Page 46 of It's You
“He worked up on Mt. Washington. In the observatory. MWOBS. When we radioed up the mountain, that’s what they called him.”
“I don’t remember him being at the wedding on Saturday.”
“He wasn’t. He passed away a few years ago.” She was quiet for a moment, thinking about his prematurely weathered face and twinkling blue eyes. “He spent more time at MWOBS than any other single place on the planet.”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, taking her hand again. “Must have loved it up there.”
“Yeah. He was more interested in stormy weather than spending time with his family.” She dropped his hand. “That’s unfair, I guess. He loved what he did. He was good at it.”
“You must have admired him on some level,” said Jack, pushing a stray strand of light hair behind her ear tenderly.“You’re a scientist. Like him. Maybe you didn’t love everything about him, but you still loved him?”
She didn’t want to talk about her complicated relationship with her father anymore. She took his hand and pulled him so they’d start walking again.
“What about your parents, Jack? I don’t ever remember meeting them.”
“They live north of Quebec.”
“Sisters and brothers?”
“They’re all up there,” Jack answered without elaborating. Darcy decided not to push him.
“Your parents gave you this land?”
“Not technically. I told them I wanted to move back, and they said that the old lodge hadn’t been touched in two decades. When I got here, the garage was in a heap. My guess was too many heavy snows. The lodge wasn’t in such bad shape. Lots of overgrowth, and the squirrels and raccoons had gotten in there. But Amory is a fast worker.”
“He has a good crew too,” Darcy agreed, pride in her voice. Amory had eschewed traditional education in favor of starting his own contracting business. Her parents had been skeptical at first, but they had to admit that Amory was a hard worker, and he’d chosen a field in which he could excel. He was one of the most popular contractors in Carlisle and the Colebrook area, and on his way to building a solid, reputable business.
“So did I understand you right when you said that the French were here before Proctors?”
“Carlisle wasn’t settled by migrating Bostonians until the late 1700s. The French and Métis settlers were here as early as the 1600s.”
“Whew! And your family somehow held onto this land?”
“Something like that,” he grumbled.
“Beauloup…likeBois Loup Garou? Wait.Beaumeans beautiful, right? Beautiful what?”
“Wolf. Beautiful wolf.” He turned and faced her, biting his lower lip, his face tense. He chuckled, but it sounded tinny and didn’t match his expression. “Try having that surname at grade school in Quebec. Endless hours of amusement for your schoolmates.”
“I think it fits,” she said gently, smiling at him encouragingly. “I love the Métis names, the way they honor the natural world.”
She could have sworn she saw him wince before turning around quickly and making his way around a boulder.
“Jack?” she called. She didn’t see him up ahead on the other side of the boulder. “Jack?”
She hurried toward him, yelping as his arm snaked out from his hiding place behind the boulder and pulling her up against him. It took her a second to catch her breath, and she leaned back in his arms, grinning, still panting from exertion and surprise.
He smiled at her. “You make me happy.”
She tilted her head to the side, looking at his dark hair and brown eyes under thick black lashes. She reached up to touch the lightly bearded skin of his cheek. “I love that you’re Métis, and you have pride in who you are. I love…it.”
He stared at her, furrowing his brows in confusion or remorse, but all she could hear wasDarcy, Darcy, Darcy. He didn’t want her to know what he was thinking, so she looked down. One of his arms released her, and she felt his finger under her chin, tilting her face back up to his.
His eyes closed as he swooped down to close his lips over hers, his tongue parting the soft seam to make love to hers. Touching, stroking, his hand caressed her jaw as he kept her face at the perfect angle for him to kiss her. Darcy’s hands were trapped between them, but she flattened them against his chestand felt the heat of his skin through the layers of his two shirts and jacket, and she swore she could feel the pounding of his heart.
Abandoning her mouth, he kissed her jaw, pressing his lips against her neck until his teeth found the soft skin of her earlobe. He tugged on it gently, his breath warm and soft in her ear, and a shiver of pleasure made her back arch, pushing her breasts against him.
She heard him chuckle softly, and his teeth let go.
