A Tender Moment Under the Stars: An Inspirational Historical Romance Book

by Grace Clemens

  There was something appealing about Clara and Isabel didn’t mind at all when the woman grabbed Solomon by the hand and dragged him into her shop.

  “All right, now I think I’m a smart enough woman to understand what you are doing here. You want a dress, don’t you? And shall I create a suit for you, as well?”

  “I want to look good,” Solomon confirmed, “and I want her to look good. But we are thinking of doing it in the middle of the town square and we don’t want anything too incredibly fancy.” He looked at Isabel who hadn’t gotten in even one word yet. “Isn’t that right, Izzy?”

  Isabel smiled at him. “I suppose that’s right, yes. I don’t want to dress to the nines but I don’t want to look bad either.”

  Clara gasped, throwing one hand over her mouth. “My clothes are never bad, my dear!” she said, barely hiding her laughter. “I wouldn’t put a hideous dress on my worst enemy. That is my reputation, is it not?”

  “Yes, that’s true,” Solomon said confidently. “She’s got an excellent reputation for dressmaking here.”

  Isabel wondered if she ever had trouble with the ladies in town, especially the married ones. Clara was an exceptional beauty. She imagined the woman was probably in her mid-thirties, while still maintaining the outward youth of her twenties.

  A moment later, Clara was taking measurements, having Isabel take off the outer dress she was wearing after telling Solomon to turn his back.

  “She’s going to be my wife!” Solomon protested half-heartedly.

  “But she isn’t now!” Clara exclaimed, waving on hand at him. “Turn around now. Go on, you.”

  Sulking and rolling his eyes, Solomon turned around. Isabel was already half-stripped to her undergarments by that time and the measurements didn’t take much longer. Clara helped Isabel to quickly put herself back together before she allowed Solomon to turn around.

  “Will you have to take his measurements?” Isabel asked, wondering if she would see her future husband in his underclothes.

  Clara shared a look with Solomon that Isabel found very revealing. “I already have his. I made him a suit once before, didn’t I?”

  Solomon’s face took on a somber look. “You did, as a matter of fact.”

  Clara sidled up to Isabel, pulling her measuring tape through her fingers out of habit. “That one. She did a number on his heart, I’ll tell you. She shouldn’t have been allowed to do that to such a good man.”

  “Now, now, Clara. Let’s not go there again.”

  Clara snorted. “Still defending her, I see? Well, she won’t get any sympathy from me. I can’t believe what she did to him.” She turned her eyes back to Isabel. “He already had the suit in the works and her dress was up next for me to work on. She picked out quite a beautiful gown that I ended up selling to another lady who was getting married a few towns over.”

  “She left you at the altar?” Isabel’s opinion of Betty had soured once more. How a woman could do that to a man was beyond her imagination.

  “He doesn’t like to admit it but yes,” Clara confirmed. “She essentially did. It was only a few days before the ceremony that she decided to take a college offer. Of course, you know Solomon would never stand in anyone’s way, whether it hurt him or not. So he encouraged her and she went. And now she’s back and probably causing you all kinds of trouble, isn’t she?”

  “Not really,” Solomon replied. Isabel could tell he didn’t want to talk about Betty.

  “We should talk about something else before we all get frustrated,” she said quickly.

  “I agree. Let’s see, come over here, Izzy. Look at these fabrics I have. Which would you like me to use for your dress?”

  Isabel looked over the different fabrics. There were about twelve different bolts stacked on each other. Six of them were white, the traditional color for wedding dresses. She decided to stick with the white for the symbolism of it.

  Feeling them, it didn’t take long for her to make a decision. She slid out one of the bolts and handed it to Clara, whose face lit up.

  “Oh, you’ve chosen a good one, my dear. This material is light and silky but lets your skin breathe. It is a beautiful shade of pure white and the fabric is easy for me to work with. That’s always a plus. I’m glad you picked this one.”

  “I like it very much,” Isabel replied, looking over her shoulder, imagining Solomon was probably bored to tears.

  He was watching with great interest, as a matter of fact. The look on his face was priceless as if he was watching two loved ones bonding. She turned her eyes back to Clara, wondering how the two of them got so close. She was obviously older than him but perhaps she’d been in the higher grades while he was in the younger grades at the schoolhouse. They could have made friends there.

  “I want you to look absolutely fabulous for your wedding,” Clara said, clapping her hands together before grabbing the bolt from Isabel and taking it to a long counter running the wall on the right side of the building. “This is going to be so much fun.” She set the measurements list she’d made on top of the bolt and left it all sitting on the counter. “Now you. You have to pick out the fabric you want.”

  Solomon raised his eyebrows. “I’m not wearing a wedding dress.”

  Clara laughed. “No, no, silly man. You will need to pick out some fabric if I am to make you a suit. You will certainly not be choosing from those. I only have three fabrics for men so it shouldn’t be too hard, even for you.”

  Solomon gave her a surprised look. “Even for me? What’s that mean?”

  “You’re a man,” Clara responded. “Men don’t know the first thing about fabric. They’ll just buy whatever they get off the rack and be done with it.”

  “You know, some men actually like to be comfortable, too,” Solomon said.

  Isabel realized what was going on when Clara grabbed the three bolts of dark material and went toward him. The look the two shared with each other was nothing short of a sibling relationship. She could tell they were platonic as there was no lust in either pair of eyes.

  She said a quick prayer of thanks and was glad to be able to relax around Clara for the rest of their time there. She was thrilled with the dressmaker and glad to have finally made a female friend in Steven’s Gulch and told him so as they were riding back toward town in the buggy.

  “Yeah, she’s a great lady,” Solomon said. “She’s a lot of fun to be around. We’re just friends, mind you. I just think she’s fun to be around. She’s not wife material, I don’t think.”

  “I could tell,” Isabel responded. “I like her a lot. I wouldn’t mind being friends with her at all.”

  “Good. That’s what I like to hear.”

  As they passed the beauty salon, the door opened and Betty stepped out, looking dolled up and with a new hairstyle almost reminiscent of Clara’s but not as full and luxurious.

  To her surprise, Solomon pulled the buggy over to ride slowly beside Betty.

  “You’re looking nice,” Solomon said, practically stabbing Isabel in the heart with his words. “What are you all dolled up for? You going out with someone to dinner?”

  “As a matter of fact,” Betty said, huffing and giving Isabel and hard look. “I’m going over to Freddie’s for dinner. I wanted to look nice for him. What do you think?”

  “I said you look nice already,” Solomon responded, not losing his smile. “I’m sure Izzy thinks so, too, don’t you, Izzy?” He turned to her and when she looked into his wide eyes, she knew why he was smiling. “Doesn’t she look wonderful for her outing with Freddie?”

  Isabel leaned forward so she could see Betty. “Yes, you look lovely. I’m sure Freddie will be very pleased.”

  “I didn’t know you were planning to see him,” Solomon said. “When did he ask you to dinner?”

  “Yesterday evening. I happened to be taking my nightly stroll when I came upon him digging through his garden, looking for potatoes, I think. We got to talking and he said he’d love for me to come over and enjoy som
e of his cooking. I mean, we all know he won’t be as good as you, Sol. That’s practically impossible.”

  Isabel stiffened but let the comment slide.

  “Well, thanks,” Solomon said genuinely as he snapped the reins. “We’ve gotta get going. There’s a festival to enjoy.”

  “Yes, there is. And we’re coming back after dinner to enjoy it. Enjoy your day. I’ll talk to you both later.” With that, Betty turned and walked away.

  Chapter 23

  “So there’s a cabin in the woods my father left me and I want to take you there,” Solomon said the next morning at breakfast. “I think it would be nice to spend a sort of honeymoon there, you know a week or two after we get married where we will be left all alone. Do you like cabins?”

  “I do, as a matter of fact. I’d love to see yours.”

  “I want to take you there early, of course, so you can get an assessment of what it’s like. You can say no, you won’t hurt my feelings. But I have a strong suspicion you won’t.”

  “Oh?” Isabel lifted one side of her lips in a half-grin. “Why’s that?”

  “I’ve kept the place up pretty good.” Solomon took a bite of his biscuit and chewed, a thoughtful look on his face. “When I knew you were coming, I went out and cleaned up even more, put some food and other things there that will make it more comfortable for us. But I definitely want to take you there so you can tell me what you think. Maybe make a list of things you want for the place while we’re there. If you like it a lot, we can vacation there whenever. I use it for hunting when I do a lot of that.”

  “I like the sound of that,” Isabel said. “Did you want to go after breakfast?”

  “Yeah, before it gets real hot out. The weather is acting odd so I want you to see it now. The cabin is deep enough in the woods where it’s covered by leaves and trees, well, it’s shadowed by them anyway. So it is quite cool there weather-wise. I would like to spend a little time there and then return to town this afternoon. I’ll have to run the Shoot the Duck game. This time I’m not getting Betty to do it. Or Freddie, though he’ll probably want to help. I just want it to be you and me, to be very honest with you. Freddie, as I’ve mentioned before, can be a bit of an attention hog.”

  Isabel was almost offended for her friend but she knew the bond between Solomon and Freddie was that of brothers and brothers often teased each other. Besides, it was true. Freddie liked to have attention. She didn’t really think he was exactly an attention hog, though.

  “You shouldn’t talk about your best friend like that.” Isabel lifted one hand to her mouth and giggled. “It would hurt his feelings.”

  Solomon snorted, which was the reaction Isabel thought she’d get. “Doubtful. He would come up with some sarcastic comment right back at me. He knows how he is. It’s part of his personality and I wouldn’t change that for the world.”

  Isabel shook her head. “Neither would I.”

  Two hours later, the couple was standing in front of the most unique and cute little cabin Isabel had ever seen. Granted, she’d only seen cabins in pictures up to that point anyway. She liked it a lot and told him so.

  “This is very nice,” she said. “Let’s go in. I want to see what you’ve done with the place.”

  The two went up on the dark-stained wooden steps to the front deck. There were four white iron chairs with matching two tables, one set on each side of the front door. The windows and doors looked almost brand new. The outside maintenance was immaculate as if someone was living there on a constant basis.

  As soon as she stepped inside, Isabel knew this was the place she wanted to be for her honeymoon. It was complete with a mixture of warm colors—browns, yellows, soft oranges, and reds. The drapes were pushed back to let light in the room and though there was dust floating in the air, that was to be expected.

  “When did you last come here?”

  “To stay?”

  Isabel had meant when had he brought the food he’d mentioned but decided to go with his question instead. She nodded. “Yeah, when did you stay here last and how long did you stay?”

  She was surprised that Solomon had to think about it.

  “I’d say it’s been at least six or eight months since I actually stayed here. That was the last time I went hunting. I haven’t been since. Just getting my supplies from my own store.”

  Isabel looked at him, her eyebrows raised. “You pay for your own supplies, or are they free to you?”

  Solomon laughed. “As much as I believe it’s not good to take your profits home with you, no, I don’t pay for the product. I’ve already paid for it once. The small profit I might make out of my cleaning supplies and other things would not be worth it. I don’t buy my own products from myself. I mark it off.”

  Isabel moved through the small cabin, taking in the separation between the kitchen, which was one long rectangle on the left side of the cabin, broken off from the living room by a bar that stretched out making a three-quarter wall. There were a few supplies sitting on the counter but when Isabel opened the cabinets, she knew she would have to make a list as he’d suggested. There really wasn’t much there at all. It looked like it had been stocked for one person.

  “I know that doesn’t look like much,” Solomon said, “but that’s why I asked you to write down what you want and I’ll get it for you. We’ll bring it back and put it all up together. How does that sound?”

  “Sounds good. Right now though, take me around the cabin and then we’ll put these things together and I’ll sit down with you to make a list.”

  Isabel followed Solomon around the kitchen counter into the living room.

  “This is the living room, as you can see. Look at that fireplace. Isn’t that nice? My pa built that with his own two hands.”

  Isabel raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Really? Did he build the whole cabin?”

  “No, some men from town came to help him with that. He only knows bricklaying and that chimney didn’t take him but a week to build. The rest of the cabin went up in bits and pieces as the men in town found time to build it. Pa was here almost every day just fixing and piddling around where he could. He was never a carpenter or anything like that. He knew how to lay bricks. Learned it as a trade when he was a young boy.”

  “How long has it been here?”

  Isabel went to the fireplace and looked at the small sculptures of elephants that lined it, broken only by two picture frames. One held a black and white photo of a man in a dark suit with a dark mustache that didn’t hide the big smile on his face. The woman with him was dressed like Betty had been when she came out of the beauty parlor the day before.

  “Is this your mother and father?”

  Solomon came up behind her. His close presence made her skin tingle. “Yes, that’s them. Handsome back then. Both of them.”

  “Yes, I can see how you got to be so good-looking.” She gave him a smile which he returned. “I can also see how you came to be so tall. Look at that. They are both very tall, aren’t they? Or is she wearing excessively high heels?”

  “Her heels probably give her an extra three inches,” Solomon replied, his eyes on the photo. “But she was tall for a woman. Pa was tall, like me, and she’s almost the same height as him in this picture. Pretty much. Maybe a little shorter.”

  Isabel nodded and moved on to the other framed photograph. It was obviously Solomon as a baby. She couldn’t imagine any other photo of a baby being on the mantle. Plus, even then, she could see his features.