The Uncharted Series Omnibus

by Keely Brooke Keith

  He stood holding the damp towel between his hands, unsure of what to do with her in his house all day. He glanced toward the unfinished kitchen and realized she was his first guest. “I’m still sleeping at home—for Bethany’s sake—so I’m afraid I have nothing to offer you. Have you eaten?”

  “Yes.” Her lips curved. “You don’t need to entertain me.” She walked to the window and tapped a finger on the new glass then touched the lock on the rail of the sash window. “You must find it tiring to work and worry about your sisters too. I know Connor is with them now, but school will soon be back in session and he won’t be able to stay with Lydia all day. At some point we all have to go back to our normal way of life.”

  “Yes… at some point. I don’t want my family living in fear either, but I agree with your father and—as much as I hate to admit it—my father: Felix and Harvey will return soon and we must stay prepared.”

  He rested a hand on his hip and felt his empty belt loop. He excused himself and walked back through the bedroom and into the washroom to retrieve his belt and shoes. As he stepped back into the bedroom, he saw Mandy in the bedroom doorway. She traced a finger across the unhinged door that leaned against the wall. “Why put a door on your bedroom if you’re going to live here alone?”

  He lowered his chin as he slipped his belt through the loops on his pants. “Perhaps for privacy while dressing when I have unexpected guests.”

  Mandy gave a small laugh but seemed otherwise unaffected by her impropriety. She stepped farther into his unfurnished bedroom. “What are we working on today?”

  He buckled his belt and scanned the tools and planks of prepared wood stacked around the room. “We? I am working on trim and the doors for the kitchen cabinets.”

  “I can help you.”

  He felt a smirk coming on but controlled his expression. “With carving and drilling?”

  “How do you think instruments are formed?” She arched one thin brow.

  He realized how little thought he had given to her work and felt idiotic. “Oh, I’m sorry.” He gestured to the tools on the floor. “Please, be my guest.”

  He spread out the pieces for the cabinet doors and Mandy stepped to the pile of wood. He explained his process and took her into the kitchen to show her his plan. She seemed pleased to work with him and thanked him as she returned to the bedroom. Then she picked up the correct tools and immediately started to work on the cabinet doors.

  Levi worked on the trim in the kitchen, and Mandy sat on the floor in the bedroom and carved grooves for hinges in the cabinet doors. Throughout the morning, she brought the doors to him one by one as she completed them. Her carvings were precise and her craftsmanship flawless. She proved not only her skill but also her love for the work.

  At midday, as Levi lifted one of the newly finished doors to attach it to the cupboard, he noticed a miniscule carving of a simple smiling face etched on the inside of the door near the hinge. Due to the carving’s small size, he held the cabinet door close to the window to inspect the image in the sunlight. The tiny design was deliberately carved. He leaned around the edge of the kitchen wall to look at Mandy. She was sitting in the bedroom beneath the window with her legs straight out along the wooden floor. A cabinet door rested on her lap as she carved the indentions for hinges along its inside edge. She did not look up at him but was smiling, waiting for his response to the happy carving.

  Levi thought of their school days and how often Mandy’s playful nature distracted those in the class. What he once found annoying, he now found refreshing. He walked into the bedroom and crouched on the floor beside her. He studied her for a moment before he spoke. “I found your trademark.”

  “Did you?” She kept her eyes on her work but her grin prevailed.

  “Should I assume every new wood instrument in the Land possesses such a carving inside?”

  “Only if it’s of the highest quality.” Mandy blew the wood shavings off the piece she was carving then looked at him and beamed. “Did you like it?”

  “I loved it.” He dusted a wood shaving from her shoulder. When she did not flinch, he was tempted to touch her again. Aware of his desire, he pulled his hand away and stood. She looked back at her work and seemed oblivious of her affect, while he was left imagining a life with her, the joy of her constant companionship, waking up beside her every morning, earning her respect, watching her mother their children.

  The chisel scraped away one thin sliver of wood at a time as she continued carving. “I hope you notice it again some day when you’re a wrinkled, old man and you reach into the cabinet for a coffee cup. Perhaps—if your memory is still intact—you will think of me and smile.” She kept talking but remained focused on the cabinet door lying across her lap. She picked up a small piece of sand paper and made a few quick swipes at a rough spot. Then she switched back to the chisel. “Or perhaps your wife will notice it one day and when you tell her it was carved by the scandalous Mandy Foster she will be overcome with jealousy.”

  He watched her mouth as she spoke and was amazed how she could go for hours without saying a word while she worked and then chatter nonsensically without losing her focus. He leaned his shoulder into the wall and listened to her prattle on. He wondered if interrupting her imaginative tale would break her concentration. “Perhaps I won’t tell her.”

  “Tell whom?” Mandy’s hand stopped and she looked up at him.

  “My wife.” When she only rumpled her brows at his comment, he felt the need to clarify. “You said my future wife would notice your carving one day and she would become jealous—”

  “Oh, yes.” She laughed. “Right, please, don’t tell the poor woman I was involved or you may never have a cup of coffee in peace again.”

  * * *

  Late in the afternoon, Mandy stood from the floor of the empty bedroom in Levi’s house where she had spent most of the day carving grooves for hinges into cabinet doors. She brushed the wood shavings from her lap and shook out her skirt, then she carried another cabinet door into his kitchen. He was standing on a footstool hammering a length of quarter round between the upper cabinets and the ceiling. There was still trim left to be secured, and he only had one nail held between his lips. She bent to a bucket of finishing nails on the floor and drew out a handful. Levi took the last nail from his lips and hammered it into the trim. Then he looked down at her while she held the nails up to him. His gaze moved from her face to the nails then back to her face again. He took the nails from her palm and grinned but did not say a word.

  As Mandy walked back into the bedroom, she thought about how comfortably they had worked together throughout the day. It surprised her and—at first—she was not sure why. She had expected Levi to be private about his work, but he welcomed her help. She had even expected him to denigrate her work, but he was kind and showed appreciation for her craftsmanship.

  They were different together now, and she supposed it was a maturity gained from the harrowing experience they had shared only a month and a half before. She thought of the night they spent in confession in the back of the wagon. She had been so grateful he rescued her that she shared her biggest secret, and it changed everything between them. Without a selfish motive, she now respected him, and after nearly losing her, he no longer acted resentful toward her. She was enjoying his friendship, but it only filled her with regret; long ago she had turned down the one man she could have easily spent her life with, and now she was considered ruined and he would never declare his love again.

  After Mandy selected the next piece of wood to carve, she sat on the floor. Her stomach growled and she glanced out the window, guessing the hour. Then she heard Levi’s footsteps on the dusty wood floor, and she looked up at him.

  Levi combed his hair with his fingers. “Let’s go.”

  “Where?”

  “To my house—or, rather, my family’s house. It will be dinnertime soon. Aren’t you hungry?”

  Her stomach growled again as she laid the wood on the floor. She b
rushed her hands together. “Yes, I am.”

  He offered his hand and helped her up. Then he pointed to the stack of wood that was a fraction of what it had been when she arrived that morning. “We’ve accomplished a lot together.”

  “Yes, we have.” She smiled at him and stepped out of the bedroom. The house smelled of fresh lumber with a faint masculine undertone. She walked to the front door and stopped there, expecting the same routine her father and Everett performed before they let her outdoors. She waited while Levi stepped to the window. He looked out in every direction then he moved to the door. He unlocked it and stepped out first. After he glanced again from side to side, he waved her out.

  Mandy felt tired of being guarded. As she walked out the door and onto his front porch, she looked at Levi. “I remember when our doors were left open during good weather. I miss it.”

  He reached behind her and pulled the door closed. “So do I.”

  While they walked across Levi’s property and onto the road, Mandy took his arm. “This is the first time I have walked this road since—” She stopped herself. She was tired of talking about it, tired of thinking about it, and determined not to ruin a pleasant stroll to the village by bringing it up. He glanced at her then behind them. Though she appreciated his protection, she was eager to think of something else. She drew a deep breath. “Thank you, Levi.”

  “I’m not sure what for, but you’re welcome.”

  “For letting me stay with you today.”

  “I think you earned your keep.”

  “We worked well together, didn’t we?”

  “Yes, I noticed.” Levi grinned but still looked straight ahead. “You surprised me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He only shrugged in response. She found his willingness to comment but his lack of elaboration curious. Before the attack his comments to her were rare and usually caustic; she dismissed them without wanting explanation. But since he had shown a change of attitude toward her, she found his kindness enthralling and wished he would open up and talk more than he did.

  Levi stopped walking and reached for something in the grass beside the road. He stood and held out a little yellow daisy to her. She took it and smiled at his sweet gesture, but she said nothing as they continued to walk down the road.

  Soon the entrance to the Colburn property came into view. The large old house peeked through the treetops. Mandy had spent as much time in that house as a child as she had in her own. “I suppose it’s natural that we work well together—after being friends for so long.” Even as Mandy said it, she knew it was not quite true. Whatever was between them now was new. She began to contemplate it then shook her head, determined not to allow the notion to tempt her to hope for his affection. There could be nothing more between them. She could only savor the sweetness of his friendship. He was a good man and building his own home. He would not remain unattached for long, and she doubted his future wife would appreciate frequent visits from a salaciously reputed female friend. She resolved simply to enjoy his company while she could.

  Levi was quiet as they left the road and walked on the Colburn property. Then as they approached the house, he glanced at her and said, “I suppose.” And she realized he had been thinking about their relationship that whole time, too.

  * * *

  Mandy let go of Levi’s arm and stepped into the Colburn kitchen as he held the back door open for her. She glanced back at him and smiled, wishing their time alone could have lasted a little longer. Lydia popped out of the pantry holding a broom. She greeted them and then disappeared back inside. Connor called to Levi from the parlor. Mandy watched Levi go into the other room as she walked through the open kitchen to the pantry. She stopped at the pantry door and looked inside. The small room was lit only by the afternoon sunlight that came from nearby windows. Lydia had several bushel baskets pulled into the center of the pantry’s stone floor, and she was sweeping the area behind them.

  Lydia smiled as her eyes drifted down Mandy’s wrinkled and dusty dress. “I take it you’ve been working in your shop today.”

  “I’ve been working all day but not at home.” She stepped inside the pantry and moved the baskets back into place after Lydia swept. “I was at Levi’s house.”

  Lydia’s straw broom paused briefly then continued sweeping. “You and Everett?”

  “No. Just me.”

  The broom stopped. “You and Levi were alone all day …at his house?”

  Mandy nodded.

  “What will your parents think when they hear that?” Lydia’s symmetrical eyebrows lifted as she voiced her concern for the breach of custom.

  “It was my father’s idea. He had Everett take me there so I wouldn’t walk from the house to my workshop unguarded.” She rolled her eyes.

  “They’re just trying to protect you.”

  “I know. I’m just sick of it.”

  “Me too.” Lydia’s expression changed and she set the broom against the shadowed wall. “I did not see Levi’s face when he came in. Was he… pleasant?”

  Mandy leaned out of the pantry to see if the kitchen was still vacant then turned back to Lydia. “He was quite pleasant. We both were. We spent the day working on his kitchen cupboards. I truly enjoyed being with him. We worked surprisingly well together.”

  “He loves you, Mandy. You must know that.”

  Mandy shook her head. “I know how he used to think of me, but everything is different between us now. We have both changed. I no longer want the intrigue I once did, and he is no longer resentful toward me. We are both without pretense and… it feels good.”

  Lydia’s smile curved up at the edges and she stepped closer. “Do you love him?”

  “Of course I love him—he is a dear friend. But I cannot allow myself to think beyond that because I know he would never have me now.”

  Lydia chuckled. “And why not?”

  “Because he knows about my past.”

  Lydia moved around Mandy and checked the kitchen’s emptiness for herself then whirled back around. “How does he know? I never uttered a word, I promise.”

  “I confessed it myself.”

  “You told him about—”

  “The shearer? Yes.”

  Lydia pressed her palm to her stomach and glanced toward the parlor. “How did he react?”

  “He promised never to speak of it—and I trust him.” She could hear Levi and Connor talking and laughing with Bethany in the parlor. It sounded like Connor was teaching Bethany more of his card tricks. Still, she lowered her voice. “I know Levi wouldn’t want me for a wife now, and I understand. I’m satisfied with his friendship, but I do regret my past—not only my indiscretion but also how I treated him. I told him that after he rescued me and he was quick to forgive. Everything I went through changed me somehow and I no longer crave attention, but I am growing fond of Levi… very fond of him.”

  “I know my brother and he loves you. If you love him, he deserves to know.” Lydia played with the gold band around her finger as she looked at Mandy. “If he gave you a second chance, would you reject him again?”

  “He would not.”

  “If he did?”

  “No, I would not reject him. I love him—” As Mandy acknowledged the depth of her love for Levi, she was struck by the torrent of affection she had tried to ignore. She held up a hand when Lydia started to smile. “But I can’t think that way any more. I know the tradition and Levi wouldn’t marry me.” Mandy leaned her head against the pantry door and sighed. “I know the emptiness inside me has a purpose. I used to try to fill it, but not any more. I may regret my past, but I’m at peace with my circumstances. I truly am.”

  Lydia’s persistent smile left little hope that the matter would be forgotten. It made Mandy nervous. She lowered her chin. “Lydia, please do not say anything to him.”

  “I will not say anything… outright. But if he asks me, I will be forced to encourage him—out of my love for both of you, of course.” Lydia bent to a basket of
potatoes and handed several to Mandy. Then Lydia grabbed a handful of green beans. She walked out of the pantry to the kitchen sink and Mandy followed her. As she set the potatoes in the sink, Lydia pointed to the bottom of Mandy’s dress. “I can cook dinner. You need to go to the washroom upstairs and make yourself presentable.”

  * * *

  While eating dinner in the Colburns’ kitchen, Mandy felt a strange sort of tension among everyone at the table. She tried not to look directly at Lydia, who was seated across from her, because every time their eyes met, Lydia glanced at Levi and back at her and then grinned with obvious delight. John Colburn was out for the evening—meeting with the village elders—and Mandy enjoyed the casual nature of the meal, though the aged Isabella was eager to use the absence of John’s authority to press the Colburn siblings on personal matters. After she questioned Lydia on her and Connor’s plans to have children, she critiqued Levi’s life choices. Then Isabella turned her attention to Mandy. “Miss Foster, I was thrilled indeed to hear how Levi rescued you during that terrible ordeal. He proved to be quite the hero, didn’t he?”

  “Yes, Miss Colburn.”

  “Call me Aunt Isabella, dear.” The elderly woman chewed a bite of food then swallowed and pointed her fork at Levi. “So is he your hero then?”

  Mandy felt her cheeks warm as Bethany, Lydia, and Connor all smiled and widened their eyes, enjoying Isabella’s intrusive questioning. She did not dare glance at Levi, who was sitting beside her. “Yes, I suppose he is,” she answered then looked at Lydia and shrugged.

  Isabella ate quietly for a moment. Mandy took her last bite of food and laid her fork across the top of her plate. She thought the questions had ended and began to relax when Isabella turned her head toward her again. “Have you any suitors currently, Miss Foster?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Suitors, Miss Foster? Have you a suitor at present?”

  Mandy glanced at Connor when she saw him grin at Levi. She folded her hands in her lap. “No.” She pressed her lips together and hoped a curt answer would encourage someone to change the subject. She was too embarrassed to look beside her at Levi. She was sure he was equally uncomfortable. However, the rest of them seemed to be enjoying the show.