by Cathy Marie Hake, Lynn A. Coleman, Mary Davis, Susan Page Davis
“I see your point. I’m staying in the cottage in back of Ellis Southard’s home.”
“The cottage?”
“Don’t ask,” Bea sighed.
Peg laughed. “Guess it has to do with you not being over fifty, right?”
“Possibly … I really don’t know. But it is the cutest little cottage. I love it.” Bea smiled. “I better get going. Cook will have my hide if I don’t return soon. Thanks for the tea and the conversation.” Bea slipped off the stool.
“ ’Welcome. Next time I’ll let you buy something.” Peg winked.
Bea giggled and walked out the door. She glanced over at Ellis’s dock and saw him jump in the ocean, half naked.
“Oh my!” she exclaimed and turned her head. Her face flushed. She quickened her pace. Lying in a snow bank might be the best thing at the moment, she thought. Snow was not to be found in Key West and likely never would be. Bea opened the fan she had brought with her and fanned herself as she walked up Front Street back to Ellis Southard’s home.
Chapter 13
Ellis couldn’t believe it. The first evening he was home for dinner in two nights and Beatrice Smith had accepted an invitation to dine at the Presbyterian church. Seeing Peg Martin’s brother, Dan, come to escort Bea had him speculating that Peg might have other intentions besides dinner. Pacing back and forth down the hall, stroking his beard, he wondered why the thought bothered him so.
While Richard slept peacefully upstairs, Marc had come and gone, scrutinizing Ellis’s books and finding them in order, just as Ellis had found Marc’s. It seemed plausible that the two could become partners. Marc’s bid to purchase half of the business was a fair market value. But before he moved on with this merger, Ellis wanted and needed references. Truth be told, harvesting and exporting sponges was the furthest thing from his mind.
Listening, waiting for Beatrice’s return, drove him into a frenzy of worry. The late hour, along with his inability to go searching for her without waking up the child, left him feeling helpless. The rich mahogany grandfather’s clock chimed once, noting it was half past the hour of ten. Perhaps he should wake the boy? He placed his foot on the first step, and then heard laughter. Ellis paused.
Yes, it was definitely laughter, feminine laughter. He eased his foot off the step and sauntered over to the front door. Leaning around the doorjamb, he could see the young couple. Beatrice removed her hand from Dan’s arm. They were talking; she was smiling, a friendly banter exchanged between them.
Dan bowed slightly and kissed the top of her hand. Fire blazed up Ellis’s spine. How dare he be so forward? And yet, Dan was being the perfect gentleman.
Ellis waited for Dan to leave before he opened the door.
“Hello, Ellis.” Bea smiled.
Had she seen him behind the door? “I was wondering if we could talk?”
“I think that would be nice. Shall I come into the big house and we can share a cup of tea?”
“Sure.” Ellis slipped back into the house and raised the lights. The warm glow pushed aside some of his earlier dark emotions.
Bea slipped through the open door, the swish of her skirt alerting him to her nearness. He turned. She was beautiful.
“You waited up for me?” she asked and walked past him toward the kitchen.
“Yes. We need to talk.”
“Yes, we do.” She placed the full teakettle on the lit stove, and then she moved swiftly to the cabinet where the cups were stored, removing two with their saucers. She must have spent more time with Cook than he imagined.
“I had an offer today to buy into my sponge business.”
She paused for a moment and asked, “Was it a good offer?” She went back to her work.
“Respectable.”
“Do you know and trust the man enough to join in a partnership with him?”
“Marc seems responsible.”
“Marc Dabny?” She turned from the counter and faced him.
“Yes.”
“And this is the same man that—”
“Yes.” Ellis cut her off. He didn’t want to be keelhauled all over again for that one.
“And you trust him?” She raised her cinnamon brown eyebrows.
“At this point. Is there something I don’t know about him that you would question my judgment so?”
“Seems to me a couple days ago the man was hunting for a wife. Not an ordinary wife, a slave, with a pretty figure, mind you.”
“He told you that?”
“Not in so many words, but yes, it was clear to me what the man’s intentions were. If a man can treat a woman like that, what kind of a man would he be as a business partner? Would he want you to slave and do all the work while he sat back and enjoyed your profits?”
“I hadn’t thought about that.” Truth was he hadn’t had much room for any thought which didn’t revolve around her.
Bea poured the boiling water into the teapot and let it steep. “Why did he want to buy into your business, Ellis?”
“He said he saw room for expansion, and I think he has some valid ideas.” There. He wasn’t a total idiot when it came to business.
“Well, I don’t know the first thing about your business and where it may or may not be expanded. Truth is, I’ve never heard of a sponge business before. But you seem to be doing well. Would this expansion need the help of another owner?”
“Possibly, possibly not.”
Bea set the teapot on a tray with the cups. “Shall we sit in the living room or would you prefer to sit at the table?”
“Living room is fine.” Ellis scooped up the tray and led the way.
Bea followed Ellis, noticing how his strong shoulders pressed his white cotton shirt. The man was in excellent shape.
Ellis poured her a cup.
Bea sat on the sofa in front of the cup of tea he had placed on the Queen Anne mahogany table. She smoothed her skirt and waited for Ellis to pour his own tea and sit down. He sat beside her on the sofa. “What do you want to talk about, Ellis?”
“Are you aware of the hour?”
“Yes, and you and I both know you don’t want to talk with me about the time I’ve returned home.”
Ellis tugged at his collar and nodded. He stood up and began to pace. At least he is working out his thoughts, she mused.
“Richard said you would be joining us tomorrow morning.”
“Yes. After you so wonderfully put it back in my lap.”
“What?”
“Richie said that you said to go ask me about fishing with the two of you.”
“Oh. Well, I didn’t know what to tell the boy, and I certainly wasn’t going to be answering for you.”
“Thank you.”
“Bea, this is crazy. I’m so full of wild emotions I don’t know what to think or do. Let alone make sense of anything.”
“And you think I understand these emotions?”
He sat down beside her on the sofa. The warmth of him so close to her sent a warm glow radiating within her. O Lord, help me now, she silently pleaded.
“Ellis, tell me what happened.” Without thought, she reached over and touched his sun-darkened hand, tenderly stroking it.
“I’ll tell you, but please do not pass judgment on my family for my actions. They were mine and mine alone.”
“Very well.”
And Ellis began. He told her about Heather, their whirlwind romance, and about the night they stole a passionate kiss. How her hands went beneath his shirt, and how he was driven by desire to go beyond where a gentleman should. And about her father, finding them locked in each other’s embrace, and his warning for Ellis to get out of town or he would ruin the reputation of the Southard family name.
“So, you created a stone wall and kept women at bay for all these years?”
“It was the only way. I was so out of control that night.”
“I see. And it was all you, right?”
“Of course. I was the one who initiated the kiss.”
Bea smiled.
“Ellis, in my opinion, unless you force yourself upon us, by and large, women are the ones who send out the signals about wanting or not wanting to be kissed.”
“But what about the other night? You and I both know we could have been lost in our passions.”
“True, but we weren’t. At the right moment, wisdom prevailed and we stopped. Emphasis on the word ‘we,’ Ellis. You and I both stopped.
“Can I ask you something even more personal?”
Ellis chuckled. “I don’t think anything is more personal than what I just admitted to you about myself.”
“Were you used to women putting their hands under your shirt?”
His eyebrows arched up into his forehead. “No, it was a completely new experience.”
“Did you direct Heather’s hands to go there?”
“No.” He knitted his eyebrows together.
“Do you see my point yet?” Bea stroked her thumb over Ellis’s firm grip.
“I’m not sure. Are you suggesting Heather was the more aggressive person?”
“Yes.”
“But I didn’t do anything to stop her. She was a sweet, innocent girl before I kissed her.”
“Had you kissed many women before Heather?”
“No.”
Bea knew Heather O’Donald’s reputation, and obviously Ellis didn’t. While still a young girl, Bea had heard the whispered news of Heather O’Donald’s hurried wedding and soon-delivered first child. And this occurred a year after Ellis left. Obviously, Ellis never knew, or if he did, he probably blamed himself for that as well.
She reached up and stroked his bearded jaw. “Ellis, was it Heather O’Donald, by chance?”
“Yes. But for her sake, please don’t repeat any of this.”
“I won’t. But what I’m going to tell you isn’t pretty, and I’ll be as gentle as I can. Heather O’Donald married quickly, a year after you left the area, and had a child six months later.” Ellis lowered his head and wagged it back and forth.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Of course it is. Don’t you see? If I hadn’t kissed her so passionately, she never would have known …”
Bea took both of her hands and placed them on his face and lifted it to look at her. “Ellis, I think you were the innocent one. True, you had desires, and perhaps you would have acted upon them. But Heather had desires, too. She was bold, far bolder than you. Don’t you see?”
“Maybe, but I’m the man …”
Bea chuckled. “And only men sin, right?”
He narrowed his gaze.
“Ellis, I always found that when two people sin, both are guilty. God will forgive you, and you can ask Him to forgive Heather. The hardest part is for you to forgive yourself.”
“How did you become such a wise woman at such a young age?”
“I’m not. But I do pay attention, and I think what you and I are fighting is an attraction far deeper than your lustful moment with Heather.”
Ellis pulled back from Bea’s loving embrace. Her words made perfect sense. Had Heather already been exposed to such passions? He thought back on their few dates. She had been the aggressor. She seemed to … Ellis cleared his throat. “So, do you think you can trust me with these intense passions?”
Bea turned her head then looked back at him. “Can you trust me?” Her faint blush accented her beauty.
Ellis sat in the chair opposite the sofa. “You’re an incredible woman, Beatrice Smith. Not only are you beautiful enough to take my breath away, your mind is quick, and you get to the heart of the matter with a forward resolve I’ve never seen before.”
“Thank you—I think.”
Ellis chuckled. “My words were meant as a compliment. Unlike Marc, I would never want a servant for a wife. I would want a companion, someone who would challenge me, someone with whom I could share my deepest thoughts and concerns. Someone I could trust with my heart.”
“Is that a proposal?”
Ellis gulped.
Not giving him a chance to respond, she quipped, “And you say that I’m honest. I’ve never met a man like you, Ellis. And I must tell you, I like what I see.”
Ellis grinned. Was she admitting she found him handsome? “What do we do now?”
“I have no idea.” Bea lifted her teacup. It shook in her hand and she immediately nested it back on the saucer.
“You’re afraid to be with me, aren’t you?”
“Yes … no. It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Explain.” Ellis lowered his chin onto his clasped hands with his elbows supported by the arms of the chair.
“Yes, I’m afraid of the attraction between us. No, I’m not afraid of you and your past. You were a boy bursting to be a man. I’ve heard that it is a difficult time for all young men.”
Ellis’s cheeks flamed. “It can be.”
“I found out today that no ships will be leaving for New York for awhile.”
“I know.”
“You knew?” She knitted her eyebrows.
“I know the comings and goings of ships. It’s all a part of my business. I need to find ships to carry my cargo.”
“Oh, right. Well, I was going to say, why don’t we slowly see what develops between us? You know, spend some time, talking like this.”
Ellis smiled. “Yes, I think that would be in order. Shall I come to your cottage tomorrow night after Richard’s gone to bed?”
“Why don’t we start with some time in public?”
“In public? You want me to court you?”
Bea chuckled. “Is that a problem?”
“No, but—”
“But, since the woman is right here in my backyard, why do I need to fuss over her, right?”
She could be forward. He amended his words. “I didn’t mean it that way. If you want me to court you, I’ll do it.” Ellis squirmed, working the tension out of his back.
“No, you don’t have to court me. I was merely trying to suggest we spend time together. Like meal time, playing with Richard after dinner, those times. You’ve been avoiding coming home at dinner since the other night in the cottage.”
“Work kept—”
“Ellis!”
“Oh, all right, yes. I was thinking up work that needed doing so I didn’t have to face you. Better?”
Bea smiled. “Much.”
“Oh, you can have a nasty side, I see,” Ellis teased.
“Nasty? Me …? Now, Ellis, whatever gave you that idea?” She winked.
Just what had he gotten himself into? Ellis’s fingers tightened around the arms of the chair.
Chapter 14
Ellis lay in bed as the sun rose. The bright orange glow cast stark shadows over the room. He rubbed his face. “I can’t believe I admitted everything to Beatrice last night,” he groaned. Granted, she was easy to talk with, but … “Marriage? Did I really propose marriage?
“Lord, I’m certain I didn’t. I was just saying if I was to marry. That isn’t asking a woman, is it? Do I want to … to … I can’t say it, Lord. The very thought sends shivers of fear up my spine. Although the conversations would be lively with Miss Smith.”
Ellis pulled the covers off and sat up, swinging his feet over the edge. He stood and stretched his sore muscles. His bed looked like a battlefield. And a battle of emotions had been waged all night. Did he want to pursue a relationship with Miss Smith, or not? One thing was certain. It would solve the need for a nanny. And Beatrice does love the child. She isn’t an unpleasant woman for a man to get saddled with … if a man must be saddled, he reasoned.
But a wife wasn’t a saddle. She was to be cherished, loved, honored, and adored. Could he truly do those things with regard to Beatrice Smith? “I don’t know, Lord. I’m so confused. And what’s this sixth sense You’ve given her about Marc? Is there something I don’t see?” Ellis paced back and forth in his room.
The gentle knock on his door stopped him midstride. “Who is it?”
“Me, Uncle Ellis.”
&nbs
p; “Come in, Son.”
The door creaked open slowly. “Cook says to come to breakfast.”
Ellis smiled, confident Cook would pronounce it as an order. “Tell her I’ll be right down. I need to shave.”
“Shave? You taking off your beard?” Richard questioned, his eyes opened wide, waiting for an answer.
“I may have a beard, Son. But I do still shave.” Ellis pointed to the various places on his face and neck where he did shave. “Plus, I have to keep it trim.”
“My daddy didn’t wear a beard, just a ’stache.”
Ellis grinned. “A ’stache, huh? Do you think I should take off my beard?”
“No, you look like Uncle Ellis with a beard.”
Ellis chuckled. Children’s logic could be so profound. “You better go tell Cook I’ll be right down or she’ll have both our hides.”
Richard ran out of the room as if lightning would strike. Ellis grinned. The woman did have a way of putting fear into a person. He looked into the mirror. Would Bea prefer no beard? Ellis tried to imagine what his face would look like without it. He’d grown the beard when he was twenty and had never once shaved it off. He remembered her loving touch on his beard last night, cupping his face in her tender hands. Such compassion. Such honesty. No, he’d leave his beard. She certainly didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
Ellis finished getting ready for the day and worked his way down the stairs. The lilt of Bea’s laughter floated into the hall. He paused, enjoying its merriment, then continued on to the dining room. “Good morning, everyone.” He caught a glimpse of Bea, and she flushed slightly. Goodness, she was beautiful in the morning. He sat down at the head of the table. Cook was in the kitchen. Richard was buttering his biscuit. Ellis caught Bea’s glance and mouthed the words, “You’re beautiful.”
A deep crimson blush painted her high cheekbones. Ellis smiled and released his gaze. While questions abounded in her absence, in her presence all arguments, fears, and worries dissolved. For the first time in fifteen years he truly felt forgiven for his past, and he owed his inner release to this incredible woman. If only he had learned that lesson before his parents had passed. He would have gone home for a visit. Heather’s family’s threats were meaningless in the scope of her wedding a year later.