Their Mistletoe Matchmakers. Keli Gwyn

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      “This isn’t special treatment. I make it a point to come to the aid of anyone who tangles with a broken branch or—” his pleasantly full lips twitched “—a wayward piece of cake.”

      He remembered? Of course he did. How could he forget that mortifying moment when she’d stumbled and sent her slice of Jack and Pauline’s wedding cake sliding down her front?

      Henry had hustled her off to the kitchen after the unfortunate incident and helped her remove the bits of white frosting clinging to the silk. She’d done her best to ignore him up to that point—not an easy task since he was the best man—but he’d repaid her with kindness. Aside from that rather pointed remark about begrudging Jack and Pauline their happiness, of course.

      “Very well. I’ll do your bidding.” Lavinia leaned over, twisted the knob and pushed open the door.

      He entered the kitchen, set her down in front of the cook stove and rested his hands on her shoulders. “You’re not dizzy, are you?”

      “No. Just a bit chilled.” She turned out of his grasp and held her hands toward the heat, reveling in the warmth.

      “Where are the children?”

      “Alex and Marcie are in school. I sent Gladys to meet them with umbrellas since the weather took a turn. Dot asked to go, too, so I let her.” She’d had such fun getting to know her nieces and nephew over the past week. The youngest girl loved her older siblings and missed them when they were gone. Since they were all Dot had left of her immediate family, it made sense.

      Henry leaned back against the dry sink, his arms folded. “Who’s Gladys?”

      “My maid, er, the housekeeper.”

      “You brought a servant all the way from Philadelphia? Why?”

      She preferred his playful side to his drawn eyebrows and pursed lips. She’d dealt with more than enough disapproval from her father over the years. She didn’t need it from Henry, too. “To care for the children, of course.”

      “You don’t have to care for them. I am.”

      “How can you? You still live up in Marysville, don’t you?” In his Miners’ Hotel, which he’d opened a few years back, if she had her facts straight. Pauline’s friend Norma said he’d made the trip down to Sutter Creek as soon as he’d received word of the steamship accident that had claimed Pauline and Jack’s lives, among many others. Although Henry’s concern for the children was laudable, he couldn’t leave his business for too long. Could he?

      “I did live there, but I’m here now.”

      Norma hadn’t elaborated on his plans. “For a visit?”

      “To stay. The children need me, so I’ve put my place up for sale. That’s why I had to go back up there and wasn’t here when you arrived.”

      He wasn’t making sense. “Are you saying you intend to take them in?”

      “Yes.”

      That one word, uttered so matter-of-factly, robbed her of her breath. He wasn’t going to raise the children. She was.

      She needed to set him straight. Now.

      * * *

      The last thing Henry needed was the children’s meddlesome aunt interfering, but that determined look in Lavinia Crowne’s chocolate-brown eyes spelled trouble.

      “I was clear in my letter. Father sent me here to—”

      “What letter?” He hadn’t received one.

      “The one I mailed the day we set sail. Didn’t you get it? I understood the Pony Express to be quite reliable.”

      “Where did you send it?”

      “To your hotel in Marysville.”

      He nodded. “It would have arrived there when I was here in Sutter Creek. I asked my clerk to forward everything. The letter’s probably on—” he swallowed “—on Jack’s desk.” Two months had passed, and yet he still had a hard time saying his brother’s name without a stab of pain.

      “I s-see.” She was rubbing her arms and clenching her teeth to keep them from chattering.

      “We can talk later. You need to get out of those wet things. I’ll get some water heating so you can bathe, and then I’ll see about stretching a tarpaulin over the shed before it gets any wetter inside.”

      “Wh-what happened to the shed?” She rushed to the window overlooking the backyard. “Oh! The branch destroyed a good bit of the roof, didn’t it? That’s too bad.”

      “Don’t worry. I’ll fix it once the storm’s past.”

      “I’m glad I wasn’t inside. I was g-going out there to get more kerosene.”

      “I’ll bring some when I come back.” He moved closer, attempting to capture her attention, but it remained riveted on the storm’s damage. “Do you need anything else before I go?”

      She twisted a mud-coated curl around her finger. Her parted mouth and glassy-eyed stare gave her the look of someone who was lost. “I never thought about death much until I lost my mother. First Maman and now Pauline and Jack. Life’s a fleeting thing, isn’t it?”

      He wasn’t sure what she wanted to hear, so he waited to see if she would continue. Thankfully, she did.

      “Do you miss them?”

      “I do.” He stared out the window, remembering the last time he’d seen Jack and his doting wife. It had been a hot September day. They’d been sitting on a blanket in the shade of that very oak tree, having a picnic lunch with the children. Laughter had flowed as freely as the lemonade.

      “My brother and I had our differences when we were younger, but once we got a few years on us things improved. Pauline helped smooth Jack’s rough edges. She tried to help smooth mine, too, but according to her, I’m a—” he formed quotation marks in the air “—‘diamond in the rough.’” The memory of her saying those words in that playful way of hers made him smile. He turned to find Lavinia gazing at him, a look of wonder on her lovely face.

      “I’m glad you got to know her. She was w-wonderful. I m-miss her so much it hurts.” She dragged in a shuddering breath, blew it out and squared her shoulders. “I should get changed. It wouldn’t do for the children to see me looking like this.”

      “They were happy, Lavinia.”

      She nodded, but her attention was on her soiled dress. “Yes. You’ve mentioned that before.”

      He had—ten years ago. She hadn’t believed it then, but if she did now, it might bring her some comfort.

      “I’d better see to the tarpaulin. Be sure to bolt both kitchen doors so you have your privacy. I’ll come in the front and entertain the children when they arrive.”

      She spun to face him, her chin lifted in regal fashion, all business once again. “That’s СКАЧАТЬ