Skirting Tradition

by Kay Moser

  “Oh no!” Sarah insisted. “I’ve got it. It’s my job.”

  “Well, I can at least carry some of it,” Miss Victoria insisted as she grabbed the full teapot and led the way to her bedroom. “Just put it down over here.” She beckoned to a table in front of a fireplace. “It’s nice and cozy here, although I confess I can’t wait to get outside in the sunshine even if it is freezing.” She sat down in front of the tray and waved at a chair across the room. “Bring that chair over here, Sarah, and I’ll pour us a cup of tea.”

  Surprised, Sarah just stood there.

  “Oh dear,” Miss Victoria murmured. “They’ve only put one cup on the tray. Sarah, run back down and get another cup and saucer.”

  “Another cup?”

  “Yes, of course. You can’t drink out of your hands, dear. Frances just wasn’t thinking ...”

  “I’m sure she didn’t think I’d be drinking the tea.”

  “Well, she’ll know better next time, won’t she?” Miss Victoria smiled up at her. “Run along and get that cup. We have quite an agenda today.”

  When Sarah returned, Miss Victoria was reading a letter as she sipped her tea. “Wonderful news,” she said. “Maude is coming down on the train tomorrow. Looks like we’re going to have our first house party this weekend. Not much time to prepare; thank goodness Maude’s my cousin and best friend. Here, let me have that cup, and you bring that chair over here, the one by the window.”

  Sarah hurried across the room, but when she reached for the chair, she had a clear view of the Bellows’ back porch and saw Ada come outside. Sarah froze and leaned closer to the glass. Her heart sank as she saw the children scramble out from under the porch and eagerly grab what Ada held out to them.

  “Sarah?” Miss Victoria seemed to appear miraculously at her side. “Sarah, are you all right, dear? You look like you’re about to cry.” She turned Sarah toward her. “Whatever is the matter?”

  Her speech limited by the lump in her throat, Sarah turned back to the window and pointed to the children.

  “What’s going on that’s upsetting you so?”

  “Those children belong to the cook at the Bellows’ house,” Sarah choked out.

  “They are eating out there in the cold?”

  “Yes, ma’am. They stay under the porch and wait for their mama to be able to feed them something, and well ... I think they’re eating the scraps from the breakfast table right now.” Sarah ducked her head, unable to keep tears from streaming down her cheeks.

  “And you’ve never encountered anything like that before?”

  Sarah’s head jerked up. “No one goes hungry on the farm! No one! My pa wouldn’t allow it. We may not have much, but everybody eats.”

  “We could learn a thing or two from your pa!” Miss Victoria strode toward the door as she spoke. When Sarah followed her, she found her at the head of the stairs ringing a bell. Delphie appeared in the hallway, but before she could climb the stairs, Miss Victoria called down, “Delphie, take a large jug of milk and a basket of biscuits to the back porch of the Bellows’ house and feed the children hiding under there.”

  “To the Bellows’ house?” Delphie asked in alarm. “But, Miz Victoria—”

  “Don’t argue. Do it! And take some quilts with you, too!”

  “But Miz Victoria, are you sure you knows what you’s saying? Mr. Bellows gonna eat me alive if he catches me, and—”

  “What’s going on?” Mr. Hodges demanded from the dining room door. “Victoria, what’s the matter?”

  “There are children next door out in the freezing cold with no food. That’s what’s wrong!”

  “Darling.” Mr. Hodges started mounting the stairs. “There are cold, hungry children all over this town, all over this state, all over—”

  “Nevertheless, there will not be any next door! Not if I live here! Go do as I say, Delphie.”

  Mr. Hodges nodded at Delphie, who hurried back to the kitchen. When he reached the top of the staircase, he put his arms around Victoria, but she jerked away. “Now, darling,” he began.

  “If you climbed the stairs to tell me to tolerate starving, freezing children, you’ve wasted your energy, sir!”

  Mr. Hodges looked at Sarah and said playfully, “This is what you get when you marry a redhead.”

  “This is what you get when you marry me!”

  “Darling, you can’t feed every hungry child—”

  “I can feed the ones God puts in front of me, and I will!” Victoria whirled around and stormed past Sarah.

  Mr. Hodges smiled down at Sarah. “I’m a lucky man, Sarah. I’ve waited all my life to meet a woman with that kind of fire.” He chuckled. “I just hope Riverford survives her presence.”

  “I think it’ll be a better place, sir.”

  “But not without some birth pangs.” He chuckled again as he started back downstairs.

  When Sarah returned to the bedroom, she found Miss Victoria leaning over a marble-topped dresser, splashing water onto her face from a porcelain bowl. “I have the most terrible temper, Sarah,” she confessed between splashes. “You must not emulate me.”

  “What does ‘emulate’ mean, Miss Victoria?”

  Miss Victoria laughed as she dried her face. “It means to pattern yourself after someone.”

  “Then I think I’ll plan to emulate you.”

  Miss Victoria studied Sarah. “You compliment me,” she finally said as she patted Sarah on the shoulder. “Now let’s get down to business. We’ve got to get this day organized. We need some time in the library, and we absolutely must go down to Hayden’s store if we’re going to entertain a guest this weekend. I’ve just begun to examine the stock in this house, and it’s woefully apparent that no one has entertained in years. So we—” She stopped and tilted her head as she evaluated Sarah’s face. “What’s that gleam I see in your eyes?”

  Sarah blushed. “It’s just that I need to go to the store too. Tomorrow is Mama’s birthday, and Pa and I’ve been saving money—well, the thing is, I need to buy some material for a new dress for her.”

  “What fun! I’ll help you.”

  “I don’t have much money—”

  “That makes it even more of a challenge, and I love a challenge. Let’s make a list of what we need for the house, and I’ll get dressed, and we’ll go down as soon as the store opens at ten. How’s that for a plan?”

  “Good.”

  “Then we can work in the library a bit this afternoon and go over your vocabulary list—you did have time to read, I hope.”

  “Oh, yes, ma’am! Not last night, but—”

  “No, not last night, I’m sure. I saw you hurrying home at dark. I wanted to send you home in the carriage, but Hayden said I’d just cause you trouble at home.”

  Sarah nodded.

  “Okay. Let’s get to our list. Take your tea over to that desk, and I’ll dictate. And I must decide what to wear. I suppose I should give it some thought since the whole town seems ready to be shocked by my behavior.” She thumbed through outfits in the wardrobe. “What do you think of this?” she asked as she pulled out a dove gray jacket with navy blue velvet collar and cuffs. The skirt’s rather plain, but—”

  “It’s beautiful!” Sarah dropped her pen and ran across the room to study the detail. “Oh, I love the velvet trim and the sleeves. What do you call this kind of sleeve? They’re full, but not really puffed.”

  Miss Victoria laughed. “I’m afraid the fashion world would call them inadequate. I wanted something simple, so I had my seamstress just pleat the sleeves at the shoulder. I can’t be bothered having to turn sideways to get through a door just because my sleeves are puffed two feet past each shoulder.”

  Sarah laughed. “I’ve never had that problem, I’m afraid.”

  “You will.” Miss Victoria patted her affectionately on the shoulder. “I must confess I do love the velvet trim on the jacket. I had a dickens of a time keeping my seamstress from flouncing the skirt or adding an overskirt.” Miss Victor
ia pulled out a matching gray skirt with a simple navy velvet band around the bottom. “What do you think?”

  “I wish Mama could have an outfit just like this, but we could never afford it.”

  “Have you already looked at fabric?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I found some very practical black muslin, which is what the sales lady recommended.”

  “But not what you want for your mother?”

  “No, ma’am. There’s a beautiful blue wool twill.”

  “A dark blue?”

  “Sort of medium. I think it’s called royal.”

  “Sounds pretty. Wool would make a lovely jacket and skirt for church and events like that.”

  “That’s what I want for Mama—something really special!” Sarah’s excitement grew. “She’s never had a pretty dress, just a plain black one, and she’s had the same one forever.”

  “Time for a change, I would say. We’ll see what we can do.”

  “Remember, I don’t have a lot of money.”

  “But you can add your wages for today.”

  “I haven’t finished my work.”

  “Don’t worry. I plan to keep you very busy, young lady. You’ll earn every penny. And you can begin right now by running downstairs and telling Frances I need to confer with her about the menu. Tell her to meet me in the morning room in about ten minutes.”

  Sarah gathered the tea things and hurried downstairs with the tray. When she reached the kitchen, she heard Delphie telling an obviously exaggerated version of her adventure taking food to Ada’s children. “I heard this big boom kind of a sound, so I just jumped under the porch with them kids. I just knew it was that Mr. Bellows coming out to snatch me up and take me to jail.”

  “Hmmm,” was all Frances said. “Did he get you?”

  “No.” Delphie’s voice went flat. “It was only Ada, and she was mighty grateful for them blankets and the food.”

  “I ’spect she was, but we’s gonna have trouble from this. You mark my word. Miz Victoria don’t understand the way of things ’round here.”

  “She doesn’t,” Sarah agreed, to make her presence known.

  “Why, Miz Sarah! You shouldn’t bring that tray down. Delphie would get it when she cleaned.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “But it ain’t your job, honey. Miz Victoria got different plans for you.”

  Sarah blushed. “I guess I don’t know my place yet.”

  “Just let things unroll, honey. That be the best way, ’specially with a lady like Miz Victoria. She don’t think like the rest of us.”

  “She got a special kind of heart,” Delphie added, her voice full of awe.

  “The kind that ain’t gonna settle well with this here town,” Samuel concluded.

  “You mark my word, old man”—Frances shook her wooden spoon at him—“that Miz Victoria gonna win this town over and teach them a thing or two in the balance. She got spunk!”

  “Miss Victoria wants to confer with you about the menu in the morning room in ten minutes,” Sarah said.

  “What’s ‘confer’ mean?” Delphie blurted out.

  “I’m not sure,” Sarah confessed, “but I think she means she wants to plan things out. You better bring some paper to write it all down, Frances.”

  A look of shame washed across Frances’ face before she dropped her head and pretended to examine the brick floor. “I guess I can just remember it all, Miss Sarah,” she murmured, then abruptly changed tones. “Just look at this here floor, Samuel! Didn’t I tell you not to be dirtying up my kitchen floor with your boots?”

  Sarah’s heart sank, but she tried to make amends for the pain she had caused. “Oh, that’s my job, Frances. I just keep forgetting that I’m a private secretary, not a maid. I’ll write it all down for you.”

  Samuel shuffled over to her and whispered, “We can’t read, Miss Sarah. That be the truth.”

  Sarah’s throat tightened. “Oh. Of course, I should have thought—”

  Samuel patted her on the shoulder. “We’s used to it, honey. Don’t you go worrying about us. We got a good home here. Mr. Hayden been real good to us, just like his daddy before him.”

  Sarah nodded and quickly turned away before he could see the tears gathering in her eyes.

  ***

  When Sarah re-entered the house two hours later, she had just experienced the most exciting time of her life. She had ridden in a fine carriage. The sales clerks had treated Miss Victoria like visiting royalty and had even shown Sarah exceptional respect. Sarah laughed aloud when she remembered the change in the fabric clerk’s attitude. Happily, she hugged the package of blue wool twill and imagined her mama’s pleasure in her new dress.

  The shopping finished, Miss Victoria had decided to join Mr. Hayden in the store’s tearoom and had ordered Samuel to take Sarah home. Sarah had actually been driven through town and up Austin Avenue in a fine carriage filled with packages! It was a heady feeling indeed, but not nearly as precious as sitting in the library while Samuel built a fire and Delphie brought her dinner in on a tray.

  For several hours, Sarah had the magnificent room to herself, and she fell deeply in love. Not with a person, but with an experience. The clock ticked softly as the clear sunshine moved around the corner of the house, touching first one beautiful object—a mahogany table, a crystal lamp, a brass inkstand—with its golden light and then moving on to cast its glow on a parade of fine leather volumes Sarah was arranging on the shelves. She was more contented than she had ever been in her life. Each brown-paper-wrapped volume she pulled from a crate presented a new world of possibilities to her and elicited an Oh, thank you, Lord! deep in her soul. Occasionally, she stopped to stare out the floor-length window across the verandah to the beginnings of the fountain, and for her, the marble figures of the muses already danced.

  The sun had lowered close to the horizon when Sarah heard Miss Victoria and Mr. Hayden laughing on the walkway. As she struggled to bring herself back to reality, to a world peopled with talking, moving humans, she discovered how deeply she had immersed herself in the life of her mind and imagination. Victoria saw her in the window and waved and pointed to a metal contraption Mr. Hayden was carrying. Sarah could do no more than wave back and was still standing at the window when Victoria burst into the room.

  “Oh, Sarah! Go see what Hayden has. I’m going upstairs to change into my bloomers, and we’ll teach you to ride it.”

  As Miss Victoria bounded out of the library, Sarah shook her head to clear it and wandered outside into the brisk air.

  Mr. Hayden insisted she mount the bicycle he was carrying, and in no time he was running alongside her out on Austin Avenue as Victoria laughed at them. She, too, took her turn, her red curls tumbling loose and flying behind her.

  “What a thrill!” Victoria exclaimed as she coasted up to Sarah. “This is going to be my main method of transportation. Do you think the neighbors will survive, Sarah?” Miss Victoria nodded her head toward the Bellows’ porch where Sarah saw Mrs. Bellows staring at them.

  “Perhaps we should give them a little rest from the modern age,” Mr. Hayden suggested.

  Victoria laughed. “No doubt you’re right. Let’s go have tea.”

  Mr. Hayden studied the sky. “It’s later than you think, darling. Sarah better be on her way.”

  “No! This day has been too short. Oh, Sarah! Can you come tomorrow and meet Maude? She’ll love you. She’s the principal of a girls school in Fort Worth.”

  “And an absolute tyrant!” Mr. Hayden added.

  “Hayden! Behave yourself.”

  “The woman scares me to death, Sarah. You’ll see what I mean.”

  “Sarah won’t be the least bit intimidated by Maude. They’ll be instant kindred spirits.”

  Mr. Hayden arched an eyebrow.

  “Well, at least compatible spirits, if not exactly kindred,” Victoria admitted.

  “Tomorrow is Mama’s birthday,” Sarah murmured.

  “Oh, of course. How could I h
ave forgotten that? And Sunday is church, of course. Well, too bad, because Maude will return on the evening train.”

  “You lucked out, young lady,” Mr. Hayden quipped.

  “Hayden! Next visit for sure.” Miss Victoria eyed Hayden severely. “There will be many visits!”

  Sarah suppressed a giggle as she heard Mr. Hayden groan.

  CHAPTER 7

  Almost awake, Sarah’s mind drifted in ever-ascending circles toward the gentle light that bathed her bed. Finally, a bright beam of sunlight flashed across her eyelids. How delicious. Her relaxed, almost weightless muscles flowed into the coarse sheet. I can’t ever remember lying in bed and feeling the sunlight on my eyelids. It must be awfully late. As that reality sank in, she bolted upright. “Oh no! It’s Mother’s birthday, and I’ve overslept.”

  Hastily dressed, minutes later she bounded down the narrow stairs and found her mother sitting in front of the fireplace, nursing baby Kazimir. Mama’s face lit up at the sight of her daughter. “Well, look who’s here, Kazi,” she said to the baby.

  “I meant to be up hours ago and to—”

  “And I meant for you to sleep. You’ve been working hard all week.”

  “But it’s your birthday.”

  “So give me a birthday hug and fix yourself some breakfast. Your pa has big plans for me today, and I’m afraid you’re gonna be left with the house and the baby.”

  “I don’t mind. Are you going to town?”

  “No. On a picnic down by the river, so I sure hope the sunshine warms things up a bit.”

  “Just the two of you?”

  “Just us two.”

  “How romantic. I didn’t think Pa had it in him.”

  “How do you think I got this?” Her mother laughed as she looked down at the baby.

  Sarah’s mind was working a mile a minute as she calculated the hours she would have the kitchen to herself to bake a cake and to fix a big birthday supper.

  Standing, her mother put the baby to her shoulder and patted his back. “Now, don’t you go to any trouble working up a celebration, you hear? The picnic will be enough. Heavens! It’s been weeks since I was away from this house.”