Just tell me quick, he started with. Are the girls hurt in any way? And are they okay now?
Theyre fineexcept for conning me out of ice cream probably before theyve had dinner.
There really was a bear?
I didnt see it myself, but black bears regularly wander around here. Normally they dont bother humans, but theyll venture close when theyre scrounging for food. At this time of year, its pretty rare to come across one.
I like your voice, Rosemary MacKinnon.
The comment was so unexpected, she got an inexcusable warm fuzzy feeling in her tummy...but obviously, shed relieved his mind about his girls and he was just getting his breath back, not thinking clearly. Im guessing youd like my address, she said quickly.
Yes, of course.
Youre not far. There arent that many places near the top of Whisper Mountain. Im on the east side, and most of the land up here is MacKinnon property. Id guess youre either in the Landers place or the Stewarts...they often rent out at Christmas. The Stewarts place is brick, double kitchen, double deck
Thats the one.
So. If youre driving a car, youre going to have to go down the mountain roadtheres only one, as you probably know. Where it ends in a Y shape, turn left. Give or take a half mile, youll see a wood sign for MacKinnonsthatll lead to the house here. Take you ten, fifteen minutes. On the other hand, if you have some way to go cross-country
A Gator.
Okay, so its your choice...with the Gator, you go up that same mountain road...youll run into a gravel road, turn right, then zip along that way until you run into a battered old MacKinnon sign, turn in.
So the girls really werent far.
I dont know...they could have circled and backtracked a zillion times if they were trying to outrun a bear. Speaking of which...until you get here, Ill be talking bear defense with your girls.
Maybe youd better have that talk with me, too.
She laughed, so did he...but when she clicked off the phone, she found both girls sitting side by side on the leather couch, staring at her.
Your dadll be here in two shakes. When they kept up with the stare, she cocked her head. What?
You laughed. And we thought we heard Dad laughing.
Rosemary didnt understand. He did laugh. But not because he thought your bear was funny. He had to hear that you two were safe. So he was relieved, and naturally he got in a happier mood.
Lilly said, Our dad hasnt done a whole lot of laughing since Mom died.
She didnt know what to say. The girls had already spilled a lot of information about their personal circumstances that was none of her business. She didnt want to prybut actually, she was relieved to understand their circumstances. She could have said something painful or insensitive accidentally, if shed never known the girls had lost their mom, and that they were trying to have a different kind of Christmas to keep the grieving memories at bay.
Hey. Should we call you Mrs. MacKinnon? Or Miss MacKinnon? Or Rosemary? Or what? Lilly was clearly the one who wanted to know the rules.
You can call me Rosemary. And Im a Miss, not a Mrs.
How come? That was definitely Pepper. No boundaries on Peppers tongue.
Because I was happy being single.
Oh. Okay. Can we look around, while were waiting for my dad? Its about the most beautiful house I can remember.
Yes, you can look around...except in the first room down that hall. For a long time it was a utility room, but I turned it into a dark room to develop photographs. When that doors closed, youll see a red light next to the knob, and that means you shouldnt open the door.
You really develop pictures? Yourself? Right here?
It had been a while since shed awestruck anyone...much less had anyone treat her like a goddess. Her familyat least her parentsrarely had a pleasant word to say to her. Since June, whenever they called, it was invariably to make sure she knew her Terrible Mistake hadnt been forgotten, and probably never would be. Her two brothers would have defended her against the worldand always hadbut even they skirted around the question of why shed done such a damn fool thing.
The girls talked her ears offand asked more questions than a teacher on a test. But after being raised with two brothersand working alone all these months since JuneRosemary didnt mind. She inhaled all the girl talk.
She never heard a knock on the door, never heard anything until the girls both squealed, Dad!
Theyd ended up in the kitchenboth girls had chosen to ignore the table, and instead sat on the counter with their legs swingingsome body part always seemed to be in motion with them. Theyd somehow conned her into wrapping up three more cream puffs to take home with them. Possibly shed been easily conned. Besides, shed made the full recipe, and even sugar-greedy as she was, couldnt possibly eat a dozen.
Dad! Were having so much fun! Can we stay a little longer?
And then, Dad, this is Rosemary. Rosemary, this is Dad
Hes not Dad when youre introducing him, dummy. Hes Whit. Dad, this is Rosemary. Rosemary, this is Whit. Wait until you taste these cream puffs! Rosemarys giving us some to take home.
She has a darkroom, Dad. And she has a gun. A big rifle. That she owns. Its all hers. Everything!
Over the bouncingly exuberant girls, their eyes met. She was both laughing and rolling her eyesthere was no shutting the girls up, no chance to temper their exuberance. And his eyes were filled with humor, too....
But somehow shed expected the girls father to be...well, fatherly looking. A lot older than her twenty-seven. Sure, shed expected him to be reasonably good-looking, because the girls were adorable, but hed been married awhile. He should have looked more staid, the way settled down guys tended to get, more safe, less...how would a woman say it?...less hungry.
Whit radiated all the safety of a cougar just freed from a cage. He was tall, rangy and sleek. He had the shoulder and arm muscles of a guy who was physical and exceptionally strong. He wore an old canvas jacket, jeans and country boots.
His hair was sort of a dusty blond shade, rumpled from the wind, a frame for the rugged bones in his face. The haircut was the choice for a guy who didnt waste time on grooming. Straight eyebrows set off his eagle-shrewd eyesshrewd, except when he looked at his daughters.
Then his gaze turned into a helpless puppys.
Did they drive you crazy? He said it under the relentless stream of eleven-year-old chatter.
Oh, right. Like shed kick a puppy in the teeth. The girls were obviously the sun and the moon to him. Besides, even if they had driven her a little crazy, theyd been fun. Theyre wonderful, she said.
Yeah. I think so. But...
I never had a chance to give them the bear talk. They should know...you dont run from a bear. You dont leave food in the wild, ever, and if you make loud noises, hell likely turn tail and take off. A bear doesnt want to hurt a humanunless its spring and its a female with cubs. Or its fall, and hes filling up on every berry he can find. So if they spot one from a distance, just move away. Make noise. Trust me, he doesnt want to eat you. He just wants you out of his space.
Pepper had been listening, but she wasnt buying this advice wholesale. But what if hes crazy? You know. What if its a people-hater bear. Like the bear in that movie, where the models in Alaska
If hes crazy, youre up a creek. But the population of black bears around here doesnt have a bad reputation. If a crazy one showed on the radar, DNR and rangers would be all over it. So if you just use common sense and do the regular safe things, you should be fine.
Dad, do you see how much she knows? Even about things like bears? And shes a girl.
I noticed that.
Her head whipped toward him again. There was nothing suggestive in his tone. Just in his eyes. There was just something there that sparked a sizzle in her pulse...and Rosemary was too darned practical to feel sizzlesin her pulse or anywhere else.
I think its time we got out of this nice ladys hair.
But she likes us, Dad. She said so.
Of course she likes you. Youre the angels of the universe. But were still giving Rosemary her life back and going home. Its already dark.
You sure didnt call us angels when we put the red and green in our hair. Even though we told you and told you and told you itd wash out. And everybody does it.
The adults barely exchanged another wordthey had no chance. Rosemary was amusedand surprisedby the violent silence when she closed the door after them. She was used to silence. Or she should be. She was happy living alone.
Or thats what shed been telling herself for six months now.
Maybe shed been telling herself that her whole life. If youre waiting for someone else to make you happy, youre waiting for a spit in the wind. It has to start on the inside. Being content with who you are.
Rosemary always thought she was. Content within herself. Until last June, and since then she couldnt seem to fit in her own skin.
She turned away from the window, fed the fire and turned her attention back to things that mattered. Another cream puff, for starters.
And what a hunk of a man that Whit was. Maybe she could have a hot, steamy dream about him tonight. He was the kind of guy that looked all sexy and dangerous when he was sweaty.
Not that Rosemary was attracted to sweat and oiled shoulders and bad boys.
But losing a wife and raising two young girls alonethat was a tough road. Tougher than her own problems, by far.
Which was probably why she couldnt get him off her mind.
Chapter Two
Whit opened the refrigerator and stared at it blankly. Hed bought a truckful of groceries. The fridge was full. He just couldnt seem to find anything to eat.
At least anything that didnt involve cooking and dishes and cleaning up.
What are you hungry for, you two? He called out to the living room, and then wondered why hed asked.
The answer came in joyous unison. Mac and cheese. From the box.
Followed by, And dont burn it this time, Dad.
He still had two boxes, thank God. All the green stuff hed bought was going to waste. But the sugary cereals, the mac and cheese and the ice creamafter two days, he was nearly out of those. He could probably feed the kids on five bucks a dayif they had their way. Instead hed spent better than $500 on stuff that was good for them.
Why wasnt that in the parenting rule book, huh? That short of putting an eleven-year-old in a coma, there was no way to get anything fresh and green down them without a war that involved pouting, door slamming, dramatic tragic looks, claims of being misunderstood, claims of being adopted, claims of child abuse...and...that torture could go on for hours. Sometimes days.
He scrounged for a pan, and filled it with water. Read the directions on the mac and cheese box for the millionth time. When he turned around, Lilly was leaning on the blue-and-white tile counter.
It was a trick, since he knew she hadnt come in to help. He was in trouble. He just didnt know over what. And the truthwhich Lilly possibly knewwas that hed do anything she asked. Anything.
He was terrified of both daughters, but Lilly more than Pepper. Lilly had stopped talking after her mom died. Shed just lain there, in that hospital bed next to her sister, but where Pepper would cry and shriek, Lilly just carried that silent look in her eyes. Grief too deep to understand, grief that made her go still, as if in any motion, no matter how tiny, could tip her over the edge. She couldnt take more.
Eventually Lilly started talking again, but it went on and on, that grief of hers. She answered questions, and talked about things like school and dinner, but it was months before she volunteered anything. Months before that unbearably sharp grief started to fade. Months before he won a real smileand hed done everything but stand on his head and grovel, to bring her beautiful smile back.
What? he said, when she kept leaning there, looking at him, kind of rolling her shoulders.
Nothing. I was just thinking....
That was the other problem with Lilly. Pepper, thankfully, said anything that was on her mind. It came out like froth; he never had to work to figure out where her head was. But Lilly was the thinker, the one who stored hurts on the inside, the one who never said anything he could anticipate. Nothing in the universe could make him feel as helpless as Lilly.
And hed have to kill anyone who dared cause her any grief again.
Didnt you think she was pretty? She asked him as if his answer was of no consequence, while idly scratching the back of one knee with a slipper.
The lady?
Rosemary, Dad. You heard her name. And yeah. Didnt you think she was pretty?
Sure.
Lilly rolled her eyes. It was a default response when Whit did something inadequate on an eleven-year-olds terms. Somethings wrong with her.
Like what?
I dont know. But shes pretty. And shes spending Christmas all by herself. And shes working, she showed us some stuff on orchids. But youd think it was July or June or something. Theres no tree or presents. No stuff. No lights.
Maybe shes of some other religion.
You mean like Buddhist or Muslim or something? No. Its not that.
How do you know?
Because I know. Another default answer, usually accompanied by, Im a girl and I know. You wouldnt understand.
Maybe shes Jewish?
Dad. We know five Jewish people. And they do Christmas with presents and trees just like we do. Except that they get to do their Hanukkah holiday, too, so they get even more presents. In fact, I was thinking about turning Jewish.
Were you?
Hey, people fight wars all the time over religion. I think they should stop fighting wars and concentrate more on giving presents. Especially presents for their kids. Possibly out of boredom, she plucked a raw carrot from the glass of carrots and celery on the counter. It was the first time hed seen her eat anything nutritious since theyd come up here. But back to Rosemary. The thing is...shes our neighbor. In fact, as far as I can tell, shes our only neighbor up here. At least the only one we know about. So maybe we should do some Christmas stuff with her, so shes not alone.
Honey, she may be alone by choice. She may not want company or neighbors around.