“Perfect.” Ilsa grabbed her coat and handed Marnie hers. “I presume you’d like for us to see how the wallpaper looks in the room before we proceed?” Ilsa offered Grant a questioning look.
“Yes, if you have time.” Grant noticed Lacy had disappeared. He’d hoped she’d come with him. If he had his way, he’d invite her to have dinner with him after Marnie and Ilsa finished looking over the room.
“Certainly.” Ilsa wrapped a scarf around her neck. Although the days were warm, as soon as the sun set, the air held a winter chill. “Where’s Lacy? I thought she might like to go along.”
“I would.” Lacy bounded down the stairs, wearing the coat her cousins had left behind. From the little amount of wear, she wondered if it had belonged to Rose or Daisy. Both of their husbands provided well for them and no doubt encouraged them to share with Lacy. It hadn’t passed her notice that one of the dresses was brand new, as was the hat.
Surrounded by the love of her family, Lacy was grateful for their care even if their gifts made her feel like the poor relation.
Refusing to think about her financial circumstances, Lacy slipped her hands into the pockets of the coat and found a pair of soft leather gloves. Someday, she’d find a way to repay her family for their kindness.
For now, she wrapped her shawl around her neck as a scarf and followed Marnie and Ilsa out the door. Grant carried a box with the wallpaper rolls and a book of samples.
The four of them kept up a lively conversation as they walked to Grant’s house.
Lacy had never been to his home, although she had an idea, in general, where it was located. They strolled out of the business district and across the bridge on Main Street. A few blocks up the hill, they turned down a street lined with immaculate homes. Grant led them to the end of the street where lights glowed from a three-story home faced with stone around the first floor. The Queen Anne style house featured a turret one end that encompassed all three floors along with a small turret on the porch.
In the fading evening light, Lacy counted three chimneys and took in the balcony on the third floor, curious about the view it provided.
Impressed by the exterior of the house, she quietly followed Ilsa and Marnie up the broad porch steps and inside the door Grant held open for them.
The girls removed their coats and left them on the hall tree. Awed by the grandeur of the home, Lacy admired the light maple wood of the staircase and the intricate leaves and vines carved into the newel post. While many modern homes featured dark wood and heavy, somber colors, Grant’s home exuded light and warmth. Electric lights illuminated the entry stairs.
“Welcome to my home.” Grant leaned close to Lacy’s ear. His breath teased the tendrils of hair near her ear, making her tamp down a shiver.
Unsettled by his proximity, she stepped away from him, catching a glimpse of a piano in a room opposite the staircase.
“You ladies know the way. I’ll bring the supplies,” Grant said, grinning as Ilsa and Marnie started up the stairs. Lacy followed, taking in the portraits hanging on the wall and the pleasant hue of colors in Grant’s home.
At the top of the stairs, Ilsa turned to her left and opened the second door down the hall. She flicked on a light as she stepped inside. “You really are ready for the wallpaper.” Ilsa glanced around at the bare walls.
Grant set the box he carried on the floor and took out one of the rolls. “Yes. The gentleman I hired finished stripping the old paper off the walls last week. If we think this will work, he can get started on it tomorrow. I’m not in a rush, but now that we’ve started, I’d like to get it finished.”
“Hold it up and we’ll offer you our expert opinions,” Marnie teased as Grant wrangled two rolls of wallpaper. Lacy took pity on him and stepped over to where he struggled to unroll them both and hold them against the wall. She grasped the edges and helped hold both papers up, one edging the top of the other.
“Will this work?” Grant cast a hopeful look at his two décor consultants.
The paper on the top featured a cream background with large mauve rose blooms and soft green leaves. Subtle cream stripes alternated with delicate mauve rosebud chains on the bottom piece.
“I’ll cover the center edges with a chair rail,” Grant explained, trying to lean back far enough to study the patterns.
Ilsa tipped her head to the right then the left before studying the paper from various angles in the room. She looked at Marnie. When she nodded her head in agreement, they both smiled.
“Beautiful, Grant. It will be beautiful. Are you still planning to use cherry wood for the rail and furniture?”
“Yes, I am.”
Lacy watched as Ilsa and Marnie held fabric swatches next to the wallpaper, offering comments and suggestions.
All three of them looked to her. “What do you think, Lacy?”
Due to the fact the cabin where Lacy was raised had bare chinked walls and a rough plank floor, she didn’t feel qualified to offer an opinion. However, their hopeful glances loosened her tongue. “It will be beyond lovely.”
Marnie grinned. “I agree. Grant’s mother is particularly fond of mauve, which is the reason we’ve chosen it as a primary color.”
Grant shuddered. “I thoroughly detest the color. It looks like a perfectly healthy shade of pink has taken ill with some incurable malady, but it is Mother’s favorite.”
Lacy hid her smile as she helped roll up the wallpaper. It was hard for her to comprehend a man who loved his mother enough to decorate a room in a color he hated just to make the woman happy.
How she longed to be loved by a man like that.
Not just any man, but Grant.
Abruptly shutting down those thoughts, she studied the fabric swatches Ilsa and Marnie held, admiring a piece of rich cream satin material with a subtle mauve stripe.
Marnie noticed her glance and lifted the material for her to get a better look. “Ilsa and I plan to make a coverlet for the bed from the satin and curtains from this lace.” Marnie held out a piece of fine lace with an intricate floral pattern.
“If she likes mauve, I’m sure she’ll love this room.” Lacy smiled at Grant and he winked, making heat burn across her cheeks.
He accepted the slip of paper with Ilsa and Marnie’s suggestions for furniture, planning to purchase the pieces the following day. If the local store didn’t have them on hand, they could place an order and have the furniture shipped in within a week or two. By then, the wallpaper would be up, the chair rail installed, and the room ready to finish.
“I appreciate all your help with this,” Grant motioned around the room. “Although I didn’t see anything wrong with the room before, Mother will be pleased by this surprise.”
“What color was it before?” Lacy asked.
“Green,” Grant said as he followed the women down the stairs.
“It was beautiful, Lacy. Such a calm, pleasant room. I hated to see Grant tear out the wallpaper.” Ilsa picked up her coat and slipped her arms into the sleeves.
“I have the same color in one of the other guest rooms. I’ll show it to you another day.” Grant smiled at Lacy. “For now, I best get you all back to town. If I’m not careful, I’ll have Deputy Larsen out looking for us. It will just take a moment to hitch up the buggy.” Grant grabbed his coat and rushed down the back hall.
“Isn’t this house lovely? I can hardly believe a man decorated it, but Grant does have excellent taste,” Ilsa said as she waved her hand around the entry. Lacy looked up at a sparkling chandelier hanging above them. The shards of light spilling down around her seemed like an impossible extravagance.
“Take a peek in the front parlor,” Marnie said, giving Lacy a little push toward a wide doorway.
Lacy stepped forward and glanced around the room, done in shades of tan and teal blue. Trimmed with light oak, it held a masculine appearance, but also seemed inviting. She took in an arched stained glass window and the curved windows in the turret where a velvet-tufted settee rested. A carved roc
king chair sat next to a large marble fireplace with an oak mantle. Lacy imagined cuddling into that chair by a warm fire on a bitterly cold evening while Grant sat across the room in a leather-covered chair, reading the evening paper.
The vision seemed so real, Lacy shook her head and stepped back into the hall as Grant opened the front door.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, we are.” Ilsa shifted the sample book in her hand and marched out the front door. Marnie followed close behind her. Lacy wrapped her shawl around her neck while Grant took her elbow and walked her out the door and down the front steps.
He helped Lacy onto the front seat then offered his assistance to Ilsa and Marnie. When they were settled in the back, he guided the horse toward Main Street, down the hill, and across the bridge back into town. After turning down a side street, he made another turn and soon pulled the horse to a stop at Tony and Ilsa’s house.
“May I treat you all to dinner?” Grant asked as he helped Ilsa and Marnie out of the buggy.
“That’s kind of you, Grant, but Aundy made dinner for us before she went home this afternoon. She needed something to do to keep her hands and mind busy since Garrett is gone to a cattleman’s meeting in Union.” Ilsa smiled at him. “You both are more than welcome to join us, if you like. I know there’s plenty.”
“Oh, no, I really should be going.” Lacy quickly refused the invitation. Since she’d arrived in town, she kept digging a deeper hole of debt to Tony and Ilsa. Neither of them said anything and they genuinely acted as if they enjoyed her friendship, but she still felt like she took advantage of them.
“Another time, then.” Ilsa nodded at Lacy then turned to Grant. “I’ll have the coverlet done in a week or so.”
“That’s fine, Ilsa. I appreciate you making it for me.” Grant tipped his hat at Ilsa and picked up the reins. “Well, Miss Williams, if you can tolerate my presence for a while longer, I’d be pleased to take you to dinner.”
“It’s so nice of you to offer, Grant, but I need to clean Tony’s studio and Ilsa’s shop. Besides, I’m sure you have better things to do than spend the evening with me.”
Grant leaned back and looked at her, attempting to discern the cause of her worry. “You’d be doing me a favor. I’m going to eat dinner at Caterina’s anyway. If you go with me, I won’t have to sit alone. If you’d rather, we can sit in the kitchen. We don’t have to eat out front.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Grant no and ask him to leave her at her apartment, but she couldn’t force any words past her lips with him studying her so intently. The imploring look on his face combined with the inviting smile visible in the streetlights left her incapable of speaking. Numbly, she nodded her head in agreement.
Grant left the buggy parked in front of Ilsa’s store and they walked the short distance to Caterina’s restaurant. He escorted her around to the back door and opened it, walking into the spicy warmth of the kitchen.
“What’s a man got to do to get a table around here?” Grant cast a teasing grin at Caterina as he hung his coat on a peg by the door then helped Lacy remove hers, pleased to see she finally had a suitable covering for the winter weather. He’d been tempted numerous times to buy her a coat or have Ilsa make one, but it would have been improper for him to give such a gift, even if he could have convinced Lacy to accept it.
Caterina greeted them with a basket of bread fresh from the oven. “Maybe you should enter through the front door, like a normal person.”
Grant laughed and seated Lacy at the small table near the stairs. He glanced around as Caterina set the bread on the table along with plates of olive oil. “Where’s Kade and the boys?”
“Home. Kade had the day off, so I enjoyed a blissfully quiet afternoon. I can’t believe how much I can accomplish without my two little rascals underfoot.” Caterina smiled and hurried back to the heart of the kitchen where staff bustled in and out, filling plates and calling out orders. Caterina oversaw everything, running her restaurant efficiently and smoothly.
She set stemmed cups of mixed preserved fruit in front of them then brought over glasses of water. “You have a choice of braised beef or spaghetti for dinner.”
Grant waited for Lacy to order. She took just a moment to reach a decision. “I’ll try the spaghetti.”
He nodded with approval at her selection. “You’ll enjoy it, but I’m having the beef.”
“Of course you are.” Caterina gave him a knowing look and spun back toward the stove.
Removing the napkin covering the bread, Grant broke a piece in half and shared it with Lacy. A yeasty fragrance rose in steamy plumes from the roll in her hand. From her last experience at the restaurant, she knew to dip it in the plate of oil and spices on the table. She bit into the bread, savoring the bite. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until they stepped inside the restaurant. The tantalizing scents around her made her stomach rumble. Embarrassed, she hoped Grant couldn’t hear it.
Furtively watching him, he seemed absorbed in eating his fruit and bread. Overwhelmed by her emotions, she turned her attention to her own cup of fruit. Her attraction to Grant wasn’t all that stirred her pensive mood. She was tired of being so beholden to everyone.
“I noticed you got a new coat. It’s very nice.” Grant didn’t know what to say to put Lacy at ease. She seemed on edge since he dropped off Ilsa and Marnie. Maybe she didn’t really enjoy spending time with him. The part of him used to women trying to wiggle their way into his good graces to get at his money made him question her motives.
He silenced the voice of doubt and took another roll from the basket, broke it in half, and handed part to her. She accepted it with a smile that made desires he’d rather not examine to surface. Ignoring them, he waited for her to say something.
A sigh escaped her as she took the bread and set it on her plate. “My cousins gave it to me. I think it was most likely Rose’s coat. They brought me a box of clothes today.”
Grant sensed the gift upset her in some way. “That was nice of them, wasn’t it?”
Lacy glanced up at him. “It was incredibly kind, especially since some of the things are new and they pretended it was all items they’d no longer use.”
“They sound like a bunch of sweet girls.”
“They are sweet and generous and wonderful.” Lacy traced her finger in an abstract pattern over the tablecloth.
“But…” Grant prompted, hoping Lacy would share what bothered her.
“I just… I feel so…” Her voice broke and she took a moment to gather her composure. “Years ago, our tribe had thousands and thousands of horses grazing for hundreds of miles in this region. Then we entered the time of treaties and moved to the reservation. At one time, our reservation was the leading livestock producing reservation in the country.”
“What happened?” Grant had heard of the excellent horse breeders on the reservation and that the herds had drastically decreased in recent years. He admired Lacy’s spirited mount for her fine lines and intelligence, much as he admired the girl who rode the horse.
“Allotments were made of the range lands and free grazing closed. Without the ability to let our horses graze, we had to decrease the herds. We have just a handful of cayuses and Appaloosas left compared to the numbers that used to roam our lands. With the horses no longer providing a viable trade, many struggle to find a new way of life. My father is among them. He can’t come to terms with the changes, so he fights against them. His obstinacy means that sometimes we’re cold and hungry, but we make do. Uncle Charlie and Grandmother both help when they can sneak something past my father, but he is so stubborn. He refused to let me get a job in town and the only work I could find was occasionally helping a ranch wife with cleaning, that sort of thing. Now that Walker is finished with school, he wants to get a good job but Father won’t let him. Ruth’s husband, Tom, is trying to farm, but it takes time to build up a place. The past few years, the crops haven’t brought in much.”
“I’m sorry
, Lacy. Is there anything I can do to help?” Grant’s question held sincerity and true concern.
“No, that’s not why I shared that with you. There’s nothing you can do, and even if there were, I wouldn’t accept your help.” Lacy kept her eyes downcast and swallowed her tears. “There are many things I don’t have that I should if I plan to live and work in town, like a nice coat, but so much charity leaves me feeling worthless. Tony and Ilsa give my horse and me a place to live. My cousins keep me in clothes. My friends, like you and Caterina, make sure I’m fed. It bothers me that I can’t pay my own way and makes me feel even more unworthy of such kindness.”
Without regard to what was proper, Grant reached across the table and placed his big, warm hand over Lacy’s cold one. Gently lifting her fingers, he cradled her hand against his palm and waited until she looked at him to speak.
“Lacy, from what I’ve observed, you’d give anything you own to someone in need. You’re tenderhearted and caring, and one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. We’ve all needed a helping hand from time to time. I’m sure when you’re able, you’ll pass the kindnesses you’ve received on to someone else who needs assistance.”
“But, Grant, I’m…”
“Perfectly wonderful.” He interrupted her before she could speak. “I know it stabs uncomfortably at your pride to accept what you view as charity. Nevertheless, Ilsa and Tony have raved about what a good job you do cleaning for them. Tony said his barn hasn’t been as clean since he built it. They’ve also both mentioned how much they appreciate you living at Ilsa’s shop. You do more than you think in trade for your rent. As for the clothes, it probably made your cousins feel included in this grand adventure you’re having in town to contribute to your wardrobe. After all, not everyone gets to be squired around town by such a dandy catch as the incredibly handsome banker across the street.”
A smile quirked Lacy’s lips and her eyes regained their sparkle. “Have I met this banker? Are you referring to Mr. Miller? I’ll have you know I barely know the man. Isn’t he courting one of the Raines sisters?”
Lacy: (Sweet Historical Western Romance) (Pendleton Petticoats Book 5) Page 9