Winter Dreams

by Simmons, Trana Mae

  Scooting inside the door, she closed it softly. Buck stood to one side, his battered hat in his hand. She sidled up to him and tapped his arm.

  "What's going on?" she whispered when he looked at her in surprise. "I just got back from Duluth."

  Buck nodded toward the front of the room. "See them there scalawags over there by themselves at t'other table?"

  "That man and woman? They're strangers here, aren't they?"

  "Yep." Buck scowled fiercely. "An' iffen everybody gets their way, they ain't gonna be 'round long enough to ever be anythin' else. They's here to try to take little Miss Tracie 'way from her Daddy, and we ain't a'gonna let 'em!"

  Laura gasped. "What do you mean? My God, where's Sandy?"

  "He's over there at t'other table." Buck tilted his head toward the opposite side of the room, where David and Sandy sat at a table with her father.

  Thanking Buck with a smile, Laura strode down the aisle. She couldn't find a seat on the bench behind David's table, but one of the Beargrease men on the second bench back looked up. He stood, offering her his seat, and she took it gratefully. No one paid any attention to the stir their exchange of places caused, because just then Judge Barstow came into the courtroom, dressed in his black robes. As Laura settled on the bench, she recognized the back of Cristy's head in front of her, but saw no sign of Katie or Tracie.

  "Please stay seated," Judge Barstow said when some of the people started to rise. He took his seat behind the dais. "I've only just arrived in town and have had a limited time to examine what this is all about. I did, however, glance at the paperwork left for me in the judge's chambers by Chief Ingstrum, as well as the brief left by Attorney Hudson. Now, who is Mr. Dyer?"

  The strange man stood, and the woman beside him crossed her arms and nodded her head. Her entire attitude — her stiff back and haughty sniff — indicated she felt herself about to be supported by the high and mighty auspices of the law. Without even knowing her, dislike welled up in Laura.

  "I'm George Dyer," the man said. "And I'm here to get you to enforce the court order I brought with me. I assume it's among the papers you have in your hands."

  "That it is," Judge Barstow agreed. "But it's also an order from an Alaskan court."

  "That order gives me custody of my granddaughter, Tracie Montdulac," George Dyer said in a supercilious voice, ignoring the judge's comment. "I expect you to make her father turn her over to me, so we can take her back to Alaska with us."

  "What you expect — " Judge Barstow leaned forward a bit.

  " — and what the law is, are quite possibly two different things, Mr. Dyer. Since I've made the trip all the way here from Duluth, I'm willing to listen to any arguments you may have. However, unless there's something missing from the paperwork I have, there's only one ruling I can make."

  The woman beside George Dyer jumped to her feet, slapping George's hand away when he tried to push her back into her chair. "Now, you listen to me! I've got a few things to say here."

  Judge Barstow rolled his eyes. "As I said, I'm willing to listen. And you are?"

  "Elvina Dyer, the child's grandmother. She's my only granddaughter, and I insist you give her to me, as it says in that order. We were granted custody of the child after my daughter died, and I want to see she has a proper upbringing instead of being raised in the wild among a bunch of backwoods trappers and Indians!"

  A mutter of dissent moved through the courtroom, but Judge Barstow tapped his gavel, silencing it. "Mrs. Dyer," he responded with a long-suffering sigh. "Did you and your husband consult with an attorney before you came here today?"

  "We tried, Your Honor," George replied. "But the other attorney in town wouldn't take our case when he found out why we were here."

  "Did he perhaps mention you might be wasting your money hiring him for this?" Judge Barstow mused. "That perhaps the other attorney in town had the stronger case? That happens in towns where they don't have permanent judges for their court. The attorneys consult and try to work things out beforehand, so the courts aren't clogged with clear-cut cases being argued just for the sake of it."

  "He was on the side of this town," Mrs. Dyer spat. "He tried to trick us into leaving without my granddaughter."

  Judge Barstow shook his head. "You are entitled to your day in court, if that's what you want, Mrs. Dyer." He looked at David. "Do you have anything to say, Mr. Hudson?"

  David rose to his feet. "If I'm reading you right, Your Honor, I believe you're getting ready to say it for me. At the risk of having my clients think I'm not earning my fee, although I did spend an inordinate amount of time on my brief — " He smiled at Sandy, then looked back at the judge. " — I believe I'll just let you make your ruling. No sense forcing the people in the courtroom to sit through the same information twice."

  Judge Barstow inclined his head, then picked up one of the pieces of paper in front of him. "This is your court order, Mr. and Mrs. Dyer. As you have both admitted, and as I've seen, this is from an Alaskan District Court. If you'd consulted legal counsel — or, I guess, if you'd paid attention to the advice the legal counsel you did consult gave you — you'd have known the Alaskan courts have no jurisdiction down here. At least, the law books I've read indicate that, and if my memory is fuzzy, the brief Mr. Hudson prepared gives exact case law on it. Now, you may find another judge who might let you tie up his court with arguments on this matter, but I'm not willing to do that. I have more important things to do than listen to obscure interpretations of the law some lawyer out to make a name for himself might want to use for an argument."

  He laid down the paper and picked up his gavel, tapping it on the dais. "My ruling is that, according to the laws of our nation, Tracie Montdulac is already in the proper custody — the custody of her father. Court dismissed."

  Cheers erupted in the courtroom as Judge Barstow left the dais and headed for his chambers. Realizing she'd gone undetected by her father, David and Sandy, Laura slipped down the aisle amid the confusion. Back on the walkway she hesitated, trying to determine who it would be best to confront and ask for information about what was behind the hearing. Deciding upon David, she hurried to his office and went inside, taking a chair in the corner of the room to wait.

  A short while later, men's footsteps clumped down the walkway. They paused outside the door, and Laura could hear their conversation as they stood outside one of the large windows.

  "I'm taking Sandy on home," her father said. "Katie and Tracie will wonder what happened, and I'm really glad we've got such good news for them."

  "I thought I had the law figured out," David replied, "but you never can tell. As much as we research, at times the judge knows something we've overlooked and we lose. But I'm happy for you, Sandy."

  "I don't know quite how to thank you, David," Sandy said. "Your fees . . . ."

  "I told you, brother," Cristy said. "I took care of that. David asked for my help redecorating his office, and the advice and paintings I'm doing for him are my contribution to our family. If you argue with me one more time over it, I'll . . . I'll dump cold water in one of your boots and let it freeze like I did when we were growing up and you made me mad."

  "No, no," Sandy said in a voice laced with mock-horror. "Anything but that. But we'll talk about this later. Right now, I'm going home to Tracie."

  "Give her my love, too, Sandy," Cristy said. "I'll be there in a while, after I talk to David about something. Since he's coming out for the celebration, he's offered to let me ride with him."

  There was a minute of silence, and Laura imagined the men shaking hands. Then two sets of boot steps left, and the office door opened. David and Cristy walked in and Laura started to rise, but her cloak snagged on a splinter in the chair. Silently grimacing, she fingered the snag, but the dimness in the corner of the room made it hard to figure out just how to remove her cloak without damage.

  While she worked on it, she listened to the conversation, immediately aware of a strain she'd never noticed before between David an
d Sandy's sister.

  "You did a fine job, David," Cristy said.

  "Thank you," he replied in a formal tone. "Now, what was it you wished to speak to me about?"

  "Might I sit first?"

  "Of course. Please forgive my lack of manners."

  David walked past his clerk's desk and pulled back a chair from in front of his own desk, then stood waiting for Cristy to cross the room. Laura managed to free her cloak from the splinter, but her puzzlement over this change in David and Cristy's usual camaraderie held her in place.

  "Uh . . ." Cristy said, staring around the room and avoiding David's gaze. "Maybe I can talk just as well from over here. I just need an accounting of what I still owe you."

  "Dammit, Cristy," David said, his voice going from formal to tortured. "Come sit down and we'll talk. I already told you that there's no way I'm going to charge you for handling this. I love Tracie as much as you do."

  "I can't let you do that — "

  "Cristy, I don't know how much more I can take of the way we've been acting around each other the last couple weeks!" He pushed the chair away and it slammed into the front of the desk. He took a step, but Cristy backed away from him. "We need to talk, Cristy. And not about your insistence that you won't let me do this legal work for you and Sandy without your paying me for it!"

  "No!" Cristy shook her head and retreated another step. "I know what else you want to talk about, and there's absolutely nothing to discuss."

  "Nothing, Cristy?" David's voice lowered to a murmur. "What about the reason you don't want to cross the room and be near me? What about the way we've gone from being friends and enjoying talking to each other to having to keep a distance from each other? Either that, or be tempted to give in to the feelings that have grown between us? You can't tell me that you don't feel them, too. You've changed towards me just like I've had to towards you in order to keep my hands off you and be true to Laura. Admit it, Cristy. At the very least we should talk about this and get it behind us."

  "I didn't admit anything! I don't know what you mean."

  Cristy shook her head violently. Turning as though to flee, she encountered the clerk's desk, hitting her hip and tumbling onto the surface. She pushed herself upright instantly, but David had already closed the distance between them. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

  "Are you hurt?" he asked anxiously. "Oh, Cristy, I'd die before I'd do anything to hurt you."

  "I didn't hurt my hip that much," she denied. Then she gave a sigh and looked up into his face. "But David, my heart's going to be torn apart for the rest of my life. There, I've said it. So please let me go."

  David bent his head until their lips were so close no space could be seen between them.

  "David, please don't," Cristy whispered.

  He complied as though she were about to burst into flames in his arms. Turning from her, he buried his face in his hands and missed seeing Laura in the corner. But Cristy saw her and clapped her hands over her mouth, stifling a gasp of dismay.

  Laura stood, confused for only a moment. She'd just heard her fiancé imply he had some very deep feelings for another woman — seen him on the verge of kissing that woman. By all rights, she should be fighting mad and ready to tear Cristy's hair out. Shouldn't she? Instead, she only felt relief. After she quickly examined the emotion in her mind, she decided that was indeed how she felt.

  "Please," she murmured, and David's head flew up.

  He stared at her, then back at Cristy. "Listen, Laura," he said. "This is all my fault."

  "Hush, David." Laura walked over and took his arm. Then she reached for Cristy's hand and placed it in David's. "I hate to disillusion you about your attractiveness, David," she said around a chuckle, "but I spent part of my time in Duluth wondering if our getting married was the right thing to do. And just now, I knew it wasn't. What we have is habit, David. You and Cristy are in love, and you shouldn't throw that away. I hope you'll ask me to the wedding?"

  "Oh, Laura," Cristy cried. "We didn't mean for it to happen. We fought very hard to ignore our feelings. I feel horrible, and even more so because you're being so nice about this."

  Laura shook her head and laughed. "Cristy, I'm not only being nice, I'm being honest. I care for David. I care for him a lot. But I've never had the type of feelings for him that I sensed you have a minute ago. I care enough about David, also, to want him to be happy, and I'd never want him to marry me now just to save face — or whatever crazy idea society will have about us ending our engagement. I truly want you and David to be happy, and if the townspeople think they'll see any tears and miserable prostrations out of me over this, they'll be sadly disappointed."

  "You really mean it, don't you?"

  "Haven't I been saying that? Now, the only thing I need is a ride to Ladyslipper Landing, since I'm sure Father has already left."

  "What are you doing back?" David belatedly put in, although Laura noticed he slipped his arm around Cristy.

  She gave him a stern look. "It seems no one notified me there was a crisis here pertaining to people I care about. I'll take you and my father to task for that later on. Right now . . . ." She winked at Cristy. "Right now, I'm going over to Mrs. Sterling's Restaurant and have a piece of pie and some coffee. Perhaps you'll make sure David doesn't forget me on the way home, Cristy."

  "I will," Cristy said, her attention already transferring to David.

  "I hope so," Laura whispered to herself as she moved to the door. She turned slightly, enough to see David cup his hands around Cristy's face, his gaze worshipping her, before she slipped through the door. Once on the walkway, she realized she'd forgotten to return David's engagement ring and pulled off her right mitten to remove it. Taking it from her finger, she placed it in her pocket. She could give it back to David on the way home.

  She laughed out aloud, then shook her head as she headed toward Mrs. Sterling's. She'd just been the victim of a broken engagement and jilted by the man she'd thought would be her husband for a large part of her life. By all rights she should be wailing to high heaven, tears coursing down her cheeks and freezing in the cold.

  Instead she wanted to jump for joy. Or at least skip down the walkway. She hadn't skipped in years. She took a tentative hop, delighting in the bouncy freedom and skipping another few steps. When she came to the general store, the door opened and Cathy Berglind came out. Laura tossed her a smile and stopped.

  "Hello, Cathy. Tell you what. Since it's the holiday season and a time for forgiving and gift giving, I have something to make you very happy. You can be the first one to start spreading the gossip. David Hudson and I are no longer engaged."

  Cathy's eyes widened, then she pursed her lips. "Oh, Laura," she said in a falsely sympathetic voice. "I'm so sorry."

  "I'm not," Laura said with a laugh. She skipped on past Cathy, her mouth watering for a piece of Mrs. Sterling's blueberry pie. Hopefully the restaurant owner would have ice cream to go with it.

  As she walked up the restaurant steps a minute later, Laura realized what the cadence of her steps had been saying in her mind. No excuse. No excuse. She knew what it meant. There was no excuse for her not to explore the feelings between her and Sandy now.

  Pausing with her hand on the restaurant door, she tilted her head as a dreamy thought came to her. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a man — Sandy — gaze at her the way David looked at Cristy? It was such a nice thing for Fate to take a hand and allow both her and David out of their engagement. Allow them each a chance to find true love, rather than the friendship they mistook for love before Cristy and Sandy came into their lives.

  ***

  Chapter 14

  Anyone who couldn't see the change in the relationship between David and Cristy that evening had to be blind, Laura mused to herself. Yet Sandy truly appeared ignorant of it. She couldn't blame him, she guessed. His total attention focused on Tracie, and he never let her out of his sight. Recalling her own fear and anger when David explained the situation t
o her on their way home, Laura kept a close eye on the child herself.

  She still hadn't totally forgiven her father or David for not notifying her along with Judge Barstow in Duluth. She might as well get over her pique with David, however, because her cold shoulder didn't matter one iota to him. His attention stayed on Cristy, and he could care less if Laura wasn't speaking to him.

  Her father was a different matter. As soon as the meal Katie prepared was over, he murmured quietly for her to meet him in his study while the others had coffee or chocolate in the living room. She slipped away unnoticed and joined him.

  "What's going on, Laura?" he asked. "You're acting like you're peeved at me over something."

  "I'd think it would be obvious, Father. I am rather perturbed at you — and David, too — for not letting me know about the Dyers being in town. I could have come back even earlier and been here for the Montdulacs. As it was, I had to find out there was going to be a hearing by eavesdropping on a private conversation. I worried all the way back on the supply ship about what could be going on."

  Tom shook his head. "I expected you'd be upset over that, darling. The Beargrease boy had already left for Duluth by the time I found out what was going on myself, since David stopped at their place on the way here from town. He thought it prudent to get Tracie here as quickly as possible to keep her out of the Dyers' clutches."

  "Oh. Then I forgive you." She hadn't been that upset at him anyway. The other path her thoughts had traveled off and on the rest of the afternoon and evening kept her spirits high.

  "Thank you." Tom chuckled tolerantly. "But that's not what I was alluding to. I notice you're not wearing your engagement ring, and David hasn't said two words to you all evening. In fact, it looks suspiciously like he's falling in love with Cristy Montdulac."