“Do you love me enough to take me away when this madness is over? I do so long to be alone with you for at least a week.”
“What a grand idea. Where would you like to go?” When he realized she was getting cold, he walked her back toward the house.
“Oregon? We have friends there now, you know.”
“Oregon it is.”
*
The next day did not go exactly as Gloria planned. The women did indeed come for afternoon tea, and they all had a grand time talking about the newest fashions and their coming buying trip to New York. However, before she left, Mother O’Connell took hold of Gloria’s hand, “Ben is making beef burgers for our dinner this evening.”
“Ben cooks?”
“He does, if he wishes to remain my son,” she answered. “Dinner is in the cool of the evening, at around seven and Ben shall be here to pick you up.”
“I…” Gloria tried.
“Why not, dearest? I happen to know you have no pressing engagements,” Abigail pointed out. “Your father and I shall be quite happy to stay home.”
“Mother, I had hoped to spend more time with you and…”
“Nonsense, we shall have all the time in the world to spend together. Not another word, darling,” Abigail cautioned.
Gloria had no choice, smiled at Mother O’Connell and gave in. “I look forward to it.”
*
“Were you not supposed to make excuses?” Ben asked as he drove the buggy down the hill toward town. The setting sun behind the mountains cast a pink glow on the thin clouds above. Birds took flight to feast off the newly planted fields, and a dog barked somewhere in the distance. Fortunately, most of the people were already home by that time of night and the traffic was minimal.
“I assure you, I tried,” Gloria answered. “With both of them standing there, looking so very hopeful, I could think of no excuse they would accept.”
“You have not told your parents about your engagement?”
“You know how mother is. I have hardly managed to say two words together, and certainly not in private.”
“You are aware, are you not, that they are giving you a ball to welcome you home.”
Gloria sighed, “How could I not know? Mother has recited every detail, including the music the orchestra is to play.”
“Perhaps you are wise not to break your mother’s heart until after the ball. Both our mothers have gone to a great deal of trouble to make it perfect. My mother is especially delighted. This is the first ball she has ever helped plan.”
Gloria giggled. “Let me guess, my mother did all the talking.”
He tipped his head to the side as if deep in thought. “Not all of it. My mother insisted I buy a new suit and hat, just so I would look dashing when I come to escort you to the ball.”
“Oh, you poor dear.”
“It has a vest and I am to borrow Cameron’s extra gold watch, just so I may allow the chain to hang loose to impress you.”
“I am impressed already.”
“Alas, I shall have to return the watch and have no further need of the suit after you are gone. Seems an awful waste for only one night of pleasure.”
“You’ll not wear it at your wedding?”
When he came to the main street, he turned north toward the newer part of town. “Unfortunately, the lady I desire does not desire me.”
“Can you not change her mind?”
“I have tried, but she is…well, misguided.”
“Misguided?” Gloria asked.
“She must be, if she does not desire me.”
Gloria nodded. “I quite agree, though you must admit to being just a touch vain.”
“Vain? Because I believe myself worthy of the best wife I can find?”
“Well, since you put it like that, I suppose being a touch vain is a good thing. I too believe you deserve a good wife.”
He winked at her. “So do our mothers.” It made her laugh, and he returned with a grin as they drove through town. New shops had been built since she was there last, and the old general store moved several blocks from Main Street. It now had ample parking for carriages as well as automobiles, and was three times larger with three times the merchandise. Smaller shops sprung up nearby, making it easy to order new clothing from the tailors and seamstresses. There was even a soda shop serving sandwiches, coffee, and tea.
When they turned down Scot’s row, both sides of the street looked like a garden. Each house was surrounded by lush green grass, ample trees, flowers, and white picket fences. Ben guided the horse to the side of the street and halted.
“Are these not the ones Father built and could not sell during that union strike?” Gloria asked.
“The very same.” Ben helped her out and then motioned toward the first house on the block. “They have built several more since then.”
“And you have helped them?”
Ben chuckled, “After I learned how not to smash my thumb.”
“Mother told me about that. She feared you had broken it.”
“I’ll have you know it only took one good smash to learn that lesson.” He led the way up the walkway, opened the front door and let her enter. “Mother, we are here.”
*
Gloria watched with fascination as Ben put on an apron and started dinner. While he cooked, Mother O’Connell showed her the house. “‘Tis the first house I have lived in since leaving Scotland, and I assure you that cottage was not nearly as grand as this.”
Gloria couldn’t help but recognize some of her mother’s old furnishings, but she decided it was best not to point that out. The rooms were small, but clean and decorated in bright, cheerful colors.
When they came back downstairs, Ben met them in the parlor and asked, “Mother, are Samuel and Francis not coming?”
“I believe not. Little Michael is catchin’ a cold and they dare not leave him,” she answered.
“I see.” Ben winked at Gloria and went back to his cooking. Gloria helped set the table for three, and sat down while he served beef burgers between two slices of toast.
“Ben likes to put his special tomato sauce on the burgers,” said Mother O’Connell. She lowered her voice. “The recipe is a secret.”
“I see,” said Gloria. As soon as Ben sat, she realized he was watching her as she lifted the sandwich to her mouth. She was prepared to pretend a positive reaction, but it was not necessary. “Ummm,” she truthfully muttered. As soon as she swallowed, she asked, “What is in this?”
Ben was quite proud of himself. “Onions and a bit of garlic.”
“It is wonderful. You must teach mother’s cook how to make them.”
“How much should I charge?” Ben asked.
“A fortune to be sure. Why do they call it a beef burger?” Gloria asked.
Ben shrugged. “I learned to make them from a lad in New York. He used meatballs, but I prefer my recipe. You are not required to eat it, if it is not to your liking.”
She narrowed her eyes, “Just try and take it from me, Ben O’Connell. I dare you.”
He laughed and chomped down on his own sandwich.
Mother O’Connell looked at her son with pride, and then at Gloria with approval.
*
They were finished with dinner and Mother O’Connell was about to finish telling a story about her sons when they were young, and how they loved playing pirates with paper ships, when the telephone rang. “I’ll get it,” she quickly said as she got up to answer. When she came back to the table, she said, “I am needed to help with the baby. Francis is beside herself again.”
“Should Ben drive you?” Gloria asked.
“‘Tis just down the street. I shall return shortly,” Mother O’Connell answered.
As soon as she was gone, Ben rolled his eyes. “I should have foreseen this.”
“She leaves us alone by design?” Gloria asked.
“Do you doubt it? We can hardly fall in love with her here.”
“How very clever of our
mothers.” Gloria stood up and began to clear the dishes.
“Leave those. It shall keep my mother busy after she gives a full accounting to your mother over the telephone. I say we foil their plans and go for a walk instead of staying here and falling in love.”
“I would like that.”
He grabbed his hat and opened the door for her. In an hour, it would be too dark to see where they were going, but for now, the neighbors and the children had all gone inside, leaving the two of them to stroll down the street alone. To protect her in case a runaway carriage or out of control automobile came hurling toward them, Ben made certain to walk on the side nearest the street.
Three houses down, he stopped at the gate and tipped his hat to the elder man sitting in a rocking chair on his porch. “Any news, Provost?”
“No news today,” the Provost answered. “Who be that pretty young thing with you?”
“Miss Gloria Whitfield?” Ben answered.
“Another Whitfield?” the Provost huffed.
As soon as Ben nodded, the Provost got up, went in the house and shut the door. Ben and Gloria laughed and then walked on. “That is my brother’s house,” Ben said, pointing across the street.
“The one with your mother peeking through the window?”
“That would be the one.”
“Shall we not go in and inquire after little Michael’s health?” she asked, even though neither of them stopped walking.
“And let them know we are aware of their trickery? Mother would be beside herself with embarrassment.”
“It would not embarrass my mother in the least,” Gloria said. “She has a marvelous way of twisting everything around so she is not to blame.”
“I have noticed that. Yet, she is harmless.”
“Except for her propensity to gossip. Father says there simply is no earthly cure. So far, she has caused no bodily harm, I suppose.”
Around the corner, Ben motioned toward a house he and the other carpenters were building. “This one needs but a few more weeks of work, and ‘tis likely too dark, or I would take you inside. I did the carving on the front door, and set the kitchen cupboards inside. Mostly, the lads…”
Ben proudly described the work they had done. He talked on and on about the men working well together, what it took to get the right supplies in on time, and as she listened, Gloria began to compare Ben to her Mr. Harrington. In all the months of their relationship, Mr. Harrington had never once shown her his place of business. Did that mean he was ashamed of what he did for a living?
Mr. Harrington took her to dinner often enough, but she couldn’t imagine he even knew how to light a coal stove, let alone cook a beef burger. Furthermore, when he did take her out, he seemed far more interested in impressing his business partners than in paying attention to her. As well, Ben was a lot more fun to be with.
Gloria dismissed her reservations as nonsense. It was just the same pre-wedding doubts that plagued all brides. It would pass soon enough.
*
It was the first time in weeks that Lillie Mae could think of nothing to say. Instead, she stared at Cathleen as though she had seen a ghost. Cathleen sat down at her dressing table and let lady’s maid, Adrian, begin to brush her hair. She could see Lillie Mae’s befuddled expression in her mirror’s reflection. “You need not fret; Adrian shall tell you what to do. You already help Blair with her hair in the mornings anyway.”
Still stunned, it took a moment for Lillie Mae to find her voice. “I am to answer her bells and everything?”
“Whatever Blair needs.” Cathleen signaled for Adrian to stop and turned to look at Lillie Mae. “We ladies need someone to confide in from time to time. If we are not feeling well, but dinna want to upset the household, we ask our particular maid to fetch something. Do you see?”
Lillie Mae’s eyes lit up as she put her hand on her stomach. “Oh, I do see. You mean when…”
“Precisely. Each day, you shall take her soiled clothing to the laundry, and put them away when they are clean again.”
“And clean her shoes when she walks in the mud?” Lillie Mae asked.
Cathleen turned back around and let Adrian finish brushing her hair. “There, you see, you already do most everything for her now. Instead of everyone answering her bell, you shall be the one to do it. I trust you shall take very good care of our precious Blair.”
“Oh, yes, Miss Cathleen. I shall take very good care of her.”
“I know you shall. Run along now and get your new charge ready for school.” Cathleen giggled when Lillie Mae instantly darted out of the room, neglected to close the door, and ran down the hall.
*
“Mother sent you?” Blair asked. Her bedroom on the Cameron MacGreagor side of the enormous mansion was the pink one, the same one Cathleen had when she first became a member of the family. Blair was not that fond of pink, but she didn’t think it was worth making a fuss over.
“I am to be your lady’s maid,” Lillie Mae answered. The grin on her face was the most elated it had ever been.
Blair was so overjoyed, she twirled all the way around. “Do you know what this means?”
“I am to clean your shoes?”
“No, it…”
“I am to get you dressed?” Lillie Mae asked.
“Aye, but…”
“I am to fetch for you and answer your bell?”
Blair laughed. “Lillie Mae, it means Mother is finally letting me grow up.”
The new lady’s maid rolled her eyes. “Oh, I knew that.”
“What else did Mother tell you?”
“She did not say it, but she means I am to keep you out of trouble.”
Blair laughed. “You…keep me out of trouble?”
Lillie Mae huffed, “Think I cannot? I am the second of six daughters, and if I know anything at all, it is how to keep little girls out of trouble.” She walked to the closet, opened the double doors and chose a long-waisted, blue dress with a knee-length pleated skirt and an embroidered cape collar.
“We are all wearing boater hats today,” Blair instructed. She let her maid help her dress and then sat so Lillie Mae could do her hair. “I shall need lots of advice.”
“About what?”
“You know, about boys.”
“Very well, I advise that you are too young for boys.”
Blair’s eyes sparkled when she asked, “How is Brookton this morning?”
Lillie Mae deeply frowned. “The same.”
“The same as what?”
“I knew a boy like him once. He had holes in the bottom of his shoes.” Lillie Mae set the brush down and put another pin in Blair’s hair.
“Holes in his shoes?”
“That’s what made him so cantankerous. I have not seen them, but I suspect Brookton has holes in his shoes too.”
Blair tried not to giggle. “I have never known Brookton to be cantankerous.”
“You just wait; you’ll see it one of these days.”
“Have you decided which of the handsome men at Marblestone you fancy most?”
“Well,” Lillie Mae began, as she set the boater hat on Blair’s head and began to pin it in place, “Tristin has a nice smile and Paul is very pleasant when I visit the horses. My father had a horse once, but one day, it just lay down and gave up the ghost.”
“Gave up the ghost?”
“That is what my mother calls it. I do not believe in ghosts, do you?”
“Not at all.”
“You best hurry, Miss Blair, or you shall make all the children late for school.”
Blair exhaled and then headed for the door. “If I do, poor Tristin will give up the ghost.” She hurried down the hall, and then down the stairs, through the foyer, and out the front door Alistair opened for her. Abruptly, she stopped. “Dugan, where is Tristin?”
“He is needed to help with the horses.”
She let Dugan help her in the carriage and then sat beside Justin. “That shall make Lillie Mae very happy.”
Lillie Mae watched until the carriage went out of sight, went back inside and then spotted Brookton heading through the parlor. “My, but you look handsome this morning, Mr. Brookton.”
Brookton rolled his eyes, squared his shoulders and walked away. Lillie Mae looked at Alistair and shrugged. “It happens every time.”
“Perhaps he dinna fancy your flattery,” said Alistair.
“Mother said all men like flattery, and she also said she is never wrong.”
“I see, and we best not argue with a lass that is never wrong?”
“That is what Father always said.”
“Perhaps she neglected to tell you to save your flattery for special occasions. ‘Twould mean much more if you did.”
Lillie Mae considered that. “If I save it, do you suppose Mr. Brookton might like me a little better?”
“I am certain of it.”
“I shall save it, Mr. Alistair, I surely shall. Have you heard? I am to be lady’s maid to Miss Blair.” She didn’t wait for an answer, and headed back up the marble stairs to fetch Blair’s dirty clothes.
“You are to take the servant’s stairs,” Alistair said too late.
CHAPTER 7
Ben had not seen such dismal weather in months. The black clouds in the sky seemed to open up and pour out all its contents, the moment he and Gloria arrived at Palmer Lake. Normally, it was a peaceful place with dozens of visitors enjoying the beauty of the lake, the rolling hills and the Rocky Mountains in the distance.
He had seen cloudbursts, but not like this one. Fortunately, Hannish insisted Ben drive Gloria in his new 1908, six cylinders Frayer-Muller Model B touring automobile made in Columbus, Ohio. It came with a canvas top that extended several inches beyond the seats on both sides. He parked a few feet away from the edge of the lake and turned off the engine.
Gloria wrinkled her brow. “Some picnic, there is no one else here.”
Marblestone Mansion, Book 8 Page 9