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He did love the old house. It was white, and big for North Dakota standards. Hard and expensive to heat in the winter, but with the high ceilings and spacious rooms, it was bright and felt airy and welcoming. He’d snatched it up years ago when it had fallen into disrepair, and over the years, he had it fixed up. Always intending to come back. Hoping anyway. Thinking that someday maybe he and Mabel would share it together.
Seeing her today had not made him want her any less, but she had been the same as she always was—didn’t really notice him, didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in him, and he had been the same as he always was, unable to find any of the charm that came so easily with everyone else.
Why couldn’t he find the smooth words and casual compliments that rolled off his tongue with his casual acquaintances and friends?
Mabel always seemed to do that to him. Render him tongue-tied.
He told Aunt Carol about his trip, which wasn’t anything to write home about, and then explained he had been overseeing the company as he passed the reins on to someone else, with everything going smoothly. So far.
“That’s wonderful! Then you’re going to stay here?” Aunt Carol asked.
“Maybe for a bit. I...don’t want to make you and Mabel uncomfortable.”
“Oh, you won’t. Mabel won’t be here much anyway, she works a lot and helps a lot with the teen girls they have at their girls’ home. It took a little bit of persuading for me to convince her that I needed someone to stay with me.”
He felt a little bit of panic at her words. Maybe Mabel would want to move back if he was here on a regular basis taking care of Aunt Carol.
Maybe he could feel her out, and if Aunt Carol’s assessment was accurate, he would just have to make sure that he stayed away enough to make Mabel feel like she had to stay.
She had a soft heart, he knew that much about her, and if Aunt Carol needed someone to stay with her, Mabel would not leave her.
That eased his mind as they continued walking toward the house.
“Maybe you should talk to Silas, Mabel’s brother-in-law. Mabel’s a bit of an enigma, just because she’s so quiet and keeps to herself, but she also has a ready laugh and a soft heart. You could do a lot worse.”
James stopped short, one foot on the bottom porch step. He tilted his head and looked at Aunt Carol.
“What?” He had never told anyone about his fascination with Mabel. No one. He hadn’t wanted to scare her off. She seemed like the kind of woman who wouldn’t want a man chasing after her, that having someone who was there asking her to go out every time she turned around would make her run.
He hadn’t figured out what he could do to win her, but letting her know that he was interested was probably the last thing he should do.
He wasn’t sure what made him think that, but it had made him be very, very careful.
“You’ve loved Mabel for years, maybe even a decade. Most likely since before she had even graduated from high school.” Aunt Carol stopped with him, and she put the hand that wasn’t holding the box on her ample hip. “Am I wrong?”
“I don’t understand how you knew.” There was no point in denying the truth. He wouldn’t want to lie, but he’d never had anyone confront him like this.
“Remember, I’ve been like a mother to you since you lost your own mother so young.”
She had been his mother’s oldest sister. There had been almost twenty years between them, and from what he understood, she had practically raised his own mother.
But then, his mom had been killed by a drunk driver while walking out of a restaurant.
He’d barely been ten.
But Aunt Carol had stepped in. While she didn’t get along very well with his dad, who had married again, twice more, she had provided a stable home for him, opening up her home for him to stay anytime, especially during the summers.
But he hadn’t seen her much since he graduated from high school. Doing what he supposed most kids did, determined to make his own mark in the world, despite the money that he’d been born with.
He’d managed to do that, at least managed to build a successful company, but from the first time he’d seen Mabel, she had been in the back of his mind, and he’d always known that he was going to come and try to win her heart.
He just didn’t know how.
“I don’t know how to do it. She...seems immune to me.”
“Maybe that’s because, if today was any indication, you seem to be tongue-tied when you’re around her. Remember, I’ve seen your charming side, and it’s pretty irresistible.”
“Mabel doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who is won by charm.” She seemed like the kind of woman who wanted substance. Who cared about a man’s character. Wanted a man who kept his word and did what he said he was going to do; a man who had integrity and honesty, and compassion and empathy.
