Winterberry Fire

by Merry Farmer

  Her eyes snapped up to meet his just as she started on the buttons of his soggy shirt. “Petty attempts?” she said with an indignant clip.

  Just like Alice, the only way to deal with the situation now on his plate was abruptly. “I don’t want you, Mary. And I don’t appreciate your attempts to come between me and—”

  His sentence was cut off as a large, meaty hand clapped over his shoulder and spun him away from Mary. He half expected to see Sam Jones, out for blood, but the sight that met him was even worse.

  Not that he had much of a chance to see anything before Wat Harmon planted his bare-knuckled fist squarely across Tim’s jaw. The crack that resounded through Tim’s skull caused more than a few people on their way into the dance to stop and gasp.

  “I’ll teach you to lay hands on my woman,” Wat bellowed, raising his fist again.

  “I didn’t lay hands on her,” Tim said, far more panic in his voice than his masculine pride wanted to admit to. “I never touched her.”

  “You’re touching her now, you bastard.”

  “She’s touching me, and I won’t have it.”

  Tim leapt out of the way to avoid a second, devastating blow. His jaw already ached more than it ever had, pain radiating through his whole head.

  The people heading to the dance stopped walking to watch the unfolding fight. They were joined by guests already at the dance, who started flooding back through the door to see what was happening. Tim thought he spotted Tad and Alice with them, but he barely had time to look before Wat took another swing.

  “Stop!” Tim implored him. “This is all a misunderstanding. I don’t want Mary.”

  “He tried to grope me, he did,” Mary insisted.

  Tim would have gaped at her in betrayal, but Wat growled and charged at him. His shoulder thumped hard into Tim’s gut, knocking the wind out of him and carrying him several feet through the air until they both crashed into an unsuspecting cluster of onlookers. Somehow, they all managed to stay on their feet, but it was a tangle of arms and legs and pain.

  “You’re a bloody liar,” Wat shouted. “Everyone knows you was with a woman at your bloody schoolhouse last night.”

  A gasp went through the crowd, Tim’s shock forming a part of it. Had people seen Ada enter the schoolhouse? Did they see her leave?”

  He defended himself with. “I did no such—”

  “I seen her,” Wat bellowed over him. “Seen her come out of the place in a hurry and go on her way to Winterberry Park.”

  He must have seen Ada, but it sounded as though it had been too dark for him to know for certain who he was seeing.

  “I can assure you,” Tim said, straightening and trying to maintain a fraction of dignity, soaked with punch and bruised from Wat’s blow, “you didn’t see what you thought you saw.”

  “You callin’ me a liar?” Wat roared, looking as though he would throw another punch.

  “This is all a misunderstanding,” Tim shouted. He glanced desperately to Mary. “Tell him.”

  Mary had shrunk back into the crowd and watched the fight with a calculating flash to her eyes. She bit her lip as she glanced to Wat, making Tim wonder if she was second-guessing whatever game she was playing at last.

  Wat rounded on Mary, looking as though he’d just as soon hit her as Tim. “Is he speaking true? Were you with him last night?”

  “No!”

  The answer was strong and definitive, but it hadn’t come from Mary. It had come from Ada.

  Ada rushed toward the scene in front of the town hall, her heart in her throat. There was still enough light to see that Tim and Mary’s Wat were fighting, and that Tim was coming off the worse for it. She wouldn’t have dreamed of anyone wishing to fight Tim for any reason, until Wat bellowed his accusation about seeing someone he thought was Mary leaving the schoolhouse the night before. That was when she’d broken away from Mrs. Musgrave, Mr. Noakes, and the remaining staff of Winterberry Park to run to Tim.

  “Mary was not at the schoolhouse last night,” she said, stating her case as she pushed her way to stand by Tim’s side. She looked Wat straight in the eye and said, “It was me you saw.”

  “You?” Wat rubbed his stubbly chin, glancing between Ada and Mary uncertainly.

  “Yes. Tell him,” Ada prompted Mary.

  The look Mary wore sent dread straight to Ada’s gut. It was shrewd and calculating, as if she’d figured out how to win the war between them. “It wasn’t me,” she said slowly, turning to Wat. “You know I’d never do anything like that to you, sweetheart. I love you.” She glanced back to Ada. “She must be telling the truth. Ada here spent the night with the schoolteacher yesterday evening.”

  Ada frowned, puzzled over the way Mary spoke as though making a declaration.

  Her puzzlement lasted until Mrs. Musgrave asked from behind her, “Is this true, Miss Bell?”

  Ada squeezed her eyes shut in dismay. After all this time, Mary had won. If Ada stayed silent, Wat would likely use it as an excuse to pound Tim into a pulp. The man barely needed an excuse to get into a fight on the best of days. If she admitted the truth in front of Mrs. Musgrave and Mr. Noakes, she would be in direct violation of the terms of her employment by behaving in an immoral and promiscuous manner, and would be sacked on the spot.

  She opened her eyes and glanced to Tim. The only thing that kept her from despair was the depth of love in his eyes. He took her hand, adding physical support to what was in his eyes. In an instant, the mystery of the garter was forgotten. There had to be some other explanation, because the Tim she knew and loved was the one who grasped her hand, ready to stand by her until the end.

  Taking a deep breath, Ada turned to Mrs. Musgrave. “Ma’am,” she began, her voice shaking, “I’m afraid—”

  “It couldn’t have been Ada,” Tad spoke up over the hushed and expectant crowd.

  Ada blinked, whipping to face Tad as he stood on the town hall’s stairs. Everyone else in the increasingly dense crowd turned to stare at him as well. Tim squeezed Ada’s hand harder. Her heart felt as though it were on the verge of stopping in her chest.

  “Ada couldn’t have been here in town last night,” Tad went on, coming down off the stairs and stepping into the center of the confrontation. With as blank and benign an expression as he always wore, he looked straight into Mrs. Musgrave’s eyes and said, “Ada was helping me with those curtains last night. Remember?” He glanced to Ada with a look of unmistakable kindness and camaraderie. “The ones up in the guest bedrooms that gave us such trouble.” He laughed and rolled his eyes at the imaginary memory. “We were up past midnight trying to get those things sorted.”

  “Yes,” Ada said slowly. Her cheeks burned bright with the lie, but she committed to it fully. “I didn’t know when we were going to be able to finish the task.”

  Mrs. Musgrave studied her with a frown. Then she looked to Tad. Finally, she turned to Mr. Noakes. “Did you order the curtains in the guest bedrooms washed?”

  “I…I suppose I did,” Mr. Noakes said with a sniff. “I didn’t realize young Tad was going to stay up all night getting things done.”

  “He was insistent,” Ada blurted. “And I couldn’t let him do all that work on his own.” She glanced to Tad with a look of utmost thanks.

  Tad shrugged. “It’s the least I could do.”

  The comment skated far too close to revealing the whole story as a fabrication for Ada’s liking, but Mrs. Musgrave seemed to accept it. She sighed and shook her head. “I’ve never known Ada to throw herself at a man, unlike some people.” She glanced to Mary, who was busy dragging Wat away from the scene and into the town hall. “It sounds like the whole thing was a misunderstanding.”

  “Sounds familiar,” Tim muttered so that only Ada could hear.

  “We’ll forget the whole thing.” Mrs. Musgrave waved her hand as if to dismiss a particularly annoying fly and marched on into the hall.

  The scene broke up, and those who had been watching made their way up the stairs and
into the dance. When there was no one left on the street but Ada, Tim, Tad, and, of all people, Alice Jones, Ada said, “Thank you, Tad. I do believe I owe you my job.”

  “It weren’t nothing,” Tad said with his usual, slightly dim but always jovial smile. “I just hate seeing that Mary get the upper hand is all.”

  Alice rushed forward, grabbing Tad’s arm. “He did something wonderful, I just know it,” she said, glancing up at Tad as though he were an angel and a military hero rolled into one.

  “I am much obliged to him,” Ada said, on the verge of laughing, though she couldn’t quite figure out why.

  “I knew it,” Alice sighed. “I knew from the moment I saw him that he was wonderful.”

  “Am I?” Tad grinned with pleasure. “I dance pretty well,” he went on. “Interested in taking a turn around the dance floor?”

  “Of course,” Alice sighed.

  The two of them headed back into the hall. Ada and Tim followed, but just inside the door to the community room, Ada tugged Tim to a stop.

  “Before we dance, you have some explaining to do,” she said with a sharp frown.

  Chapter 10

  Ada crossed her arms and stared at Tim, her back to the door as more and more people arrived at the dance. Her heart believed Tim was innocent, but her head needed to hear an explanation for everything left unresolved.

  “I…explaining?” Tim burst into a laugh. “I’m not sure that there are any possible explanations for the comedy of errors we’ve been through in the last few days.”

  His laughter and the genuine affection in his eyes put Ada at ease. They were forced to take a few more steps toward the dance floor, where couples were beginning to waltz as the band played.

  Ada shot a glimpse to the side of the room, where Mrs. Musgrave and Mr. Noakes stood in front of the door to the storage room, frowning at everything they surveyed. She inched closer to Tim. “When I was in your apartment,” she whispered. “There was a garter on your bureau. A lacy garter embroidered with an ‘A’.”

  Tim shook his head, resting his hands on Ada’s arms. “Oh, that.”

  “So you don’t deny it?” A part of Ada’s heart sank. She rushed on with, “Only, with everything going on and all the confusion, I thought perhaps it belonged to….” She let her words fade, but nodded to where Alice Jones was standing by the refreshment table, glancing up at Tad as though he were the bees’ knees. Surprisingly, Tad gazed back at her as though he’d found the Holy Grail.

  Tim made a strangled, embarrassed noise as he winced in Alice’s direction. “I picked he garter up at the cottage because I thought you’d left it for me. As for the rest, unfortunately, Miss Jones has…or at least had…formed a schoolgirl crush on me.” He glanced back to Ada with a sheepish smile. “I’d always heard of young women almost out of the schoolroom forming attachments to their teachers, but I never dreamed it would happen to me. Which is, perhaps, why I handled it so badly.”

  “Badly?” Ada arched a brow. She didn’t think he would have indulged Alice’s romantic fantasies, but….

  “I didn’t nip it in the bud,” he said in a reassuring voice. “And I didn’t disabuse her of her romantic notions until it was too late because I didn’t think they could possibly be true. Because since the moment I met you, I’ve only had room in my heart for you.” He moved to take her hands.

  “Oh,” Ada gasped. The last of her worry melted, and she smiled at Tim as though she’d come home at last.

  “Ada, I love you,” he went on, swaying closer to you. “I meant everything I said last night when we were….” He glanced around to be sure no one was eavesdropping. “When I awoke and you weren’t there, I was terrified that you’d left because you thought the things I said were nothing more than a ploy to seduce you.”

  “I would never think that,” Ada said, raising a hand to cradle the side of his face, where a bruise was blossoming, thanks to Wat’s blow. “I knew you meant it, even if we were….” She could feel the heat spilling into her cheeks and glanced down coyly.

  “I do want to marry you,” Tim went on. “More than anything.”

  “And I meant it when I said yes,” Ada told him. “And not just because of the extraordinary things I was feeling,” she added in a whisper, certain her eyes sparkled with mischief.

  Tim rested his hand over hers against his cheek. “I want more than that, though,” he went on. “I want you to come teach with me.”

  “Really?” she was so startled she pulled her hand away. “Me, a teacher? Why, I couldn’t even read two years ago.”

  “But you can now,” he insisted. “You’re such a fast learner. You’re good with figures too. You’d be the perfect teacher for the younger students. I haven’t been able to give them as much attention as they deserve.”

  “Me. A teacher,” she repeated, this time with confidence. “I think I’d like that very much.”

  “We could marry this spring,” Tim went on. “I could train you over the summer. By the opening of the new school year, everything would be set.”

  “Unless,” she said, lowering her eyes and glancing up at him through her lashes, “there were babies on the way.”

  He flushed a pleasing shade of pink and looked happy enough to burst. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

  “Then yes,” she said. “Yes to everything. I would love to marry you and teach with you and build a life with you.”

  “My darling,” Tim said, then, in spite of the crowd of dancers, he drew her into his arms, slanting his mouth over hers in a kiss. It was the most delightful kiss she’d ever had, not that she’d had many. So much so that she didn’t even care that Mrs. Musgrave and Mr. Noakes could be watching and her position at Winterberry Park would be in jeopardy. She had a new position and a new life waiting for her, represented by the ardor of Tim’s kiss.

  But their kiss was cut short by the bellowed accusation of, “Get your hands off my daughter!”

  Ada barely had a chance to turn before a strong, meaty hand landed on her shoulder, spinning her away from Tim. Sam Jones took her place, raising a fist that was aimed at Tim’s face. Fortunately, Tim dodged the blow just in time.

  Seconds later, Alice’s furious shout of, “Papa!” rang from the other end of the room.

  Sam snapped straight, a shocked look on his face. He glanced from Tim, who was recovering from his feint with fists raised to defend himself, to Ada, at whom he blinked, then across the room to Alice. Then he stared at Ada once more.

  “You’re not my daughter,” he said.

  “No,” Ada panted, breathless with shock. “I’m not.”

  Sam sniffed. “You have the same color hair as her. From the back….”

  “She doesn’t look a thing like me,” Alice protested, weaving her way through the crowd of dancers, who had stopped to see what was going on. She held Tad’s hand, dragging him with her. When they came to a stop in front of Sam, Alice sniffed and added, “I’m much prettier.”

  “I beg to differ,” Tim said, taking Ada’s hand and drawing her back into the shelter of his arms. “My wife will be the most beautiful woman in all of Wiltshire.”

  “Oh, Tim,” Ada sighed, melting into his embrace.

  “No, I will make the prettiest wife in all of Wiltshire,” Alice insisted. She pivoted to clamp her arms around Tad in imitation of Ada and Tim’s embrace. “Isn’t that right, Tad, my own, true love.”

  “Well…I….” Tad grinned down at her. “All right. If you want to get married—”

  “No,” Sam bellowed, wrenching Alice away from Tad. “You’re too young.”

  “Oh, Papa, I am not,” Alice said, her face screwed into a sullen frown. She stomped her foot.

  Sam glared at Tad, who swallowed hard, as though he’d just realized the situation he’d walked into. “You and I need to have a talk,” Sam growled, pounding a fist into his hand.

  “I…I….”

  Tad was spared having to defend himself as the door to the storage room sla
mmed open. Several people standing nearby screamed as Wat and Mary spilled out. Wat’s shirt was missing and his trousers were undone, as was the front of Mary’s gown. Wat had his hand over one of her bared breasts. Her hair was disheveled, her skirt rucked up, and her lips red from kissing. A second round of scandalized screams filled the room as more people saw the illicit lovers.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Mrs. Musgrave shouted. It was Mary’s bad luck that the woman was standing closer to the door than anyone.

  “Scandal,” Mr. Noakes growled. “Shameful, immoral scandal!”

  “Here! What are you going on about my woman for?” Wat roared, tucking himself back into his trousers and managing to glare threateningly at Mr. Noakes at the same time.

  “Yes,” Ada whispered in relief and victory, grabbing Tim’s arm. “Finally, the cat gets caught with the canary.”

  “Miss Mull,” Mrs. Musgrave launched into a towering temper, “I have never been so horrified in all my life. Is this any way for an employee of Winterberry Park to behave? You have brought shame on our house, and I will not have it.”

  “But…but it’s just Wat,” Mary argued futilely.

  “It is never just anyone where immorality is concerned,” Mrs. Musgrave told her, drawing herself up to her full height. “You are sacked immediately, without references.”

  “No!” Mary yelped.

  “She can’t be,” her sister, Martha shouted from the other side of the eagerly watching crowd.

  “I have half a mind to dismiss you as well,” Mrs. Musgrave called to Martha, though judging by the way she scanned the crowd, she didn’t know where the woman was.

  “She’d do best to get both of them out of there,” Ada whispered. “Although this means she’ll have to replace the entire maid staff by this summer.”

  “I can’t say that I feel sorry for her,” Tim said with a grin, squeezing Ada’s arm. “I’m stealing the best of the lot, and I suspect the others should have been ousted ages ago.”

  “Yes, they should have,” Ada agreed, having a hard time not giggling.