by Viola Grace
“Our?”
He grinned. “Rex’s Candies is a co-op. We are all about profit sharing. The ladies were delighted when you showed up. They are just waiting for the go ahead to scour out the flour and get the copper kettles warmed up.”
“Give me three more hours to get the fit right and do a cleaning on the machine. It will be up and running by six this evening.”
He grinned. “How firm is that time?”
“Very firm. I will send you a text when I am ready for help with the roller.”
“Oh, if you wanted to move the truck, our spot at the back is clear.”
“Great, when I finish the cookies, I will move the truck.”
Rex chuckled. “You have already finished them.”
She frowned. “Dang. Those were good.”
He took the empty cup from her hand and tapped her nose. “There is more where that came from if you get the candy roller running.”
She snorted. “Well, let’s get out of here so I can move the truck. I am not insured for passengers, and I am not willing to take a chance with that roller back here.”
“Fair enough. I will leave so you can get welding.”
She watched him go, and he hopped out of the truck. She checked that everything was fastened down and followed him out. She pulled the door down, locked it and headed to the driver’s side.
Two vehicles filled the parking spot before she was clear of it, and she really hoped that he hadn’t been kidding about the space behind the shop.
She parked behind the shop with relief and slid out of the cab and back around to the rear door. In a moment, she reached her workshop, closed the door and was getting back into the zone of harnessing lightning.
Each of the team had a skill. She had gotten lightning instead of thunder. It was ironic that her folk had eschewed many modern conveniences and she carried nothing but power. Raw, unadulterated power.
Bel went to work on welding the central rod into the roller, and her mind wandered back to her home as it always did. She was the second youngest of nine children, and her job had always been to fix the small things around the house. Her father made the parts, and she fit them together.
She had been putting equipment together since she was little; her fingers were always itching to put things together. It was ironic that she had become the last part of the team. She made them work together. The power of them all was balanced by her place in the team.
Love and lust, ice and heat, battle and comfort, thunder and lightning. Each one of them had a role to create a more balanced team that could be more powerful and get further with every year. Now, the trip around the world was second nature.
Her first trip had been something else entirely.
* * * *
Her papa and mama set her down and looked at her with kind expressions. “Daughter, this is an excellent offer. You are changing too quickly for us to keep hiding the effects from the gathering. We wish you to soar and be what you are born to be. We know not how you came to us, but we know that you do not belong with us anymore. You have outgrown us, Bella. The lord has a plan for you, and this man will help you to it. Do you believe us?”
Her parents had spoken in nearly identical words and had smiled down at her as they always did when they wanted her to stop working.
“I believe you. I feel what rises inside me; I just acknowledge what it means. No family of my own, no brothers and sisters to laugh with. I will be alone amongst strangers, and it is the hardest thing to bear. But, I shall bear it. My efforts will move portions of belief along, and that is a worthy result.”
The woman named Ru spoke from the far side of the team. “We will step in to become your new community. You will not be alone, Arabella. You will become everything that you were born to be. A symbol of light, hope and generosity.”
Her father chuckled. “She will be a symbol of fixing things. Keeping things together and putting things together. She finds the things that bind and puts them into action. We will miss her, but she is not for our world.”
Ru walked toward them, and horns sprouted from her head. “She is meant for our world.”
Bella’s horns came out in response, and she took Ru’s hand. Ru tucked her in against her body and hugged her. “You will not be alone, Bella. I promise you that.”
Ru looked to her parents and spoke slowly. “She will live with us, be educated and grow into a young woman before she will join the team. She will have a life of contemplation and study before it turns into action.”
They nodded, but her father asked, “Will she find love?”
Ru nodded and made her promise. “When the time is right, she will find love. We will not be her family, but we will be her community. We will keep her safe until it is time for her to strike out and seek love.”
* * * *
Bel shook her head and focused on the power that melted metal and made two pieces become one. The arcs of power accomplished her goal in a few motions and a lot of flashbacks. Every time she used the energy, she remembered the past.
She flicked her fingers to cool them and used her free hand to dump water on the steel. The sizzling confirmed her work, and she looked at the melted joint, making sure that she had caught every millimetre of the connection to avoid corrosion inside the roller.
It was perfect, but then, it always was. She moved to the other side of the roller and engaged in the same procedure, once again plunging her mind into the past. It was bizarre to think that she was hundreds of years from her family. It was why she was obsessed with taking the past into the future. Taking her past with her and looking forward made her feel complete.
She had cried over her lost roots, but her parents had given her books to take with her, and her education in mathematics had extended into mechanical engineering. Her focus on keeping machines alive had taken the place of all the ladylike pursuits her mother had tried to instill.
This time, when the light faded, she had a perfectly repaired roller ready to be set into place on its machine.
Bel smiled and wiped the metal down. Well, it was time to slink into the back of the shop and get the candy roller back on duty.
As quietly as she could, she took the roller out of the truck, and after she latched the door with her free hand, she pulled open the door to the candy shop and crept inside.
Bel entered the little shroud and set the roller into place with a click. The machine vibrated at the impact as if happy to have its missing limb back.
She returned to her truck for her cleaning kit and crept under the machine to try and clean things up as thoroughly as possible. It was her honour to restore old machines to as close to showroom condition as possible. She worked like hell to keep things up and running in excellent shape. So far, this season, she had no repeat customers for the same machines, but several for different ones. The quality of her work was not in doubt.
She hummed along as she worked on the machine and heard excited exclamations from around her. She heard a burner engage a few feet away and the clang of a copper kettle was right behind it. The sugar was soon on its way to boiling. She had better get herself in gear.
She finished her cleaning and heaved herself to her feet, getting a clean cloth to wipe down the rollers with mineral oil to remove any dust and debris from her housekeeping.
Bel disengaged her lockout and fired up the machine, starting the tiny gas burners that kept the candy from hardening as it compacted it.
The rollers tumbled, settled and were soon churning along at the angle that would take a ball of candy and turn it into a long, thick rope, suitable for candy canes.
With the machine humming away, she wiped down the jigs that were hanging near the pulling hook.
Rex came around and carefully lowered the outermost layer of plastic. “With the elements firing, you should have opened this to the air.”
She chuckled. “There is plenty of circulation, and I am watching it for any hiccups. It a
ll looks good.”
“And you are getting our equipment ready. Thank you.”
“All part of the service. I have never seen anyone pull a candy cane before.” She looked at Rex hopefully as the last layer between them came down.
“Is that a hint?”
She shrugged. “I have to stay to make sure that the machine is functioning. It is a matter of professional pride.”
“Feel free to stay as long as you like. I love performing for an audience.” He winked one of his sparkling grey eyes at her and headed to the copper kettle as one of his staff manned it.
She could imagine a dozen things she would like to watch him do and none of them involved clothing. Her time in the modern world with romance novels and the internet had given her a tremendous grasp of what the masculine body was capable of, in theory and practice. She was always in favour of verifying a good theory.
One of the counter staff came by and parked a stool in the corner. “It will be safe over here. Once he gets moving, you don’t want to be in the way. That stuff is hot.”
Bel grinned and gathered her tools up. “You mean the candy, right?”
The woman winked. “That, too.”
The sounds from the front of the shop indicated that there was a bustling trade going on. The back of the shop had a few women working with chocolate on marble slabs and there was no sign of the baked gingerbread.
Rex was working with the boiling sugar and watching the temperature. When he had judged it to be correct, he turned off the burner and lifted the copper vat onto a wheeled trolley to move it to one of the clean and waiting marble tables.
He hooked the handles to a chain pulley and hoisted the molten sugar up past the edge of the table.
“Well, since I am giving you a lesson, we pour the molten sugar out here to cool. The boiling gets out all water and aligns the molecules so that the resulting crystals have an even texture.”
The sugar was disappointingly golden on the table. Oddly enough, it didn’t steam.
“So, no water in it at all?”
“No, and it is very thirsty stuff.” He moved the copper vessel aside and took a set of long, metal paddles, folding and flipping the sugar as it cooled, keeping it even.
“What are you doing now?”
He laughed. “Letting it set up to the stage where I can pull it. Folding it helps the cooling and gets some air into it. Air is what will turn this from golden to white.”
Bel leaned forward and watched him work as the sugar hardened from liquid into toffee-texture. She watched the hard lines of his face as he gauged his progress. When he was certain the time was right, he pulled out a bottle and sprinkled it over the sugary mass.
He glanced at her and smiled. “Peppermint. It is always a classic. We also do spearmint, tuti-fruity and blueberry.”
“That is a fairly rounded selection. No cherry?”
He grinned. “I am still looking for a good colour combination for that one. Red gets mixed up with the peppermint. We try new ones every year.”
“Nice.”
Sure enough, his folding and turning was giving the sugar a paler hue. It took another few minutes before he snipped off sections and coloured them with a dye paste. He put on gloves and started to knead the coloured bits until brilliant red and vivid green were glowing in the candy.
He set the red and green near the heating elements on the roller and returned to the table, grabbing the mass of tumbling sugar and throwing it onto the hook. “Now, I earn my keep.”
Bel closed her jaw with a snap as he started to manhandle the mass up and over the hook before pulling it down again. The muscles in his arms, chest and back tightened and rippled with every haul.
She had no idea how much time had passed, but he had a snow-white and gleaming ball of sugar in his arms as he returned to the roller and started to work on the coloured segments. He rolled and flattened them, using the huge snips to cut lengths that would cover the rough cylinder. He positioned them symmetrically around the cylinder and looked at her. “Now to see what your work can stand up to.”
He tossed the cylinder onto the rollers, and it tumbled around and around.
“Can I approach?” She wanted to see from a better vantage point.
“Sure. The dangerous stuff is set aside. If you will haul the copper bowl to the sink, you can sit on my shoulders.” He grinned and switched out his gloves for clean ones.
The cylinder was slowly narrowing and lengthening. While it tumbled, Rex got the hooked mold down from the wall and set up a station for himself. A sharp knife and a parchment-lined pan completed his setup.
Bel hopped off her perch, and she moved the thick copper bowl over to the sink. One of the clerks came back, and together, they lifted it in to soak. There were only a few flecks of sugar left on it, but cleanliness was important.
She returned to Rex and stood at his side, but out of the way as he started to press the candy down to narrow it. The rollers kept it smooth, and when the width was right, Rex clipped off a chunk and rolled it in his hands until it matched the outer edge of the form he had. The whole procedure was accomplished in seconds, but when it was done, there was a gleaming, twisted, stripy candy cane. She could hear the click as he placed it on the pan, and by the time she had finished staring at the first, the second was next to it.
It seemed that the candy canes were appearing by magic, but his hands kept working until the pan was full and one of the workers had replaced it with a blank.
The cheer that arose from the shop made Bel grin. She inclined her head. “Well, I have seen what I wanted to see. Very impressive. Thanks for the demonstration. My bill will be emailed to you.”
He nodded. “I hope to see you again, Bel.”
“Well, we still have a week before Christmas. It could happen.” She was about to turn to leave when a warm candy cane appeared in front of her.
“Consider this a tip for your prompt repairs. I don’t know what the girls and I would have done if you hadn’t shown up.” He was holding the cane, and she closed her fingers around it as daintily as she could. The warmth of the candy was still in there.
She looked up at him from between her lashes and licked delicately at the warm peppermint.
His eyes darkened, and he reached out as she stepped back.
“Have a good evening, Rex.”
She turned and made her escape with the candy cane clutched in her hand. She held the candy in her teeth as she started up her truck, her bag stowed behind the seat.
She needed a nap in the worst way, and the flashing of her phone told her that the moment she answered it, she would have a call. A little bit of rest was called for and a proper meal. Hopefully not in that order.
Bel woke up with a smile and the taste of peppermint still on her lips. Four hours was all she had gotten, but she levered herself upright and checked her messages.
She had another repeater with a downed oven. The first time he had needed help with his conveyor belt. He was a prompt payer, so she showered and got into her boiler suit.
It was going to be a filthy job, but that is what she was paid for.
She sent out the last of her invoices and headed home after three back-to-back calls that—thankfully—were easy fixes.
Bel used her magic to cleanse her suit of the grime of the concrete floors and the gears that didn’t want to stay in place.
She was just settling her truck into the parking spot when her phone went off again. She answered it. “Sweet Repairs.”
The voice she had been hoping for was on the other end of the line. “Hello, Bel. I was wondering if you would have time to check on a drop press for me?”
She checked her watch and then remembered she didn’t wear one. “How long will you be there, Rex?”
“As long as you want me.”
Bel fought the mental images that came with that husky rumble.
“I will see you in half an hour. On my way.” Sh
e hung up and checked her mirrors before putting the truck in gear.
She liked driving. It wasn’t as much fun as when it had involved horses and wagons, but she did enjoy controlling where she went and how fast.
The quiet evening let her get through traffic with relative ease, and when she parked the truck behind the shop, the bar of light let her know that the rear door was open.
She entered with her toolkit in her hand and looked around. The stations were quiet and only the copper pot was in action.
“Where is everyone?”
“It’s after nine. They are home with their families, exhausted after a busy day.” Rex stirred the sugar with a practiced hand and the wide wooden paddle.
She approached cautiously. “Making more candy canes?”
He nodded. “We sold out of the first three batches. I am trying to get ahead for tomorrow.”
A plastic drape showed her where her work was needed. “So, what happened to the roller press?”
He sighed. “Freak accident. We were running a batch of mints and a pan fell in, dislodging the roller.”
Bel grinned at him as she removed the plastic tarp. “It seems to be a theme.”
She looked at the patterned roller and winced. The pan had gouged the pattern as well as dislocated the roller from the gear system.
This wasn’t an easy fix.
Rex rolled the molten candy to the cooling table and poured it. Thanks to watching earlier, she knew that she would have a chance to work her magic when he was pulling the candy.
She didn’t need to lock the machine. It was a hand crank. With focus, she got to work resetting the roller.
“Is there much damage?” Rex folded the sugar and kept an eye on it. His work with the pallet knives was fun to watch.
“I should be able to manage it. How did it happen?”
“Jo was trying to use a pan instead of the gloves to handle the hot candy and Cindy was cranking hard when the pan slipped. There was so much screaming, I thought a finger had gotten jammed into the machine.” He shook his head and flipped the candy.
