Keli Gwyn - Her Motherhood Wish

He paused and looked at Callie. “Yes?”

“If you could talk as you work, we’d all understand what you’re doing.”

Talk and carve at the same time? He’d never done that, but he could give it a try. “I’ll do my best.” He kept his hands moving as he explained the process. “I’m using a knife to remove all the wood that isn’t part of the figure. That sounds simple, but that’s really what it’s about. I keep the image in mind and shave off everything that doesn’t belong.”

He continued, describing and demonstrating the four basic cuts as he worked. The children sat quietly with not a single hand going into the air. He was finished in no time. “Since Miss Callie asked me to make this little fellow, I’ll give it to her, but I’m sure she’ll pass it around so you can all see it.” He handed her the creature.

She laughed. “Why, thank you, Mr. Chip. I’ll think of you every time I look at this bullfrog.”

One of the boys who’d been involved in the scuffle piped up. “Why’d ya make a frog for her? Ladies don’t like ’em.”

Jasper rushed to her defense. “Miss Callie does. She even picks them up.”

Chip hurried to take the focus off Callie. She was likely to bend his ear about his choice later. If he was correct, she’d had absolutely no intention of touching a frog that day and had mistaken it for a stone. He looked from Jasper to the other boy, who’d also spoken out of turn, and attempted a scowl, but he couldn’t stifle his smile. “Gentlemen, I didn’t see any hands go up, did I? I hope to soon, though, because I’m ready to start on the wood carving, and I look forward to hearing your guesses.”

He began by tracing faint lines that wouldn’t be visible to those on the benches and explained how they would be his guides. With his mallet in one hand, he tapped the handle of the chisel he held in the other. As before, he kept up a running dialogue.

A scant three minutes had passed when the first hand went up and Tess called for the guess. All he’d done so far was round off the top corners. “Is it a mountain?” a girl about Jasper’s age asked.

“I’m afraid not.”

He worked steadily but couldn’t help stealing glances at Callie. Her interest rivaled Freddie’s. She’d taken a seat on the end of a bench, with Ruby beside her, and was leaning forward, just as the curious boy was.

With Callie’s lips parted like that, Chip thoughts wandered into dangerous territory, which wouldn’t do. All it would take was one slip of the blade, and he could do irreparable damage. He dragged his gaze from her and returned his attention to the creation taking shape.

The guesses continued, none of them close. He’d been hard at work for a good thirty minutes when another hand shot up, this one belonging to Luke’s oldest sister. “It’s going to be a cowboy sitting on a fence, isn’t it?”

“You’ve come the closest so far, Lila. I’m impressed.” Both Tess and her daughter beamed at his praise.

Another five minutes passed with not a single guess. He stopped and scanned the benches. With the children, their group leaders and a curious ranch hand or two, some sixty-five pairs of eyes were trained on him. The room was so quiet he could almost hear the children thinking.

He reached for a smaller gouge on the table behind him and turned back to his creation, stealing another look at Callie as he did. She smiled her encouragement and mouthed the words keep going. Her eagerness spurred him on.

As he began the telltale cuts that would reveal a key part of the sculpture, he anticipated more guesses coming soon. Sure enough, Freddie’s wildly waving hand caught his eye. And was that Jasper with a hand raised, too?

Tess chuckled. “It appears we have a tie. I’d like you both to come up and tell me what you think it is.” They joined her, taking turns whispering in her ear. She straightened and smiled. “We have two winners. I’ll count to three, and you boys can say what it is together. One. Two. Three.”

“Humpty Dumpty,” they shouted in unison.

Callie began clapping, and the others joined in. Pride radiated from her, reminding him of Tess’s response when he’d complimented her daughter earlier. He and Callie had only been caring for the children for several hours, and yet it was clear they’d already come to mean a great deal to her. She’d make a fine mother one day.

The Plan didn’t call for him to find a wife to fill that role for three years yet, a fact he must keep in mind. But no harm could come from enjoying the company of his lovely assistant over the next few weeks, could it?

Chapter Four

Ruby sneezed.

“God bless you, sweetheart! Here. You can use my handkerchief, if you need to.” Callie pulled the lace-edged square from her sleeve.

“I’m all wight. My nose just tickled.” The little girl rubbed it with the back of her hand.

“Sawdust can do that, and there’s plenty of it in here. Mr. Chip has been working very hard.”

Callie looked around the large woodshop. Stacks of boards rested in neat piles. Some were waiting to be cut, others had been planed and a fair number were sanded and ready to be oiled before being assembled into bed frames.

Her gaze lingered on the handsome carpenter as he kept his saw busy—and his muscular biceps flexing. The steady rasp as he sliced through the pine planks kept time with the rapid beating of her heart. At the rate Chip was going, he’d have the first order of furniture for the new dormitory built in no time. She wasn’t in any hurry. He was fun to be around, and he was so good with the children. She dragged her attention from him.

Jasper raced up to her on a stick horse. He’d whooped and hollered when Tess had dropped by with it the day before. He stroked the horse’s cinnamon-colored yarn mane. “I know what I’m gonna name him. Gingersnap, ’cause he’s the same color as one of them cookies we had after lunch. Do you like it?”

Callie smiled. “It’s a fine name.”

Chip paused, saw in hand. “I like it, too. You could call him Snap for short.”

Jasper tilted his head. “Like a nickname?”

“That’s right. Miss Callie has one. Her full name is Caroline.”

Callie seized the opportunity to learn what his name was. “What is Chip short for? Christopher, Charles or something else?”

Chip shook his head. “None of those. My name is really Sebastian. The first carpenter I worked for when I was a boy of ten, a Scotsman, said it was too much of a mouthful for a laddie like me since I was no bigger than a wood chip. He called me Chip, and the name stuck.”

“It suits you. Thanks for telling me. We’re keeping you from your work, though.” She held out a hand to Ruby. “We should find something else to do while Mr. Chip gets the next batch of boards cut. Let’s see if Mr. Isaac has time to lead you around on the pony, shall we?”

The thumping of Jasper’s stick horse on the wooden floorboards as he rode around the room came to an abrupt halt. “Mr. Chip don’t need my help now. Can I go, too?”

“He doesn’t need your help or ours just now, so I suppose you could join us.” She leaned toward him, smiled and adopted a playful tone. “If you’re interested in a riding lesson, that is.”

“Yee-haw!” Jasper galloped over to them, one hand holding the rope reins and the other swinging an imaginary lasso over his head. Ever since Jasper had seen the cattle on the day Chip and Callie brought him to the Double T, he’d been telling anyone willing to listen that he was going to be a cowboy when he grew up.

The room quieted. Chip stood with the saw hanging at his side and an exaggerated pout on his handsome face. “Are all my helpers going to abandon me?”

“Just for a short time. The children have spent the better part of three days in here with us. I understand why, but I thought some time outdoors would be good for them. Isaac mentioned that he would be free this afternoon and hinted rather strongly that he’d like to meet Jasper and Ruby.”