Colorado Dawn (36 page)

“Phin. He has a tendency to swipe things that don’t belong to him. He’s good at it, but not as good as he thinks he is. He gets caught often.”

“And Eldora?” A smile played at the corners of Karen’s mouth. “She seems nice, and a bit awestruck, if you don’t mind my saying so. She never took her eyes off you. Is there something between you two?”

Sam pondered her words. Was it true? Did Eldora watch him? Would he mind if there was something between them? The warmth around his heart mocked him. Though he could easily fall for someone like Eldora, he wasn’t minded to play the fool again. And Karen’s matchmaking gleam chafed. If he was to court another woman, he wanted to do it himself, not be pushed into it like he’d been shoved around by Yvette and Hortense. Better to disabuse Karen’s mind. “There’s nothing between us. Yvette cured me of that nonsense by trying to marry me for my money. If I marry someone, it will have to be a girl who is as rich as an empress. Then I’ll be sure of her motives. I have no plans to be duped like that again.”

A gasp caught his attention, and he looked up from his hands and right into Eldora’s big, brown eyes.

It wasn’t supposed to hurt this badly. Especially since she’d warned herself not to fall for him, not to cherish any hopes. She assumed her “institution mask” and stepped into the room, determined that he would never know of her foolishness.

“Have the children finished their meal already?” Karen Mackenzie levered herself out of her chair. At Eldora’s nod, she approached and took Eldora’s arm. “I’ll show you upstairs. I can imagine you’re tired out after all your travels and troubles. Sam has been sharing with us some of your adventures.”

“It’s been a long trip.” The tiredness wasn’t just of the body but of her spirit, which threatened to collapse altogether under the weight of responsibility and disillusionment. She kept her voice neutral and didn’t look in Sam’s direction. It mortified her to think that in only a few minutes Sam’s sister-in-law had tumbled to Eldora’s affection for him. Did Sam know? Was his comment to his family his way of warning Eldora off?

They gathered the children, and Karen showed them upstairs. “You and Celeste can share this room, and the boys can have the room across the hall. Sam will have to bed down on the sofa in the office.”

Eldora winced. “I don’t want to put him out of a bed. Perhaps Celeste can have the sofa in the office, and I could bed down on the floor?”

“Nonsense. Sam wouldn’t hear of it, and neither will I. Believe me, Sam’s slept rougher than this.” Karen set her lamp on the table beside the door. “The washroom is across the hall next to the boys’ room. Why don’t we run the kids through there first; then you can have a nice, hot bath.”

Phin made short work of his washing up, and Tick followed suit. While Celeste had her turn, Eldora gave Tick his last dose of medicine. Where would she get more for him? If she’d heard correctly, the Mackenzies were all leaving in the morning for the family home in the mountains. Where did that leave her and the children? She’d have to find someplace for them first thing tomorrow.

Tick swallowed down the last drop and swiped his hand across his lips. Even in a few short days, the difference in the little fellow was remarkable. Pink tinged his cheeks, and he didn’t stop to rest nearly as often. His eyes sparkled, bright as a bluebird’s. He still needed to gain some weight and muscle, but he was making progress. How quickly would that reverse now that they were out of medicine?

“Scamper into bed now, before you catch a chill.”

Lying side by side, freshly scrubbed and in warm nightshirts, Phin and Tick snuggled down against real feather pillows for the first time in their lives. “This sure is nice, ain’t it?” Tick lifted his chin for Eldora to tuck another blanket in. “What’re we going to do in the morning?”

Phin’s dark eyes echoed the question, and having had more experience of the trials of life than Tick, those same eyes were clouded with doubts and worry.

Eldora swallowed. “Let me listen to your prayers, and don’t worry about tomorrow. The Lord’s been taking care of us so far. I don’t imagine He’ll quit now. Something will turn up.” She hoped she sounded surer than she felt. Then guilt pounced on her. Who was she to doubt the Lord’s provision?

Tick folded his hands under his chin and closed his eyes. “Dear Lord, thanks for bringing us to such a fine place and for the food we got to eat and for this nice soft bed. Bless Sam and his family for being so nice to us. Watch over us while we sleep, and when we wake up, too. Amen.”

Eldora opened her eyes and looked at Phin without raising her chin.

He scowled back and made a big show of dragging his arms from beneath the covers and lacing his fingers. “What Tick said, I guess. Amen.”

She shook her head, her lips pressed together, and then rose and tucked the covers around them once more. “Good night, boys. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Karen met her in the hall with an armload of fluffy towels and her valise. “I’ll just set these in the washroom, and then I want to show you something.” Her eyes sparkled. She took Eldora’s arm and led her to the bedroom door. Karen put her finger to her lip and peeked around the doorframe.

Eldora peeked too, mystified.

Celeste lay in the high bed, surrounded by a mound of pillows, and in a chair beside her sat David Mackenzie, a book open on his lap, his fingers inching across the pages. “ ‘The princess pricked her finger on the spindle, and she dropped into a deep, deep sleep.’ ”

Eldora swallowed the lump in her throat. The blind man reading a fairy tale to the little girl was reason enough to choke up, but the tears burning Eldora’s eyes were because Celeste’s face was bare. The scarf lay folded neatly on the bedside table, and a look of such contentment and joy rested on the child’s face as to minimize the shock of her upper lip.

Withdrawing as quietly as she could, Eldora groped for her handkerchief. Karen dabbed at her eyes as well. “Isn’t it amazing? Sam said she never takes that scarf off.”

“And she never warms up to strangers, but both Buckford and now David have somehow put her at ease. It’s uncanny. She didn’t unbend for Sam, no matter what he tried, the entire train trip, but here she is completely comfortable with David in only a few minutes.”

“It must be because of his blindness. Maybe she feels that because he can’t see her face, she’s safe to let him get to know her.”

Eldora pondered this. “I think you’re right. She tries so hard not to be seen, it must be a relief for her to be with David. Maybe she feels he can see the real her instead of being put off by her appearance.”

Karen sniffed and dabbed her eyes again. “It’s so wonderful to see David like this. One thing he worried about when we first married was what kind of father he would make. Not that he’s not thrilled and excited about this baby.” She caressed her stomach. “But he’s been a little apprehensive. Such a positive response from Celeste will give him confidence.” She laughed. “Here I am blathering on, and you must be ready to drop. Have a good soak in the tub and relax a little.”

Parting from Karen at the washroom door, Eldora closed herself in the small room and leaned against the door with her eyes closed. Steam rose from the large bathtub, and the smell of roses filled the air. A bottle of bath salts sat on a shelf behind the tub, pink blossoms painted on the label. Bath salts, for an orphan girl?

Bemused, Eldora tied up her hair and slipped into the steaming water of the tub. Immediately, the hot water soothed her tired muscles and leeched some of the tension from her shoulders. A sigh eased from her throat and rippled the water. Never in her whole life had she felt such luxury. Baths at the orphanage were sketchy affairs with tepid water and not much time to wash properly. This was positively decadent—hot scented water up to her chin, room enough to stretch out in the claw-footed tub, a pile of towels waiting.

“Lord, I echo Tick’s prayer.” She kept her voice to a whisper. “Thank You for keeping watch over us thus far. I admit I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but thank You for a warm place for the children to sleep tonight.” A cold stone of heaviness sat just over her heart. “Thank You, too, for opening my eyes to my folly where Sam is concerned. He’s made it clear he wants to marry a rich woman and that he would never be interested in someone like me. I knew this with my head, but my heart wanted things to be different. Help me remember to seek Your will and to be content with You. Guard me against the danger of seeking love and approval in the wrong places. Light up the path where I’m supposed to go, and keep me off the paths You know aren’t good for me.”

Though the prayer was painful, she forced herself to pray it. If only Sam’s heart wasn’t the wrong place to seek love and approval. She loved everything about him—his smile, his laugh, his protectiveness. The way he treated the children, the way he stood up for them. The memory of his comforting arms around her was something she would treasure always. Realizing she was in danger of turning right back where she had been, she bolted up, sloshing water over the rim of the tub.

Eventually slipping into bed beside the slumbering Celeste, Eldora rolled onto her side and punched up the strangely soft pillows.
Wake up early, girl. You need to find somewhere for you and the kids first thing in the morning
.

S
o of course she slept late. Weak winter sunlight streamed through the window when her heavy eyelids opened. For a moment she didn’t know where she was, and then the events of the previous day flooded in. A glance at the clock over the fireplace told her it was after eight. She couldn’t remember ever staying in bed so long.

Flipping back the covers, she cringed when cold air hit her. Celeste’s side of the bed was empty, and her nightgown lay folded on the chair beside the bed, as she had been taught since birth at the orphanage. Eldora hurried, buttoning buttons, pinning up her hair, making the bed. How could she have been so lax? The Mackenzies would be preparing to leave town this morning, and here she was, lazing away. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her of how she’d picked at her food last night.

She poked her head into the boys’ room and found it tidy and empty of children. From the first floor, happy voices reached her. Almost tripping in her haste, she made it across the foyer and stopped in the doorway to the sitting room.

Celeste sat on the floor in front of the wooden nativity figurines. She lifted a donkey and put it in David’s hand where he sat in the chair beside her. She followed this action by climbing into his lap and whispering in his ear, lowering the scarf just a bit and then tucking it back up over her nose. David smiled and nodded at whatever she said, and squeezed her before letting her slip back to the floor.

As if this weren’t shock enough, Sam and Phin knelt across from each other on the floor, a string circle between them. Marbles littered the carpet, and Phin shot another into the circle.

Tick jumped out of his chair when he spied her, clutching a book of photographs. “She’s awake! Eldora, lookit this!” He hefted the book for her to see. “Pictures of Sam and David and Karen and even Buckford.”

“Good morning, Eldora. You look well-rested.” Sam sprang to his feet and smiled down at her. “We decided to let you have your sleep out rather than wake you.”

Heat tinged her cheeks, and she advanced into the room. “I’m sorry. I meant to rise early. We’ve imposed on you long enough. Children, please go fetch your things so we can go.”

Phin rose slowly and shoved his hands in his pockets, and Celeste’s eyes filled with tears, another shock. Celeste never cried. The little girl blinked hard and set the donkey back on the table as if it were made of spun sugar. Both moved to obey her, but Tick held his ground. He clutched the book like a shield and shook his head. “I don’t want to go. I want to stay with Sam.”

So did she.

Just the sight of Sam, so strong and kind, affected her. She swallowed. “Tick, please. We’ve imposed long enough. We have to go now.”

The little boy dropped the book and belted across the carpet to throw himself against Sam’s legs. His sobs rent Eldora’s heart, but what could she do? Phin’s dark glare accused her, and Celeste edged closer to the door with shuffling feet and bowed head.

Sam bent and lifted Tick into his embrace, and Tick threw his wiry arms around Sam’s neck. “Please, Sam, can’t we stay with you? Just for a little bit longer?”

“Well now, sport, you’ve stolen a march on me. I was going to tell you later, but David and Karen and I sat up late last night talking it over. Christmas is only a few days away, and we thought it would be nice if you spent the holiday with us. How’s that sound?”

The room reeled, and Eldora clutched the doorframe. Sunbeams shone through Tick’s tears, and he hugged Sam so tight his little body shook. Celeste’s feet flew, and she threw herself into David’s arms with a squeal. David recovered his surprise and patted her back. Even Phin couldn’t conceal a grin, toeing the edge of the carpet and ducking his head.

How could she dash their hopes? Each child looked to her for approval, and even more powerful, Sam’s gaze pled with her.