Donners Bend (22 page)

The girls shook their heads and Wesley answered simply, “Too cold.”

Leah suddenly realized something and shouted, “We win the race by forfeit!” and the children cheered.

Jamie shot water from his mouth like a miniature fountain as he paddled on his back over to
Ellie
.

“Are you alright?” he asked her again.

Ellie
was holding onto the side of the overturned rowboat as the oars floated nearby
. 
She didn’t seem to enjoy swimming as much as Jamie did
. 
Ellie
had always had a problem with swimming in large areas like oceans and lakes
. 
Ever since she was a girl she’d been afraid of drowning because when she’d been only seven years old
,
her cousin Samuel drowned in the sea
. 
She’d never admitted it to anyone before
. 

“A little cold,” she answered, minimizing her true fears
. 

Setting the hat on top of the boat, Jamie instructed, “Gracie, watch the others while
Ellie
and I get dried off.”

Gracie nodded and the children began rowing over to retrieve the lost oars.

“This way,” Jamie directed and
Ellie
swam tentatively behind him to the edge of the lake
. 
She couldn’t help but breathe heavily as she continually imagined little demons
pulling
on her feet from below and water rushing into her mouth until she suffocated
. 
And besides all that, it wasn’t exactly easy to swim with a tight corset about your waist
.

After the unnerving journey to land, Jamie and
Ellie
arrived soaked to the bone and shivering with goose bumps running up their arms
. 
Their clothes and hair stuck to their bodies and droplets of lake water ran down their arms, legs, and faces
. 
Jogging to the shed following Jamie,
Ellie
grew even colder as the cool breeze, so peaceful and calmly before, hit her drenched body.

When she reached the dark shed
,
Jamie was already inside standing on a footstool and trying to pull a few towels out of the wooden boxes sitting on the top shelf
. 
He handed one down to her and stepped off the ladder with another dry towel for himself
. 
They began patting themselves dry and
Ellie
wrung out her hair with the towel
.

“I’m terribly sorry,
Ellie
,” Jamie apologized, “I must have forgotten for a moment that standing in a boat isn’t always such a good idea
. 
I really am sorry I had to get you all caught up and, might I say, soaked in my mistake
. 
Honest.”

“I would have expected one of the children to
do such a silly thing, but you,
”
Ellie
giggled, but her voice became softer as Jamie took a step towards her, “A little too caught up in the race, I suppose?”

He smiled and whispered, “Maybe just a little.”

Then, at that very moment is
when it happened
. 
Ellie
had her towel pulled tight around her and her dripping dress and then suddenly, Jamie’s arms were around her as well
. 
They pulled
her close till their shivering wet bodies touched
, an
d then, his lips were upon hers as well.

Everything happened so quickly and before
Ellie
knew it, she was kissing Jamie back
. 
Their surroundings vanished from
Ellie
’s mind, as did the children
. 
Ellie
became so light-headed and dizzy she forgot about everything but the present and even that was hard to see clearly
. 
Her head began to spin and she stopped shivering; Jamie’s warm lips seemed to light a fire within her.

But something about it also felt wrong
. 
It was as though she was
doing something terrible
, but she didn’t know why
. 
Maybe it was because Jamie was technically, almost, her employer
, a
nd love mixed with work is always frowned upon
. 

Maybe it was because proper young girls were taught against situations like this
. 
Ellie
just knew a lady with any m
anners
at all wouldn’t be caught dead kissing a man in a dark shed, when they were both soaking wet, with their clothes sticking to their bodies, and when they should be watching over a group of young children
. 
Plus, a proper lady also wouldn’t kiss a man that wasn’t
her
husband, fiancé, or even her
beau as long as
Ellie
had been kissing Jamie
. 
They hadn’t even been involved in a courtship
.

Perhaps,
it was because he was exactly the type of man her parents had always warned her not to get involved with: a smoking, yet youthful and childish, man that had been thrown out of school and had no definite future ahead of him
. 

Still,
how could it be
terrible
if it felt so right
? 

It was as though she was in a dream, a dream she hoped would never end
, but
it had to end sometime
. 
Suddenly, Wesley began shouting, “Jamie
! 
Ellie
! 
Jamie
! 
Ellie
!” as he ran to the shed
. 
Just before he reached it, Jamie and
Ellie
broke apart
.

“If you’re all dry now
,
can you come play with us again?” little Wesley asked, completely unaware of what had gone on just moments before.

Jamie ran a hand through his wet hair and answered slowly, “Of course, little man.”

He and Wesley left the shed hand in hand.

The rainy days of
Donners Bend
soon turned to the snowy days of
Donners Bend
, the warmth of summer re
linquished
its hold and gave way to autumn, which in turn, quickly
changed to winter
. 
The first day of December marked
Ellie
’s ninth month working for the
Rhodes family
.

Things went on just as they always had before, as though the little incident in the shed near the lake hadn’t ever occurred
. 
The whole situation confused
Ellie
greatly
,
for no matter how hard she tried
,
Jamie’s thoughts would always remain a mystery to her
. 
And the worst part of it was that she knew it wasn’t the same for Jamie
. 
He could read her like a book
. 
Just by looking into her eyes he needn’t ask any more questions
. 
Just that was enough for him to understand how she was fee
li
n
g
. 
She hated it
.

As for
Ellie
’s other friends, she hadn’t seen
Marcelle
in over a month, which was strange
, but
she had received a few letters
. 
They were all fairly vague though, and didn’t say much except that she was happy and that she hadn’t been doing much of anything exciting
. 
Ellie
couldn’t help but wonder what
Marcelle
was really up to back in
Hunter’s Ridge
.

Emily,
Ellie
still saw quite frequently
, a
nd though she was happy her friend was leading such a blissful marriage with Matthew, she couldn’t help but be a little jealous
.

H
er relationship with
Jon
remained the same as it always had
. 
Any free time either had was spent together and everyone in
town knew they were the best of friends
. 
Of course, as it’s been mentioned before, there were still a lot of people hoping a romance would spring up in the midst of their amity
. 

Jamie hadn’t known of any of this until one day his friend,
Phillip
Browning, mentioned it
. 
Jamie tried to act as though it didn’t really matter much to him, but as soon as he’d picked up a cigar
Phillip
knew something was going on.

As Christmas grew nearer, the little town of
Donners Bend
prepared itself for the holiday season
. 
Instead of raining every other day, it snowed
. 
It came down so hard and so often that the
Rhodes
had to arrange for Jamie to pick up
Ellie
each morning in the carriage so that she could actually make it to work
, but
though some may have found so much snow a hassle, the people of
Donners Bend
adored it
. 
It created such a beautiful scene as the formerly green hills turned to white
. 
Wreaths were hung on the door-fronts and windows, nutcrackers set up, letters to Santa
were busily
written, stockings hung on each chimney, and large pine trees, decorated with strings of popcorn, beads, and brightly colored balls were set up in each and every parlor.

Ellie
had never had such an enjoyable Christmas season
. 
Each day there was yet another Christmas festivity for
her
and the children to do
. 
One afternoon they made a mess as they built gingerbread houses in the kitchen and not one person left without a little flour on their apron or some sugar in their hair
. 
The next day they baked cookies for the neighbors and for
Jon
. 
And the next afternoon was to be spent outside in the snow.

Jamie,
Ellie
, and the children dressed in their warmest coats, hats, scarves, and mittens
. 
The boys wore either a newsboy cap, in Wesley’s case, or a fedora, which Jamie wore, and the girls put on furry earmuffs
. 
They rummaged around the house until
they’d found a good many sleds
,
as well as some carrots, charcoal, and a few extra scarves
.

On their way to the hill, a velvety brown horse came up behind them and
Ellie
instantly recognized it as Penny and the rider as
Jon
. 
She called him over and the c
hildren began pleading that he join them
. 
It seemed that all members of the party wanted him to come, so he agreed, but he didn’t know that Jamie was a bit skeptical
. 
He’d been suspicious of
Jon
and
Ellie
’s friendship ever since he’d spoken to
Phillip
about it.

That day was a thoroughly enjoyable one for all
. 
They sledded down the hill in pairs and held races to see who could reach the bottom first
. 
Then, they began to build several snowmen complete with charcoal features, carrot noses, warm scarves, and stick arms
.