by Faye Sonja
“We might be able to find you a husband sooner than we thought.”
June frowned and almost lost her footing. “You can’t be serious?”
They started up a flight of stairs.
Orlando said. “Of course, I’m serious. The two men were on my list of potential husbands for you anyway. Neither are married and they both were wise enough to put money on a room even with the possibility that they’d never get the money back. They’re smart, wealthy, and exactly the type of man your father would approve of. It makes sense to at least get to know them more.”
June sighed. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to get rid of me.”
He gave her a hard look. “It’s my job to find you a husband.”
June shook her head. “Well, then, just pass me off to the first gentleman you see.” She narrowed her eyes. “Maybe I’ll talk to Clarence first. After all, he was more a gentleman than you.”
Orlando frowned. “What’s that mean?”
“I saw the way you looked at Austin after he forced you to share a room. I can’t believe you’d leave a sick woman to sleep out in the hall.”
Orlando frowned. “That’s not why I gave my brother that look.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“It’s personal.”
“Between you and your brother?”
“Yes.”
June frowned. “Well…” She relaxed her face. “Alright.”
Orlando frowned.
Mary stopped at a door. “This is your room, June.” She stood there and waited for June to enter the room. June stood in the doorway. Orlando stood in front of her. Mary and Austin were already moving on to the next room. Mary said. “Mr. Bakely, this is where you’ll be staying. I think you will find the room to your liking.” She smiled.
Orlando nodded her way. “I’m sure I will.”
Austin entered the room. Mary stood in the hall. Her fingers were laced in front of her. She simply smiled at Orlando.
June covered her mouth with her hand, preventing Orlando from seeing the smile that was growing there.
Orlando lifted a brow at Mary. “That will be all, Mrs. Norman.”
Mary smiled. “I just want to make sure you make it safely to your room.”
Orlando frowned. “But it’s right there. I don’t believe I’ll have any trouble finding it.”
June started to laugh.
Orlando turned to her. “What’s so funny?”
June said, “Mrs. Norman is making sure you don’t come into my room.”
Orlando frowned. “I don’t understand, why would I—” His eyes went wide. He turned to Mrs. Norman. “Mrs. Norman, I have no intentions of crossing the threshold of Miss Boone’s door.”
Mary kept smiling. “Well, I’ll just make sure of that. We can’t have people thinking poorly of the girl, now can we?”
Orlando sighed in irritation. “No, I suppose we can’t.” The snow in the cloth had melted, but he still held it to his face.
June leaned her head against the doorframe and gazed up at him. “You go. I’ll see you at dinner.”
Orlando turned to her. His slits for eyes narrowed at her. “This conversation isn’t over.”
“I didn’t think it was.”
He nodded and then turned.
Mary waited for him to close the door behind him before scampering off in another direction. June closed her door with a smile. She sighed as she replayed the day’s events over in her head. What an adventure. She frowned as she thought about everything Orlando had revealed to her about himself. Orlando believed that everyone needed love, but was making the decision to deny it for himself. It was evident that his father’s absence had done something to him in his younger years, but no one deserved to be alone. It was clear that he didn’t want June, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t someone out there for him. Orlando wanted June to find a suitor while stuck in the middle of nowhere, well, maybe she’d help him find someone too.
* * *
5
Chapter FIVE
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“ We’ll marry New Year’s morning.”
.
Orlando closed the door behind him and sighed. He took the wet cloth from his face and closed his eyes, but he could still picture June’s green eyes and red hair as if she were standing right in front of him. She was the most uncooperative woman that Orlando had ever met in this business. Sure, he’d dealt with women who hadn’t wanted to marry, at first, but he’d never met one whom he’d had to fight to get her to agree to get to know two rich and eligible bachelors. Most women would be thrilled with the prospect. But not June.
Admittedly, June was the first woman he’d had to deal with on this level in many years. When Orlando had first started Heart Arrangements, he had to be more hands on, but that had been ten years ago. The company now ran like a well-oiled machine that Orlando didn’t have to do much with. Yet still, in ten years, no woman had bugged him as much as June. Maybe he was getting lonely.
“You’re an idiot.”
Orlando frowned. He looked at Austin.
Austin sat in a chair by the window. He had already removed his jacket and had it draped over the back of his chair.
“What do you mean?”
Austin frowned. “I’ve never seen you react to a woman the way you are now.”
Orlando moved across the room and sat on the edge of the bed. “What would you know about my dating life? We rarely see one another.”
“I’ve seen you with plenty of women before. You’d never pushed them away the way you’re pushing June away.”
“Maybe I’m pushing her away, because I don’t like her.”
Austin smiled. “No man pushes a pretty woman away because he doesn’t like her. He pushes her away when he does.”
Orlando narrowed his eyes. “That makes no sense.”
“Sure it does,” Austin leaned on his forearms over his kneels. “It’s just like if you’d gone to a party. You dance with all the women, but if you really like a woman, but don’t want her to get any ideas, you push them away to protect yourself from yourself.”
Orlando frowned. “Is that what you’ve been doing? Have you been pushing other women away so as not to cheat on Melody?”
Austin frowned. “I’ve never cheated on Melody, Orlando. I love her. But yeah, if I notice a girl is pretty and she likes me, I stop dancing with her. I stop talking to her, because she’s not worth it. No one is worth losing Melody.”
“No one, except you.”
Austin hung his head. “I’m not that man anymore, Orlando.”
Orlando sighed. “So, you said. It was a nice thing you did for the woman downstairs.”
Austin looked up. “You would have done the same thing.”
Orlando nodded. “I would have.” He sighed. “But you beat me to it. Why did you do it?”
Austin shrugged. “It was the right thing to do. We don’t need two rooms, just one, so that we can sleep and have space to work in peace.”
Orlando nodded. “So, you didn’t do it to impress me? You didn’t do it to show that you’ve changed?”
Austin frowned. “Have I really been that selfish?”
“Yes.”
He sighed. “You’re right. I don’t deserve Melody.”
“But you’re still going to go after her.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not going to stop?”
“Never.”
“She’s in Santana.”
Austin’s eyes went wide. “California?”
Orlando looked down and nodded.
Austin went to kneel by him so that he could see his brother’s eyes. He swallowed. “You’re sure? How do you know?”
“I sat by Melody and Harmony on the train that they left on.”
Austin smiled, tears were in his eyes. “Thank you.”
“Don’t disappoint me, Austin. This is it. If you mess up this last time, you’re fired.”
Austin frowned. “You’d fire your own brother even though you know I’d never find another job in this economy?”
“Yes.”
Austin smiled. “Well, you don’t have to worry about me messing up. I’m going to marry her this time.”
Orlando nodded. “If we ever get out of this snow, that is something I’d like to see.”
Austin looked down. “Do you think she’s married?”
“I don’t know.”
Austin sighed. “If she’s married… I don’t think I could take that.”
“Well, it was the chance you took every time you cancelled the wedding.”
Austin shook his head. “I just didn’t want her to end up like mom.” He looked up at Orlando. “I didn’t want her to only see me some of the time and not others. That’s no way for a family to be.”
Orlando frowned. “I agree, so what are you going to do once you’re married to Melody?”
Austin grew serious. “See if she’s willing to go on the road with me.”
“And if she’s not.”
“Downsize my position so that I’m home more.”
“You’d be cutting your pay.”
“She’s worth it.”
Orlando smiled. “I’m happy you see that now.”
Austin didn’t smile. “I hope she can see it as well.” He stood. “I’m going to call around Santana and see if anyone can get me her number.”
“Well, you better hurry before the power goes—”
The lights went out.
“Thanks for that,” Austin said in the dark.
“Don’t mention it.”
Chatter could be heard from the other side of the door. Joseph’s voice spoke over the crowd, calming everyone down. He also said that everyone who’d travelled through the snow made it to the next town over. Everyone in the inn began to applaud. Joseph said he was going to go get lanterns and bed warmers from the barn and recruited some men to go help him get them. It made sense that he would still have so many gas lanterns. The rural parts of America hadn’t received electricity until a few years ago.
Austin took his chair by the window. The sun was giving off its very last hues of red behind the trees. “You know,” Austin began. “I didn’t expect you to tell me where Melody was so quickly.
Orlando leaned back on the queen-sized bed. “Neither did I.”
“Not that I’m not grateful, but why did you do it?”
“Merry Christmas.”
“I’m serious.”
“Maybe no one should have to be as miserable as me.”
“Wow. I’ve never heard you say anything like that before.” Austin’s frown came through in his words. “That was really depressing.”
Orlando sighed. “I know.”
“You must really like her.”
“I think I do.”
“Then marry her.”
“I can’t.”
“Because of Dad.” It was a statement.
Orlando sighed. “Yeah.”
“She’s enjoyed being on the road so far. Maybe you guys could make a go at it.”
Orlando smiled. “It’s her first journey. It’s a novel experience now, but she’ll soon grow tired of it.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I haven’t been alone my entire life, Austin. I know.”
“You mean, you know firsthand.” Another statement.
“Yes.”
“Who was she?”
“In ten years, there’s definitely been more than one.” Orlando sighed. “So, names wouldn’t matter.”
Austin sucked his teeth. “I didn’t know that. I feel like I barely know you.”
Orlando frowned. “Well, we’re a decade apart.”
“Still, a brother should know his own brother’s love life, right?”
“I know yours.”
Austin sighed. “Then, you’ve been a better brother than I have.”
“I was older. I had to look out for you.”
“No, I’ve just been stuck in my own world. I’m pretty selfish.”
“I’m happy you know.”
Orlando felt a something soft land on his head. A pillow. He laughed.
“Shut up,” Austin said.
Orlando’s laugh grew.
Austin laughed too. Then he sobered. “I’m going to try and be more selfless from now on. Losing Melody had made me realize that the world doesn’t revolve around only me.”
Orlando frowned. “Tis the season for such sentiments.”
“Well, I’m going to try and make a change that will last past the holidays. I want to be a better man.”
“You know, there was a man who was born almost 2,000 years ago. They called Him, Christ. I think that man would be proud of you.”
Austin laughed. “It’s funny you mention Him. When’s the last time you went to church?”
“I could go more.”
“So could I.”
“Let’s do that when he get back to Michigan.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Austin clapped his heads. “Now, that we’ve got that all squared away. Let’s talk about June.”
“I’ve asked her to talk to Peter and Clarence. She’s beautiful. No doubt one of them will go for her. Clarence is from The Judge’s district no less.”
Austin sighed. “Are you really going to give her up?”
“I have to.”
“You’re a fool and you’re going to regret this decision for the rest of your life.”
Something crawled through Orlando’s nerves, from his fingertips and up to his shoulders. He tried to breathe through the pressure that began to build there. It was fear. Austin could be right. Orlando could be making a mistake with this decision, but keeping June for himself didn’t seem right either. He honestly didn’t know what to do. He closed his eyes and said a prayer, hoping for an answer.
* * *
6
Chapter SIX
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“ We’ll marry New Year’s morning.”
.
June walked through the halls and smiled. Someone had put up Christmas decorations. It was the morning of Christmas Eve. A wreath was wrapped around the banister to the stairs. The sun was up, but there were candles that gave off hushed light in the darker corners of the room. Glittering silver and gold stars were on the walls and on all the doors. June took the first step down the stairs and looked back in the direction of her room. She gasped. Someone had put mistletoe in the middle of the hallway in front of her door. She narrowed her eyes as she tried to think of who would do a thing like that. The list of people who would, seemed to come easy to her, which made narrowing it down even harder.
She shrugged as she left the second floor. It didn’t mean it had to be for her. Downstairs there was more singing coming from the sitting room. Someone was playing the piano. June went to its entry way and her eyes widened. It was Austin playing while a group of men and women stood around. Everyone was making the most of the holiday.
June turned in the other direction and headed for the dining room.
Mary walked in from the kitchen carrying a basket of warm buns. “Oh good, you’re up. Mr. Bakely is in the library in the back. He asked to see you.” She skirted past June, but then turned and said, “Leave the door open while you’re in there, dear.”
June laughed. “Yes ma’am.” She hadn’t had a mother in years, but apparently Mary wanted the job. She walked back out into the hall and said hello to some of the women there. Further down was a group of women June’s age. One woman stopped her. She was pretty with blonde hair and hazel eyes. “Hey, I’m Teresa.”
“Hello,” June said. “I’m June.”
Teresa blushed as she pulled on her blonde side braid. “Uh, the men you came in with, they yours?”
She had a southern outfit.
June kept her face pleasant, but shook her head. “No.”
Teresa smiled at the two other girls with her. “I told y'all.” The girls giggled. Teresa turned back to June. “You think you could introduce us?”
June’s stomach turned. “Uh well, one of them, Austin, is taken, though not by me. But, the other one, Orlando, is… he is available.” June swallowed, and remembered what she’d told herself yesterday. She’d help Orlando find happiness. “I could introduce you.”
“Sweet,” Teresa said.
June smiled. “Sit with me at breakfast.”
“Yeah, will do,” Teresa smiled and then walked off with the other two girls following.
June sighed and then continued down the hall. The library was the first door on the right under the stairs. June knocked.
“Come in.”
June took a deep breath and then pushed the door open.
Orlando was leaning by the fireplace. His long legs were crossed at the ankle. His arms were crossed. His eyes were gazing into the fireplace, but when he turned to look at June, her heart stopped. His eyes widened as he stared at her.
June frowned, but then remembered she was wearing her hair down. She was without her usual hair products, so she had forgone trying to fight the reddish blonde waves back on top of her head. She looked away from Orlando and swept her hair over one shoulder. She looked up to find him still staring at her.
She flung her hair back then, trying to hide it behind her back.
Orlando slowly smiled.
June rolled her eyes. “Would you stop?”
“Stop what?”
“Unnerving me.”
Orlando laughed. “I’ll try.” He cleared his throat. “Good morning, June,” he said, as though he could restart the day.
June smiled her reply.
He gestured for her to close the door.
June shook her head. “Mrs. Norman wants us to leave it open.”
He frowned and shook his head. “This whole arrangement is most unorthodox.”
June walked further into the room. “She just wants to make sure my reputation isn’t ruined.”