“I felt I needed to. After last night, you needed to know what you were getting yourself into.”
From our private little tree, we walked a bit more through the park, and then crossed where Commonwealth Avenue’s middle boulevard ended at Arlington Street.
“Christ has forgiven you for your past, Vance,” I added as we walked. “And so have I. Judging someone for the things they’d done before they were a Christian doesn’t seem right. You’re a new creation now, remember?”
“Who still struggles.”
“Well, fortunately, you’ll be married soon.”
“If it weren’t for Father’s wedding in June, I’d be tempted to make ours happen no more than a week from today. But I can’t usurp their celebration.”
“And what about Fairstone? Although you’ve had the house opened, the transformation is hardly underway. It wouldn’t be finished nearly in time.”
“It could be. Throw enough money someone’s way, and they will make what you want happen.”
A little later, after we’d walked a ways in silence, Vance asked, “When shall we marry anyway, Violet? We’ll want to have a date set when we announce the engagement, which we should do soon.”
“How soon can our wedding be after your father’s and still be considered proper?”
“Proper? I don’t care what’s proper beyond not stealing their thunder. I care about having you all to myself, and that is all.”
“Well then, let’s make it a month after their wedding. That seems proper enough to me.”
“A month exactly it is then, what does that come to?” Vance pulled a pocket calendar from inside his jacket with his free hand and checked the dates. “How about Sunday, July the third? Will you marry me after church in exactly…” he stopped to count, “ten weeks from today?”
“I’m fairly certain I’m free. And yes, I’d be happy to.” I couldn’t help but smile at him as we came closer to Everwood.
The walk down Commonwealth Avenue had always seemed to have a magical feel to it every time I’d been down it. I sighed contentedly as Vance and I strolled under the canopy of trees lining both sides of the path. How altered my day seemed now from this morning at breakfast! Not to mention from a month ago when I’d been working at Everston and hardly deeming any interest from one of the most stunningly attractive men I’d ever met.
And there he was on my arm, walking down the most fashionable street in Boston, picking out a day to marry me.
16
Everthorne
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
—2 Corinthians 5:17
Friday, May 13th, 1892
It sounds as if Ben’s meeting with The Boston Inland Mission Society went well.” Estella sat across the sitting area of the spacious front parlor of Everwood; she’d been drawing in her sketchbook while I wrote out some ideas for a new story.
“They’re fortunate to have him,” she continued. “I wonder what Lanie Whitespire will do now that her sister is to marry and her brother plans to move to Tennessee?”
“I can imagine they’re already prepared for his news—why would any mission not want to take on someone like Ben Whitespire?”
“So true. But he’ll need to find a wife soon; they prefer to take on couples opposed to unmarried young men.” She kept her gaze on her drawing, and then went on without looking up. “Perhaps he and Roxy will come to an understanding.”
“I hope so. Ben deserves to be with a good girl like Roxy Blakeley. They already have an acquaintance, and they seemed to like each other well enough.”
“But I’m not sure she thinks she’s physically durable enough to handle the demands of being the wife of a missionary. She does tire so easily.”
“So you think Ben wouldn’t consider her?”
“Likely not. She’ll need to marry someone who has time to care for her, and I can’t imagine a missionary—or a man in any kind of ministry position—would. Ben will need a partner, a wife to work right along beside him.”
“I suppose that would be best,” I answered.
“What about your cousin Mabel? How does she feel about missions work? Have you thought about introducing her to Ben?”
“I know my relatives attend church in South Boston, but I’m not sure about Mabel’s opinion on becoming a missionary. Honestly, she seems too preoccupied with society to have an interest in meeting a missionary looking for a wife.”
“Speaking of marriages, the plans for your wedding are coming along nicely.” Estella grinned down at her drawing. “I know what it’s like to plan one with so little time before the big day. Just eight weeks from tomorrow!” She looked up at me at this point. “Goodness, long engagements must be dreadful, don’t you think? You’re excited to be married soon, aren’t you?”
“I have to admit, I wasn’t sure how to feel at first, but I am looking forward to it now.”
“You know, Violet, I could tell you and Vance already liked each other before that dreadful thing happened at the dormitory.” She stopped drawing again to look at me, and only continued when she could tell she held my attention. “And I think you would have eventually found yourself exactly where you are today—though, perhaps, not quite as quickly—even without your brother’s shady interference.”
Before I could answer her, one half of the pocket door opened, and Vance abruptly entered the room. “Well, it is official, Violet. Oh, good morning, Stella.”
I quickly shifted my notebook to the floor, kicking it underneath my seat. I still wasn’t quite ready for him to see the random thoughts and doodles scattered about the pages.
“Good morning, Vance; has it been announced?” Estella asked.
I looked up momentarily, but I didn’t move from my seat. It took everything in me to refrain from dashing into his willing arms.
“It’s in all the papers.” He crossed into the room smiling, looking only to me, and plopped a newspaper folded open to an inner page on the table beside me. “We’re to be married, and now everyone knows it.”
I took the newspaper from where he’d set it on the table and scanned down the articles until I saw the “Hawthorne-Everstone Engagement” heading. I held my breath, taking in the moment. I’d looked forward to seeing the engagement announcement—my name in print—linking me with Vance for all to see.
Hawthorne-Everstone Engagement
The marriage of Miss Violet H. Hawthorne & Mr. V. X. Everstone will be an interesting event on Sunday, July 3, taking place at two o’clock in the afternoon at Mr. Everstone’s home on the 300 block of Dartmouth Street. The attendants will be the groom’s sister, Mrs. D. K. Blakeley of Laurelton, Maine and the groom’s brother, Mr. N. L. Everstone of Greenbank, Washington. A small acquaintance will witness the ceremony. Mr. and Mrs. Everstone leave immediately afterward for a wedding trip to Europe.
“And to celebrate, I’d like to take you to see Fairstone today,” Vance said.
“I get to see it?” I asked.
“Is it finished?” Estella asked at the same time.
“It is, in fact—”
“Can I see it too?” Estella interrupted.
“Of course; I’d actually prefer to not take Violet alone.”
“As it should be.” Estella smiled as she rose from her seat, holding her sketchbook and pencils. “I’ll go tell Nathan and Amaryllis.”
As she left the room, she closed the door behind her. Her tactic, quite obvious: to give Vance and me some unplanned, uninterrupted privacy. However, when Vance sat down beside me, I scooted over a few inches down the sofa. I wanted him to kiss me—oh so badly—but I also wanted to respect the distance he felt we needed to keep.
He’d kept up his habit of not seeing me in the evenings, and sometimes coming home for lunch.
“This is an odd time for you to be home.” I handed the newspaper back to him.
He looked uncomfortable for a moment, and then
said, “Violet, I’m going to stay at Fairstone from now on.”
“You’re going to move permanently?”
“It isn’t a bad idea, considering I don’t need much but a bed. Away from you.”
“You want to get away from me that badly?”
“Not want, Violet. Need.”
It was strange, the contentedness that had come over our previously unsettled relationship in the weeks since our discussion at the park. It was as if we’d known each other forever and had mutually decided that yes, we would marry. And that it was, indeed, a fabulous prospect.
“We should leave soon so we can visit your aunt this afternoon.”
I kicked my heel into my notebook under the sofa to ascertain where it had landed. I slipped out of my seat and knelt down—in a rather unladylike manner—in order to collect it.
Vance quickly knelt beside me. He took my right hand for support as I reached under my seat. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t want to leave my things lying around.”
“What things?”
At this, I produced my notebook and pencil. “My writing.”
I could tell by the sudden gleam in his eyes that the subject still piqued his interest.
“I haven’t taken you to meet Culver. He’s still around, you know.”
I’d thought back about that missed opportunity over the weeks, and although Vance had given back my book about the fox, I figured he’d probably bring it up again. And I would be better prepared when he did.
“Perhaps you could meet with him about it, and I wouldn’t have to go? I can’t imagine sitting there while a stranger looks through my things.”
“If that’s what you want, then I can do that.” Vance still held my hand, though he hadn’t even attempted to lift us to our feet. Kneeling before each other as we were, felt oddly more intimate than standing or sitting, and I wanted to lean in to him so badly, just to put my arms around him. But I knew what that would lead to. He was mine now though—well, almost. Half-attempting to visualize what all that would eventually mean took my breath away.
I shook the memory of our first kiss from my mind. “I’ll go retrieve them from my room.”
“Them?”
“I looked through all of my books, and figured it would be best if he saw them all at once.” I still held on to my notebook, clutching it close in case Vance tried to look inside. But he didn’t. He simply smiled. And then he helped me to my feet.
“I’ll make sure I have time to show them to him this week.”
“Don’t tell me when you go. I don’t want to know.”
He led me out to the hall where we found Estella returning from upstairs. “I was told we need to be back by four. Dinner will be served early tonight, and we have guests coming: Claudine and Roxy, and Reverend Whitespire before he heads back to Maine tonight.”
I started up the stairs in order to retrieve my manuscripts, and called over the railing, “Sounds like an interesting time. I think Miss Abernathy is hoping to make a match between them.”
I smiled, happy I wasn’t the only one who saw the wisdom of such a pairing.
“I’m just glad I’m already adequately attached to you so she isn’t doing the same for me; bringing all the Ava Cagneys around, trying to capture my attention.” His lack of sudden sourness at the mention of Ben surprised me, but perhaps he’d finally come to realize that our friend held absolutely no threat to my affections.
“It is quite apparent that your attention has already been snagged, Vance,” Estella added. “You’re not very good at hiding the fact.”
“And why should I?” Vance laughed. “It’s too fun to see all of you simper and smile sheepishly because of what’s going on, wouldn’t you agree, Violet?”
“Oh yes, I quite agree.” And with that, I ascended the staircase, turning only slightly to see Vance’s dark eyes follow my every step.
I had a total of seven stories I’d written and illustrated, the pages all bound together with grommets. I loved each and every one of them, but carrying the pile of them down the street a little later to take to Fairstone seemed dangerous. What if they were misplaced? I always knew where they were; they were that important to me. But as Vance had said, I needed to show someone who mattered if I would ever have the chance of having them published. For some crazy reason he believed in me. And that gave me confidence.
After a short walk down Dartmouth, we arrived to Fairstone, but before Vance took out his key, he said, “I think you’ll be pleased with the outcome of the renovations, Violet, but if there’s anything you don’t like, I am more than willing to change it.”
“Oh, Vance, do open the door,” Estella insisted, her hands clasped together before her chest.
“I’ve hired a cook so far, and a housekeeper and butler,” Vance’s continued to stall us at the steps. “But not too many of the other positions yet. I know it’s a larger house, but I wasn’t certain how many servants you would feel comfortable with, and I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”
“I’m sure whatever you think is fine.”
“Well, we’ll have those three to begin with when we marry, and I have my valet, and you have your maid. That should do for a while.” With that, he unlocked and opened the arched double door. He let his sister in, but then purposefully stood before me, keeping me from entering behind her. “And there’s another thing I wanted to tell you. I thought we’d call the house Everthorne from now on. What do you think?”
“As in, Everstone plus Hawthorne?” I asked, completely shocked by how much happiness one made-up compound word could produce in me.
“Exactly.”
“I do love it—the name Everthorne. It’s perfect for us.”
He finally opened the door for me to go inside, but I stopped with only one foot on the threshold. What I saw took my breath away.
Where before the debris from the destruction had littered the dirty floor from corner to corner, now the polished wood floors shone. Gleaming, dark wainscoting reached five feet up the walls where it met the beautiful blue-and-aqua-striped wallpaper I’d picked out for the grand front hall. The rails of the massive wood staircase had been replaced with a different style, intricately carved, and the two new glittering chandeliers overhead sparkled when Vance pushed the button for the power.
I could hardly believe that this house and Vance would both soon be mine.
He came up behind me and took me by the hand and showed us to the front parlor where the walls had been papered with the same wallpaper as the front hall. The mantle of the fireplace had been replaced and Vance had the room furnished with the loveliest tufted beige furniture set I’d ever seen. In the next room, through double pocket doors, was a room with more seating, but also a piano. Did Vance play? I did—just a little—but nothing to warrant an entire room dedicated to music. But perhaps we would entertain in that room.
Across the hall abutting the back wall to the staircase, there was a dining room with a built-in sideboard along one wall with a number of leaded glass window cabinets and another fireplace at the end of the room. The dining table seated twelve, and I still could not imagine myself being hostess to so many guests for dinner!
Down the hall, toward the front of the house and across from the parlor, was a large library. After we’d gone through the main rooms, we headed to the back of the house where there was a small office, which I assumed was for the servants. And around the far corner from there was the kitchen and the back staircases—one going up to the next floor and another down to the basement.
Vance introduced us to his cook, Mrs. Paltrow, and then guided us toward the front of the house again, to the foot of the main staircase. “I think you’ll be able to handle the rest on your own while I’m in the study.”
As Estella and I ascended the richly carpeted stairs, she said, “It’s a shame the ballroom is on the third floor. You will likely host at least one ball, eventually, I assume.”
“Oh, the dreaded day.”
&nb
sp; “Balls aren’t my favorite either, but I do look forward to the one after father’s wedding in a few weeks.”
“I’ve never actually been to a ball before, besides the small celebration at Everston for your wedding,” I admitted.
“You know how to dance, don’t you?”
“I was taught to dance. My mother knew how and although we didn’t have balls and parties to go to in Westward, we had fun together.” The thought that my mother and father would miss my wedding reached my heart for the first time, and I was suddenly overwhelmed with sadness.
“Fortunately, the ball won’t be too elaborate. It will be private, with only the family and our closest friends.”
Truly, the only thing that mattered to me about the ball was that I would be allowed to dance with Vance all I wanted. I’d have so much face-to-face time with him, while holding on to him and twirling around the room. With that perspective, I could hardly wait.
“Let’s go on up to see the ballroom first.” Estella took my hand and guided me to the smaller open staircase nearby that led to the next floor. “I have an idea something else might be up there too.”
“What else would there be besides attic space, and possibly bats?” I cringed. “I truly hate bats. I was attacked by one once. You don’t think…?”
“I doubt there will be bats in the rooms we’ll look at. And we’ll avoid the unfinished sections, just for your sake.” Estella went ahead of me on the wooden stairs. “Not that bats are a special favorite of mine either.”
My eyes lingered down the wide hall before following Estella up the steps. I remembered where Vance’s room was from when I’d been given my initial tour a few weeks ago, and where mine was attached. I couldn’t wait to see it, but maybe Estella knew it would be more special if I saw it later with only Vance, once we were married.
At the top of the stairs there was a large landing with two sets of double doors on either side. The entrance to the ballroom was already wide open and Estella glided into the room, with me at her heels. I’d never actually been inside a real ballroom—Estella’s wedding ball had been in the hotel’s elaborate dining room.
The Cautious Maiden Page 16
