Page 59 of Montana Bride By Christmas
Grandfather leaned forward. “I’ve got a better idea. I’ll carve some animals. Can you find me a scrap of wood?”
“I can do it.” Hugh jumped up, just a little too eagerly in Annie’s view. He found several pieces of wood and took them to Grandfather. “Can you teach me?”
Annie rolled her eyes. “So much for drawing the figures.”
“This is even better. They’ll last.”
“There’s that.” She liked the idea of something they could cherish in the years to come. “Evan?”
The boy looked from his papa to Annie. She quickly sketched out the outline of a sheep. “You can color this, and then I’ll find some wool, and you can glue it on to make a real sheep.”
“A real pretend sheep?” Hugh asked.
She laughed. “I’ll glue the figure to a piece of wood so it will last.”
Evan climbed to his chair and took the colored crayon she handed him. The set had been a gift from Annie’s mother two years before her death, and although Annie cherished each crayon, she couldn’t think of a way she would sooner see them used than in Evan’s little hands. He held the crayon awkwardly. She wrapped her hand about his and showed him how to make blue marks on the paper. It didn’t matter if he scribbled. As she’d said, she would later cut out the sheep and glue it to wood.
The tip of Evan’s tongue poked out the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on his task.
She drew three more sheep, and then turned to see what Grandfather and Hugh were doing. Grandfather had the rough shape of a camel. Hugh might have been making the same animal, but it was hard to tell.
He glanced up and saw her watching. “It’s harder than it looks.”
She knew her eyes revealed her amusement and hoped he wouldn’t be offended. She knew he wasn’t when he chuckled and turned the bit of wood round and round.
“I can’t tell which is up or down.”
They both laughed; their gazes caught and held, and she couldn’t remember what she meant to be doing.
Grandfather touched Hugh’s hands. “If you whittle away a bit here and here...” Hugh blinked and looked at what Grandfather showed him.
Throughout the day, they continued to work on the animals, pausing for soup at dinnertime. Evan colored a bit after the meal and then wandered off to play with Happy but always returned to see what Annie was doing.
She’d decided to make human figures of those in the Christmas story out of fabric and sticks. She didn’t rush the project. It was too pleasant to be working together on something, anticipating the pride and joy of the finished product. As they worked, they talked. Grandfather always had lots of stories, and they seemed to draw out Hugh, who shared stories of his early days when he’d first begun his ministry.
“I remember getting lost on a hot summer day when I had set out to visit a family with a dying grandfather. I had run out of water. Could see no rescue, no help, nothing to direct me.”
She held her breath. Obviously, he’d survived, but it frightened her to think of his situation.
Grandfather’s hands had grown still as he listened to Hugh. “How’d you find your way out?”
“I took shelter under a lone tree and sat down to think and pray. I was discouraged. Things had not been going well for me.” He shrugged. “I suppose you could say I was a little like Elijah sitting under the juniper tree waiting to die.”
Annie knew the story of how the prophet had been fleeing for his life and begged to die. “What happened?”
He gave her a grin. “I fell asleep just like Elijah did and...” He trailed off, the gleam in his eye informing her that he meant to tease her. She remembered Elijah had been visited by an angel but didn’t think Hugh would have had the same experience.
She turned back to her drawing, pretending it didn’t matter.
Grandfather chuckled. “Put the poor girl out of her misery. You realize she’s holding her breath, don’t you?”
Annie sucked in air.
“Dusk had fallen when I woke up. I saw a campfire in the distance and rode to it. A weathered old man watched me ride up and demanded to know if I was lost. I said I was and told him where I wanted to be. He said I was ten miles off course, and he would take me there in the morning.” He sat back with a pleased look on his face. “Turned out he was the man I was supposed to go visit. He said reports of his fatal illness were greatly exaggerated.”
Annie laughed, as much from sheer relief at Hugh’s safe rescue as from amusement.
At suppertime, she gathered all the supplies into a basket. The day had passed in a pleasant glow of togetherness. This was exactly what she hoped would happen. “We’ll work on it again later.” She’d save it for times when they could all be together.
