Carol Cox (10 page)

The bell jingled as the door closed. Caleb returned to
the storeroom for another crate and finished restocking the shelves with Levi’s help. He had just put the stepladder away when Melanie breezed inside with a spring in her step he hadn’t noticed before.

When he smiled at her, the surprise on her face took him aback. Hadn’t she ever seen him smile before? Well, maybe not, come to think of it. Not often, at least. But he had plenty of reason to smile now. He’d accomplished a lot in her absence. And thanks to the Professor, he now had some hope of getting his life back on track. He dusted his hands on his apron and smiled at her again. “How was your walk?”

“Marvelous.” Her face lit up. “I was able to get a better sense of the businesses in town and their needs. I have a whole new list of ideas I’d like to implement.”

The news produced a queasy feeling in Caleb’s stomach, but he refused to let it upset him. He stepped closer to her and squinted. Were those crumbs and traces of powdered sugar on her chin? He reached out to brush them off with his thumb. “It looks like you discovered the bakery, as well.”

Her blush made him grin. She looked just like Levi caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Encouraged at seeing her caught off guard like that, he forged ahead. “How would you like to tend the store tomorrow?”

Melanie’s mouth dropped open. “On my own?” She couldn’t have looked more shocked if he’d suggested she climb onto the store’s roof, sprout wings, and fly.

Caleb suspected he might be taking much more pleasure in her discomfiture than befitted a gentleman. Maybe she wasn’t always as self-assured as she tried to appear. “Why not?” he answered with a casual wave of his hand. “If you’re going
to be part owner, you ought to have a taste of what it’s like to be in charge. I thought I’d take Levi down to the creek in the morning and do some fishing.”

Levi popped out from his cubbyhole under the counter, his eyes wide as saucers. “Fishing? Really? Just you and me?”

The innocent question brought a lump to Caleb’s throat. He and Levi spent their days together in the store, but that wasn’t the same as just the two of them spending time focused on something his son enjoyed. The unmistakable excitement in the boy’s voice at the prospect of having his father all to himself spoke volumes about how hungry he was for Caleb’s attention.

Melanie seemed just as quick to recognize Levi’s need. She smiled over his head at Caleb and nodded. “That sounds like a fine plan to me.”

Caleb felt a twinge of misgivings about his scheme. He’d expected more trepidation on her part instead of this calm display of confidence. But maybe this was all for the better. Let her start off with an overabundance of assurance. All the easier for a few setbacks to burst her bubble and force her to accept that Cedar Ridge wasn’t the place for her.

“Make sure you have everything ready before it’s time to open,” he cautioned. “It’s a lot more taxing than you might expect, trying to manage everything on your own.”

“I’ll do that,” she promised. Her eyes sparkled, not seeming daunted in the least.

“On the other hand, it might be very slow tomorrow morning. It’s hard to know what to expect sometimes. I hope you won’t be too disappointed if there isn’t much to do.”

“Oh, I won’t be.” She was practically glowing now, like a child awaiting Christmas morning. “If that turns out to be
the case, it will give me an opportunity to put some of my ideas into practice right away.”

Caleb felt his heart drop like a stone.

She turned toward the stairs. “Let me put my shawl away and freshen up a bit. Then I’ll be ready to buckle down and get back to work.”

Caleb watched her hurry up the stairs, wondering if he had somehow miscalculated. She didn’t seem at all put off by the idea of carrying the full weight of responsibility for the store on her shoulders.

Maybe his stroke of genius hadn’t been so brilliant after all.

C
aleb leaned back against the trunk of a towering sycamore and watched the milky-blue waters of Walnut Creek ripple at his feet. He tipped his head back and looked up through the tree’s soaring branches, where a light breeze rustled the glossy leaves. The sun’s rays filtered through the lacing of branches, dappling the blanket he’d spread out for the two of them to rest on. The first true peace he’d felt in months washed over him in a wave of contentment.

Turning his attention back to the creek, he called to Levi. “Keep away from the edge, son. If the fish see you, they’ll hunker back in the rocks and won’t take your bait.” He saw no need to mention that stepping back would also lessen the chances of Levi falling in. The spring rains up north had melted the snow on the mountaintops, sending an excess of water downstream. The creek flowed at a rapid pace, rising high along the banks and eddying in a pool right below the tree where he and Levi had taken up their positions.

Caleb’s cane pole leaned against the mottled bark of the
sycamore’s trunk. He’d had success enough to make him happy. Three good-sized trout were tied on the stringer anchored to a fallen log a short way downstream—more than enough for their supper. For the rest of their time there, he planned to relax and enjoy their day together, and give his determined son a chance to hook the “whopper” he was sure lurked in the swirling pool.

“Do you think Freddie will like his new home?” Levi asked.

“I think he’ll be very happy here. It was time to let him go free, and you made a good choice, turning him loose by this pool. He’ll have lots of bugs and flies to eat, and maybe he’ll find some frog friends to play with.” And there wouldn’t be any more incidents between Freddie and Melanie Ross or any of their women customers.

At the reminder of Melanie, a ripple of unease intruded into his peaceful reverie. Would he recognize his store when he got back to town? How many customers had she managed to alienate in his absence? He sat up and rubbed his hand across his face, trying to shake off his sudden gloom.

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul?”
The verse from the Psalms came to his mind like a healing balm.
“And why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God.”

The words of the psalmist brought renewed solace to his soul. The ancient composer knew exactly where to find his hope.

Then again, the psalmist didn’t have Melanie Ross to contend with.

Enough!
Caleb slapped his palms against his knees. His purpose in taking Levi fishing was to have some time to think and pray about his situation. If he let worries eat away at him, his time away from the store would be wasted.

He leaned back again and watched as Levi focused his
attention on the wooden bobber that floated on top of the water, following its progress as the current carried it in a circuit the length of his fishing line around the edge of the pool. “Keep an eye on your line,” Caleb called. “You don’t want it getting snagged on those cattails.”

Rousing himself, Caleb gathered up the remains of their picnic lunch and tossed the crumbs a dozen feet away, much to the delight of the sharp-eyed scrub jay keeping watch from one of the sycamore’s limbs.

Getting to his feet, he shook out the blanket, dislodging the last of the crumbs, then spread it out again. He had to give the Professor credit for a clever idea. If Melanie’s shift in the store turned out to be anything less than total disaster, he would have to take advantage of more times like this for as long as she stayed in Cedar Ridge.

“Should I check the hook again?”

Caleb raised his hand to cover his smile. “You’ve already checked it three times in the past ten minutes. You have to give the fish a chance to see it. Just keep your eye on the bobber.”

“I haven’t even had one little nibble with this worm. Maybe it fell off. Don’t you think I ought to pull it up and make sure? Maybe there’s nothing there for the fish to see.”

Caleb stretched out on the blanket, propping himself up on one elbow. “Give it time, son. If you’re going to be a good fisherman, you need to learn to be patient.”

Levi shot him an impish look. “I guess Miss Ross wouldn’t be a very good fisherman, then, would she.”

Caleb gave his head a quick shake. After six years, he still hadn’t gotten used to his son’s abrupt changes of subject. “What do you mean?”

“She wasn’t very patient with you this morning.”

Caleb winced at the memory. “No. No, she wasn’t.” His mind drifted back to his words of instruction just before they left that morning. He’d only wanted to impress upon her the fact that tending the store involved more than prettying up their displays. Being a successful storekeeper meant being aware of a number of different things, all at the same time.

“You have to know your customers. Most of the people around here are easy enough to deal with, but a few need special treatment. There’s the mayor’s wife, for instance.” Caleb gave her a quick description of Ophelia Pike, omitting any mention of protruding bustles or a resemblance to the letter
S.
“Remember, she and her husband buy a lot from us, and we want to keep it that way. If she asks for anything we don’t have in stock, tell her we’ll order it, and make sure you follow through on that right away.”

Melanie’s nod was a bit impatient. “Of course. It’s the same treatment I would expect for myself as a customer. That’s exactly the kind of service we ought to be giving.”

“Then there’s Andy Jenkins. I’ve noticed several small items missing a time or two after he’s been in the store. I haven’t caught him at it yet, but if he comes in, don’t let your attention get diverted. You can’t take your eyes off that one for a minute.”

Melanie’s brow crinkled. “And if he’s in the store when someone else asks about an order, and I need to check in the storeroom . . . ?”

It isn’t as simple as you thought, is it.
“You’ll have to figure that out for yourself. That’s what running a store is all about. It isn’t a lark, it’s a business. Now if some stranger comes in who looks like they may try to give you trouble, I keep a pistol in the drawer next to the cash box.”

That was when she’d told him not to borrow trouble and practically thrown him out of his own store.

A whoop from Levi broke into his thoughts. “Look, Papa! The bobber’s gone!”

Caleb sat straight upright. Sure enough, Levi’s cane pole bent in an arc, its quivering tip nearly touching the water’s surface. He sprang to his feet and ran to the bank. “Hold your pole up high. Don’t let him get away.”

“I’m trying, but he’s too big. Help me!”

Caleb grabbed the pole with one hand above and the other below Levi’s and held it in a firm grip. “Okay, let’s pull him in. Come on now, you can do it.”

The veins stood out in Levi’s neck as he heaved back, pulling for all he was worth. After a moment, the pole went slack as the water broke and the fish cleared the surface in a mighty leap. Caleb took advantage of the opportunity, keeping the pole high in the air and swinging it over to the bank. He held tight and kept the line taut, while Levi ran over to inspect his prize.

The look on the boy’s face was one of pure delight. “It’s the biggest fish I’ve ever seen! I did good—didn’t I, Papa?”

Caleb laughed aloud at his son’s exultant expression. “You sure did. That must be the granddaddy of all the trout in this stream. I’m going to have to set up a separate stringer just for him.”

He busied himself pulling out the hook. Then taking the fish from Levi’s grasp, he took a length of heavy cord from his pocket and threaded it through the fish’s mouth and back out through the gills. Then he carried it over to the bank and knelt to tie the cord to the half-submerged log.

“Why did Mama have to die?”

The question took Caleb so off guard that he nearly lost his grip on the line. He made a quick grab to hold it fast before the trout took advantage of his lapse and swam away. With his free hand, he looped the line around the branch holding the other three fish and knotted it tight.

Straightening, he wiped his hands on his pant legs and turned to face Levi. “To be honest, son, I really don’t know.” And that was the absolute truth. Hadn’t he bombarded his heavenly Father with that same question for countless nights after Corinna’s death?

Levi broke a dry cattail from its stalk and wandered over to the blanket. He plopped down on it, sitting cross-legged. Avoiding eye contact with his father, he picked at a patch of dried mud on the knee of his overalls. “Do you think she would have liked me?”

Caleb felt like he’d taken a fist to the chest. “Of course. She loved you, son. You were the joy of her life.”

Levi nodded, seeming to accept the assurance without question. He ran his thumb along the dry cattail, peeling off clumps of the tiny seeds. “What about Uncle Alvin? Why did he die?”

Caleb drew a long breath. Those were weighty questions for a boy Levi’s age. He’d never expected their little outing to take such a philosophical turn. He picked his words carefully, trying to decide how much a six-year-old ought to know. “Well, he got sick, son.”

Levi bobbed his head. “But he was getting better. I thought he was going to get well.”

“We all did.” Caleb felt a renewed sense of grief, remembering how quickly Alvin had taken a turn for the worse. “But sometimes things don’t work out the way we expect them to.”

Levi nodded again, appearing to ponder the concept. “Uncle Alvin liked me.”

Caleb smiled. Kneeling beside his son, he reached out and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Yes, he did. He liked you very much.”

Levi tossed the bits of cattail aside and started digging in the dirt with the stick. “What about Miss Ross?”

Caleb felt a little like the bobber in the pool, being spun this way and that. What had made Levi connect Melanie to this line of questioning? He tried to keep his voice light. “Well, when we left the store, she was alive and well. I assume she’ll be in the same condition when we get back.”

Levi looked up and crinkled his nose. “I mean, how long is she going to stay here?”

Caleb shifted uneasily. “I don’t know for sure. It kind of depends on how things go.”

Levi stretched out on the blanket and stared at the puffy clouds overhead. “One of the cowboys asked her to marry him again.”

Caleb stared at him. “Really?” He couldn’t say the news surprised him, although he’d never expected his son to be the one to tell him. The shortage of women in the West made any new female arrival fair game for men who longed for a home and family, so the idea of one of them offering marriage on such short acquaintance wasn’t unheard of. But in the brief time she’d been in Cedar Ridge, Melanie had already racked up an impressive number of proposals. “Which one?”

Levi lifted one shoulder. “I was in my fort, so I couldn’t see him. I just heard what he said.” The boy’s eyelids fluttered and seemed to grow heavy. His mouth stretched wide in a yawn. “Are you going to ask her to marry you?”

Caleb bit back a yelp. “Me? Whatever gave you that idea?”

“I just wondered. I heard some ladies in the store talking about it.”

Caleb gritted his teeth. Bad enough for him to be the topic of the local gossips’ speculation, but he hated the thought of Levi overhearing it. “Sometimes people just like to hear themselves talk. No, I have no intention of marrying Miss Ross.”

“That’s good,” Levi murmured. “I don’t think
she
likes me very much.”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s not—” Caleb stopped in midsentence, remembering the look on Melanie’s face when she’d held up Freddie the frog. Her expression that morning hadn’t been one of warmth and acceptance. He sought for some words of reassurance, then realized the boy’s eyes were closed, and his gentle breathing confirmed that Levi had fallen asleep.

Caleb lay back and clasped his hands behind his head.
Thanks, Lord. I’ve had enough of fielding difficult questions for the moment.
He stared up through the leafy screen and watched the clouds drift across the sky. This was what he and Levi needed—time together without the distractions of the mercantile.

He would find a way to make it happen more often. If Melanie agreed, he could ask her to mind the store once in a while so he and Levi could get away on a regular basis. Assuming she didn’t up and accept one of those proposals. If she got married, she’d move away to start a home of her own and lose all interest in running the mercantile.

Lose interest . . . Caleb sat straight up as an idea struck him. If Melanie got married, it would put an end to his problems. Why hadn’t he thought of that before?

And what was she waiting for? She’d certainly had enough offers. He could see why suitors like Dooley and Rupert
Hatcher wouldn’t appeal, but there were plenty of well-established men in the area, men who could provide a good home and a solid future. He considered the possibilities, his excitement growing by the moment.

It wasn’t as if he was only thinking of himself. A good marriage would provide her with security and a comfortable future. All she needed was for the right man to ask. Apparently, she hadn’t met him yet.

A smile tugged at Caleb’s lips as an idea blossomed, then burst into full, glorious bloom. Maybe he could hurry up the process, or at least help it along. He knew most of the men in the area, from Cedar Ridge and Fort Verde all the way over to Prescott and Fort Whipple. Surely she could find someone suitable out of so many possibilities. All he had to do was spread the word that a comely young woman of good breeding had settled in the area, and they’d come running. In droves.