Elsa blinked twice, stunned by the large order, but hastily regained her senses. “Certainly. Pardon me a moment and I’ll get Anna to start on that.” She stepped into the kitchen and motioned to Anna. “I need you to box up eight dozen pastries. You can choose whatever you like. Put two dozen in each box.”
“Yes, Miss Lindstrom,” Anna said, dropping the spoon in the icing and rushing to fill the boxes.
Elsa returned to the front counter where Fred’s aunts waited. “May I provide any other assistance?”
Bett grinned at Claire then both of them looked to Elsa. “We’d like your help today.”
Confused, she glanced at the sisters. “Help? With that?”
“Fred’s house. We decided to um… surprise him, and would love for you to help us with it.” Bett gave her an imploring glance.
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly leave the bakery for an entire day,” Elsa said, wishing she could. Going with Fred’s aunts would be such fun. But she had duties she couldn’t shirk and responsibilities to carry through.
“Sure you can,” Claire said, winking at Anna as the girl finished filling the last box and set it on the counter. “Does Miss Lindstrom have a coat in the back?”
“She does,” Anna said, running into the kitchen and returning with Elsa’s coat, hat, scarf and gloves.
Before Elsa quite knew what had happened, she was being tugged out the door by Fred’s aunts. They’d divested her of her apron, told Anna to make sure Ethan and Lottie knew they had to handle the bakery for the day, and asked Murtag to bring along the pastries.
Settled on the plush velvet seat of the sleigh between Ari and Claire, Elsa listened in befuddled amusement as the women talked about fabric swatches, paint colors, and occasionally asked for Elsa’s input.
They arrived at Fred’s house before daylight and strode inside where the women proceeded to light lamps and show her all the work that had been done the day before. The house smelled strongly of paint and wallpaper paste, but Elsa couldn’t help but admire the lovely wallpaper in the entry and on the wall by the stairs.
“Let’s get the fires going so the paste and paint will be sure to dry before the furniture arrives,” Ari said, motioning for Bett and Claire to help Murtag.
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Elsa asked as she watched Ari drop to her knees in front of the fireplace in the front parlor and light a match.
Ari glanced back over her shoulder before she started coaxing the fire to life. “When Fred showed us his house day before yesterday, he said he planned to fix it up one room at a time. We hate to see him spend the winter living amidst such disrepair, so we decided to surprise him. We made lists of what we needed, sent Murtag to Heppner to secure everything, then hired every spare hand we could find between here and there. Yesterday, the house was cleaned from top to bottom, repairs made, then every room painted or wallpapered. Today the rugs and furniture will arrive. We thought you might enjoy helping decide what goes where.”
Elsa rather doubted the three women needed her opinion on anything, but she did appreciate them including her. Although she worried about leaving the bakery in her brother’s somewhat questionable hands, she needed a day away, a day to laugh and play, and enjoy the company of the lighthearted Baker women.
With a sudden burst of insight, she laughed. “You three arranged for everyone to keep Fred busy and away from here, didn’t you?”
Ari grinned. “We sure did. Claire asked Mr. McIntosh and Mr. Dillon to keep Fred busy while Bett enlisted Pastor Dodd’s assistance. I went to see the sheriff to see if he could send Fred away overnight and we came up with a plan for him to go to Heppner. The secret evidence he delivered to the U.S. Marshal, who is a friend of Hardman’s good-natured sheriff, is actually a box of your cinnamon buns Murtag purchased yesterday afternoon.”
Elsa laughed so hard, she had to sit down on the edge of the fireplace until she could gain control of herself.
“Oh, this is hilarious,” Elsa wheezed, brushing tears from her eyes. “I can’t wait to see Fred’s face when he comes home and realizes you’ve tricked him.”
“I just hope he won’t be upset. He did say he had no idea what he wanted to do with all the upstairs rooms, so we thought we’d help him out,” Ari said, rising to her feet once the fire snapped and crackled in the hearth. She held out a hand to Elsa and pulled her upright. “Shall we get started?”
“Yes, please,” Elsa said, looping her arm around Ari’s and heading off to find Bett and Claire.
Chapter Fifteen
Cold, exhausted, hungry, and ready to sink into the comfort of his own bed, Fred rode into Hardman as dusk settled over the town. He would have been home a few hours earlier, but he’d stopped once to help a farmer dig his wagon out of a snowbank. Not long after that, he came upon a rancher in need of a hand. The man’s cattle had walked right over the fence where snow had blown a bank over it, allowing them to escape. After an hour, the cattle were back on the right side of the fence and Fred was again on his way home.
He waved to Luke Granger as the man left the bank. No doubt, he was heading home to his lovely wife and two sweet children. Fred could picture him hurrying up the back porch steps, stopping to pet Bart, the old family dog, then opening the door to Maura’s and Cullen’s happy greetings.
Perhaps someday Fred would have a family of his own, a wife who doted on him like Filly did Luke. Fred wouldn’t mind having a few children, either. Although he wasn’t sure what woman in her right mind would want anything to do with a man like him, he held out hope that he’d someday find one who looked beyond his past and loved him anyway.
Thoughts of who he’d like that woman to be rattled around in his head as he rode past the bakery. Only one woman came to mind. She generally had a smudge of flour on her cheek and the scent of cinnamon clinging to her beautiful golden hair.
He considered stopping to check on Elsa, but resisted the urge. He was dirty, in need of a bath, and a shave. Tomorrow morning would be soon enough to check on her. He hoped Ethan and Lottie had shown up to help her again today. At least Elsa could count on Anna’s faithful assistance.
Fred reined in Festus at the sheriff’s office, only to find the man gone and one of the deputies there. “Please tell the sheriff I made the delivery without any problem if you see him,” he said to the deputy.
“Sure, Fred. Have a nice evenin’.”
Fred nodded and went back out in the cold. He might just skip dinner and go straight to a hot bath.
He felt a rush of gratitude that his friends had helped him finish his bathroom before the cold weather set in. If he had to heat water and haul it, or try to bathe in the freezing waters of the creek, he’d most likely head to bed dirty.
The miracle of indoor plumbing was something he’d never take for granted, especially on frigid winter nights.
A picture of his three aunts picking their way through the snow to his outhouse made him laugh aloud as he rode out of town toward his place. His voice echoed in the December darkness. Rather than be unsettled by it, Fred relished the peaceful quietness as he turned off the road and continued up the lane to his barn. He brushed down Festus and gave him an extra portion of feed then prepared to milk the cow only to find she’d already been milked.
Maybe Tom Grove or his dad or some other kind soul had come out and taken care of his chores. He checked to make sure Harriett and Maude had been fed before making his way to the house with his saddlebags tossed over one shoulder.
Fred stamped his feet on the old piece of rug at the back entrance to dislodge the snow clinging to his boots before he pushed open the door. As he stepped inside, warmth encompassed him along with the smell of roasting meat.
His stomach growled as he kicked off his boots, set the saddlebags on the floor, and left his hat and coat on the hooks by the door.
The house was dark, but the glow of a fire in the stove drew him into the kitchen. He’d just stepped over to the table to light the lamp when a match struc
k, light flooded the room, and four women jumped out at him yelling “surprise!”
Caught off guard, he staggered backward and glared at his aunts and Elsa as they laughed at his stunned reaction.
“What in the heck are you trying to do to me?” he asked, unable to tamp down a grin at the joyful expressions on their faces. “You could send a man to his grave hollering like that.”
Murtag lit another lamp and set it on the table then stood at the far end of the counter, a smile evident on his otherwise stoic face.
Even more shocked to see Elsa there than his aunts, Fred wondered what sort of mischief the woman had dived into while he was gone.
“Oh, come on Fred, it’s so exciting,” Claire said, grabbing his hand and pulling him forward. “Come see what we did.”
While Elsa remained in the kitchen to finish dinner preparations, Ari, Bett, and Claire took him on a tour of his house. At least Fred thought it was his house. The evening’s dark shroud kept him from seeing the outside, but inside? It was as though he’d walked through some stranger’s door. The smell of paint and furniture oil mingled in the air but not overpoweringly so. Fires burned in all the fireplaces, filling the house with heat while the eager exhilaration of his aunts filled it with warmth.
This was what Fred had always wanted to experience when he came home. Not the fancy rugs, flocked wallpaper, and expensive furnishings, but the feeling of family and unconditional love that currently surrounded him.
“What did you do to my house?” he asked in a harsh tone. Truthfully, he was pleased beyond words with what his aunts had accomplished in such a short time, but he wanted to tease them a bit before he admitted how much he liked and appreciated their efforts.
“Oh, well, we, um…” Claire stammered, dropping his hand as her smile wilted.
“We probably should have asked, Fred, but we didn’t think you’d mind,” Bett said, offering him a repentant pout.
“Do you hate it, Fred?” Ari asked, moving beside him and resting a hand on his arm as she gazed at him beseechingly.
“Hate is a strong word…” He took his time looking all around his front parlor. A cheery fire blazed in the hearth. Lamps on solid oak tables added to the welcoming glow in the room. Three dark blue overstuffed chairs, a long matching couch, a rocking chair that bore Blake Stratton’s design, and a small bookcase rounded out the room’s furnishings. The walls, covered in a blue and gold paisley wallpaper pattern, boasted a few landscape paintings. A large rug, in shades of blue, gold and crimson, covered the floor beneath the couch and chairs.
Fred would never have selected such expensive furnishings for himself, but he liked everything about the room from the colors his aunts chose to the heavy, masculine style of the furniture.
When he heard Ari sigh in disappointment, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her against his side, giving her a hug. “It’s perfect, aunties. Just perfect. I can’t believe you did all this while I was gone.”
All three women perked up and began talking at once. As they showed him the library, the dining room, the small parlor, his bedroom and the bathroom, he listened to their animated chatter as he admired all the details that made the rooms inviting and pleasing to the eye.
“Why don’t we show you the upstairs after dinner?” Ari suggested, giving Fred a push toward the bathroom. “You wash up then hurry right back to the kitchen.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Fred said, with a grin. He wouldn’t have time for a bath, but he did wash his face, brush his teeth, and slip on a fresh shirt before he joined everyone at his big kitchen table. He was surprised his aunts hadn’t replaced it. “You like my kitchen table?” he asked as he seated each of his aunts then held out a chair for Elsa next to his.
“It’s a wonderful old table, full of character.” Claire grinned at him. “Ari thought we should replace it but then we discovered something special about it.”
“And what’s that, besides the fact it’s big enough to seat ten people with room to spare?” Fred winked at Elsa as she passed him a bowl heaped with mashed potatoes.
“There’s a heart carved with someone’s initials on the bottom of it.” Claire gave him a knowing look.
“You don’t say.” Fred scooted back his chair and bent down so he could look beneath the table. Other than the day he’d brushed off all the cobwebs when he first moved into the house, he hadn’t paid any mind to the table. Sure enough, right there in the center of the table was a large heart carved into the wood with the letters E and F. His eyes widened as he speculated who put the heart there with those particular initials. He might have credited Claire, except the carving was weathered, as though it had been there a long time. “That’s interesting,” he said as he sat upright and pulled his chair back up to the table.
“Interesting?” Claire glared at him and sank back in her chair. “It’s the most romantic thing in the world. Why, this table was probably once a stately tree where two lovers met out in the woods. I bet they had to sneak away to do a little courting because their fathers were mortal enemies. And one sweet summer night, he carved their initials in the tree, vowing to love her forever. Later, when they were happily wed, he went back and cut down the tree and made it into a table for his true love.”
Bett and Ari tossed indulgent smiles to their younger sister.
“In case you haven’t noticed, Claire could be a very gifted actress or storyteller,” Ari observed dryly.
Claire wrinkled her nose and picked up her fork, stabbing a tender piece of roasted chicken. “Well, I bet part of that is true. Why else would the bottom of the table have that old heart and letters carved in it?” She gave Fred an impish grin. “And the initials are perfect.”
“What are they?” Elsa asked.
Fred gave Claire a cool glare then turned to Elsa. “Oh, you can see an F for sure, but the other letter isn’t quite as clear.”
All three of his aunts raised their eyebrows, but didn’t argue the point.
Fred knew anyone with eyes in their head could see it was an E and an F. How bizarre for him to own a table with initials carved in it and not even know it. Even stranger still was how right it seemed to have the letters carved there with Elsa sitting right beside him and laughing at something silly Bett said.
Dare he dream of her spending every evening there with him?
“This meal is delicious. Who gets credit for making it?” Fred asked as he buttered his third fluffy dinner roll, desperate to redirect his thoughts.
“Elsa,” all three of his aunts chirped while Murtag nodded his agreement.
“Well, thank you for making it,” he said, smiling at Elsa. She looked so lovely and happy as she sat between him and Bett. He wondered if Elsa had closed the bakery for the day or left it in the hands of Ethan. Regardless, he was glad she’d allowed his aunts to talk her into spending the day with them. Since he’d known her, she’d never appeared so young and carefree. He entirely liked seeing her that way.
A vision of her sitting beside him at the table, her beautiful blond hair spilling around her shoulders while her eyes gazed at him with love made a sharp pain clench his heart. It seemed so real, so right, at that moment, Fred would have done anything to make it happen.
Was Elsa the one who would see beyond his past, beyond his vast array of imperfections, and love him anyway? He knew he wasn’t worthy of a woman like her, but embers of hope refused to be doused as he watched her.
The moment he finished his meal, Claire jumped to her feet. “I’m dying for you to see the rest of the house, Fred. Come on.”
He winked at Elsa again and allowed Claire to take his hand and lead him up the back stairs to the second floor. There were five bedrooms upstairs and a doorway that led up to the attic.
Claire pointed to that doorway as they stepped into the upstairs hallway, followed by Ari, Bett, and Elsa. “Your attic was full of wonderful treasures, Fred. There are trunks of old clothes and furniture, and all sorts of fascinating things.”
Fre
d paused in front of the door. Other than the day he came out and looked through each room of the house before he purchased it, he hadn’t been back up to the attic. Vaguely, he recalled stacks of trunks and several pieces of furniture. “Did you find anything up there you could use?”
“Yes. There were three bedroom sets and the furniture that’s in the small parlor. Oh, and the big desk we placed in the library,” Claire said, leading him into the nearest bedroom. A huge maple bed took up most of one wall with a dressing table, an upholstered chair, and a chest of drawers rounding out the room.
“Isn’t it something?” Claire asked, bouncing on the bed then straightening the covers she’d mussed.
“It is something,” Fred said, amazed at the transformation that had taken place in his house. He’d never, in his wildest dreams, imagined the old house looking so elegant, and in such a short time. How many people had his aunts hired to make it happen?
He wandered through each room, admiring the wallpaper, the paint colors, the rugs on the floor, the furniture polished to a high shine.
As he followed the four women down the front stairs to the entry, he was once again taken aback by how wonderful everything looked.
“You all are like some sort of magical, magnificent fairies to do this,” Fred said, hugging each one of his aunts. He stopped himself before he hugged Elsa, afraid if he held her in his arms, he wouldn’t be able to let her go. That, and he still needed a bath. “I want to pay you back for all this.” He swept his hand behind him to indicate all the work that had taken place. “Just let me know what I owe you.”
“No, Fred. It’s our gift to you. Consider it an early Christmas present,” Ari said, wrapping her arm around his and leading him back to the kitchen. “Besides, we weren’t entirely unselfish in making your house habitable.”
“You weren’t?” he asked, looking down at his aunt.
“No. We couldn’t possibly have stayed here before, and now we each have a nicely furnished room upstairs. That is, if you’ll allow us to stay with you the rest of the time we’re here in Hardman.” Ari gave him a charming smile, one so similar to Fred’s it erased any lingering doubts in his mind that they inherited it from his grandfather.
The Christmas Confection Page 17