A Texas Christmas Reunion Page 15

What had happened to make him look so joyful? No—she did not want to know that.

  Trea and Nannie?

  Even though Juliette and Trea had no understanding between them beyond friendship, and he was free to pursue a future with any woman he wanted to—no, not Nannie Breene.

  “Come outside with me.” He caught her hand and drew her onto the porch.

  Schoolchildren, bundled up in coats, hats and scarves stood in two rows on her porch, tallest in back and shortest in front. Maxwell Finch held a painting of a Christmas wreath bearing a hand-painted invitation to the grand opening.

  With a sweep of his hand, Trea gave his students a signal. They raised their voices, happily singing “Jingle Bells.”

  What a joyful sound!

  Folks on the street smiled, nodded. A few of them sang along as they passed by.

  What a very sweet thing for Trea to have done. Even the fact that Nannie stood twenty feet away, grinning as if she had played some part in this performance, did not diminish Juliette’s pleasure.

  Looked at in a certain way, Nannie had played a role. Had she published the advertisement the way she was supposed to, Trea would not have called upon the children to promote the Christmas event in this way.

  She could scarce believe he had done this wonderful thing, but there the children were, singing with their hearts as well as their voices.

  She had half a mind to thank Nannie for her neglect. But only half.

  After singing “Jingle Bells,” the children stood silently smiling.

  A gust of wind whooshed softly around the building, as if sighing its pleasure.

  Trea nodded toward Charlie.

  “‘O come, O come, Emmanuel...’” Charlie’s song drifted sweetly across the morning. “‘And ransom captive Israel...’”

  People passing by stopped.

  “‘Rejoice... Rejoice, Emmanuel...’” The strains of his clear, beautiful voice carried across the street.

  People came out of the café, stared, silently stunned.

  She saw the awe and the questions on observers’ faces. Could this be Charlie Gumm, the terror of the schoolroom?

  Juliette heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see Father Lindor at the door, smiling and holding his grandchildren in his arms. She could not recall the last time she had seen him smile or touch the children.

  “‘Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel...’”

  Felix came out of The Fickle Dog, rapture on his thin, wrinkled face. Clarence came out after him. He did not look enraptured, but stunned.

  “‘Rejoice... Rejoice...’”

  The blacksmith stood outside his shop, hammer forgotten in his fist. Suzie Fulsom leaned beside her front door, her hand tapping her heart. Levi Silver, Mr. Bones and Leif Ericman watched, shoulder to shoulder.

  If a voice like Charlie’s had ever been heard in this town before, she could not recall it.

  The pride shining out of Trea’s eyes very clearly shot straight from his heart.

  Now she understood why he had looked so happy a moment before, and it hadn’t had a single thing to do with Nannie Breene.

  When Charlie’s pure voice sang “Rejoice!” that was exactly what she did. Yes, it was for the redemption of mankind, like the ancient carol told, but also for the satisfaction evident in Trea’s expression.

  She could not ever remember him looking so joyful. She understood that he meant to showcase the boy’s worth as much as to promote the pageant and the hotel opening.

  Sheriff Hank came out of the saloon. He did not look at Charlie, but at Trea. He, for one, was not caught up in the magic spell, but studied Trea with sharp speculation.

  A second after the sheriff cleared the doorway, Ephraim Culverson stepped outside wearing his nightshirt, cap and baggy socks.

  If Trea bore a look she had never seen before, his father did, too.

  One corner of the man’s mouth ticked up. Apparently father and son had something in common, after all—that intriguing half smile.

  The tender expression passed in a heartbeat. Long before Trea noticed his father had even come outside.

  The devotion, the affection Trea felt for Charlie and the rest of his students was evident in his gaze upon them.

  Then he turned that gaze upon her—meant that devotion for her.

  He had done all this for her—the singing, the posters.

  The emotion reflected in Trea’s eyes nearly brought her to her knees. It was a very good thing that Warren was holding the babies.

  Truly, she doubted that Trea intended to reveal so much.

  Did she dare trust that depth of feeling? In him or in herself?

  With some effort, she looked away from the gaze pinning her heart—right into the startled eyes of Nannie.

  Clearly she’d noticed the longing that shot between Juliette and Trea, because her expression looked like thunder—like a green-eyed monster ready to spit fire.

  The very doubts and the jealousy that had assaulted Juliette moments ago were now reflected on Nannie’s face.

  With the performance ended, Juliette applauded vigorously. So did everyone standing in doorways and down on the street.

  All but one.

  There was Mrs. Gumm, a tattered shadow standing in the alley between the mercantile and the bank, her arms crossed over her bosom while she shook her head. It was a lucky thing that Charlie had his back to his mother and could not see her frowning before she spun about to retreat down the alleyway.

  * * *

  At noon the next day, life was peaceful—for an hour or two, at any rate. With the babies napping and Warren having dozed off in his chair while reading, Juliette took a few precious moments to sit at her dining room table, to look out her window with a cup of coffee warming her hands.

  This was her favorite spot in her private quarters. With a view of the street, she could watch life parade past her window and yet be apart from it. This was an ideal spot to keep watch over the café. Most of the time she could look out this window and into the one across the street with only an occasional passing wagon to get in the way.

  She took a sip of coffee, felt peaceful. Christmas Eve was only four days away and she was nearly ready. She hadn’t been able to get a Christmas tree, let alone her fanciful dream of twelve. Life was just too busy to get it all done. But maybe next year, and she did have garlands and wreaths to make things festive.

  She took another sip. Try as she might to indulge in the tranquility of the moment, she felt agitated—but in the most lovely way.

  Thoughts of Trea had her turned inside out. The look he had given her yesterday when the children were singing, well, she had never felt more desired.

  Her husband had been a good man, and for a time he had made her nerves sing. However, one glance from Trea and she felt like a symphony shivered under her skin. The thing she had to bear in mind was that he also made Nannie’s nerves strike a tune.

  With cause or without? And why was Juliette allowing suspicion to follow her about like a hovering cloud?

  She drummed her fingers on the warm mug. At least there was coffee. She breathed in the aroma and tried to let everything but the peace of the moment, of napping babies and a resting father-in-law, slip away.

  Across the street, the door of the café opened and Cora stepped outside. She marched across the road toward the hotel, looking something like a teakettle and carrying a stack of books under her arm.

  Juliette heard the lobby door open. She set down her coffee and hurried toward the public space.

  There was every chance that Dixie would rouse from her bed by the lobby fireplace and start barking.

  By the time Juliette reached the lobby, Cora was kneeling and hugging the pup to her.

  “Do you mind if I study here, Juliette? Those women over at the café are making me crazy.”

&n
bsp; “There’s no school today?”

  She shook her head and stood up, lifting Dixie with her.

  “No. Mr. Culverson had something important to do so he let us off for Christmas Recess a day early.”

  Had he? He’d left earlier this morning than he usually did. She hadn’t seen him since.

  “Did he say what it was?”

  “I only wish he had.” Cora rolled her eyes then set the puppy down. “That’s what all the gossip is about over there. How’s a girl supposed to learn anything with them all so het up on other folk’s business?”

  “Feel free to stay as long as you like, Cora. It’s nice and warm here by the fire.” Juliette pointed toward the big stuffed chairs. “Everyone’s asleep so you won’t be disturbed, for a little while, anyway.”

  “Thank you! I suppose I should go back and put at least one story to rest—I might do it, too, if it weren’t so cold outside.”

  No doubt the rumor had to do with Trea. It seemed that every unexplained thing that happened lately had to do with him.

  “What story can you put to rest, Cora?”

  “Oh, the one about you and Mr. Culverson carrying on a scandalous tryst right here in the hotel.”

  “What?” Oh, dear, she hoped her outburst hadn’t woken the babies.

  “Here—in the middle of the day with the babies and Mr. Lindor underfoot?” she asked more quietly. And wasn’t Cora too young to know what a scandalous tryst was? Those women should be ashamed of discussing such a thing in front of a child. “That is just not logical.”

  “Yes, well, gossip hasn’t much to do with logic.” Cora sat down and shrugged. “That’s what my sister says.”

  Unless Juliette missed her guess, there was one person who would be the leader of the wagging tongues. She should not ask but—

  “Is it Nannie spreading rumors?”

  “Well, no.” Cora’s brows lowered, as though she were puzzling something out. “Really, that is the other rumor. No one has seen Nannie all day, either.”

  That made Juliette feel half sick.

  “They haven’t? Are you sure?”

  “I’m not—but they are. Some people are convinced Mr. Culverson is here with you—some think he’s with Nannie. Some of the old biddies, when they thought I could not hear—but really I do have young ears and I don’t miss much—they say that all three of you are secreted away together in a lewd liaison.”

  “Well!” That’s all she could say really, just, “Well...”

  “I don’t know what they think you’ve done with the children during the wicked melee.”

  “Made them nap in a trunk, perhaps.”

  Really, the whole thing was so absurd it made her want to laugh. Or cry. Because if Trea was not with her—where was he? Where was Nannie?

  And now, on top of it all, she felt ashamed for even thinking such a thing. It made her no better than the women at the café.

  Trea had changed his ways, she was certain of it—nearly positive.

  And yet...

  No! There was no and yet. She would not let herself succumb to the low-down, mean-spirited thoughts others were suggesting.

  It made her blood simmer, thinking how things hadn’t changed around here. Even after all these years had passed, even though Trea had come back and shown what a fine person he had become, all they saw was trouble.

  “What I would like to know is how, between behaving like the devil with you and Miss Breene, he had time to light the fire in the straw behind the livery.”

  “There was a fire at the livery?”

  “Just a small one. Smoke more than flames, really, and the livery owner stomped it out with his boot. But I imagine by now the story is that it was a massive blaze.”

  Now Juliette felt truly sick. A fire at the livery, of all places! And Trea nowhere to be found?

  Someone was igniting fires and trying to make Trea look guilty on purpose. She almost wished he would be caught with Nannie.

  She would absolutely not believe he had run in fear again. He would not do that to her.

  Wouldn’t!

  “Should I tell them that I saw Mr. Culverson near the train this morning?”

  “Did you?”

  “I can’t be sure. I saw someone, though. It might as well be him.”

  “No. Better that he is thought to be having an affair with me or Nannie—even both of us—than to have them believe he ran away from a fire at the livery.”

  Again.

  “That’s what I thought.” Cora tipped her head to one side. “The babies are crying.”

  Chapter Twelve

  It wasn’t far to Leif Ericman’s store, but it was bitter cold, even with the slanting rays of afternoon sunshine streaking through a gathering bank of clouds.

  Luckily Cora had been willing to tend her family while Juliette went shopping.

  With Christmas Eve four days away, it was time to purchase what she would need in order to feed the town.

  Her list was a long one. She tried to go over it in her mind while she walked. A list was only as good as what one remembered to write on it, after all.

  “Flour for the cookies,” she muttered under her breath. “Butter, eggs, vanilla and—”

  A shadow moved in the alley. She stared hard into the winter shadows. Trea?

  No—a cat. None of the last four shadows she had spun toward had been Trea, either.

  Where was he? Not warm and safe at the hotel. She knew because she had strained her ears listening for his footsteps most of the day.

  She walked faster, thought harder about her list in order to purge the images of his possible fate from her mind.

  Blame it! In her mind he was lost in the snow, half frozen and unconscious—wait—now he was sitting in jail because he had been arrested for the smoke in the livery.

  Not likely that, though. People would be talking about it.

  So that put him looking out a train window speeding toward who knew where. Was he thinking of her? Of Nannie? Of the students he’d left behind? Perhaps Nannie was with him!

  No. It was unthinkable that he would have left town—not with the pageant coming up. He’d poured his heart into it and into his students.

  She was sure he would not just up and leave. He did not deserve to be dragged to the places her imagination carried him.

  Juliette lifted the hem of her skirt to climb the steps to the store. Perhaps he was with Nannie.

  As much as it hurt, as much as her logical mind did not believe it to be true, this last nightmare was better than the one with the snowy ditch where Trea turned blue and lifeless before her eyes.

  She ought to organize a search party. Sundown was coming and the weather would grow even colder.

  The bell over the door jangled as she opened it and went inside.

  Oh, no! The first person she spotted was Nannie, her back toward the door while she ran her fingers over bolts of fabric on display along the back wall.

  If Nannie was here—where was Trea?

  Juliette’s first impulse was to dash over and interrogate her. She would not, though. Finding out that Trea had been with her all day would be horrible, but not as horrible as finding out he had not.

  She turned toward the counter and handed Leif her list.

  He confirmed that he had all she needed and agreed to have a boy deliver it to the hotel in the morning.

  Nannie, looking in a mirror and holding a bolt of blue fabric beside her face, was apparently deciding whether it matched her eyes or not.

  The woman knew the answer to Juliette’s inner turmoil.

  Either she could ask Nannie and deal with whatever heartache arose from it, or she could spend who knew how long in fear of the unknown.

  “Thank you, Eric,” she said while handing him the payment for her goods. “Will I
see you Christmas Eve?”

  “Me and my wife will be there. We don’t have a child in the school, but if the Gumm boy is going to sing again, we wouldn’t want to miss that.”

  Tucking the list back into the small beaded bag strung about her wrist, Juliette approached the fabric wall.

  “Hello, Nannie.”

  “Juliette! You are just in time.” Nannie held a bolt of yellow fabric next to her face. If she felt any lingering envy from yesterday it did not show. “Does this color make me look washed out?”

  “The blue is better.” Why wasn’t Nannie envious? As much as Juliette had tried to banish the petty emotion, she had been a bit green all day.

  “Have you seen Trea?”

  “Well I—have you?”

  “No.”

  “Oh, perhaps I have.” Nannie shoved the yellow bolt back into the row and picked up the blue again. “I can’t say—a lady does have her secrets. You understand?”

  Juliette did not understand! The very last thing she could imagine was a man like Trea being interested in a woman like Nannie.

  It made no sense.

  But if it didn’t make sense, if she could not accept that he had been with Nannie, she would fret the rest of the day over where he really was.

  Even hours after leaving the store, that is exactly what she continued doing...fretting and worrying.

  Even if Trea had been with Nannie this morning, he had not been with her several hours ago.

  Juliette paced in front of her dining room window with Joe in her arms, staring out into the dark.

  The clock had struck nine o’clock an hour ago.

  She reminded herself that he was a grown man and could go where he pleased, but surely he should have been back from wherever it was by now.

  “Are you hungry, Joe?” Given the way he plucked at the buttons of her bodice, he was. “Lena has been asleep for hours already. Are those little gums sore, sweetling?”

  She carried him to her private parlor and sat with him in front of the hearth. The flames snapped and sent out wave after wave of warmth. She took off her shoes and stockings. Not her dress, though.

  As soon as Trea got back, she would find out where he had been. Kiss him or smack him—she was not sure which. It didn’t matter. She would be relieved to see him safe, either way.