A Texas Christmas Reunion

One of the reasons he was so nervous about going home was Juliette, even though she was probably the one person in town he had not wronged in some way.

As wild a boy as he’d been, when Juliette looked at him, he’d felt worth something.

That was it, then. He was on edge because he feared seeing her look at him like everyone else had. Over the years, growing in maturity and wisdom, she might see him differently than she had back then. As a woman grown she might judge him more harshly.

That fifteen-year-old girl who had followed him one hot summer night to the shed where he’d hidden from an angry storekeeper, the sweet girl who’d sat with him, sharing her dinner, might see him differently now.

Looking back, it seemed odd—but sitting in that secluded space with darkness coming on—blame it, he wouldn’t have talked and laughed the evening away with anyone but Juliette.

He’d entertained a lot of girls in that shed. The memories were heated but vague. Visions of pretty faces melded one into one another—their sighs all the same.

The only one he remembered with clarity was Juliette.

She was—just better than anyone else he’d ever met.

Beautiful—it was the name he’d always called her. Partly to see her blush, but also because it was true. He’d called a few others that, too, but he’d only meant it with Juliette.

Just now, listening to the rumble of the great engine and feeling the vibration of the wheels on the track picking up speed, he didn’t know which he feared most. Seeing her again—or not seeing her.

* * *

What had she done?

Juliette opened the door to her snug little café and came inside, shutting the door on glowering clouds that promised snow. She glanced about the well-kept space and breathed in the familiar scents.

The café was empty of customers at the moment, but clearly there had been a few. Coffee had recently been served and sweet rolls. The lingering scent of steak told her someone had just enjoyed a meal.

Every inch of this place was as familiar to her as her face in the mirror.

What on God’s good earth had she done?

“You’re back quicker than I expected.” Rose bustled out from the kitchen, dusting flour-smeared hands on her apron. “I figured I’d bake a pan of biscuits. I imagine the folks arriving on the train will be hungry.”

“I appreciate that. Thank you, Rose.”

“It was no problem. The babies are asleep and your father-in-law is reading a dime novel. I needed to keep busy with—Juliette, you’re pale. Are you feeling all right?”

“Am I pale?” Juliette took off her gloves and pinched her cheeks. “Well—it’s just that I bought the hotel.”

Cora looked up from her book and pointed out the window. “That hotel?”

“I imagine so, Cora. It’s the only one in town,” Rose pointed out, looking as appalled as her sister.

“But it’s in worse shape than the schoolhouse is.”

Juliette hadn’t seen the inside of the small red building in some time but figured she must accept Cora’s word on it. “Yes—that very one. The fleas and the bedbugs all belong to me now.”

What in glory blazes had she done?

Turned her safe, predictable life upside down, is what.

“If I were you I’d tear it down,” Cora advised.

“That will be enough of your sassy mouth, young lady,” Rose scolded. “If you can’t say something supportive just go back to your studies.”

“I’ve been trying to all afternoon. But those women from the Ladies Service Society spent their whole meeting time gossiping about that no-account fellow coming to town. If they want to be of service, they should have been over at the schoolhouse cleaning it. It made my brain scatter. I reckon the new teacher will take the first train out of here once she sees where she’s supposed to work.”

Juliette assumed that the man the members of the Society had been discussing could be no other than Trea Culverson. Juliette was grateful that she had not been here for that conversation. Her recollections of the boy were vastly different than theirs.

And the very last thing she had time for was filling her mind with a long-ago romance, especially one that had only happened in her imagination.

“Yes, well,” Juliette said. “That’s what the Ladies Service Society does. They make plans over coffee, but usually don’t act upon them.”

“Same with our ‘brave’ sheriff. He took his lunch plate to the ladies’ table. Sure did make some big talk about keeping a sharp eye on the man they were talking about.” Cora picked up her pencil and appeared to be absorbed in study, but Juliette figured it was more focused on town trouble.

“He would, wouldn’t he? After his cousins nearly robbed the bank right under his nose, he needs to do something to look like he’s protecting us.” Rose shrugged. “I was too young to remember Mr. Culverson much, but he sounds charming and wicked all at once.”

“Yes, well, some will remember him that way, but I remember a boy with a kind heart.”

When she had time she might give her memories of Trea further thought, but at the moment she had to focus on what might be the biggest mistake she had ever made.

So much was a jumble in her mind, such as how to deal with various forms of vermin while trying to keep Warren Lindor out of The Fickle Dog Saloon when it was right next door to the hotel.

But a few other things were perfectly clear.

For one thing, she would move into the hotel, once it was livable.

For another, she would open a fancy restaurant within the hotel—a steakhouse. It would be a respectable place where folks could bring their families.

Still yet another, and this was very important to her, she would keep her dear café open. It had been her lifeline, something to focus her future on after burying her family.

What she had just done was too overwhelming to consider all at once. If she tried, it made her short of breath and gave her a bit of a headache.

Tiny steps would get her to where she needed to be. In time, she hoped to lead Beaumont Spur back to the decent place it used to be. A place where a child could run free, hear birdsong instead of garish music...where one did not need to worry about being bowled over by staggering saloon patrons. That was something she hoped to change. Unfortunately, good folks were already packing.

She took a breath and let it out slowly. There was really nothing she could do about her giant undertaking right that moment.

Except—

“Rose, do you like working here?”

“I couldn’t get by without the work you give me. There aren’t a lot of respectable jobs for someone my age, and I’m not nearly ready to marry.”

“Would you consider running the café for me?” Juliette glanced between Rose and her little sister. Whatever Rose chose to do would be with Cora’s best interests in mind.

“You could live in my house. That way you would be here in town, closer to work and to school for Cora.”

Rose stared at her in silence. Warren’s soft chuckle drifted out of the kitchen while he read his novel.

“I know it’s sudden, but—”

“I can start right now. Mercy, but I guess I already have.” Rose lifted her hands and waggled her flour-crusted fingertips. “It won’t be long until the afternoon train. I’ll get back to the kitchen right now.”

“I can pay you, too, Cora, if you’d like to help with sweeping and keeping things tidy or watching the babies.”

“I reckon I won’t be going to school anytime soon, once the new teacher gets a look at the place, so, yes, I’d like that.”

“The classroom is that awful?”

“As far as I can tell, and that’s quite a bit, the old teacher never, ever, even wiped fingerprints off the desks.”

Beaumont needed a respectable teacher. Given that Juliette would have her children attending in only five more years, and also given the fact that keeping things neat and tidy was something of a crusade for her—

“Don’t you worry about what your new schoolteacher will think. If you’ll help your sister with the café and with Mr. Lindor for a few hours, I’ll make sure your new teacher will be happy with the classroom.”

A couple hours of scrubbing ought to give her time to think and plan. There were more thoughts in her mind right now than she could keep track of.

Along with an orderly attack on dirt, she might put together a plan to make her hotel a symbol of new life for Beaumont Spur.

* * *

Wind tugged Juliette’s skirt every which way while she pushed the buggy over the rutted road toward the schoolhouse. As cold as it was, she hadn’t wanted to bring the babies out, but they would be getting hungry soon. Even if they would accept a bottle, which they would not, Rose would have a lot to do if the train was full of passengers.

A portion of the blanket blew loose, exposing Lena’s dark, curly head. Bending over the buggy, Juliette tucked it back into place.

“I know it’s cold, sweetlings,” she murmured when the blanket heaved and fussing noises emerged from under it. “Almost there.”

Just as she lifted Joe from the buggy, a dozen or more fat snowflakes drifted down. She hurried up the steps with him hugged close to her breast. Once inside, she laid a blanket on the floor and put him on it. Within seconds he began to cry.

“I’m sorry, little love,” she called over her shoulder while she hurried back out to bring in Lena.

Lena cried louder than Joe did when Juliette laid her down beside her cousin.

There was nothing to do but let them cry for a moment, since she could not leave the buggy to fill with snow.

Making quick work of it, she dragged the buggy inside then lit a fire in the stove. She put on a pot of water to heat, since it was far too cold to scrub with anything that was not warm and sudsy.

With a child in each arm, she sat cross-legged on the floor and fed them. The peaceful moment gave her time to look about at the task she had volunteered to do.

Cora was right. Any teacher worth the pay would not consider working in this filth. How long did she have to get it cleaned?

No one knew for sure when the instructor would arrive. Before Christmas was all she’d heard.

“What do you think, Lena?” She gazed down at her daughter and received a milky smile. “If I finish in time, I ought to hang a fir bough over the blackboard.”

Casting a frown at the walls and the smears of grime on them, she was not sure when that would be. There was plenty of firewood stacked outside, so she could stay here until she had to get Warren home and into bed.

The twilight hours were often difficult for him, and Rose should not have to deal with his increasingly odd moods.

“What do you think about some red berries tucked into the garland, Joe?” He kicked his tiny feet.

Within half an hour the room had warmed comfortably and the babies fallen asleep.

She turned her attention to the task at hand. Walls first, then desks and the floor.

The Ladies Service Society ought to have been here to help, but no doubt some of them were intent on leaving Beaumont Spur and no longer cared about the condition of education here.

Well, this was Juliette’s town—her school, in a sense—and she would see to its cleanliness. She could not understand why other folks didn’t care more about the condition of their school or their town. Perhaps it was because the people who had negative things to say spoke the loudest and set the mood for everyone else, giving off an attitude of despair instead of hope.

By the looks of things, she would be here for hours, listening to the snap of the fire, the babies breathing and the swish of the cleaning rag in soapy water.

Plenty of time to make a plan to renovate her hotel.

The trouble was, being in this room—which had not changed since she’d been a student—made her look more at the past than the future.

All of her memories, good and bad, led to one thought.

What had become of Trea Culverson? He was coming home. She knew that, but not a single thing more.

Wherever she glanced in this room she saw him—a boy discounted by the teacher, flirted with by infatuated girls and resented by the other boys—even as they envied him.

And Juliette...she remembered a day...

Looking up from her work, she gazed out the window. Snow drifted softly past, very much like it had that day.

The teacher had sent her students outside to get fresh air even though the weather was bad.

Juliette stood with a circle of girls and boys who considered themselves to be wooing. Juliette believed them to be silly, since no one was of an age for courting.

The room around her faded, giving way to a vivid vision of things past.

Trea stood next to Juliette, all the while holding the hand of his current sweetheart, Nannie Breene. The name Nannie Preen would have suited her better—Juliette remembered thinking that very clearly. She was awfully proud to be holding the hand of the handsome bad boy.

Nannie had looked at Juliette with a sneer so genuine that one would not know they were friends. At least she had always thought they were, but the scorn in her expression took her aback.

“You need a beau,” Nannie had suddenly declared in front of everyone.

Indeed, Juliette was the only girl in the circle without one. And no wonder. She was not like the other girls. She was too tall, quite gangly and she dressed in homemade clothes rather than the fashionable outfits her classmates enjoyed.

“Juliette Moreland, why don’t you just go away?”

Nannie’s words had slashed her to the heart. They were so hurtful and embarrassing, she’d wished the ground would open and she could slip away—never to be seen again.

Her cheeks had burned hotter than any fever.

She’d been certain she could never face anyone again. But then—she could scarce believe it—Trea dropped Nannie’s hand and slipped his arm around Juliette’s shoulder.

“She can stay,” he’d said with a slight squeeze. “I want her to stay.”

A day and a half later, Trea’s attention had shifted from Nannie to another girl.

After all this time, she could not even recall who it was.

In the end, she was glad he’d never chosen to flirt with her. If he had, her life might have turned out very differently because there had been something, a sense of belonging, between them, a feeling that they were meant to be together. At least, that is what her romantic young heart had believed.

A silly fancy, she had come to see as time went on.

In the end, she had married Steven and never regretted it. How could she, with those two precious babies asleep on the blanket? And there was the café that had taught her how to stand on her own. And now? Well—she certainly did not regret the new venture she was taking on. It frightened her, but she would not go back from the choice she made.

Things worked out the way they were supposed to in the end.

Mostly.

* * *

When he got off the train, Trea was hungry. Seemed like half a dozen other folks were, as well.

He’d wait a bit to eat. Maybe head on over to the café he’d just spotted for dinner. The place hadn’t been here when he was a kid but it looked respectable.

Picking up his valises, he tucked one under each arm then scooped up two more, one in each fist. All he had in the world fit in the four small cases. A circumstance that suited him just fine.

Anything he needed he could purchase when he received his first pay. Since his house on the outskirts of town came with furniture, he would not need much.

Glancing about, he was sorry to see the town so ragged. Seemed like no one cared about it anymore. The Beaumont he remembered had been a pretty place.

Blame it if his own father wasn’t responsible for much of the blight. He imagined his pa was even less scrupulous as a saloon owner than he’d been as a teamster.

He had the sad feeling that Pa’d had Trea’s mother in mind when he named one of his saloons The Fickle Dog—probably The Saucy Goose, as well.

Growing up he’d never heard a complimentary thing about his mother. Absence—death, as it was—had not made his father’s heart grow fonder.

In the distance he spotted the small red schoolhouse with a bell tower on top. He’d go there before he went to his new house. It was closer, and smoke was curling out of the chimney.

With the weather turning ever colder, the wind and snow swirling, close was better.

He balanced his valises, tucked them tighter under his arms and picked up his pace. Through one of the windows he saw the stove’s orange glow. It cast a welcome through the dim afternoon light.

He’d say a heartfelt prayer of thanks for whoever had had the foresight to warm the place up.

It was curious that anyone had, though, given he’d been vague about the time of his arrival.

After bounding up the steps, he set his valises on the porch then opened the door.

A woman was on her knees, facing away from him. Her slim back moved in time with her vigorous scrubbing. The skirt draped across her hips swayed with the effort she exerted.

A black braid with a pink ribbon entwined in the strands bounced between her shoulder blades.

She hadn’t heard him come in because she was singing to herself.

He wasn’t aware of breathing or his heartbeat because when she turned and saw him, what would her expression be? How would she look at him?

Why, after all this time, did it matter so much?

“Hello, Beautiful,” he said, surprised his voice croaked past the lump in his throat.

Chapter Four

Juliette clenched the rag in her fingers then let it drop on the floor near her knees. Slowly straightening, she dug her damp, sudsy hands into her skirt.

Trea’s voice was familiar and different at the same time. For some reason, it came as shock to hear it even though she knew he was coming back to Beaumont Spur.

Slowly she pivoted her head. Her gaze collided with a pair of pants, gray wool damp at the cuffs. She raised her eyes. Her line of vision slid up, over thighs that had grown muscular over the years—she noted it even under the cover of wool.

He gazed down at her, arms folded across his ribs. The coat he wore was bulky so she could not tell if his chest had filled out like his long legs had.

But of course it would have. No one stayed seventeen forever. The boy she had been smitten with had quite clearly become a man, and she scarce knew what to think or how to feel about it.

From her position on the floor it seemed that his hat touched the ceiling.

Then, for a heartbeat only, she did see the boy. The expression of vulnerability that she remembered all too well flashed across his face before he smiled.

The way his mouth curved up at one corner was instantly familiar, except, of course, for the dark mustache that had been trimmed within half an inch of a subtle dimple.

She well remembered that flirtatious dimple, having dreamed of it night after night for a good three years when she was a girl.

He grinned and the impression of vulnerability vanished.

“Trea Culverson. I imagine you still say that to all the girls.” Slowly she rose, grateful that her skirt hid the way her knees quaked.

She flipped her braid over her shoulder by habit, striving to look casual and unshaken by his sudden appearance. Because why should she be shaken? He was a ghost of her past and nothing more.

“I only ever meant it for you, Juliette.”

Maybe it was foolish, but she did believe him—and it made her feel...confused.

Yes, confused and lovely, which was unexpected, and silly, too. She was a widow, the mother of two, and he was—

Who was he now? Why had he shown up in the schoolhouse, of all places?

“It’s good to see you after all this time, Trea.”

That was so completely the truth that it scared her. How could it be that she felt as nervous as the awkward girl she had been the last time she’d seen him?

“Blame it, Juliette, you are even prettier than you were last time I saw you. I can’t see how that’s possible.” His smile ticked up; his brown eyes glimmered at her.

“And you are still a flirt. I was never beautiful and you know it. I was tall and gawky.”

“No, that was me. You were always the sweetest person I ever met.”

It was time to move on from this clumsy conversation. Or if it wasn’t, of the way it made her feel.

“I heard you were coming back, but what are you doing here in the schoolhouse?” It was the very last place she would have expected to encounter him. It was in the opposite direction of The Fickle Dog, which is where she would have assumed he was headed.

He tipped his head to one side, arched a dark brow. Oh—she remembered that expression, too! It made her heart flutter, same as it always had.

Where on earth was her good sense?

Widows were levelheaded folks. Everyone knew it.

“I’m surprised to see you here, too.”

“Oh, well—you wouldn’t be if you saw what the classroom looked like an hour ago. The former teacher was lax in tidiness and everything else. I’m hoping a good scrubbing will keep our new teacher from turning tail and running away.”

She sounded normal, her voice smooth and her thoughts casual. He would never guess how seeing him again so suddenly had shot her back in time and turned her inside out.

“That won’t happen, Juliette.” The jaunty smile, the teasing glint in his eye, faded and he looked at her soberly. “I’m the new teacher. And I’m here to stay.”

The teacher! It couldn’t be—no, not possibly.

“But—but—well.” Some folks would never allow him to teach their children. He couldn’t know how they still gossiped about him. “That is—I’m glad—grateful, I mean. We need a teacher so desperately.”

Trea Culverson a schoolmaster? Try as she might, she could not envision it.

Schoolteachers, both men and women, were held to strict standards. Why, they could have no social life at all. The instant there was a breath of scandal involving them, they were dismissed. It was not so long ago that a lady teacher had been fired for accepting a ride home in a buggy driven by a man who was not her father or her brother. It mattered not at all that it had been windy and getting dark.

Even if Trea had grown a halo and sprouted wings over the years, some folks would find fault.

“Surprised?” That brow lifted again, along with the crooked smile and the tick of his dimple. “You’re looking at a teacher with a degree in education.”

No, not surprised—stunned. Of all the things she’d considered, of all the things she’d imagined he had done with his life—she was simply astonished.

“What about you, Juliette?” he asked with a quick glance at her hand and away.

Could he be wondering if she was married? Apparently, but—

“Look over there in the corner—behind the stove.”

He turned. She noticed his shoulders sag ever so slightly, but when he looked back at her his grin was as bright as summer sunrise.

“Those little babies are my life.”

“Congratulations, Juliette! They are beyond precious.” He reached out as though he might touch her, but instead took a step back. “Your husband must be a happy man.”

No doubt. She believed everyone was, in the great beyond. More than once she’d felt Steven smiling over her shoulder.

“I’m a widow, Trea.”

The regret she saw darken his expression appeared genuine. She’d bet her new hotel on it.

“I’m right sorry to hear it. Did you marry a local fellow?”

“I did. Maybe you remember Steven Lindor? But he was a few grades ahead of us in school. You’ll recall his brother, I imagine. Thomas. He was in our class.”

“A quiet fellow—kept to himself, as I recall.”

“Yes.” Thomas had been shy and kinder than many of the boys. “That was him.”

And now, with her marital situation clear, she could not help but wonder—what was his?