Uncertain Alliance

by Davis, Mary

  As Burl ran off into the next room, Ian looked out the window to the tree in the moonlight. It was good to know she would like his tree, but would she like his house? Then he went out to help Burl with the table.

  “I like your house.” Burl set the first plate onto the table. “I wish I lived here.”

  He wished it, too. Wait a minute. He looked about and took in the rest of the house. Why couldn’t Alice and her family live there? He had plenty of room. If he moved his books and desk to the small room off the kitchen, Arthur could have the study for his bedroom. Miles and Burl could have one of the spare rooms upstairs, and Alice could have the other. No. That would put Alice across the hall from him. That would not be appropriate. He could move his study upstairs. No, then that would leave the little room off the kitchen for Alice. He’d take the room off the kitchen and move his desk and books to the smallest room upstairs, Burl and Miles could have the front bedroom upstairs, and Alice the biggest room up there.

  He smiled to himself. That would work. He could definitely see Alice and her family in this house. But would Alice agree? He sighed. Only in his dreams. Maybe if he talked Arthur into it first and got Burl on his side, she’d have no choice.

  He shook his head. She’d just think he was scheming behind her back again, because he was. But he was sure she was meant to be here in this house. He went to the mantel to retrieve the candlesticks. He frowned at the dust. He wished he had a housekeeper. He didn’t want Alice to see his house like this.

  Wait a minute. Maybe he did. If his house needed attention and if he intentionally burned supper, she would see he indeed needed a housekeeper, and he could ask her to be his housekeeper. No, he couldn’t intentionally ruin perfectly good food, but she had been right when she said he didn’t have enough work for all three of them at the store. His business was still good, but so many other businesses in the underground portion of the city were not doing so well. It was only a matter of time before the business underground waned. He should start looking for a store above ground. Maybe even build in that vacant lot.

  Once Alice had agreed to become his housekeeper, he would tell her that part of her compensation was room and board for her and her family. That just might work.

  “What you smilin’ for?”

  He turned to Burl. “Just making a few plans.”

  “I got the plates on the table.”

  He showed Burl where to find the silverware and instructed him where the pieces went on the table. He would wait until it was obvious there was not enough work for her at the store before he sprang the housekeeper position on her with her family moving in with him.

  ❧

  Alice gazed around Ian’s lovely home. It made her miss the farmhouse. Space to move around without tripping over someone and a room of her own. A garden out back to tend to and reap fresh vegetables from. Vegetables she could can and feed her family on all winter.

  She fingered a doily on the small end table by the couch. Her ma had taught her to crochet doilies, but none so fancy as this. Had his ma made this one? Or a sister? Or fiancée? She knew so little about him.

  “I’m sorry about the dust.” Ian came up beside her. “I haven’t had time to clean.”

  She looked closer. So there was dust. “This is beautiful work.”

  “My grandmother knitted that.”

  He obviously didn’t know the difference between knitting and crocheting, but that didn’t matter. “Supper was delicious. The pot roast was tender but not dried out. That’s not easy to do. Everything was quite tasty. You’re a good cook.”

  Ian’s mouth turned up slightly at her compliment. “I’ve had to learn. I don’t normally have time to cook so elaborate a meal. I usually eat more simply during the week. I often stay at the store and eat with Conner.”

  “You should have invited him.”

  “I did. He was tired. It was nice having a full table.”

  She nodded. “You have a very nice home.”

  “It’s just a house. It takes more than one person to make a place a home, but tonight it has felt more like a home.” The intensity of his gaze wrapped around her.

  She felt warmth and love from him. Fear sprang up inside her. “We should be going. Thank you again for supper.” But she really didn’t want to leave. Part of her wanted to leave, to run, and another part wanted to say in his protection.

  “I told the taxi to return at eight. We have a little time. I want to show you something.” He helped her into her coat and led her through the kitchen and out the back door.

  The snow had melted away in the day’s rain, but the clouds had passed, and the moon shone brightly on a huge weeping willow tree bare of its leaves.

  “Burl said you had a willow on your farm.”

  She smiled at the familiar shape of the tree and droop of the long, whiplike branches. “I used to love to climb it as a girl.”

  “You are welcome to climb mine anytime you like.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “In a dress? I climbed my last tree years ago.”

  He smiled at her. “My garden is over there.” He pointed to a dirt patch on the side of the backyard.

  “That’s a large garden for one person.”

  “I share with neighbors and Conner.” He stood next to her.

  Her heart pounded against her chest at his nearness. “The taxi will be here soon. I should get Miles and Burl ready to go.” They went inside.

  “Can I stay here with Mr. MacGregor again tonight?” Burl turned pleading blue eyes on her.

  “I’ll not have you wearing out Mr. MacGregor’s kind generosity. Now get your coat.”

  “I don’t mind if he stays one more night.”

  Burl pressed his hands together. “Please.”

  “Let the boy stay.” Grandpa shrugged his coat around his shoulders.

  She was outnumbered again. “Since Mr. MacGregor said it was all right, then I’ll consent.”

  Burl danced in a circle.

  “Me, too,” Miles said.

  “No. You’re going home with me.” She picked up Miles and turned to Grandpa. “Are you coming? Or are you going to stay here as well?”

  “Don’t get smart with me, lass,” Grandpa said in Gaelic.

  “Thank you again for supper.” She went out and climbed into the waiting taxi with Miles.

  Grandpa said good-bye and climbed in. Once the carriage was in motion, he said, “You could do a lot worse than a man like Ian MacGregor.”

  “Grandpa, don’t start with that.” She was not getting married to Ian or anyone else, so there was no point in pursuing the conversation. But if she ever did, she’d choose someone like Ian, dependable and settled in his life.

  She’d made up her mind when Oscar died that she would never again let a man deceive her, but all men weren’t like Oscar. Maybe she’d made a hasty decision.

  Thankfully, Grandpa remained quiet the rest of the trip.

  Seventeen

  Two days later at closing time, Ian waited with Burl while Alice changed out of her work clothes to go home. “Burl, do you know what has your sister on edge today?”

  The boy twisted the corner of his suit coat around his finger. “I’m not s’pose to say nothin’ about it.”

  He pulled his eyebrows together. “Your grandfather isn’t ill, is he?”

  “Nope,” Burl mumbled then looked up sharply. “But I don’t understand him makin’ her do somethin’ she don’t want to do. It’s not right.”

  “I’ve learned that your sister doesn’t do what she doesn’t want to do. She’ll be fine.” He’d wondered why the boy was quieter than usual. Burl had had something on his mind.

  “Makes me do stuff I don’t want to do, either.”

  Well, he was still a boy and needed training.

  Burl looked up at Ian sideways. “No one said I couldn’t say nothin’ about not comin’ back to work here.”

  His gut twisted. “What? Alice is leaving?” Not after he’d just gotten her back.
>
  “Me, too.” Burl looked like his best friend just died.

  Alice came out then from the back room.

  He studied her delicate face and gazed deep into the pools of her blue eyes. “Is it true?” He could see that it was.

  “Is what true?”

  He didn’t want to but had to voice it. “That you’re quitting?”

  She glared at Burl.

  Burl shrugged. “No one said I couldn’t say nothin’ about that.”

  Alice composed herself and turned back to him. “I was going to give you my notice before I left today.”

  Why would she leave now? He would talk her out of it. “Have you found another position?” And what else was there that the boy wasn’t supposed to tell him? Something worse?

  Tears filled her eyes. She shook her head. “Burl, go change your clothes. We need to be leaving.”

  “But Alice.”

  “Do as I say.” The words were strained, and a tear slipped free.

  “Come.” Ian guided her to the back and sat her in a chair. “What’s going on, Alice?” He caressed away the moisture on each cheek with his thumbs.

  She bit her bottom lip. “Grandpa insists that I marry. He has found a businessman who needs a wife. I don’t see how I can stop him this time.”

  He felt as though he’d just been punched in the gut. He couldn’t draw in air. He couldn’t lose her now. They were getting on so well. “What if you had a different job? And a better place to live?”

  She shook her head. “He insists that I marry. He thinks only a man—a husband—can take care of me, Miles, and Burl when he’s gone. He keeps reminding me that his time is short on this earth. I’m afraid if I cross him, it’ll be too much for his heart. I don’t want to lose him.”

  Ian could understand the old man wanting the peace of mind that his loved ones left behind would be all right after he was gone, but there were other means. “He will force you into this; you are sure of that?”

  She nodded, and tears swam in her eyes.

  Why did Arthur have to be so stubborn? Why did Alice? He knelt in front of her. “Then marry me. If you have to marry someone you don’t want to, at least marry someone who loves you.” Was that hope he saw in her eyes?

  “You would do that for me?”

  “Of course. I’d reach up and pluck a star from the heavens if it would make you happy.”

  “It wouldn’t be fair to you.”

  “God never promised us fair, but I know down to the depths of my soul that I am to take care of you and your family in whatever way you’ll let me.” He gazed at her a moment. “We can put the wedding off for a while.” He would do just about anything to keep her and take care of her.

  “But why? I’ve been so awful to you.”

  “No, you haven’t. You were scared and struggling to provide for your family. I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I thought I was in love with Oscar, but I know now that wasn’t really love. I don’t know what love looks like. I don’t know if I’m capable of love.”

  There wasn’t a thread of truth in that. “You love Burl, and Miles, and your grandfather.” Her love was genuine and true. A self-sacrificing love.

  “That’s a different kind of love.”

  He took her hand in his. “Please marry me.”

  “Please, Alice, please.” Burl stood behind him. “Then I can still get good learning.”

  He could tell where Burl’s interest lay. He didn’t care as long as it helped sway Alice to accept his offer. If she married someone else, he wouldn’t be able to take it. He’d leave town.

  She rocked her head back and forth. “All I can think is how it wouldn’t be fair to you. You deserve someone who will love you back. Why would you want to marry me?”

  He could give her a thousand reasons, but none of them formed into words. “I can’t help whom my heart fell in love with.”

  “If I walk away, you can find someone who is capable of loving you.”

  “You are capable of loving. I would still love you. I would rather live the rest of my life with the woman I love—you—than live with a woman I don’t love. My heart will always belong to you. Is it possible that you could ever love me back?”

  Tears filled her eyes again. “I wish I knew. I don’t know what love between a man and a woman is supposed to be like. Gran died before I was born, and Pa died just before Burl was born. My own marriage was lies, deception, and betrayal.”

  She wanted to love. He could see it in her eyes. She was afraid to try. “Are you willing to marry me and find out?”

  She gulped a deep breath and nodded.

  He smiled. “I believe with all my heart, which is bursting with love for you, that you will come to love me in time, in your own way.”

  “I wish I had your confidence.”

  “Yee haw! We’re gonna be married.” Burl jumped up and down. “I have to tell Mr. Jackson. And Fred and Tiny.”

  Both Ian and Alice chuckled at that. He took out his handkerchief and wiped away the rest of her tears. “As I said, you can decide how long you want to wait before the wedding, but I want you and your family to move into my house. I can turn the study into a room for Arthur, and you and the boys can take the upstairs rooms. There is a room off the kitchen I can use or I can stay here with Conner. Put a cot in the other storage room. But I want to do it soon. Tomorrow if possible.”

  Her gaze darted around his face. “Very well.” She looked down at her clasped hands. “What about the businessman Grandpa made arrangements with?”

  “I’ll talk to Arthur. I know he’ll agree to my marrying you.” He pulled her to her feet. “One more thing. Since we are to be wed”—his mouth went suddenly dry; he tried to swallow—“may I kiss you?”

  She gifted him with a gentle smile. “I’d like that.”

  Her lips were soft, and though he wanted to linger, he didn’t. A light blush tinted her cheeks.

  ❧

  Later that evening at Alice’s apartment, Ian sat at the table with Arthur while Alice washed up the dishes. “I appreciate your agreeing to a marriage between Alice and myself.”

  Arthur held out his hand, and Ian shook it. “I’ll be proud to call you grandson.” His grip was still strong.

  Arthur’s blessing was only half of it. “About the other man. Will that be a problem? I can talk to him if you need me to.”

  Arthur dipped his head and studied his cup of now cold tea. “Don’t worry about that.”

  Ian got a strange feeling. He lowered his voice. “Arthur, there was another businessman you promised Alice to, wasn’t there?”

  “Other? There is a businessman.” Arthur jabbed a finger toward him. “You. I just didn’t tell Alice.”

  Scheming again. “You made her think we had an agreement?”

  “Not really we. I just let her think I made arrangements with an unnamed businessman.”

  “But you and I had no agreement.”

  “You said you wouldn’t force her. She just needed a little prodding to see what was good for her. I’ve prayed about this, and if I wasn’t sure down to the depths of my soul that this was the right thing, I wouldn’t do it. My granddaughter needs you, and you want her. I need to know she’ll be well taken care of after I’m gone. Miles and Burl need a father. I know you’ll take good care of my family.”

  “What happens when she finds out what we’ve done?”

  “She needn’t find out. And if she does, you two will already be married.”

  “Arthur, you’re going to get me in trouble again. What if she finds out before we’re married and calls it off?”

  “She needs a husband.”

  He doubted Alice felt that way.

  “If not you, I will find someone else.” Arthur patted his hand. “Don’t worry so much. You’ve done nothing wrong. Your offer was in good faith.”

  But he knew now. How would Alice take that? More scheming behind her back. This was not good.

  Arthur patted his hand. “She
loves you.”

  Wishful thinking of an old man. “She told me herself that she didn’t, but I’m hopeful she will one day.”

  “She thinks that because Oscar didn’t really love her, she can’t love. She just doesn’t recognize that what’s in her heart is love. She’s afraid to acknowledge her love for fear of getting hurt again.”

  Ian hoped it was that simple, but he wasn’t going to count on it yet. Once they were married, he would relax a little and give her the time she needed to fall in love with him.

  ❧

  The next day at the store before opening, Ian leaned on the counter. “Should I tell her what Arthur has done?”

  Conner put a bottle back onto the shelf. “I always vote for the truth. Secrets never gain you in the end.”

  “What if she calls off the wedding?”

  “What if she doesn’t?”

  “Then everything is fine. But what if she does?” He couldn’t lose her again.

  “Then you won’t be starting a marriage with a secret between the two of you.”

  Alice and Burl walked in then. He needed more time to figure this out.

  Conner waved to them. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

  A smile pulled at Alice’s mouth and spread up to her eyes. “Thank you.” She looked happy, truly happy, for the first time since he’d met her.

  Ian came around the corner of the counter to her. “May I speak with you privately?”

  She nodded and headed toward the back. “What is it? Have you changed your mind?” She unpinned her hat, concern etched in her features.

  “No, but you might.” He paused. “Last night when you were cleaning up the dishes, Arthur told me something.” He was dreading this confession, but it was better to have it out in the open than harbor it until it became a real problem, a secret. “I’m the other businessman he told you he was going to marry you to. I promise you that I didn’t know. I was genuinely concerned he was going to make you marry someone else.”

  She furrowed her brow. “So there was no other man?”

  He shook his head. “But I believe if you dissolve our arrangement, he will find someone else for you to marry.” He wanted to quell her anger before it flared.