Colorado Dawn (37 page)

He eased Tick down with a pat on the head and approached her. “Let’s go out in the hall and talk.” He took her elbow and directed her into the foyer.

Wild thoughts, hopes, and guilt skittered around her head until she didn’t know which way to hop. Sam had kept her off balance since the moment she’d met him. On the one hand he didn’t want someone taking advantage of him, and on the other he repeatedly proved his generosity. It was as if he couldn’t help himself. His protective nature
would
come to the fore.

“I know we should’ve talked to you first, but it seems the perfect solution. You don’t have anywhere else to go, and we’ve got plenty of room at the house in Martin City. My parents would love to have you all. Christmas is always better with children in the house. And think what it would mean to the kids. A real Christmas, not an orphanage one.”

“That’s very kind of you, but we don’t want to impose. We’ve taken so much of your time and money already. I’ve no way of paying you back for your generosity. We’ve been burden enough.” Determined, she put force into her words. “We cannot go to Martin City with you. How do you think we would feel, crashing in on a family holiday celebration? And what would your parents say? You think they would love to have us? You can’t know that. Bad enough that your aunt foisted us upon you for the trip.”

He frowned and tilted his head. “Nobody foisted you on me. And I do know what my parents would say. My mother would have my hide skinned and stretched on the barn door if I didn’t bring you and the kids home with me. David and Karen are so excited about the idea. You’d do us out of this pleasure just for your pride?” Furrows formed on his brow. “Anyway, where else would you go?”

She tugged at her bottom lip. With all her heart she wanted to throw herself into his arms and beg him not to let her go away from him, but she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t take advantage of him like Yvette had. “I had thought to go back to the orphanage and try to get Finlo Korbin to see reason. If I couldn’t persuade him to change his mind, then I thought to try some of the local churches. Then I was going to look for a job.”

“A job? Just days before Christmas? Taking care of the kids is job enough. Please, they’ve got their hearts set on it now.” He took her hand and rubbed the back of it with his thumb, sending a quiver through her. Ducking his head, he locked his blue eyes onto hers, entreating her with an engaging, boyish smile. “I do, too.”

With a sigh, the resistance fled. “All right, but only over Christmas. Then I have to find some work and a place for the children.”

Sam straightened and swung her hand. “Great. We’ll sort everything out after Christmas. For now, just relax and enjoy yourself. I have a feeling you haven’t had much enjoyment in your life. But you’ll see. Problems just melt around my mother.”

Corralling the children when Sam broke the good news to them proved nearly impossible. Phin relaxed his guard enough to whistle a Christmas carol while carrying bags. Buckford was dispatched to the closest pharmacy for Tick’s medicine, and the housekeeper plied everyone with hot cider and holiday sweets.

Celeste wouldn’t be parted from David and insisted on riding with him and Karen to the station in one sleigh while Eldora, Sam, and the boys piled into another. Harness bells crashed and jangled, and Eldora felt as if she were sitting in the midst of a tornado. Buildings flashed by, and in an incredibly short period of time, they were back on the train ensconced once more in the private luxury of the Mackenzie railcar.

The children made themselves at home. Eldora kept watch, wondering what Karen and David would say to their lack of inhibitions. Tick knelt on the sofa and watched out the window, commenting on everyone and everything. Phin dropped into a chair and stretched his feet out, lacing his fingers across his middle and grinning like a cat. Celeste stood beside David’s chair.

“Karen, you should get some rest.” Sam emerged from helping Buckford stow baggage in the front stateroom. “You’ve been running around since dawn, and we’ll be up late. The train won’t pull into Martin City until after ten tonight.”

“Karen?” David sat upright, his dark brows bunching. “Are you all right?”

Karen patted David on the shoulder. “I’m quite fine, though a nap sounds lovely. I wonder if I’ll be able to sleep though. I don’t remember the last time I was so excited for Christmas to come.”

Eldora eased Tick’s boots off the upholstery, trying to ignore a pang of guilt. Karen had been on her feet all morning, packing, seeing to lastminute details, all added to because of Eldora and the children. “I’ll try to keep the children quiet.”

“Don’t worry about that. The noise of the train covers most everything else, and even if it doesn’t, there’s nothing better than happy children’s voices.” Karen disappeared into the front stateroom.

Turning to the children, Eldora held up a warning finger to her lips. “Regardless of Mrs. Mackenzie’s kind words, you will be quiet.”

Sam’s eyebrow quirked. “Why so chippy? Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

She folded her arms. “It won’t do for them to forget that they’re here on sufferance. They’ve grown entirely too wild and free on this trip, and though I’d love to see them lose some of their restraint, it doesn’t bode well for them in the future. The minute they return to institutional life, they’ll be slapped back into place.”

His sigh told her he was being patient again. If anything could grate on her nerves like pumice, it was someone being obviously patient and patronizing with her. “You sure are a gloomy Gus this morning.” He looked at Phin and Tick. “How’s about we let her rest on the sofa, and I’ll tell you about Christmas in the Mackenzie house?”

Tick nodded so hard, Eldora thought his head might come off. His slight frame bounced on the seat, barely denting the horsehair upholstery. Phin shrugged, as if he didn’t care, but his eyes brightened, and he slid over to make room for Eldora. Celeste perched on the arm of David’s chair.

“Now, Dave might have to help me remember some things, but I can tell you, Christmas is quite an event at our house. Our pa is like a big kid. He loves buying presents for people, and for a couple weeks before the holiday he sneaks around wearing a cat-who-got-the-cream grin.”

Tick’s eyes grew round, and he tucked his hands between his knees and hunched his shoulders.

Eldora bit her lip. Had she done the right thing, allowing the children to have Christmas with the Mackenzies? Not that she’d had a lot of choices. An event like this in their young lives could go one of two ways. Either they would live on the experience and it would help them get through the hard times, or it would start up a hankering in them for the finer things and they would grow bitter at being deprived of them.

She watched Phin, who seemed to feel the injustice of inequality the most and tried to even things up by stealing from those who had more than he did—which was just about everybody. Though he hadn’t stolen anything since trying to get medicine for Tick. Or at least he hadn’t gotten caught.

“On Christmas Eve, we take the big sleigh with the harnesses all strung with bells, and we drive to the church. There will be candles in every window, and the snow will be deep and make everything seem quiet. If it’s a clear night, you’ll imagine you can almost reach up and pluck a star out of the sky to keep in your pocket.” He made a picking motion over his head. “We’ll sing carols and hear about the reason for Christmas, and we’ll all walk outside hushed and reverent.”

“When we were kids, we’d hurry to bed as soon as we got home, so the night would go faster and Christmas day would get here sooner.” A smile played across David’s lips, and for the first time Eldora saw a resemblance between the brothers.

“And I’d lie awake for hours, too excited to sleep,” Sam said. “Then it would be morning, and we’d race downstairs to see what was in our stockings. Whew, the storm’s really blowing now.” He glanced out the window.

Snow had begun to fall almost the minute the train had pulled out of Denver, and as they rose in elevation, the storm had worsened. Heavy, fat flakes of wet snow had given way to sand-fine particles of ice that scoured the windowpanes and whipped around in the wind.

In the warmth of the railcar, it was easy to push aside the storm and imagine what life must’ve been like in the Mackenzie household at Christmas. A lump formed in Eldora’s throat as she remembered Christmas with her parents in the company-owned house they had shared…before her mother had gotten sick and before her father had been killed in the accident at the mine.

“Tell them about the food.” David leaned back in his chair, his arm around Celeste to steady her.

“Oh, the food.” Sam grinned and patted his stomach. “The house smells so good. There’s roast goose and all the trimmings, and pies and cake and candy. Eggnog and hot cocoa. Christmas breakfast is the lightest, fluffiest pancakes you ever saw, drowning in maple syrup and melted butter. And hickory-roasted bacon and ham all the way from Virginia. And just wait until you taste Mother’s gingerbread, slathered in whipped cream, warm and spicy. You kids are going to have a wonderful time.” He breathed deeply, closing his eyes.

Eldora almost laughed to see all three children and even David doing the same. She had to admit, her mouth watered at the thought of all that wonderful food.

Phin recovered first. “After breakfast what will we do?”

“Well, we’ll dig out some of the games David and I used to play when we were kids, and after our dinner has settled, I imagine we’ll go tobogganing. When we get back, all cold and wet and tired, Mother will greet us with hot chocolate, and then we’ll start receiving guests. Lots of visiting on Christmas evening. After supper, which is leftover bits from dinner, we’ll gather around the piano in the parlor and sing Christmas carols. And best of all, Father will read us the Christmas story.”

A father reading the Christmas story. Sam’s eyes collided with hers, and she bolted for the passageway before she embarrassed herself fully.

For two hours, Sam debated about whether to follow Eldora or give her privacy. He sent Phin back to check on her, but when the boy returned, he said Eldora had fallen asleep on one of the settees in the dining salon. She must be as all in as Karen, who slumbered away in the front sleeping compartment.

The snow continued to blow, and the wheels slipped on the icy rails. Sam whispered into David’s ear that the storm seemed to be picking up strength. “Hope they topped up the sand domes. They’ll need to sand the tracks, the way it’s coming down out there.”

David nodded, his face grim. “Surely they’ll have the snowplows out on the line as well. The real danger is an avalanche, but they wouldn’t have sent us out from Denver if the line were blocked.”

Sam scowled out the window while Phin and Tick set up for another game of checkers. “Unless a snow slip happened after we pulled out. I can feel the train plowing through drifts on the track already. If this snow keeps up, we’ll be late getting in.”

Buckford and a porter entered, each carrying a lunch tray. Fat flakes dotted their shoulders, and icy wind blew in with them.

Sam tossed his paper aside and rose. “I’ll get the girls.”

“If Karen’s still sleeping, don’t wake her. She can eat later. I’d rather she got some rest before we get home. You know how it is over the holidays, one event after another.” David set down the domino he held and smiled at Celeste. “We’ll finish our game after lunch.”

Sam found Eldora at the rear of the car, staring out the glass pane in the back door at the caboose. Not much of a view, mostly clouds of snow. She had one arm crossed at her waist, with the other elbow perched on it, her hand across her mouth.

He stopped in the doorway. “Lunch is here. Late, I know, but this way we won’t be starving for dinner before we reach home.”

She nodded but didn’t move.

“Is something wrong?”

“No.” The word sounded squeezed tight, like she was barely holding on to control. Just like a female. Something was obviously wrong, and he was supposed to figure it out on his own.

“The kids are pretty excited. Celeste and David are playing dominoes, and Phin and Tick are wrangling over checkers.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and braced his shoulder against the passageway wall. Cold air flowed off the bank of windows on his right. Gusts rocked the train, and he ducked to look out under one of the window blinds. “Looks like our white Christmas is guaranteed, not that there was any doubt.”

“White and cold.”

“But warm and cozy in the house. Mother will love having the kids for Christmas, and Father will be over the moon. David wired ahead and let them know you would be coming with us.” He stepped into the room. “You didn’t say what upset you back there. Are you still mad about having to come with us?”

She shook her head. “I’m not mad. I just hope I’m doing the right thing. You’ve filled the children’s heads with such grand ideas. Even a simple celebration would’ve been more than they could’ve imagined, but the holiday you describe…” She turned from the door and hugged her middle. “Reality is going to come crashing in pretty hard in the New Year.”