Moonlight on the Millpond

  “I’ll go right now.” Jace came to his feet. “Maddie, may I see you for just a moment?”

  “Certainly.”

  Maddie excused herself and followed Jace all the way to the room where they kept their warm gear. They had no more passed out of sight when she found herself grabbed and kissed, kissed hard and long.

  “What was that for?” she asked when she could breathe once again.

  “I’ll tell you later,” Jace said, kissing her again before slipping into his coat and heading out the door.

  “So what countries did you visit in Europe?” Jace asked over Sunday dinner; they had joined Doyle and Cathy. Mr. Nunley had spoken of his trip several times over the weekend, but Jace had not been in on any of the specifics.

  “We spent most of our time in France, Italy, and Spain.”

  “What was your favorite?” Cathy wished to know.

  “Spain. It was warm, and I think I could have stayed indefinitely.”

  “Tell them about Paige,” Maddie encouraged.

  Mr. Nunley shook his head in amazement. “She picked up on the language immediately. She ended up taking us all around and translating everywhere we went. The folks in the house where we stayed begged to keep her a while longer, but even with knowing the language so well, Paige was a little homesick. We all were.”

  “And worried about Maddie?” Doyle posed it as a question.

  “My wife and daughter were not worried about Maddie, but they certainly missed her. After reading her letter, we had nothing but tears for a while.”

  “Are you still going to worry about me?” Maddie asked.

  “No, I’ll be able to go home and tell Adele everything she wants to know.”

  “But you can’t tell her how thankful I am for the gifts,” Maddie teased, “because you won’t let me open them.”

  Mr. Nunley’s eyes sparkled. “I’m your present right now. The gifts are for when I’m gone.”

  The two smiled fondly at each other, and Jace hoped that before Mr. Nunley left, he would invite them, or Maddie at the very least, to visit in Boston. He wanted his wife to keep ties with these folks who clearly cared so much.

  Jace would have been pleased to know that Cathy agreed with him. Having forgotten that she’d worried about Maddie so recently, Cathy watched the two of them interact and wanted Mr. and Mrs. Nunley to know what a capable, fine woman Maddie had grown into. They were probably aware, but her pride wanted them to know just how special she was.

  The five of them and Mr. Nunley had a nice, long visit, and then Jace took the sleigh the long way home to show their visitor the area. He was animated in his praise, and both Maddie and Jace knew a keen sense of satisfaction over his approval.

  “So tell me,” Maddie asked him that night, “what will you tell Paige and the missus when you get back to Boston?”

  Mr. Nunley smiled the special smile he always had for Maddie, who still felt like one of his own.

  “I’ll tell them that Maddie could not have done better for herself. I’ll tell them she has a very nice home that she’s decorated herself. But most importantly, I’ll tell them that Maddie has a husband who loves her and sees to her every comfort.”

  Maddie smiled, overwhelmingly pleased with the report and wishing there was some way to be there when he gave it.

  Mr. Nunley rose to turn in a short time later, and when he did, Jace came to his feet, his hand extended. The men shook.

  “Goodnight, Mr. Nunley, and thank you.”

  “It’s no less than you deserve, Jace—no less than you deserve.”

  Alone in the parlor just moments later, husband and wife sat close on the sofa. Maddie rested her head on Jace’s shoulder when his arm came around her. No words were said; no words were needed.

  Like children at a birthday party, Maddie and Jace waited only to take Mr. Nunley to the station before looking to see what he had brought them.

  Maddie recognized some things from the Nunley home, things she must have left behind, but almost everything in the cases and trunk were wedding gifts. All had little notes of explanation.

  The table scarf in dark reds and black was from Spain. The candlesticks of silver were from Italy. And there was so much more. Maddie and Jace stared in wonder at the lovely things, Maddie’s heart overflowing with love for this family in Boston. She missed them so much that she ached.

  “There’s a letter.” Jace handed it to her, and Maddie read out loud.

  My dearest Maddie,

  I can’t tell you how fearful and excited I am for you all in the same breath. Sherry and Beth told us every detail, and I know you are in love. It never occurred to me that I would lose you so suddenly, but I trust that you will visit as often as you can. Paige is working on a letter as well, but she’s very tearful, so it’s taking longer and will have to come by post.

  I can’t thank you enough for all you did for Paige. You gave her the confidence to write her stories down, and while in France, she shared them with us. Sometimes we laughed, and sometimes we looked at her in amazement. She has a true talent.

  Maddie stopped reading. It was harder than she thought. Jace watched her, regret filling him again about the way their life had started.

  “Maybe you could visit in the spring,” he suggested.

  “Would you come?”

  “It would depend on the work here. You could take your aunt. Doyle and I would get along. We could always call on Clara.”

  Maddie smiled and put a hand out to him. Jace took it, hoping she was going to be all right. He was learning that emotions were tenuous things. It wasn’t that difficult to upset the balance.

  “Maybe I will,” Maddie said, not sure what she wanted to do. She wasn’t afraid of going there alone, but she didn’t want to leave Jace behind, not when there was so much in the city that she would like to share with him.

  Maddie looked over at Jace as he picked up a candlestick and studied it. It occurred to her for the first time that sharing her life with someone was exactly what she wanted to do. It wasn’t a life without mishap, but it was a life she loved.

  When Jace looked up and saw her face, his brow wrinkled in question. Maddie didn’t answer—she only leaned close and gave him a kiss.

  Not many days after the first of February, the Muldoon family celebrated a new arrival. Maddie didn’t hear that a little boy had joined the family for a few days, but she had already been planning ahead. Not wanting Mr. Muldoon to think she had hard feelings toward him in any way, she had been working on a small blanket, knitting along at a smooth pace, hoping to have it done in time.

  She had some finishing touches to make but overall thought it was in good shape. She waited another few days to make her visit, and then went into town, blanket in hand. Hillary met her at the door, a big smile on her face.

  “Please come in, Mrs. Randall.”

  “I thought you called me Maddie.”

  “Well, you’re married now, and I didn’t want to assume.”

  “I’m still Maddie,” she told the young woman, once again finding her resemblance to Paige rather uncanny.

  What she also found uncanny was how well Mrs. Muldoon seemed to be doing. Her color was good, and she was moving comfortably around the kitchen, not looking as though she’d spent a moment in bed.

  Alison welcomed Maddie and then took her to the cradle in the corner of the kitchen. Maddie looked down on the new baby boy, instantly taken with his small, dark head and tiny features.

  “Would you like to hold him?” Alison offered.

  “Please,” Maddie told her sincerely.

  Not until he was safely tucked into her arms did Maddie remember that he would not be baptized. For a moment, Maddie was quiet, trying to work this out in her mind. She realized swiftly that it was only going to upset her and did her best not to think about it.

  They visited for a time, and Maddie noticed how joyful Alison Muldoon was. She seemed to take everything in stride and love her life. Maddie was drawn to her in a way sh
e’d not been before. She might have even questioned her, but the baby began to cry and Martin came in looking for something, causing Maddie to hold her tongue.

  When Maddie did take her leave, she couldn’t help but wonder about a faith that had no fear of a baby dying without baptism. It stayed with her all the way to Cathy’s house. There was no need to go to the store—she had no list to work with— and she was anxious to see her aunt. Jace was working long hours at the mill these days, and the last thing she wanted to do was bother him with what was on her mind.

  “Cathy?” Maddie called as she stepped through the front door.

  “In the kitchen, Maddie,” that woman called to her.

  “Um, it smells wonderful in here,” Maddie said, coming to kiss her cheek.

  “Scones. Would you like one?”

  “Yes, please. I was just over at Muldoons seeing the baby.”

  “I went yesterday. Isn’t he precious?”

  “His skin is so soft. It makes me want one of my own.”

  “I’m sure it won’t be long now,” Cathy said encouragingly. “You started with a trauma, but things are settled down now.” Cathy put a plate in front of her, a warm scone and butter nearby tantalizing with its aroma. “I’m a strong supporter of relaxing and letting things take their course. The couples who are desperate to make it happen only make it take longer.”

  “I never thought about that,” Maddie admitted, even as she hesitated telling her aunt that relaxing did not come easily to her. She tended to worry about everything. Not about having a baby, but about everything else.

  “What are you thinking about now?” Cathy asked, having caught the furrowed brow.

  “I was just thinking about the Muldoons and the way they believe,” Maddie said honestly, not sure what Cathy would say.

  “Thinking about it in what way? Worrying about it?”

  “Some worry, I guess, but mostly wondering how our beliefs could be so different.”

  “We’re not so different,” her aunt surprised her by saying. “We don’t believe in murder or stealing. I know there are some issues where we don’t see eye-to-eye, but I try to keep my focus on where we do agree.

  “After all, Maddie,” Cathy said matter-of-factly, “we’re none of us heathens. We’re all going to the same place. Why should we argue about such small things, most of which we can’t do anything about?”

  Maddie had never heard her aunt talk like this. She was not a person who criticized others with every breath she took, but she wasn’t always very opened-minded either.

  The conversation soon shifted, and Maddie didn’t mind. She knew if she kept it up, she would be losing her appetite and pestering Jace all over again when she got home. And he was tired these days. Much as he loved the mill work, it was taxing.

  Maddie looked forward to seeing him at noon each day, but he couldn’t linger as he did at other times of the year. Woody had been with him a year ago, and Maddie knew that Jace felt the pressure this year of doing all the mill work and farm work on his own.

  The topic she had raised with Cathy, however, stayed on her mind all day. She wasn’t upset, and because she wasn’t feeling desperate or ready to cry, she felt safe in bringing it up to Jace during tea.

  “How was Mrs. Muldoon?” he asked as soon as they’d sat down.

  “Doing very well. The baby is so cute. I got to hold him.”

  “What did they name him?”

  “Jeffrey.”

  “That’s nice. I knew a Jeffrey when I was growing up.”

  “Hey, Jace,” Maddie asked, her voice telling him she was not upset. “What will we teach our children about God?”

  Jace smiled at her. “Are you trying to tell me something?”

  Maddie blinked at him, not sure what she’d missed. Jace’s brows rose and he waited.

  “No,” Maddie told him when she caught on, her eyes growing a bit. “I won’t keep that a secret from you. I promise.”

  She shook her head at his rascally grin and went back to her food. But Jace had not forgotten her question.

  “I don’t know what we’ll teach our children. It might be fair to let them figure out what they believe on their own. I’m not sure anyone can know anything to be certain.”

  “But what if they don’t believe in God at all? I wouldn’t want that.”

  “I don’t think that will happen. I think they’ll believe much as we do. After all, I believe the way my parents did, and you have followed Doyle and Cathy.”

  “But now your sister is so different, Jace.”

  “I’ve thought about that,” Jace said, and Maddie realized she didn’t think Jace ever had. “And I guess I’ll just make up my mind when the time comes.”

  “How does that work?”

  “Well, I haven’t heard anything that makes me think I have to know all this right now. When the time comes, I’ll decide.”

  “That’s why you’re able to stay so calm about it,” Maddie guessed.

  “It must be. I hadn’t really considered that.”

  Maddie had at least a dozen more questions she wanted to ask, and the temptation to pepper him with more was hard to resist, but he was weary—she could see it in his face.

  Maddie finished tea, letting Jace lead the conversation. She wasn’t worried, however. Her husband was right. They were going to be fine, and she was going to enjoy her life with Jace Randall, come what may.

  Twenty-One

  Jace didn’t know when nine days had ever dragged on so long. Maddie and Cathy had gone to Boston, and Jace missed Maddie as though he’d never been without her. Both he and Doyle were at the train station when the train pulled in, feeling as though life had returned to their hearts.

  Both women were full of stories about Boston in the spring and how the Nunley family was doing. The men listened long after the train pulled away and then realized that the wind was not as warm as it first seemed. With a wave goodbye, Jace took his wife home, ready to tell her she could never leave again. He was also ready to hear about every moment of her trip, but Maddie had questions about his time alone.

  “Did you have time to go into town at all?”

  “Yes, one day. I stopped at the livery and then picked up a newspaper at the printer. Did you know that the printer’s wife has left him?”

  “Is that what he told you?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know how it came up, but he’s pretty upset.”

  “Where did she go?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know if he knows.”

  “Do they have children?”

  “I’m not sure. He didn’t say.”

  “What a shame. Did you go and see Doyle too?”

  “Yes, and he already knew about it. I also saw Mr. Muldoon with two of his sons before I got to the store.”

  “Which ones?”

  “I’m not sure of the names. One looked to be about five.”

  “That’s Martin, I think.”

  “They’re good kids,” Jace commented thoughtfully.

  “What makes you say that?”

  “They do exactly as he tells them to do, and they don’t get upset about it. While we were talking, the older boy wanted to go with some friends who had stopped to speak to him, and Mr. Muldoon said no. I watched his face. He was fine with it—no pouting, nothing.”

  Maddie watched Jace’s face. She knew he’d not been overly impressed with Mr. Muldoon in the past and wondered whether he might be changing his mind.

  “And how did Doyle do while we were gone?” Maddie asked next.

  Jace laughed. “I think he got himself invited someplace nearly every evening, and when he was alone, he took himself to the tavern.”

  “And you would never have done that.” Maddie barely covered her sarcasm.

  Jace smiled. “Of course not. I had Clara coming to take care of me.”

  Maddie smiled knowingly and Jace caught it. He reached for her hand and pulled her over to sit in his lap.

  “Was I actually the one who su
ggested that you go to Boston with your aunt?”

  “That’s how I remember it.”

  Jace slowly shook his head. “Never listen to that kind of stupid suggestion again.”

  Maddie could have had a good laugh over this, but suddenly she was too busy. Jace had pulled her down for a kiss.

  “How are you doing with praying for all men as we’re commanded to do? Are you being faithful?” Douglas asked the congregation on Sunday. “Are you remembering? When you’re standing in your kitchen and someone walks past the window, do you pray for him or her? When you hear the train coming into town, do you ask God’s forgiveness on those dear folks on the train?

  “Remember what we’re trying to accomplish here, my friends: faithfulness. Some of us sow and some of us reap, and some do both. But of the two, I would have to say that reaping gets more attention. It gets more notice. For that reason it’s harder to be a sower, one who’s willing to keep praying for all men.

  “We must pray as Jesus did: Father, forgive them. If anyone could have called them each by name, it was God’s Son, but He didn’t do that. He said, Forgive them. That’s what I pray too. I don’t know everyone in Tucker Mills. If I know a person, I pray for him by name, but if I don’t, I don’t need to worry about that. God knows that I’m asking Him to save that person and work a miracle in his life with His saving grace.”

  Douglas asked his small group of worshipers to sit quietly for a moment and think of someone they knew, someone who needed Christ. He encouraged them to pray for that person and to ask God to forgive and save him.

  Douglas did the same thing. As he was standing there in the kitchen corner with his Bible in hand, Maddie Randall came to mind, Jace right after her. Douglas asked God to save this newly married couple who seemed to be searching but not yet ready to find.

  Early summer had come and the days were warming up nicely when Jace surprised Maddie by asking her to go for a walk. The walk wasn’t much of a surprise, but the time of day was.