Leave a Candle Burning (34 page)

I will not overburden you with questions, but do write soon and tell us how you are both doing and if Corina is still enjoying Iris.

Dannan put the letter down for a moment and thought about what a blessing Corina was in his life, and what an equal blessing it was to have Iris. Iris had been wonderful for Corina. And it hadn’t been that long. So much had happened in the last month, but the stability Iris offered was a constant source of comfort.

Dannan finished his mother’s letter and then read the one from his uncle. They both had much the same words, so Dannan wrote only one letter back. He was able to be honest about how he was feeling and all the changes that had gone on and wrote of his appreciation for their prayers.

He ended the letter with a special word of thanks to his uncle, who had sent him to Iris. Dannan knew he would not have been able to manage without her.

“Dannan, how did you learn so much about parenting?”

It was the next morning, and Scottie had waited only until Iris had taken the little girl into the kitchen to ask. Before she had done that, however, Dannan had asked Corina to thank Scottie for reading to her, and she had complied.

“You mean what I do with Corina?”

“Yes.”

“I just try to remember everything Grant did.”

“Grant was Corina’s father?” Scottie clarified.

“Yes.”

“And he expected her to do well, even when she was weary?”

“He did. He knew it was his responsibility to see that she was rested, but we can’t always control how much sleep we get or even how much we can give our child. To lower the standard on the premise of fatigue is a poor idea.”

Scottie had nothing to say. She didn’t disagree; she’d just never considered this issue before. Dannan took her silence as dissent and questioned her.

“If you feel I’ve been unjust, I hope you’ll tell me.”

“I wasn’t thinking that. In truth, I hadn’t considered this before, and I’m just going over all of it in my mind.”

Dannan left her with some time of silence, but he wished very much that he knew what she was thinking.

“It was out of character for her,” Scottie finally said. “Is there room in one’s parenting to account for that?”

“That’s an excellent point, and I think you’re right—there is room. If she was a little older, I might be able to explore that with her. At this age she probably can’t articulate to me what was going on, so I have to assume, as you did, that she was tired. Until something else comes to light, I have to train her from that standpoint.”

“But it’s still a sin?” Scottie double-checked.

“Unthankfulness is always a sin.”

Again Scottie stood and thought about this. There was certainly no argument she could offer; it was just taking some getting used to.

“Just so you know,” Dannan put in, “I took her home, talked to her about it, fed her, and put her to bed. She slept all night, and when I told her at breakfast that she would thank you when we got here, she agreed without hesitation.”

“You must have spent a lot of time with your cousin and his wife.”

“Until I moved here, I just about lived at their house.” Dannan’s voice had dropped. “Grant, Annie, and I never ran out of things to talk about, and one time, when Grant was feeling uncertain about the future, he told me he would count on me to take care of Annie and Corina if anything ever happened to him.”

Just the words made Dannan’s heart squeeze. It was the last thing he had expected, but it was all too real. Annie had been taken as well, and he was now a father.

“I won’t keep you any longer,” Scottie said, realizing how long they had been standing there and wondering yet again how easy he was to talk to.

“I’ll be off,” Dannan agreed, “but if you have any other thoughts on the issue, I’d like to hear them.”

“All right. How is the book coming?”

“A little slow right now. I hope to have it done next week.”

“Good,” Scottie said, and Dannan exited on that note. He was halfway down the green before he stopped trying to figure out what she meant by that word.

Early the next week there was an early morning knock on Dannan’s door. Dannan opened that portal to find Finn on his step.

“Good morning,” Dannan greeted the man.

“Good morning, Dannan. I’ve a message from Iris and Scottie. Iris is under the weather, but Scottie said to bring Corina along anyhow. She’d be happy to have her.”

“Thank you, Finn. Should I check on Iris? Is she quite ill?”

“No,” Finn answered with a smile. “She said you would ask that and to tell you she’ll be on her feet in no time.”

“Well, keep me informed, and if you think she needs something, don’t hesitate to let me know.”

“Will do,” Finn agreed. “I’ll see you at the house.”

Dannan thanked him and went back to readying himself for the day. He found he envied Corina a bit. She was going to spend the day with Scottie.

“Now, let’s see, Corina—” Scottie had stopped on the green, her small companion stopping with her. “Here is the big house, but where is that block?” She dug into her basket, which was nearly full of Eli’s town set. Scottie had things to do, but today she was ignoring her own agenda.

The two had ventured out to match the town set with the actual houses and shops along the green. So far they had seen the bank, Shephard Store, the Commons Meetinghouse, and the blacksmith’s shop, and they were now standing at the big house.

“Look at the little windows.” Scottie showed Corina. “They’re all in the right places.”

“Flowers!” Corina exclaimed, looking at the tiny front door and then up at the house.

“I see that.”

“Well, now,” a voice joined in as Dannan came upon them. “This looks fun.”

“Danna!” Corina greeted him with pleasure.

Dannan swung her up into his arms and smiled at Scottie.

“We’re matching the town set,” Scottie explained, holding out the block that matched the Kingsley house. Dannan took it from her hand.

“This is amazing,” Dannan said as he studied it. “Who did these?”

“Eli couldn’t remember. His mother had them done after he became bedridden.”

Dannan looked into her eyes. They were only a little sad.

“How are you?” he asked, thinking again of how much had happened in such a short time.

“Lonely,” she admitted. “There’s so much to be done at the house today, but I’m ignoring it all and using Corina as the excuse.”

“Maybe that’s for the best.”

Scottie’s head tipped a bit to the side. “Do you always think about what’s best for others?”

“Always,” Dannan answered, a small twinkle in his eye.

“Allaas,” Corina said, and Scottie’s mouth opened.

“Is that what she’s saying?
Always?”

Dannan laughed. “I say it all the time.”

“Iris and I have not been able to figure it out.”

“In what context does she say it?” Dannan asked, realizing how swiftly she’d picked it up.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Scottie thought. “I guess when Iris might say, ‘You like cookies, don’t you?’ Or something like that.”

Dannan laughed again. “That’s exactly the way I would use it.” He turned to look at Corina. “Are you my
always
girl?”

Corina smiled, hunching her shoulders with pleasure before repeating, “Allaas.”

Dannan kissed her cheek and set her back on her feet.

“I have a patient to see, so I’d better keep moving” Dannan said, forcing himself to leave when he could have easily joined them for the day.

Scottie and Corina bid him goodbye before continuing their tour. They saw the covered bridge, two more houses, the schoolhouse, and even Dannan and Corina’s home. They ended at the Peterson house just in time for Scottie to go inside and put something together for dinner.

Fifteen

“I have to talk to you,” Reese said urgently to Conner.

Conner willingly followed his wife, who had taken his hand and was leading him out of the kitchen to the back stairway. It was a narrow space for Conner’s size, but Reese had only gone up a few steps before stopping to look at him. Conner shifted his body as far as he could to one side so the light could show on his wife’s face.

“Have you talked to Dannan again about Scottie?” Reese whispered.

“No, has something come up?”

“They’re perfect for each other,” Reese said seriously. “You must tell him that.”

Conner couldn’t stop his smile. It was so unlike his wife to voice this type of romantic opinion or to have anything to do with matchmaking.

“Am I being laughed at?”

“No,” Conner quickly schooled his features, but Reese did some shifting of her own, allowing the light to catch Conner’s face. “Reese,” he said as soon as she did this. “What is going on?”

“I saw them on the green. They stood for a long time in front of the house and talked, Corina in Dannan’s arms.” Reese’s breath caught a little. “So many memories came rushing back. You came into my life so suddenly, and I knew a love I’d never known. I want that for Scottie. I want her to let Dannan love her.”

“Come here.” Conner reached for her.

Reese let herself be swallowed in his huge embrace, wanting to cry but knowing she would have to explain to Troy if she did.