A Christmas Spark (Hudson House Holiday #2)

Chapter Seven

T he shrill whistle of a mortar shell reverberated in Kase’s ears. He could feel the earth shake beneath him as the mortars landed and exploded, sending dirt and debris splaying into the air. Screams echoed, while commands to run joined the melee. The acrid smell of smoke mingled with the horrid stench of burned and rotting flesh.

The forest that at one time had been a beautiful place was a scarred, war-torn reminder of what he was battling for.

Freedom. Hope. Tomorrow.

Another whistle pierced the air, getting louder, growing closer. Kase glanced over at Drake, then watched as the shell hit him and Drake was gone. In the beat of a heart—the blink of an eye—Drake was no longer a living being.

“Drake! No! Drake!” Kase struggled to reach for his brother, but something held him back.

A hand shook his arm, pulling him from his nightmare.

“Kase. It’s Dad. Wake up. It’s all right. You’re home. We’re here. You’re safe. Kase, wake up.”

Abruptly, Kase left the land of tormented dreams and opened his eyes, hating that he’d once again awakened his family. His father was the one who usually came to check on him. The few times his mother had tried to comfort him, she’d cried so hard, it only made him feel worse.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Kase said, sitting up and rubbing a hand over his eyes, glancing at the clock that let him know it was the middle of the night. “I hope I didn’t wake up everyone.”

“It’s fine if you did, Kase. May I get something for you? A glass of water? Warm milk? It’s been a while since you’ve had one of those dreams.” Brant sat on the edge of Kase’s bed and patted his leg. “Want to talk about it?”

“No, Dad, I don’t. It’s better you don’t know the terrors that haunt me. No one needs to know.”

“If you shared them, you might stop having the dreams. It might help you let go of whatever it is that torments you.”

Kase shook his head. A sound at the doorway caused him to whip his head around to discover Sarah and Dori clinging to his mother. All three of them were crying.

“Why can’t everyone just leave me alone!” Kase jumped out of bed, grabbed his robe, and stormed past the women lingering in the door as fast as he could move with his injured leg. Gareth stood behind the women, looking like he wanted to help but didn’t know how. Several of the housemaids crowded in the doorway to the back stairs.

Perfect. He’d awakened what appeared to be the entire household.

“Kase! Wait,” his father called after him, but Kase wasn’t in a mood to listen. With his leg aching he knew better than to take the stairs, but he did anyway, grimacing with each painful step until he stood in the entry foyer, wishing he weren’t so broken. Wishing he had been the one who’d died and Drake had come home, then he amended the thought. If Drake had returned home feeling like Kase had since his return, he wouldn’t wish that hopeless hollowness on anyone.

Mad at himself for being unable to control his nightmares, he paced across the entry foyer as something his father had said penetrated his fury.

Kase hadn’t experienced any nightmares since Dori and Sarah had arrived. With all the busyness of preparing for Christmas, he hadn’t paid attention to how long it had been since his last nightmare. The day after the girls had come home, Kase had moved back into his room in the house and not once had he awakened from a tormented dream.

Why, tonight, had the dream of Drake’s death plagued him? Maybe because Kase had read an article in the evening newspaper about a soldier he knew from a nearby town taking his own life. It had upset him more than he’d let on when his father had asked him if he recognized the man’s name after dinner.

Now, though, he was mortified Sarah and Dori—especially Dori—had been awakened by his shouts of fear. What kind of man was he?

A broken one , the voice in his head whispered. A broken one who is never alone .

Kase calmed a little at the prompting there was One who always walked beside him. He bowed his head and said a prayer of thanks for the reminder he’d sorely needed.

Not yet ready to return upstairs, Kase made his way to the sitting room and poked the embers in the fireplace, adding a few logs. Soon, a cheery fire blazed. He pulled a chair close to it, slipped on his robe, and extended his bare feet toward the warmth.

He had no idea if he sat there for ten minutes or two hours staring at the flames and contemplating what he could have done differently the day Drake had died. He knew the answer was nothing, but it was still too hard to accept the truth. Not when everything in him wished he could bring Drake back.

Kase would have said he wished he’d never gone to France, never enlisted to serve, but he couldn’t lie. He and Drake had enlisted because they felt it was the right thing to do. They’d gone to France and battled alongside other soldiers in the infantry because freedom was too dear not to fight for, even if it was half a world away. The price of freedom—of ending the war as the victors—had come at a cost no one had anticipated.

As he stared into the fire, he thought about the price Jesus had paid for everyone’s sins. He had tasted death to grant those who believed in Him something priceless. Kase couldn’t begin to imagine that kind of sacrifice and love.

“Here. This will make you feel better.”

Kase jumped and grasped the arm of the chair he was sitting in to keep from falling onto the floor.

Dori held out a steaming mug that sent up wafts fragrant with chocolate. “Chocolate makes everything better.”

“I don’t know about that, but thank you.” Kase accepted the mug and took a sip. It was rich, creamy, not too sweet, but not at all bitter. Delicious. It might have been the best cup of hot chocolate he’d ever had. “This is good, Dori. Thank you. Did you make it?”

“I did. It’s my father’s recipe.” Dori settled into the chair across from him, pulled her robe around her legs, and quietly sipped from her cup of hot chocolate.

He appreciated her not inquiring if he was okay, because he wasn’t. She didn’t question if he wanted to talk about anything, because he didn’t. She didn’t ask what she could do to help, because there wasn’t anything anyone could do. Although, the hot chocolate and her companionship were appreciated and calmed him considerably.

“Did you see the article in the newspaper yesterday about the circus train that wrecked?”

“No, I must have missed it. What happened?” Kase asked, relieved she brought up a topic that was neither about him nor his nightmares.

“It seems a few of the train cars jumped off the track. One of them rolled, and the occupants of the car escaped.”

“What escaped? Lions? Dancing bears?”

Dori shook her head. “No, nothing that frightening. Seals.”

“Seals? Like play-in-the-ocean seals?”

Dori nodded. “It seems they made their way to a nearby cotton field where circus staff found them and hauled them back to the train. It made me wonder if they thought the cotton looked like ocean foam. Poor things.”

“They were probably disappointed by the cotton and being captured.”

“I’m sure they were.” Dori took a sip of her chocolate and glanced at the fire.

Kase watched her, wanting to say so much, to explain what happened when his nightmares set upon him. Instead, he leaned over and placed a hand over hers. “Thank you, Dori.”

“You are welcome, Kase.” She took another drink, then pointed to the tree in the corner, where the family would open their gifts on Christmas morning. “How are your secret projects coming along?”

“They are all finished. I need to wrap them, but I’m terrible at that sort of thing. I’d ask Sarah to help, but she’d blab what everyone was getting five minutes after she returned to the house. I might see if one of my cousins could help, or Aunt Savannah. She enjoys that sort of thing.”

“Your aunt is swimming up to her eyeballs in plans for all the events happening between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. I think it’s brilliant she is the estate’s event coordinator. From what I’ve observed, she has a wonderful talent for it.”

“She does, and after having worked here before she and Uncle Remington wed, she knows the house, what Dad likes as far as celebrations go, and how things should be done to reflect the Hudson Estate traditions.”

Dori sipped her chocolate, then looked at him. “I’ll help you, with your gift wrapping, I mean. Do you have paper? Ribbons?”

“I have a roll of brown paper and a spool of yellow ribbon.”

Dori rolled her gorgeous eyes. “That will not do at all, Kase. Not at all. I’ll see what I can find in the morning and bring it to your workshop after breakfast. Will that work with your plans for the day?”

“That would be great, Dori. I appreciate it. Is there anything I can do to help you, since you’re devoting time to helping me?”

“The dining room table needs to be cleaned off tomorrow so it can be set for the Christmas Eve luncheon. I planned to do it in the morning.”

“I’ll help you, then we’ll wrap gifts. Have you been able to figure out more families to send the photographs to?”

Dori nodded and wiped her mouth with a handkerchief she’d taken from her robe’s pocket. Kase would have gladly kissed her mouth anyway, but now wasn’t the time nor place for thinking amorous thoughts. She might not want any more kisses from him after hearing him yelling for Drake in his sleep.

“I have the names and locations of fourteen families. Your father recognized several when he looked through the stacks of unidentified photographs. He was most helpful.”

Kase couldn’t help the surprised expression on his face. “My father, who is always so busy he can hardly sit still for five minutes during the day, looked through that towering stack of photos in the dining room?”

“He did. Your mother looked at them too. She recognized a woman she met at one of Aunt Eloise’s parties and was able to give me a name, so her assistance was also appreciated.”

“Those families will be so pleased to get the photographs, Dori. It’s a great thing you’re doing trying to locate them. I know Mama and Dad were pleased beyond words to receive the photographs of our family. I’m sure Aunt Eloise was too.”

“I’ll actually have to take some photos back with me to your aunt and uncle. Sarah and I found another box full of photos of their family. There are some funny images of Mayes and Clara making silly faces and poses for the camera.”

“Those I’ll have to see before you take them to my aunt and Mayes destroys all the evidence he was once young and goofy.”

Dori smiled. “I’ll show them to you in the morning before we pack up the photos. It was so thoughtful of your father to provide extra boxes and folders. I’ve been able to pack some of the photos with letters and send them off. Gareth will likely get tired of me asking him to mail boxes.”

“I don’t think he’ll mind, Dori.” Kase saw movement out of the corner of his eye and noticed his father standing just outside the door. Kase nodded once, to let his dad know he was fine. “We better head back to bed, Dori. Morning will be here before we know it, and the next several days are going to be busy from beginning to end.”

He drained his chocolate and took the mug from Dori when she finished hers. “The chocolate was very tasty, and so thoughtful. Thank you for coming to sit with me.”

“Anytime, Kase. It was my pleasure.” She stood, then bent down and kissed his cheek. “Have pleasant dreams. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Kase watched her leave the room before he headed to the kitchen. He washed the mugs and put them away, then wearily took the elevator upstairs and returned to bed. When he fell asleep, instead of seeing the horrible images of the war, Dori’s sweet smile and the firelight reflected in her eyes filled his dreams.