Alaskan Sweethearts (14 page)

Hunter nodded. He was familiar with ranchers who hid an old nonoperating pickup behind the barn, but he hadn’t seen anything quite as common as this. The vehicles were mostly rusted around the edges, too, which had to be from the hard winters here.

“The only way to get rid of an old car is to ship it down to the Lower 48,” Scarlett said. “That’s several thousand dollars. For most folks, that’s too expensive. And sometimes it costs too much to bring in parts to fix the thing, too. So people just leave the cars where they stop running. You’ll see abandoned snow machines, too.”

Hunter looked at Scarlett. She was bothered by this.

“Any other things I should know?” Hunter asked with a smile.

“A lot of the houses are patched,” she said. “There will be some siding and some tar paper and some plywood. They look abandoned, but they’re probably rentals and going for much more than anyone would guess. Nome rent is worse than New York.”

“Okay,” Hunter said with a nod.

“And the men don’t shave,” Scarlett said quickly, as though she’d been saving it up. “Well, some of them do, of course. But the ones who come in from the bush, they mostly don’t even trim their beards more than once or twice a year.”

“I’m good with that,” Hunter said, a grin on his face now. “Probably won’t even notice.”

“I sure don’t mind that,” the old man said as he turned around to grin at them and stroke his short beard.

Hunter saw Scarlett relax as his grandfather turned back to the front.

“Fiona’s fiancé never has been okay with it,” Scarlett admitted in a low voice for Hunter’s ears only. “Well, and he’s never even come to Nome. He’s from Connecticut and he complains about the staff at the lodge. Expects five-star service. He doesn’t care about local charm. He wants shaved faces and real silver on the table. Quite wears Fiona down listening to him. She excuses him by saying the lodge is just different from what he’s used to—but I’ve noticed she’s never brought him home.”

Hunter sobered at that and whispered his reply. “I hope you’re not comparing me to some fancy man from the East who feels the need to add numbers to his name.”

Hunter glanced down. Joey was leaning forward in the seat and looking out the window intently. He wasn’t listening to them.

“No, I’m not really comparing you to him,” Scarlett admitted softly. “But I thought you should know.”

“Consider me informed,” Hunter acknowledged.

Scarlett paused. Hunter almost saw the struggle she went through to say her next piece.

“I worry about Fiona,” she finally said in a rush, her voice low again. “I think she’s settling for this man because our father left us and it hit her hard. None of us understood why he would leave. I think she’s afraid to really love someone and she likes the distance between her and this man. As though if she’s not too attached, it won’t hurt so bad when he leaves. I know that sounds crazy. But it’s all I can figure. And then with me and Granny moving down to Montana. She’ll still have Carly here, but we’ll miss each other.”

Hunter savored the moment. She had confided in him. He wanted her to know he took her concerns seriously.

“I know your sister and this man have quite a bit of distance between them now,” he said quietly. “Going from the East Coast to Alaska is pretty dramatic—even if it is only for a few weeks. But they won’t be apart like that after they get married. They’ll be together then, right? Where are they planning to live?”

“I don’t know,” Scarlett admitted. “Fiona won’t talk about it.”

Hunter didn’t think this was a good omen for the marriage, but he struggled to think of something encouraging to add by way of a comment.

“Well, it’s a big country,” he finally said. “They’ll find a place.”

Suddenly, Joey made a strangled squawking sound in his throat.

“What’s wrong?” Scarlett looked down at her son.

Joey’s face had gone white. He was pointing out the window and Hunter noticed Scarlett frown when she saw where he was pointing.

“Are those the boys?” Scarlett asked in a low voice even though no one outside the cab could hear her. “The ones who came to the house bothering you?”

Joey nodded.

Hunter almost told the cabbie to stop. He was surprised at the strong need he had to protect this boy. He wouldn’t mind having a few words with those thugs. They looked eight or ten years older than Joey.

“What in the world?” Scarlett said then, absolute shock in her voice.

Hunter looked outside, searching for the new threat.

A man, his head covered with a black hoodie even though it wasn’t cold outside, had walked up to the group of boys and they were all laughing together. The man was loose-limbed and tall, wearing gray sweatpants and cowboy boots. He looked furtive even though Hunter couldn’t see why.

“What’s wrong?” Hunter asked her.

Scarlett looked at Joey. Hunter noticed the boy had slumped down in the seat. He obviously didn’t want those boys to see him.

“I’ll tell you later,” she said to Hunter with a significant look at her son.

“Where’s my teddy bear?” Joey asked quietly.

“It’s in the suitcase,” Scarlett said as she put her arm around her son.

Hunter reached over and held the boy’s hand.

The cab passed the group of boys and everyone was silent until the driver stopped in front of a modest frame house.

Hunter felt uneasy about the house. Maybe he was imagining it because Joey had been so afraid of those boys and they obviously knew where the house was located. But then he decided it was more than that. He looked all around as he sat in the cab. There were no abandoned vehicles around so there was no place for someone to hide. A well-worn brown SUV was parked in the dirt driveway. A bicycle leaned against the side of the house. A large propane tank stood in a frame rack on the other side of the house. Nothing looked out of place. And then he saw that there was a light in the window by the front door even though it was the middle of the day. Maybe Scarlett’s grandmother had the lamp on as a welcome-home gesture, he told himself.

Then he saw a slender white-haired woman open the door and peer out as if she was nervous. A screen door stood between them, but she must know who was in the cab.

They all exited the taxi and the driver helped unload the luggage. Hunter made sure his grandfather got out with no problems and was standing steady on the rough ground. Small rocks were more prevalent than foliage. There was no fence to mark off the front of the house. Several smooth stones had been laid out as a walkway of sorts to the front door.

“You’ll need to use your cane here,” Hunter said quietly when he saw his grandfather push the walking aid into the handle of the suitcase to make it look as if the long wooden device was intended for nothing more than an aide to help carry the luggage. “You don’t want to fall.”

“I don’t want to look like I’m laid up when I greet my Maggie, either,” the old man whispered. “I can walk on my own two feet. I do it around the ranch.”

“Sometimes.” Hunter felt compelled to remind him, but he kept his voice low. “You go without your cane sometimes. But you’re supposed to use it all the time. Doctor’s orders.”

His grandfather looked at him in disgust and muttered, “How’s a man going to do any courting that way?”

“I don’t think—” Hunter started and then looked down at the man who had raised him. The old man looked worried enough. “Just be careful.”

“Grams,” Joey called out as he made his way toward the house.

Hunter looked up and saw the woman inside the house start to grin. A screen door still separated her from the outside, but he could see her smile shining through. Then Joey was reaching for that handle.

Scarlett was close behind her son in embracing the older woman.

Hunter set down the suitcase he was carrying. The cab had taken off. Hunter figured he would need to make two trips to get everything inside anyway, so he held his arm out to his grandfather and decided to worry about the luggage later.

“I hope you don’t look too bad if you come inside with me,” Hunter said as he smiled at his relative. “Just for moral support.”

The old man nodded as he took Hunter’s arm. “I appreciate that, boy.”

Hunter hung back just a little so Scarlett and her son had sufficient time to greet and hug her grandmother in private.

Joey was holding the door wide open as Hunter and his grandfather came up to the door.

“Thank you,” Hunter said to the boy.

Hunter recognized the moment when Margaret Murphy first laid eyes on him and his grandfather. She stared at them in shock, as though she couldn’t believe it. Then he saw the glasses she had hanging from a chain around her neck. Maybe she literally hadn’t seen them when they’d exited the cab.

But then, he told himself, the older woman should have known.

“I thought the orchid—” Hunter stopped what he was about to say, wondering if he’d remembered to say they would be visiting her soon in the note that had been attached.

The sun was so bright outside that shadows filled the inside of the house. He searched the dimness with his eyes for Scarlett. He found her. “Didn’t you tell her?”

Scarlett shrugged. “I left a message. I thought she would get it, but—”

Hunter glanced over and saw his grandfather looking at the older woman, his eyes shining with tears. “Hello.”

“Hello?” Margaret Murphy’s puzzled voice rose with decades of unspent emotion. “I don’t believe it. You can’t just walk up to my door and say hello. Not after all you did to me!”

Hunter’s grandfather stood there. “I don’t know what else to say.”

“Sorry would be nice,” the older woman said, standing in the middle of the doorway, not yet willing to let them pass. “Even at that, I’m not sure I could forgive you. You deserted me.”

“Well, you married someone else,” his grandfather said with just as much force.

They stood there and glared at each other.

“That’s not my fault,” Scarlett’s grandmother said as she folded her arms across her chest. “You said yourself that you weren’t the marrying kind.”

“Well, what did I know?” the old man admitted. “I was a fool back then. Probably still am.”

“You are an old goat is what you are,” the woman clarified, her voice losing some of its anger.

Everyone was silent for a moment and then she stepped aside to let Hunter and his grandfather enter the house.

Hunter smelled lemon, but he didn’t look around. He saw Joey standing in the shadows. Hunter kept a close eye on his relative.

“Now, Magpie,” his grandfather whispered as he stood in front of his old love.

“I never did like being called that.” The woman bristled, but Hunter could tell her heart wasn’t in the protest. Now she just looked tired.

“Why did you come?” she finally asked.

“I love you, Maggie dear,” his grandfather declared as he stood there. “I always have.”

The room was stunned with his announcement. Hunter winced a little. The old man could have taken some time to lead up to that.

“Well,” the woman said as her wrinkled face pinked up, “that’s just...” Her voice trailed off as though she couldn’t figure out what to say.

Everyone was silent, even Joey, who was looking back and forth between the older people as though he didn’t know what to make of it all.

“Foolish.” The woman finally settled on a word. “That’s what it is—foolish. Why, just look at us.” She made a gesture that seemed to encompass her whole self. She was wearing a purple blouse and gray sweatpants. She had a shiny gold barrette holding back her gray hair and white support shoes on her feet.

Hunter saw his grandfather smile.

“I’m doing just that,” the old man said. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

The woman shook her head, but Hunter could tell she was pleased.

“I suppose I should thank you for the orchid,” she finally added. “It’s lovely. It did say you were coming, but I didn’t think now—”

Hunter’s grandfather looked confused.

Hunter leaned over and, his voice low, said, “I put the order in last night. As close to a bouquet of flowers as I could get.”

“Oh,” the old man said, his chest puffing up in pride as he turned to Maggie. “You’re most welcome.”

The older woman, after patting the curls on her head, gestured to a table behind them all. “There it is.”

The small orchid sat, planted in a teacup, on the table.

The room was small, Hunter thought as he looked around. A well-worn couch and two chairs were positioned in the part of the room closest to the door. A round oak table and hutch were located on the other side, with a doorway that seemed to lead into the kitchen. It wasn’t until he took a second glance that that he suspected his first impression of this house was accurate. Something was wrong here.

Several bookshelves lined one wall and the books had been tossed to the floor. The doors to the hutch might be closed, but he could see that corners of placemats were caught in their closing. The pictures on the walls were crooked and one looked as if the glass was broken.

Hunter looked over at Scarlett and saw the alarm growing on her face as she also took notice.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

The older woman nodded but stayed silent.

Hunter glanced over at Scarlett again and she gazed up at him. They seemed to understand each other.

“Can you tell us?” Scarlett asked her grandmother.

The woman looked distressed and Scarlett stepped closer to her.

“Now?” Hunter could hear Scarlett’s say it in a low voice.

“Not with company here,” her grandmother whispered back. “What will they think of us? I already made a fool of myself. Colin Jacobson brings out the worst in me.”

Hunter cleared this throat. “My grandfather and I will be outside getting the rest of the luggage.” Then he turned to the boy. “Joey, want to help us?”

Hunter had to nudge his grandfather to get him to go with him, but the three males finally made it outside with the door firmly closed behind them.

“They’ve got trouble in there,” the old man protested before he took two steps away from the house.

“And it’s trouble they want to talk about together first,” Hunter said. “We’ll be there when they’re ready to do something about it.”