The Spinster (Emerson Pass Historicals Book 2)

by Tess Thompson

  “Onions?” Josephine’s eyes widened. “That doesn’t sound pleasant.”

  “It wasn’t. But I don’t suppose all kisses are unpleasant. Not that I’ve had any other experience to test it against. I should like to. With you, most of all. I’ll look forward to the day you give me permission to do so.” I smiled and brushed my thumb along her delicate jawline.

  My smile faded as her expression turned mournful. After spending so much time together over the last week, I was able to interpret her facial expressions. A slight downturn of her mouth told me she was sad.

  “I kissed Walter,” she said, as if I’d asked. “Many times.”

  My chest tightened. I didn’t want to know. Not how many times or if she’d found his kisses pleasant. The thought of his mendacious mouth on hers was more than I could stomach.

  She looked down at her lap. “When I believed he loved me, I thought it was fine. We were to be married. At least that’s what I thought. Now that I know the truth about him, I feel spoiled. Dirty.”

  My heart softened, jealousy forgotten. She shouldn’t feel bad for being tricked. It was all him. “No, no, you mustn’t think like that. He was the one in the wrong. Anyway, those are only old-fashioned ideas, handed down from our puritanical beginnings. You’re a modern woman. There’s no reason you should be ashamed.”

  Her mouth curved upward as she looked up at me. “You sounded very smart and worldly just now.”

  “I’m not, but I’d like to be smart. For you.” I held up my hands. “But I’m afraid my cleverness is in these, not here.” I tapped my temple.

  “You don’t have to be anything other than yourself. Not for me or anyone else. You’re kind, which is the most important thing to be, but intelligent too. I admire you.”

  My chest warmed at her compliments. “Me? How so?”

  “You’re a survivor. All the obstacles in your way and yet you’re here helping others.”

  “You and your family inspired my generosity. It’s I who admire you.”

  She was quiet for a moment. A sparrow darted from one bare branch to the other.

  “When I think how he strung me along, I’m filled with shame,” she said. “I wonder how you could think well of me when I acted so foolishly.”

  “As a man who’s yearned for love and family for as long as I can remember, I can easily understand how one see things inaccurately. The desire outweighs your better instincts. Anyway, it’s him I think ill of. When I see what he could have had with you, I can’t think of a bigger fool.”

  She raised her gaze to mine. “I should have saved a first kiss for someone who deserved it.”

  “You could forget all that and start over. No one has to know but you and me. We could both start at zero kisses.”

  Josephine went back to staring at her lap. A flush had risen to her cheeks, making her even more beautiful than the moment before. “And who would be our first kiss then? Each other?”

  “I’d not discourage you from that idea.” Oz and Willie nuzzled noses as if to show us how.

  She smiled again and slowly turned toward me. “I never thought I’d kiss anyone ever again. And now here you are. Honestly, I don’t know if it’s another case of me being in love with love, but your feelings for me are thrilling.”

  “Is there any part of you that thinks you could love me, not the idea of love?”

  “How does one know, though?” Her nose wrinkled. “I’m scared to make another mistake.”

  “I could kiss you if that would help you decide.”

  Her eyes widened, and her lips parted slightly. Was that an invitation? I’d wait to hear the words from her rosy pink mouth. Making a mistake and scaring her away was my greatest fear at the moment.

  “Are you asking permission?” she asked.

  “Yes. May I kiss you?”

  “You may.” She lifted her chin and closed her eyes. “Go ahead.”

  I laughed. “There’s no need to be stoic about it. You have to at least pretend you want me to.”

  She giggled as her eyes flew open. “I do. I’m just not certain how it works with you. With—”

  I held up a hand to cut her off from whatever she was going to tell me about Walter. “Don’t say it—I don’t want to hear anything more about him or his kisses.”

  She sobered and dropped her chin, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Not another word.”

  “Look at me, beautiful Josephine.”

  A giggle erupted. “I’m suddenly nervous.”

  I leaned forward, not thinking this time, and cradled her face in my gloved hands. The world went away as I kissed her sweet-tasting, yielding lips.

  Her mouth parted slightly to allow me to delve further, which I did. After a few seconds, I withdrew to look at her. She stared back at me with wide eyes. “Was it all right?”

  “I can’t be certain.” Her face broke into a smile. “Shall we do it again to decide?”

  Josephine

  Kissing Phillip was like nothing I’d ever experienced. I’d enjoyed the kisses from Walter, but this glorious feeling that reached into my toes was something altogether different. The rest of the world faded away, and it was only the sensation of his mouth against mine and the woodsy smell of him. An ache for more reverberated throughout my body.

  He parted from me at last. I had no idea how long we’d kissed. It could have been seconds or years.

  “That was…magical,” he said.

  I nodded, too breathless to speak.

  “I guess kissing isn’t something one needed to practice beforehand,” he said.

  “That wasn’t like the others.” Walter’s had been quick and chaste, merely a brush upon my lips. Had he not felt anything for me? No passion? And what of me toward him? Nothing he did, kissing or otherwise, had ever evoked this kind of desire. “I had no idea what it was supposed to be like, but I do now.”

  “I hoped it would be this way, but having nothing to go on but the onion kiss, I wasn’t sure.”

  We laughed like two children, free and without inhibition. Like two people who’d not seen the horrors of war or the loss of parents or even the embarrassment of betrayal. Was this what love did? Eradicate the past? Or at the very least push it aside to make room for a new life? “Phillip, I didn’t know.”

  “Know what?”

  “That a man was supposed to look at me the way you do. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have wasted those years on Walter. What if you’d never come? I’d have gone my whole life not knowing what this feels like.”

  “It wasn’t a waste.” He brushed his mouth against mine but didn’t linger. “If you hadn’t written Walter all those letters, I wouldn’t have known you. I wouldn’t have known to come here.”

  I looked up at the sky. The light was beginning to fade into the gloaming. We would need to go if we were to get home before dark. “I’d like to stay forever in this moment, but we should get back to the house before Mama worries.”

  “One kiss before we go?” He peered at me, bolder than ever before. We’d moved into a new level of intimacy. He felt more sure of himself with me and I with him. No longer would I question myself in regard to Phillip. This was a good man. An honest one who saw me as a gift. He was not like Walter. This was clear to me now in the fading light. I would no longer chastise myself but simply thank God that he’d granted me another chance to choose the right man this time.

  “One more.” I smiled at him as I answered his request for another kiss. Had I ever known what it was to smile from my belly, as if it started there and worked its way out to my mouth?

  He kissed me again, this time with one arm wrapped around my waist and pulling me close against his chest.

  “There’s never been a girl like you, Josephine Barnes. Not in all the world.”

  “They say no one snowflake is like the other.”

  “If you were a snowflake, you’d make all the others jealous.”

  “Are you sure it’s me who has a way with words?” I asked.


  We laughed as he told the horses it was time to return home at last.

  When we arrived back to the house, pink-cheeked from the cold and warm from our kisses, I was surprised and overjoyed to hear the sound of Poppy’s voice coming from the sitting room. I quickly took the pins from my hat. “Poppy’s here,” I said to Phillip. “Come meet her.”

  “You go and say your hellos first,” he said. “I’ll hang up our coats.”

  I thanked him and then ran into the sitting room. The moment I saw Poppy, sitting between Fiona and Cymbeline on one of the couches, I froze. Her hair. She’d chopped her long brown hair into a bob that fell just below her jawline. “Poppy, what have you done?”

  “She cut her hair off.” Cymbeline’s eyes shone with obvious delight. “Doesn’t she look modern?”

  I rushed across the room as Poppy rose from the couch. “It’s…it’s all gone.” My hands covered my mouth as I tried not to cry.

  Poppy put her hands out in a gesture of peace. “Jo, don’t be mad. A lot of the girls in the city are bobbing their hair. It’s very Parisian.”

  “The fashion magazines say so too,” Fiona said.

  Poppy had her bob styled in bumpy waves that flattered her strong jaw and big brown eyes. Still, I mourned the shiny tresses I’d brushed and braided so many times when we were young. Her thick hair had been spectacular. Like Jo in Little Women, her crowning glory.

  “But…but…why?” I asked.

  “It’s so much easier this way,” Poppy said. “I was up every morning at dawn and often called out to a farm in the middle of the night. This allows me to get up and go without any fuss.”

  I didn’t say so, but wasn’t a braid or a bun just as easy?

  As if I’d said it out loud, Poppy continued with her argument. “Anyway, all that hair was giving me headaches. You don’t want me to have an aching head, do you? You’re much too kind for that.” She flashed me a puckish smile, knowing it and her words would melt me. We’d known each other for too long.

  “Jo, she was having headaches,” Cymbeline said, chiming in from the couch. “Isn’t that awful?”

  I shot my sister a withering look, which she completely ignored. The gleam in her eye told me she was already planning her own dance with a pair of scissors.

  “I know what you’re both doing,” I said. “Playing on my sympathies.”

  “Is it working?” Poppy asked. “Please say you forgive me. I’ve been so worried to show you.”

  “Of course I forgive you. It’s your head anyway.”

  “That’s right. Her head,” Cymbeline said.

  “Cym,” Fiona said. “None of this is your business.”

  “Poppy’s my friend too.” Cymbeline crossed her arms over her chest. “I can have an opinion, and I think she looks worldly and sophisticated and not bound down by the patriarchal society.”

  I laughed as some of my irritation with my sister subsided. “Cym, where do you get these ideas?”

  “From books, as you well know,” Cymbeline said. “Books in your library, I might add.”

  “In fact, it did feel as if I were cutting off a lot of expectations about how I should be,” Poppy said. “I feel more myself now. Free and independent.”

  “She has her own job.” Cymbeline’s voice rose in pitch. “Think about that. She won’t ever have to rely on a man.”

  “It’s true,” I said. “I’m awfully proud of you.”

  “She boasts about you to anyone who’ll listen,” Fiona said. “We all do.”

  Poppy smiled at us all in turn. “Oh, you lovely girls, I’m glad to be home. I’ve missed you all more than I can say.”

  Truly, who was I to say anything? Poppy was living in a man’s world of muck and mud while I pampered my precious books in a warm library all day. However, Cymbeline was still a child with no idea of how her impetuousness could get her into trouble. Someday she might like to have a man. A concept she was so disdainful of now might at some point be attractive. I couldn’t wait for the day she fell in love and understood that not everything is a race or a competition. Loving someone would change her, soften her. I hoped, anyway.

  “We’ve missed you,” I said to Poppy. “Now give me a hug.”

  We embraced. The muscles in her arms and shoulders tightened around my waist. “You’re so strong.”

  “Wresting around farm animals will do that to a girl.” She let me go and took her place between the girls.

  As I sat across from them, I further studied Poppy. In addition to the cutting of her locks, she had a new air of assurance and confidence. She wore a light blue traveling suit that flattered her small but sturdy stature. Only a few inches over five feet, she often reminded me of the quarter horses she loved so well—small, strong, and graceful.

  I’d worried growing up that she felt caught in the shadow of the Barnes girls. Had she felt envious at times? If so, she never let it show. Still, her brother was our employee. Although Mama and Papa had always made sure to include the Wu children and Poppy into whatever parties or treats we had, the reality remained. We were rich, and they were not.

  Whatever the case might have been back then, here in front of me now was a woman of the world. A professional who would make such a difference in our community.

  “You’re the luckiest person in the whole world,” Cymbeline said. “Working outside all day. Not having to care about manners and staying clean and pretty.”

  “You can be both strong and pretty, you know,” Fiona said. “Like Poppy.”

  “Thank you, sweet Fiona,” Poppy said. “You’ve grown up since I saw you last. You’re becoming a great beauty like your sisters.”

  Fiona beamed. “I am? Do you think I’ll be a lovely young lady like you and Jo?”

  “I’ve no doubts,” Poppy said.

  “For heaven’s sake, who cares?” Cymbeline jerked to her feet and went to stand by the fire. “All this talk of beauty is utterly boring.”

  “I didn’t mean you weren’t pretty too,” Fiona said, looking stricken. “But you’re not all grown.”

  “I know, goose,” Cymbeline’s eyes softened. “I didn’t take it that way.” In the firelight, her skin glowed with health and vitality. “As far as that goes, you all look beautiful.”

  “I agree. And Josephine Barnes, you’re all sparkly and flushed.” Poppy narrowed her eyes. “I might even say you have the look of a girl in love. Your sisters have been telling me about your house guest. Have you been out with him?”

  Just then, Phillip appeared in the doorway.

  “There he is now. Phillip, come meet Poppy,” Fiona said.

  He walked toward us, a strained look on his face. “I’m not presentable, as I’ve been working all day, but I’ll say hello.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Phillip,” Poppy said.

  He bobbed his head. “You as well. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  Poppy investigated him with her wise brown eyes, either unwilling or incapable of hiding her curiosity. I’d not written to her of his arrival, knowing that she would soon be home and I could tell her all about it in person. What would she think of my scandalous ways once I told her my feelings? Falling for the friend of my former love? Not really, I reminded myself. He was a fraud. She didn’t yet know, though, unless my sisters had told her.

  “I shouldn’t like to know what she’s told you,” Poppy said. “Jo and I have known each other since we were small girls. She knows everything about me. The good, bad, and embarrassing.”

  “She knows all mine too,” I said.

  “There aren’t any of Jo,” Poppy said. “Of all of us, she was always the good one.”

  “We all know it wasn’t Cymbeline,” Fiona said, teasing.

  “Fiona, you’re supposed to be on my side.” Cymbeline nudged her playfully on the shoulder.

  “We had more than one scrape,” I said. “Mostly because of Flynn and Cym.”

  “Vastly exaggerated for comic effect,” Cymbeline said.

&nbs
p; “We had fun during our escapades,” Poppy said. “Even if there were a few times we got in trouble.”

  “Phillip, come sit with us,” Fiona said. “There’s tea left.”

  “I’d love to,” Phillip said. “However, I’m too dirty from working on the barn to sit with such fine young ladies. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get cleaned up. I’ll see you all at dinner.”

  Fiona grabbed a few of the tea sandwiches from the tray and put them on a plate for Phillip. “Take these for your room. You’re probably famished.”

  “Thank you, Miss Fiona,” he said with a polite bow of his head. “You’re very thoughtful to think of it.”

  She smiled up at him. “You’re welcome.”

  He nodded at me and then headed toward the door. My hand impulsively waved, as if I had no control whatsoever.

  Before dinner, all five of the Barnes girls gathered in the bedroom with Poppy. My littlest sisters had already had their meal and were in their flannel nightgowns cuddled under the covers in one of the twin bunk beds. Fiona was fixing Cymbeline’s hair at the dressing table. Poppy and I were side by side on the window seat. Addie and Delphia had been flooding a patient Poppy with questions for a quarter of an hour.

  “Did you help make the animals feel better?” Addie asked. “Were they often sick?”

  “They weren’t always sick. Sometimes they were having babies and I had to help them.”

  “What kinds of animals?” Delphia asked. “Did you ever see a kitten?”

  “We mostly looked after pigs, cows, sheep, and horses. Sometimes we were called out to help with a beloved pet like a dog and cat.” Poppy widened her eyes and spoke in a menacing voice. “And one time a naughty rooster.”

  “Like Doodle?” Addie asked. “He’s very naughty. Sometimes he chases me.”

  “Doodle is a nice boy compared to Red,” Poppy said.