Jed stumbled into the lodge, head down and shoulders slumped, just before sundown. He had walked his trap line of snares but had little success. The freezing rain had spoiled several, and snow had buried others. Wordlessly, he slumped onto the couch, tears stinging his eyes.
It had been a trying week all around. First of all, it had been the forced confinement indoors. It had been too bitterly cold to venture out more than he absolutely had to. Then there was the disappointment of thinking they had been discovered three weeks prior. He knew someone had to come sometime, but having his hopes dashed so close to Christmas was hard to take. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and he didn’t believe in Santa Claus. Tonight, he and Lizzie would place the crèche on the mantel in preparation, but he was having trouble getting into the spirit of things.
Lizzie, on the other hand, enjoyed having Jed around the lodge so much. She knelt down in front of him and pulled his fur-lined moccasins from his feet and then looked up into his eyes. “It’s going to be all right, Jed.”
Jed nodded his head slightly, but his heart wasn’t in it.
Lizzie sat facing him on the couch, with one knee folded under her, and took his hand in hers. She rubbed his hand, trying to get some warmth back into it.
“I kind of like it with us alone together like this.” A little smile crossed her lips as she reached across Jed to capture his other hand so she could warm it. “I know you thought we were going to get to go home for Christmas, and I wish we could, too, but if we did, it wouldn’t be us having Christmas together.” She lifted his hand to her lips and placed a little kiss in his palm. “I like being with you like this.”
Lizzie had spent quite a bit of time alone for the last several months as Jed was out cutting wood, hunting, fishing, and running his snares. To have him all to herself, even if he was working on pelts or whittling the crèche, was special. Her love for him was growing more than she thought possible. She had wondered how two people could love each other so much and what they would find to talk about, but she was having no trouble.
When Jed came in the door, she was there to meet him with a fresh cup of acorn coffee and supper almost ready to put on the table. She, too, had been excited when the plane flew over, but she really didn’t expect them to come back with all the snow on the ground and the lake freezing over. After all, where would they land? Besides, they were probably used to seeing people wave as they went past.
Jed let loose a big sigh and wiped the tears from his eyes. “I’m sorry, Lizzie. I love spending the time with you, too. I just hoped to be home for Christmas. I’m just being a big baby, but I miss Mom and Dad.” Had he stopped to think about it, he would have been surprised at the role reversals in the time between their kidnapping and now. He was homesick, and Lizzie had made a home.