Page 4 of Candy Cane Dreams
It wasn't that she wasn't able to speak. The doctors told him there was nothing physically wrong. It was that she had chosen not to.
Jack felt guilt grip his insides, the way it always did when it came to his daughter. Was he failing her? Had he done everything he could? He knew he wasn't a very good mother, but he had been doing the best job he could at being the best daddy he could as well. On top of that, he'd been trying to keep the candy shop afloat, so that someday Lilly would inherit it—what had been her mother's family's legacy. Lilly would be the seventh generation of candy cane makers, and it was a heritage that the entire family had been proud of.
It had been exceptionally important to Lauren that Lilly be schooled in everything candy.
Jack had neglected his farm and the duties there, dumping them all on his brother, Bryan, in order to keep Lauren's dream alive and viable. But financial constraints were pressing horrendously down, and he wasn't sure how much longer the shop could stay afloat.
As if on cue, Jack lifted his eyes and saw two men in business suits walking by the front window.
They were peering in with interest, the way they had every morning for the last three days.
He tried to lift one corner of his mouth and nod his head in friendly greeting, although his interior felt anything but friendly. He wanted to tell the men to go find another town to open up their chain store in.
But a chain store in the general area would employ over one hundred people, plus delivery personnel, and probably Mistletoe Meadows could afford to hire more police and other governmentworkers, and increase tax revenue, build a bigger school, just... a chain store would snowball economic development in a massively great and amazing way.
But it would probably, almost certainly, drive Jack and his candy cane creations out of business, destroying Lauren's dream and keeping Lilly from ever being able to step into the shoes of her ancestors.
He heard water running and turned to see Lilly washing her hands. She already had a hair cap on, and he almost told her to stop.
A quick glance at the clock on the wall told him that they only had twenty minutes before it was time for him to take her to school, and she didn't have time to help him.
But he kept his mouth closed. She loved helping, and he wanted to encourage it. Even if it did make things harder for him, since when she was younger, teaching her had also included ruined batches of candy.
Now, she was almost as good as he was at rolling the candy and shaping it into candy canes. Still, it added a little bit of stress, because she was no longer ready to walk out the door.
He did not allow her to see those thoughts, but instead smiled encouragingly at her as she came over, standing beside him and picking up one of the ropes of candy.
She knew as well as he did how imperative it was that they get the candy formed before it cooled so much that it was no longer pliable.
She pointed to the blue-colored candy and looked up and smiled at him.
"I know. Blueberry is your favorite too."
That was how he had met his wife. He had been delivering blueberries to their store, since they were trying to source local ingredients for their candy. His family farm had a ten-acre plotof blueberries, and they'd been more than happy to have some of them made into candy and sold locally.
He and his brother had been taking the farm over from their dad, and that's how he had met Lauren, when she had greeted him at the back door and helped him unload the delivery.
He smiled a little at the memory. But it was bittersweet, since Lauren was no longer with him. Sometimes it annoyed him that she had left him with all the work, all the pressure, and hadn't at least told him that keeping up the family farm was just as important as making sure there was a candy shop for their daughter to inherit someday.
He was pretty sure that's the way Lauren would feel, but... she had never said, and he had never thought to ask. She had worked at the shop, and he had left the farm in order to help her, and they had been fine for years and years, until... Lauren's untimely death from an aneurysm while she was showering.
Her parents had come back for the funeral, of course, but neither one of them had been interested in the candy shop. Lauren's grandmother had taught her pretty much everything she knew, and Lauren had loved every second of it.
He felt a touch on his side and looked down to see Lilly's elbow touching his waist.
That was how she got his attention since she knew better than to use her fingers to touch, since they had been washed and she now had gloves on.
She had just formed her third candy cane, and his hands had stilled around his. It was hardening in his hand, even as he looked at her.
"I'm sorry. I was just thinking."
Her brows raised, and he knew she was asking what he was thinking about.
"Nothing really. Just... Christmas is coming, and I need to figure out what in the world I'm going to get my daughter. Shehasn't made me a list yet." He lifted his brows and gave her a stern look, but kind and loving as well.
Lilly shook her head and turned away from him, pulling the gloves off her hands.
He didn't need to tell her that the shop was struggling. Somehow she knew. He had tried to protect her from those things, even though he wasn't sure that that was really what a father should do. Maybe she should know. After all, if she was going to be a part of the business eventually, she'd need to figure it out. But, considering that she was just in elementary school, it was too much for her small shoulders.
