Levi bent to put his eyes on a level with hers. “As I heard from someone I know, don’t much care what others say.”
He thought he saw a smile tugging at her lips. She had a pretty mouth—pink-lipped, warm, soft-looking.
“You’re here!”
His sister’s cry forced his gaze away from Callie. Levi drew in a breath. He had to get control of these wayward thoughts. He and Scout had bragged about the number of hearts they’d break once they were rich. Well, he’d bragged. Scout had merely smiled dreamily. That had been years ago. Surely Levi was a gentleman now. He’d become a minister. He wasn’t supposed to notice that his new ward’s lips looked as sweet as strawberries.
But he couldn’t help noticing how her eyes widened as Beth approached.
His sister was an acknowledged force of nature in Wallin Landing. Anyone looking at her artfully piled blond hair and frilly pink dress topped by a fur-trimmed short cape would think she had nothing to do all day but pamper herself. The truth was that Beth generally had a hand in anything good that happened at Wallin Landing. Though she was only a couple years older than Callie, she managed the food and lodging for the logging crew, took care of her cabin, helped teach at the school and care for the youngest ones with his sister-in-law Nora and had staked her own claim at the north of Wallin Landing.
Now she advanced on them, hands outstretched as if she meant to gather them all close. Sutter must have seen the gesture, for he beat a hasty retreat to the parsonage with Mica. Callie took a step back as well, as if she would follow.
Beth didn’t give her a chance. She enfolded Callie in a hug. “Welcome, welcome! I’m so glad you’re here! You can’t imagine how long I’ve wished for someone closer to my own age. Dottie’s not too far, of course, but she’s a wife and mother. You and I can’t be more than a year or two apart, so that’s neither here nor there. You must tell me everything about you. I can already see you’re wonderfully practical—trousers must be so much easier to work in.” Beth drew back, beaming as widely as the baby.
Callie stared at her a moment, then looked to Levi.
“This is my sister Beth,” Levi explained. “She lives near the parsonage.”
“Not far away at all,” Beth agreed. “It’s an easy walk. I’m sure we’ll find all kinds of reasons to visit—to share recipes, compare sewing patterns, prepare for Christmas. Oh! Have you read the latest issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book? That pink-striped walking dress would be perfect on you.”
Callie took another step back. “Thank you, but I have a baby and two boys to care for. Excuse me.” She turned and ran for the house.
Beth’s face fell. “Oh, Levi, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare her.”
Levi shook his head. “It’s not your fault. She’s skittish as a fawn, Beth. You can’t understand what it’s like to live in the gold camps, the only girl surrounded by rough men.”
Beth put her hands on her hips. “No, with five older brothers and a logging crew for company, I couldn’t possibly imagine.”
“Five older brothers and a logging crew who adore you,” Levi corrected her. “I get the impression Callie Murphy has had to kick and fight for everything she has, and she’s taken her share of punches.”
Beth dropped her hands with a sigh. “Then how can we make her feel at home?”
“I’m not sure,” Levi admitted, eyeing the parsonage. “But I promise you I won’t stop trying.”
Callie shut the door and leaned against it, heart pounding faster than it should. She ought to have known the preacher’s sister would be a perfect young miss. Their family owned a whole town! Was it possible someone like that, all bows and smiles, could be friends with her? She may have kept her family together, but she wasn’t a perfect young miss. She didn’t have recipes. She just threw what she had in a pot. And as for reading a book...
Noise and movement suddenly pierced her panicked mind. Frisco and Sutter were down on the floor, rolling and punching, while Mica sat on the rug to one side, clapping her hands as if encouraging them.
Callie shoved off the door and waded into the fight. “Enough! Both of you!” She grabbed Frisco by the collar and heaved. He broke away from Sutter, kicking. Sutter rolled out of reach.
She released Frisco and pointed to the farthest corner. “Go on, git! You stand there a moment and think.”
Sutter stuck out his tongue at Frisco as his twin slunk away.
Callie pointed to the opposite corner. “And Sutter, you get over there. You have some thinking to do, too.”
Sutter’s jaw tightened, but he loped to the corner and set his back to her.
Callie went to pick up Mica. The baby gurgled a welcome, seemingly as content to be in Callie’s arms as watching the wrestling match before her. Callie shook her head.
“What am I going to do with you?” she asked her brothers. “It was bad enough you fighting at the claim. Wasn’t much there you could hurt except each other. The preacher and his family are used to nicer things. They won’t appreciate you behaving like a pair of bear cubs in the spring.”
Frisco sniffed, gaze on the log wall. “Never said I wanted to come.”
“Me, neither,” Sutter reminded her.
“Well, we’re here,” Callie informed them. “And it’s up to us to make the best of it.”
Her brothers’ silence said otherwise.
Cuddling Mica, she glanced around the room for the first time. This was the cabin Adam should have built. The log walls were planed to fit tightly together; the chinking, where it was needed, was firm and clean. She couldn’t feel any breeze coming through the plank floor, couldn’t see an ounce of sunlight peering in except through the windows. And there wasn’t a trace of smoke staining the stone fireplace at one end.
Sutter stood near the hearth, nose to the wall. Behind him was a plank table flanked by benches, and beyond him, marvel of marvels, sat a stove. She’d only seen one before, in a high-price cookhouse in Vancouver. She caught Sutter glancing at the black-and-silver beast as if just as awed by it.
At the opposite end of the room, Frisco stood stiff-backed near open stairs leading up to the loft. Several wood chairs and a carved bench were clustered close by on a colorful rag rug. Quilted cushions covered the seats. Behind them, three windows looked out onto the lake. They had shutters that could be closed against the night, but they were surrounded by red and white curtains, tied back with bows.
Of course.
Behind her, the door opened, and Callie stiffened. Turning, she was more than a little relieved to find Levi alone. He brought in the last pack and her rifle, moving slowly as if he thought she might bolt otherwise. He wasn’t far off.
His smile faded as he glanced from Frisco to Sutter. “Everything all right?”
“Just fine,” Callie told him. “Frisco, Sutter, help the preacher bring in the quilts.”
Her brothers ran for the door, no doubt eager to escape.
“Don’t let them out of your sight,” she warned Levi.
Brows up, he left the pack and gun and hurried after her brothers.
They returned immediately with the quilts, dropping them at Callie’s feet. Then Frisco grabbed the pack with his and Sutter’s belongings. “Where are we bunking?”
Levi nodded to the stairs. “In the loft. Why don’t you go look around while I show Callie the rest of the house? Leave space for me to sleep.”