28. Chapter 28 (1/2)

ezra looked around the room and blinked back tears of joy. the bakery had seen a steady business since opening after the church service ended. families needing a free meal all welcomed the solitary souls into their merry midst, ensuring that no-one felt lonely this christmas. individuals who hesitated shyly at the door were soon hailed by someone and welcomed into the warmth. once finished with their meals, people vacated the tables, but not the premises, preferring to dwell around the edges of the room.

children were all given a small stocking upon completion of their meals and happily settled down in a cleared space to play with their new toys and games, contentedly sucking on the hard candy found in the toes of the stockings. everyone made a point of thanking the southerner for his generosity, making him blush and stammer, to the amusement of this

others. the men laughed outright when the gamester fled to the kitchen with the excuse of needing to

ing out more food.

maude was content in her solitude, preferring to spend the day quietly with her memories of the precious christmases she spent with her beloved. especially those after their baby boy arrived to make their family complete. dear archie and nathan had fussed over her that morning, checking the site of her operation, her temperature, her general health and anything else they could check until she finally had to call a halt to their attentions. once they'd left, her sweet baby boy had arrived with a tray of delicacies to tempt her still capricious appetite and a book that he thought that she'd enjoy.

after a pleasant visit, ezra had kissed her cheek and whispered his yuletide wishes and love to her, before taking the tray of mostly uneaten food and leaving her to nap. now, her book laying open and forgotten on her lap, maude gazed lovingly at the faces of her late husband and her son in the locket ezra had given her. pressing her lips lightly to each, she murmured, "you'd be so proud of him, my darlin'. he's grown into a fine man, just like his father."

sighing, maude closed her eyes, holding the locket to her

east in a clenched fist as a single tear trailed down her pale cheek.

"unca ezwa! unca ezwa!"

spinning towards the urgent cries of nathan's youngest niece, ezra couldn't help the blinding grin that sprang to his face at being claimed as an uncle by the campbell's many children. picking maisy up and cuddling her close, he soothed, "there now, sugar, what's the matter?"

huge

own eyes stared back at him, as maisy asked

eathlessly, "can ya horse weally count 'n does unca vin's horse weally eat chillun n' can unca chwis' horse weally turn inta tha wind?"

chuckling, ezra saw that billy travis had been regaling the other children with some rather vivid descriptions of the seven's horses. bouncing the little girl on his hip a little to make her giggle, the southerner answered, "my horse can count and do many other marvellous tricks. uncle vin's horse doesn't eat anything different to other horses, but he does try to bite people some times, so you must be careful around him. uncle chris' horse is extremely fast but he doesn't turn into the wind, no."

frowning, maisy looked hurt and wondered aloud, "but why'd billy lie to us?"

"sugar, he didn't lie to you. he was just exaggerating a bit, making them more excitin' than they really are to amuse y'all," hedged ezra, trying to think of some way to distract the child from this conversation, knowing how bogged down a person could get when answering the 'but whys' of a small person. spying a bowl of oranges on a nearby table, he asked

ightly, "would you like some orange, miss maisy?"

"ain't never had orange 'fore, unca ezwa. is it nice?"

nodding, ezra sat with the child on his lap and began peeling her an orange. as he did, he scanned the room for his

others and laughed silently when he find each one.

vin and baker were playing hopscotch with most of the children on a cleared section of flooring, with vin ending up on the floor more often than not thanks to getting his feet tangled with his dog. chanu was sitting up against the wall, laughing quietly at his friend's antics, his pockets bulging with oranges and sweets to take back to the village's children. little did he know that ezra had a wagon load of food, blankets, toys and books waiting for them to take back with them. shaking his head, ezra popped a segment of orange in maisy's waiting mouth as he chuckled at the scolding vin would get for drawing in chalk on the floor. not that miss adelia would truly mind as the whole floor would have to be scrubbed after the party anyway.

miss nettie, evie travis, miss macgregor and gloria potter were sitting along the wall with the other older ladies, sewing or knitting and generally catching up on the town gossip. all were smiling and cast fond looks at their particular favourites in the room. miss nettie caught him looking and winked at him, mouthing, 'fancy man'. she chuckled as his face reddened as he gave her a wink back and mouthed, 'wizened crone'. both of them chuckled affectionately, enjoying their fake insults.

mary travis was laughing quietly behind her hand as she sat with chris, watching him fend off the clumsy advances of a twelve year old girl. ignoring his less than subtle pleas for help, she was thoroughly enjoying seeing the self-proclaimed bad element try to gently let a young girl down without hurting her feelings. for her part, chastity was earnestly trying to find out all she could about what chris liked and didn't like, asking if he could teach her to ride and maybe they could go on a picnic sometime. finally, when it looked like chris was going to panic, mary took pity on him and distracted the girl by asking her to take some cake over to the ladies sitting along the wall.

casey and jd were involved in a heated battle of jacks, surrounded by a cheering crowd of children. despite wearing a pretty dress, casey was sitting cross legged opposite jd, showing that you could put frills on a tomboy but you couldn't make her act like a lady. sighing, ezra smiled a little and realised that forcing casey to act like a refined lady would squash her spirit and destroy the spark that made her casey. given ms nettie's tendencies towards self sufficiency and being able to do anything a man could but better, he didn't think he'd have to worry about that happening anytime soon.

buck was surrounded by a bevy of young women who were all hanging on his every word and flirting outrageously to the disapproval of many of their parents. it was all done in innocent fun and nothing was said to spoil the day, but ezra knew that many of the young women were in for a scolding on the morrow. judging by the look in the fathers' eyes, buck may be in for a few serious talks over the next week himself.