Chance Of A Lifetime (9 page)

The glow from the small fire Daisy had set in the hearth in the newlyweds’ room bathed the finished place.

“Look, Logan!” Hattie turned around to take everything in, still holding a saddlebag clutched to her chest. “The quilt is on the bed, and they moved the carved trunk.” She dropped the saddlebags onto Logan’s desk and walked over to the washstand. “Daisy, you hung the curtains and our new towels! What’s this?” Hattie traced the carving around the mirror. “It’s beautiful!” She enveloped her friend in a warm hug.

“We thought it’d be a nice surprise.” Daisy hugged her back.

“You put up the mantel.” Logan ran his hands across it. “And hung the pegs.” He turned to beam at Bryce and Daisy. “You two finished everything!”

“Not everything.” Bryce shrugged off the praise, but Daisy could tell he was pleased with their reaction.

“We put things in order,” Daisy agreed, “but it takes love to make a house a home.”

“With Hattie by my side and good friends around us”—Logan put an arm around his wife and smiled at everyone—“I think we’ve got a good start.”

The next morning, Hattie made her way into the cabin’s main room to help prepare breakfast. After hugging Miz Willow and swooping down on Jamie for a quick kiss on the forehead, she turned to the hearth.

“Is that a …” Hattie couldn’t find the words, her blue eyes wide as saucers as she approached the new stove.

Daisy watched in silence as Hattie looked it over from top to bottom, holding out her hands to capture the fire’s warmth. She waited until Hattie opened the oven door and sent the smell of rising cinnamon rolls swirling though the cabin.

“The Chances had it shipped to Hawk’s Fall,” Daisy explained.

“Bryce fetched it and hauled it back here while you were gone.”

“It’s wonderful,” Hattie breathed, her eyes shining. “It looks complicated, though. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

Daisy couldn’t hold back the laughter that welled up at Hattie’s innocent statement.

“What’s got you laughing so hard, Daisy?” Logan asked as he and Bryce came inside.

Daisy couldn’t catch her breath enough to repeat Hattie’s words.

“I don’t know.” Hattie shook her head in confusion. “I just told her I hoped they didn’t have to go to too much trouble to bring in the new stove.”

Daisy almost had the spurts of laughter under control when Bryce’s deep chuckles made her lose her composure again. They were the only ones who knew just how funny it was.

“I don’t get it.” Logan shrugged and walked over to inspect the stove. “Hey, are those pie tins under there?”

Daisy and Bryce just shook their heads and laughed harder as Miz Willow took over.

“What of it? I cain’t think of a better place for a pie tin than the hearth!”

“How was yore honeymoon, Hattie?” Daisy asked after the men had finished breakfast and gone off to do chores. She shifted Jamie to her other hip. He was getting big.

“Wonderful!” Hattie’s one-word answer said it all. Logan treated her right, and she was happy with the life she’d chosen.

“Good.” Daisy stopped as Hattie stooped to harvest some leaves for her medicine satchel. “Meet anyone interestin’?”

“Yes. Frank Tarhill is a real sharp businessman with a good eye for detail.” Hattie stopped talking and looked Daisy in the eye. “He noticed the new lace collar on my green dress and asked where I’d purchased it.”

“That’s nice.” Daisy enjoyed hearing that such an astute man would remark on the quality of her work.

“Daisy, I know you’ve been doing business with Mitch Flaggart for years, but Frank asked me to try and change yore mind.” Hattie waited for a response.

“I’ve relied on Mitch since I was jist a girl and Mama traded her lace with him.” The lessons on making lace were some of Daisy’s fondest memories of her mother. She loved it when the two of them sat quietly, needles moving rhythmically as they created something beautiful.

“Yep. But he’s getting on in years, Daisy.” Hattie paused, and Daisy nodded to acknowledge it was harder for Mitch to make the trip to Hawk’s Fall—and would be harder still to get to Salt Lick. “And the fact of the matter is, Frank reckons he cain get a fine price for yore work.”

The figure Hattie quoted stopped Daisy in her tracks.
So much money. I cain’t cipher, but even I cain tell the difference is impressive. I hate to leave Mitch in the lurch, but I have to do what’s best for Jamie and me
.

“He knows I work collars and veils and table runners—not christening gowns or hoods?” Daisy had to make sure the market was right.
Filet Lacis
, while stunningly intricate, wasn’t pliable enough to use for those things. Tatted lace worked well, but Daisy didn’t know that method.

“I tole him as much,” Hattie affirmed. “He says it’s hard to find yore fancy handmade lace here in the States. Iff ‘n yore agreeable, he won’t have to pay such hefty trading taxes, so you’ll both come off well.”

“That’s good.” Daisy nodded as much to herself as to Hattie and absentmindedly stroked Jamie’s hair.

“He said summat about how yore lace is different than even the stuff he ships over. Summat about it going the other way?” Hattie puzzled aloud.

“I do it backward on account of bein’ left-handed.” Daisy smiled. She’d practiced enough with Mama to do it with her right, but she worked so much faster using her left.

“He says as how that makes it more rare.” Hattie smiled.

“I suppose it might be so, but plenty of other thangs are more precious,” Daisy said. “Thangs like family and friends.”

“What’ve you decided to do about your share of Chance Ranch?” Bryce asked Logan as they mucked out the stalls later that morning. Each of the six brothers held equal stake, and Logan was owed his due even though he didn’t plan to return.

“I telegraphed with Gideon and Paul while I was in Charleston,” Logan admitted. “We’re thinking the best thing to do is buy me out. I’ll take a few of the horses and a few head of cattle. Whatever my share of land and other livestock amounts to, I’ll take half the money value of what I’d get after taxes if we were selling it all outright.”

“Only half?” Bryce echoed. “You’re entitled to all of your portion, Logan.”

“I know, but I’m not going to be around to work it. Besides, I’m the youngest, so we all know there was some time when I didn’t pull enough weight for the equal split.” Logan grinned happily. “Truth is, I’ve got the business started up right here, and Hattie and I won’t hurt for money. We have land, friends, steady income, and purpose. She’s the healer, keeps the bodies around here hale and hearty. I negotiate trades and keep their finances healthy. That’s more’n enough for any man.”

“I understand.” Bryce thought of all the new Chance children. The next generation would be much bigger than the six brothers who started out at Chance Ranch. They’d decided long ago that, regardless of how many children each brother had, the land would be redivided equally among their progeny when the time came ripe. Every Chance son and daughter would hold equal stake once more. Logan wouldn’t have any children, so it made sense to let his brothers buy him out.

“I can’t believe I’ll be going back without you.” Bryce spoke gruffly, slapping his brother on the shoulder. “Things just won’t be the same.”

“When things stay the same,” Logan mused, “it means you’re not growing. I hope Chance Ranch keeps on growing. I know I can depend on you to take care of things.”

When did my baby brother become so serious and grown-up? He’s a man now with a wife and a business. Logan’s found his place and his purpose. I always figured mine was Chance Ranch, but I thought the same for Logan and was wrong
.

Bryce saw Daisy walking with Hattie across the yard.
Seeing Daisy tugs something in me, especially when I think of leaving and never seeing her or Jamie again. Could those be growing pains?

“Pretty, isn’t she?” Logan had followed his gaze.

“Absolutely,” Bryce agreed so fervently that Logan looked at him askance.

“She is my wife, Bryce.” A steely glint lit Logan’s eye as he planted his feet a bit wider.

“And I’m happy for you.” Bryce tried to calm Logan down. “But there’s nothing more beautiful than seeing women playing with a child.”

Logan looked again toward the women, where Daisy held a squirming Jamie as Hattie tickled him. “It’s a fine sight.” Logan relaxed as he said the words. “But all the same, I’m happy to have Hattie all to myself.”

“So I noticed,” Bryce teased his brother with a grin.
But I can’t imagine Daisy without Jamie. He brings out the loving
mother, the strong lioness, the laughing girl, and the gentle homemaker in her. Jamie’s a great kid, and he makes Daisy a better woman
.

“How much wood did you get cut while we were gone?” Logan’s question snapped Bryce back to their conversation.

“About that …” Bryce launched into a shortened version of how the stove monopolized their week. “Between moving and setting up the stove and repairing the doorframe, I didn’t get so much as a full cord cut.”

“So that’s why you and Daisy couldn’t stop laughing this morning,” Logan reasoned with a big grin. “I can’t believe one little stove made you go through all that hassle.”

“Little?” Bryce drew himself to his full height and jabbed a finger at his brother’s chest. “Why don’t you go try to haul that thing around?”

“Sorry!” Logan put his hands in the air. “It is pretty big.”

“And heavy,” Bryce added. “Thing’s made of solid cast iron all welded together.”

“Hmm. I wondered how it managed to survive all you put it through!” Logan laughed and slapped his hand on his knee. “Come on, let’s go get to work. Aside from the wood chopping, I’ve been thinking we need to build a second barn. If I’m going to transport those horses and cattle here from Chance Ranch, Miz Willow’s barn can’t hold them, and they won’t survive the winter.”

“Right.” Bryce frowned at the thought of any domesticated animal left out to contend with the snowy chill of an Appalachian winter. “Any other work you want to get out of me?”

“I don’t know.” Logan pretended to give the matter serious thought. “Cabin, chopped wood for winter, impossible stove installation, new barn. Nope. That’s it, but I’ll let you know if I think of anything else!”

Thunk. Thunk. Clunk
. Bryce grinned at Jamie’s efforts. The night before, Bryce had cranked the hand-held drill to force peg-sized holes through a small piece of wood. He filled the holes with pegs, only a single whack apiece, so they stuck up and needed to be driven in. Today he’d balanced the board on two bricks, sat Jamie down in front of it with a small wooden mallet, and showed him what to do.

The little boy had been banging with plenty of enthusiasm—if precious little accuracy—ever since. Jamie liked being outside, doing “man” work with them. The mallet clattered from his little hands to the opposite side of the makeshift worktable. Bryce put down the ax he’d been using to chop firewood and loped over to put the tool back in Jamie’s hands.

“Tanks, Byce.” The little boy beamed at him before holding the mallet with both hands and pummeling the wooden peg. The exercise was good to increase his arm strength and improve coordination.

“You’re welcome, buddy.” Bryce looked down. “You’ve already finished two of them? Good job, Jamie!”