Beauty and the Baker

by Christine Sterling

  He still hadn’t spoken about what happened to him that night she saw his back. He begged her to leave and Georgina finally relented. She wished she could take some of the pain away. She had never seen anyone with so much pain in their eyes.

  Georgina was afraid he wasn’t going to show up at the bakery the next morning, but he surprised her. He acted like nothing was wrong and threw himself into reading recipes out loud to her or tasting the treats before they went for sale.

  The first day was a disaster. Georgina was unprepared for the number of people that graced their doors. She thought she had arrived early enough to prepare enough types of treats, but when the bakery opened only two types were ready.

  Charlie thought maybe she was trying too hard. He suggested she limit it to two pastries and one type of cake, changing the cake flavor each day.

  It simplified her prepping immensely and even Maybelle said the profits from the bakery were none like she had ever seen. People actually placed orders weeks in advance for a specific type of cake.

  The bakery’s most popular flavor, of course, was the chocolate cake with brewed coffee in the batter. She had a dozen orders a week going all the way until the first of the year.

  Customers asked her to divulge her secret ingredient, and she never did. Instead she’d just smile and say that it was a secret from New York.

  Pound cakes became a staple as well. Georgina made Charlie one the day the bakery opened. She could still recall them sitting down with a cup of tea from the tea shop and the way Charlie’s eyes closed as he savored every bite.

  She sent the rest of the cake home with him, apart from one slice she wanted to take to Maybelle. She made a silent vow to make Charlie a pound cake once a week.

  She was hoping he might start to open up to her during his time at the bakery, but he remained silent on most things. It was as if a light in him had dimmed, and she wanted to find out how to help him shine.

  The bell above the door rang and Georgina walked from the area where the cakes were cooling.

  “Mama!” she cried, rushing out to envelop her mother in a hug. Thomas threw his arms around her legs.

  “We missed you, Georgie. I cried after you left.”

  “I cried, too, pet. All the way out here to Colorado.”

  “Your father and I were worried sick. You can’t imagine all the things your father and I were thinking. I knew you got a letter from a man. You can’t imagine my relief to find out that you came out to help your aunt, instead of running off and getting married.”

  Georgina squirmed. “About that,” she started. She wanted to tell them that she had been thinking of running away and getting married, but now that she had been in Creede, she wasn’t sure that San Francisco is where her future was.

  Instead, she thought of dark-haired babies with ice blue eyes. But she knew that wasn’t to be. Especially if Charlie didn’t open up to her.

  “We can catch up on your trip out here later. We just arrived. Your father instructed the porter to take the luggage directly to your aunt’s house. But I wanted to come and see the bakery first.”

  “Did you make these?” Thomas asked, pressing his nose against the glass case.

  Georgina laughed. “I did, pet. Today we have jam tarts and sand cookies.”

  “Sand cookies? What are those?”

  “They are a light buttery cookie that melts in your mouth. They are called sand cookies because of the sugar sprinkled on top of them.” Thomas licked his lips. “Would you like one?” He nodded eagerly, taking the cookie Georgina offered him. “Go sit at the table and eat that.”

  “Only two types of treats?”

  “I make two small items on a daily basis. Plus, a cake of the day. The cake I bake the night before and let it cool. I was in the middle of frosting them.”

  “What kind do you have today?”

  “Today is almond pound cake. I ground up nuts to put them in the batter. And a yellow cake with chocolate glaze.”

  “I thought you said one cake.”

  “I make a batch of pound cakes on Monday and sell them all week. They keep fresh because I wrap them in paper.”

  “You aren’t open on Monday?”

  “No. We are off Sunday and Monday. Sunday I go to church and Monday I’m here starting the baking and prepping for the week.”

  “Ground nuts in a cake, who would have thought to do that?”

  Georgina smiled. The same person who dropped coffee in my cake batter, she wanted to say. Instead she kept quiet.

  “Would you like to try a piece?”

  “Not right now. I really want to get to Maybelle’s and get out of these traveling clothes.”

  “I want a piece,” Thomas called from the table.

  Georgina laughed. “I’ll bring a loaf home tonight and you can have it after supper.”

  “Can I have another cookie then?”

  Georgina slid a few cookies in a bag and folded it down to seal the cookies inside. She handed the bag to her mama. “Don’t spoil your appetite.”

  Thomas grimaced. “You sound just like Mama.”

  Lorraine laughed. “I’m thinking being a baker suits you. Much more than being a nurse.”

  “I really enjoy what I do. It is something totally different. Although my feet still hurt.” She lifted her skirt slightly to show her mother the pair of leather loafers she wore. She put out one foot, then the other, turning her ankle to show off the shoes. “Charlie purchased these for me. They definitely help.”

  “Charlie?” her mother asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “He’s been helping me.”

  “Is this the young man your aunt mentioned in her letter?”

  “She did?”

  Lorraine nodded. Their attention shifted when the bell above the door rang once more.

  “I thought I was right on time. Did you open the bakery early?” Charlie asked, entering the shop.

  “Mama, I’d like you to meet Charlie Stockton. He is the neighbor down the road, and he helps me here in the bakery.”

  “Ma’am,” Charlie said removing his hat.

  “Such polite manners,” Lorraine said, sliding a glance to Georgina. She held out her hand. “I’m Georgie’s mother.”

  “And I’m her brother, Thomas,” said the boy finishing his cookie.

  “Georgie?” Charlie said, looking at Georgina. “I’ll have to remember that.”

  “No, you will not,” she teased. “The cakes are in the back waiting to be frosted.”

  “Are you just visiting, or did you move to Creede?”

  “We are just visiting. We are staying at Maybelle’s. I do hope to see you again, Mr. Stockton.”

  “Call me Charlie. Now that we know you are here, I expect my sister will be extending an invitation to dinner.”

  “We would be delighted.”

  Charlie gave her a little bow. “Pleasure meeting you ma’am. And you too, Thomas.” I’ll be in back, he mouthed to Georgina.

  As soon as Charlie disappeared behind the curtain, Lorraine grabbed Georgina’s arm. “Well he is not what I expected.”

  “You shouldn’t have been expecting anyone.”

  “He is very handsome, Georgina.”

  “Shush, Mama. He will hear you.”

  Georgina took her mother’s arm and escorted her to the door. “I’ll be home before supper time.”

  Lorraine and Thomas waved, leaving Georgina alone with all her feelings and the man that was causing them frosting cakes in the back of the kitchen area.

  “So, your parents arrived?” Charlie asked, placing the bottom of a cake on the frosting stand.

  Georgina nodded. “They didn’t send me word that they were arriving.”

  “Do you want to go spend time with them? I can probably manage alone today.”

  Georgina swiped her finger through the frosting and licked it from her finger. “I don’t think so. You may be the creative genius but remember who runs this shop.”

  “Your Aunt Maybelle?�
�

  Georgina laughed. “Exactly. Aunt Maybelle.”

  “Is her leg any better?”

  “Oh, the doctor took off her splint yesterday. Her leg is a little weak from being wrapped up for so long, but she said she’ll build up to walking longer distances over the next week.”

  “I guess then she’ll be ready to come back.” Charlie started smoothing the frosting on the first layer of cake.

  “She didn’t say.” Georgina washed her hands in the sink and took a second cake, turning it upside on another frosting board.

  “Don’t you like it here?”

  “I do. But I was training to be a nurse, not a baker.”

  “I remember,” Charlie said softly.

  “I am supposed to return to Baltimore. The hospital is keeping my job for me. Although they have probably filled the position by now.”

  “What about San Francisco?” She had mentioned moving to San Francisco several times over the past month, but when he pressed her about it she refused to talk.

  We all have our secrets, he thought.

  Georgina pretended not to hear and turned her attention to scooping the right amount of frosting on her cake layer. Once she was done, she stacked a second layer on top of it and repeated the process.

  “Georgina?” Charlie asked softly. Georgina looked at Charlie. He saw the sadness pass over her eyes. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Know what?”

  “If I want to go to San Francisco. But I made a promise. I told someone I was coming.”

  “Well tell them you aren’t.”

  “It isn’t as easy as that. I gave my word.”

  “You were on your way there and Creede was just a detour, wasn’t it?”

  Georgina nodded. Charlie turned his focus back to frosting the cake in front of him.

  “Don’t you like being a nurse, Georgina?”

  “It is hard work. You are at the hospital long hours. You see some terrible things. It isn’t what I expected.”

  “What did you expect?”

  “I expected it to be easy. I wanted to heal people. Save them from near death. Assist doctors with surgeries. Not changing bedpans and soiled sheets. It is like I wasn’t appreciated.”

  Charlie flinched. “It is much more than that. You are healing people. Every time you do what you consider a mundane task. It is important to the person that can’t do it for themselves.” Charlie put his cake aside and reached for another layer. “I’m eternally grateful to the doctors and nurses that healed me. I couldn’t do it on my own. I couldn’t change my own bedpan, or sheets. So, I’m thankful for those that did that for me. I’m thankful for the nurse that sang to me when I was falling asleep. She gave me something to hold onto. There was hope I would heal when I had lost all hope of living. You can tell a lot about a person by their actions.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It isn’t what someone says. It is how they follow through. You took an oath to heal those patients in whatever capacity you could. If it was the undesirable tasks, so be it. Someone needed to do them.” He looked at Georgina. “It is harder to stay and do the right thing instead of just running away because you don’t like it.”

  “I was not running away.”

  “Then what would you call it?”

  “I was running towards something.”

  “Which is?” Charlie asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “My future.”

  Charlie motioned around the room with his knife. “Here? Your future here in this bakery?”

  “You don’t know anything, Charlie.”

  “I know more than what you think. I know how hard it is to make the right decision. When you are terrified that it is going to cause harm to your family. To your friends. But even if you are scared you do it anyway.”

  Georgina stilled for a minute. “I didn’t tell them.”

  “Tell who?”

  “My parents. I let them think that I came out here to take care of my aunt so she wouldn’t lose the bakery. I never mentioned I was on my way to San Francisco.”

  “So, you lied to them?”

  “I wouldn’t say I lied.”

  “Then what would you call it? You left in the middle of the night to run away for whatever reason, and then you let your parents think oh, she just went to visit her aunt. Who does that?”

  “Don’t judge me.”

  “I’m not. I’m telling you to judge yourself. There is a lot of evil in the world, Georgina. You don’t need to become mixed up with it.”

  “I am getting married.”

  Charlie stopped frosting his cake. “What did you say?”

  “I said I’m getting married. I didn’t want to tell my parents because my father thinks I couldn’t get any suitors.”

  “Why not? You are a beautiful woman.”

  “Yes, but I work. Do you know how many men want to be with a working woman? The number is very low.”

  “So, you were headed out to San Francisco to marry someone?” Georgina nodded.

  “Did you even know him?”

  “No. I found an advertisement in the paper. He is a shipping magistrate. He didn’t want me to work.”

  “Did he send you money for a ticket?”

  Georgina shook her head. “No, he didn’t.”

  “Doesn’t that strike you as odd? That a man who is probably very rich, didn’t send you money for a ticket to come out and marry him.”

  “I know. He wanted to take me to the West Indies. Spend our days sailing on the waters. I know it seems silly now.”

  “It isn’t silly, Georgina. It is dangerous. Let me tell you about men like that.”

  Chapter 10

  Georgina watched him sit down on a stool and look her in the face. He told her of men that lured young orphan boys and girls into working at the factory. They were kept segregated from the rest of the workers. Charlie only found them because he was taking fabric to a storage area and made a wrong turn.

  He saw children chained to beds and living in filthy conditions. They were beaten and starving and desperate for him to help them.

  He snuck food down to them when he could. He tried to find out more information so he could go to the authorities. But when he did finally talk to the police, the word went right back to Mr. Weston and his problems soon started.

  His father was accused of theft. His sister was being forced into a marriage she didn’t want. Even Charlie had been threatened with his life if he didn’t forget what he saw.

  But Charlie couldn’t forget. He would see men in suits come through and then suddenly five, six or more of the children would disappear.

  It wasn’t until he saw the paperwork someone had left carelessly behind that he realized what was happening.

  He made a connection in the State’s Department of Justice and told him what was happening. They couldn’t just storm into the factory because no one had reported the children missing. They could, however, open an investigation if there were children under 14 working at the factory.

  Child labor was a huge problem in New York. Many of the children worked from their homes until they were old enough to actually go the factory. The hours were long, and it was commonplace for the children to be abused while they worked.

  Charlie remembered being caned if he wasn’t performing fast enough. You learned very quickly how to avoid punishments.

  So, Charlie stole a pair of pants and turned them over, along with a sworn statement that he had seen someone under 14 sew them.

  Charlie disappeared until a man found him and asked if he could do the same thing down at the docks. Check out the waterfront and see if the same thing was happening there.

  Charlie agreed. He didn’t have anyone at home since Cassie and Hal already left, so he offered to do it. If it meant saving someone from a terrible fate, he would always do it. His best friend Ian insisted on accompanying him.

  They did in fact, find many young children working the docks. In fact, he
found young girls and women, just around Cassie’s age, being held for a shipment to the West Indies.

  He couldn’t locate his contact who had asked him to help, so he did the only thing he could. He took the young girls, leaving behind the women, and hid them.

  He, Ian and James were jumped in a warehouse where they were planning their next steps.

  When he awoke, he was in the holding cell of a ship. He could feel it moving in the water, but he didn’t know where they were going.

  He could hear James crying in the cell next door. Ian was in one right behind him. They spent the next few days comforting each other and making promises on what they would do if someone could escape.

  How Ian managed to escape, he didn’t know. They were docked somewhere, but he didn’t know where they were. Two large men came down, grabbed Ian from his cell and dragged him kicking and screaming out of the area.

  Charlie remembered yelling for his friend until he couldn’t yell anymore. Shortly thereafter they came and took James away and Charlie was left alone.

  He screamed until his voice was hoarse, but no one came. Around dark, the men returned and grabbed him as well. They stuffed a rag in his mouth and put a cover on his head. He felt himself being put in a box and carried off the ship.

  They took him to a warehouse, where they tied him up and flogged him, demanding he tell them where he took the girls. Charlie wouldn’t say. Instead he just let them beat him, until there was nothing left in his lungs. If he thought it couldn’t get worse, then they decided to douse his back in fuel and light him on fire.

  Charlie screamed until he passed out. The next thing he knew he was waking up in the hospital.

  “So, you think that your job might not have been important, but Georgina, you saved my life.”

  Georgina stood there, feeling the tears roll down her face. “I am so sorry. I didn’t know what happened to you.”

  Charlie reached out and cupped her face, wiping away the tears with his thumbs. “I didn’t tell you to make you sad.”

  “I can’t imagine that Lawrence would do anything like that.”

  Charlie nodded. “I would like to think that. I’m just sharing what I learned about a very ugly side of society.”