to the stove to refill it, Evangeline asked, “So…you work at the livery?”
“I own the livery,” Hutch answered. “And I do work there, yes.”
Evangeline smiled as she thought of Hutch as a boy—of his interest in and love for horses and other animals. “I remember how you loved horses when we were all in Boston. It makes sense that you would have a livery.”
“I still love horses,” he said, taking another biscuit from the pan and returning to his seat at the table. “Almost as much as I love this stew and these biscuits,” he added, glancing up to Evangeline and winking at her.
Evangeline couldn’t keep the pink of delight from rising to her cheeks. She was glad Hutch liked her stew and biscuits—very glad.
“My little sister Shay loves animals too,” she said. She giggled to herself, adding, “She has this poor old marmalade cat named Molly. I swear, that cat is the most patient animal God ever put on the earth. Shay dresses the thing up in baby clothes, takes it for daily walks on a leash…”
Hutch stopped mid-bite of his biscuit. “A cat on a leash?” he asked.
“Yes,” Evangeline assured him.
“Now there’s something I’d like to see,” Hutch said before finishing his bite.
“Well, it’s quite a sight to behold,” Evangeline admitted.
“Shay…your father’s new wife’s little girl, hmm?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm,” Evangeline c
onfirmed. “She’s a sweet little thing. She can win over the hardest of hearts in a matter of moments.”
“Kind of like you,” Hutch said, grinning at her.
As hard as she tried not to, Evangeline couldn’t keep from smiling. Oh, she knew Hutch was just flattering her—probably because her biscuits and stew tasted like ambrosia to a man who’d eaten nothing but bacon and eggs for weeks on end. Still, it was hard not to feel enchanted by anything he said—especially a flirtatious compliment.
“That is the best stew I’ve ever had in all my life, Miss Evangeline!” Calvin exclaimed as he entered the kitchen. “I hope you made a big potful, because Jennie and I both won’t be getting enough of these fixings anytime soon.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it, Calvin,” Evangeline said. “And please call me Evangeline.” She shook her head a moment, scowled, and added, “I find Miss Evangeline is far too formal for my liking.”
“Don’t call her Miss Evangeline, Calvin,” Jennie called from the other room. “You neither, Hutch. She saves that for melancholy old men.”
“What?” Hutch and Calvin asked in unison.
“Isn’t it about time for someone to get some sleep back there?” Evangeline called to Jennie. She began to giggle when she heard Jennie laugh.
“I’m having my seconds on stew and biscuits first,” Jennie called.
“She’s eating like a horse back there, Evangeline,” Calvin chuckled. He placed a biscuit in both his and Jennie’s bowls that were once more filled with stew. Then he turned and smiled at Evangeline. “Thank you for coming. Thank you so very much,” he said.
Evangeline smiled in return, moved by Calvin’s obvious sincerity.
“Thank you for having me, Calvin,” she told him.
Calvin nodded and started back toward the bedroom and his wife. He paused a moment, however, looked back over his shoulder, and said, “Hey, Hutch.”
“Yep?” Hutch acknowledged, looking to his brother-in-law.
“Jennie told me she didn’t have time to show you to the spare room where Evangeline will be staying,” Calvin explained. “Do you think you could set her up in there for me before you leave?” Calvin lowered his voice, adding, “Jennie’s really worn out tonight.”
But Hutch frowned. “Oh,” he rather mumbled, a look of confused concern on his face. “Well, I thought Evangeline would just be bunking in with me while she’s here. My bed’s plenty big enough for two.”
Evangeline gasped with astonished chagrin. But as Hutch smiled and winked at her, indicating he was teasing, she blushed—still a little breathless, nevertheless.
Calvin burst into laughter, however. “Seems to me you’ve forgotten what a tease Hutch is, Evangeline,” he chortled.
“What? Is she blushing?” Jennie called. “Is she embarrassed? Are you embarrassed, Evangeline? Oh, I’m missing everything by having to stay in bed!”
“Oh, simmer down, Jennie,” Evangeline heard Calvin say as he entered the bedroom. “I’m sure you’ll have plenty more chances to see Hutch mortify your friend.”
Evangeline shook her head with mingled amusement and sudden fatigue. “It seems I’ll have to have my wits about me when you’re around, Hutch LaMontagne.”
“It seems so,” Hutch agreed, grinning at her.
Just his expression as he smiled at her—just the realization that there was only a tabletop between herself and the most attractive man she had ever known in all her life—caused a thrill to travel over her. Goose bumps prickled her arms and legs, and Evangeline forced her attention away from Hutch and to the bowl of stew on the table before her.
Hutchner LaMontagne, she thought. It had been several years since Evangeline had finally been able to reconcile herself to never seeing him again. And yet there he was—sitting across the table from her, smiling at her as he enjoyed her chicken stew.
CHAPTER FIVE
The first week of Evangeline’s visit with Jennie seemed to fly by. Although Jennie needed a lot of rest (and Evangeline saw to it that she napped every few hours throughout the day), there was a lot to do to keep up the household chores and meals for her dear friend. Washing, dusting, dishes to be cleaned—it all kept Evangeline very busy and quite worn out by the end of the day. She hadn’t realized how little housework she’d really needed to do at home. After all, Kizzy kept the house so clean and fresh and looked after Shay. Amoretta and Calliope had their own homes to tend. Somehow Evangeline had slipped into only caring for her own needs or cooking an occasional meal to give Kizzy a rest.
Thus, as Evangeline cared for Jennie and her home, she realized that, when she did return to Meadowlark Lake, she needed to make some serious changes in her life. It was time her father, Kizzy, and Shay (and the new baby) had their own home. Evangeline had decided she would take a room at the boarding house and find a way to earn her own way.
She also made the decision she would not settle into marrying Floyd Longfellow simply because he wanted her and no one else seemed to. No! Evangeline thought that she really would rather live out her days as a spinster, as opposed to marrying a man she did not love—or wasn’t even attracted to in the least!
Admittedly, it was Hutch’s presence that had finally woken her up from the despairing daydream of having to settle for marrying Floyd Longfellow. Hutch made Evangeline feel alive—so wildly alive! She’d forgotten how wonderfully alive he had always made her feel—until the moment she’d seen him at the train station, that is. But after a week of seeing Hutch LaMontagne every night for supper, and on any other occasion throughout the day when he chose to stop in at the McKee residence and see how his sister was faring, Evangeline knew that she wanted to feel alive while living—the sort of excitement in living that Hutch inspired in her. Simply the sparkle in Hutch’s eyes when he spoke to her about his day at the livery each evening or the way he pampered his three-legged dog with treats from his pockets and frequent scratchings behind the ears—everything about him was more exciting than anything Evangeline had experienced in a very long time.
In truth, she could hardly wait for supper each evening—for Hutch to arrive, beg Jennie to let Jones come into the house and curl up on the entryway rug, remove his hat, and smile at her as he entered the kitchen. Furthermore, almost every evening Hutch and Evangeline spent their meal solely in one another’s company, for Calvin preferred to eat his supper with Jennie in the bedroom—and Evangeline was secretly delighted that he did.
And so, after a week in Red Peak, not only had Evangeline made some decisions on how she would change her circumstances once she returned to Meadowlark Lake, but also she’d begun to enjoy the hard work of caring for Jennie and Calvin. She especially enjoyed Jennie’s waking hours, when the two of them would sit together in Jennie’s bed, laughing over memories, talking of their new lives, and just sharing conversation and friendship.
And she’d learned so much about the life Jennie had led since she’d left Boston—since Evangeline had left Boston. Naturally, Evangeline’s favorite stories were of Jennie and Calvin’s meeting—of their falling in love and their move to Red Peak. Evangeline had grown to admire and appreciate Calvin McKee all the more with every detail Jennie revealed about him. Calvin was a hard-working, sincere man, and it was obvious he loved Jennie more than his own life. Calvin was very affectionate with Jennie—very patient and always concerned for her well-being.
Once in a while a despairing fear would try to creep into Evangeline’s mind—a fear that something might happen to Jennie when it was her time to have the baby. When the thought did try to take hold of her courage and begin to cause her to imagine the pain Calvin would know if something did go wrong, Evangeline would simply whisper a silent prayer and send despairing thoughts scampering back to oblivion. Evangeline would not be able to endure watching Calvin lose Jennie. She wondered if she could even endure it—though she had endured losing her mother and knew that if she could endure that, she could endure…
“What’re you so lost in thought about this morning?�
�� Hutch asked, stepping through the front door. “Jones,” he mumbled, pointing to the entryway rug.
Evangeline smiled as Hutch’s three-legged companion curled up on the rug, exhaled a heavy sigh, and closed his eyes.
“Oh, nothing worth mentioning,” Evangeline answered. “What brings you by? Just checking in on Jennie?”
“Yeah. There’s not much going on over at the livery right now,” Hutch explained. “So I thought I’d look in on her. Is she sleeping?”
“Not now!” Jennie called from the bedroom. “Not with all the clattering around you make when you come into the house, Hutch.”
Evangeline grinned and said, “I think she’s awake.”
Hutch smiled in return, saying, “Sounds like it.”
“Evie, will you bring in those photographs you showed me the other day?” Jennie called. “I would love for Hutch to see them too, if you don’t mind.”
“Bossy little thing, isn’t she?” Hutch whispered, winking conspiratorially at Evangeline.
“I heard that, Hutchner,” Jennie giggled from the bedroom.
“I’ll get the photographs and be right in, Jen,” Evangeline assured her friend—though her gaze and smile lingered on Hutch.
Hutch nodded to Evangeline and headed into Jennie’s bedroom.
“How are you faring this morning, sweetie?” she heard him ask his sister.
“Well enough,” Jennie answered with a sigh. “Though I’m getting pretty tired of being in bed all the time. It’ll be so nice to be up and around again once the baby comes.”
Evangeline hurried to the spare room where she’d been staying. Quickly she retrieved the small stack of cherished photographs of her family that she’d brought with her from home. Jennie had reveled in delight in studying them for several hours the day Evangeline had shown them to her. She hoped Hutch would enjoy them too.
When she arrived in Jennie’s room, it was to see Jennie happily sitting up in the middle of the bed, with Hutch sitting on the bed next to her on her right.
Patting the empty space on the bed to her left, Jennie said, “Oh, goody! Come sit down, Evie!” She looked to her brother and said, “You’re going to love seeing how the Ipswich family has changed since we last saw them, Hutch. And Judge Ipswich’s wife looks like some beauty out of a storybook!”
The Romancing of Evangeline Ipswich Page 5
