“It would have only made him harder, and you know it.”
Marcus refilled his glass and took another long swallow of the nerve-calming liquor.
“Yeah, I know. That’s why I moved heaven and earth to get him here.”
Robbie chuckled. “You know that fierce little cat you just saw in the kitchen?”
“Yeah?”
“She’s been a firecracker waiting to explode all day. She was sure you and Martha would find fault with something and take Cody and Rick and Peter away. I think she would have taken a stick to you both if you had tried.”
Marcus snorted. “That’s why I was getting suspicious looks all afternoon, when I wasn’t getting cookies shoved down my throat.” A sudden gleam appeared in his eyes. “You—
ah—have room for two more boys, don’t you?”
“Nay.”
“Oh, come on, MacBain. This house is big.”
Robbie set his glass down on the desk, lowered his feet to the floor, and stood up. “I have a logging crew of twelve men—some of which, I might add, have run my rigs off the road when Cat went jogging by in her short shorts. I have four boys who are just starting to get their acts together and now two little children who are afraid of their own shadows. I’ve got a housekeeper who is scared to death of anything bigger than she is—
which is just abouteverything —and now I’ve taken on the impossible task of trying to court the woman. And you want me to add to that?”
Marcus’s jaw, which had gone slack, suddenly snapped shut. “You’re going to court her?” he asked, his eyes wide and glazed with drink. “As in marriage?” he croaked, just before he burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny about that?”
Marcus snorted. “Robert MacBain, the most eligible bachelor in the north Maine woods,” he said, waving his hand at the air. “And a man most determined to stay that way, rumor has it. You want to court Catherine Daniels?” he asked, breaking into another spasm of laughter.
“Aye!”
Marcus finally turned serious and shook his head. “That woman will never become another man’s wife.”
“Aye, she will. Catherine is going to marry me, and she’ll damn well be deliriously happy about it!”
They both refilled their glasses at that arrogant statement. One with determination, one with awe.
Chapter Fourteen
Cody was settledin his bed with an ice bag on his face, a ginger ale for his upset stomach, and the promise of some stew when he felt better. Dinner had been a quiet affair, with Robbie and Marcus conspicuously absent and Nora and Nathan back to their quiet selves. Gunter had decided he needed a walk more than he needed supper, and Rick and Peter were doing the dishes without even being asked.
Catherine was now in the barn, facing her two children as they sat on a bale of hay and stared at her with rounded eyes filled with uncertainty.
“What happened in the kitchen earlier was nothing more than a terrible mistake,”
Catherine began, sitting on another bale directly in front of them. “Nora, if anything ever scares you, then you are right to come tell me immediately. Gunter is the one who jumped to conclusions without checking the facts first.” She leaned forward and touched their knees. “And you saw how misunderstandings can lead to a terrible mess. People can get hurt when you react without finding out the truth first. I still want you both to tell me when something or someone scares you,” she said. “But you also have to begin trusting people,” she added, pointing to herself. “We all do, including me.”
“You told Gunter you trust Cody,” Nora whispered.
“I did tell him that,” Catherine agreed with a nod. “Because I do. All of the boys have been extra nice to you, haven’t they? Do you trust them to look out for you, Nora?”
The little girl nodded.
Catherine pulled her daughter into her arms. Nora was six years old. Not sixteen. Not twenty-six. She was just a little girl who had spent her entire life with a frightened and overly protective mother.
“We are all done running from your daddy,” Catherine whispered, leaning forward and putting her hand on Nathan’s shoulder, too, smiling at them both. “There’s nothing he can do to us, and that’s why we aren’t going to be afraid of him anymore.”
“He could hit you again,” Nathan whispered. “He could hurt you bad enough that you go to the hospital like before.”
Catherine shook her head. “No, Nathan, he can’t,” she assured him, relaxing back on her bale of hay. “Just like you guys, I’ve grown up these last three years, too. Your daddy can’t hurt me because I won’t let him. I just forgot that truth for a little while and ran away. But it stops here. This is our home now.”
She canted her head at them. “Do you know what they call people who live in Maine?
Maineiacs. And that’s what we are now. We’re Maineiacs.”
“But that means crazy people,” Nathan said.
Catherine nodded. “Then that’s what we are. We’re so crazy that we aren’t afraid of anything or anyone. You both like going to school here, don’t you?”
They both nodded.
“And you like the boys?”
“Gunter kind of scares me,” Nathan said.
“Gunter learned a very valuable lesson tonight,” Catherine assured him. “Remember how I told you to consider all of them guardian angels? Well, wasn’t Gunter trying to be a guardian angel to Nora?”
“I guess so,” Nathan agreed. “But Mom, you shouldn’t have stood in the middle. You could have got hurt by accident.”
“Oh, but I have a guardian angel, too, and he wouldn’t have let me get clobbered.”
“Who?”
“Mr. MacBain. He was standing right there. If he thought I was going to get hurt, he would have saved me.”
“How do you know that?” Nora asked.
“Because we have a deal,” Catherine told her children. “We watch each other’s back. I look out for Mr. MacBain, and he looks out for me.”
“Because you work for him?” Nathan asked.
“No. Because of that trust I was telling you about. He trusts me, and I trust him.”
“I trust Mr. MacBain,” Nora whispered. “And Gunter doesn’t scare me at all, ’cause he’s my guardian angel,” she declared with six full years of authority. “And my bus driver said that the Tooth Fairy lives right here in Maine. Right up on that mountain,” she added, pointing at the side of the barn.
Catherine had no idea how their discussion had gone from guardian angels to tooth fairies, but she was grateful.
“How come the bus driver told you that?” Nathan asked, apparently also ready to change the subject.
“ ’Cause I showed her my tooth,” Nora said, pulling down her lip, then using her tongue to wiggle one of her bottom teeth. “And the Tooth Fairy will come down the mountain and give me a surprise,” she explained. “Just as soon as it falls out and I put it under my pillow.” She finally let go of her lip. “But what does she do with all the tooths, Mommy?”
Well, there was a good question if she ever heard one. Catherine mimicked Nora’s earlier action, shrugged her shoulders, and held her palms up. “I have no idea,” she admitted. She shot her a smile. “But I bet I know who would. Why don’t you go ask Cody and Gunter?”
Nathan quickly shook his head, and Nora dropped her eyes to her lap, also shaking her head.
Catherine lifted her daughter’s chin. “If you don’t make peace with everyone, Nora, the silence will be like a black cloud hanging over the house.” She looked at Nathan as well.
“I want you both to take a bowl of stew to Cody and ask Gunter to come with you. And take Rick and Peter, too. And then ask all of them what the Tooth Fairy does with all the teeth she collects.”
“What if they fight again?” Nora whispered.
“They won’t,” Catherine promised. “Gunter is very sorry he hit Cody. But now it’s up to you to show them that you’re all still friends. It’s your turn to be their guardian angel.”