The Kidnapped Christmas Bride (Taming of the Sheenans Book 3)(15)

But Lawrence had broken that promise. Why?

And if he'd broken that promise to her, how much others had he not kept?





Chapter Ten




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They arrived at Bigfork at a little after midnight, the high full moon  reflecting white off Flathead Lake as they drove south fifteen miles on  Highway 35 to the little town of Cherry Lake.

If they kept going another eighteen miles they'd come to Polson.

Trey's mom, Catherine Cray, had spent her early years outside Cherry  Lake, a member of the Bitterroot Salish tribe that formed part of the  Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation.

All but the northern tip of Flathead Lake was part of the extensive  Flathead Indian Reservation, and when Trey's mother's grandparents died,  they left an old cabin on the lower slope of the Mission Mountains, and  a couple acres of land to their daughter, hoping she'd return and raise  her sons on the land of her ancestors.

Trey's father hadn't minded taking the boys to the cabin with its  spectacular view of Flathead Lake for fishing trips, but he wasn't  interested in his wife's native ancestry. She wasn't even half Salish  and he wasn't about to raise his sons as native this, or that.

Trey hadn't been to the cabin in years, but until recently Cormac  visited regularly, and apparently just this past summer Brock had  brought Harley and the kids for a ten-day vacation, using the time to  rebuild the old stone fireplace, install a new stove in the kitchen, and  make a number of smaller repairs.

"Know where we're going now?" Trey asked McKenna as they drove past the  turn-off to sleepy little Cherry Lake, a Flathead Lake town that came  alive in summer with tourists and the colorful fresh fruit stands  dotting the road selling crates of Lamberts, Rainier and Hardy Giant  cherries.                       
       
           



       

"I had a suspicion when you took 83 north," McKenna answered, shifting  TJ to free her arm, which had gone numb sometime in the last half hour.  "When's the last time you were here?"

"It's been a long time, but you were here with me. It was a couple years before TJ was born."

"I remember," she said softly. They'd driven from Marietta for a long  weekend at the cabin in late September. Most of the tourists were gone  and the local kids were all in school. It jad felt like they had the  lake and town to themselves. "We had fun."

He shot her a swift glance, expression somber. "We did," he agreed. "And we will again."

The last words were spoken so quietly she wasn't sure he'd even said  them. She glanced at him but his attention was on the steep private road  that wound back to the cabin.

*

The keys to the Cray cabin were right where they'd always been, tucked  high up the hollowed leg of the wooden grizzly cub gracing the cabin's  front porch. Trey unlocked the cabin's front door, flipped on the light  switch and was gratified to see light flood the open main room, a  combination of living room, dining room and small kitchen.

The one and a half story log cabin had been built in the late 1940's and  had just the bare minimum in maintenance until Cormac started paying  regular visits ten years ago. The cabin was still rustic, with stacked  log walls and exposed trusses in the vaulted ceiling but everything  looked clean and weather proofed.

Trey did a quick walk through, flipping on lights in the two downstairs  bedrooms and turning on the heater. The windows in both bedrooms were  original, and weren't double paned. Once the wooden shutters were  removed, the bedrooms would be a lot colder. He hoped the big cedar  chest in the master bedroom still held all the sheets, quilts and  comforters. They were going to need to make up the beds and get extra  blankets on them, too.

He returned to the truck where McKenna and TJ were waiting. "Got the  heater on and the lights on," he said. "But we'll need to get the beds  made up."

"If you've got clean sheets, I can do that," she said, shivering as she handed TJ over.

"The cedar chest should be full of them."

McKenna lifted her full skirts high as she followed Trey up the path to  the cabin. Her heels weren't designed for hiking up a rutted dirt path.  "I don't suppose there are any clothes here? I'm not going to want to  put this dress back on tomorrow."

"I'm sure we can find something for the night, and then tomorrow we'll  go shopping in Cherry Lake, and if Cherry Lake doesn't have it, Polson  or Bigfork will."

*

McKenna quickly made up both twin beds with sheets and blankets in the  smaller bedroom, before taking a sleepy and disoriented TJ to the  bathroom where she stripped off his pants, shoes and socks and then  tucked him into one of the twin beds in his shirt.

Trey made up the queen size bed in the master bedroom while she put TJ  to bed. She'd slept in the master bedroom the last time she was here. It  seemed as if they'd spent most of their time at the cabin in bed.

But she wouldn't think about that. There was no point dwelling on the  past. She hadn't agreed to let TJ spend Christmas with his dad so she  and Trey could rekindle a romance. She wasn't interested in romance.  She'd like to be friends with Trey, though. And she'd like to see TJ and  Trey have the kind of father-son relationship they both craved.

*

McKenna could hear Trey moving around in the central room, bringing in firewood and stacking it next to the big stone fireplace.

She lay on her side in the narrow twin bed listening to him open and close doors and arrange the firewood.

It was strange lying here, listening to him work. It was one in the morning. Wasn't he tired?

Or was he out there working because he felt all wound up, too?

McKenna turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She wasn't sure  how she felt, being back at the Cray cabin. This was a place shared by  the five Sheenan brothers. They never invited outsiders. It was just for  family. When Trey had brought her here that September, they were still  newly engaged.                       
       
           



       

Now she was back and her emotions were all over the place.

It might not have been a good idea, coming here for Christmas.

But then, this Christmas wasn't about her, and what she wanted. This  Christmas was about Trey and TJ. This Christmas was about them having a  special holiday together.

Restless, she flipped her covers and quilt back, floorboards creaking  beneath her bare feet as she went to his bed. Even though Trey had left  the wooden blinds closed, slivers of moonlight slipped through the  cracks and streaked the log frame.

TJ looked small in the twin bed, his cheek nestled deep into the down pillow, his hair dark on the crisp white pillowcase.

She leaned over and lightly kissed his warm cheek, before tugging the covers higher on his shoulder.

She loved him so much. From the beginning she'd tried to do everything  right. She wanted him to have everything a little boy needed. Halloween  costumes and Christmas traditions. Swim lessons, summer vacations,  Saturday matinee movies.

But despite her best efforts, she hadn't been able to give TJ  everything. He didn't have a daddy that was there, and it was the only  thing he asked for.

Again and again and again.

A daddy to take him fishing. A daddy for cub scouting. A daddy for wrestling and hugging and loving.

A lump formed in her throat. She'd agreed to marry Lawrence for TJ's  sake. It was a terrible thing to admit. She didn't need the company as  much as TJ needed a father figure.

She'd thought Lawrence was the answer. At least, she'd hoped he was the  answer. But Lawrence and TJ had never really clicked. She could admit  that now. She could see that she'd tried to force them to like each  other, planning activities to help them get along. She'd thought if she  tried hard enough eventually they'd grow fond of each other but it  hadn't happened. Lawrence, a forty-year old bachelor when he'd begun  dating McKenna, couldn't relate to a headstrong little boy who wasn't  interested in learning cribbage and chess. TJ wanted Lawrence to box and  run and wrestle. He wanted physical activity not quiet games.

Lawrence criticized McKenna's parenting.

McKenna privately pleaded with TJ to do the activities Lawrence enjoyed so they could all be happy together.

The more pressure McKenna put on TJ to cooperate with Lawrence, the more  resistant TJ became to all of Lawrence's suggestions. Lawrence thought  it was a problem. But TJ wasn't a problem and he wasn't spoiled or a  little monster. He was just himself … active, healthy, busy, smart.

McKenna loved his sense of humor. She loved his personality. She didn't want him to be anybody but himself.

The only times she and Lawrence argued was over how she was raising TJ.

Now, asleep, TJ looked impossibly angelic, and nothing like a little  monster. She lightly placed one last kiss on his soft cheek. She could  feel his warm breath as she straightened.