Free Haunted Cabin Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

serious.”
    Mr. Alden took Cap’s arm and led him back to the porch. “Don’t you?” he asked. “I’m talking about your son, Jason, that’s what. He and I have been writing letters back and forth for almost a year. He wants to come home in the worst way but has been afraid to. He wasn’t sure he’d be welcome.”
    Cap fell silent, staring at his hands. “He’s welcome,” he said gruffly. “I’ve never quit missing him. It’s been even worse since I’ve had your grandchildren here. But I don’t even know where he is.”
    â€œHe’s at the hotel in town,” Mr. Alden told him. “I talked to him just this morning. When he heard you were hurt, he tried to call you but didn’t have the nerve to talk.”
    â€œThat was Jason breathing on my phone?” Cap asked.
    Mr. Alden nodded. “He left his ship when the children came. But he didn’t know how to make peace with you.”
    â€œThere’s no peace to make,” Cap said crossly. “He was young and stubborn and I was older and stubborn. That’s long years ago now. I want to see my boy!”
    Mr. Alden rose and called into the house. “How long until dinner’s ready, Jessie?”
    â€œAbout a half hour,” she called. “Is that too long?”
    â€œIt’s perfect,” her grandfather said. “Tell Violet to set another plate. Cap and I are going to town, but we’ll be right back with one more guest.”
    Violet had set the table with a white cloth and a great bowl of wild blue larkspur in the center. “It’s the closest I could find to a violet color,” she said wistfully.
    The Hodges family arrived right away. Benny had taken Susie and Ned out to see the new baby chickens when the big black car returned. Jessie watched from the window as her grandfather got out, helped Cap out, and handed him his cane. Then she gasped. “Violet! Henry!” she called. “Our mystery man, Mr. Jay, is here. I don’t believe this.”
    Then Cap called, “Hey, children, come meet my son.”
    â€œJason,” Henry whispered. “Mr. Jay is really Jason.”
    Now Cap’s son smiled, a broad sweet smile that was a little bit like Cap’s. “We’ve met,” he said, shaking hands with each of them. “We even traveled together, didn’t we?”
    The children nodded and glanced at their grandfather.
    â€œJason was pretty envious that you children were coming to where he wanted to be,” their grandfather said.
    â€œWell, he’s here now,” Violet said with a smile. “And as welcome as can be!” Her eyes flew wide open. “Jessie,” she squealed. “Do I smell something burning?” The two girls flew off to the kitchen. But within a minute Violet was back.
    â€œJust one thing, Mr. Jay,” she said. “If you knew who we were and that we were coming here, why were you so unfriendly? Every time we saw you, you just turned your back and hurried away like you couldn’t stand the sight of us.”
    â€œI’m not Mr. Jay to you, Violet, I’m just Jason. And the reason I turned away was that I didn’t know what my father looked like anymore. For all I knew, you might have recognized that we were father and son.” He grinned and tugged lightly at his father’s beard. “If I had known about this bush he is wearing, I wouldn’t have acted like that.”
    Cap laughed right along with Violet and the others.
    Benny was the last one to meet Jason Lambert. He sighed, put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out the little fire engine he had found in the tree house.
    â€œThis is yours,” he said quietly.
    Jason lifted the little metal toy and looked at it carefully. Then he placed it back in Benny’s palm. “I believe you’re right, Benny,” he said. “And I’m glad to have it. It’s the perfect