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DECEMBER 4, 1891
Maddie spooned a dollop of jam on a warm scone. “I hope this appeals to my stomach as much as my eye.” She stared at it for a fraction of a moment before taking a bite. Looking over at Lena, she asked, “I can’t remember the last time we sat down together for an unrushed cup of tea, let alone an entire luncheon.”
“That hasn’t lessened?” Lena leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I thought by now, you’d have passed through that stage.”
Maddie rolled her eyes and used her napkin to dab jam from the corner of her mouth. “It’s improving. And so is my appetite.” She took a generous spoonful of blackberry jam, mounding it on the second half of her scone. “David has warned me not to overindulge.”
“But you’ve always been so trim, I can’t imagine that you’d need to worry about overeating.”
“I’m not worried.” Maddie reached for the last scone on the tray between them, then hesitated. “Do you want this last one?”
Lena kept her amusement to herself by bringing her teacup to her lips, hiding the smile. “Please, help yourself.”
“So, tell me about Evan’s trip. All you’ve told me is that he’s going East in search of his niece. What’s the rest of the story?” Maddie eyed the small egg salad sandwiches stacked on the glass tray, before selecting one. “I know a little about Evan’s brother, James, but little much more than the sad fact that he died in an avalanche in the Sawtooth Mountains.”
How did she explain such an indelicate situation as the fathering of an illegitimate child with a prostitute? The story was both tragic and redemptive. And how did she tell it without confessing her own self-righteous attitude toward the child’s mother who’d believed she had no other choice when her husband had died, leaving her penniless. There but for the grace of God . . . What would she have done in the same hopeless situation?
“Jimmy fathered a child, but died before he married Vicki. Evan’s been trying to help her over the years. You know what a responsible person he is, how compassionate.” Lena stopped as tears squeezed her throat tight.
“I do. I know how he helped me when I felt so friendless and alone after my father died.” Maddie stretched her hand across the table and lay her fingers on Lena’s. “Something happened to the mother, then? Vicki?”
Lena nodded and sipped at her tea, hoping to relax the muscles constricting her throat.
“She died?” Maddie whispered. “And now Evan’s niece is orphaned. How dreadful!”
Lena pulled in a deep breath and let it out in one long exhalation. “He’s gone to find her and bring her home.” She hoped it would be as easy as that, and Evan would find her. But with no living relatives, how easy it would be for the child to become lost in any one of a dozen, over-crowded orphanages.
Maddie pulled her hands back into her lap and studied Lena. The silence stretched uncomfortably while Lena considered how to express her conflicted emotions. Should she even try when so little time had passed to enable her to sort through them for herself? Hadn’t she longed for a child?”
“You will make an amazing mother, Lena.”
Lena looked up, startled that Maddie’s response struck at the heart of her deepest concern.
“You are a naturally nurturing person. Children adore you. And Evan will be the very best father. I have absolutely no doubt about this being an unexpected blessing, and neither should you.” Tears pooled in Maddie’s eyes and she reached again for Lena’s hand. “I am so happy for you. Be happy for yourself, my friend. What a Christmas this is going to be!”
Lena lay a restraining hand on Maddie’s arm before they stepped into the bookshop. “You know, there is still the question of finding Rebecca. Naomi’s letter didn’t provide much for Evan to go on aside from the address where Vicki and her daughter were living before she took ill.”
Maddie patted Lena’s hand. “But you also know that Evan is a very determined man. I’m sure he’ll find her. And didn’t you say that he took with him the letters she’d written to Evan over the years? With those letters as proof of her trust in him, and orphanages overcrowded with children, I can’t imagine Dickens writing a happier ending to this Christmas story.”
“Still, I’d prefer not too many people know, until Evan comes back with her.”
“You have told Jessie, haven’t you?”
“Yes, we told Bart and Jessie last night. They were excited for us.” She gave Maddie a tired smile. “I have very kind friends.”
Maddie looped her arm through Lena’s and led her through the shop door. “Kind hearts nurture kindness in others. I think a friend I know told me that a few years ago.”
“There you are, both of my favorite young ladies in Ketchum.” Ely Beckert greeted Lena and Maddie with his customary Old-World charm, a soft-spoken gentleman in both appearance and manners from his tweed suit to his quaint German accent.
“Ely! Where have you been keeping yourself?” Maddie skipped from the door to kiss the man on his cheek, bringing a sudden flush of color.
“I have been in my usual places, Mrs. Reynolds, but I seem to have lost track of days and seasons.” He stepped from Maddie to reach for Lena’s hand. “And it is to you, I owe my deepest apology for missing your Autumn Festival. I had promised you the music.”
He looked so remorseful that Lena lay her hand on his arm and patted it. “But you were sitting up with a sick friend, and that is far more important. Ja?” The last she added with a teasing smile.
Ely nodded and his cheeks colored again. “Ja.”
“How is your friend?”
His countenance brightened at the mention of her. “Oh, she is fine, most fine.”
To those who knew him well, it was no secret that Ely’s landlady held a particular affection for him and he for her. Frequently, it was a topic of conversation between Evan and Lena the question of how long she would wait for his proposal.
“It is for the very lady that I have come to your shop, Mrs. Reynolds. I came to buy a gift and your able assistant has been of great help. You see this stack of books she has found for me?”
The counter held a neat stack of slim books that Lena discerned from their spines as those of nineteenth century poets. She picked up the volume of Longfellow’s recent works bound in a lovely shade of indigo blue. She ran her fingers across the textured cover and smiled at memories of reading before the hearth with Evan. “Life is real. Life is earnest.” She’d quoted the author without intending to do so. She looked over to see both Maddie and Ely watching her.
“You can’t help yourself,” Maddie said with a kind smile. “Any more than I can keep from writing. I just hope one day they are my words that fall so easily from your lips.”
Maddie spun on her heels and gestured for Ely and Lena to take seats near the window. “You can stay a little while, can’t you, Ely? Long enough for Clara and me to prepare some tea? Please say, yes.”
The gentleman nodded and gestured for Lena to precede him to the comfortable wing chairs at the front of the shop nearest the Christmas display. “The young lady has an eye for design, I think.”
Before taking a seat beside him, Lena studied the miniature scenes now assembled on the window ledge. She imagined that even at their young age, the twins would delight in the whimsy of each doll-sized room. Rebecca would find them fascinating. Wouldn’t she? Lena realized she knew nothing of the child apart from her age and parentage. Had anyone ever read to the little girl? What foods did she like and dislike? Was she timid or brave, curious of life or lacking of all inquisitiveness?
“What is it, Lena?” Ely’s hand lay on her arm, and she turned to look at him. “Are you unwell?” he asked, concern deepening the creases on his forehead. “You look pensive. Why don’t you sit beside me?”
Lena recovered her composure and pulled up a smile to assure him. “I am fine.”
“You can tell me more than that, my friend. I know you after these years, do I not? Is it Evan? Trouble with the ranch?”
More than most, Ely was aware of how the closing of the silver mines had placed a financial strain on businesses in the Wood River Valley. Working for the largest bank in Ketchum made him privy to deeds in jeopardy. Thankfully, the Hartmann Ranch was not one, not yet.
Lena shook her head as she settled herself into the upholstered chair. “No trouble with the ranch. We have been blessed with visitors this past year, even some European travelers. Most of our business is coming from word-of-mouth.”
“The best kind of recommendation.”
“I agree, and I’m grateful. But this is something quite different from what you might expect.” She pulled in a steadying breath and took a moment to reflect on the many ways this dear man had assisted her since she’d arrived without a friend or family to support her. He’s appeared in her life that first year, serving as both wise counselor and patient friend. He’d been the one to encourage her to express her love for Evan even before she’d become aware of it herself. “We’ve just received a letter telling us that Vicki passed away.”
Ely leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “Jimmy’s lady?”
“Yes, Jimmy’s lady.” What a gracious choice of words to describe her. She’d always struggled with explanations for the young woman’s relationship with Evan’s brother, usually choosing to say nothing more than that she was the mother of Rebecca, Jimmy’s child.
“And the child? Rebecca? What has become of her?” His compassion, like Evan’s, immediately took his thoughts to the child’s pressing needs.
“Evan left this morning. He’s going in search of her.”
He sat back, a wide smile creasing his eyes. “That is most excellent, Lena. Most excellent news.”
Of course, he was correct. The child would be well-cared for and loved. Evan would be the father the girl did not have. He would guide her and provide all she needed to grow into a lady of character.
“But you? You are worried? Perhaps concerning your role as her new mother, ja? You must not concern yourself with how she accepts you, Lena. Just to love her, that is all you need to do. Give her time to know you. Give yourself time to know her. It will be fine, Lena. You will see.”