Ana Seymour (13 page)

“No.”

“Do you want me to go out there?” Carter asked his wife.

Jennie kissed the top of Caroline’s head and hugged her more tightly. “No,” she said after a moment.
“Sean Flaherty is Kate’s problem. I guess we’re going to have to let her handle him in her own way.”

It was like a bad dream that kept reoccurring, mutating, slight changes each time but with a neverchanging core of unhappiness. There he was again, standing on the other side of the front door, his hat in his hands. It had only been two months this time, not eighteen, but it might as well have been two years, Kate told herself. She’d changed that much.

There was no shaking of her voice, no tremor of her hand as she opened the door and said, “This is unexpected, Sean.”

“I should have wired,” he said in an echo of the earlier occasion when he had reappeared in her life.

“Yes, you should have.” She waited.

“Ah, Kate, think about it for a minute. How could I say what’s needed to be said in a wire? There were no words. I had to come in person.”

“And so promptly,” she observed.

He didn’t reply. “How’s Caroline?” he asked.

“Fine.” She hadn’t intended to elaborate, but before she could help herself, she’d added, “She took her first steps today.”

Sean’s blue eyes gleamed. “Did she now? I can’t wait to see.” He looked over Kate’s shoulder into the house.

Kate’s expression hardened once again. “As you said, Sean, you should have let us know of your arrival. We’re in the middle of decorating the Christmas tree, and I don’t want to ruin everyone’s celebrating by bringing our problems into the middle of it.”

Sean gave her one of the smiles that she still felt all the way into her middle. “Then how about we leave our problems out here on the porch? They’ll keep just fine in the cold night air. C’mon, Katie. I want to see my daughter.”

It was the one reason why she would never truly be rid of Sean Flaherty. There was no way to deny that he was the father of her child. She’d never be able to change that. But she could change how she’d opened her heart only to be disappointed time and again. She’d finally, utterly, learned her lesson when it came to Sean Flaherty. And no amount of flashing smiles would change her mind again.

“Sean, you can come in and see Caroline. But don’t expect a very warm welcome from the rest of my family. And don’t expect that you can coax me off to an encounter on Pntchard’s Hill and make everything all right again. You and I are finished. If you’re not willing to accept that, I’ll have to ask you not to come here again.”

Sean looked tired, older even. He didn’t try to smile this time, just looked at her gravely and said, “Let me see Caroline, Kate. That’s all I’m asking.”

She nodded and stepped back, allowing him to enter. “Everyone’s in the parlor.”

“Kate, it’s Christmas. He’s all alone, and, by the way, he happens to be your husband.” Jennie was bustling around the kitchen to finish the dinner preparations and to avoid Kate’s accusing stare. “Lord, Kate, I wouldn’t condemn a criminal to eat the Continental Hotel’s food on Christmas Day.”

Kate refused to smile at her sister’s quip. “It was bad enough to have him there last night. I invited him in to see Caroline, and he stayed all evening.”

Jennie opened the oven and began basting the goose. “I didn’t notice you asking him to leave.”

“How could I? Within five minutes of his arrival he had everyone in the room laughing at his jokes and treating him like the prodigal son.”

Jennie frowned at the golden brown bird. “This is done. It’s going to fall apart if we cook it anymore,” she said, swiping back the hair that had fallen into her eyes. “He’s a charming man, Kate. You know that better than anyone. But our loyalty is to you, not Sean. I hope you have no doubt about that.”

“Well, sometimes I wonder, when my own sister invites him to dinner without even asking me.”

Jennie straightened up. “Fine. I’ll uninvite him. I’ll meet him at the door and say, ‘Merry Christmas, Sean, we’ve changed our minds. Please go away.’ Is that what you’d like me to do?”

Kate walked over to her sister and put an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Jen. I know that you’ve put up with a lot of my ups and downs ever since I found out I was going to have Caroline. You’ve been the best sister in the world. But it’s just that I was hoping this Christmas would be a happy one for Caroline.”

Jennie returned Kate’s hug. “It will be happy, Kate. And if you’re honest with yourself, don’t you think it will be a happier one for
Caroline
with both her father and mother present?”

Kate was silent a moment. “Maybe.”

“So I don’t have to arm myself with a broomstick and shoo Sean away at the door?”

Kate finally gave a reluctant smile. “I might have enjoyed seeing that, but no. Let him come. I’ll try to act civilized.”

“That’s my girl,” Jennie said. “Now get busy and mash those potatoes before my goose melts all over the pan.”

By the end of dinner, Kate had to admit that Jennie had been right about Caroline and Sean. The toddler had been wreathed in smiles since her father’s arrival. As she tottered around on increasingly steady legs, she kept returning to Sean’s side over and over, putting up her arms and saying something that sounded to Kate like “hay.”

“She’s calling me papa,” Sean announced with delight, and no one bothered to argue with his interpretation.

The baby sat through the long dinner without a moment’s fuss. Sean had brought wine for a Christmas toast, and the three silverheels surprised Kate and Jennie with a huge box of marzipan candies in the shape of little soldiers.

“They’re too pretty to eat,” Jennie had declared. But Caroline had sucked on one contentedly, ending up a sticky mess.

Finally Kate stood up from the table and said, “I’d better take her up for a bath, then I’ll see if she’ll go down for her afternoon nap.”

“May I come?” Sean asked, getting to his feet.

After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded. She hadn’t
intended to be alone with him again, but she couldn’t very well refuse to let him help her put their daughter to bed.

He took Caroline from her, heedless of the melted candy she was getting all over him with every pat of her hands. “I’ll carry her,” he said.

They mounted the stairs to Kate’s room, then Sean put Caroline on the bed and undressed her while Kate prepared the basin and towels to wash her. He glanced at the crib in the corner. “So she sleeps in your room again?”

Kate nodded and answered stiffly. “There’s no other room for her to sleep in, Sean. We rent out the extra bedrooms in this house, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Sean didn’t reply for a long moment, then he said, “You’re going to have to let me help you, Kate. With money, I mean.”

Caroline cooed contentedly as Kate began washing her with a warm cloth. “I don’t need anything from you, Sean.”

“If I paid the rent for one of the rooms, you could use it for Caroline. She’ll want her own bedroom one of these days.”

“This isn’t Nob Hill. In the mountains you sometimes find families of ten living in a two-room cabin. Caroline will learn to make do with what we have.”

Sean picked up the basin from where Kate had put it on the bed and sat down, holding the basin so that she could reach it to rinse the towel. “You have an extra room now that Carter sleeps with Jennie.” Before their marriage, Carter had rented one of the six Sheridan House bedrooms. The silverheels rented the
other three extras. Barnaby slept in a small area behind the kitchen.

“We’re trying to rent that one out again. Jennie’s put a sign up at the mine.”

“Well, if I gave you the rent money, you could set up that room as a nursery for Caroline.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “Children don’t have
nurseries
in Vermillion, Sean. Maybe because they’re raised here by their
parents,
not by a nurse.”

Sean cocked his head in her direction. “By parents I assume you mean a mother
and
father?”

“Under ideal circumstances. But, as we know, in this life circumstances are rarely ideal.” She finished washing off the candy and put a fresh diaper on the baby. “Hand me her dress, will you?” she asked.

Sean stood, depositing the basin on the washstand, then fetched a dress from a neatly folded pile on top of the bureau. “I’m not going away, Kate,” he said softly as he turned back toward her.

She stopped fussing with Caroline and met his eyes—blue, intense and determined. So determined it gave her a bit of a jolt. She’d never seen an expression on his face quite like it. “I’m sure your father will be calling you back to San Francisco before long,” she said with a brittle smile.

“He can’t. I don’t work for Flaherty Enterprises anymore.”

That came as a shock. “You quit your job?”

“Yes.”

“Lordy. What did your father say?”

“As usual, not much. But somehow, I think he undertands
why I left. In fact, I believe he was a little proud of me for having the gumption to do it.”

Kate was still trying to digest the news. “What are you going to do?”

“For the moment, I thought I’d try to get a job up at one of the mines.”

“Here? In Vermillion?”

“Yes, here. This is where my family is.”

She finished putting on Caroline’s dress and wrapped her m her blanket. Sean was
staying
in Vermillion? Her mind was racing, but she wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to say. She needed time to sort it all out in her head. For the moment, she’d stick with the safer topic of their daughter. “I know she’s tired, but she may not be able to go to sleep after all the excitement”

“Let me put her down.” He took her from Kate’s arms and rocked her back and forth, crooning low and tunelessly. The baby’s eyelids drooped. Slowly he walked over to the crib, still rocking her, and put her inside. “She’s half asleep already,” he whispered.

Kate shook her head in amazement at his easy way with the baby. He appeared to have a devil of a time figuring out how to be a husband, but fatherhood fit him like a glove.

They tiptoed out of the room and closed the door gently behind them. Kate was starting to regain some of her composure. As they stood in the hall facing each other, she confirmed, more calmly, “So you
are
serious? You’re going to work in Vermillion as a miner?”

“I did it once before.”

“But that’s when you and Charles Raleigh were
playing at prospecting. The two of you were still living on your fathers’ money.”

“I know. I’m not taking any more of my father’s money. That’s why I need a job.”

Kate was skeptical. “The silverheels work ten hours every day—hard, sweaty work. And they make a few dollars a week.”

Sean grinned. “Doesn’t sound too attractive, does it? I’ll be looking around for something better. But I have to eat in the meantime.”

“If you don’t have any money, what was all that talk about wanting to pay extra rent money so that Caroline could have her own bedroom?”

“I’m not entirely destitute, sweetheart. I do have some savings. I’ve drawn a salary from Flaherty Enterprises for years without ever having to spend any of it, since my father was always there to cover everything I needed.”

His eyes were roaming over her She’d been planning to wear one of the two stylish dresses she’d brought with her from San Francisco for Christmas dinner, but when she’d learned that Sean would be there, she’d chosen one of her older gowns. It had atight-fitting bodice and scooped neckline. His gaze lingered there a moment. Then he moved closer and put his hand around her upper arm. “Let’s not talk about money,” he said in a low voice.

She couldn’t pretend that being near him again wasn’t affecting her. Her heart was beating noticeably in her chest, but she was determined not to let her weakness show in any way.

“Let’s not talk, period,” she said. Then she slipped out of his grasp and headed down the stairs.

S
ean stayed the entire afternoon. He shared his intentions of settling in Vermillion with the others, receiving guarded reactions. Jennie glanced worriedly at her sister and Carter frowned and rubbed his chin. The miners, who seemed to have fallen under the spell of Sean’s easy charm, offered advice on job prospects.

“They lost a lot of men this fall up at Wesley,” Dennis Kelly told him. “You could hire on there in a minute.”

“They’ve all headed down to Virginia City. The Comstock pays a lot better than any mine in Vermillion,” Smitty added.

Kate looked around at the three men, suddenly aware that they’d been exchanging uncomfortable glances “It’s not anything
you
men have been considering, is it?”

Dennis shook his head and tried unsuccessfully to make his smile as bright as normal. “Ah, lassie, Christmas Day is no time to be discussing work. I say it’s time for the presents.”

Kate looked at Jennie. If their boarders left, they’d
really have trouble clearing up the rest of their debts Perhaps Kate could find a job cooking at one of the mines like Jennie did, but, as the silverheels were saying, more and more miners were leaving the Vermillion area and heading for Virginia City, where work was steady and paid well. The local mines might not be interested in hiring a cook any longer.

“Hurray, presents!” Barnaby yelled. He jumped to his feet and ran to kneel next to the Christmas tree where a pile of packages had been accumulating since yesterday. “Can I give them out, Jennie?”

“We can’t do the presents without my daughter here,” Sean protested.

Kate stood. “I’ll fetch her She’s slept long enough.” She addressed Barnaby. “Go ahead and begin sorting out the gifts. I’ll be back down in a couple of minutes.”

By the time she and a sleepy-eyed Caroline returned, Barnaby had the presents distributed to their proper recipients and was jumping from one foot to another in excitement waiting to open them. “Can westart now?” he asked as soon as Kate appeared through the curtain His pile was the largest of anyone’s.

Kate nodded, smiling, and there was a flurry of activity as everyone began opening and exclaiming all at once. Kate sat with Caroline on her lap and helped her open her gifts, a fur-trimmed jacket from Jennie and Carter, a storybook from the silverheels and a paper of candy sticks from Barnaby.

“I gave her some of mine the other day and she liked it, Kate, honest,” the boy said as they opened it.
“She liked the lemon one. And since she’s eating real food now…”

“I’m sure she’ll love them, Barnaby. You can help her eat them. But not until tomorrow. I think the marzipan was enough sweets for today.”

He nodded happily and went back to exploring his own pile of gifts.

Sean had brought Caroline a doll from San Francisco, with a china head and real hair, much more beautiful than the stuffed rag doll Kate had made for her. But Caroline seemed equally delighted with both.

Most of the gifts were opened, and Jennie was moving around the room collecting stray paper and bits of string when Sean moved to a seat next to Kate and put a velvet box in her hand.

Kate looked up at him in surprise. “I don’t have anything for you,” she said.

“I should think not,” he answered with some amusement. “Your gift is letting me be here with you and my daughter today.”

She lowered her eyes. “That was Jennie’s doing. I was going to make you eat at the Continental.”

Sean laughed. “Ouch. Now I see the true depths of your anger with me, sweetheart. But never mind, I intend to work very hard to make you forgive me.” His voice became low and serious. “To forgive me for all the ways I’ve hurt you.”

Kate’s throat closed. “It won’t be with presents,” she said, nodding at the still-unopened box.

“No. That’s a Christmas gift, nothing more.”

He scooped Caroline off her lap and put her on his
knee, saying, “Let’s watch Mama open her present, pumpkin.”

Kate opened the box, expecting expensive jeweled ear bobs or something of the sort, suitable for Nob Hill balls, but too elaborate for simple Vermillion fashions. Instead, nestled against the velvet was a small enamel pendant in the form of a bluebird.

“It’s a Pritchard’s Hill bluebird. We saw one there…that first time,” Sean reminded her, unnecessarily.

Kate nodded, her eyes blurring as she looked down at it.

“You pin it on your dress,” he explained, sounding almost shy as he waited for some sign of approval.

She lifted it from the box, holding it away from Caroline, who reached toward it immediately. “It’s lovely,” she said. It was not only lovely, it came dangerously close to opening up that soft place in her heart that she was determined to leave closed forever. She placed the pin back in the box and snapped the lid shut “I’d better put it away so it doesn’t get lost in the mess here,” she said, keeping her voice indifferent. “I’m sure you spent far too much on it for a man who’s wondering how he’s going to pay for his meals.”

Sean shook his head. “I had it specially made, but how much I spent is not the point…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Barnaby, who’d been carrying gifts out of the room, poked his head between the curtains and said, “Mr. Wentworth’s here, Kate. You should see what he’s brought for Caroline.”

Lordy She’d forgotten about Lyle and the rocking
horse. She looked at Caroline, still sitting in her father’s lap. “He has a Christmas present for her,” she told Sean.

She held her hands to take Caroline from him, but he shook his head and stood with the child still in his arms. “I’ll take her,” he said, and ducked through the curtains to the hall.

Kate closed her eyes a moment. From across the room, Jennie was witnessing her sister’s consternation. Her smile was amused but sympathetic. “Shall I throw them both out for you, sis?” she asked.

Kate opened her eyes and shook her head. With a little groan she boosted herself up and followed Sean out into the hall. The two men were sizing each other up like rival bull elk while Caroline, on her feet, was leaning against the polished horse and crowing with glee.

Lyle cast Kate a reproachful glance. “I didn’t know you were expecting company today,” he said.

“Sean’s arrival was unexpected. He wanted to give Caroline a Christmas present.”

Sean looked from Kate to Lyle to the horse, which was causing a much greater sensation than his china doll had.

Lyle bent to pick up Caroline and place her in the saddle of the horse. She made no protest when he touched her, obviously familiar with his presence. He held her carefully while he made the horse rock back and forth. Caroline shrieked with laughter.

“I guess she likes it,” he observed to Kate with a self-satisfied smile, ignoring Sean’s dark expression.

“Of course she does,” Kate agreed.

“She’s not old enough for a rocking horse,” Sean observed “She’ll hurt herself, break an arm or something.”

Lyle continued addressing Kate. “You’ll have to hold her on for a while until she gets a little stronger.”

Barnaby, who was watching from the parlor doorway said eagerly, “I can do it. In fact, the two of us could fit on together. I’ll hold her. Can I?”

Lyle picked Caroline off the seat and nodded for Barnaby to mount the horse, then placed her in front of him. With Barnaby’s arms fast around the baby, the two children began rocking. It was hard to tell who was more delighted.

Sean’s expression was unreadable, but after a moment, he said, “I think I’ll head back to the hotel. I’m kind of tired after my trip.”

He
did
look tired and a little melancholy. Kate had a sudden urge to comfort him, but she fought it back. Sean’s moods were no longer her problem. “All right. Thank you again for the gift,” she said, gesturing with the jewelry box she still held in her hand. Her voice was as formal as if he had been the minister come to tea.

Sean gave a sad smile. “You’re welcome. And please thank your sister for the hospitality. Dinner was wonderful.”

“I will.”

He took a last look at Lyle, then leaned forward to put his hand on Caroline’s head in a light caress as she still rocked contentedly with Barnaby. “I’ll talk with you tomorrow, Kate,” he said. Then he was gone.

He lay in the Continental’s shabby room and stared at the peeling paint on the ceiling. Earlier he’d considered going downstairs for supper. Then he’d remembered the Continental’s choice of cuisine and had decided that the big Christmas meal was enough to last him until tomorrow. For most of the evening he’d lain on his bed, thinking about the change in the path of his life.

Two weeks ago, when he’d awakened from weeks of pickling his brain and his soul in alcohol and selfpity, he’d allowed the words of his conscience and his grandmother to finally penetrate his brain. From there, the preparations had gone swiftly. To his mother’s horror and his father’s secret pride, he’d given up most of what he’d grown up with, the comforts and the security, in exchange for the mere possibility that he could recapture something better up in the mountains.

But perhaps it had been foolish of him to think that he could make Kate love him a
third
time.

The possibility seemed more remote now than it had when he’d left San Francisco. Except for the gleam of interest he’d seen in her eyes earlier when they’d stood close together in the upstairs hall, she’d not softened toward him all day.

And he’d forgotten about Lyle Wentworth, her longfaithful suitor. Wentworth was an arrogant, dull chap with little to recommend him, as far as Sean could see. But at least
he
had never abandoned her. He had never deceived her and broken her heart.

A rocking horse. What a ridiculous gift for a little tyke just barely able to toddle.

Sean rolled over and stuffed the pillow underneath
him with unnecessary force, as if the helpless pillow were Lyle Wentworth’s head.

How could he expect Kate to give him yet another chance? He couldn’t, unless they had time together. That was the key. No trips to Pritchard’s Hill, she’d declared, in that determined way of hers Fine, he’d already known that this time it would take more than a bluebird and some lovemaking to make her accept him again. But he needed to be able to spend time with her alone, without the rest of the family looking on, ready to pounce on him if he should dare to wound her again. And without Lyle Wentworth, handling Sean’s own daughter as if he had some kind of proprietary interest.

He rolled over, once again switching his view to the ceiling. Jennie hated Lyle. And she’d helped Sean once before when she’d written to tell him about his daughter. She’d invited him to Christmas dinner. Jennie desperately wanted her sister to be happy. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that Jennie was the answer. All he had to do was convince her that she and Sean shared a common cause.

He rolled out of bed and stood up. Perhaps he was hungry after all.

“I’m sorry, Sean,” Jennie said sadly. “It’s not that I don’t believe what you’re saying, but you must admit that your record isn’t too good.”

“You’re in this with me, Jennie. It was the discovery of your letter that convinced her to leave San Francisco.” Sean had already decided that if pleading
didn’t win his case, he’d not be above resorting to making Jennie feel guilty.

But Jennie was not playing. She gave him a look of reproach and said, “If she’d been happy there, Sean, finding out about the letter wouldn’t have affected her.”

They were in the makeshift kitchen up at the Wesley mine. Sean had walked up to the mine that morning to inquire about work, and decided that it would be an ideal time to put his case to Jennie, who was preparing the noon meal for the miners as she did five days a week. He figured that it would be easier to talk with her away from Sheridan House.

“She was happy part of the time, Jennie. But I know it wasn’t easy moving into the world of my mother’s friends. And it didn’t help matters that I was often not around when she needed me.”

“Which wouldn’t be the first time you weren’t there when she needed you,” Jennie added pointedly. She was cutting vegetables into a big pot for stew. “Bring me some of those potatoes.”

He picked up several and went over to her, holding them while she took them from him one by one. “You can’t make me feel any more guilty than I already do about not being here when Kate was having Caroline, Jennie. But there’s nothing I can do about that, is there?”

“Nope. But you can’t blame me for trying to protect Kate from being hurt by you again. Why
did
it take you so long to come after her, anyway?”

He patiently held out another potato. “Honestly, Jennie, I was so shattered when she left that I spent
the next few weeks trying to drink dry every bar in San Francisco.”

Jennie looked up from her cutting. “Did you succeed?”

“Just about. But I’m not making excuses. Once again, I was at fault. If I tried from now till doomsday I wouldn’t be able to make up for all the things I’ve done
wrong
since I met Kate. So all I can do is start in from this moment trying to do everything
right.”

“And that’s why you’re here.”

“Yes.”

Jennie sighed and threw the last couple of potatoes in whole. “Well, I wish you luck, Sean. I know Kate better than anyone, and I’m afraid she’s not as over you as she’d like to think. But as to letting you move in with us, I can’t do it. Not until I get some sign that it would really be in Kate’s best interest.”

Sean nodded, hiding his disappointment. “Well, then I’ll just have to work hard to make that sign happen soon,” he said firmly. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“At home?”

“Why, yes. She will let me see my daughter, won’t she?”

Jennie gave an uncertain nod. “I suppose so.”

“Then I’ll see you tonight after supper,” he said, “and tomorrow right here.”

“Here?”

“I start work here tomorrow.”

“You’re going to be a silverheel?” Jennie’s jaw dropped with amazement.

Sean laughed and he turned up his right foot. “Starting tomorrow,” he repeated.

“Well, I’ll be hornswoggled,” she said.