The Blessed Blend (12 page)

He gave her a pointed look before adding, “And ye ha’ nae need t’ fear tha’ I’ll run off wi’ ‘em. I gave yer elders m’ word. I may be a bloody bastard for hoo I treated ye but I’m nae a liar!”

Callie’s nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed. How dare he? After what he had done to her, ‘bastard’ didn’t even
begin
to cover it!

As far as giving his word, she didn’t consider that worth the breath it took to speak it. Nor did she honestly think he was the least bit sorry for the way he had treated her. She had never been more than a passing fancy, meaning nothing to him then or now. All he cared about was the fact that he had two children. Two heirs to his part of the family fortune.

She hadn’t bothered him since the day he told her to get out of his house. Hadn’t bothered to confirm her pregnancy to him or ask for support. Hadn’t ever asked him for one damned thing, except the one thing he couldn’t give.

His love.

She rose from her chair and glided silently passed Euan with her head held high and her back as straight and stiff as a yard stick. Pausing at the door, she turned and gave him an icy glare. In a voice as sharp and cold as the north wind she said, “You
won’t
bother me, Euan. You’ll never hurt me again. You
do
need to understand this, Mr. Wallace; the only reason I haven’t cut you high, wide, and deep and fed you to the pigs is because of those two children up there. But I swear to God if you do anything to hurt them or try to use them against me, you’ll be in hell before you even know you’re dead!”

She turned on her heel and disappeared into the darkness.

Euan stood by the sink for several minutes with a glass of water in his hand, lost in memories and thoughts. He could picture Callie’s face from four years ago, alight with her love for him, and compared it with the stone-cold hatred he had seen a few moments ago. It was like looking at two different women.

And it was entirely his fault.

She really had been innocent, a virgin in every way. Never been in love let alone touched. He had shown her the joys and pleasures of love and she had opened her whole heart to him. She had been completely his.

But he had betrayed her love and hurt her to the core of her being, shattering her innocence as completely as she had given it. There could have been no worse sin he could have committed than that. He allowed that he deserved her wrath.

His ego tried to argue that his apology ought to be enough, that he was being sincere so she should see that and accept it. After all, he had been suffering as much as she had for the past four years…
.

That was a load of crap and he knew it.
God, what I wouldna give just t’ go back and do it o’er,
he thought.
What I wouldna give for aye t’ just make it right.

He drank the water and went to bed, too tired to think about it anymore.

The next morning dawned with freezing temperatures and the land covered with a rime of hoarfrost. Jim had arisen early to rekindle the fire in the hearth, stoking the coals and adding kindling and firewood before placing a large log on the andirons. Darlene brewed up a fresh pot of coffee for the men to brace themselves with before going out to tend to the stock, and another to take the chill off when they came back in for breakfast.

Callie had awakened to find that her children were not in bed with her and flew out of her room in a panic. She heard them giggling, followed the sound, and found them in Euan’s room, bouncing on his bed and laughing giddily. She strode into the room and angrily ordered, “Get off that bed right now! What are you two doing in here? You left our room without asking my permission!”

Mountain Rose looked wide-eyed at Callie. “But Mama,” she protested, “we’re visiting with Daddy! We’re just having fun…we’re not doing anything bad!” The child looked as if she was about to cry.

Euan spoke up. “Leave the bairns be, Callie,” he said softly. “They came intae m’ room to wake me for m’ morning chores.”

Callie’s face darkened with rage. “How dare you tell me what to do with
my
children, Euan Wallace!” she hissed. “You don’t have the right to even be here!”

“But Granny said -” Red Wolf started to say.

“SHUT UP!” Callie shouted at her son. The boy started to cry, and his sister hugged him tight and cried with him.

Euan threw back the covers and got out of bed. “What are ye doin’, woman?” he asked. “Ye’ve made the bairns cry an’ for what? Yer ain temper? What’s wrong with ye, Callie, that ye would take yer anger at me oot oon wee bairns?”

Her fury flew at him like lightning across the sky, striking him a stinging blow just as surely as if she had actually hit him. Euan had never felt anything like that and wasn’t even sure of what had happened. His chest tightened and his legs wobbled.

“Mama,
don’t!
”
the twins pleaded in unison as they rose to stand between their parents.

Callie glared at all three of them before returning her gaze to Euan. “You have no business telling me how to raise
my
kids!” she spat. “I’ve been the one taking care of them! I carried them for eight-and-a-half months, gave birth to them, nursed them and changed their diapers, stayed up with them when they were teething or sick, worried over them, taught them! You weren’t here for them until the day before yesterday!”

She paused and added, “And that was your
own
doing, not mine!”

“But Daddy’s here now, Mama!” Mountain Rose pleaded. “Please don’t hurt him! Please don’t make him go away!”

“Daddy loves us, Mama,” Red Wolf said softly. “And he loves you, too.”

She wanted to cuss so bad it hurt her head trying to keep it inside. Callie seldom swore around her children and had never yelled at them until a few moments ago.
That
was Euan’s fault, she decided.

This whole mess was entirely his fault.

She turned on her heel and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind her before screaming out her wordless rage in the hallway.

Euan heard John hit the floor in the room across the hall. The door opened and John’s voice boomed, “Wha’ the fook is goin’ oon oot here?!”

Callie’s door slammed and even through two sets of log walls they could hear her venting her rage quite colorfully.

Darlene’s voice rang out as she ran up the stairs. “What the hell is going on up here?” she asked. She opened Callie’s door and stepped inside before slamming it herself.

“Alright, young lady!” she barked. “Just what the hell are you doing?”

“Euan had the kids in his room!” Callie yelled. “
His
room! And without my permission!”

“If you remember correctly, dear heart,” Darlene noted, “He has
our
permission to be here and our family’s permission to spend time with his kids, so you might as well put on your big girl panties and deal with it like you’ve got some sense left in that hard head of yours!”

John stepped into Euan’s room as Darlene and Callie argued. “Are ye alright, Euan?” he asked. “I heert wha’ sounded like thunder clapping an’ a banshee screamin’. I’m fair
conflummixt
tha’ I didna piss m’self!”

“That was Mama,” Mountain Rose sobbed. “She’s mad at Daddy and she yelled at us!”

Euan sat down on the edge of the bed and hugged the twins. “Yer mathair isna herself a’ the moment,” he soothed. “Things arre
whammled
for her.”

Red Wolf looked up at Euan and asked, “They’re what?”

“
Whammled
,” Euan repeated. “Turned upside-doon. Ye ken tha’, lad?”

“Is that like her apple cart’s upset?” asked Mountain Rose.

“Aye, lass,” Euan replied. “’Tis exactly tha’.”

“Well, the wee virago managed to upset my apple cart for aye!” John huffed. “An’ I was havin’ suich a gude dream, too.”

Mindful of the usual nature of John’s
good
dreams, Euan said quickly, “If it involves birdin’, lad, there’s bairns present. Keep it tae yersel’.”

John smiled sheepishly and said, “Aye, lad, tha’ I’ll do. If ye’ll excuse me, I’ll go take m’ mornin’ ablution.” With that he smiled, waved at the twins, and left.

Red Wolf asked, “Why didn’t he just say he needed to go pee?”

Euan laughed. “Och, lad, I suspect he was tryin’ to be a bit more modest wi’ ye bairns present. Grown men tend tae be a bit coarser in their speech than is proper for children tae hear.”

Mountain Rose piped up. “I know. Sometimes Grandpa and Uncle Dave and the menfolks use really bad words. We’re not s’posed to talk like that.”

“Maw-Maw don’t allow them to talk like that around her, either,” Red Wolf noted. “Not Grandma or any of our Grannies, either. Papa says women and children shouldn’t cuss at all.”

“Yeah, but Mama does when she gets mad and nobody spanks her for it,” Mountain Rose said. “I think she’s too stubborn to listen.”

Euan thought that was the understatement of the year if not the century. Callie was stubborn enough to make a natural-born Scot look easy-going in comparison.

“I think folks are afraid to spank Mama,” Red Wolf added. “Uncle Caleb said she could whup a grown man with one hand tied behind her back and blindfolded.”

“Grandpa isn’t afraid of Mama,” Mountain Rose said. “Or Papa. If they tell her something -”

“THE HELL WITH THE WHOLE BUNCH OF YOU!” Callie’s voice cut through the thick walls of the lodge like a scythe through straw, with the
crack!
of a door slamming back against the wall underscoring it. The stomping sound of her booted feet going down the hall and stairs was followed by Darlene’s voice.

“Callie Michelle Hawken, you get yourself back up here right now!” Darlene yelled. “Girl, you’d better get yourself straightened out before I take a stick to you!”

There was a long moment of silence before someone knocked on the door. Euan invited whoever it was to enter and Darlene opened the door. She smiled at the twins and then looked apologetically at Euan.

“I’m awful sorry about Callie’s behavior, Euan,” she started.

“Och, ma’am, ’twas nae yer doin’,” he interjected. “Ye’ve nae need t’ apologize.”

“Yes, I do,” she said. “This is my home and I’m responsible for what goes on under my roof. Anyway, coffee’s ready downstairs in the kitchen. We tend the stock before we eat breakfast ourselves.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Euan replied. “’Tis the same back home. I’ll be right doon.”

He hugged the twins and kissed each on the forehead. “Go oon wi’ yer grandmathair,” he said. “Let yer da get dressed.”

The twins hugged and kissed Euan back and jumped off the bed. Taking their grandmother’s hands they followed her to their room to get dressed and go downstairs. Darlene considered that if the past couple of days were any indication, Callie’s behavior was going to make things difficult for everyone unless someone yanked her chain good and hard. To be honest, she had never seen the girl so angry or obstinate, and given Callie’s nature that was saying something.

She must have loved the man to the marrow of her soul to be this angry at him
,
she thought. She knew her daughter well enough to know that Callie must still love Euan somewhere deep down for her behavior to be so erratic and explosive. Otherwise she just plain wouldn’t give a damn.

Darlene remembered how much she had loved David Hawken and how hurt she had been by the man’s words and actions during their brief relationship. But Hawken had not been the love of her life. Jim was, and he had never hurt her intentionally or otherwise. With a deep sigh, she wondered how long it would take for all of this to come to a head and be over with one way or another.

After a breakfast that would have been delicious were it not for the tense atmosphere, Darlene put Callie to work dusting and oiling the inside woodwork, cleaning the ceiling fans and light fixtures, and washing down the stonework around the hearth and chimney. Jim kept Euan and John, along with Eli, busy hewing the logs for the guest cabins. Caleb and Mike Dalton made the run to Morristown for supplies.

Layla was up at their grandparents’ cabin helping Jolena and Great-Aunt Marilee, Jolena’s sister, figure up how much material and notions would be needed for several quilts, quilted tapestries, aprons, and other sewn handcrafts they were planning to make over the winter and sell through the crafter’s co-op. Layla had Jim’s talent for figures and was already helping manage the lodge’s accounts.

Throughout the day, Mountain Rose and Red Wolf divided their time between their parents. Euan and John were immediate hits with their cousins, whom Darlene or Jolena watched during the day for their parents while they worked. The two Scotsmen wrestled and rough-housed with all of them, enjoying
the children’s
delighted shrieks and giggles. During a break from the work, Jim gathered up a few dried out cornstalks and gave each child one to use as a lance as they rode piggy-back on the men to joust. Due to his size, whoever rode on John usually won the matches.
 

While everyone else enjoyed the food and company over supper, Callie remained sullen. Any attempts to draw her into conversation were met by terse responses and after a while the others left her alone. When Euan tried to ask Callie how her day had gone, she swore at him and brought her knife down hard enough to bury the tip in the table, scaring her own two children and three of their cousins.

“That’s enough, Callie!” Jim ordered with an irritated edge to his voice. “We’re at the table, so how about minding your manners?”

Callie’s response was to get up and stalk off. Mountain Rose ran after her mother, badgering her to be nicer to
the child’s
father. After Callie snapped at the child, Darlene and Jim decided that they should assign Callie and Euan to shared chores, conversing about it briefly in Cherokee.

“
Those-two-together will have to learn to get along
,” Darlene reasoned.

“
If those-two-together do not kill each other
,” Jim countered. “
When she is not ignoring his existence, she goes out of her way to insult him and he is starting to return it
.”

“
You-two-together must ensure that those-two-together do not have anything to use as weapons,
”
added Caleb.

“Right, Caleb,” Eli said in English. “When does Callie ever go anywhere without so much as a knife?”

Still in Cherokee, Darlene suggested,
“
Put those-two-together to work preparing the garden soil. How much damage could those-two-together do to each other with a grubbing hoe and a potato hook?”

Seeing the looks on her husband’s and sons’ faces, she responded, “
I was not thinking. Still those-two-together would have to work with one another and we-all-together will be here to supervise. Their children will also be present to encourage those-two-together in maintaining a civil tongue.
”

Layla snorted. “Civility and Callie don’t always happen to intersect in the same plane, Mama,” she stated in English. “Here lately, the least little thing sets her off and she’s prickly enough to make a porcupine look cuddly.”

Jim nodded and spoke again,
“
He has not gotten over her and she has not gotten over him, either. Forcing those-two-together to spend time one-with-the-other will either rekindle what those-two-together once had or snuff it out completely. One way or another each-one-separately will have to get past where he or she is now.”

“As long as those kids don’t get hurt, I’m fine with that,” Darlene said
in English
.

“Yeah, well good luck with that one,” Eli retorted right before Layla smacked his arm.

John asked, “D’ ye mind tellin’ us wha’ a’ ye’ve been decidin’ here? It seems likely it involves us.”