by Nerys Leigh
“I’d like a glass of milk, thanks.” She turned away and then turned back, adding, “If it’s not too much trouble.”
“Of course not.”
Nancy followed her into the kitchen. “Mrs Jones usually has fruit scones when I’m here.”
Louisa looked around. “I’ll see if I can find some.”
“They’re in the pantry, on the third shelf up on the right,” Nancy said immediately, pointing to the green striped curtain that covered the pantry doorway.
Louisa almost burst into laughter, which was surprising given her current state of mind. She liked the forthright little girl. “It’s a good thing you know your way around here. I don’t know where anything is yet.”
Nancy slid onto a seat at the table. “I’ve been here a lot. I’ve known Pastor Jones and Mrs Jones since I was born.”
Louisa found the plate of scones right where Nancy said they’d be and quickly buttered one.
“Ooh, cherry!” Nancy exclaimed when Louisa set the plate and a glass of milk in front of her and sat in the chair opposite. “Cherry’s my favourite.” Her eyes went to the empty space on the table in front of Louisa. “Aren’t you having one? Mrs Jones makes the best scones. Apart from Mrs Goodwin.”
“It’s not long since I had breakfast. I’m not hungry.” It was true, although she’d barely picked at her food that morning.
“Neither am I,” Nancy replied, biting into her scone.
Louisa watched her chew. “So why are you here to see me, Nancy?”
She swallowed her mouthful and fixed Louisa with a serious look. “I’m here to talk to you about my brother.”
Brother. Realisation struck. “You’re Jesse’s sister.”
With her dark hair and chocolate brown eyes, Nancy looked nothing like her brother. Their father’s hair was light brown and he had a fairer complexion, so Louisa guessed she must favour her mother.
Nancy nodded as she took another bite. “Mm hmm.”
How could Louisa have forgotten that? She must have been even more flustered than she thought. It was a terrible faux pas to forget someone’s name. “I’m so sorry. He talked about you a lot in his letters, but I didn’t make the connection when you told me your name. I think I’m still tired from the journey.”
Nancy waved the hand not holding the scone. “That’s all right. I’m glad he told you about me though. I’ve been looking forward to you coming. I’ve always wanted a sister.”
Louisa’s heart dropped. “Nancy, I’m not... I mean, I don’t...”
“I know you’re thinking of not staying,” she said, “but that’s why I’m here. I want to tell you all about Jesse, so you’ll know how nice he is and how much you’ll like him.”
Not knowing what to say, Louisa simply nodded.
Nancy placed the half eaten scone onto the plate and pulled a piece of paper from a pocket in her green floral dress. Unfolding the slightly crumpled page, she smoothed it out on the table. “I wrote it all down so I wouldn’t forget anything.”
“That’s very admirable,” Louisa said. “Being prepared for things is important.”
Nancy looked up from the paper. “Is that why you couldn’t decide last night if you were going to stay? Because you weren’t prepared?”
“I suppose so. Finding out Jesse can’t walk was a big surprise.” She didn’t add that she also wasn’t at all prepared for the effect he had on her. “I’ve never met someone like him before.”
“But he’s just like everyone else, except he can’t walk. But he can do everything else.” Nancy looked at the paper. “Oh wait, I have that on my list.”
Louisa tried not to smile. “Then maybe you should go ahead and read me your list.”
She nodded, smoothed the piece of paper again, and sat up straight as if about to give an important presentation. Louisa decided she may have been the most adorable child she’d ever met.
Not only was Jesse impossible to resist, so was his sister. He probably had a litter of fluffy kittens stashed somewhere too.
“Jesse was sixteen when I was born,” Nancy read, “so when I was little he was already grown up. But he wasn’t ever too busy to play with me or Luke.” She looked up. “That’s my other brother. He’s four years older than me.” When Louisa nodded she focused on the paper again. “Even when he was learning to be an accountant and I didn’t really understand that he needed time for studying, he never once told me to go away or be quiet. I know when he has his own children he’ll be just as nice to them too. Even though he can’t walk, he can do everything else, like I said already, and he’s a real good cook. He makes the best cookies apart from Mrs Goodwin and he lets me help. And he doesn’t get annoyed at me when I spill things.” She looked up again. “Although he does mostly make me clean it up, but he’s probably right to do that. Don’t tell him I said so though.”
“I won’t.”
Nancy nodded and returned her attention to the list. “He’s real strong, almost as strong as Pa, and he gives the best hugs. He’s smart and funny and he makes me laugh. And he knows lots of things, like which books are the most fun to read and how to help me with my math schoolwork and lots and lots more. I think he’d make just about the best husband in the world.”
She folded the paper closed and Louisa rapidly swiped at the moisture threatening to spill down her cheeks. It was just as well she’d already decided to stay for the two weeks because if she hadn’t, she would have had to rewrite the letter to her parents. Jesse couldn’t possibly be as perfect as his sister thought he was. Could he?
“Don’t tell him I told you this,” Nancy said, “but he really wants you to stay. He likes you a lot and he thinks you’re real pretty, which you are, and I know he’d be sad if you went home now. So please could you stay? Because I don’t want him to be sad and I know you’ll love him as much as I do once you get to know him.”
“Does he know you’re here?”
Nancy’s eyes widened. “Oh no! I don’t think he’d be happy if he knew I was here. You won’t tell him, will you?”
Louisa smiled. “No, I won’t tell him.”
“So will you stay?”
As if she had a choice after that heartfelt list of all his best qualities. “Yes, I’ll stay. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to marry him,” she added quickly when Nancy’s smile threatened to swallow her whole face. “I don’t want you to get excited and then be disappointed when it doesn’t work out and I leave.”
“It’ll work out,” Nancy declared, still smiling. “You’ll see.” She stood and hurried around the table to hug Louisa, saying into her shoulder, “I can’t wait until we’re sisters.” She stepped back, excitement dancing in her eyes. “Are you going to tell Jesse soon?”
Louisa briefly considered again trying to explain that it was highly likely she would be leaving in two weeks, but at the expression on Nancy’s face she gave up the idea. She wasn’t sure anything could dampen the girl’s enthusiasm.
“I was planning to walk to the post office now to mail a letter then go on to his house from there.”
Nancy gasped in delight. “Could I come with you? I could show you the way. Just to the post office and Jesse’s house, but I wouldn’t let him see me.”
She didn’t need to be shown the way, with Green Hill Creek consisting of barely more than a handful of streets, but Nancy’s eagerness was impossible to refuse. “Thank you, I’d like that. I’ll just get my shawl.”
Nancy retook her seat at the table. “I’ll finish my scone.”
Once in her bedroom, Louisa leaned against the door and heaved a sigh. How on earth was she going to disappoint Jesse’s young sister?
By the time the two weeks was up, she was going to feel like the worst person in the world.
~ ~ ~
Louisa had hoped to see Amy at the post office, but Adam told her she was out looking for work. Which made no sense at all until he also told her the rest of what had happened after Louisa left them at the station the day before.
She posted the letter to her parents explaining about him and how she was going to stay for two weeks before deciding what to do next. She wasn’t sure if a reply would reach her before the two weeks was up, but she’d asked them what she should do anyway. She’d relied on their advice her entire life and being so far away from them had her feeling more than a little lost without it.
Nancy chatted more or less the entire time, a constant narrative on how wonderful Jesse was, who lived at each house they passed, where she liked to play, where Luke liked to play, how amazing Jesse was, the time she’d fallen in the creek with all her clothes on, her favourite candies at Mr Lamb’s general store, the magnificence of her eldest brother...
She stopped abruptly in the middle of a story about her friend Joshua, a frog, and his terrified older sister. “I’d better not go any further or he’ll see me, and Ma’s expecting me home, but his house is just up there on the left. Don’t forget to not mention at all that you saw me today.”
“I promise I won’t say a thing,” Louisa said. “But you mustn’t forget to act surprised when he tells you I’m staying.”
“I’m going to practice in front of the mirror so I get it right.”
“Good idea,” Louisa replied, trying to look serious.
Nancy threw her arms around her. “I’m so pleased you’re staying. We’re going to have so much fun.”
She let go and turned to run back the way they’d come, stopping after a few steps to wave and then taking off again. Louisa tried to remember a time when she’d had such boundless zest and energy and found she couldn’t. She did remember her mother’s assertion that refined young ladies didn’t run. At the time she’d accepted the instruction, albeit reluctantly, but as she watched Nancy dash away she couldn’t help thinking how natural it seemed that a child should run. Smiling to herself, she resumed her walk to Jesse’s house.
The closer she got, the more the smile faded and her nervousness grew. By the time she reached the door she needed to pause and gather her courage before knocking.
The door opened after only a few seconds. Louisa had wondered that morning when she woke if Jesse really could have been as handsome as she’d thought the day before. Or if it had been the fatigue from the journey and the shock of what he’d told her that had scrambled her memories.
It wasn’t.
And he was.
“Yes, I’ll stay.”
His mouth dropped open and then he smiled so wide it looked as if his face would split right in half. There was the resemblance to his sister, they had the same smile.
“But this doesn’t mean I’m going to marry you,” she added. “I need time to decide that.”
“I know,” he said, still grinning. “And good morning.” He wheeled back to allow her into the house. “Have you eaten yet? Would you like breakfast?”
She had eaten, but she’d only picked at her food. She’d been too nervous at the prospect of committing herself to staying for two weeks when she would likely have to let him down at the end. And that was before she’d met his adorable sister.
What had she just done?
She suddenly felt as if she’d never want to eat again. “I’m not hungry, thank you.”
He closed the door behind her. “Well, if it’s not rude, would you mind if I finished mine? I’m going to need all my strength if we’re going to spend the day together.”
Her heart rate climbed. “We... we’re going to spend the day together?”
“If you have no objections. I only have two weeks to charm you, and when you factor in the time I’ll be working and sleeping and making myself presentable and so on, that only gives me,” he paused, his eyes going to the ceiling as he worked it out, “around fifty hours. Which sounds a lot, but when you really think about it isn’t so much when you’re talking about falling in love. So I reckon I need to get started right away.”
“Oh. Yes.” She swallowed. He didn’t really expect her to fall in love with him, did he? “Could I possibly have a drink of water?”
“Of course.” He gestured towards the kitchen. “I’m eating out the back, since the weather’s so nice.”
She walked from the kitchen onto a porch at the back of the house. A ramp sloped down to the garden, just as at the front. There was no lawn or vegetable patch like in most gardens she’d seen. Instead a stone-paved courtyard encircled a magnificent walnut tree in the centre. Flowering bushes, shrubs and plants softened the edges and two raised flowerbeds, constructed from thick logs, hugged the porch either side of the ramp. Two wood and wrought iron benches sat to either side of the yard. She could see how the whole thing had been designed for ease of use by someone in a wheelchair.
There was a table on the porch and she took one of the four chairs around it as Jesse wheeled from the kitchen. He placed a glass of water in front of her then moved into a free space at the table where an empty coffee cup sat next to a plate of half eaten buttered toast and fried eggs.
“You have a lovely garden,” she said, looking out over the flower-laden space.
“Thank you for saying so. I’d love to take credit for it, but as per our arrangement in that I will be almost completely honest with you from now on, I have to admit keeping plants alive is not among my skills. Mrs Jones comes every week to tend to it. I’ve begged her to allow me to pay her, but she won’t take anything. She says she enjoys doing it. So I put extra into the church offering every week.” He winced. “I hope that didn’t sound like I was boasting about giving the money. I just wanted you to know I don’t expect people to do things for me.”
“I understand.” And she was impressed. He truly was independent.
“When I first moved in here my pa laid the flagstones so I could get around in my chair, and he also built the raised beds so I could reach them easily. That was before either of us discovered my tendency to plant things and then forget about them until they’re strangled by weeds.”
She watched a pair of white butterflies spiral into the air and flit away. “I’ve always enjoyed gardening. I find it soothing. Fortunately, my mother regarded it as a suitable occupation for my time.”
“Suitable occupation?”
She returned her gaze to him. “Ladylike. Providing I didn’t get dirty or do any strenuous digging.”
His head tilted slightly to one side as he considered her words. “I guess things are different in the city. Here, the women often work as hard as the men. Probably harder.”
She remembered the many advertisements she’d read in the course of finding Jesse’s. “A lot of the men who advertised for brides wanted women who were strong and had skills in farming and such. My mother was horrified. She said they needed an ox rather than a woman.”
He laughed. “So I guess it’s safe to say you were never going to be a farmer’s wife?”
“Goodness, no,” she said. “Mother would have taken to her bed and never got out again.”
The smile that made his eyes shine and her insides flutter curved his lips. “I guess I should thank your mother then, that she approved of me over all the other men you could have chosen.”
She could feel the blush starting and she lowered her gaze without thinking. Too late, she realised the flirtatiousness of the move and snapped her eyes back up, horrified. She absolutely could not give Jesse false hope.
His smile faded as he watched her. “You’re uncomfortable.”
She sighed and looked at her hands twisted in her lap. Maybe she should be as honest with him as he was being with her. “I’m afraid of leading you o
n. I don’t want to make you think I’ll be staying beyond the two weeks. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
“I’m just grateful for the two weeks. I brought you here under false pretences, remember? All I want is for us to get to know each other. Whatever happens after that I will deal with when the time comes, but I don’t want you to think you have to watch your behaviour. I want you to enjoy your time here, to be able to relax and have fun.” He leaned forward and ducked his head to look into her face. “I promise I won’t assume from anything you do or say that you want to marry me. Okay?”
Louisa was beginning to think Nancy was right, her brother really was perfect. At that moment, she couldn’t imagine there was anyone else on earth who could have soothed her nerves.
She raised her eyes and nodded, and even smiled. “Okay.”
The smile he gave her in return had her heart thudding again, but this time it had nothing to do with anxiety. “Okay.”
He sat back and picked up his toast and, to her mortification, her stomach rumbled loudly. She slapped a hand over it, as if that could muffle the sound.
“Sure you wouldn’t like to change your mind about having some breakfast?” he said.
She gave him a sheepish smile. “I think maybe I would.”
Grinning, he backed away from the table and turned towards the kitchen.
“Jesse?” she said as a thought came to her.
He looked back. “Yes?”
“You don’t, by any chance, have any kittens, do you?”
“Kittens?” He looked confused. “Uh, no. Why?”
She couldn’t help smiling. “Oh, no reason.”
Breakfast was delicious. It was only eggs and toast, and yet Jesse added some kind of seasoning that made it burst with flavour without overwhelming the taste.
“This is incredible,” she said between mouthfuls. “What have you done with it?”
“It’s just herbs and a couple of spices.” He pointed to one of the raised flowerbeds filled with leaves of all shapes and sizes. “Mrs Jones planted that one especially so I’d have fresh herbs to cook with.”