“I showed you the love tokens,” she returned. “He loved my mother very much.” She settled herself and glanced down at her plate in apparent contemplation. “I always hoped to find a man who cared for me the same way, but as yet, God has chosen not to put someone worthy enough in my path.”
Chauncey thought of the boys she must have gone to school with, and how they must have been blind not to see this treasure of a woman beneath their very eyes. But then, if they imagined her mother to have been some sort of witch, it was rather easy to imagine her life had been rather lonely, and why she’d turned to such romantic stories like Jane Austen.
He clenched his spoon and ate his meal in silence, finding it best not to reply. The tales that she adored so much were nothing more than fiction.
Those kinds of heroes didn’t really exist.
***
After the rather tension-filled day, Elise decided that they both deserved a treat, so she’dcut up a few apples that she’d saved in storage and put together a pie.
“I have a surprise for you,” she announced when her guest sat back with a contented sigh.
He regarded her curiously, so with a secretive smile, she walked over to the pie safe where she had stored the dessert out of sight until then. She withdrew the plate and placed it carefully on the table. “I hope you’re still hungry.”
He groaned. “That looks amazing.” He lifted a dark brow at her. “You aren’t trying to fatten me up, are you, Miss Erindelle?”
She laughed. “Don’t get used to it. Besides, one slice isn’t going to do that much damage to your figure.”
Elise cut a slice and laid it on his plate. He dug into it almost instantly. After a moment, he sighed. “I’m not sure I can stop at just one piece. This is delicious.”
“Thank you. It’s my mother’s recipe.”
His dark eyes warmed as they lit on her. “She sounds like an amazing woman. Just like her daughter.”
Uncomfortable with the praise, and his piercing stare, she said, “I don’t know about that. Not many people could compare to Mrs. Irina Erindelle.” She walked into her bedroom and grabbed the small frame onher dresser and returned to the table where she handed it to him. “These are my parents on their wedding day. It’s the only portrait I have of them.”
He looked at the couple for a moment and then said, “They look very happy.” He returned it to her. “Although I might have thought your mother would have had blond hair like you.”
Elise had always been self-conscious about her hair, and right now wasn’t any different. She gathered the end of her braid and twisted it around her finger. “My mother said that everyone in her family had always had dark hair, but because I was born on the winter solstice, that made me special. But that’s also why the children I grew up with used to call me the Ice Queen.”
His forehead creased. “That must mean you have a birthday coming up soon.”
“I do,” she admitted. “But other than baking a cake, I don’t usually celebrate it.”
His eyes sparked with determination. “This year will be different.”
“How so?” She tilted her head curiously. “If it keeps snowing like this, it will be impossible to travel down the mountain to Charming.”
“Who said anything about leaving the cabin?”
She blinked. “Well, I suppose I assumed—”
He got to his feet and came around the table to stand in front of her. His towering height and muscular build made her feel impossibly small. “It’s not necessary to have a crowd of people around to have a good time.” He reached out and dared to brush his knuckles against her cheek. She drew in a sharp breath of air as he murmured, “I promise that this year, you’ll have a memorable birthday.”
***
Elise parted ways with Mr. Cade shortly thereafter. She went into her room and shut the door, leaning against it for a moment to regain her bearings. Once her heartbeat had returned to normal, she moved past her drying string of linens and began to remove her dress to prepare for bed. Not for the first time, she imagined what it might be like if Mr. Cade were to stay here on a more permanent basis, and what it might be like to carry his last name. She admitted that Mrs. Elise Cade had a rather nice ring to it.
But after what he’d told her today, that he was afugitive…there was surely no hope for a future with him. Of course, she could run away with him, but what kind of life would that be, especially if their union were to bear any fruit?
She put a hand to her stomach and wondered what it might be like to carry a child, to feel a life growing inside of her womb. Some of the girls she’d gone to school with in Charming already had families of their own, with several children trailing after their skirts. She remembered seeing Agnatha Graves and her swollen belly for the first time, and a pang of envy had shot through her. The girl was smiling, and looked positively radiant as she strode toward the mercantileon the arm ofher husband, while Elise had gone back home alone.Weeks later, Elise hadstilllain awake at night imagining the same scenario for herself.
Although she hadn’t thought of that day in months, it was on her mind tonight as she lay down and stared at the wooden ceiling above her.If she closed her eyes, she could almost picture a wooden cradle in a corner of the room and a small wriggling bundle lying inside. The baby blanket that her mother had knitted for her was lovingly tucked away in her hope chest, along with several white gowns.
She rolled onto her side and a single tear seeped from her eyelid, disappearing intoher hairline.Perhaps this sudden burst of melancholy had to do with the fact that her twenty-fourthbirthday was approaching. For some, that might mean she was already an old maid, an orphan spinster with nothing but an empty existence stretching out before her. Not the most exuberant of thoughts, to be sure, so she concentrated instead on Mr. Cade’s promise that this year, he would make sure her special day would be one to be remembered. She couldn’t imagine what he could do while they were isolated in a mountain cabin in the midst of a frozen snowstorm for the centuries, but at least the prospect put a smile on her face as she fell asleep.
***
