Back To Our Beginning (50 page)

“What are you four up to?” Tansy asked with a small smile. They all seemed so lost in their discussion. Trisha jumped at Tansy’s interruption, spinning to face her.

“How will Santa get in?” Michaela piped up.

“We don’t have a chimney,” Trisha added with concern.

“He’ll be burned,” Max signed with misgiving.

“Santa?” Tansy asked.

A feeling of dread washed over her. Michaela hadn’t asked about Santa Claus since before her father died. Tansy hadn’t given Christmas another thought, honestly thinking those special times were long gone, lost in the archives of a previous life. Santa had seemed a gift of the past, a gift perhaps that should remain unopened and unexplored given the circumstances. But why now?

“Daddy said Santa could find us anywhere once we were settled. Last year we had to move around too much and Santa was afraid he would miss us, and I wouldn’t have had time to play with any toys or be able to carry them anyway. Daddy said Santa would’ve been too sad if he had given me a toy and I would’ve had to leave it behind, he said if my feelings were hurt so would Santa’s because he loves me. Daddy said Santa would try this year,” Ricky declared.

Tansy looked up at Ethan’s approach. She offered him a concerned look.

“The children are wondering about Santa Claus and how he’ll get in,” Tansy informed him with a touch of annoyance.

To Tansy’s surprise, Ethan smiled brightly, and with an arm around Ricky and Trisha he went on to reassure the children Santa was magic. He pulled a worried Michaela onto his knee and signed Max not to worry. Even tornadoes and freezing cold wouldn’t stop him this year as it had the last. This year he was ready. This year he and his horde of elves had worked twice as hard preparing, calculated meticulously the intense violent storms and fierce winds and added a double layer protective nuclear magic bubble to his new aerodynamic sleigh to keep him warm and insulated. As well as two new highly-trained, magic, powerful Samurai reindeer, capable of producing protective force fields and fighting power to battle any storm.

Their battling butt-kicking ability would over-shine anything Mother Nature could hit them with. They being so highly and evasively skilled. With this new technology, Santa could fly unobstructed right through mountains of encroaching, pounding water, navigate horrific tornadoes. Plow through portentous rough seas and vast oceans with tsunamis and most importantly: spot deserving children behind multi-thick layers of massive rock or situated in caverns of deep underground.

“Two new magic Samurai reindeer, eh?” Tansy asked, eyes narrowed, arms crossed over her chest.

“Well sure,” Cord interrupted, he took Michaela into his arms. “Their real names are classified, but I have it on good authority they go by Stormy and Windy, both able to magically battle the elements. They can ride on a tornado’s back and slide over icy snow storms while Rudolf lights the way.” He tweaked Michaela’s nose and the child giggled at him, her look filled with obvious relief.

Tansy grabbed Cord by the arm and steered him in the opposite direction after passing Mike off to Clint who joined their conversation. “Are you insane?” she snapped.

Cord grinned. Looking around, Tansy could see a Cheshire Cat’s look on all of the men’s faces including Shanie’s teasing look. Tansy couldn’t help but feel they were pulling a fast one on her and were quite impressed with themselves. At her concerned scowl, Ethan took pity and dragged her off to the side, well away from the children.

“We just felt it was a good way to brighten up the children’s enclosure in the mine. Give them something to look forward to. Don’t worry, Tansy, they won’t be disappointed,” Ethan promised. He then offered her a sly wink. “Neither will you.”

Later that afternoon, the four men went a short distance into the freezing, snow-dense woods and brought back a huge white pine with beautiful branches. Ricky stuck a few of his toy cars onto the branches to decorate it. They added pine cones and nuts, and spent the afternoon turning straw into stars and dolls and other creations. It was a stunning tree when they finished. Ethan propelled Tansy down into the bottom of the mine to a small tunnel the men had declared off-limits in the summer. They had boarded up the tunnel claiming there was a huge hole inside and it was too dangerous to enter. The others had taken them at their word and never questioned they might be up to something.

Tansy gazed about with tears in her eyes. It seemed the men had come across more that they had given in to. In a few of the old homes they’d found board games. A slew of games that wouldn’t need batteries. Tansy’s tears flowed harder as Ethan showed her a checker board they made as well as pieces for chess. Aidan talked Emmy into making rag dolls and tiny pieces of fur lay scattered about a tiny cave doll home for Michaela, with crafted wood pieces shaped into people and animals, along with a tiny stove and small stones for a fire pit. They at first thought to craft a real doll house for the child but realized it wouldn’t be fair and perhaps even confusing. Aboveground houses were a thing of the past for now. The caves and mines were their future. Their safety.

Caught up in the spirit, the adults went to work on crafting small sacks made from hides for Santa sacks. Tansy hid tiny pieces of maple sugar candy in hollowed out walnut shells tied together with thin strips of scrap hide. The children tied together twigs into small baskets for dried fruit and nuts. They popped corn over their barbeque stove to add to the baskets with roasted pumpkin seeds. After the children went to sleep Tansy tried her hand at dried fruit and nut cookies with Stacie’s help to add to the Santa sacks. She boiled a can of found sweetened condensed milk for four hours. The end result was a creamy caramel sauce she spooned into little tarts.

The men painstakingly carted up their heavy bounty of treasures and added tiny cars, whittled wooden boats and crafted knives they had worked on to the boys’ sacks, and small crafted bracelets and necklaces to the girls’ as well as tiny wooden flutes. Ethan showed Tansy bongos he had created for Ricky. Because Rose hovered on adulthood, Tansy made certain her sack contained necessary items she would need eventually after the baby was born as well as a bone knife and tiny treats with a small sewing kit containing thread, buttons, needles and a sharpened quartz rock for cutting. Becky declared it would be in everyone’s best interest to carry some type of first-aid kit with them when they went out and eagerly set out to make one for everyone from items she put together in the cave.

Tansy had been diligently making slippers and scarves for many in the cave and was suddenly aware why Shanie had told her she should wait and give them all out at the same time. She had argued at the time her mother wouldn’t want anyone thinking she was playing favorites by finishing theirs first. Tansy chuckled, now understanding Shanie’s real reason. Shanie had known her mother would have wanted to give her own gifts and would have felt embarrassed if she had nothing to put under their tree to share.

Morning brought squeals of delight as the youngsters, and those not so young, dragged everyone excitedly from their sleeping furs. Their tree had a multitude of treasures beneath. The games remained unwrapped so the children would understand they belonged to everyone. A few personal gifts were wrapped in hide, or clean unused cloth, or placed within a few of Emmy’s coveted baskets.

No one was left out, including their new additions. The men had found many wonderful items that weren’t necessary to their survival but welcome and wanted nonetheless. The men laughed when it became apparent they had all hidden items away for each other without them knowing. Aidan had crafted many new arrowheads and tools for them all. Ethan rescued a slew of wonderful books he thought would be of interest to the others, including Tom Sawyer for Clint and children’s books for the youngsters. Cord found three well-made large hunting knives he gave out to the other men, and Clint had worked hard on new waterproof tinder kits with coveted waterproof matches he’d come across.

They cooked a large goose over their fires that Cord procured some time ago, keeping it in their cave freezer, demanding Tansy wait to cook it. At the time, she wondered why but now understood he wanted it to be saved for Christmas dinner. Tansy was moved to tears when she unwrapped two large cans of cranberry sauce Cord and Clint had come across and hidden away.

They feasted and laughed well into the night, telling stories of long ago Christmases, snug and safe while another storm raged around them from outside. The children slept where they succumbed to exhaustion, over toys and treats, huddled together as one, a full happy and content Lucky included, wearing new leather moccasins on his four paws that would protect him from the tiny cold sharp stones and ice in the lower part of the mine that sometimes cut his sensitive pads.

They all deemed it one of the most wonderful Christmases they’d ever had. Not one dime had been spent, not one store visited and yet the joy on everyone’s face proved priceless.

Winter slid by slowly. They reinforced the panels across the front of the mine. The snow rose too high for them to leave the security of indoors and they used their wood up at an alarming rate. Tansy took mental notes as to what they would need more of next winter. The jelly preserves were gone and Tansy opened up a jar of one of her precious jams. She made sure they all had some type of fruit every day at least once a day. The applesauce was wonderful heated and though she had no sugar at the time for her preserves, the fruit she canned was a welcome treat. Their syrup supply was exhausted and all dreamed of spring when the sap would once again flow.

They slept a great deal as it was dark in most parts of the mine. They had only fire and a few lamps to light the inside with. Tansy asked Aidan what else he could make that would provide more light, and he went to work on torches to dig into the ground near the stone walls around the raised platform. They dared not pull back their makeshift doors even if for a short time for fear the heat would become less contained. They noticed a decided change in temperature around the small areas where they had tiny openings to let smoke filter out and made a point of keeping their distance.

They partitioned off the top of the mine, penning the goat closer to their area to aid in containing the warmth and not wanting the goat to freeze. It helped keep the goat’s water from icing over. It also made milking her less tedious. Roaring fires blazed on the lower level often enough when they ventured down to play.

None of the others had been inclined to section off an area for themselves as Aidan had done. Tansy found comfort in being able to see everyone around her at any given time; she suspected the others felt the same way. She couldn’t begin to imagine battling the loneliness of such an intense winter alone and remained grateful for the presence of each and every one of them. Though at times it seemed crowded, there was a decided sense of security. They were a family.

The men made sure to keep up with their aim, practicing on the bulls-eye hide. Cord took an interest in Danny’s exuberance and included him on many of his various projects. Cord found a true love in his inventions. After it became apparent the water dripping near their freezer tunnel in the lower part of the mine would continue to fall, spreading over a small area to form a small ice rink, Cord took the initiative to make tiny wooden skates for Michaela. The sanded flat tops were fitted under her tiny feet and two thick pieces of leather were tied over her toes and around the ankles of her thick-soled moccasins, securing the wood from slipping. Two curved ends under the thin pieces of wood were left dull on purpose. He didn’t want the child to fall on the ice.

Lucky proved to be priceless when entertaining the youngsters. His boundless energy encouraged the children into roughhousing that enabled them to get their fill of exercise and aided with their sleep at night. The patient dog allowed Michaela and Max to ride on him, which became a common sight. The children were encouraged to practice their aim, and Tansy decided to teach the younger ones to print and spell along with teaching them all, children and adults, about the many varieties of edible and medicinal plants. Becky taught first-aid and the children of course learned to count from Stacie.

* * * *

“Whatcha cookin’?” Clint asked Stacie. He leaned over a pot and sniffed at its contents then made a comical face.

“Diapers,” she said and laughed at his expression.

“You been takin’ cookin’ lessons from Shanie?” Clint asked.

“Not funny,” Shanie said.

“Well hell, I was serious,” Clint said defensively then winked at Stacie.

Clint picked up Bart who cooed and babbled at him. “He’s a fine lookin’ boy,” Clint said and tickled the baby under his pudgy chin. He was delighted with the grin the baby rewarded him in return.

“Thank you.”

“He looks like you,” Clint said, studying the boy’s facial features.

“Yeah, and he babbles like you,” Shanie said.

“Now don’t be like that, sweetheart. You know I didn’t mean nothin’ by it.” He tucked the baby into the crook of his arm and placed an arm around Shanie giving her a good squeeze and a fast kiss to her forehead.

Shanie shrugged him off and strode over to where Danny was helping the kids make a tower out of blocks and sticks while absently scratching Lucky behind the ears.

“She’s a very beautiful young woman,” Stacie commented, watching the girl go.

“So are you,” Clint answered and he winked at her when he handed the baby back.

Clint had seen Cord and Tansy together. He was distraught at first but soon realized he couldn’t control where her heart lay. Tansy’s attitude toward Clint hadn’t changed. She was affectionate and caring until Clint realized she did like him. But that’s all it was. With the arrival of Stacie, Clint had begun to wonder if maybe he clung to Tansy so hopefully because of his loneliness and loss. Clint realized he really did like Tansy, but he wasn’t really in love with her, just the idea of her and her child.

Cord and Clint had stayed late by the fire one night talking.