He was comforting to talk to, and right. Perhaps she not only had ignored the painful feelings buried inside but also the good things God had put in her life. It reminded her of a verse from the Psalms, so she recited it aloud. “In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul.”
“Precisely. You are a noble woman, Miss Sybil. And I’m sorry your relationship with Isaac didn’t turn out the way you wanted.”
“That’s very kind of you.” She opened her hymnal, ready to move on from the sad but needed conversation and get on with her day. “I will try my best to give my cares to Christ and accept His comforts.”
Philip stayed beside her on the bench. “When I said that God doesn’t intend for anyone to be alone, I wasn’t just thinking of you.”
Curiosity made her look at him. “Oh?”
“I was thinking of myself too.”
She had wondered if the overseer ever had a sweetheart, or if one day he would go to another village to find a wife. He’d never mentioned it. Then again, it wasn’t like he was fresh from the nest and eager to get married. He seemed far enough into life to be content with his singleness.
She thumbed through the hymnal. “Yes, I’m sure everyone gets lonely from time to time.”
He gently lifted her hand away from the hymnal, and she lost the page she was looking for. “Miss Sybil, I admire you very much. You don’t have to be alone and neither do I. Would you please consider being my wife?”
Sybil’s mind froze. Had the overseer just proposed to her? She tried to swallow, but her mouth wouldn’t move.
He continued. “You have such passion, it comes through everything you do. When you are delighted, so is your cooking. When you are dismayed, the food is tasteful and satisfying, but leaves me wanting to wrap you in my arms and tell you everything will be all right. And it will be. Christ is victorious, and we in Him. But in those moments, I cannot wrap you in my arms, for you are not mine to console, not in that way. You could be though. With one vow you need never be alone again.”
The pleading in his eyes tore at her heart. She’d never thought of him as a potential husband. He was several years older than her—more than a decade at least. He was as sincere now as he was with every word he uttered in his sermons. And he would be that way with her his whole life if she accepted him.
At last she found her tongue. “I have no doubt you would be a fine husband, sir, and make an excellent father should the Lord bless you with children. I admire you very much as well.”
He leaned toward her slightly, touching his shoulder to hers as they sat side by side on the piano bench. “Is that a yes?”
“I must admit, I didn’t see your proposal coming.” She would be rash to dismiss an offer from such a godly man, one who would never leave. But her heart still pined for Isaac. He’d promised he would come back, and she was certain he wouldn’t. Still, he was her first love and she wasn’t ready to love someone else.
She slipped her hand out of Philip’s and busied herself with the hymnal pages. “I don’t make hasty decisions. I’ll need time to consider your offer.”
“You’re a wise woman, Miss Sybil.” He stood and stepped away from the piano. “I expect no less from you than deep consideration.”
* * *
Isaac sat on the end of a velvet divan in his family’s parlor, staying as far from his brother as possible. His father slouched in an over-stuffed armchair, curling his fingers around its wooden finials, while Penny’s unending snivels came from the washroom.
His mother’s rocking chair slowly creaked as she glared over her rounded nose at the closed washroom door. Nathan squatted on a footstool by the fireplace, cleaning his fingernails with a pocket knife, unconcerned with their sister’s predicament or with their parents’ turmoil.
Isaac’s tiring journey from Falls Creek to Southpoint was nothing compared to the past few grueling days with his family. He hadn’t expected to be here this long.
Penny rarely left her bedroom, but her constant crying seeped from the crack under the door. Their father barely spoke and hadn’t decided about Penny’s future yet. Isaac had searched the village as discreetly as possible for the jerk who’d done this to his sister. The young man was long gone, his parents saying he’d traveled to the north to work on a farm.
And so Isaac spent his evenings choking down his mother’s burnt cooking, trying to talk his father into forgiving Penny, ignoring how Nathan ignored the family, and attempting to console his inconsolable mother without making Penny feel worse.
This evening had been no different.
Isaac yearned to return to Sybil and his work at Falls Creek. The doubt in her eyes when he’d told her he had to leave still haunted him. Surely, she knew he was different from her relatives who’d left the inn and not returned.
His father needed to decide soon. If he sent Penny away, Isaac would take her to whichever village she wanted to live in. They had cousins in Pleasant Valley who might take her in. Good Springs was the largest village and would be her best chance of finding a place to work for board. Or if she didn’t want to raise the baby alone, he and Sybil could adopt it.
Whatever he would do, he needed to do it soon. He’d promised Sybil he would return and every day he spent in Southpoint was a day he’d lost with her. Since she hadn’t believed his promise, he could only pray she wasn’t snatched up by some smooth-talking trader before he rode back to Falls Creek.
A sharp cry came from the washroom, startling everyone in the parlor. His father raised a gray eyebrow, then immediately lowered it again as if refusing to allow Penny to get sympathy from him. Nathan groaned and went back to his crusted fingernails.
His mother’s rocking chair stopped, mid-sway. “Heavens!”
Isaac glanced at the closed washroom door and back at his mother. “Should we check on her?”
His mother waddled to the door and tapped lightly. “Penny? Penny, do come out. It isn’t polite to stay in the washroom all evening. Other people live here too, you know.”
The door cracked open and Penny whispered something to their mother, who gasped and disappeared into the washroom too. Isaac couldn’t decipher their muffled conversation. Nathan hadn’t flinched, and their father’s eyes were now half closed.
Isaac turned toward him. “Father, if you are going to send her away, let me take her with me.”
His father closed his eyes the rest of the way and leaned his head against the back of the chair. “Where to?”
“Falls Creek.”
Nathan snorted. “The inn?”
“Yes, the inn. I’ll be the farm manager there soon—”
“Soon?” his brother interrupted again. “I thought you already were. Wasn’t that why you left the job with the traders?” He flashed a snarky smile. “Or was it the job at the Ashton’s farm? I can’t keep track of your little jobs.”
Everything in him wanted to leap across the room and pummel his brother’s smug face. Nathan might be three years older, but he’d been smaller than Isaac since their teen years. All Isaac had to do was send Nathan an icy glare, and the arrogant look vanished.
Isaac returned his attention to his father, who was either asleep or pretending to be. Isaac had never been able to tell. Before he could speak again, his mother came out of the washroom, leaving Penny inside. She closed the door and folded her hands primly as she stepped into the parlor’s firelight. Shock softened her aging voice. “There will be no baby.”
Isaac’s gut clenched. He shot to his feet. “What happened? Is Penny all right?”
His father opened one eye. Nathan glanced up momentarily from his pocketknife.
His mother’s tone tightened. “There is blood. She is not with child.”
Nathan mumbled, “Probably never was.”
His father hoisted himself from the armchair. “Very well then. I’m going to bed. Goodnight, dear,” he said to Isaac’s mother as if she’d just announced tomorrow’s breakfast menu. He paused briefly in front of Isa
ac. “And goodbye, son. I sleep till dawn, and I’m sure you’ll be gone by then, on your way back to whatever it is you’re doing now.”
Though Isaac had no reason to believe his father meant the goodbye with any affection or approval, he chose not to take offense. His father was wrong about his potential and always would be. But he was right about one thing: if Penny wasn’t pregnant, Isaac wasn’t needed here any longer, nor wanted. “Yes, sir. I will ride to the dock at first light to take the next boat up the river.”
He glanced down at Nathan and then gave their father one last look, studying every sullen wrinkle and frowning crease. Yes, he would leave this place tomorrow and leave every ounce of bitterness he had for it here, so he could begin a fresh life in Falls Creek with Sybil. He looked his father in the eye. “Goodbye, sir.”
After his father’s bedroom door clicked shut, Isaac gave his mother’s arm a gentle rub. “Will you take care of Penny and show her kindness after I leave?”
“Of course, son. Are you really going back to Falls Creek tomorrow?”
The soberness in her eyes gave him peace about leaving his sister at home. “I must. But first there is something I have to do in the village. I’ll be back shortly.”
She nodded once, so he grabbed his coat from the rack and put it on as he hurried to the barn to saddle Chloe.
A full oval moon rose quickly over the treetops, shedding enough light upon the village of Southpoint for Isaac to find the right house. The wind had shifted from the cold southerly breeze to the fresh northerly air that announced the coming spring. Soon he would be back at Falls Creek to plant the rest of his crops and to fulfill his promise to the woman he loved. But first he had an important visit to make.
He tied Chloe’s rope to the iron gate in front of the small cottage where Sybil’s mother and grandmother lived and knocked on the front door.
Chapter Fourteen
The laughter of travelers and traders boomed from the packed dining hall. Sybil checked the calendar on the wall beside her dinette table as she sat to eat her chicken and dumplings in peace. Only two days left until the first official day of spring. By the influx of guests, she would have thought the equinox had already passed.
It hadn’t yet, but when it passed, so would her final hope for Isaac’s return to Falls Creek, to her. It was hard to believe Leonard would choose Eddie McIntosh to be the farm’s next manager, but if Isaac wasn’t here, what choice would he have?
A trader tapped his knuckle on the kitchen’s doorframe. Sybil started to stand, but he held up a halting hand and walked to the table. “Excuse my interruption, Miss, but I have a message for you from Southpoint. The sender was adamant it be delivered directly to you.”
Her eager hands snatched the envelope from him more briskly than she’d meant to. The rounded handwriting wasn’t Isaac’s sloppy script as she’d hoped, but almost as welcome. She flashed the trader a quick smile. “It’s from my mother. Thank you.”
Before the trader was back in the dining hall, she had the envelope sliced open and the letter unfolded.
Dearest Sybil,
Yes, sweet girl, I will attend Eva’s wedding. I plan to sail from Southpoint on the fifteenth day of October to Riverside and then travel by wagon to the inn which all together might make me ill from motion sickness. It is still preferable to a week on horseback. Betty Ashton from my sewing club has agreed to stay with your grandmother while I am gone.
Give everyone at the inn my best and make sure Eva reserves Room 4 for me as I will need my rest after traveling.
Sincerely,
Your loving mother
Sybil stood from the chair, too excited to eat. She might not have a future with Isaac—and she was learning to accept that—but her plan to get her whole family together at Falls Creek looked possible. Revel and James had promised to attend Eva’s wedding, and now her mother was returning too.
Once Revel spent more time with Bailey, they might fall in love and make their home here. Once her mother saw the new chapel and how the area would grow, she might be compelled to stay. Once her father saw her mother, he would rise from his bed and remember everyone and every detail of his beautiful life.
They would all be together again and happy like they once were.
Her heart soared out of the doldrums it had been stuck in since Isaac’s departure. While her family was together, she would make sure every meal was perfect, every morsel splendid, every dish… exquisite.
Exquisite. That was Isaac’s term for her cooking. She looked up at the empty kitchen doorway where he used to stop after every meal. He would wink after he complimented her cooking. For a while she questioned his sincerity, and now that he was gone she questioned her judgement.
Maybe he was exaggerating when he complimented her, or maybe he’d just been amused with himself for using a word like exquisite. Perhaps he was simply entertaining himself with her.
But what if he had actually been sincere all along?
That would mean he’d also been sincere in promising to return.
No, she couldn’t hang on that hope. She was finally getting her family back, and that was all she needed.
Eva swished into the room, her forehead glistening. “I forgot how warm the dining hall gets when the sun is streaming through the windows on the west side of the room, especially when it’s full of people.” She clanked a silver water pitcher in the sink as she refilled it. “Every one of them has said your cooking is the best in the Land. The lady from Stone Hill asked for your dumpling recipe.”
Sybil held out their mother’s letter. “She will come to your wedding next month.”
“The lady from Stone Hill?” Eva gave a quick look over her shoulder then realization flattened her expression. She released the sink’s foot pedal, stopping the water’s flow. “Mother?”
“Yes, she plans to be here on the eighteenth.”
Eva wiped her hands on her apron and took the letter. “Why didn’t I see this letter?”
Sybil ignored Eva’s question. “That seems to be cutting it close. The wedding will be on the twentieth.”
“If we know for certain she is on her way and she is delayed, we can put the wedding off by a day or two. It’s all right. The chapel is only across the road.”
Sybil ran a mental list of all the food she planned for the wedding feast. “No, that would ruin the menu. And the cake. I need a full week to prepare. The timing has to be exact so everything can be perfect.”
Eva handed her back the letter. “Don’t worry, she’ll be here in time.”
She checked the date in her mother’s message once more. “Revel said he and James will be here the day before the wedding. Why don’t they all give themselves more time with such a long journey?”
“Don’t worry, Syb. Like I said, they will be here for the wedding.”
“That isn’t what I’m worried about.” She slid the letter into her apron pocket and went back to the dinette table. “They also said they will leave the day after the ceremony. It’s been so long since we’ve all been together. Why don’t they want to stay longer?”
Eva finished filling the pitcher. “I don’t know.”
“I’ll make sure everything is so nice, they will want to stay.”
“Oh, Syb…” Eva set the pitcher on the table and sat in the chair opposite her. “Don’t do this to yourself.”
“Do what?”
“They won’t stay.”
“They will once they see how good it will be to be together and eat wonderful food and play games and be happy like we used to be.”
Eva slowly shook her head. “They were never happy here. Well, I don’t know about James since he’s so quiet, but Revel couldn’t wait to turn eighteen and leave home. And Mother was never happy here.”
Sybil’s stomach dropped. “How do you mean?”
“She was miserable here. She missed Southpoint and her family and having lots of friends and people around. She hated living at an inn and feeling like she had no p
rivacy. When she left, she told me to take care of Father and you because she had to take care of her parents and wouldn’t come back.” She reached across the table to rub Sybil’s hand. “Be happy that she is coming to the wedding, but know that she won’t stay. And Revel probably won’t either. It’s hard but I accept that. No one moves back when they leave here, it seems.”
No matter how Sybil planned and prayed and prepared, she would never get what she wanted, what she’d waited so long for. Her throat burned and her eyes filled with tears. She poked her fork at a dumpling so she didn’t have to look Eva in the eyes. “I’ve been so foolish.”
“No, you haven’t—”
“Yes, I have. When Mother left, she told you she’d never come back, but she promised me she would.”
Eva tilted her chin. “She promised you?”
“I told her to promise me she’d come back and she did. And so did Revel when he left.” The memories of those gut-wrenching goodbyes had clouded over the years, but she’d clung to the hope that everyone would return. “At least that’s how I remember it.”
Her mind flew over the past decade of her life like a bird soaring on the spring wind. All she saw was the meals she’d made to please others and the hope that when the half of her family that was missing heard how wonderful the inn was, they would come home. But they had their own lives elsewhere. Still, in her heart she was that young girl, waiting on the porch steps for their return.
Sybil wiped her wet cheeks with her napkin. “I can’t keep living this way, can I?”
Sympathetic tears welled up in Eva’s eyes. She came around to Sybil’s side of the table and pulled her against her hip as if she were still twelve years old. “There, there. The inn might never be how it was for you as a child—and it probably wasn’t as good as you remember it—but that’s not what has you so upset, is it?”
“Of course it is.”
“Well, it’s certainly not the whole of it.”
Uncharted Promises (The Uncharted Series Book 8) Page 17