The Blessed Blend

by Allison Shaw

  “Callie Michelle Hawken, you get yourself back up here right now!” Darlene yelled. “Girl, you’d better get yourself straightened out before I take a stick to you!”

  There was a long moment of silence before someone knocked on the door. Euan invited whoever it was to enter and Darlene opened the door. She smiled at the twins and then looked apologetically at Euan.

  “I’m awful sorry about Callie’s behavior, Euan,” she started.

  “Och, ma’am, ’twas nae yer doin’,” he interjected. “Ye’ve nae need t’ apologize.”

  “Yes, I do,” she said. “This is my home and I’m responsible for what goes on under my roof. Anyway, coffee’s ready downstairs in the kitchen. We tend the stock before we eat breakfast ourselves.”

  “Aye, ma’am,” Euan replied. “’Tis the same back home. I’ll be right doon.”

  He hugged the twins and kissed each on the forehead. “Go oon wi’ yer grandmathair,” he said. “Let yer da get dressed.”

  The twins hugged and kissed Euan back and jumped off the bed. Taking their grandmother’s hands they followed her to their room to get dressed and go downstairs. Darlene considered that if the past couple of days were any indication, Callie’s behavior was going to make things difficult for everyone unless someone yanked her chain good and hard. To be honest, she had never seen the girl so angry or obstinate, and given Callie’s nature that was saying something.

  She must have loved the man to the marrow of her soul to be this angry at him, she thought. She knew her daughter well enough to know that Callie must still love Euan somewhere deep down for her behavior to be so erratic and explosive. Otherwise she just plain wouldn’t give a damn.

  Darlene remembered how much she had loved David Hawken and how hurt she had been by the man’s words and actions during their brief relationship. But Hawken had not been the love of her life. Jim was, and he had never hurt her intentionally or otherwise. With a deep sigh, she wondered how long it would take for all of this to come to a head and be over with one way or another.

  After a breakfast that would have been delicious were it not for the tense atmosphere, Darlene put Callie to work dusting and oiling the inside woodwork, cleaning the ceiling fans and light fixtures, and washing down the stonework around the hearth and chimney. Jim kept Euan and John, along with Eli, busy hewing the logs for the guest cabins. Caleb and Mike Dalton made the run to Morristown for supplies.

  Layla was up at their grandparents’ cabin helping Jolena and Great-Aunt Marilee, Jolena’s sister, figure up how much material and notions would be needed for several quilts, quilted tapestries, aprons, and other sewn handcrafts they were planning to make over the winter and sell through the crafter’s co-op. Layla had Jim’s talent for figures and was already helping manage the lodge’s accounts.

  Throughout the day, Mountain Rose and Red Wolf divided their time between their parents. Euan and John were immediate hits with their cousins, whom Darlene or Jolena watched during the day for their parents while they worked. The two Scotsmen wrestled and rough-housed with all of them, enjoying the children’s delighted shrieks and giggles. During a break from the work, Jim gathered up a few dried out cornstalks and gave each child one to use as a lance as they rode piggy-back on the men to joust. Due to his size, whoever rode on John usually won the matches.

  While everyone else enjoyed the food and company over supper, Callie remained sullen. Any attempts to draw her into conversation were met by terse responses and after a while the others left her alone. When Euan tried to ask Callie how her day had gone, she swore at him and brought her knife down hard enough to bury the tip in the table, scaring her own two children and three of their cousins.

  “That’s enough, Callie!” Jim ordered with an irritated edge to his voice. “We’re at the table, so how about minding your manners?”

  Callie’s response was to get up and stalk off. Mountain Rose ran after her mother, badgering her to be nicer to the child’s father. After Callie snapped at the child, Darlene and Jim decided that they should assign Callie and Euan to shared chores, conversing about it briefly in Cherokee.

  “Those-two-together will have to learn to get along,” Darlene reasoned.

  “If those-two-together do not kill each other,” Jim countered. “When she is not ignoring his existence, she goes out of her way to insult him and he is starting to return it.”

  “You-two-together must ensure that those-two-together do not have anything to use as weapons,” added Caleb.

  “Right, Caleb,” Eli said in English. “When does Callie ever go anywhere without so much as a knife?”

  Still in Cherokee, Darlene suggested, “Put those-two-together to work preparing the garden soil. How much damage could those-two-together do to each other with a grubbing hoe and a potato hook?”

  Seeing the looks on her husband’s and sons’ faces, she responded, “I was not thinking. Still those-two-together would have to work with one another and we-all-together will be here to supervise. Their children will also be present to encourage those-two-together in maintaining a civil tongue.”

  Layla snorted. “Civility and Callie don’t always happen to intersect in the same plane, Mama,” she stated in English. “Here lately, the least little thing sets her off and she’s prickly enough to make a porcupine look cuddly.”

  Jim nodded and spoke again, “He has not gotten over her and she has not gotten over him, either. Forcing those-two-together to spend time one-with-the-other will either rekindle what those-two-together once had or snuff it out completely. One way or another each-one-separately will have to get past where he or she is now.”

  “As long as those kids don’t get hurt, I’m fine with that,” Darlene said in English.

  “Yeah, well good luck with that one,” Eli retorted right before Layla smacked his arm.

  John asked, “D’ ye mind tellin’ us wha’ a’ ye’ve been decidin’ here? It seems likely it involves us.”

  Jim looked at Darlene and shrugged. “Well, more specifically, it involves you,” he said as he pointed his chin at Euan, “and Callie. The two of you are going to start doing your chores together.”

  John sat back, his eyes wide. Then, looking at Euan, he said morosely, “It’s been nice t’ hae been acquainted wi’ ye, Euan. I’ll miss ye shuirly an ootthrou.”

  “Och, thanks lad,” Euan replied drily. “I hope ye’ll remember me fondly.”

  Three of Mountain Rose’s young cousins were staying the night, most likely because their nosy parents wanted to get some information about the newest member of the family. Lizzie, Beth Ann Crowe, and Heather Boone joined Mountain Rose in playing ‘Beauty Salon’, using Euan, John, Caleb, and Eli as ‘customers’. Lacie, Caleb’s girlfriend, had come over after dinner and was supervising the giggling group of little girls as they brushed, combed, and attempted to style the men’s long locks.

  From the complaints, they were mostly yanking at it.

  “Och!” John protested to Lizzie. “Can ye nae pull sae hard, lassie? M’ haid’s nae made o’ rubber, ye ken?”

  Jim’s black eyes sparkled with mirth as he looked up from a book. “That’s why I keep mine cut short,” he said. “Nothing to get yanked out.”

  Caleb sat on the floor with his arms crossed across his chest, his black hair pulled up rather unevenly in several ponytails and braids festooned with brightly-colored ribbons and pony-tail holders with plastic butterflies, flowers, kittens, stars, and rainbow decorations. Looking at his fellow similarly-adorned guinea pigs, he said, “God, I hope this never makes it to YouTube. We’d never be able to show our faces in public again.”

  Eli shrugged and replied, “Well, we’d be providing some world-class entertainment. Heck, we’d be famous!”

  “Famously fruity,” retorted Caleb. “Might as well take to wearin’ dresses and high heels.”

  John’s face flushed and he said quickly, “D’ ye need t’ be givin’ the wee lassies ideas like tha’? For chrissake, shut it!”

 
; Eli grinned mischievously and teased, “A bit insecure in your manhood, there? Hell, I’d do it just for the laughs!”

  “Yeah, well around these parts you might get a few proposals, too,” Darlene joked as she pulled a stitch in the piece she was beading. “Those Dancey boys are always pretty hard up for a date.”

  Lacie wrinkled her nose and said with no small amount of disgust, “That’s because they don’t know how to bathe or brush their teeth. They smell bad enough to make a buzzard puke!”

  Caleb smirked. “Obviously you’ve never had the pleasure of having to use the bathroom after my brother there gets done with his business. Even the Danceys would smell good compared to that!”

  Everyone shared a good laugh. The ‘customers’ began poking fun at each other, keeping all of the adults entertained. The hairstylists, however, were a bit too young to get the jokes.

  Mountain Rose was trying to comb her father’s hair, her small hands overwhelmed by the long, thick, wavy locks. “Your hair’s pretty, Daddy,” she said. “Grandma says it’s just like mine. Do you think so?”

  Euan smiled and patted her leg where it was draped across his shoulder. “Aye, lass,” he answered. “Ye an’ yer brother both hae m’ hair, an’ ye hae yer mathair’s pretty eyes.”

  Mountain Rose giggled, pleased by the compliment. “Mama has pretty hair but Aunt Nancy Jo doesn’t think so. She says Mama should be blonde so she can get a man.”

  “I ken yer aunt should mind her ain business,” Euan said rather quickly. “Yer mathair’s hair is fine as it is.”

  “And she doesn’t need a man,” the child said, nodding in agreement. “She’s got you, Daddy!”

  John started laughing so hard he almost choked. Caleb bent forward as he guffawed, eliciting a protest from Beth Ann as he pulled away from her, and Eli fell over sideways laughing himself silly. Lacie and Darlene couldn’t help but crack up laughing. Even Euan was enjoying a good laugh at his own expense.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Lizzie, the confused look on her face mirrored by that of the other little girls, which only made the adults laugh harder.

  “Oh, sweetie,” wheezed Darlene, “you’ll get it in a few years! For right now, just enjoy being little girls!”

  “Amen to that,” said Jim under his breath as he thought about his big girl. While Callie had never been a giggly girly-girl like his other daughter, granddaughter, and great-nieces, she had once been much freer with her laughter, finding the humor in most things and even in herself. She hadn’t laughed as often when she returned from Scotland and had instead become somewhat reclusive with her emotions. Now that he understood what had happened, he wondered if perhaps the man who had broken her heart might hold the medicine to heal it and restore her to the good-natured young woman she had been before. Time would tell, he thought with a sigh.

  Chapter 9:

  Heart Medicine

  The next day found Euan and Callie gathering old hay and manure to scatter over the five acre garden. “This is so appropriate, don’t you think?” Callie asked sarcastically. “I get to spend the whole damned day with… manure!”

  Euan tried to ignore the insult. He hadn’t done a thing to her this morning. In fact, he’d gone out of his way to be as polite as possible. Over the past few days Callie had been disrespectful to him at every turn, trying to goad him into a fight. Her own siblings had called her a bitch to her face and her elders had reprimanded her repeatedly for her behavior. Even the twins had taken notice of her attitude and had pleaded with her to stop.

  His temper was strained to the point that he was afraid that he would explode and the only thing helping him to hold it back was the fact that he didn’t want to hurt his children by venting his anger and frustration on their mother. He tried to remind himself of how sweet she could be but found it more than a bit difficult to do at the moment.

  Finally he asked, “Can ye nae gi’e it a rest, Callie? I doona want t’ fight wi’ ye, an’ the bairns are right here hearin’ every word between us.”

  Callie responded by pitching a shovel-full of manure over the top of the wagon and hitting him with it. “Oh, sorry!” she hissed mockingly.

  He sighed and said nothing in response. It took an enormous amount of self-control to resist grabbing her and turning her over his knee for the spanking she so richly deserved for such childish behavior. But oh, how he wanted to!

  The tension between them was uncomfortable enough to subdue the children. Rather than play, they followed their parents quietly about for awhile before going over to sit beneath one of the apple trees. Mountain Rose hugged her knees and asked, “Why can’t Mama just forgive Daddy? Why is she being so mean?”

  Red Wolf picked at the fallen leaves for a moment and sighed. “I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s hurting Daddy and I’m afraid he’ll go away. I want him to stay.”

  “Me, too,” his sister said. “But Mama’s so mad at him. I think she’s been mad at him for so long she doesn’t know how to be nice.”

  “Daddy said he hurt her bad, but I don’t know what he did,” Red Wolf recollected. “It hurts when I try to see inside him. Maybe we should just ask.”

  Mountain Rose nodded. “Mama won’t tell us. We better ask Daddy.”

  After lunch Red Wolf asked Euan to walk with them down to the spring. As they held his hands, Euan walked slowly and kept his stride short so that they could keep up with him. He noticed that the twins were unusually quiet. “Is anythin’ wrong?” he asked them.

  Mountain Rose responded first. “Daddy, why is Mama so mad at you? What did you do to her?”

  Euan stopped and squatted down to look his children in the face. “Why d’ ye ask that?” he asked.

  Red Wolf replied, “Because we don’t know why she’s mad at you or why you aren’t together.”

  Euan stepped over and sat down on a large rock. Pulling the children up on his knees, he hugged them gently and kissed them each on the crown of their heads. He didn’t say anything for a few moments, trying to think of how to word his response.

  Finally he spoke. “Ye remember that I told ye that I was verra stupid wi’ yer mathair?” he asked softly. When the twins nodded, he continued. “I was her first love, and in truth she was mine as well except tha’ I dinna ken it then. Yer mathair made me feel things tha’ I had ne’er felt before an’ I was afeart o’ it. An’ m’ family didna approve o’ her at all. They threatened tae disown me if I e’en thought o’ marrying her an’ said she was only after me for m’ family’s money.”

  “Why would they say stuff like that?” Mountain Rose asked. “Papa says all the money in the world ain’t worth the sweat off a good man’s brow.”

  Euan smiled as he looked down into his daughter’s eyes. “An’ he’s right, lass. But y’ see, I was raised in a verra wealthy family an’ I was afeart o’ bein’ cut off. Sometimes all rich people ken how tae do is be rich. I was living on m’ family’s land on m’ family’s money an’ didna think I could ha’ made it on m’ own. I wasna mon enough tae cut the apron strings an’ do what was right by yer mathair. Sae when she told me she thought she was pregnant, I…I behaved like a…”

  “A jackass?” Mountain Rose offered. “Mama called you that yesterday when Grandma was fussing at her for being rude to you.”

  “Aye, lass, tha’s exactly wha’ I was,” he replied, wincing. “But ye shouldna use tha’ sort o’ language. ’Tis nae fitting for a bairn tae speak tha’ way.”

  “Or a grown-up, either,” Red Wolf added. “Uncle Caleb said that Grandma used to wash their mouths out with soap if they cussed.”

  “Aye, lad and well she should hae,” Euan replied with a slight smile.

  “Grandma said Mama needs indus…industrial….” Mountain Rose pursed her lips as she tried to recall the phrase she wanted to use. Failing that, she said, “You know, really strong soap to wash out Mama’s mouth.”

  “Well, yer mathair has the right t’ be angry at me,” he replied. “When she needed me most, I turned aw
ay from her an’ I broke her heart when I should hae protected it. I sent her away from me because I was afeart o’ losing m’ family’s support an’ tha’ was verra wrong.”

  Red Wolf thought about this and said, “I don’t understand, Daddy. Even if your family didn’t want you if you married Mama, Grandma and Grandpa would have taken you in.”

  Euan held his children closer. “There arre things ye’re too young tae ken yet, lad. It’s nae s’ simple when grown-ups get involved in things. Tae be honest, most o’ the time we make it sae much harder than it has tae be an’ usually for the worst possible reasons.”

  “But why, Daddy?” Mountain Rose asked. “Why not just do right the first time?”

  “If I knew the answer t’ that, lass, I’d be the world’s wisest mon.” Euan kissed her on her forehead as she looked up at him. “I love yer mathair an’ I’d love nothin’ more than for her tae love me again sae I could marry her an’ take care o’ her like I should hae from the start. An’ I love ye twa bairns as much as I love yer mathair.”

  Mountain Rose hugged her father fiercely. “Please don’t leave us!” she pleaded. “Please stay here!”

  Euan’s eyes misted. “I’ll ne’er leave ye, lass. M’ home is where m’ heart is, an’ tha’s wherever ye an’ yer mathair are.”

  “Promise?” asked Red Wolf, looking solemnly into his father’s eyes.

  “Aye, lad. I promise,” Euan replied as he held his children close.

  Neither Euan nor the twins knew that Callie was watching them and had heard every word. Hurt and anger warred with the love and desire she still harbored for Euan, leading to a growing sense of confusion. As much as she wanted to dismiss what he had said, there was something earnest in his voice. She wanted to think that surely he wouldn’t lie to his children but she couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t.

  Watching Euan with the twins made her wonder briefly how life could have been had he stood up to his family for her and taken up his responsibilities as a father. Mountain Rose had been right… Jim and Darlene would have taken him in if his family had disowned him. No doubt the family would have helped Euan and Callie build their own cabin and clear enough land for a garden, orchard, and pasture. They would have been married and might even have had more children by now.