EVEN AFTER A couple of days, Luke still couldn’t believe he’d gotten a costume for the dress balls or that he’d purchased a second one for less formal events.
The shop had his daughters’ clothing sizes on record, so he’d also chosen another outfit each for Beth and Annie. They’d gotten so excited that they insisted on trying them on and getting their picture taken in every conceivable location at Poppy Gold.
His favorite photos were of them skating in ruffles and their Victorian coats and hats, looking like figures from an old painting. He wasn’t the only one taking pictures—Nicole had dressed in her new costume and the three had charmed guests and employees alike.
He was still worried about his relationship with the girls, but he’d been encouraged when Annie had gotten up two nights after the madrigal feast and appeared in the room he was using as an office. She’d been very solemn and had said she was sad about Carlie’s daddy having to limp because his leg got hurt. Luke had tried to explain that sometimes bad things happened, but that he’d always try to protect her.
“A bad person hurt Mommy,” she’d said in a small voice.
His chest tight, he’d finally nodded. “Yes. But she’d never want us to forget that she was doing something important to help other people.”
Annie had fallen asleep in his lap after that and he’d put her to bed, unsure if he’d said the right thing. The next morning, she hadn’t seemed any different, but she was so much quieter than Beth it was difficult to tell what was going on in her solemn little head. Still, he felt awed that his six-year-old daughter had shown so much concern for a man she’d met only once.
Restless, Luke left the suite and walked to Sarah’s Sweet Treats to get a cup of coffee.
Nicole had gotten back late on Monday. He knew she’d gone to visit the second kitten, who remained under observation at the veterinary clinic. Since he didn’t think she’d sat cuddling the cat for several hours, the most likely explanation was Dr. Gideon Cartwright.
While Luke had liked the vet when they’d met at the hospitality night, that didn’t mean he was right for Nicole.
Carlie might know more about Gideon, though she wouldn’t necessarily be willing to say anything; she was friendly with Nicole and might feel it was disloyal to discuss another woman’s love life. But maybe there was something he could do to assist Carlie with her professional duties, and in the process he could ask a few questions.
At Old City Hall he walked back to her office and heard her talking on the phone. He leaned against the doorjamb and watched.
“I understand, Mrs. Gunderson...many guests do, but costumes aren’t required to attend the dress ball.”
Carlie looked up and waved toward the couch. Luke sat and glanced through a box on the floor containing fanciful masks.
“The Days Gone By clothing shop rents and sells costumes,” she continued. “Yes, definitely, the rentals are carefully cleaned after each use, but I don’t know what they’ll have available when you arrive on Friday... I’d be happy to give you their number.” She recited it slowly and after another moment said goodbye.
Luke gestured to the box of masks. “You didn’t mention the dress balls were also masquerade parties.”
“They aren’t, but our New Year’s Eve celebration has a Mardi Gras flavor. It’s similar to hospitality night and very kid friendly, which means no adult beverages,” she warned. “The New Year is toasted with sparkling apple cider and hot chocolate.”
“I probably won’t even make it to ten that night with the girls. And I’m definitely not wearing something like this, no matter how hard you try to make me.” He held up a glittery concoction.
“I haven’t ‘made’ you do anything. Those are just samples from the Days Gone By shop. We’ll add them to our decorations when Christmas is over. It helps soften the after-holiday blues and advertises the New Year’s Eve event.”
“There’s an after-holiday-blues period at Poppy Gold? I’m shocked. Does that mean everything vanishes on December 26, like the skating rink and sledding hill?”
“They’ll both run until mid-January, but the multicolored lights shift to white and blue on New Year’s Day. So, what brings you here this morning?” she asked.
“Just thought I’d offer my services. Is there anything I can do to help out?”
She regarded him suspiciously. “Well, a group of guests are having a snow-people-building contest. It’s their annual family reunion and they’ve asked for an impartial judge. Joan Peters was going to do it, but I could send you instead. Can you be impartial?”
Judging a contest wasn’t what he’d had in mind, particularly since it was clear that Carlie wouldn’t be going with him, but he might still use it to his advantage.
“Sure. Will you have lunch with me afterward? Nicole and the girls have gone to the Christmas tea in lieu of their lessons today. Then they’re going skating.”
“What happened to the obsessed businessman who wanted satellite communications in the Yosemite suite?”
“I’m still working at night and at free moments during the day, but I think this place is corrupting me. Besides, you need to eat and I want to hear how your dad is doing. Honestly,” he assured her at her skeptical expression. “We met at the madrigal feast, remember? He’s a nice guy.”
Luke also thought Carlie could do with a good lunch. He would swear she’d lost weight since they’d arrived at Poppy Gold.
“Okay,” she agreed finally. “I’ll get prize ribbons for you to give out. The key is to make it fun for everybody, so throw some panache into your presentations.”
She led the way to a large storeroom and he saw an interesting variety of supplies. From a stack on a shelf, she selected a plastic box. It turned out to contain first-, second-and third-place ribbons, along with a large quantity of white “honorable mentions.”
“I take it all contestants get a ribbon of some type,” he said.
“Yes. Does that offend your competitive soul?” Carlie asked in a dry tone.
“I’ll survive.”
He headed toward the area where the snowmakers were stationed. Competition was a fundamental part of the business world, but he was beginning to think there was something to be said for Carlie’s philosophy that everyone should win in some way.
* * *
“THE CONTEST WENT OKAY,” Luke told Carlie as they sat down with their food in Sarah’s Sweet Treats bakery later that afternoon. “But I think the Rodneys were disappointed you weren’t there.”
“I’m sure they were fine with you as their judge.”
Luke shrugged. He’d enjoyed evaluating the entries and handing out the ribbons, much to his amazement. “Tell me about your dad,” he urged.
“There isn’t much to tell. He’s irritable and driving Mom crazy. Tomorrow he’s going to ask the doctor for a release to return to work. That’s all there is to report.”
Luke glanced down, not wanting her to read anything in his eyes. He’d thought a great deal about Mike Benton’s condition since the madrigal feast, debating an idea he’d had for helping both Carlie and her father, and questioning whether it was appropriate. Luke understood pride; he suffered from an excess of it himself. But the injustice of the way the other man had been injured rankled and he kept remembering the solemn, worried expression on Annie’s face when she’d talked about Mike Benton’s leg.
Then Mike had fallen.
It had been too much.
So Luke had made two calls on Monday afternoon, one to Tessa McKinley, and the other to a top orthopedic specialist in San Francisco, who’d agreed to visit Glimmer Creek soon. Tessa had enthusiastically endorsed Luke’s plan, explaining they kept a few rooms in reserve and she’d be happy to make one available whenever needed...anything to help her cousin and uncle.
With luck, they could make it appear that the specialist just happened to be visiting Poppy Gold and had agreed to evaluate Mike Benton’s medical records.
But should Carlie be told?
She was making him think about the way he attacked problems—Tilly likened it to the Allies landing on D-day—but this was different than exchanging a car with a new SUV. And while he couldn’t prove it, he knew he wasn’t doing it as a gesture of appreciation. He’d begun to care about Carlie as a friend and wanted to help.
Still, maybe he’d better prepare for potentially explosive revelations.
“From what Nicole says, Dr. Cartwright appears to be a capable veterinarian,” he said. “I understand he’s new to Glimmer Creek.”
Carlie blinked. “Gideon has been here for eight or nine months. What brought that up?”
“Chico is a mooch, probably from being a stray. He leaps into our plates if we aren’t careful. I thought a veterinarian might have ideas for getting him to stop.”
“You must be bored if you’re thinking about training a kitten. That is, attempting to train one. I love cats, but they aren’t that trainable.”
“I’m not bored,” Luke insisted, but she cocked her head at him in patent disbelief. “All right, I want to find out more about Dr. Cartwright. I think Nicole is getting involved with him.”
Carlie rolled her eyes. “Gideon is a nice, law-abiding citizen and Nicole is a grown woman.”
“He’s a small-town vet who’s probably still paying off student loans and in debt from buying the practice.”
Carlie dropped her sandwich on her plate and leaned forward. “That’s none of your business, Luke. Leave it alone. Now, would you all like to wear your costumes in the lighted parade tonight?” she asked in a blatant effort to change the subject.
Luke was accustomed to getting what he wanted, but he decided to let it go. For now.
“Sorry, we can’t. I made reservations for the stargazing hayride tonight,” he said. “I understand a visiting astronomer offered to talk about the visible constellations.”
Carlie nodded. “Dr. Purcell is a retired professor from the University of Arizona. He comes every year at Christmas.”
The conversation through the remainder of the meal stayed light and impersonal, but he continued thinking about it, especially after leaving Carlie at Old City Hall and crossing the park to the skating rink.
Despite what Carlie thought, he wasn’t trying to make decisions for Nicole. He was just worried about her.
* * *
WHEN CARLIE RETURNED to her office, she found a white poinsettia had been delivered from one of the guests at Poppy Gold. She put the plant on the corner of her desk. Several had been sent to the activities staff and were in the common area, but maybe she’d keep this one in her office. Joan and Tracy didn’t care for specialty poinsettias, preferring red the most, but Carlie liked the mix.
Edgy, she took a walk around Poppy Gold to see what was happening. The skating rink was busy as usual, but she didn’t go over in case Luke and the girls were there. The line between guest and employee kept getting blurred with Luke, and she needed to reinforce those boundaries.
She checked the time and ran into the Douglas House. It was after the first high tea and her aunt was busy setting up for the second.
“Hey, Aunt Mattie. Did you hear how the kids’ tea party went this morning?”
“Jamie says it was a full house and everybody had a good time. It’s a great idea with so many children staying at Poppy Gold for the holidays. Not that we had any boys at the tea party, just girls.”
“It might be different if boys that age were more interested in girls,” Carlie said with a laugh.
“True. Your uncle still watches musicals with me because I love them, and you know how he feels about people spontaneously bursting into song.”
“Uncle Henry would do anything to make you happy.”
Aunt Mattie smiled and Carlie left as the second group of guests began arriving. Even among adults, high tea was mostly a feminine gathering. Men sometimes came with their wives or girlfriends, but rarely on their own.
Carlie continued her walk around the facility, greeting guests and considering what other activities could be planned. The main reason she’d thought of having a children’s tea party was because of Annie and Beth and she wanted more new things for them to do. Yet even as she evaluated different ideas, she questioned whether always keeping busy was the answer to her dilemma with the Forresters, or how they were dealing with the loss in their lives.
Finally she headed back to Old City Hall and saw Luke sitting on one of the old wrought iron benches in front of the building. She sighed. It was difficult to keep her perspective about the guy when he was always around, mixing up her emotions.
Luke stood up. “How about some coffee?”
“No. Nicole hasn’t confided in me and I wouldn’t tell you anything, even if she had,” Carlie said bluntly, certain that was why he wanted to talk.
“Why is it so wrong for me to be concerned?”
“There’s nothing wrong with it, but frankly, I’m not sure you’d stop at just being concerned.”
“If this is about the SUV, I apologized.”
“Actually, you didn’t apologize, but that isn’t the point. I’m sure you have good intentions, but you can’t run Nicole’s life the way you run your company.”
* * *
LUKE FROWNED.
“That isn’t what I’m doing.”
Just then, a shuttle from one of the parking areas arrived and dropped off passengers. They nodded pleasantly, but Luke was instantly on edge; he’d spent too many years guarding his privacy to enjoy having private conversations in public.
“Let’s go to my office,” Carlie suggested.
Luke hadn’t looked closely at the architecture of the rotunda on his previous visits, but as they went inside now, he glanced around, appreciating the feeling of space and stateliness. The design in the parquet wood floor even came to a point under the center of the dome above, increasing the visual impact. He didn’t have much imagination, but he could easily envision Victorian gentlemen disembarking from carriages and entering Old City Hall, escorting women in ball gowns.
“This is impressive, but surely it was much larger than the town needed at the time,” he commented.
Carlie chuckled. “It’s larger than what we’d need now, but Glimmer Creek once dreamed of becoming the California state capital.”
“One of the books Nicole got at the general store says Columbia was once in the running for that, but it doesn’t mention Glimmer Creek.”
“I doubt we were ever actually considered, but town legend claims that underhanded tactics were employed by opponents. When the town fathers built our civic buildings, they allegedly wanted to show up Sacramento, because the capitol building was taking so long to complete. The O’Connor family donated enough money to buy the land and build both the concert hall and city hall, with the proviso that Glimmer Creek come up with the funds to do the interior finishing.”
“O’Connor? That must be connected to Connor’s Folly,” Luke said before realizing that a group of guests had come into the rotunda and was listening to them.
“What’s Connor’s Folly?” one of them wanted to know.
Carlie focused on them and Luke was resigned. She couldn’t resist entertaining Poppy Gold visitors and she quickly explained the history of how the Victorian buildings had been preserved during the Great Depression.
“James Connor’s ancestor had moved to California in 1849 to find gold,” she continued. “That was Seamus O’Connor, but he discovered the real money was in selling supplies to the miners. His original base of operations was in Glimmer Creek and he built a huge mansion here for his family. The townspeople wanted him to be mayor, but he refused until there was a scandal regarding the current mayor.”
“That was Mayor Colonel Stafford, right?” Luke threw in, recalling the story of how the interior finishing had actually been funded. How had Carlie described it—paid for by the services of good-time girls?
The visitors’ eyes gleamed.
“Scandal?” asked an older woman.
“Yes. They learned he owned a number of brothels and saloons. Colonel was just a nickname his saloon girls had given him.”
Snickers went through her small audience.
“I don’t want to keep you from registering, but be sure to read the historical markers around Poppy Gold and Glimmer Creek,” Carlie urged, diplomatically bringing the history lesson to a close. “You’ll get a schedule of events at the front desk, but as a heads-up, tonight there’s a lighted parade of historic vehicles. Caroling will begin immediately after that.”
The visitors moved toward the doors into Guest Reception and Luke followed Carlie back to her office. Though there didn’t seem to be any employees at their desks, she closed the door and dropped onto the couch. He appreciated it.
“Sorry for the lecture,” she said. “I used to do living history and tours of Poppy Gold when I was in high school and during breaks from college.”
“No problem—I’m the one who started it. Nicole has developed a passion for Gold Country history, but especially anything to do with Glimmer Creek. Probably because of Dr. Cartwright,” he added sourly, sitting down, as well. Being a protective big brother was a hard habit to kick.
“Glimmer Creek is an interesting town.” Carlie wriggled out of her coat and tossed it onto her desk, then kicked her shoes off. “If it’s any comfort, everything I’ve heard about Gideon is positive. He has outstanding credentials and was given high recommendations from the clinics where he worked before moving here. Also from his soon-to-be ex-father-in-law, who owns a posh veterinary practice in the LA area.”
Luke’s warning sensors shot to their highest level. “Soon-to-be ex-father-in-law?”
“Local gossip claims Gideon is in the middle of a divorce, or maybe already divorced, which Nicole knows. So as I said before, leave it alone.”
“Fine. I’ll worry about the girls instead.”
Carlie instantly looked sympathetic. “They seem much more outgoing than when you first got to Poppy Gold.”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure how much has changed between us. Annie came and talked to me about something the other night, which was wonderful, but most of the time they just don’t seem to need me.”
“I think change usually comes in small steps—sometimes so small it’s hard to see.”
“Perhaps.”
Luke leaned over to pick up a card that had gotten knocked to the floor. He barely had time to read “It’s a boy!” on the front before Carlie snatched it and tossed it in the wastebasket.
His eyebrows rose. “You don’t seem the type to throw a birth announcement away.”
“That depends on who it’s from.”
“Which is?” he prodded.
She glared. “If you must know, my ex-fiancé’s wife. I was supposed to get married a year ago in July, but the morning of the ceremony, I found Derek in bed with another woman. We were both working for the same company, and the CEO’s daughter had come with her father to attend the wedding. And apparently to sleep with the groom.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“I don’t love him any longer, but we’d planned to start a family right away and now they have a baby. It’s revolting. I mean, imagine the kind of person who sleeps with another woman’s fiancé, hours before they were supposed to get married.”
Luke was starting to regret his curiosity. This was the sort of conversation that women had with one another.
“Not that they don’t deserve each other,” Carlie continued. “Derek likes money and Vicki has plenty. So basically, she got a fortune hunter who won’t hesitate to cheat on her, while he got an amoral wife.”
Luke nudged the wastebasket with his foot. “Surely Derek and his wife weren’t tacky enough to send you a birth announcement.”
“There’s no end to how tacky they can be. Vicki also sent me an invitation to the wedding and went around telling everyone that I’d wished them the best. Not exactly the truth. At least the birth announcement wasn’t a surprise. A friend emailed to warn me a few days ago.”
“It sounds as if Vicki creates her own reality.”
“Another reason to feel sorry for her baby. So you see? Annie and Beth are much better off with you as their father than having Derek and Vicki as parents.”
Humor tugged the corner of Luke’s mouth. “That isn’t a reassuring standard of comparison. A pack of hyenas would be better than those two.”
Carlie laughed and some of the tension eased from her face. “You’re right. In all honesty, it’s easier to focus my angst over that stupid announcement than to keep thinking about my father.”
“Then things are worse than you let on at lunch.”
“Mom and I hoped a few days of rest would do him good, but we should have known better. Dad is so stubborn. He refuses to take enough painkillers to genuinely help and he doesn’t eat or sleep enough. His health is actually declining by being off work.”
Luke debated again whether to tell her about the orthopedic specialist, but there was a chance the plan would fall through. Besides, Tessa McKinley was willing to pretend the doctor’s visit was coincidental, saying it would be easier for Carlie to convince Mike if she didn’t know. It was strangely reassuring to know that even a family member didn’t think Carlie could effectively carry off a harmless deception.