Charmed by His Love (19 page)

Robbie smiled. “This fairy is a
he
, and his name is Gunter. And I don’t believe his delivery will fit in a mailbox or under your pillow.” His eyes crinkled with his smile. “Because we’re waiting on a trailer of draft horses.”

Both boys gasped. “You got the fairy to bring you horses?” Peter cried, immediately turning to Peg. “
Mommm
, we gotta get a boy fairy, ’cause they bring better stuff.” He turned back to Robbie, having to crane his neck to see him. “How do we call your fairy? Or can we write him a letter like we do Santa Claus? Hey, Santa’s a he, too, and he always brings us good stuff, not just suckers and quarters.” He turned to glare up at Peg. “Girl fairies ain’t as good as boy ones.”

Apparently seeing Peg winding up a good scowl, Alec squatted down with a chuckle and opened his free arm. “I beg to differ, Pete,” he said, standing up with Peter on his arm and
looking him level in the eyes. “Some of the nicest stuff I’ve gotten came from girls.” He shot Peg a wink. “If you’ll excuse us, I do believe it’s time for a tactical retreat and a small discussion on genders.” He waited for her nod, then walked toward the church dooryard.

“Jacob?” Robbie asked, also squatting down and opening his free arm. “Would you care for a lift, or do you prefer to walk?”

“I like being tall,” Jacob said, walking into his embrace. The boy looked at Peg when his chauffeur straightened. “I still like girl fairies, Mom, ’cause I like that they’re sneaky just like you.”

Peg felt her cheeks turn three shades of red. “You think I’m sneaky?” she asked, keeping her eyes on her son for fear of the laughter she’d see in Robbie’s. “Why?”

“’Cause you been finishing Daddy’s house without nobody knowing.”

Peg relaxed, figuring that was innocent enough.

“And I seen you sneaking them cuton pages out of the newspapers last week when Mr. Ezra wasn’t looking.”

Peg stepped back with a gasp. “Jacob! I … I—”

“Come on, Mr. Thompson,” Robbie said with a chuckle as he strode away with the little snitch. “I do believe it’s time we retreated as well.”

Peg turned to the building and covered her blistering face with her hands. Jacob had seen her stealing coupons out of the newspaper? “Ohmigod, I’m going to burn in hell,” she muttered, “and my babies are going to end up there with me.”

“What was that, Peggy? Who are you talking to?”

Peg spun around to find Christine Richie eyeing her quizzically. “Oh, I was just talking to myself, Christine,” she said, hiking her purse up on her shoulder, then pulling down the hem of her jacket. “I was trying to remember what I’d written on my shopping list because I forgot it at home.”

Christine’s eye lit up. “Did you hear about our new fund-raiser? We’re going to redo the park this summer, so the town will look as grand as that resort Livy and her new husband are building.”

“I heard,” Peg said with a nod.

Christine’s smile turned pained. “I know we talked about
a widow’s fund and all, but …” She suddenly brightened again. “But I heard you’re expanding your gravel pit, and word is you’re going to be a rich woman by the end of the summer. Oh, Peggy, we’re all so happy for you.”

“Thank you for that. Well, I guess I better get go—”

The octogenarian grabbed Peg’s arm in a surprisingly strong grip. “Wait, there’s something you have to know. Phyllis Jenkins told Janice after our Grange meeting that her husband and Chris Dubois have gotten themselves all worked into a thither over that resort being built, and she’s worried they’re going to cause trouble.”

“But they’re locals,” Peg said in surprise. “Aaron Jenkins was born in Spellbound Falls, and Chris moved here from Turtleback over twenty years ago. What’s their gripe?”

“They don’t like that Livy’s new husband came in here and bought up all the land for miles around, and Aaron and Chris are going around telling everyone that he’s going to shut down the forest to logging to keep it pristine for the resort guests.”

Peg snorted. “More like they’re afraid he’s going to shut down their night-hunting instead of their day jobs. Chris was a year ahead of me in school, and even back then all he did was brag about the ten-point buck he’d bagged the night before.”

Christine sighed. “I can’t believe he’s been able to stay one step ahead of the game wardens all these years with that big mouth of his. Everyone knows he’s a poacher, but nobody seems to be able to catch him.”

“That’s because he never keeps the meat or the mounts; he sells them to some buyer out of state.” Peg shook her head. “It seems if there’s a dollar to be made, Chris finds the quickest and most illicit way to make it. Everyone knows he’s the one who found that bird’s-eye maple worth thousands of dollars on state park land and had it cut down and dragged off before anyone realized it was missing.”

Christine nodded up the road. “He and Aaron were just in the Drunken Moose, and they started in about how that resort’s going to change our entire way of life.”

“For the better,” Peg growled.

“Yes,” Christine said. She leaned closer. “But I’m telling you this because I heard your name come up in their conversation.”

“My name? Why?”

“Chris said … well, he said if Billy were alive, he wouldn’t be selling his gravel to build that road up the mountain.”

“He sure as hell would!”

Christine pursed her lips and looked around. “Chris is just angry because his mother sold you that land instead of signing it over to him, and he claims you all but stole it from Annabelle for what you paid. And,” Christine continued, squeezing Peg’s arm again when she tried to defend herself, “he’s saying that just as soon as you’re done stripping that land bare, you’re probably going to build a fancy marina to service the resort because you’re right on the fiord now.”

“Oh, for the love of— They’re only hauling out of my pit until they open their own on the mountain. I’m not going to be rich even by Spellbound standards.”

“I know, honey,” Christine said, patting the arm she’d just been squeezing. “I just wanted to give you a heads-up, is all. Most of the people here and in Turtleback Station want the resort, but it only takes a few to make a lot of noise.” She went back to squeezing Peg’s arm, and Peg hoped she was that strong when she was eighty. “But I think you should start locking your doors, what with you and your babies being way out there all alone.” She suddenly frowned. “Speaking of babies, where’s Pete and Repeat? I’m not used to seeing you without them glued to your side.”

“They’re having lunch with some of the men who are working at my pit,” Peg said, gesturing toward the church. “They’re sitting on the tailgate of a truck over there.”

Christine shook her head. “It’s too bad they have to grow up without a daddy. Little boys need a man in their lives.” She patted Peg’s sorely abused arm again and gave her a smile. “But everyone sees what a wonderful job you’re doing with them, and with those beautiful girls of yours. I raised my Robert up alone from the time he was twelve, you know. It’s a sad truth that the only work we have up here is logging and trucking, and that they’re dangerous jobs. That is, if our men don’t go off to war and get killed; either way, they’re dead and we’re left to go it alone.” She patted Peg’s arm again. “But you’re young and pretty, Peggy; don’t wait too long to find yourself another good man. Billy would want you to be happy.”

“I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for my next victim,” Peg said with a laugh, capturing Christine’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze before slowly backing away. “Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll be seeing you,” she said, spinning away and all but running into the Bottomless Mercantile & Trading Post.

Peg lost her smile the moment she got inside. Dammit to hell, she didn’t need to be the brunt of Chris Dubois’s anger, and that pompous ass Aaron Jenkins had better not show his face anywhere near her pit, either. Because to hell with Duncan’s dictate; if she spotted those two chest-beating jerks on her property—especially after dark—she was peppering them with birdshot.

“Well, now,” Ezra said when he rounded a corner and nearly bumped into her. “Who stuck a bee in your bonnet?” Ezra—who Peg had learned just ten days ago was actually Olivia’s grandfather—looked around and even behind her. “Where are the little heathens?”

“Having lunch with Alec MacKeage and Robbie MacBain on the tailgate of Robbie’s truck.”

“Jacob is?” Ezra said in surprise.

Peg nodded and finally smiled. “Those men Mac hired are miracle workers. Jacob didn’t even hesitate to go with them today.” She winced. “I did instead.”

“Aw, Peg, you don’t need to cut the apron strings clean through yet, but it can’t hurt to stretch them a little. I’ve met all those men, and your boys couldn’t be in safer hands.” He pulled her down an empty aisle when several gray-headed tourists walked in and started
ohh
ing and
ahh
ing over the assortment of just about anything a person needed crammed into every nook and cranny in the store. “There’s something I have to tell you. There’s talk—”

Peg held up her hand with a laugh. “Get in line, Ezra. It’s taken me half an hour just to get from the post office here because everyone has had to tell me about the talk in town.” She turned serious, and just barely stopped herself from patting his arm. “It’s okay; anybody can say anything they want about my aiding and abetting the new resort, I don’t care. I’m just so happy that my gravel ran north and not west that I’m one second away from running down the center of the road yelling
whoopee!
”

Instead of laughing with her, Ezra’s clouded blue eyes turned pained and he shook his head. “But I’m worried it’s not going to stop at just talk. Sam and I have moved into Inglenook while Olivia and Mac are gone so we can keep an eye on things. Sam’s afraid the few naysayers are going to try to get their point across in a newsworthy way.” He touched her sleeve. “There’s plenty of room in the main lodge, Peg. Why don’t you and the kids come and stay with us until they’re done hauling out of your pit?”

“Duncan said he’s going to post guards to protect the equipment, and through the week he and his men will be camped just down the road. I’m fine, Ezra, and I don’t want my children to think anything’s wrong or that we have to run away and hide at the first
talk
of trouble.”

“Last I knew, sugaring a fuel tank to seize up an engine is a tad more than just talking about doing something.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what Mac had to promise Olivia to get her to leave this Saturday with all the hoopla going on here, but I have to say I’m glad she’s going.”

“It’s just because the idea of the resort is new, Ezra, and everyone’s still trying to reconcile that we have an inland sea instead of a lake now. And all these scientists and tourists are making people think this is what it’s going to be like from now on. But once everything settles down, so will the naysayers. In fact, we’re going to start our own pro-resort committee, and I think it’s better that Olivia and Mac won’t be around for the next two months. With no actual target, people will get over it faster. And once we keep pointing out that the resort is a good twenty miles away and up on a mountain, they’ll all calm down.”

He blew out a sigh and suddenly smiled. “I agree. Okay, girl, what can I sell you today?” he asked, rubbing his hands together.

“Just some paper plates,” she said with a laugh. “And since you’re so busy, just put it on my tab and the first gravel check I get I’m coming in and cleaning up my bill. And,” she growled, “the total better match the slips I’ve been keeping.”

He looked so affronted that Peg waggled her finger in the air as she sauntered away, smiling secretly as she remembered Olivia saying Ezra kept
under
charging all the locals
accidentally on purpose, and that it would break his heart if he knew they knew. And Olivia had told Peg to actually give him grief for
over
charging. “And don’t forget you agreed to double my coupons.”

“Sure thing, missy,” he called after her with a harrumph. “Right after I double the price on those paper plates.”

Peg sidled past a gathering of tourists checking out the fishing supplies—that she noticed Ezra had already changed to more saltwater rigging—and snatched a package of plates off the shelf and headed right back for the door. Because honestly, she was feeling a tad naked without Peter and Jacob glued to her side.

Peg waved the plates at Ezra talking to customers on her way outside and, being afraid that she’d run into someone else just dying to tell her what was going on, she kept her head down as she rushed toward the church. She stopped at the end of the last building to peek around the corner, and her heart rose into her throat when she saw Jacob perched on Robbie’s shoulders as Robbie sat on his tailgate eating his lunch. Her younger twin was pointing out at Bottomless, talking a mile a minute. Peter was sitting beside Alec, half of a man-sized sandwich in his hand, eating and talking and gesturing with the sandwich.

God help her, she had to swipe at her eyes when everything went blurry.

Not wanting the little miracle to end just yet, Peg slowly turned away and headed for her van parked at the other end of town. She’d drive back to the church and pick up the boys—making sure they thanked Robbie and Alec for sharing their lunch with them—and reach the Inglenook turnoff in time to meet the bus so it didn’t have to drive another six miles one way just to drop off her girls. And if those rain clouds held on to their raindrops until after dark, she was having another campfire with the kids tonight. A private campfire this time, though, because she still wasn’t ready to face Duncan—because she’d swear her lips were still tingling from his stolen kiss.

Peg picked up her pace when she saw the tractor-trailer rig idling into town and realized that instead of a logging truck it was actually a large horse carrier. She stopped to gape as
it went by—along with every other person around—and saw the nose of a monstrous horse pressed up against the barred window.

Wait; hadn’t Robbie said the special delivery they were waiting for was draft horses? Good Lord, was he using them to haul logs out of the woods alongside the harvesters and skidders? Peg started running to her van so she could go get the twins out of the men’s way, figuring they must be waiting to lead the truck driver to Inglenook where there was a huge barn that was almost empty now because most of the horses had gone back to the coast since the camp wasn’t running this summer.