Free MacKinnon’s Rangers 03.5 - Upon A Winter's Night by Pamela Clare

hadn’t known any animal could be such trouble. What would Connor and his brother say when they got home and found broken planks and a bent water trough? Would they be grateful for the bull, or would they see it as a burden and her as foolish for having purchased it?

    She left her sleeping son and rejoined Annie and Amalie downstairs just in time for Joseph to enter.

    "That animal will not settle down." There were snowflakes in his dark hair, and his cheeks were red from the cold. He slipped out of his bearskin coat and hung it from one of the pegs by the door. "Let us hope tomorrow is a warm day, or my brothers may return to find themselves without a barn."

    There was a glint of humor in his eyes, but Sarah saw nothing funny in this.

    He bent down before the hearth and stretched out his hands to warm them, looking up at her, a grin on his face. "Don’t worry, little sister. All will be well."

    Sarah rejoined Annie and Amalie in the kitchen and resumed peeling potatoes, ignoring the periodic bellowing from the barn. She, Annie, and Amalie talked and laughed as they worked, doing their best to remain of good cheer, while Killy and Joseph spoke together in the next room, played with Iain Cameron, and kept the dogs from getting underfoot.

    Outside the window, snow fell harder, daylight fading and, with it, all hope that the men would make it home for Christmas.

    Determined to have their husbands with them in spirit if not in body, the women set the table for eight, adding two extra places for Killy and Joseph, then lingered over the meal’s last preparations, arranging the Advent candles and holly wreath just so, fussing over the placement of a cup, building up the fire.

    Annie wiped her hands on her apron. " ’Tis time for supper."

    She spoke the words with a smile on her face, but Sarah could see the worry and resignation in her eyes.

    Killy and Joseph washed and joined them at the table, each holding one of Amalie’s twins, while Amalie lit the Advent candles and the candle that sat on the window sill, its golden light flickering against the silver of the frost-coated panes.

    "May all travelers find shelter tonight," she said. "And may God guide our husbands safely home."

    She joined the others at the supper table, a loud bellow perceptible over the crackling of the fire and the happy chatter of children. She slid her hand into Sarah’s and Joseph’s, and they bowed their heads.

    It normally fell to Iain, as head of the family, to say grace. With all of the brothers away, Annie took his place. She had just spoken the first words of blessing when Artair and Beatan leaped up from their place by the hearth, tails wagging, and began to bark and scratch at the door.

    From outside, they heard it. "Hallo in the house!"

    Iain.

    Sarah felt a surge of relief as the door opened and Iain entered.

    A broad grin on his face, he tossed something to Killy — a coin purse. "There are your wages, old man—minus one schilling six. The matter is settled. The men are gettin ’ their pay."

    Then Iain stepped inside, making way for three others — Connor, Morgan and…

    " Hildie ?" Killy gaped at the shape that filled the doorway.

    Almost as tall as the men, the woman stood there in a great overcoat, her cheeks red from the cold, mittens on her hands, her hems and boots caked with snow.

    Killy turned to Iain, who had taken off his tumpline pack and bearskin coat and was hanging it on its peg. "Why in God’s name did you drag the poor woman all the way out here in this storm?"

    Iain, his jaw dark with many days’ growth of beard, chuckled. "She insisted she come wi ’ us and wouldna hear otherwise."

    Morgan drew his tumpline pack over his shoulders, handing it to Amalie, who had hurried forward to help him. "Miss Janssen kept abreast of us the entire way, never flaggin ’, never once utterin ’ a complaint."

    "You’d be right proud of her, so you would." Connor grinned, his gaze meeting Sarah’s as he closed