“Shifless’ll like that one!” she informed everyone, her cheer returning. Her gaze was drawn to Elizabeth as she explained. “ ‘Cause he likes the big ones.” And then she turned abruptly and scurried from the room, clutching her plate of bones and scraps protectively.
Elias sighed wearily. “Doesn’t seem to like to hear about her father,” he said with sorrow in his voice.
For the first time since their arrival, Elizabeth met Elias’ gaze without wavering. “Sometimes it’s too painful,” she disclosed. “When my mother left, neither my father nor I would speak of it... not ever.” Her eyes were distant a moment, before focusing again on Elias. She shrugged. “It just hurt much too much, I suppose.”
Elias gave a nod of agreement, glancing automatically at the door through which Katie had vanished.
“Katherine and John were good to her, you know. The best. It’s been real hard for her without them. For a long time she wouldn’t let them go... especially her ma.”
Elizabeth nodded, understanding perfectly. “Katherine... she died of childbed fever, didn’t she?” Her eyes turned sad, wistful, as she wondered whether there might not have been something she could have done to prevent it.
Miss Mimi nodded, her eyes melancholy. “Yes, she did. I was with her, you know. Actually, it was in those last moments that she spoke of you raising her daughter. I think she knew—” She glanced at Elias for rescue. “Well...”
Elias cleared his throat. “You see... well, she knew that Miss Mimi and I... well, we’re getting on in years... and it ain’t so easy to... well, jeez—don’t really know how to say this...”
“Don’t have to,” Cutter broke in. “We understand, don’t we, Elizabeth?” He peered across the table at her.
Elizabeth stopped chewing and nodded hastily.
Cutter’s scrutiny shifted to Elias, his dark eyes definitive. “Liz here and I’ll take real good care of your granddaughter, Mr. Bass. She’s a good kid.” To Cutter’s surprise, he found that he meant every word. He glanced at Elizabeth to find that she appeared as shocked by the intensity of his declaration as he felt. Their gazes held, neither of them able to break away.
“I know you will,” Elias replied after a moment of silence. “If I’d had any doubts before... I don’t now. I can see you two love each other very much, and it takes a helluva load off my shoulders.”
Again, Elizabeth’s and Cutter’s gazes were drawn to each other.
“You finished?” Elias asked Cutter.
Cutter didn’t respond. He was still staring at Elizabeth, his eyes searching.
“McKenzie?”
Raising his brows, Cutter sat back finally, taking in a deep breath as he tore his gaze away from Elizabeth to acknowledge Elias. He nodded, clearing his throat.
Elias rose abruptly, scraping his seat backward. “Good,” he replied. “Thought we might just go butt heads awhile.”
Cutter rose, as well, tossing down his napkin. He winked at Elizabeth, chuckling when she blushed, letting her know that he was no longer angry, but amused. “Lead the way,” he told Elias.
As though sensing her sparkling smile, Elizabeth let her gaze skip to Miss Mimi. When Cutter turned his back to the table, Miss Mimi waved a spoon, her smile deepening, as though to say, I told you so, dear.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Elizabeth did what she could to help Miss Mimi with the dishes and then she climbed the stairs to her room, thoroughly exhausted. Though once there, she told herself that she didn’t want to be caught undressed, so she didn’t remove her clothing right away.
And it was a good thing, because after a while, Katie tiptoed in to say good night, again without bothering to knock. Smiling, Elizabeth hugged her, and then escorted her back to her own room, tucking her in and pulling the blankets up to her chin. Without thinking, she began to sing:
“Alas, my love, you do me wrong to cast me off discourteously, and I have loved you so long, delighting in your company. Greensleeves was all my joy, Greensleeves was my—”
She halted abruptly, as though suddenly realizing what it was she was doing, her brow furrowing, the beat of her heart erratic.
“That’s a real pretty song, Aunt Lizabeth.”
Elizabeth nodded absently. “Yes. Yes, it is.” She glanced down at Katie. “Your grandmother used to sing it to your mommy and me when we were children,” she found herself explaining. “And her mommy used to sing it to her.”
She smiled in remembrance, gazing up at the window wistfully, into the night, seeing the soft spun gold of a distant lamplight, and two little girls with shimmering hair, their faces together under the blankets. Katherine had clung to her so many nights, running tiny fingers through her hair. “Sing it again, Beth,”she could hear a little voice say again in her mind. And then a sigh. “One more time, Katie. Just one more time.”Her eyes hazing over the memory, Elizabeth again looked down at the child her sister had brought into this world. Another Katie to love. “Sometimes even,” she disclosed in an aching, misty-eyed whisper, “I would sing it to your mommy. She loved it even more than I did.”
Katie’s eyes were wide. “Did you get to sleep together always?” she asked with awe. “I never did have nobody to sleep with me—’cept maybe sometimes my mommy.”
Elizabeth smiled, holding back the tears. “Yes, Katie, we did.” Gently she swept the curls from Katie’s forehead. “We only had one room, you see—” Her voice broke, her emotions too near the surface. “And... and we had to share it. But then your mommy moved away and I had to sleep alone. Just like you. It’s very, very hard to do,” she admitted. “Isn’t it?” Silently she acknowledged the fact that she never really had gotten used to it. And it dawned on her suddenly that even though she’d not spent the last few nights with Cutter, neither had she sung herself to sleep—not since the night Cutter had asked about “Greensleeves.” For the first time in years, she’d forgotten her nightly fear: that she would wake up to an empty house, an empty heart. But the truth was that her house had long been empty, yet her heart had never been so full.
