Robert couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned and finally got up. He silently walked to the kitchen to get something to drink. He heard a noise down the hall and went to investigate. For some reason, he wasn’t surprised to hear Heidi quietly crying in her room. He felt bad for her and angry with himself for being so rude. There was nothing he could do now. He got his drink and went back to bed and was finally able to go to sleep.

Charles was up early. He wanted to get a brine ready for the turkey. He had a special recipe and it took a while to put it all together. Robert was the next one up. Charles had already fixed the coffee. Robert grabbed his cup and helped himself.

“Charlie, do you know anything about Heidi?” he asked.

“Not much, why?”

“I heard the girls talking last night. Heidi said she can never go home to her family because of what happened to her. She said her family was ashamed of her and they would refuse to recognize her as family. That’s not right.” Robert sipped his coffee.

“No, it isn’t, but it’s probably their culture. I’ve heard of things like that before. Nothing we can do about it.” Charles continued to cook his brine. “She’s a nice girl, I like her. That’s one of the reasons I want Mack to work on her healing salve. If he’s successful and it sells, she’ll make a small fortune.”

“I hope for her sake, it does,” Robert told him. “I heard her crying last night.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“No. To be honest, I didn’t know what to do, so I went back to bed. I didn’t want to butt in. What could I say?”

“You could have given her some comfort, a shoulder to cry on.” Jackie had told Charles about Robert and Heidi when they went to bed the night before. How Heidi suspected that Robert was her mate. She knew she had promised not to say anything, but she couldn’t keep it from Charles.

“You don’t think that would have been inappropriate?”

“You have a lot to learn about woman. When they are upset, unless they are mad at you personally, they want someone to hold them, and if they say they don’t, they’re lying. Do you remember when Jackie first got here?” Robert nodded. “She cried, yes, but when I held her, she let it all go. All the hurt and the feelings she had held in for so long. I hadn’t even realized she was my mate yet. I was just a pair of arms to comfort her. When I realized she was my mate, all of me was there for her. I imagine Heidi feels like Jackie did. No one should have to hurt alone.”

Robert thought about it for a while. “Maybe we could find her family and explain to them what happened.”

“That’s not a good idea. Families like hers have traditions and I think she would be terribly offended if you did something like that.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Robert sipped his coffee. “Do you need me to help you with anything?”

“Not right now, I just have to drop the turkey in the brine and put it in the pantry. The girls are going to bake some pies. Everything else will get done tomorrow morning.” Charles was all done. “I guess James and Holly are stopping by on their way to the Peak. I asked them to join us, but they were going to visit his folks and have dinner with them.”

“Maybe they could get back in time to watch the game. I have a bet with James. He’s going to lose his ass.”

Charles chuckled. “We’ll see.”

Just then the girls came into the kitchen. Becky was her normal sparkling self. “Good morning Charles. Good morning Robert. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Nope, this is all done,” Charles told her. He picked up the big container that had the turkey and took it to the pantry.

Becky and Franny fixed their coffee, while Heidi looked for the tin of tea. Robert went to the pantry and returned with the tin and set it in front of her, he didn’t drop it this time. 

“Thank you.” Heidi smiled up at him and braved meeting his eyes. He smiled back and a piece of her heart took flight. For a moment, Robert was mesmerized by the deep, sea green pools of her eyes. Someone cleared their throat and the spell was broken. They both instantly looked away.

“Ooouch! What was that for?” Franny had kicked Becky under the table.

“Oh, sorry. I thought it was the table leg.” She gave her a look and then remembered Becky didn’t know what was going on. She leaned into her and said sorry again in a whisper. Becky gave her a questioning look and Franny just shook her head and mouthed the word “later.”

“Robert, are you cooking this morning or are we on our own?” Franny asked quickly before things got awkward.

“Ladies, as much as I would love to wait on you, hand and foot, I must decline. I have chores that are calling my name, and if I don’t answer soon, you are going to hear my brother calling my name any moment.”

“Robert!” Charles yelled. That made the girls laugh. Robert smiled and left.

“Wow, what’s gotten into him? He has done a complete turnaround from yesterday’s Mr. Grumpy,” Becky remarked. “Who wants pancakes? I’m starving.”

“I would like to make crepes,” Heidi spoke up.

“Oooh, do you know how to make them?” Becky asked and Heidi nodded.

“Tell us what you need and we’ll help,” Franny said. Just then Jackie walked in. “Heidi is going to make us crepes.”

“That sounds wonderful. I don’t have any fresh fruit, but I have some frozen blueberries, could you use those?”

“Oh yes, that would be perfect and whipping cream if you have any.”

“I’m sure we do.”

Heidi set to work fixing crepes. Several times, Charles and Robert passed through the kitchen and a blueberry stuffed crepe would mysteriously disappear along with several dollops of whipped cream.

“Did you see that? We have varmints stealing our breakfast,” Becky called out as she watched Charles and Robert each pilfer a crepe off one of the plates. Everyone had a good laugh as Robert turned around and winked at Heidi as he stuffed a crepe in his mouth, then lick the whipped cream from his lips.

“Ooh la la, somebody has an admirer,” Becky smiled, “is that why you kicked me?” She looked at Franny.

“Yes. We think Robert is Heidi’s mate,” she said quietly. “She thinks he hates her, but there seems to have been a change in attitude.”

“I’d say. You go girl.” Heidi turned red from embarrassment.

Jackie put her arm around her. “Don’t pay them any mind, they’re just jealous.”

“I’ll say we are,” Becky added. “Wow, who would have thought our meek little china girl would nab a McCormick.”

“Shush. We don’t want Robert to hear you, you’ll ruin everything,” Jackie told her.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret.” she whispered.

“It is when two people are both shy and neither one of them are brave enough to make the first move.”

“I get it. You two are trying to be matchmakers.”

“Yes, we are and we would like your help,” Franny told her. “You can start by being quiet.”

“Okay, okay. I was just kidding around. Let me know when I can help.” Becky gave them a smile and took a bit of crepe. “Uuumm, that is sooo good.” They all started laughing.

Charles tried to sneak back in for another crepe. He walked over to Jackie to give her a kiss and reached around to snatch one off her plate.

“Don’t you dare, Mr. Bear, or you’ll find a fork sticking out of the back of your hand.” 

Charles pouted. “Please, just one.”

“Just one bite.” Jackie cut a crepe and held it up to his mouth. He made a big production of taking his offered bite. While everyone giggled and watched Charles, Robert snuck in and stole the plate of extra crepes from the middle of the table. Heidi opened her mouth and was about to object when he held his finger to her lips so she wouldn’t say anything. Then to her surprise, he leaned over and kissed her check.

Charles finally took his offered bite. “Thank you, ladies.” He grabbed the whipped cream and split.

“What was that?” Becky looked around. “We’ve been snookered.” They all looked and sure enough, the extra crepes were gone. They all looked in Heidi’s direction.

Heidi sat there with her hand on her cheek, over the spot where Robert had kissed her.

“Heidi? Are you okay?” She heard someone say.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied in a daze. “I think I need to make more crepe’s.”