Truly Yours Historical Collection December 2014

by Susan Page Davis, Paige Winship Dooly, Connie Stevens

  Tallie beamed at him. “Bless you, Mr. Oliver.”

  Sadie intercepted Harry’s look of mild surprise and smiled at him. He smiled back, and she felt her face go crimson as Tallie handed her a small porcelain plate with a slice of layer cake.

  “So, Mr. Cooper, you’ll be returning to Kentucky soon to start construction?” her father asked.

  “Yes. I’ll put up the barn first, sir.”

  “And why did you come all this way to buy your foundation stock?”

  Harry smiled. “There aren’t many farms well established in Kentucky yet, but it’s growing. I was raised near Williamsburg and thought perhaps I’d go there for horses, but when I set out, people kept telling me to go to the Shenandoah Valley.”

  “Can’t beat this country for raising horses, and that’s a fact.” Sadie’s father lifted his fork and surveyed his peach pie.

  “Yes, sir. It’s a beautiful place, all right. And the closer I got, the harder I prayed.”

  Sadie waited eagerly to hear what he would say next.

  “What was your prayer?” her father asked.

  “I asked the Lord to show me where to find the best horses. And the closer I got, the more I heard the name McEwan.”

  Her father’s smile was the brightest Sadie had seen it since her mother’s death. She eyed Harry, hoping he was sincere, not just trying to gain favor with his host.

  “The last three places I stopped, folks pointed up the valley and said I couldn’t do better than here, sir.”

  “Well, now.” Her father gestured to Zeke to bring him more tea.

  Their talk went on, and Sadie was glad to be a spectator. Occasionally one of the men would ask her a question, and she would answer quietly, but most of the time she sipped her tea and covertly watched Harry Cooper. She noticed many things: his strong, tanned hands; his direct, respectful gaze into her father’s face when listening to him; a small, faint scar over the corner of his right eye; and a decidedly rebellious lock of dark hair that fell onto his forehead. He was the most personable and handsome horse buyer her father had ever entertained.

  When Zeke and Tallie left the room, Oliver McEwan turned to the guest. “Zeke has been with our family a long time. My grandfather freed his father and six other slaves he’d maintained. Most of them scattered, but Zeke’s father stayed on with us. Zeke and I are about the same age, and we were almost like brothers.”

  “And Tallie?”

  He shook his head. “I had to buy her from a neighbor. It was the only way Zeke could marry her. I gave Tallie her papers nigh twenty years ago. Their children are free.”

  “I admire you, sir.”

  Her father ducked his head. “It’s not such a big thing, but in my opinion it’s the right thing. Of course, not everyone in these parts agrees with me.”

  “I understand.”

  He smiled. “It’s getting dark, Mr. Cooper. You must stay the night.”

  “Oh, no, I couldn’t, sir. It’s only five miles back to the village.”

  “I insist.” Her father rose, his decision made. “I’ve already spoken to Tallie about my son’s room. I think you’ll be comfortable there.”

  Harry hesitated a moment and glanced toward Sadie.

  Her father said, “We’ll be able to continue our pleasant conversation, and perhaps my daughter will show you her mother’s watercolors. My wife was quite an artist.”

  Sadie stared at him. “Really, Father—”

  “I’d love to see them, Miss McEwan.”

  How could she refuse his inviting smile? She walked with Harry into the parlor, behind her father. With every step, she was conscious of his nearness. He waited for her to compress her crinoline and pass through the doorway. Sadie felt her color rise again. She wished this ungainly style would go out of fashion.

  As her father settled into his favorite chair, she led Harry to the far wall where her favorite painting hung between two windows. “That’s my brother, Tenley, when he was about eight. It’s a good likeness.”

  Harry studied the watercolor of the boy walking a rail fence, his arms outstretched to balance him. “It’s unusual. So informal. I like it.”

  Sadie smiled at him then, not holding back what she felt. “Mother usually painted landscapes, like that one over the mantel.” She nodded toward it, and Harry turned to look. It was the same view the McEwans had from their veranda, the sloping meadows in the pastel greens of spring rolling to meet the dark mountains in the distance. “But I like this one of Tenley.”

  Harry nodded. “It captures his temperament, does it?”

  “Yes. He’s idealistic and imaginative, but. . .” She hesitated, alarmed to find tears springing into her eyes. “His faith is strong,” she whispered.

  Harry leaned toward her and said softly, “You miss him.”

  “Terribly.”

  He looked at the painting again. “I’ll pray for him, if you don’t think it presumptuous.”

  “Of course not. Thank you.”

  Sadie found that she couldn’t look into his eyes any longer. They were too intent. She glanced at her father, but he had taken out his pocket watch and was winding it.

  “You don’t mind me staying in Tenley’s room?”

  “Of course not,” she said.

  “I won’t disturb his things.” Harry was watching her again, with those expressive brown eyes. A vision of a possible future came unbidden to Sadie’s active mind. Beautiful horses; children with dark, wavy hair; and Harry Cooper.

  “Do you care for a game of dominoes?” Her father’s voice drew her back to reality.

  She would have declined, but Harry said quickly, “That would be a pleasure, if Miss Sadie would join us.”

  She gulped. “All right.” It meant she would have to sit beside him for another hour and try to keep from staring at him. But she knew it wouldn’t be torture.

  Her father rose and went to the doorway. “Zeke! Zeke!”

  Harry leaned close to Sadie’s ear. “That gown suits you admirably, Miss McEwan. I’ve been thinking it all evening and wishing I’d have a chance to say so.”

  Sadie’s heart raced, and she couldn’t help giving him a slight smile, but she felt it only proper to take a small step backward before her father turned toward them again.

  Three

  Sadie couldn’t help stroking the lush fabric as she spread out the end of the bolt to show her friend, Elizabeth Thurber.

  Elizabeth sighed. “It’s lovely.”

  “That green velvet is beautiful, Sadie,” said Elizabeth’s mother, Mary Thurber. “It would make Elizabeth look sallow, but you can wear it, my dear.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t choose lavender,” Elizabeth agreed. “You can wear bright colors with your complexion, and you should.”

  Tallie set the porcelain teapot down on the cherry table beside Sadie’s chair. “That velvet gonna make her look like Queen Victoria’s little sister.” She smiled at Sadie and nodded toward the teapot. “You pour for the ladies now, Miss Sadie.”

  “Thank you, Tallie.” Sadie reached for one of the thin china cups her mother had prized. Tallie had outdone herself with the tea tray today. She had artistically arranged wafer-thin sugar cookies and tiny butter tarts on the painted Italian charger Sadie’s parents had received as a wedding gift more than twenty years ago. Small clusters of grapes were mounded in a cut-glass bowl. In spite of the warmth of the July afternoon, the tea was piping hot, served with honey, sugar, and cream.

  Tallie smiled at Sadie and glided backward through the door, heading for her kitchen domain.

  Mrs. Thurber accepted her cup of tea graciously but frowned slightly as Sadie began to pour a cup for Elizabeth.

  “You’re entirely too free with your help, Sadie, dear.”

  Sadie stared at her in momentary confusion. “But. . .Tallie is my friend, Mrs. Thurber. And she’s a free woman.”

  “Yes, child.” The older woman sipped delicately from her cup then blotted her lips with a linen napkin. “Still,
I’m certain your mother wouldn’t be quite so familiar with the servants.”

  Sadie thought about that as she passed the cup to Elizabeth. Tallie was no different in her manner from how she had been when Mother was alive, was she? She had always been loving toward Sadie and outspoken in her opinions.

  “Thank you,” Elizabeth murmured with a smile, taking the cup and saucer.

  Sadie then passed the platter of sweets, and Mrs. Thurber selected a cookie and a tart. “Your Tallie certainly can cook, I’ll give her that.”

  “Yes, she’s a treasure.” Sadie offered the charger to Elizabeth.

  “I suppose you can put up with a lot in return for her skills,” Mrs. Thurber went on, “but you must never let them get insolent, my dear.” She bit into the flaky tart and closed her eyes for a moment in pure bliss. “Delicious.”

  A quick retort was on the tip of Sadie’s tongue, but she swallowed it, along with a gulp of tea. Her mother had trained her to be courteous, and her father had warned her before to keep peace with the ladies in the neighborhood. You’ll need your neighbors one day, Sadie. Don’t make yourself odious to them now, no matter how insipid you find them. Their good opinion will stand you in good stead when hard times come.

  Sadie wasn’t sure about that, but her love for her father made her keep silent, even though Mrs. Thurber’s comments about Tallie seemed unjust. Tallie had been mother and mentor to her for the past four years, since her own dear mother’s death.

  “The pattern for the walking dress will look lovely in that ice blue muslin,” Elizabeth offered, and Sadie smiled on her with gratitude for gently turning the conversation.

  “Thank you so much for letting me borrow all your patterns.”

  “Anytime,” Elizabeth assured her.

  “That velvet is perfect for the evening dress,” Mrs. Thurber said with a pert nod. “Although you may need to adjust the bodice a little. The neckline is a bit low for our country dinners. Of course, for Elizabeth’s Richmond gowns we’ve gone with the fashions.”

  Elizabeth’s cheeks colored slightly. “I’m having three new day dresses and two evening gowns made,” she told Sadie with an air of confession. “Father is all the time complaining about the cost, but Mother says I shall need them.”

  “Oh, yes, those and more, most likely.” Mrs. Thurber waved her hand before her. “We plan to spend several months in Richmond, you know.”

  “So Elizabeth told me.”

  “It’s a pity you have no one in the city now,” Elizabeth said.

  Sadie nodded. “My aunt Thompson would have invited me, I’m sure, but her health is so poor now that she keeps to her home by the sea.”

  “That lovely green velvet will be wasted here.” Elizabeth giggled. “There are no eligible men in the neighborhood. Unless you count the Kauffman boys, of course.”

  Sadie returned her grimace, and they both laughed.

  “You should come with us,” Mrs. Thurber said, and Sadie stared at her in shock.

  “Oh, I couldn’t. Father needs me. I help him a lot with the business now, you know.”

  “Nonsense. You oughtn’t to be tearing about the countryside on horseback the way you do, Sadie. It’s time you were settled.” Mrs. Thurber stirred her tea pensively. “And you don’t even have a proper riding habit. Yes, I think I shall speak to your father. You ought to have some time in town. It will give you polish.”

  Sadie felt a sudden panic. “Oh, but I couldn’t go in September.”

  “Why ever not?”

  “We expect guests.” She felt her cheeks going crimson. After all, Harry Cooper wasn’t exactly a guest, but she wouldn’t leave the Shenandoah Valley for the world now, not with Harry coming back in a matter of weeks. “And Father has several buyers coming. He’ll need me here to entertain for him.”

  “My, my, entertaining your father’s business clients,” Elizabeth said.

  “Yes, well, they often take luncheon or dinner with us after talking business with Father.”

  “Then you must have a suitable wardrobe.” Mrs. Thurber held out her cup, and Sadie refilled it. “Is Tallie as handy with a needle as she is at the stove?”

  “She’s quite good,” Sadie said. “Mostly she helps me cut out my dresses and stitch the seams and hems. I do the embellishments. My mother taught me, you know.”

  “Yes, she was a marvelous seamstress. No one can match her beadwork.”

  “Do you ever wear any of your mother’s dresses?” Elizabeth asked.

  Sadie lowered her gaze. “Well, no, I don’t expect they would fit me right.”

  Mrs. Thurber eyed her figure without pretense. “Yes, you’ve grown a lot this last year. You might even be taller than your mother was. You’re a might thin yet, but I suppose you could take in the seams.” She nodded. “Those lovely fabrics she wore. You ought to consider it.”

  “It would save your father piles of money,” Elizabeth said.

  Sadie swallowed hard. She had tried several times to sort through her mother’s things, but every time she opened the wardrobe, she found herself crying. Tallie had assured her she could take her time in deciding what to do with her mother’s clothes.

  “I recall the dress she wore to my husband’s birthday dinner the year before she passed on.” Mrs. Thurber’s eyes were focused on something beyond the parlor walls. “It was exquisite. White tulle with Chantilly lace. A frothy confection, but she carried it off.” She looked at Sadie with a bittersweet smile. “Your mother was stunning. I always envied her complexion. And now you have it.”

  Elizabeth scowled. “I pop out in freckles if I get the least bit of sun.”

  Mrs. Thurber remained in the nostalgic mode. “Do you still have the old spinning wheel?”

  Sadie nodded. “Yes, Father was going to get rid of it, but I asked him if I could have it as a keepsake. It’s in my bedroom upstairs.”

  “I recall your grandmother spinning in this very room.” Mrs. Thurber’s gray eyes went all dreamy again. “Her hands were never idle, even while she visited with company. She used to make the finest wool yarns in the county. She gave me enough for a pair of hose one year as a birthday gift. Softer, neater hosiery I never saw.”

  An hour later, when her guests had gone, Sadie changed into her plain gray housedress. Before going down to the kitchen, she paused before the mirror in her bedroom and put her hand up to her cheek. Did she look like her mother? She hoped so. She was glad she had listened to Tallie and worn her bonnet faithfully this summer whenever she went out to ride. Would Harry find her attractive? She thought he had last May. Of course, any number of things might have transpired in Harry Cooper’s life this summer. He might even have found himself a wife in Kentucky.

  She hurried downstairs. Tallie was sliding the roasting pan into the oven, laden with half a plump ham.

  “Your papa’s home from town,” Tallie said as Sadie reached for her apron.

  “Oh, good! I hope he found the notions I asked him to get.”

  Tallie wiped her hands on her calico apron. “You gave Mr. Oliver a list, and if MacPheters’s store had it, he bought it. You can count on that.”

  Sadie smiled and reached for the everyday ironstone plates. She took a stack of five from the shelf and began arranging them on the broad kitchen table.

  “What are you doin’?” Tallie asked sharply.

  “Father and I can eat in the kitchen with your family.”

  “It ain’t proper.” Tallie frowned and shook her head. “You and Mr. Oliver need to eat in the dinin’ room, like gentlefolks.”

  “That’s so silly. We’re all friends. You and Zeke happen to work for my father, that’s all.”

  “No, that’s not all, and you know it. What if those fine Thurber ladies showed up while you was eatin’ in the kitchen? The news would be all over this county by the weekend.”

  Sadie laughed and started to renew her protest, but Tallie placed her hands firmly on her hips and scowled at her. “You mind me now, Miss Sadie.”

&
nbsp; “But I often eat out here with you and Pax and—”

  “I been too lax with you, that’s for sure. What would your mama say? Besides, what if Mr. Cooper came in the middle of dinner? Hmm? You just put two of them plates back and put the good china on for you and your papa, in there.” She pointed toward the dining room door with a stern look that left no room for argument. “Your papa wants you to turn out a lady, just like your mama was, and that’s a fact.”

  Sadie sighed and picked up two of the plain white plates. She replaced them on the shelf and headed for the doorway. Her mother’s best china was kept in a cabinet in the dining room.

  “You do think he’ll come back, don’t you?” Immediately she wished she hadn’t asked. She’d tried so hard not to show how eagerly she awaited Harry’s return, but what use was it? Tallie knew her so well that it was probably no secret.

  Tallie smiled as she opened the flour bin. “He’ll be back for certain. That man prayed to God, just like Abraham’s servant, and God brought him here for a reason.”

  Sadie couldn’t hold in the shy smile that pulled at her lips. “Do you think I’m that reason, Tallie?”

  “Well, you just don’t know, do you? Not only that, but he gave your papa half the money for them horses he’s buyin’. He won’t forget his unfinished business.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Sadie pushed the door open with her hip. She set the table carefully for two, waiting for the heat to leave her cheeks before she rejoined Tallie in the kitchen. When she returned, Pax was coming in through the back door.

  “Mr. Oliver say he’ll be up to talk with Miss Sadie, soon as he and Pa take care of the horses.”

  “All right.” Sadie wondered what lay behind this odd bit of news. It sounded as though her father had something special to discuss with her. Perhaps he hadn’t been able to fill her list of sewing notions, after all. “Do you know if he got the things I asked for?”

  Pax shrugged. “First we took the colt to Mr. Glassbrenner. Then he and Mr. Oliver went to the bank together.”

  “Good! That means he paid Papa in cash, and we’re solvent again.” Sadie grinned, but Pax’s smooth face still held a worried look. “What is it?”