Alaskan Sweethearts (12 page)

“Oh,” Scarlett said.

“It about broke my heart.” The old man was shaking his head. “There was no way a boy could have done what he expected himself to do. His father was unconscious and trapped by the steering wheel. I got there before the fire flared up bad and I couldn’t get him out. It took the firemen. I don’t think he was even alive after the crash. There was so much smoke... It would have been pure foolishness for Hunter to have risked his life any more than he had. He did good just to get himself out.”

Scarlett swallowed. “But he didn’t see it that way, did he?”

His grandfather looked at her, seeming weighted down.

“He’s always taken life hard,” he said. “Like he’s responsible for everything.”

Scarlett nodded. Then before she thought about it she added, “My ex-husband was the opposite. He didn’t feel any obligation to things he ought to—like Joey.”

The old man nodded. “Every man has to find his own way. Some do. Some don’t.” He paused. “It took me a long time,” he said. “And then it was only with God’s help that I could figure it out. I needed to take on my duty, but not the whole world. Now instead of jumping in with some scheme of my own, I pray about things. I leave some things to God.”

With that, Colin turned and walked back into the living room.

Scarlett stood there, tape measure in her hand, for a couple of minutes. Then she carefully set it down on top of the cabinet and opened the kitchen door.

This next part was hers to do.

* * *

Even in the dim light, it didn’t take Hunter more than twenty minutes to sort through all the screws that had been scattered on the barn floor. He sat on a bale of hay after finding a tin can and put the new screws in it. The others he tossed into a rubber bucket that had been used to feed calves at one point. By the time he’d finished, he’d lost the edge to his irritation.

He heard a small creak and looked over at the barn door just in time to see Scarlett come inside.

“You might as well leave it open,” he said when it looked as if she was going to close it. “I need to put some oil on those hinges so the door works easier.”

One advantage of leaving the bulky door open was that he could watch the sunlight shine off the copper strands of the hair that had escaped the big bandanna Scarlett had tied around her head. He liked her better when she wasn’t pressed and starched.

She wore an old blue shirt that Hunter kept for when he went fishing. He’d cut the sleeves off and the buttons were half-off, as well. Scarlett had used safety pins to keep it closed. She still wore the jeans she’d borrowed from Linda at the café. She looked like a farm wife in canning season, though, and she seemed to belong here.

“You look nice,” he said.

She lifted an eyebrow in disbelief but didn’t comment. Instead she walked into the barn and then remained standing some distance from him.

“I want to apologize,” she finally said.

“You weren’t the one talking in there.”

“But I was listening,” she countered, apparently not willing to back down. “I could have walked away. No one ever benefits from listening to gossip.”

Hunter shrugged. “I’m not sure it’s gossip. I mean, everyone knows about the accident and that there was a fire. It was in the newspapers.”

“No matter what happened, you were a boy.”

“Man or boy, I was still me. Strength might need to grow, but it’s the heart that is brave or not.”

She took a step closer. “Seems to me, you’ve been plenty brave in your life.”

“You’ve only known me a couple of days,” he said. “Not much time to be either.”

He was silent and she didn’t seem to know what more to say.

“We don’t need to talk about it,” she finally said. “I just came out because I wanted you to know I appreciate all you’re doing for Joey.”

“He’s a good boy.”

“Thanks for teaching him that tuck-and-roll thing.”

“I enjoyed it.”

“It makes Joey feel like he has some power to help himself,” she added.

Hunter nodded. “All boys need to know a few things that make them feel strong.”

“I fail him sometimes,” she said. “I try too hard to keep him safe.”

“You’re his mother,” he said. “It’s only natural.”

They sat there for another minute or two, but the afternoon sun was sliding down and the sky became tinged with rose color.

“We have a big day tomorrow,” he said as he pushed himself up off the bale. He held out a hand to help Scarlett stand. “I better go put Joey on that swing so he gets some time to practice.”

Scarlett nodded. “I need to finish my measurements, too.”

Hunter ushered them out of the barn. He felt closer to Scarlett than he had in all the time she’d been here. Maybe there wasn’t as much separating the Jacobsons and the Murphys as everyone seemed to think. They all had regrets and failures. But they lived as best as they could.

* * *

That night Scarlett found him in the living room, trying to decide whether to put his shirts in a gym bag he had left from high school football or to use the huge expandable black suitcase his grandfather had offered to lend him.

“You get a bag checked for free with your ticket on our airline,” she said.

Hunter could hear his grandfather coming down the stairs in his slippers. Joey was already asleep in bed. The old man stepped into the doorway to the living room and held up another small suitcase. A tag still hung from the handle.

“This one says it’s a tote,” he announced. He wore a flannel robe over cotton pajamas. “You could use it, too. It was in Cash’s old closet.”

“I think the duffel bag will be big enough for me,” Hunter said as he threw a comb into the bag. “There’s no reason for my socks and toothbrush to rattle around in that big thing. Besides, I can squeeze the gym bag under the seat in front of me. Makes it easy.”

Scarlett sat on the sofa and eyed his grandfather’s much more spacious suitcase. “I don’t suppose you’d mind if I fill that up that big one and check it on Hunter’s ticket. I mean—” she looked at Hunter “—if you’re only going to use the duffel. That would mean I could find a drug store in Billings and buy my grandmother some of the vitamins and supplements she likes to take. Everybody stocks up when they travel because it’s cheaper than in Nome.”

“Maggie takes supplements!” the older man exclaimed as he stepped into the room. “Is she into the fountain of youth or something?”

“Not that I know of,” Scarlett said as she crossed her legs and leaned back on the couch. “But she’s determined to stay healthy. She says she can’t leave this earth until all of us girls are married. And Fiona is the only one who’s even engaged. Of course, I should get a pass because I was married once.”

“I don’t think that counts,” the old man said as he sat in the wooden rocker by the window. “You need to get me working on it. When is your sister Fiona walking down the aisle?”

Scarlett laughed and Hunter stopped packing long enough to listen to the sound of it.

“When is anybody’s guess,” she said. “Fiona has already postponed the wedding twice. Of course, once was during that bad snowstorm a couple of years ago. We got snowdrifts as high as eighteen feet. They had to bring in the National Guard to some towns around us to shovel snow off the roofs. We had local men do the same for the church where Fiona was going to have the wedding—they said the roof might collapse if they didn’t. She didn’t have much choice except to cancel, though. No one wanted to sit under a ceiling like that. Besides, Prince Charming—that’s what we in the family call her fiancé—has never been to Nome and she balked at introducing him and his mother to the place in all that snow.”

“Goodness,” Hunter’s grandfather said, “was it the same man both times? That she postponed on?”

Scarlett nodded as she sprawled on the couch. “Her fiancé is Gregory Pritchard the Third, one of those rich clients she takes on her wilderness excursions. Only, I don’t think he’s ever been on the full excursion. He flies up and stays in this fancy lodge in Denali Park when he visits Alaska. The lodge hired my sister to take the man on day trips a few years ago and she’s seen him every summer since then at the same lodge. He pays her really well.”

Scarlett paused a moment before continuing. “For the life of me, I don’t know what she sees in him. You’d think Fiona would be fearless, but she saw the snowstorm as a bad omen. Especially when it turned out there was a shortage of shovels. The snow was wetter than usual, which made it heavier, and all the plastic shovels were breaking. And there were no regular ones to be had in the whole state. Imagine Alaska with no shovels! My sisters and I had to remove the snow from our front step with a cookie sheet nailed to a broom handle.”

Hunter chuckled as he watched her.

“I forget what was wrong for Fiona the second time,” Scarlett said and her face grew more serious. “I worry she is going to get her heart broken. I don’t think the man is going to stick with her through a third time and she seems so set on him despite everything.”

“If he loves her, he will stick,” Hunter said without thinking and then was embarrassed to be such a soft touch.

Scarlett smiled and his grandfather rubbed his hands together in obvious delight.

“You can use the suitcase,” Hunter said as he got back to business. He couldn’t resist teasing his grandfather, though, so he looked at him and added, “Unless, of course, Grandpa here would like to send something large to his Maggie. A present.”

That stopped the grin on the old man’s face and made Hunter feel a twinge of guilt.

“I don’t have any diamonds to spare at the moment,” the old man said, surly enough to let everyone know that ring was more of a sore spot with him than he’d let on.

“It wouldn’t need to be anything expensive,” Hunter said.

“I know she’d love an answer to her letter,” Scarlett suggested. “It won’t even cost a stamp because we’ll take it right to her.”

“I’m not that cheap,” the old man grumbled.

But Hunter could see his grandfather was thinking.

“She might just appreciate a report on the senior activities at the church,” Hunter suggested. “You could enclose a bulletin and just tell her about what’s happening.”

The man looked a little less reluctant.

“Or tell her about Cash and Kurt in the rodeo,” Hunter added. “Cash just won that championship—got a big trophy and a decent money prize.”

“Oh, she’d like that,” Scarlett agreed. “I don’t think she’s ever been to a rodeo.”

His grandfather stood at that and started walking toward the kitchen. “I’ll give it a shot. I just need to find me a piece of paper and a pencil.”

The clock was showing midnight by the time Hunter had everything ready for his trip. He’d had to write out instructions for the men from the Elkton Ranch who were coming over to do chores, too. Scarlett had left for bed, leaving his grandfather’s suitcase out by the stairs.

The house was silent so late at night and Hunter sat for a moment in the living room after he turned the lights off. It wasn’t totally dark because there was a light still on in the kitchen. All Hunter heard was the faint ticking of the clock in the hallway. He had to admit he was looking forward to seeing Alaska. Knowing it was Scarlett and Joey’s home made it more special to him. After all his worry about them being disappointed if his grandfather’s offer fell through, he hadn’t considered that they might find themselves unable to part with the home state they clearly loved. He’d seen a lot of snow on the ranch over the years, but he’d never seen anything approaching eighteen feet. Yeah, they might not be able to part with that.

Hunter rose and walked through the doorway into the kitchen.

“What are you still doing up?” he whispered to his grandfather who was sitting at the table with a dozen crumpled sheets of paper next to his elbow.

The old man looked up at Hunter. “I can’t think of how to tell my Maggie anything.”

“I thought you were going to tell her about the boys. Cash might get that cereal company endorsement deal from his win last month. He might even get his photo on the box.”

His grandfather smiled. “What kind of a letter would that be to a woman who was the love of my life back then? You young people don’t have any romance in your souls. What you say sounds like a press release.”

“Well, even a press release is better than no letter,” Hunter said.

“I’m not so sure about that,” his grandfather responded. “Women are mighty fussy when it comes to hearing from their past beaus.”

“That was a long time ago,” Hunter reminded the old man. “I doubt emotions are quite as, uh, strong as they once were.”

His grandfather snorted. “That’s what you know about women.”

The old man stood, his bathrobe cinched tight around his middle and his white hair flying this way and that.

“I want you to order me a ticket to fly up with all of you tomorrow,” his grandfather said.

“What?”

“You heard me. I think it’s time I met with Maggie face-to-face and told her what is in my heart.”

Hunter didn’t have a good feeling about this.

“It has been a long time ago,” he murmured. “What is in your heart now may not be—”

“What is time when it comes to true love?” his grandfather demanded to know and, with that, he gave a regal shake of his head.

“There’s the church business meeting Monday night,” Hunter said, desperately trying to think of something to convince his grandfather to stay. “You don’t want to miss that, do you? They are electing new officers—and they have refreshments. I heard something about apple pie with ice cream. Mrs. Hargrove is in charge of the eats and you know it’ll be good.”

“I have other business to attend to,” the old man said as he glided over to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Before he took that first step, he glanced over at Hunter and smiled. “Business of the heart,” he said and started walking up the stairs.

Hunter just watched him go. He supposed there was no need for the old man to stay home on the ranch. His health was good enough to travel and Hunter would be with him if he needed any extra help. It was hard to predict what a set down would do to his grandfather, though. He’d obviously carried a torch for this Maggie for decades. Surely she had forgotten any fondness she’d once had for the old man long ago, though.