“Oh, for goodness’ sake, give me at least a little warning,” Sophia said, covering her eyes with her hand.
Just then the door opened with a slight commotion. His brothers were standing on the landing, along with Jacques. All of their mouths were hanging open at the sight of him and Sophia. He was pretty sure that his lack of clothing wasn’t helping matters.
A feminine voice rang out from behind them. “Caleb Stone. Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”
His jaw dropped almost to the floor.
“Mom,” Caleb said in a surprised voice as Daisy Stone’s beautiful face came into view.
CHAPTER THREE
Caleb fought the urge to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Was Daisy really standing a few feet away from him? She had vowed a long time ago never to return to Moose Falls. Not even if her life depended on it. Yet here she was looking at him with an expression of mortification etched on her delicate features.
“Mom. Wh-what are you doing here?” he asked. As far as he knew, his mother was back home in Arizona teaching art classes and organizing poetry readings. She hadn’t set foot in Alaska in twenty years.
“Do you think I would miss my firstborn son’s engagement party?” Daisy asked as she made her way past Xavier and Landon. “Not on your life I wouldn’t.”
She reached out and brushed her palm across Caleb’s cheek. “My sweet boy. How I’ve missed seeing your beautiful face in person.”
“I’ve missed you too. You sure kept this surprise under wraps,” Caleb said. He still felt as if he was imagining things. He and his brothers had missed their mother something fierce.She hadn’t given them her blessing to come to Moose Falls for their inheritance, so the situation had been slightly awkward. Having her here in the flesh was a wonderful surprise.
“Hattie arranged it as a surprise for all of us,” Landon said. “We started to get worried when we couldn’t find you, and you weren’t picking up any of our calls, so we combed through the house.”
“Then Hattie mentioned that Sophia had disappeared, and we saw her heels on the landing,” Jacques said. “That led us straight to you.”
“We thought you needed rescuing,” Xavier said, wiggling his eyebrows.
“We did,” Sophia said, sounding heated. Her cheeks were flushed. His big brother’s innuendo hadn’t been lost on her.
“I was bit by a bunch of carpenter ants,” Caleb explained. “My whole body is itching and on fire, which is why I took off my clothes.” He was tripping all over himself to explain.
Xavier and Landon burst out laughing. They didn’t even bother to hide the fact that they found the situation highly entertaining, even though it was incredibly stressful for him.
“This could only happen to you,” Landon said, clutching his stomach. “Literal ants in your pants.”
“Totally,” Xavier said, shaking his head and chuckling. “Who knew carpenter ants bit people?”
Caleb glared at them. Neither one had any chill whatsoever. They hadn’t even asked him if he needed a doctor. These bites were no laughing matter, and they were embarrassing him in front of Sophia.
“You poor thing,” Daisy said, her voice oozing sympathy. “I can whip up a remedy for you. Baking soda and apple cider vinegar.” Her gaze swung to Sophia, and her eyes narrowed in on her like laser beams. “Caleb, introduce me to your lovely companion.”
His mother was always trying to pair him off with women. Clearly, nothing had changed in that regard. She always told him that “the love of a good woman will change your perspective.” He had always thought her outlook was pretty remarkable given her and Red’s tangled history. But Mama knew best. She’d never once steered him in the wrong direction.
“This is Sophia Brand, Mom. And we’re not together,” Caleb explained. “We were just stuck up here at the same time.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Stone,” Sophia said, sticking out her hand to shake Daisy’s.
“Call me Daisy, Sophia. It’s a pleasure to meet you, even under these unusual circumstances.” She shook her head and chuckled.
“If you’ll excuse me, I really have to get back to my post. I’m the photographer tonight,” Sophia explained. “I don’t want to disappoint Hattie.”
“Hattie knew something was off when you disappeared,” Jacques said. “We were hoping there wasn’t an emergency at home.”
Sophia placed her hand against her chest. “No, there wasn’t. Thank goodness for that.”
For the first time Caleb noticed that his dad was standing at the bottom of the steps. Red was pacing back and forth as if he didn’t quite know what to do with himself. Caleb imagined that seeing his ex-wife after all this time was intense. From what he knew, Red and Daisy hadn’t spoken to or seen each other in a very long time. With Red traveling out of town a lot on Yukon Cider business, he didn’t get to see him much.
“Thanks for the rescue,” Sophia said. She turned toward Caleb. “Take care of those bites, okay?” They locked eyes,and for a moment, it seemed as if it was once again just the two of them in the attic.
