Eli shook his head and smothered a smile. “It’s okay that I came, right?”
“Of course it is. You haven’t seen Lucy since you handed her off to me, and she’s family.”
“I came to see you too, you know.”
“Well, I’m here,” Lynn said, not able to find any other words.
Eli sighed and stopped walking, but Lynn kept struggling through the snow.
“Hey,” he called after her.
“What?” Lynn turned and was hit directly in the face by a snowball.
“That’s what.”
Lynn sputtered as the snow on her face melted and ran in icy rivulets down her neck, finding no words for her surprise.
“Snowball fight! Awesome!!” Lucy came flying at Lynn and knocked her flat on her face in a drift, shaking what was left of her composure completely. She grabbed the little girl by the ankles and pulled her up into the air, tossing her headlong into a fresh drift. Lucy emerged, soaked and laughing, with a freshly rolled snowball in each hand and revenge on her mind.
Lynn ducked the first one, but the second hit her square in the chest. She ignored it and began rolling her own arsenal until Eli knocked her on her side and hijacked her stash, pelting her with her own weapons at close range. She yelped and took out his ankles. Lucy landed on both of them with enough force to knock the breath out of them all. They laid in a breathless heap for a solid minute, soaked and laughing.
“Never thought I’d see one of them in your yard,” Stebbs said when he arrived later, motioning toward the snowman standing guard by the wood cord.
Lynn pushed her hair out of her face and shrugged. “Lucy wanted to, and I thought maybe if I put a coat on it, somebody looking might think there was a person standing out there, keeping watch.”
“I suppose the carrot sticking out of his face was a tactical decision too?”
“I got a well-stocked root cellar, and that one was not looking great. So don’t start thinking I’m as sentimental as you.” Lynn delivered a punch to his arm hard enough to penetrate the layers and make Stebbs wince.
“Easy, tiger, don’t go beating on the old man.”
“The old man needs to hold his tongue.”
“He’s been without anybody to talk to a long while. I see your pond’s found a new use.” Stebbs glanced toward the pond where Eli was gliding across the ice on his boots, Lucy perched precariously on his shoulders, hooting like a loon.
“Mother would roll in her grave if I’d been able to dig her one,” Lynn said, but there was a smile on her face.
“Nice braids,” Stebbs said.
“Shut up.”
Their visitors stayed through the evening, and Lynn brought some of the larger wood chunks inside to set upended to use as chairs. The four sat in a comfortable circle near the stove while they ate their supper, topped off with some peaches that Stebbs had brought along mixed with snow.
“It’s kinda like ice cream,” Lucy said, juice dripping down her chin.
“Kinda,” Stebbs answered.
“What’s ice cream?” Lynn asked.
“You poor deprived child.” Eli shook his head in mock despair, earning a whack on the back of the head from Lynn. She had found herself making excuses to touch him all day. Lucy had coaxed her out on the ice, and even though her balance was good, she’d slipped more than once when Eli was nearby. He always caught her neatly and propped her back on her feet, much to Stebbs’ amusement.
“I wish you had your guitar, Uncle Eli,” Lucy said, once they finished their peaches. “I’d like to hear a song.”
“You know, it’s funny, I forgot to grab it when the police kicked down my door and arrested me.”
Lucy crawled into Stebbs’ lap. “Do you have a guitar down in your secret basement?”
“No, little one, sorry,” he answered, smoothing her hair. “Wish I did.”
“I think there’s one in the attic,” Lynn piped up, to everyone’s surprise. “Seems like I’ve seen one up there.”
Lucy bounced up and down on Stebbs’ lap. “Go check! Go check!”
“I’ll come with you.” Eli stood with Lynn and followed her up the stairs after grabbing a flashlight. Lynn opened the door into the kitchen.
“I haven’t been inside a real house in a while,” Eli said, flashing the light off the walls. “Almost feels funny.”
“It’s weird, sometimes when I think about it,” Lynn said. “This is my own house, and I never use it. Mother grew up here, her dad was raised here too, but all I ever see is the basement.” She didn’t add that having Eli beside her in the upstairs should feel weird too, but it didn’t.
“You never come upstairs?”
“Rarely. The bathroom here on the first floor is set up so that we can use it, and Mother stored a lot of stuff in the attic. But mostly no, we stayed in the basement.”