Home by Nightfall

Author:Alexis Harrington [Harrington, Alexis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Romance, Historical, cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9781612182063
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Published: 2012-07-03T04:00:00+00:00

Late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, Riley surprised everyone by bringing home a tree. He had nailed a stand on it before he brought it in.

As he dragged it into the house, even the boys, who usually kept their distance from him, were excited and jumping around. Tanner had told them not to mention what happened in the woods to anyone, not even at home. Susannah wasn’t sure what his thinking was, but she decided that he probably knew best.

“I haven’t seen a real Northwest evergreen at Christmas since I left. I thought it would be fun, since we didn’t have one.” Susannah followed him into the parlor and they moved a table out of one corner to put it up. After supper, they spent the evening stringing popcorn and cranberries, and Susannah went to the attic to bring down the decorations. She was pleased to see that Tanner stayed to help.

Shaw watched the proceedings from his rocker and threw in his two cents now and then, which no one wanted to hear.

“Can we put candles on the tree, Aunt Susannah?” Wade asked.

“Oh, no. I’ve heard about too many trees catching fire and burning down someone’s house.”

“Awww, I’d watch to make sure it didn’t happen.”

“Killjoy,” Shaw croaked under his breath.

“I’m not deaf, Shaw,” she reminded him. “If there were a fire in the house, you wouldn’t be able to get downstairs in time.” She and Riley exchanged wry glances before she turned back to the boys. “So, sorry, the answer is still no. It’s too dangerous.”

“Will Santa Claus come?” Wade asked.

“Santa Claus!” Joshua hooted. “Do you really still—”

“Josh,” Tanner cut in. “I need some help out here in the kitchen.”

“Yessirrrr,” the boy answered and got to his feet as if facing doomsday.

Susannah watched them go with a private smile and finished hanging the glass ornaments and homemade treasures she’d collected over the years. Anyone looking at the scene would assume this was a happy family gathering, she thought.

But anyone who thought that would be wrong.

• • •

Just before midnight, everyone but Tanner had straggled away to bed. Susannah was picking up the empty storage boxes from the parlor to put away until it was time to take the tree down again.

Tanner had been outside, checking the buildings one last time before he went to the bunkhouse. He walked into the parlor with one hand behind his back.

“Put down that junk for a minute and come sit.” He sat on the sofa and patted the seat beside him.

“I’m almost done.”

“Susannah—”

“Okay.” She dropped the box and stepped over to the leather sofa, apprehensive about what was coming next. She sat beside him, suddenly longing for the evenings they had spent here. It was only a few months ago, but it felt like a lifetime.

“This has turned out to be a pretty churned-up year for us.”

“Yes, it has.” She drew a deep breath and sighed. “One I never expected.”

He took her hand. “I know I’m not the easiest man to figure out,

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