Chapter 3 - Lovely Marcelle Marquis
Friday night soon rolled around, and with it came Marcelle. She hopped out of the hack she’d rented, paid her driver, and ran up the front porch through the rain, knocking impatiently on the front door. When Ellie answered, Marcelle grabbed her in a huge hug and exclaimed, “I’m back!”
The hack driver lifted Marcelle’s luggage out and set them on the steps of the porch before driving off again.
“How have you been?” Marcelle asked excitedly, “Have you found a job yet?”
“Yes, I’m working as a nanny for four little children.”
“My God,” Marcelle said as though she felt sorry for her friend, “Well, maybe you’ll find something better soon.”
“But I don’t want to find something better. I love my new job.”
Marcelle shrugged, “Suit yourself, but I wouldn’t be caught dead looking after a bunch of silly children all day.”
Ellie didn’t comment further, though she strongly disagreed with Marcelle’s opinion.
“Here, let’s get your bags in out of the rain,” she said, changing the subject and taking one of Marcelle’s portmanteaus.
Marcelle took the other and they walked into the warm house, which was being heated fairly well by the little fireplace. Taking off her hat and jacket, Marcelle said with her voice full of pity, “So how often does it rain here?”
“Usually every other day, tomorrow will be sunny then, most likely.”
“My God,” Marcelle sighed. She said ‘My God’ a lot, Ellie suddenly noticed. Marcelle went on, “If it rained every other day in Hunter’s Ridge, I think I’d get so disoriented and unsettled I’d just crack. I’d go crazy; I swear I would.”
“Then it’s a good thing you didn’t move here, I guess.”
“That’s right. It is a good thing. I just don’t like the rain,” Marcelle said, leaning on the windowsill and gazing out at the pouring rain. She just couldn’t stop complaining, “I don’t like it a t’all. It’s wet and it ruins my hair and my dress. And it’s really just depressing. It really is. Don’t you think it’s depressing, Ellie? Aren’t you getting depressed just looking at it, Ellie?”
Ellie had to breathe in deeply to keep from screaming at her pestering “friend” and she stated as calmly as she could, “No, actually. I usually even find the rain enjoyable. It’s exciting when it thunders loudly during the night and I love hearing the pitter patter it makes on the roof and,” she paused, “It’s hard to explain why I like it, but I just do.”
Marcelle raised her eyelids warily, “Well, I don’t like it. It’s a nuisance. It really is. In my perfect world it would never rain. Not ever.”
“Then how would the plants grow?”
Marcelle shrugged, “I don’t know. They’d find a way.”
“There is no way. The earth needs rain. It’s a fact.”
“Well, they’d find a way,” Marcelle repeated, her voice rising.
“We can’t even speak to one another anymore without disagreeing on every matter we bring up,” Ellie thought to herself, “Why am I even friends with Marcelle anymore? It seems I can’t remember.”
Marcelle sighed again before asking casually, “So, have you seen much of Jon since I left?”
“No,” Ellie lied, “I mean, we say hi when passing on the street and everything and he stopped me once to ask if I’d had any problems with the plumbing since he’d left, but other than that, no.”
“Hmm...” Marcelle pondered, “Well, I’ll have to make some sort of plan so that I can see him again. Do you have anything around here that needs work, El?”
“No,” Ellie answered, and that was the truth. Every inch of that house worked perfectly now because every time Jon stopped by he found something else to fix.
“Well, I suppose we could just stop by that shop while he’s working.”
“Yes, we could.”
“Or maybe I should invite him to that dinner he promised.”
“Maybe...”
A long silence followed. Neither spoke a word, though Marcelle sighed a few times. Her mind was swirling with new plans on how to catch Jon and reel him in like a fish till he was as infatuated with her as every other man she tried to seduce was. Ellie on the other hand, pondered on her and Marcelle’s friendship. She hadn’t even been happy when Marcelle arrived. Something was wrong with their relationship; something needed to change.
The rain went on continuously, pitter-pattering on the roof and on the steps of the front porch. Every so often the wind would blow furiously and they’d hear the branches of a tree brushing up against the windows. And then, they heard something else. Ellie recognized it instantly.
A horse was sprinting up the lane: a big golden brown horse with a black mane. Its name was Penny. Marcelle looked up at Ellie curiously as they heard the horse’s rider tie her up to the front porch and knock on the front door, calling, “Hey Mae, it’s me, Johnny! Open up!”
Marcelle whose usually beautiful eyes, quickly filled with malice as she realized it was Jon and looked at Ellie accusingly.
“He calls you Mae now?” Marcelle whispered madly, “I thought you said you rarely spoke to him. And you call him Johnny? Did you lie to me, Ellie? My God, I can’t believe I believed you.”
“We’re only friends,” Ellie promised.
“So you want him too now? Is that it? Well you’ve got another thing coming if you think I’m giving up that easily. He’s mine, Ellie. Let me tell you now, and you better believe it: he’s mine. Don’t even try.”
As they spoke they walked to the door and lowered their voices till they could barely be heard. Ellie didn’t answer that last comment.
“Let the games begin,” Marcelle whispered as Ellie opened the front door.
Jon stood there, soaking wet, with a huge bright smile upon his face, oblivious to their heated conversation. His white-blond hair fell into his eyes and when he saw the two ladies he tipped his tweed newsboy cap and said, “Why hello, Mae, Miss Marcelle. It’s nice to see you again. Did you just arrive?”
“I did.”
“Come in,” Ellie said graciously, letting him in, and closing the door.
While Jon set his coat and hat on the coat hanger and Ellie went to get him a towel to dry off with, Marcelle took Ellie’s absence as her cue to question Jon a little.
“Why whatever are you doing here, Jon?”
“Just thought I’d stop in for a little visit with Mae, I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“Well, I hope you’re not disappointed about that,” she said as she fluttered her eyelashes and touched his shoulder playfully.
“No, of course not,” he replied uncomfortably as he moved slightly away.
“Your arrival was certainly a surprise.”
“Yeah, I suppose it was,” he said, running his hand through his hair, “But I like surprises, don’t you?”
“Of course,” she nodded. Then she asked, “Do you stop by and see Ellie often?”
He shrugged, “Yes, I suppose so, fairly often.”
“And what exactly do you do when you’re here?”
Jon shrugged again, “Umm... Well we talk. We play checker and cards- I’m teaching her how. Sometimes I stay for dinner. And I’ve made sure her house is in tip-top shape too.”
“Is that so?” Marcelle said, crossing her arms, “You know what? Ellie is taking an awful long time to get those towels. Maybe I should go give her a hand.”
Jon nodded, “You do that.”
Marcelle stormed to the back of the house and confronted Ellie in the bathroom, where Ellie had been searching for the towels that she seemed to have misplaced. It was hard to keep her voice down when she wanted desperately to scream, but Marcelle managed to show the anger in her voice without yelling.
“Well, I understand now why nothing in your house needs fixing!” she stated madly, “It’s because you’ve invited Jon over every day since I’ve been gone and he’s fixed everything already! I can’t believe
you lied to me like that!”
“I only did it because I knew you’d just get mad if I told you,” Ellie defended.
Marcelle rolled her eyes, “My God, I can’t believe I listened to those blatant lies about how you rarely spoke to Jon after I left! You’ve talked for hours with him, and played cards, and checkers, and you even invited him over for dinner a few times for God’s sake!”
“Look, Marcelle,” Ellie said, trying to calm her down, “I’m sorry I lied, but I only did it to protect you.”
Marcelle tried to interrupt, but Ellie stopped her:
“I knew you’d be angry, and I didn’t want you to assume anything. I know you believe right now that I’m in love with Jon also, but I’m not. He’s a very nice man, but we’re only friends. He’s all yours, Marcelle. Go ahead and take him. I’m not stopping you.”
Marcelle looked at her suspiciously, “You aren’t lying again, are you?”
Ellie shook her head.
“Good,” Marcelle breathed a sigh of relief, “So everything’s okay? There’s no ill will between us anymore.”
“No, everything’s just fine.”
Marcelle smiled, “Well, we’d better return to the parlor, shouldn’t we? I’m sure Jon’s been waiting long enough.”
Ellie nodded, and they returned to Jon with towels at hand.
Marcelle took Jon up on that dinner offer, and Ellie had to sit through the whole night watching Marcelle act like the little coquette she was and flirt madly with Jon. Once or twice she got Jon out of it for she knew he wasn’t comfortable, but if she stopped Marcelle too often, she knew Marcelle would become angry.
The whole weekend ended up going the same way. Marcelle pleaded every morning that they go see Jon and Ellie reluctantly agreed. She knew Jon didn’t want to see Marcelle, but she couldn’t let Marcelle know this; her spirit would be crushed.
Of course, Ellie never really knew if her idea that Jon wasn’t very fond of Marcelle was true. Until Sunday afternoon, that is. The threesome were over at Ol’ Smith’s, helping Jon set up some new items in the back and talking casually as they worked. Marcelle soon became quenched with thirst and left to get a glass of lemonade at a store down the road.
Jon waited a few seconds, making sure she was really gone, before he spoke.
“Can I ask you something, Mae?” he asked.
“Of course, what is it?”
He scratched his head uncomfortably, “It’s about Marcelle.”
“Yes?”
“Well,” he paused, “Is it just me, or does she seem really desperate? Desperate for a man, a sweetheart, I mean.”
Ellie sighed, “No. It’s not just you.”
“She seems to always be coming on to me, and it’s really starting to get awkward,” he said as he sat down on the counter Indian-style. Ellie came to sit beside him, but she let her feet hang off the edge.
“I mean, she’s a nice girl and everything,” Jon continued, “And if she weren’t always trying to be such a flirt, I think I might be interested in being friends with her, but with the way things are right now, I’m afraid we’ll never be able to become friends. Not with her always interested in something more than that.”
“I’m sorry Jon. I’ve noticed that to, but Marcelle is a very determined person and it’ll be quite hard to change her mind so soon into the game. The only way I can think that we could change her mind is if we found someone she was more interested in than you. Or,” she paused, “I suppose if she knew that you were in love with someone else, she might consider you a hopeless cause.”
“I’ve got it!” Jon exclaimed, “I’ll just tell her I’m in love with you.”
“With me?”
“Yes!” Jon said with a smile, “I’ll tell her I’m madly and desperately in love with you and that no one in the world could ever take your place in my heart.”
“Are you sure that’s such a good idea?” Ellie asked, “She might become angry at me because I’ve stolen the attentions from the man she wanted so badly.”
“Surely not,” Jon promised, “I’ll make sure she knows that nothing and no one could ever deter me from lusting after my wonderful Ellie Mae, but that if I did she would have been the perfect candidate. I’ll ask for her help in winning your affections and she won’t be able to deny assisting me. I promise you, Mae, nothing will go wrong.”
At that very moment Marcelle returned with a tray of three glasses of lemonade and a smile upon her face.
“Sorry it took so long,” she apologized, “But I thought I’d get each of you a glass too.”
“How very thoughtful of you,” said Jon, taking his glass. He gave Ellie a mischievous smile and said, “But you know what goes great with lemonade? What we’re missing?”
“No, what’s that?” Marcelle asked innocently.
“Chocolate chip cookies, they make the best over at the bakery just across the lane,” he said, giving Ellie a wink.
Ellie nodded, catching his intentions, and slid off the counter saying, “I’m awfully hungry. Why don’t I go pick us all up some cookies?”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Jon agreed.
Ellie left to pick up the cookies, and on the way she made sure to walk as slowly as she could, so as to give Jon lots of time to talk with Marcelle. She returned to the shop about ten minutes later with a box full of hot cookies.
As she and Marcelle sat at home that evening, Marcelle confessed that she had some “wonderful news” to share.
“Yes, what is it?” Ellie asked, though she knew quite well what the news was.
“While you were gone today, and Jon and I were left alone, he confided in me to keep a secret for him.”
“Well, what’s the secret?”
Marcelle smiled knowingly, “I know why Jon has always been so oblivious to my advancements,” her eyes glittered, “He’s in love with you, Ellie.”
Ellie, putting on her best acting skills, laughed uncomfortably, “Surely that’s not so. Are you lying to me, Marce?”
“No, no, of course not, he told me so himself.”
“Well,” Ellie took a deep breath and let it out, “That certainly wasn’t news I’d expected,” she looked up at Marcelle guiltily and asked, “You’re not angry with me are you? Because I know you wanted Jon so much and...”
“Angry?” Marcelle laughed, “Well, of course I’m not angry. I’m happy for you! Can you believe your luck? Jon really is a wonderful man. He’s so sweet and handsome, and oh, he’s just perfect for you Ellie.”
“Do you really think so?” Ellie asked innocently with a slight smile.
“Oh, yes.”
In truth, Marcelle was very happy for her friend, for even though she had fallen for Jon she hadn’t wanted to marry him or anything like that. She just wanted a little fun, but still, in the very bottom of her heart, she was jealous of Ellie for she still had feelings for Jon.
Chapter 4 - Felicity and Emily
Marcelle left that afternoon. Only twenty minutes after her carriage had faded into the distance, Jon’s horse Penny came bounding up the lane again. Ellie let him in and they set up a game of checkers in the parlor.
“Brilliant plan I had, don’t you think?” Jon asked as he moved one of his black pawns.
Ellie nodded, “Yes. Quite good, but how long will we have to keep this act up?”
Jon shrugged, “I’m not sure.”
Ellie rolled her eyes in a joking manner, “Hopefully not too long.”
“Yes,” Jon agreed with a smile, “For I’m sure it’s going to be quite an unpleasant experience for us both.”
“Oh, yes, quite unpleasant, indeed.”
Jon laughed, “But in all seriousness, Mae, it won’t be so bad.”
“And we’ll only have to put on the act when Marcelle’s in town, which isn’t so often.”
Jon nodded, “That’s true,” he smiled. A glitter appeared in his eyes as he said, “But maybe we should start preparing sooner. Would you like to accompany me for a ride in the cou
ntry this evening? We’ve still got a few hours of light left.”
“All right, once we finish this game.”
“Can’t we just go now?”
“You only want to go because you know you’re going to lose.”
“I am not going to lose,” Jon said surely.
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