Western Christmas Brides: A Bride and Baby for Christmas / Miss Christina's Christmas Wish / A Kiss from the Cowboy. Lauri Robinson
Читать онлайн книгу.
The children’s program didn’t last long, but what followed seemed to take forever. Teddy had secured her a chair, of which Hannah was thankful. The school was large enough for the children on a daily basis, but with the entire community in attendance, there wasn’t nearly enough room. People stood outside, watching the program through the windows and doorway. She was proud of Rhett and Wyatt, how they performed their speaking parts without a single mishap. The other children, too. She couldn’t help but think of the future and how her child would someday be old enough to participate in such performances.
That thought also left her unsettled. What Teddy said had been the truth. About Don Carlson, Jules Carmichael and Jess Radar. She’d already known what he’d said about each of them, and had determined none of them was a suitable choice for her. He had only confirmed her list was much shorter than she’d wanted to believe. And then hearing Rhett whispering to his mother had her thinking about other things.
After the children had taken their final bow, Reverend Flaherty, using words from Lincoln’s Proclamation, had led a prayer of inestimable peace, harmony and prosperity for all of Oak Grove. Then Mayor Melbourne had walked to the front of the room. He’d been talking for ages already, and under his breath, she’d heard Rhett tell Fiona that he sure was glad she hadn’t married the mayor.
That tiny whispered voice echoed inside Hannah’s head for the rest of the mayor’s speech. Marrying someone just so her baby would have a last name wouldn’t be what was best for her child. Or her. Finding the right man, one she could love and who would love her and her baby, was what she truly wanted. Love like Brett and Fiona had. Like her grandparents had. That’s why she’d loved being with them so much, because they’d loved her in return. Outside of their house, all she’d known was hate. Her father had been so full of it, it had spread far and wide. There had been no escaping it.
“Come,” Teddy said, taking ahold of her arm. “We’ll slip out the side door and avoid most of the crowd so you won’t have to be on your feet so long.”
“I’m fine,” she said in protest, but gladly rose now that the mayor had finally concluded his speech.
Hannah then shivered from head to toe when a squeaky voice sent an icy tremor up her spine.
“Teddy!” Abigail repeated.
He appeared to ignore his sister while walking toward the door, but once outside, he paused long enough for Abigail to catch up with them. Hannah forced a smile to form and prepared herself as she turned to face the other woman.
The glare was there. As icy as the tremor had been. Having lived with such glares her entire life, Hannah’s heart sank. She just couldn’t endure that again. Wouldn’t.
“I want an etching of the children’s performance for the paper next week,” Abigail said, never once glancing toward her brother.
“I’m sorry, Miss White,” Hannah said. “I didn’t bring any paper with me.”
“Abigail—”
“You can’t draw one from memory?” Abigail interrupted Teddy. “To hear my brother talk, you can draw anything. Everything.”
“You’ve commented on what an expert artist Mrs. Olsen is, too, Abigail,” Teddy said. “As has the mayor and practically every person who has seen one of her drawings in the Gazette.”
“That I have,” Mayor Josiah Melbourne said. “Every week when I read the newspaper.” Patting Abigail’s arm, the man continued, “You certainly can’t expect Mrs. Olsen to draw all those children from memory.”
Hannah figured she could draw a few, but not all of them, and sincerely hoped Abigail would agree with the mayor. Josiah and Brett had butted heads when it came to Fiona—mainly due to the fact the mayor had brought her to town to marry him—and Hannah certainly didn’t want to be the cause of Brett standing against the man again. Or Teddy. That would be even worse. Especially in Abigail’s eyes, which were narrowing and making her face all the more hawkish.
“I expected you to realize an event this large would need a picture to go along with my article,” Abigail said, holding up her pad of paper. Of course her pencil was stuck behind one ear as always.
“I didn’t,” Teddy interjected, “and I own the paper.” Taking ahold of Hannah’s arm once more, he nodded. “Now, if you two will excuse us, we have pumpkin pie waiting for us.”
“So do we, Abigail,” the mayor said.
Abigail didn’t speak as she spun about. Didn’t need to. Her eyes had said all Hannah needed to hear.
“I don’t believe the mayor has missed too many desserts in his life,” Teddy said with a smile as they started walking.
The mayor was portly, and short, and Hannah had a hard time believing Fiona had ever considered marrying the man every time she saw him. That wasn’t what she thought of now. Although Teddy was obviously trying to make her think of other things, she couldn’t. Nor could she stop the heavy sigh that escaped her as they crossed the street.
“Don’t let Abigail bother you.” Teddy’s hold on her arm tightened while they stepped onto the wooden walkway that ran the entire length of the street, including past the Gazette office.
Hannah shook her head. “I don’t know what I’ve done to make her dislike me so much.”
“You haven’t done anything,” Teddy said. “Abigail has never learned how to make friends. I’ve tried to make her understand things, but...” He shrugged. “I thought she’d grown out of it.”
“No,” Hannah insisted. “I know hatred when I see it.” If she had the wherewithal, she would kick up her heels and run back to Brett’s house, but in her condition, that wasn’t an option. At most, her gait would be a fast waddle.
“It’s not you,” Teddy said. “It’s me. She’s upset because you’re, well, similar to a woman I was engaged to marry once.”
Hannah footsteps faltered briefly. “I am? Engaged to? What happened?”
He shrugged. “She married someone else.”
There was no shine in his eyes, no smile on his face, and Hannah got the impression he regretted saying as much as he had. After several quiet moments, she said, “Eric’s family hated me. Still do. They hate my entire family. Always have. And my family hated him. His entire family. The feud has been going on for years. Long ago, two brothers were in the fur trade together, but when one stole the other one’s wife, the two became enemies. They moved to opposite sides of the lake, and one changed the spelling of their name.”
“Their name?”
“Olsen. One of them changed it from an O-l-s-e-n to O-l-s-o-n, according to my father. According to Eric’s father it was the opposite way. From o to e, not e to o.” She wasn’t sure why she’d told him all that. Maybe because in a somewhat different way, she knew how he felt. Not being loved by someone you wanted to love you. “The feud was reignited when I was a baby. By then both families owned logging companies. Eric’s grandfather and my grandfather both tried to claim an island in the middle of the lake, wanting to harvest the lumber off it.”
“Who won?” Teddy asked as they turned the corner and started walking toward Brett’s blacksmith shop and seed company.
“Neither. A fire burned all the trees to the ground. Both sides claimed the other one started the fire.”
“What does your grandfather say?”
“He died in the fire. So did Eric’s grandfather. They were the only two on the island.”
After a few steps, he asked, “I thought your grandfather taught you how to draw and etch wood.”
“He did. But Pappy is my mother’s father. John and Glenda Gunderson.” Saying her grandparents’ names added to her melancholy. She missed them terribly. “I stayed winters with them from