“Water?”
“No, but good thinking. The power’s been off long enough to shut down the system’s pump in town, but we might still get whatever’s left in the pipes.”
She watched him run the faucet at the sink and begin filling mugs. After two had been filled, the water trickled off. “That should be enough anyway. We won’t go hungry between now and morning, nor will we suffer from dehydration.”
“And there’s always snow,” she piped up. “Not that we could use the microwave to melt it.” She smiled at his laugh but continued to look anxiously at the dark windows.
“Come here.” He pulled her gently into his arms. His heart beat steadily beneath her cheek and she nestled into him, warmed by his thick, wool sweater and the reassuring arms that tightened around her.
“I think we should get ready for what could be a long night.” He relaxed his hold and went to the hooks on the wall next to the door, where the work crew hung their gear. He yanked down his jacket and a bulky, waterproof coat emblazoned with yellow safety bands. He lay the canvas coat on the floor, then he peered around the room. “Not sure if we have anything to use as a pillow.”
She couldn’t believe they were really going to be spending the night there and watched with mounting dread while he opened drawers and cupboard doors. Eventually he extracted some tea towels along with what looked like a teapot cozy.
“Not sure how this got here,” he said, frowning. “But it’ll do.” He placed the small cloth bundle at the top of the coat and then proceeded to lie down. He smiled encouragingly, patting the space next to him. “Come on. Put your jacket on and we can use mine as a blanket.”
Ella stared, mute with disbelief.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
BEN WOKE WITH a numb left arm. It was under Ella’s head, and he hated to disturb her, but at the same time, he couldn’t tolerate another second of pins and needles. She was lying curled up next to him, facing the other way. He didn’t know when they’d fallen asleep or how long they’d been sleeping. Sometime in the hours between setting up their “nests,” as Ella insisted on dubbing the makeshift beds, and the memory games—favorite songs from their teens, worst summer job, best movie—their competitive spirits flagged. He couldn’t even recall drifting off to sleep but suspected it had happened midsentence. The one topic neither had raised had been any memory linked to their last summer together in the Cove.
Ben slowly extracted his arm out from under her and gently laid her head back onto the balled-up bundle of tea towels they’d used as pillows. Not a good substitute, he decided, sitting up and massaging the back of his neck.
He had no idea what time it was. The bit of light filtering through the slats was a tad brighter than the interior of the room, so he was guessing daybreak at least. He got to his feet, a bit clumsily due to stiff joints, and stretched. Then he raised the blinds. The storm had vamoosed but had left behind a huge reminder of its presence. Snow, as far as Ben could see, blending with the cloudy sky to form a vast landscape of grays and whites. He could barely make out the roofs of their two vehicles. They’d have to dig their way out. Thank goodness the office had a shovel, purchased after the season’s first snowfall weeks ago.
Ella was stirring behind him, so he moved back to the blanket and sat down next to her. Her drowsy eyes and cheeks flushed from sleep tugged at his heart, and her smile, shy from the novelty of awakening with him, prompted him to lean over and kiss her cheek.
“Is it over?” She sat up, rubbing her eyes.
“It is. But we’ll have to dig our way out.”
“With a shovel, I hope, and not our hands.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, fortunately I have one here.”
Her stretch was slow and languorous, almost seductive, and Ben had to stand up, afraid to trust himself with even another kiss.
“I can’t believe I slept so well! Did you?”
“Surprisingly, I did.” He picked up his cell phone from the desk. It was dead and he didn’t have his charger with him. “Have you got your phone with you?”
“I left it in my car.”
“Oh well. Once we’ve cleared a path out of the lot, we should be able to get into town.”
“No breakfast?”
Ben smiled at the fake pout on her face. This is the Ella I remember. Her sense of humor. He knew more than ever that he wanted a future with her, but could he have one as long as he held on to his own secret? Once they were out in the snowbound real world, he figured other immediate tasks and issues would hamper their chances of being alone together in the days ahead. There was still no power, and people in town, like his parents and Henry, would need help.
He stared longingly at her, reluctant to break the sweetness of this moment.
She was standing up now, flexing joints and stiff muscles. “Hungry?” she asked. Then without waiting for his reply, she wandered over to the counter. “Hey, there’s still a granola bar here. Dibs on it!”
“Be my guest. I regretted the one I ate last night.” He pulled a face and she laughed.
She came toward him, unwrapping the granola bar, and he said, “Ella, I need to tell you something.”
She heard the tone in his voice, and her grin disappeared. “What is it?”
“Come and sit.”
She sat down next to him and began munching on the granola bar, though Ben saw that her enthusiasm for it was waning.
“You were brave to tell people your story Friday night about how my family and I—heck, the whole town—didn’t question the rumors. Even after Grace told my parents the truth months ago, they continued to cling to the illusion that their beloved daughter couldn’t be part of such a scheme. I know we kind of touched on all this yesterday. The thing is...” He had to stop to take a breath. “Grace wasn’t the only person who should have come clean.”
Ben didn’t let the growing apprehension in her eyes stop him. “The night of the bonfire, one of my buddies told me he heard you had a rendezvous with Brandon on the beach. At first I laughed, thinking how ridiculous the idea was, but then my insecurity got the better of me. I recalled how you sometimes defended Brandon when Grace or Cassie were making jokes about him, and I began to wonder if the rumor was true.” He stopped, taking in how much bigger her eyes looked in a face that was suddenly very pale. She was about to speak, and he held up his hand. “I need to finish this, Ella. It’s been a long time coming.
“I went looking for you, but on my way to the bonfire, I met Brandon. It must have been right after he found out he’d been tricked, because he was running away from where I think you’d seen him, on the lighthouse path. I grabbed hold of his arm and saw he was crying, but...see?...all I was thinking was that my friend must have been right, that you had been meeting Brandon. I was angry and accused him of going behind my back with my girlfriend. He laughed, but in a horribly bitter way, and shouted something about a note. He flashed this paper in front of me, kind of taunting me, and I tried to take it from him.” Ben had to pause.
“Go on.”
Her cold voice frightened him, but he had to finish. “We had a scuffle and I pushed him. After he ran off, I saw that he’d dropped the note. I was confused, Ella, and not thinking straight. I read the note, saw your name on it and believed the rumor was true. I’d planned to confront you with it the next day, but then the police came in the night to tell us Brandon was missing and asked if we had any information. I didn’t know what to do. We were all shocked. I immediately thought of my encounter with Brandon and wondered if that had had something to do with his disappearance. To tell the truth, I can’t remember if I gave the note to my parents or to the police. I told them I’d found it. When we heard early the next morning that he’d drowned, I was more afraid than ever to come clean about meeting him, because I thought his death was on me. That he’d run to the lighthouse after our scuffle. Later the same day, we heard the gossip about what had
happened.” He waited, controlling the emotions that flooded through him. “And that’s when I believed the rumors, too.”
He reached for her, but she abruptly stood up and began to walk in circles, forking her fingers through her hair, as if to exorcise everything she’d heard.
“I’m sorry, Ella. I should have said something right then. And last week, I should have told you the whole story when I apologized for not going to see you before you left the Cove.” He lowered his face into his palms, unable to look at her, afraid of what he might see in her eyes.
She stopped pacing. “Let me get this right. If you hadn’t given that note to the police, they wouldn’t have come to question me about Brandon’s drowning. The people in town wouldn’t have been blaming me for setting Brandon up. Blaming me for seventeen years, Ben!”
The fury and pain in her voice confirmed his worst fears. There was no going back, and now, maybe no going ahead.
* * *
ELLA WATCHED BEN shovel a path from the cars to the road into town. She’d finished sweeping off the cars, using the broom that he’d found in a closet, and was about to start hers to warm it up. She sat in the driver’s seat, keeping her eyes on the rearview mirror and Ben. The physical work of the last half hour had been good for both of them. She’d had a chance to vent some of her anger following his confession, though she knew the hurt would take days to fade, if at all. As for Ben, she figured all that shoveling was a kind of penance for him. Not that it would be enough, of course.
She tried not to dwell on how her life could have been different if Ben had shown her the note first, rather than his parents. She wasn’t sure she believed him when he said he couldn’t remember if he’d given it to the police or if his parents had. Did that even matter? The point was, if he’d shown her the note as he said he’d planned to, she’d have told him about the prank right away.
She switched on the front and rear windshield wipers, clearing off the rest of the snow and the areas that had melted from the defroster. She didn’t know whose car they were taking into town yet. They’d decided to just use one, as the roads would be bad and it was better for them to be together rather than separate. Although Ella was beginning to think separate was going to be a permanent state where she and Ben were concerned.
Another glance behind confirmed Ben was finished and heading toward her. She rolled down her window. “Yours or mine?”
He avoided looking at her, angling his face slightly to the right. Ella was annoyed. She was the wronged person here. Why was he giving her the silent treatment? Then she thought of her outburst minutes ago and the way he’d sat quietly through it, his face buried in his hands.
When she’d started sweeping off the cars, she’d decided to take the high road. She’d expressed her feelings, and now the ball was back to him. There was nothing to be gained by going back over what he’d done. Even though he’d altered the course of my whole life! She sensed she might be exaggerating about that but also knew so much had been affected by Ben’s action. He’d have followed through on his promise to visit her during his freshman year. Her family would have returned to the Cove the next summer. She wouldn’t have missed out on more summers—years—of being with Ben Winters.
Ella was so wrapped up in all the what-ifs that she gave him a blank stare after he spoke before she blurted, “What?”
“Uh, I suggested we take mine. It’s a four-wheel drive and the highway probably hasn’t been cleared yet.” He was frowning.
Without a word she rolled up her window again and turned off the engine. Ben was inside his SUV already, heating it up. She pulled her suitcase and handbag from her car, not knowing how long she’d have to stay in town. Judging from her limited view of the road ahead, she guessed she wouldn’t be leaving the Cove anytime soon. Once they left the office parking area, Ella understood why he’d suggested the SUV. Fortunately, the wind direction had drifted snow onto one side of the road, leaving the other fairly navigable. Ben drove slowly and carefully, bypassing occasional mounds of snow that encroached on the other half of the road. By the time they reached the turnoff from the highway, they’d encountered only one other vehicle, a snowplow heading in the opposite direction.
“The town will be the last place to get cleared,” Ben said. “Limited resources. The council will probably have already asked for assistance from Portland, but who knows when it’ll reach the Cove.” He didn’t speak again until they reached Main Street. “What are your plans, Ella? I doubt you’ll be able to go to Boston today—maybe not even tomorrow. I should check on my folks and Grace and Drew. Then I’ll see how we can help people in town.”
She stared blankly at him. What were her plans? The last hour, her head had been either completely empty or teeming with confusing and angry thoughts. “I don’t know.”
He turned away to focus on driving, and after plowing for what seemed like hours through rutted side streets, they pulled into his parents’ driveway. Grace and Drew were standing by the front stoop, leaning against their shovels, and waved as Ben parked behind Drew’s SUV.
When Ben killed the engine, he looked at Ella. “Do you want to get out or wait here? I can take you wherever you like after I let my parents know my plans.”
Ella was on the verge of telling him to drive her to the hotel right away, but as she watched Grace’s hesitant wave, she knew if she left again, as she and her family had years ago, nothing would ever be fixed. “I’ll get out, too. Maybe there’s something I can help with before, um, before I leave.”
He nodded but kept his eyes on hers, as if he were waiting for her to say something more. Not that the time was right for that, Ella was thinking, as she opened the car door.
“We were so worried about you two,” Grace called out. “I guess your phones died?”
“Mine did, but I’ve been charging it on the car battery,” Ben said. “Mom and Dad okay?”
“They’ll be better now that you’re here. Mom’s cooking breakfast. You’re just in time.”
Breakfast. Ella’s stomach rumbled at the very word but churned at the thought of sitting down to it with Ben’s parents.
“You okay with that?” he asked in a low voice.
She nodded and followed him up to the front door. As she passed Drew on the way in, he murmured, “Glad you stayed in town. And don’t worry about Friday. They understand.”
Ella smiled, thinking Grace was lucky to have such an intuitive partner. The mouthwatering aroma of bacon wafted from the kitchen as they removed coats, hats and boots. She lagged behind as the others headed for the kitchen, getting up her nerve to face his parents. Passing the dining room, she noticed that the table had been laid and Grace was coming her way with two more plates and sets of cutlery. She smiled at Ella, brushing by her to place the additional settings on the table, and Ella’s tension eased somewhat. At least she had Ben and Grace on her side.
Evelyn was lifting rashers of bacon from a frying pan onto a platter lined with paper towels. “Charles and I are relieved you two are okay. Breakfast is set to go.” She smiled at Ella and turned to Ben. “Will you get your father, dear? He’s in the solarium. And, Drew, the pancakes and eggs are under that foil-wrapped platter on the counter.” She looked back at Ella. “I’ll let you take the bacon into the dining room, Ella, and the orange juice, if you can manage that, too. I’ll bring the coffee. Fortunately, I kept my old percolator, because we all need some caffeine.” As she handed Ella the bacon, she lowered her voice to say, “Don’t worry about Friday night. We’ll talk later.”
Ella would have hugged her but figured that might be rushing the reconciliation a bit. She was placing the bacon and juice on the table when Ben came in with his father, who gave a quick nod her way. Ben helped Charles get seated at the head of the table and pointed to a chair on the window side of the table. “Come and sit here next to me, Ella.”
She sat down, grateful for the gesture that made
her feel this brunch—her first at the Winters home in seventeen years—was no big deal. Grace and Drew sat opposite, murmuring to one another as the food was passed around.
“I apologize that the eggs and pancakes aren’t as hot as they would have been if I’d kept them warm in the oven,” Evelyn said as she set the pot of coffee on the table.
“I don’t think anyone’s complaining, Mom. But why doesn’t the oven work and the stove top does?” Grace asked.
“Gas,” Drew put in, munching on a piece of bacon. He swallowed and explained at her puzzled frown. “The oven has an electric ignition, so useless in a power outage. But I lit the stove burners with a match.”
“And frightened the devil out of me when he did it!” Charles exclaimed.
Everyone laughed, and the tension in Ella’s shoulders loosened a bit more. Everyone ate quickly from hunger and perhaps, Ella thought, from wanting to find out what was happening in town. While Ben and Drew stacked dishes in the sink to be washed when water was available, Ella retrieved the empty platters from the dining room.
Grace was alone in the room, scrolling through her cell phone. “Lots more information now, thank goodness. The town website is asking people to help their neighbors shovel out, especially seniors. I texted Henry to tell him one of us is going to shovel his walk, and Mom has wrapped up leftover brekkie for him. People are setting up soup kitchens for those who can’t cook or who need provisions. One’s in the church off Town Square and the other’s at the hotel. There’s also a volunteer center set up at Town Hall. I was thinking of going to the hotel ’cause it’s closer. Are you interested in coming with me?”
“Um...” Ella hesitated.
“I know we went over this yesterday morning, Ella, but seriously, let’s try to forget about Friday night. You forgave me for what I did that summer, and maybe we’re even now. We both still have some angst about everything that’s happened, but I figure that will go away in time...if we let it.”
The Christmas Promise Page 19
