Part 19
Edward pinched the bridge of his nose when the sound of arguing began to filter in from the living room. The boys were fighting over the remote as the television droned on in the background and he knew if it wasn't stopped soon it would only escalate. He pushed himself up out of his chair and went into the other room, taking the remote and stepping between them.
"The TV is mine and the remote is mine… you two don't own a thing." With that said he flipped the channel over to the news, listening as the reporter talked about the 16 inches of snow already on the ground and predicted more wind and snow on the way.
Maria watched Michael as he dried his hands on the towel she had placed next to him. It would have been impossible to not hear the weather report since Edward had turned the volume up and she knew it wasn't what Michael had wanted to hear. He got to his feet, walking over to the window and looking out at the seemingly endless canvass of white laid out before him. She could see the tension in the set of his shoulders and the way he held his jaw so taut and she knew his mind was on the van. She glanced at Kyle as her own mind drifted to his last words to her at the cabin. He was positive the engine was shot and when Michael found out she knew he was going to lose it. Maybe getting snowed in was a good thing.
Kyle joined Michael at the window under the guise of taking a look outside. "Just play it cool, Mi Capitan," he muttered under his breath.
"Dealership's only about 12 miles from here," Michael said as he contemplated the distance the mouthy tow truck driver had given him the day before.
"They haven't had time to look at the van. Hell, they probably haven't even made it to the shop yet. If they make it in at all today. Plus, there's the little issue of the van not even makin' it outta the parkin' lot in this stuff. Rear-wheel drive, remember? Not that it matters if that engine's in the same condition it was in when it was picked up yesterday."
Edward stepped into the kitchen again and his eyes locked on Michael as the younger man turned away from the window. "Looks like you kids'll be here another night."
Julia rolled her eyes. Hadn't she told them all that very thing the night before?
"Besides, Julia did promise to make cookies with Maggie and the girls today."
Eddie suddenly forgot all about whatever he had wanted to watch on TV as he followed Dad into the kitchen and asked, "Can we get the sleds out?"
Maggie's little ears perked up as Eddie's question caught her attention and she squeezed Miss Cindy tighter as she hurried over to Daddy. "Oh, Daddy, can we go sledding at Mr. Tony's house?"
"Not those kinda sleds, Maggie," Brian cut her off. "Besides, we can't go to Mr. Tony's house."
Eddie elbowed him when he caught the tell-tale sign of shining eyes as Maggie looked between them. "Nice work, dufus, you're gonna get us in all kinds of trouble." He walked over to his little sister and smiled. "Maybe you an' the girls can make cookies while we go snowmobiling and later I'll take you over to Mr. Tony's hill to go sleddin'."
"First things first," Julia held a hand up before anymore plans could be made. "We're gonna need some groceries and since we won't be making it in to Oscoda we're gonna need to make a trip to Big Dave's Hardware."
Kyle patted Michael on the back before he took his seat once more. "Hardware store food, huh? Isn't that great, honey?" he asked as he reached over to pat Isabel's arm. "You just love beef jerky."
Julia snorted at that, somehow doubting that Kyle's wife had ever touched a piece of beef jerky in her life. "Big Dave has a general store that he stocks with enough variety that we'll be able to get by until we can get into town."
Edward looked at the boys as he reached for Maggie's hand. "We'll get the snowmobiles out after I plow the driveway." He smiled at his little girl and his eyes grazed over the mark on her cheek before he turned to the boys. "When I'm done we'll take the sleds over to Big Dave's to get supplies." He picked his daughter up. "What would you rather do? Stay here and bake cookies with the girls or go sleddin' over at Mr. Tony's while I take these boys out and try to catch some dinner out on the lake?"
Michael watched the Stevens boys as they held their breath, no doubt hoping that she'd pick baking cookies. He smirked when she chose to go sledding and their expressions revealed their disappointment. He could only imagine that her choice meant that one or both of them would be sent with her to keep an eye on her. He turned to look at Maria as she talked to Liz, wondering if she had been like Maggie as a little girl.
His gaze strayed to Edward and Maggie once more and he thought about Maria's dad. His lips lifted in a smile as he remembered a young Maria courtesy of one of the first flashes he'd ever had of her. He could still see the red shoes with the Kermit patch on them… the Dalmation dog licking her face… The smile vanished, replaced by a frown that pulled his eyebrows down over the bridge of his nose as he recalled her pain. How could her dad just leave her like that? What a loser!
"Any of you boys ever been fishin' before?" Edward asked, wondering at Michael's scrutiny.
"I went with my dad once," Kyle spoke up. "Caught a largemouth bass."
Michael snorted. "I think you left out the little part about you puttin' it back in the lake."
Liz rested her chin on Max's shoulder. "Max used to go fishing with his dad all the time."
He forced a smile as he remembered the last time he had been out on the lake with his dad. Things hadn't been right between them and now that they knew the truth it was too late to make it right.
"What about you, Michael?"
He shrugged, wishing he could remove the man's predatory gaze. "I can fry 'em."
"That's good 'cause we're low in the pantry an' Julia will be busy makin' cookies." He turned to his youngest boy. "Eddie, you're on shovel duty; porches and anything Brian can't get to with 'Little Red'." He looked at his little girl and smiled. "You and Miss Cindy Bear stay here with Mama while I get 'Big Red' out to plow the driveway." He set Maggie back on her feet as he set about getting ready to go out into the cold.
"What's a 'little red'?" Maria asked curiously.
Eddie jumped to be the first to answer, smiling as he shared the information. "Mom names everything around here. 'Little Red' is our snow blower an' Dad's truck is 'Big Red'."
Brian rolled his eyes at his brother. "You're such a dork," he muttered, shoving Eddie's shoulder as he walked out of the room to get ready.
"Don't forget Hercules the Hawk," Maggie added. "He lives here too."
Julia crossed the room to take a look at Michael's hands, reaching for them and holding them up to the light coming in through the window. "You're lucky they weren't more frostbitten," she mused as she gently probed his hands that were still red in patches. "Maria, would you run into the laundry room and pick out a pair of thermal socks? There's a pile of Edward's clean socks on the dryer."
Maria returned with the socks a few moments later and walked over to Michael. Julia was doing something across the room so she tucked one sock under her arm and rolled the other one in her hands. "I think I know what she wants to do," she said as she held it up in front of him.
"What? I'm not puttin' someone else's socks on my hands," he muttered, shaking his head.
"We're gonna have to go back to the cabin to get your gloves before we do anything else. You don't want to expose them to the cold."
He tucked his hands under his armpits and stared at her mutinously.
"Michael, don't make me call Maggie over here."
His gaze shifted to the little girl who was anxiously watching him as she leaned on one of the kitchen chairs, her chin resting on top of Miss Cindy's head. He sighed in defeat and held his hand out to Maria.
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Michael watched Edward as he unlocked the garage door and pushed it open, wincing at the screeching sound of metal on metal as it rolled along the tracks. His eyes moved over the snowmobiles, mentally counting them. There were six in all. Four that they rented out and two that belonged to the family as Edward explained it.
His gloved fingertips brushed over the handlebars of one of the snowmobiles before he threw his right leg over the seat to get a feel for it. He visually scanned over the controls. Brake, throttle, kill switch… not too different from the dirt bike. He could probably have a pretty good handle on these things without too much trouble or time. If it came down to it, they'd be able to make a run for it. He felt that familiar feeling of disgust roll over him as he contemplated the lock on the door, the gas containers stored away in one corner, the snowmobiles themselves and what it would take to steal them.
"Alright, let's get you kids outfitted," Edward said as he motioned to the open lockers on the far wall where the gear was stored.
Half an hour later he was satisfied that he had everyone was as ready as they were going to get.
"Nice high-waters," Kyle said, snorting at the too-short legs on Michael's coveralls.
"Why don't you shut up, Valenti?" he bit out.
Maria rubbed his arm and shook her head sharply at Kyle. Michael was already on edge and while Kyle was just teasing and messing with him he was just not in the mood for it. There was no way to convince him he didn't look like the jolly green giant dressed up in an outfit that was considerably too short so she just left it alone. She nearly choked on a laugh at the mental image of Michael as a green giant in a pair of too-short black coveralls and she quickly sobered and asked, "What were you sayin' about drivin' these things?" to distract him before he demanded to know what was wrong with her.
"Huh?" Michael turned his head to look at her. "Oh, just that I basically know what I'm doin'. Not that much different than ridin' the bike back…" he shrugged. "Anyway, similar enough that I can handle it."
The ride to the general store only took a few minutes and Michael glared at Maria as they dismounted. His ears were still ringing from the continuous scream of "Slow down!" that he no doubt would still be hearing in his sleep. "Slow down," he snorted. "It only took like two minutes to get here."
"Yeah, because you were drivin' like a bat outta hell."
"That was great, huh?" Kyle asked as he joined them, pulling his helmet off.
Maria just rolled her eyes when they high-fived each other before Michael grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him as they filed into the store with the rustic exterior. As soon as they were inside everyone split off, going into different directions.
Isabel stopped just beyond the entrance and her eyes roved over the interior. "Who designed the lighting in this place?"
"Who cares?" Michael muttered.
She turned to tell him to shut it when she noticed Maria browsing along the aisle across from them, humming to herself as she poked through the selection of toothbrushes. She nudged him with her elbow and motioned to his girlfriend when she picked up the box for an electric toothbrush… or was it a waterpick?
Michael smirked and stood up a little straighter as he took in Maria's focus on the back of the box. He shot a smug look at Isabel and nodded at her, feeling vindicated.
Until Maria opened her mouth to mutter derogatorily, "The perfect gift?" She held the box up, showing it to Michael and Isabel as she pointed to it. "Can you believe that? It actually says it's the perfect gift! They honestly printed it on there!"
Isabel chuckled. "Chalk one up for the Christmas Nazi," she whispered before turning and walking away.
Michael wandered over to join Maria, glancing over at the next aisle to see what Max was picking up. He rolled his eyes at the bottle of Luscious Locks heather-scented shampoo Max held in one hand as he and Liz teased each other and laughed quietly as they picked through the available selection of condoms. Sooo don't need to see this, he thought.
Julia caught his attention when she approached the man who had to be the Big Dave behind Big Dave's Hardware. The guy was… well… big. Tall, round, with grey hair, hazel eyes and an easy smile.
"Looks like you've got quite a bit of company here, Julia."
Michael pretended not to watch her, but his ears were straining to hear every word she spoke and he could hear the smile in her voice when she did.
"Yes, we do. They were on their way to visit relatives in Sault Sainte Marie and their van broke down so they're staying with us until it's fixed."
He looked at Maria when he heard Julia's variation of the story that the girls had come up with. "See, even Julia didn't buy it," he muttered. He rolled his eyes when Max and Liz finally left the next aisle after stocking up and they wandered down over to the aisle with donuts. He watched with interest as Kyle meandered down to the condom section and he leaned forward to rest his forearms on the top of the shelf in front of him as he listened to him muttering to himself.
"How much longer before the dry spell's over, Buddha?"
Michael snickered and scratched his chin with his thumb. "Oh, c'mon, Valenti… can't be that bad. You an' Rosy have a standin' date, don't ya?"
Kyle whirled around to glare at Michael. "What the hell are you talkin' about?"
"Rosy… ya know…" he smirked and held his right hand up. "Rosy Palm."
"Bite me," he snapped and wandered out of the aisles to join Isabel where she was standing at the counter, talking to an older woman on the other side of the ancient cash register. His eyes scanned over the woman and then the big fella talking to Julia and he decided they must be married. His ears perked up when he realized that Isabel and the woman were in a seriously in-depth conversation about Christmas at Tawas Lake.
Oh boy, he thought when the woman glanced at him and smiled. He immediately recognized the manic gleam in her eyes as she talked about Christmas. This was the countrified version of Isabel Evans, he realized.
"Oh, Kyle, this's Dayna Martin," Julia introduced them when the woman stopped for a breath. "Dayna, this's Isabel's husband, Kyle."
Yep, there it was. He could feel the death glare from less than three feet away. He shook the woman's hand and smiled when she launched into praise of his 'wife's' brilliant ideas.
"I'd just love to see Christmas on the Lake happen even though Tony isn't here." She touched her husband's arm, giving it a gentle squeeze as she continued. "He'd love it if the tradition continued."
Maggie stretched up on her tiptoes to rest her chin on her knuckles as she looked up at Big Dave. "Michael knows Santa," she announced as she pointed in his direction without looking at him. "An' Isabel, she knows Santa's special elves, Snowflake an' Candycane."
Maria snorted softly when Michael groaned. He looked like he was on the verge of beating his head against the shelf in front of him. While Maggie was busy sharing everything she knew about her new friends, Isabel and Dayna were busy plotting and scheming, coming up with a plan to make Christmas on the Lake happen this year.
"Say," Kyle spoke up, "ya know, the wife used to throw this sort of thing together back home. She used to arrange for actual reindeer to be brought in." He grinned at Max who was standing just close enough to hear him. "Yep, she knows a reindeer wrangler. Fella just does wonders with all sorts of animals."
Michael thumped his forehead against the shelf twice before he straightened up and looked at Maria. "I'm gonna go look for a showerhead," he muttered.
Maria nodded as she moved down to the next section. "Okay. Oh, Michael?" she called before he could get too far away. She smiled when he turned to face her. "Pick up a shower curtain too." She rolled her eyes at him when he gave her that annoyed look that told her just how much he hated shopping for anything. "One is no good without the other."
"Whatever."
Maggie eventually found her way over to the candy aisle and browsed the colorful wrappers looking for her favorite one. Her hand finally wrapped around the package and she smiled as she ran over to show it off to Michael and Maria. "It's my favorite candy," she said as she held it up.
"Your favorite, huh?" Michael asked as he eyed the little brown package of M&Ms. He and Maria exchanged a look before he turned his attention back to Maggie. "Good choice."
Julia looked up from her perusal of the dry pastas when her daughter ran up to her.
"Mama, Michael said if it's okay with you that I can have the M&Ms. He'll buy them for me."
She smiled at her little girl. "He did, did he?"
"Mama, can I have the M&Ms?"
She thought about correcting her until she glanced up at Michael and caught his faint smile. "Yes, you may. What do you say to Michael?"
Maggie ran up to Michael with a little skip in her step. "Thank you, Michael."
Edward called the boys over to give him a hand as he showed them how to pick out tackle and minnows for their fishing trip that afternoon and while Michael had little interest in fishing he wouldn't turn down an opportunity to learn a new skill because there was no telling when it might come in handy on the run.
By the time everyone had picked up what they needed Isabel and Dayna had hatched the beginnings of their plan and they set a date for the next day to meet to go over more details. Isabel was feeling much better as she leaned against the counter, not even realizing that she hadn't picked anything up until she noticed Big Dave ringing things up and bagging them.
"Oh, I should – "
Kyle held his hand up and shook his head. "I got our stuff."
Max was wrapped around Liz from behind and the two of them were swaying back and forth in time to the music coming from the old radio behind the counter. He grinned at something she whispered as he turned his head and noticed what Maria was holding. He caught her eye and mouthed a silent 'thank you'.
Maria held up the packages containing the showerhead and the curtain with little yellow ducks on it, winking at him. She shoved Michael with her elbow when he shot a look of disgust at the curtain. He had tried to convince her that the little store didn't stock shower curtains but Big Dave had been kind enough to point her in the right direction. As soon as she'd seen the selection of the single shower curtain she had understood his reluctance to pick it up and walk around with it. He'd rather have water all over the floor than be surrounded by little yellow duckies.
Kyle motioned to the things Julia had placed on the counter a little further down. "You can bag it separately, but put it all on one bill, please."
"Oh, that's not necessary," Julia protested and then made a face at Edward when he poked her. She smacked his hand away. "Really, Kyle, it's not necessary."
"Maybe not, but we'd appreciate it if you'd let us cover it," Kyle said.
She started to protest again but this time it was Isabel who spoke up. "We really would like to cover it, Julia. You've already done so much for us."
"Well…"
Liz smiled at the woman who had taken them into her own home and taken care of them without knowing a single thing about them. She could see the woman's reluctance to let them pay for things but she finally gave in gracefully with a 'thank you' and a smile.