Bluegrass Blush

by Carolyn Bond

  “Oh, Everleigh dear, what a keen intellect you must have!” Suzanne gushed. “Let me tell you about my family’s history here.”

  Suzanne explained in great detail about the founding of the town and when her family arrived and opened this inn. It was getting to the point where, even for her 35 year old patient attention span, she was beginning tune her out. She really wanted to sneak another peak at the handsome man behind her, but she didn’t want to look rude by not paying attention to Suzanne.

  With all the calculation of a southern belle, she dropped her napkin to the left of her chair. She bent to pick it up, sucking in her breath and stole a glance. About the time she noticed the table behind her was empty and her heart dropped, the server ran toward her with his brows knotted in distress.

  “Madam, please! I’ll get that,” and he snatched up the offending napkin before her fingers could find it.

  Everleigh sat back up, partly confused about the server and partly feeling like a deflated balloon because the man was gone, when she was abruptly cut short by the stunned expressions of her dinner companions. Apparently she had made a manners faux pas herself. Somewhere in the back of her mind she recalled her mother saying you never pick up a napkin that falls on the floor.

  “Oh, pardon me! What was I thinking? I’m sorry but I must be too tired to think straight.”

  Suzanne and Faith softened at her plausible explanation, their eyebrows lowering a notch.

  Faith consoled, “Of course, my dear. We have probably worn you out with our questions and conversation.”

  Dinner arrived and they all tried to keep the conversation about light topics such as the weather and the upcoming Independence Day celebration. Everleigh wondered if she would be able to fit in without making a spectacle of herself. She really wanted to explore this time and the people as a little get away.

  “Do you remember the Centennial, dear? Why you must have been just a child. What was it? Twelve years ago now?” Suzanne asked.

  Everleigh did some quick adding in her head and it dawned on her that this must be 1888.

  Good lord! How was it possible?

  “Uh, yes, I don’t remember much about it. Just a parade or something.”

  “We had a parade and a picnic. The whole town brought baskets of food. Oh my.” Suzanne got a far-away look. “That’s when my Edward proposed. We were married that fall.”

  Everleigh wished she had memories like that. Twelve years ago she was graduating college and looking for a job. No college sweetheart was there for her to marry like so many of her sorority sisters. She watched them all marry and begin families. She often wondered what that must be like. The pain of loneliness struck her again. Her eyes glassed over as she listened to Suzanne go on about the home Edward built for her.

  Faith must have noticed because she interjected, “Oh, Everleigh. Your turn will come next. As pretty as you are, the men in this town will be falling all over themselves to have your hand. I bet you’ll be married and with child by this time next year!”

  Everleigh’s mouth dropped open.

  Could it be? Could I really get to have that life?

  She had to stifle the urge to get up and hug Faith. That was the most wonderful thing she had ever heard. Suzanne and Faith began to list all the eligible men within a day’s ride. Everleigh wondered if any of them was the man who was sitting behind her earlier.

  Chapter Three

  Everleigh felt the corn husk bed crinkle as she stretched out on the soft sheet. She was surprised how comfortable it was and cooler than a mattress from her time. The moonlight pooled on the wood floor next to her bed. It had been a fantastic experience dressing in period clothes and feeling like she was living in a history book. She wondered if she should just go in the bathroom right now and take a bath with her lavender soap. What was she doing here anyway?

  The soap was tucked in the drawer of the bedside table. Maybe she should try it just to make sure it worked. But if she did, what if she couldn’t come back to this time. What if it was just a round-trip ticket? Or worse, what if it was a one-way ticket and she was stuck here? Anxiety started to build in her chest and her mind raced. Like a calm island in a stormy sea, she could see the man’s face in her mind.

  Who was he? Where is he now?

  She couldn’t believe she was entertaining the thought of seeing him again. Would he have thought she was appealing if he knew what she really looked like? He was just looking at her because she had this Everleigh’s body. A lump in her throat formed. She so wanted him to see the real her, but he would just turn away like so many men had before. Still though, he seemed to have looked through her eyes right into her soul.

  Tormented, she slept fitfully, dreaming of drowning in a tub of water that had no bottom. She was lost in the deep water with only a narrow opening of the tub yards above her that she could not reach. No one could find her.

  ***

  The next morning Angela knocked as the sun was just beginning to send golden shafts of light into the room to beckon her from sleep.

  “Come in.”

  “Good morning, ma’am. I’ve come to help you dress.”

  “Thank you, Angela.” Everleigh sat up and stretched her arms and marveled at how good she felt. No back ache. No soreness. She actually felt like she had the energy to spring out of bed.

  Youth is wasted on the young.

  She got up and went behind the screen to use the chamber pot that sat under a wooden stool with a hole in the seat. An odd practice that felt a little like camping in the wild, except with a beautiful porcelain pot. She determined she would never make it as a chamber maid. Bleh!

  She splashed some water on her face from the pitcher on the small dresser. Again she marveled at how ridiculously gorgeous her face was even first thing in the morning. She used a small brush she assumed was an antique toothbrush to clean her teeth.

  Angela had her clothes fluffed and ready for her and began dressing her. Everleigh watched her in amazement as she tugged and pulled and smoothed. She sat on the small stool in front of the mirror and Angela brushed and swooped and pinned her hair. Before long, Angela was gone and Everleigh was perching in a chair by the window thinking about what to do today.

  Should I try to find this aunt? How much longer can I stay here? How is it being paid for?

  She decided that if things got difficult, she could always excuse herself for a bath. With that, a rumble in her belly told her that her first order of business was breakfast. She left her room and lightly floated down to the dining room. Edward met her by the double atrium doors which were open and inviting the guests of the inn to come in.

  “Miss Addison, good morning! Please come sit down. Would you care for tea or coffee?”

  “Coffee please, with cream and sugar.”

  “Certainly!”

  Everleigh settled in and admired her own gown while she waited. This one was pale pink linen with green embroidered leaves on the skirt below the waist. A square panel of lace covered her chest up to her collar bone. She didn’t hear Suzanne approach and jerked her head up when Suzanne asked if she could join her.

  “Oh, yes!”

  “Your gown is lovely. Is it new?”

  “Uh, yes! Yes. It’s the first time I have worn it.” She was winging it again and after all, it was true!

  “I expect you’ll be trying to contact your aunt today?”

  “Yes, I suppose so.” She thought for a moment and then decided to use her age to help her. A twenty-year-old probably wouldn’t know what to do. “Suzanne, how do you think I should go about that? Without my mother,” she cast her eyes down for extra pity, “I am just not sure what to do?”

  Suzanne took it hook, line and sinker. “You poor dear. I will help you. We will go to the general store and see if Mr. Adams knows where she lives. He can be difficult, but I think we can convince him to help.” She looked over Everleigh’s face and hair. “That will be a start. Maybe we can hire a carriage to take us there.”


  Everleigh was impressed. That seemed easy enough. Why hadn’t she thought of that?

  Because I would have only thought to Google her, that’s why.

  After they enjoyed a light breakfast of toast and eggs, the ladies made their way, arm in arm, to the general store down the dusty street. Everleigh noticed the piles of horse manure everywhere and wrinkled her nose as the smells of the 19th century found her.

  “Mr. Adams, I wonder if you might be able to assist us.”

  “Certainly, Mrs. Clark, if I can.” Mr. Adams gave Everleigh a top to bottom once over when he thought she wasn’t paying attention, lingering a second longer on the curve of her backside with the extra lace adding bulk in all the right places. Everleigh wasn’t sure if she should be offended or thank him for the attention.

  Suzanne batted her eyelashes and Everleigh watched in amusement. Surely a woman in her late thirties couldn’t still get away with that.

  “Darlin’,” she stretched out with a long southern drawl, “Miss Everleigh here is new in town since tragedy befell her family. She is all alone now except for her dear aunt Emory Heartwell. You know her, right?” She paused to let the pitifulness of the situation set in, pursing her lips and clutching her delicate lace handkerchief against her chest.

  Mr. Adams appeared to be enthralled, nodded and kept glancing at Everleigh as though he’d found a lost $100 bill and then tempering himself with an appropriate sad expression to match Suzanne’s.

  “So you see, Mr. Adams, we just have to help Miss Everleigh, here find her kin or who knows what will happen to her.”

  At this point, Mr. Adams was ready to offer her a cart blanche account to the store if it would help. Everleigh tried not to giggle and look like the pitiful thing she was supposed to.

  It’s amazing what a built body can do!

  Suzanne glanced her way and winked discreetly.

  “Oh! Oh my. That’s just-, sure I will do anything I can to help.” He smiled at Everleigh and puffed his chest out.

  “Oh! I just knew you were the right man to come to, Mr. Adams!” said Suzanne. His face turned three shades of red at her gushing praise.

  He composed himself and put his hand on his chin thinking.

  “Yes, let me look through the list of accounts and see if I have an address. I believe she has an account. I think a farm hand usually comes and takes care of her business. Wait right here.” He held up his hands to reinforce his hope they would not move.

  After a few minutes in a back room, he came out with a slip of paper. Ignoring the other waiting customers, he headed right to them.

  “I have it right here! She lives a ways out of town. You will need a carriage to take you.” He scratched his head and it was apparent he was trying to figure out how he could drive her out there himself.

  Suzanne reached for the paper in his hand which he graciously relinquished.

  “Oh my, Mr. Adams, you are amazing. We were hoping to talk to her right away and you seem so, so in demand.” She stretched out that last word and he blushed again and glanced at Everleigh. “Perhaps, you could persuade your delivery driver to take us. I can’t wait to tell Mr. Clark how kind you have been. I’m certain he will want to invite you to dine with us at the Inn.” She nodded at Everleigh, who nodded back.

  “Oh, please don’t go to any trouble, but certainly, I would accept any invitation to dine with you, and Miss Everleigh,” he added and looked at her with puppy dog eyes.

  Everleigh felt like she was watching a movie about someone else. Never in her life had she been the object of such silly adoration. How fascinating it was the way people react to appearances. Mr. Adams told them to be ready to go in an hour and his driver would have the carriage ready. He was going out that way anyway for another customer so it was no trouble. He would just use the carriage instead of the buckboard wagon.

  Everleigh and Suzanne left after expressing their appreciation. Suzanne said they would need to let Edward know and have the cook prepare a luncheon basket for them to take with them. Everleigh found herself sitting on the side porch waiting until time to go. She had a view of Main Street slightly obscured by a trellis covered in an ivy with white flowers. She watched the wagons and carriages go past and the people getting in and out of them.

  The door of the law office opened and Everleigh’s breath caught when the mysterious man stepped out. He adjusted his black hat and looked up and down the road. His black wavy curls blew casually around the bottom of the brim. His mouth was downturned and his eyes squinted at the morning sun. He worked his shirt cuffs in a frustrated tug. Whatever had gone on in the law office had him frustrated. He stepped up into his carriage and closed the door. The driver lightly hitched the reins and the horses trotted away.

  Suzanne opened the door to the porch and asked if she was ready. The ladies made their way to the carriage at the general store with their picnic basket on Suzanne’s arm. The ride out of town was quiet. Everleigh hoped she didn’t say anything wrong when they got to the aunt’s house.

  After the town was long out of sight, the carriage slowed and stopped. A worried look came over Suzanne’s face.

  “Everleigh,” she whispered, “can you see anything out the window? But, be discreet.”

  Everleigh barely pulled the curtain aside. She couldn’t see anything. They were out in the middle of nowhere on a dirt path where just two dirt ruts furrowed in the grass.

  They heard the driver call out something and a man answered. Suzanne’s eyebrows shot up even higher. Everleigh realized this wasn’t good. If something happened to Mr. Adams’ driver, they were helpless out there.

  Again they heard the driver talking to a man but they were too far away to make out what was happening.

  “We dare not stick our heads out the door to see. Maybe the stranger will assume there’s a man in the carriage.”

  Everleigh nodded. Another minute or two passed as they held their breaths. The door to the carriage swung opened and both of them jumped. The driver stuck his head inside.

  Realizing their fear, “Ladies, everything’s alright. Mr. Malcom Steel will be joining us, if that is alright. His carriage lost a wheel and his farm is just past Miss Addison’s aunt’s estate. I’ll take him and his driver home and then come back for you on my way back. Is that alright?”

  Suzanne and Everleigh let go of a sigh of relief. “Certainly, sir. Mr. Steel is quite welcome to share our carriage.” Suzanne nodded at Everleigh. The driver disappeared. Everleigh moved next to Suzanne to give her seat to the stranger.

  “Mr. Steel is a local bachelor. A confirmed bachelor, I’m afraid.” Suzanne whispered. “He dines at the Inn on occasion.”

  The carriage rocked and Everleigh turned to see the mystery man haul himself onto the forward facing seat. He tipped his hat at Suzanne and turned his gaze to Everleigh. Intending to tip his hat at her, he froze for a heartbeat before tilting his head down.

  “Ladies, how kind of you to let me share your carriage. I trust it won’t be an inconvenience.” He said all this without ever taking his eyes off Everleigh’s. Suzanne’s right brow shot up and slowly looked between the two of them.

  “No trouble at all, Mr. Steel. I assure you,” Suzanne said with a questioning look. “It will be a pleasure to visit with you as we go.”

  Everleigh felt a hot zing of panic course straight from her neck to her thighs. She heard Suzanne say something but the rush of her heart in her ears was a curtain of rain blocking out anything but her and this man. She was frozen to the seat but yet every fiber of her being wanted to lurch forward and into his arms. She was sure if he touched her, lighting would burst from the air.

  They swayed with the carriage as the two drivers climbed to their seat in the front.

  “Mr. Steel, I would like to introduce Miss Everleigh Addison. She is going to be staying with her Aunt Emory since the untimely death of her parents. I suppose you all will be neighbors of sorts. Everleigh, may I present Mr. Malcom Steel. Mr. Steel is a Section Supervisor for
the Louisville Southern Railroad at the Midway Station.”

  Finally breaking the hypnotic hold, he turned to Suzanne and said, “Thank you, Mrs. Clark, for the introduction.” Then to Everleigh he reached for her hand which she placed in his. “Charmed,” he lightly brushed his lips over the back of her hand, “I’m sure.”

  Everleigh decided that was probably the most sensuous moment of her entire life so far. If she could have melted into a puddle on the floor of the carriage she would have. If she had been standing, surely she would have collapsed. The electric energy of touching his skin was only topped by the searing burn of his warm lips on her skin. She could have jerked her hand away from the shock, but her heart would not allow any such sensible reaction. He released her fingers and she returned the pulsing hand back to her lap and managed a dopey smile. She was sure she looked like a goofy school girl.

  As the effect of his touch waned and blood returned to her brain, she wondered what kind of fool was she. A thirty-five-year-old woman from a time when hunks graced the covers of romance novels and even sold margarine and here she was swooning like a teenager over Mr. Wavy Locks. She tried not to stare and stole a glance without looking like a stalker. She wondered how old he was. By the fine lines around his eyes, she figured that he was probably in his mid-thirties. Possibly the same age as she was, in her own time.

  He was more than just a pretty face, though. Something in her connected with this man on a cellular level. She was certain that even if she had any other body, she would have felt it. Something about him felt as connected to her as family. As though, she had been waiting to find him all her life. She had the deep feeling that she was looking at the man who would hold her heart forever.

  “Mr. Steel,” said Suzanne, “how is the railroad expansion coming along? I hear of such grand tales these days of travelling faster than a horse in a carriage that rides on rails. Is this true? Is it safe? I’m ashamed to admit I have yet to ride a train.”

  Everleigh stifled a chuckle at Suzanne’s questions.

  If only she’d seen 747s!