The Uncharted Beginnings Series Box Set

by Keely Brooke Keith

  After one last check on Matthew, she followed the McIntoshes out to the porch. Stars crowded the clear sky, and crickets’ intermittent chirps pierced the cool night air. Her spotted gray mare snorted as Mr. McIntosh gathered the reins and walked toward her.

  Mrs. McIntosh fanned her face with both hands. “Thank you, Lydia.”

  “Send for me if you have concerns with his wound. I’m always available to help, anytime day or night.”

  Mr. McIntosh wiped his brow with a cotton handkerchief. “It seems too dangerous of a job for a woman—taking the forest path alone at night like you did to get here.” He slapped his hat back on his head and dabbed at the sweat on his neck. “I’m grateful you got here in time to save my boy, no doubt about it, but the way you rushed down the forest path instead of taking the main road worried me. Granted you beat me back here by twenty minutes, but still it’s too dangerous at night to—”

  “I haven’t seen a night dark enough to keep me from my duty.” She stepped around him and strapped her medical bag to the saddle, then paused to give her favorite horse a slow stroke down her blond mane. “Good girl, Dapple.”

  He nodded. “That’ll be the last time Matthew climbs to the roof of the barn.”

  “Yes. Please see to it.” She tugged on her riding gloves, ready to be back in her warm, safe cottage on her family’s property.

  Mr. McIntosh handed her the reins. “I heard your family will gather tomorrow to celebrate Isabella’s seventy-fifth birthday. How about I deliver a lamb roast as your payment?”

  “That would be excellent, thank you. I’ll tell my father to expect you.” She mounted Dapple and settled into the saddle. “Aunt Isabella will be glad to have roast lamb at her party.”

  “A lamb it is. Thank you, Miss Colburn. Oh, and do take the road back to the village. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you on your way home.”

  * * *

  Lydia arranged the dishes on the buffet in the kitchen to make room for the lamb roast. Her father nestled it into place at the center of the bountiful spread. John Colburn’s grin was as bright as sunrise at the shore. “I heard you well and truly earned this last night. Good work. And it looks delicious.”

  She inhaled the savory aroma rising with the roast’s steam. “It smells delicious too.”

  The lamb fit perfectly between the dishes of scalloped corn and buttery mashed potatoes. She carefully aligned the dishes on the buffet and laid a silver server next to each platter. Once everything looked flawless, she squeezed around her sisters and their children and the ladies from church who were all here to celebrate Aunt Isabella’s birthday.

  After untying her apron, she left the warm room that buzzed with familiar voices and soft laughter. A thrill of excitement tingled her insides. This was going to be perfect.

  As she walked through the parlor, she sent a secretive smile to Mandy Foster who was tuning her violin. The music would make the party everything Isabella had asked for. So why hadn’t the elderly woman come out of her room yet?

  Lydia straightened the turtle-shaped brooch pinned to her dress as she passed the staircase and knocked on her great-aunt’s bedroom door.

  “Come in,” Isabella answered with a gravelly voice.

  Lydia turned the glass doorknob and stepped inside. The dark room and the unmade bed struck a chord of sadness in her heart. She left the door open and the late afternoon sunlight that filled the rest of the house seeped into the room.

  Isabella sat in her rocking chair by the window, its thick curtains tightly drawn. Her knitting needles clicked in rhythm. “What is it, dear?”

  “We’re ready for you, Aunt Isabella.” Lydia smiled as she spoke, but her blind aunt’s face remained impassive. She wanted to run to her aunt’s chair like she would have as a child and tug on her hands, begging her to come into the kitchen.

  Isabella continued knitting for a moment then lowered the yarn and needles into the basket beside her chair. She reached for her cane. “I do hate a fuss. I hope you didn’t waste time on decorations. They are a frivolity.”

  Lydia stepped closer. “No, there aren’t any decorations, but the food looks wonderful. Mr. McIntosh delivered a roast lamb, and it smells exquisite. Everything is ready for you. Won’t you come to the kitchen?”

  “It does smell good.” Isabella’s fingers traced the cane’s curve. “Seventy-five. Isn’t that old?” She sounded surprised by her own age.

  Lydia put aside her childish eagerness and knelt beside her aunt, touching her arm. “I think seventy-five is lovely.”

  “Sweet girl.” Isabella patted the top of Lydia’s hand. “I’m blind and even I can see that seventy-five is old.” She leaned on her cane and stayed in her chair. Her lips twitched before she spoke. “I mostly thought of my mother today. I always do on my birthdays. I suppose that’s odd after all these years.”

  “Not at all.”

  “Yes, you understand. You miss your mother as much as I miss mine. You always will, dear. I assure you.” Isabella stood with stiff movements. “Have your father and Levi come in from their chores yet?”

  “Yes, they’re washed up and waiting in the kitchen. Maggie and Adeline made all your favorite dishes, and Bethany came straight home after school to help too. You should have stayed in the kitchen with us while we cooked. We had an enjoyable afternoon together.”

  “The four of you girls together in the kitchen all afternoon and with the little ones whining at your feet—” Isabella guffawed. “My years of finding that enjoyable have passed. Besides, I don’t like a crowd—not for long anyway.”

  “Maggie and Adeline and their families so rarely visit. I like it when we’re all together.”

  Isabella smoothed the front of her dress. “Is Mandy here? I want her to play her violin in the parlor while we eat so I can hear the music—but not too loud. Tell her not too loud.”

  “Yes, she knows. And several of your friends from church just arrived. They’re all waiting for you.”

  Isabella held her cane in one hand and found Lydia’s elbow with the other. “Which dress are you wearing?”

  “The maroon one with the white lace at the bottom.”

  “Your blue dress is softer.”

  “It isn’t cold enough to wear the blue dress.”

  “It will be cold soon; the equinox is coming. I can feel it. The atmosphere changes somehow on the autumn equinox. It always has. Do you have on your mother’s brooch?”

  “Of course.” Lydia touched the silver turtle pinned to her dress over her heart.

  Isabella took one step and stopped. She waved her cane in front of her. “I was born in this house, just as you were. After your grandfather and I were born, our father added this room onto the house. Then when your grandfather married your grandmother, they made this my private room. They added a new nursery onto the house when your father was born. Oh, how they hoped for many children, but neither of your father’s siblings lived past infancy.” Isabella sighed then smiled, causing Lydia to wonder if the nostalgic interlude was authentic sentiment or a stall tactic. “But when your father married your mother and they had the five of you children, well, that’s when the house finally felt full to me.”

  They inched out of the bedroom then Isabella stopped in the hallway. She faced Lydia, but her unseeing eyes didn’t settle. “I’ve lived seventy-five years in this house, and none of my time was wasted so long as I’m not a burden.”

  She hated it when her aunt talked like that. “You aren’t a burden to anyone. We all love you, and that’s why we are honoring you. Come now, everyone’s waiting.”

  Isabella straightened her posture as if readying herself for the crowd. “I can face another seventy-five years, so long as I make myself useful.”

  Lydia helped her aunt into the kitchen, even though she didn’t really need help. After everyone showered Isabella with birthday wishes, John said the blessing. Then, Lydia filled a plate at the buffet table and scanned the room for a place to sit. Unable to f
ind a seat in the crowded kitchen, she took her plate to the staircase in the parlor. From there she could see into the nearby kitchen where her family and their guests crammed around the table with Isabella.

  One of Lydia’s brothers-in-law sat between his two small children at the table, and the other brother-in-law sat nearby on the edge of the stone hearth with his plate balanced on his open palm. Her two-year-old niece couldn’t reach the bread basket and began to cry. The men strained to keep their conversation going over the top of the other voices. The flurry of sound flowed into the parlor.

  Levi walked out of the loud kitchen and sat beside her on the staircase. Her brother handed her a napkin. She took it and offered him an olive. He popped the olive into his mouth and followed it with a forkful of potatoes from his plate. Then his expression changed as his gaze settled on Mandy who stood near the front door playing slow and soft music on her heirloom violin. Her eyes were closed as the notes flowed from the instrument. A blanket of auburn curls covered her back and danced along her trim waistline.

  Lydia glanced at her brother as he watched Mandy. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

  “Yes, and she knows it.” He looked down at his food.

  Lydia let it go. She took the bread roll from her plate and picked off one bite at a time as she listened to Mandy’s music. One tune ended, and another began. “This is the song she composed for the dance last year. I like it.”

  “It would sound even better if she played it on one of the new wood violins.”

  Lydia nudged his knee. “That might be true, but don’t let Aunt Isabella hear you say it. She has strong opinions about the new wood instruments.”

  Levi nodded then continued eating, watching Mandy all the while.

  When they finished their dinner, Lydia relaxed into Levi’s thick shoulder. Though ten months her junior, he had been bigger than she was since they were toddlers. People who didn’t know their family usually assumed he was older.

  “Come with me tomorrow and see the land I selected.” His voice held a secretive tone. She shifted and looked at him. His light brown eyes matched hers. His hair was the same light brown as hers, but his included lighter strands from days spent working in the sun. “I’m done with the land survey, and I started drawing plans to build.”

  “Does Father know?”

  “He knows, but he doesn’t understand.” He tapped one foot rapidly on the stair riser. “I’m a grown man. If I want to build my own house, that should be my business.”

  “People just don’t understand why you need to build a new house. They expect you to inherit this house one day, so it seems odd for the overseer’s son to break from tradition—especially since you don’t have a family of your own yet.”

  He groaned. “Father says the same things. But I don’t live my life worrying about what other people might think. You are like Father—you both take comfort in the founders’ traditions. I thought you understood me.”

  “I do. And I’m sure you’ll build yourself a fine house someday, but try to find a way to do it that doesn’t cause strife.”

  “It’s not the fact that I want to build my own house that offends Father. It’s that I want to build my own life.”

  “I understand both sides. Father followed Grandfather’s footsteps gladly. He’s always had the same expectations for you. But you’re right—you should be able to decide how to spend your life and where to live.”

  Levi raked his fingers through his hair. “Then why does he condemn me for not being exactly like him?”

  “He doesn’t question your character—only your choice of profession.”

  “They have told me all my life I should be a preacher just as my father is and his father was before him. But I’ve never felt called to that profession. If I were, I would gladly obey. But I’m not. Just thinking of it fills me with anxiety.” He shook his head. “No. Give me a hammer instead. I’d rather build all day long.”

  There was nothing she could do to make her brother feel better or her father understand, but it wouldn’t stop her from trying. “You’re an excellent carpenter, and the village needs your work. Be proud that you have the strength for building. Many men don’t.”

  “Father has the strength for anything.”

  “But he prefers preaching. Try to remember, he is peace loving above all. This friction between you two won’t last forever. I truly believe that.”

  Mandy finished her song, and Lydia and Levi clapped. The sound caused a brief silence in the kitchen, followed by a short applause. Mandy gently placed the violin in its case like an infant in a bassinet. She used both hands to corral her curls into a loose bun at her nape then lifted her violin to play again.

  * * *

  A visit from Levi interrupted Lydia’s morning office routine. She didn’t have a patient in the cottage, so it seemed like a good time to go look at the land where her brother hoped to build. Levi sat beside her desk as she straightened her papers and prepared to leave with him. Startled by a shrill voice yelling outside, she hurried to the door. Levi beat her to it and yanked it open.

  She stood on her tiptoes and craned her neck, trying to see what the commotion was. Auburn curls bounced as a flustered Mandy stomped toward the cottage.

  Levi held the door open for Mandy, but he didn’t leave the doorway. He furrowed his brow at her. “What were you yelling about, woman?”

  Mandy brushed his shoulder as she passed him and looked at Lydia. “I could see that little rat from the road! He had his head at your window, peeping in, you know?”

  Lydia’s stomach knotted tightly. She lowered herself into the chair at her desk, wishing she could crawl under it. “No, I did not know.”

  Levi rushed outside, turned his head in both directions, and then stepped back into the cottage. “Who was at her window?”

  “Who do you think?” Mandy spat the question at him.

  “Frank Roberts?” Levi held up his fists. “I’d like to teach that degenerate a lesson.”

  “Levi!” Lydia scolded. “You will do no such thing.”

  “I should. It would serve him right!”

  Her temples started to throb. Frank Roberts often followed her around the village. The thought of anyone knowing he liked her made her knotted stomach ache. And now Mandy had seen him peeping in the window. Scandalous gossip would not help her chance of receiving her title from the village elders, not to mention what everyone might think.

  The wooden floorboards creaked as Mandy paced them. “It would put Frank right here inside Lydia’s home because she would have to stitch his battered face. Oh, he’d love that. Go ahead, Levi, give Frank exactly what he’s after—Lydia’s attention!”

  Mandy and Levi exchanged a fiery glance. At least they were angry at the same person and not at each other for a change. Levi marched to Lydia’s desk and dropped into the chair beside it. He drummed one finger on the desktop with rapid thumps.

  She had to diffuse their anger and make them forget the incident. Dr. Ashton taught her to keep a calm demeanor around patients to help them stay calm too. It was worth a try with her brother and best friend. She forced her voice to stay steady. “I have dealt with Frank for years,” she said, hoping no one suspected she had accidentally caused Frank’s fixation. “He’s harmless.”

  “Harmless?” Levi snapped his face toward her. “Lydia, the man was just looking in your window. He’s a pervert and has become bolder since you moved out here by yourself last year. You should move back into the house.”

  Heat stung Lydia’s cheeks. She shouldn’t have confided in Frank all those years ago; it must have ignited his affection and made her responsible for his advances. “Please, stop it, Levi. I feel terrible when anyone speaks of him. And I won’t move back into the house. Since Doctor Ashton can no longer care for himself—let alone others—I’m now the village’s only physician. Of course, the elders could bring in a doctor from another village. That’s why it’s important that I’m accessible to the people. I want the e
lders to make my position permanent.”

  Mandy halted her pacing. “Levi is right. You need protection since you live out here by yourself.” She turned to sit, but when she only saw the patient cot behind her, she remained standing. “As long as you’re unmarried you’re open to harassment from a man like that.”

  Mandy’s suggestion of marriage was ironic. It almost made Lydia laugh. “You sound like Aunt Isabella.”

  Levi snickered, so she sent him a big sister look then returned her attention to Mandy. “I have yet to encounter a danger great enough to give up my medical practice and get married. And even if I found a man to marry, I doubt it would deter a man like Frank Roberts. I’ll put curtains over all the windows.” She stood and brushed her hands together. “Yes, more curtains. Problem solved. That should ease your minds.”

  Mandy reached for a long strand of curl and twirled it in her fingertips. “Still, I think every woman should at least consider a husband.” Her green eyes gazed at Levi.

  Lydia looked at Levi too, but he continued staring out the window. She thought he wasn’t listening. Then slowly he turned his face toward Mandy. “This from the woman who prefers to forgo the deep affections of one man in favor of the distant admiration of many men.”

  Mandy grinned and lowered her pretty chin. It was amazing how Mandy’s mood could change from aggressively angry to playfully offended without a breath in between. At least they were no longer talking about Frank Roberts.

  Her secret was safe for now.

  Levi blew out a breath and stepped to the door. “Lydia, come and get me when you’re ready to go look at that land we spoke of yesterday. I’ll be in the barn.”

  After the door closed, she grinned at Mandy. “Sometimes you torment him on purpose.”

  “Whatever do you mean?” Mandy smiled wickedly as she moved to the chair left vacant by Levi. She crossed her legs high above the knee.

  “Any time you suggest marriage as the solution to a woman’s problem, I detect insincerity.”

  “All right, so I felt like aggravating Levi a bit. He can handle it. Would you rather I had pointed out that it isn’t your singleness that causes your trouble—it’s your fear?”