Chapter 22
D enny was flabbergasted that her sister would be such a doofus. Wasn’t she a professional chef? Wasn’t she the older sister who always came out victorious?
A member of the staff, a young woman clad in a kilt, bustled up to them. “Princess is having her pups.”
“Oh no, it’s too cold.” Denny said.
“I can assist.” Lydia stepped forward. “On the farm, I’ve helped many animals give birth.”
“That would be wonderful,” Molly said. “She’s in the basement.”
“In my room?” Alec asked.
“No, but close by.”
They descended the stairs. Ahead tall shelves supporting canned goods and bottled drinks lined the walls.
Denny trailed the group and rubbed her arms for warmth. “I can help too.” She wouldn’t let Lydia outdo her. And she was curious to see Alec’s room. But when they reached the soon-to-be-mother, they found that Princess was just nesting, according to Lydia.
“A common occurrence,” Lydia said. “She might nest for days. Animals often do.”
Flashlight in hand, Denny glanced into Alec’s bedroom. A single bed, a nightstand with a nonworking lamp. A weighty book by the bed. She wondered what he was reading but decided to not venture into the room to see.
“She’s preparing a place to give birth, but she’s not ready,” Lydia said.
Denny saw the dog curled on the floor on a blanket that must be her bed.
“I can hardly wait.” Lydia’s voice was giddy.
Exactly what Denny was thinking but didn’t want to seem overly enthusiastic. She hated waiting and had always been impatient. Denny knew this fact about herself, but so what? There were worse traits, such as laziness.
Alec said, “I’ll make her a whelping box out of scraps of wood that’s stored in one of the sheds out back and line it with newspaper.”
“You’d do that?” Denny’s admiration for him blossomed.
“Aye, I love animals. Especially dogs.”
“I do too. And reading.”
He nodded. “Nothing better than a good book.”
Denny pondered what else they had in common. Her mind spun back to her bookstore. While here she’d intended to purchase books. But the snow would make that chore impossible for at least a day. In the morning, she might walk into Portree and see what she could find. She bet she would discover most of the stores empty. Maybe not even open.
“Good night,” she said to Alec. She hated to leave him of all silly things.
He nodded in her direction and said, “Hope you sleep well.”
“Thanks.” Denny climbed the stairs and peered out a window to see white. In the distance, she could make out a few lights, which must be Portree.
“I’m going to bed,” Maureen said, startling Denny. “After my debacle, I don’t dare show my face anywhere.”
“No one will know,” Denny said. “You’re a stranger to most of the people in this hotel.”
“What if that reporter comes back?” Maureen’s face looked ghoulish in the darkness.
“No one’s going anywhere in this snow.” For the first time, Denny felt sorry for her superstar sister.
Amanda pressed her face against the glass window. “Can’t we go outside again?”
“No.” Both Denny and Maureen answered in unison.
“Where is Lydia?” Maureen asked. “She is supposed to be looking after you.”
“I don’t need looking after,” Amanda said. “You act like I’m a little baby.”
In the darkened room, Denny grinned. Couldn’t Maureen take care of her own daughter? “You go upstairs with your mom,” Denny said to Amanda. “Time to catch up on your sleep.”
“But I want to watch TV.”
“Pretty hard to do without electricity, sweetie.” Denny chuckled under her breath. “Besides, I didn’t see televisions in any of the rooms. Maybe they have a room downstairs with a TV.”
“What kind of a dumb hotel is this anyway?” Amanda stomped her foot on the floor. “Mommy wrecked everything when she burned something in the oven.”
“Hold on, your mother is not responsible for the snow or the power outage.”
“Thank you for stating the obvious, Denny.” Maureen’s voice came out like she was defeated. “You coming upstairs?”
“Not yet.” Denny decided to stay put in case Alec showed up again. She didn’t trust sweet and lovely Lydia. Denny had plenty to talk about with Alec. She could turn on the charm when she needed to. She heard voices mingling. Alec and Lydia. Denny wished this didn’t bother her, but it did.
The day after their parents’ memorial service her former boyfriend sent her a text. A text of all puny gestures. He was sorry about the death of her parents but he didn’t see a future with her. She’d needed to be held as she wept, but he was long gone. She bet he was skiing in some resort far away from her. Probably taking that trip to Switzerland he’d always talked about. Denny wondered if he’d brought along a new girlfriend but didn’t have the energy to find out. What good would knowing about it do Denny now?
Several people had sent her sympathy cards, but she hadn’t had the energy to read them beyond what some employee at Hallmark had stated. Still, she appreciated the sentiment. The sender was sorry, please accept their sympathy. Just words falling to the earth in silence like shriveled leaves.
Her father had never liked Kevin, and now she wished she’d asked him why. She should have listened to Dad more. She would if he were still alive. She was sure of it. He had been dead set against her opening a bookstore. “I’m a stockbroker, a businessman,” he’d told her. She took offense when she could have taken his advice. “Buy low and sell high” was one of his favorite sayings. And “it’s a dog-eat-dog world.”
In hindsight he could have offered her much needed information. As an English literature major in college, she knew nothing about operating a business. No wonder she was in the red; more money was going out than was coming in. One thing for sure, in order for her store to keep its doors open, she needed more inventory. Did she know so little about her customers that she’d purchased the wrong books?
She continued to gaze out at the whiteness. Talk about silent. She recalled an oldies song her mother used to play, “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel. Like a slap on the face, Denny was staggered by how little she’d appreciated her mother when she was alive. She could think of a thousand topics she would talk to Mom about today. They could have gone to a tea shop and sat across the table from each other. But too late now. The two of them could be on this trip together to keep Maureen company.
Denny was startled by a flash of light. She spun around and saw Alec and Lydia approaching her with a flashlight.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said to Denny. “You looked deep in thought.”
“Not a problem.” Denny’s elbow resting in the windowsill, she tried to look nonchalant—as if she hadn’t a care in the world. “I was just thinking about how beautiful and peaceful it is outside. But I guess by morning we’ll be freezing.”
“I’ll have a look at the generator,” he said. “See if I can get it working.”
“Wait. Before you skedaddle, I have a few questions for you.” She pivoted to Lydia and said, “I think Maureen might need you while I speak to Alec.” Denny composed a serious mask of concern when all she wanted was to get rid of her and be alone with him.
As they watched Lydia leave, Denny’s mind scrambled for ideas. She was pleased when one took shape in her brain. “Is there a used bookstore in the town of Portree?” she asked. “Or anywhere else nearby?”
“There’s a quaint little shop in Portree, but I don’t know that it sells used books.”
“Any bookstore would be fine. I’m not sure what I’m looking for. Books I can’t find at home.”
“With all that fresh snow, I’ll have to wait and see how my car drives. It’s not a four-wheel-drive vehicle. I’m ill prepared. It usually only rains here.”
“We could always walk.”
“Aye, if Maureen and Amanda want to go with us.”
“Lydia could stay here with Amanda. And Maureen doesn’t much care for walking.”
“We’ll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.” He turned away from her and peered out the window. “The snow is coming down harder. I’ve never seen so much.”
It occurred to Denny that Alec’s mind might be grappling for excuses not to go anywhere with her ever. He may have no interest in her nor even like reading. Not everyone did, and she must not judge him lest she be judged. Where did that admonition come from? She recalled her parents forcing her and Maureen to go to Sunday school when they were young and through high school. In any case, it was the truth. It was always easier to see a speck in someone else’s eye past the logjam in her own vision. She herself had sinned often. She’d lied to her parents. Pilfered from their liquor cabinet. Things so terrible she would not admit them even to herself.
Denny didn’t want to be alone. But she could tell Alec was moving away from her as he rotated toward the kitchen.
“Hey, wait up.” She placed a hand on his forearm for a moment. “Tell me more about yourself.”
“What are you asking? Do you mean why do something mundane like be a hired driver?”
That was exactly what she was asking but realized the question sounded judgmental.
“You must think I’m nosy.” She felt her pulse speeding up. Now what would she say? “There’s nothing wrong with driving around this beautiful location.”
“Truth is, I went to college, but I was expelled when I was falsely accused by a professor of cheating on a test.” He cleared his throat. “I lost my scholarship as well.”
Denny was dumbfounded by his honesty. Without thinking she opened her mouth and spoke. “I’ve cheated and lied but was never caught,” she said. Something she had never admitted to anyone. Why speak to him this way? She felt exposed, even in the darkness. She wished she could hide.
She gathered herself together. “But I’m not lying about my business. I do own a thriving little bookshop.” Thriving? Floundering would be a better description. Low on stock and customers. She couldn’t compete with Amazon. But why start being honest now? When she went home, she would never see Alec again.
Her sister had excelled in all her endeavors. The magnificent Maureen with Denny struggling to keep up. Without success.
But things had been changing. Denny had been baffled when Maureen started crying at supper. And her fiasco in the kitchen? Denny had never seen Maureen make such ghastly mistakes. Denny’s head spun as she tried to make sense of things. She was glad she had never told Maureen of her own terrible blunders. If and when her bookshop went under, she would have to make up some lie to cover her tracks rather than to tell Maureen about it. No use worrying about their parents’ disapproval anymore. They would have been terribly disappointed in her. Not that she blamed them; she was disappointed in herself.
“I’ve never seen a generator before.” Denny turned to Alec. “I’ve always wondered how they worked.” Not true.
“It’s in an outbuilding. I’ll take you with me as long as you don’t mind being cold and in the dark.”
“Nah, I’m not afraid of anything.” She was glad she was shrouded in darkness.
“How about an occasional mouse?”
Denny stiffened as she felt terror close in on her. Why had she made such a grandiose statement about herself when in fact she had many fears. Too many. But now was not the time to examine them.
He found another flashlight and a couple of shortbread cookies in a tin container as they passed through the kitchen. He handed them to her.
“Thanks.” She bit into the cookie and savored it as the buttery flavor melted in her mouth. “Yummy.” Once outside, she realized she had stopped walking.
“You coming?”
“Sorry to slow you down.” What an idiot. “Yes, I’m coming.”
The snow crunched under their feet. A romantic setting if ever there were one. She flicked the flashlight on and was pleased that it sent out a strong beam. “Thanks for being my knight in shining armor.” A dumb statement, she thought, then wondered if he would rather have Lydia with him. But she would not offer a replacement. “Lead the way,” she said, acting cavalier.
He turned back to her. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather wait in the hotel by the fire?”
“It’s not exactly warm and cozy in there either. At least I’m working off a little of my dinner. And I enjoy walking.”
He shrugged as if taking in her statement, then continued his trek to the shed.
The snow fell without subsiding. Denny watched puffball flakes accumulate on Alec’s hat and shoulders. Except for the crunching under foot, she was struck by the silence. No tires rotating nor voices chattering. No horns honking. She felt as though they were the only two people in the world.
As they moved away from the hotel, she considered that he might rather have some local lass like Molly who was far more beautiful than Denny, who didn’t consider herself beautiful at all. No matter what Mom had told her.
Denny followed Alec’s light toward a low outbuilding. He kicked accumulated snow away from a door and pulled it open. He aimed his flashlight’s beam toward a large contraption that must be the generator. He stepped inside the dark room and let out a groan. “No petrol,” he said.
“What?” Denny didn’t understand his meaning.
“Gasoline is what powers this.” He picked up what must be an empty gas can, then tossed it aside. “It’s so late in the year that probably no one thought to refill these. Perhaps the hotel can request gas to be delivered tomorrow morning. If the snow lets up and a truck can make it in.”
In the darkness, Denny moved closer to him. She felt like dropping all pretense and draping her arms around him and kissing him. She could feel a magnetic current zinging between them. She wasn’t imagining that. It was tangible. Neither said a word for several minutes, but warmth spread throughout her, making her want to shed off her jacket. And what? Have a fling with a near stranger while on holiday?
She recalled when in college going to a party and drinking too much. She had been attracted to a football player who took notice of her, then led her to a bedroom in the house and made love to her. Only there was no love on his part. Just casual sex he probably didn’t even remember. He didn’t call as he promised, nor did he seem to recognize her when they passed each other on campus after that quickie. She wasn’t even a blip on his radar. She’d lost her virginity, something she could never regain. She had promised herself never to repeat that impetuous action again.
But here, on this chilly night surrounded by glorious snow and serenity, she might cave in and do anything Alec asked. The word no didn’t seem to be in her vocabulary anymore.
She wondered what he was thinking. That she was just some dumb bimbo tourist? A dime a dozen. She imagined many women had come on to this handsome Scottish man. He must be used to it, which made her resentful. She would not play easy to get. If he wanted her, she would make him work.
To break his spell, Denny yawned audibly. “I’m bushed and cold. At least they have natural gas burners on their stoves.” She turned away from him and stepped toward the door. “We can heat water and make coffee and tea, can’t we?”
“We? Aren’t you a hotel guest? Surely someone can make that for you.”
Was he referring to someone like Molly or Lydia? According to the Amish novels Denny had read, if Lydia was Amish, she could do everything without electricity.
“Not much chance of that.” Denny picked up her pace.
“Lass, slow down. What’s your hurry?” Alec’s boots crunched in the powdery snow. “I can’t keep up with you.”
Denny turned around and giggled. A girlish giggle. Not her usual style. She wanted people to see her as a sophisticated lady.