A Carol Plays (Cutter's Creek Book 13)

by Kari Trumbo

  “Like I do? I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean. I act the way I was bred to act. I know no other way. Where would you like me to sleep?”

  The housekeeper’s room would be much warmer than her very own, then she remembered Ivy was young and probably had never been married…

  “Our housekeeper’s room is down here beside the kitchen, but right now, only men sleep down here. You are welcome to share my room with me until we can get another room cleaned and arranged upstairs with me.”

  Ivy frowned. “I am not unfamiliar with men, brutes that they are. Which door is mine?” She stood and brushed her hands down her tiny frame.

  Carol sat staring at her for a moment before she regained her thoughts. “The door right before the kitchen on the left. The doctor sleeps right across the hall and is prone to waking early.”

  Ivy frowned down at her. “I’ll be up and have the coffee boiled before he arises. Good eve to you.” She strode down the dark hall and into the room as if she already knew her way around the house.

  Chapter Nine

  A pounding on the front door had Carol sitting straight up in her bed. She flung back the covers and reached for her dressing gown. The wet hem as she pulled it on reminded her of her night excursion. Ivy was somewhere within the house…and not answering the door.

  She shuffled down the stairs as quickly as her leather slippers would allow and flipped the small window slide open to peer out at who was so insistent on visiting them at such an early hour. Waiting in the cold was Mrs. Camden’s scullery maid from the day before.

  Carol searched behind her and saw Ivy hiding in the shadows of the kitchen hallway. She backed deeper into the shadows, and Carol nodded her understanding. She opened the door just enough to see outside.

  “Good morning. I’m sorry, I’m not quite ready to attend to guests for the day just yet. Can you come back later?”

  The woman pursed her lips. “Ivy has gone missing.” She glanced back and forth. “If she is here, please do your best to keep her hidden. If you haven’t seen her, then I apologize.”

  Carol sucked in a breath, but the woman held up a finger. “Please don’t say a word. The less I know, the easier my life will be.” She turned and scuffled back down the street in her usual rush.

  Carol closed the door and felt more than heard Ivy approaching.

  “Thank you. It isn’t that Mrs. Camden is bad. She really is trying to help me. It’s just, I can’t bear to be locked away anymore. I hate that I have to hide here, too. Everywhere I go is a prison.” She rushed back for the kitchen.

  Dr. Gentry stood from his seat in the corner. She hadn’t even noticed him there as she’d rushed down. She gripped her gown closed and felt heat rise up her neck.

  “It is, of course, none of my business, but would you care to tell me when we acquired a housekeeper and why we have guests coming and tearing down the door when the sun is barely up?”

  Carol felt her anger rise. He had no right to ask anything of her. “You’re right. It is none of your business.” She swept past him and rushed back to her room to dress for the day.

  Carol shrugged her dress on over her head and felt hands grab for her buttons. She screamed and spun in time to see Ivy back away and protect her face with her arms, her face instantly as white as the lace drapes.

  “Ivy! I’m so sorry. I didn’t hear you follow me up the stairs. Are you all right?”

  “Yes, let me just help you get dressed quickly and do your hair so you can come with me to the kitchen. I don’t much like to be alone in a house full of men.”

  “I thought you’d been married and it didn’t bother you.” Carol arched an eyebrow, a habit she’d picked up from her brother.

  “Don’t do that to your face. It is incredibly mannish. I don’t mind men when they are harmlessly sleeping. It’s when they are awake and plotting that I don’t like being alone with them.”

  Carol felt the color leave her face. How could Ivy teach her how to attract a man if she was too scared of them to go near? And why was she so frightened?

  Ivy finished brushing and pinning her hair into a simple bun, and Carol followed her down the stairs.

  “I need to introduce you to my father. He is harmless as you will find, and Dr. Gentry, well, he is only here for a short time. You probably have nothing to worry about with him.”

  “Don’t believe that for a moment, Carol. When you least expect it, they pounce and they break you.” They entered the kitchen, and Carol hugged her father sitting on the stool by the stove.

  “Good morning. I must have you to thank for boiling the coffee this morning.” He smiled and held out his hand. “Carlton Williams.”

  Ivy curtsied and let him take her hand. “Mrs. Ivy Masters. I’ll get you a little something to break your fast.”

  Chapter Ten

  Carol sat in the kitchen with Ivy by the fire. They each held one of her father’s old shirts.

  “I can’t believe no one ever taught you how to mend a shirt. Didn’t your housekeeper think it was something you should know? Have you been bored silly living here?” She chuckled.

  Carol sat up and stretched her stiff back muscles. “I could ask the same of you. How did you learn to mend a shirt when you were not brought up to work?” She narrowed her eyes at Ivy.

  “My past is my past, and it will stay that way for now. What matters, is I know how to do it now and so do you. Let me see?” She reached for the sleeve Carol was working on. “Very nice. Small stitches. Do you know how to sew a whole garment?” Ivy’s strange eyes sought hers.

  “I don’t think I could sit here long enough to sew a whole dress…and I would hope you couldn’t either.” She set down the sewing.

  “I meant on a sewing machine. Your mother must have had one. Ready-made clothing wasn’t even readily available when your mother passed…unless she hired someone to do it.”

  “No…I don’t remember. All of mother’s things are in the attic.” She stood and strode over to the stairs, stopping only a minute to glance into her father’s office. He was working with Dr. Gentry in there. His face shone in sweat and was pinched in pain. She hesitated, but continued up the stairway, Ivy close behind.

  At the back of the hall, Carol reached up and pulled on a narrow rope hanging from the ceiling and pulled down a stairway to the attic. She moved a lever on the right to hold the stair down and crept into the dark and dusty space. She moved to the east end of the room and pulled back the heavy drapes, bathing the room in soft light. Dust particles floated through the air in a steady cascade through the shafts of light.

  Carol let her gaze roam around, orienting herself in a room she hadn’t set foot in for many years. She saw a tall wardrobe and chest along with some furniture along the south wall, and she made her way to it. It had never been covered to protect it from dust, and Carol ran a hand down the mahogany veins on the wardrobe. She remembered her mother standing before it, selecting her clothing each day. Hold your head high, no matter what you are called to do. If the Lord asks you to deliver babies or clean horse stalls, do everything with a pleasant countenance and a happy heart. You do have a purpose, dear child. Carol held back a sob as she opened the door. The smell of mothballs hit her and she wrinkled her nose, though it was good someone had thought ahead to protect her mother’s garments. She pulled out an old velvet walking dress with a narrow skirt, draped and gathered at the back with a shiny satin over the bustle. A fitted basque in the same green velvet completed the dress.

  “We could take that dress and alter it for the social, but we must find the sewing machine to do it. Do you think she had one?” Ivy lifted a few covered items and coughed behind her hand.

  “I think it’s back here.” Carol draped the gown over her arm and gently closed the door. To the right of the wardrobe was a smaller narrow box. Carol lifted the top from left to right, and it extended out a table. She brought the sewing machine up from within exposing the trestle and workings. Ivy pulled open the front inlaid panel and
propped the machine with the lever.

  “This is a lovely machine, but it will probably need oil after sitting so long. Even up here, the belt appears in good condition.” On the left side of the machine were compartments, and within Ivy found some scraps of fabric. She checked the thread, as it was still threaded from when her mother had used it last, and put the scrap under the foot. Soon a line of new perfect stitches ran along the edge of the scrap.

  “It’s a lovely machine. Before I move on, I will show you how to use it properly. Your mother would have wanted you to use her things, not to leave them sitting in the attic.” Ivy stood. “But, we had better get back downstairs to wash up. I have a meal to make quickly. It seemed as if both your father and Dr. Gentry would be in need of sustenance soon.”

  A yell careened off the walls and reverberated within the sparsely filled room.

  Carol grabbed Ivy’s hand. “Father.” She gasped and rushed down the attic stairs then over to the main stairwell. Dr. Gentry stood at the bottom.

  “I need your help, Miss Williams.” He rushed back for her father’s office.

  Carol rushed down the stairs with Ivy close on her heals. She gasped, finding her father on the floor, covered in perspiration and groaning.

  “Ivy, get me a basin of cool water please and a clean cloth.” She knelt beside her father and touched his clammy forehead.

  “We were working on his leg. He always struggles some, but today it bothered him, and he fell off the chair.” Dr. Gentry knelt on the other side of her father and glanced up at Carol.

  “Don’t you stop if the patient requires it?” She refused to even glance at him and brushed the damp hair from her father’s head.

  “I don’t put him through more than necessary to get the stiffness out of his leg, if that’s what you mean.”

  Ivy interrupted with the basin, setting it beside Carol. She glanced up at him.

  “Did he hit his head when he fell? Why isn’t he awake?” She dipped the cloth into the water and wrung it out, dabbing his forehead and cheeks in cool water.

  “No, his head was the last to touch the ground. I would say it was from the pain. Moving his leg is quite painful, and I think the muscles in his legs have seized up. He may eventually require surgery to fix them, or he won’t walk.”

  “Don’t say such things. If you are unable to help him, then you need to go back to Boston or wherever you came from. This isn’t helping him.” Carol glared up at him, but the hurt in his eyes stopped her short.

  “I promised your father I would stay until the New Year. If you still want me to go at that time, I will. Please, help me get him up onto the couch. Can you and Ivy grab a leg each?”

  Carol moved into position by one leg and Ivy by the other, the doctor counted to three and they all hefted the large older man up off the floor. Carol resumed bathing his face and hands. Ivy squeezed her shoulder.

  “I’ll go back to work in the kitchen. If you should require anything, please call for me.”

  Carol kept her eye on Dr. Gentry as he watched Ivy leave.

  “She has no interest in men, so get the idea out of your head.” Carol whispered.

  Dr. Gentry’s head swung back toward her. “I had no such thoughts. She is intriguing, though. A woman of obvious wealth at one point, a mere kitchen helper now. It makes you wonder what has happened in her life.”

  Carol felt the heat of jealousy climb up her neck and she swallowed it back. The doctor was not hers to worry about.

  “I don’t know where she came from, just that she needed a place to hide away for a short time and I needed someone here for a short time.”

  He sat on the heavy table near the couch and her hand shook at his nearness. She hid it by dipping it in the bowl once again and wringing it out.

  “Only a short time? Do you have plans for the near future?” The doctor’s eyes bore into her, and she wanted to squirm. He didn’t need to know the plans she had for him just yet.

  “No, only that father asked for someone right away and she was available.” Carol turned from him, twisting her body to avoid all contact. She couldn’t think properly with him so near.

  He chuckled. “I will never understand. Why go through the trouble of finding someone again in a short time?”

  She glared at his knee so close to her but didn’t raise her head.

  “You don’t understand, and I’m learning it isn’t my place to tell you. She will be here for as long as she wishes to be and not a moment longer.” She handed him the cloth. “You put my father in this. You can get him out.” She had to get away, and the kitchen was the perfect place.

  * * *

  Manning watched Carol leave and noticed she was holding herself differently, even in the short time she’d been with Ivy. She was having an effect on her. He smiled and tossed the cloth into the bowl. She’d handled her father’s injury better than he’d expected. He’d fully expected her to run from the room in hysterics. Perhaps she was more of a woman than he’d thought.

  He drew a dark vial from his pocket and opened the cork top swiping it under Carlton’s nose. He sputtered and coughed at the smell.

  He groaned and reached for both his leg and his head. Manning grabbed his hand and placed it on his stomach.

  “I have a little something for the pain. Your infirmity is a mystery to me. It’s like the muscles in your leg have shrunk and no longer bend properly. We’ve tried rubbing and flexing, but nothing seems to help relieve the pain and stiffness. I’m not sure what else to try.”

  Carlton closed his eyes and lay his head back on the couch. “I know it takes a lot for you to admit that. What would you like to do? I hate to keep you here over the holiday if you don’t think it’ll do any good. I don’t want to do those stretches again unless you really think it will help me.”

  “I spoke to your daughter about surgery. A surgeon may have some better idea of what is happening than I do. This isn’t my specialty, as you know.”

  Carlton opened one piercing blue eye and pinned him with it. “I’m beginning to think your specialty is following my daughter around with your eyes. Sure as shootin’ if that doesn’t stop, you’ll be on the next train out of here.”

  Manning dropped his head slightly. “I mean no disrespect, sir. You have a lovely daughter. I will not do anything against your wishes.”

  “See that you don’t. Why don’t you roust that new housekeeper and ask her to bring me something to eat so I can rest? I think I’ll stay right here for a while.”

  Manning nodded and helped adjust a pillow under his neck. “I’ll have her bring something for you right away.”

  He strode down the long hall but stopped outside the door when he heard the muffled voices of the women talking.

  “Well. I can’t very well go to the social, or Mrs. Camden will see me. Since she plans the event, I’m sure she will be there. We can get this dress cleaned up and make a plan for adjusting it to work for you. Do you think you’ll go with the doctor?”

  “I’m sure I don’t know. He sounded like he wanted to go with anyone but me. Unless Beau would show up in town again, which could happen, Dr. Gentry would be the only one who could take me.”

  “Who is Beau?” Ivy asked. Whatever work they had been doing stopped.

  Manning flattened his lips and held back a snarl. Indeed, who was Beau?

  “No need to worry. He generally only shows up back in town on a whim. You can’t count on him at all.”

  Manning breathed a quick sigh.

  “Mrs. Camden will have nothing to say to you if you keep working. Even while you are sitting here doing the wash, keep your shoulders back and your chin up but not to look down on anyone. Never point your chin down. You’ll get used to sitting that way. For some woman, it always appears as if they’re looking down their nose at a bug, but I prefer to just think of it as good posture and elegant lines.”

  He heard a stool scrape across the floor and the whisper of fabric as someone walked toward him at the entrance o
f the kitchen then back to whence it came.

  “I don’t think I could ever move as you do. You walk like you float. Where did you learn to do that?”

  A sadness took over Ivy’s voice. “I just emulated my mother, the same as you would have done if she were here. I think we are done with this. I’ll go hang it to dry and get it all ironed later so we can work on it.”

  Manning realized he’d better make himself known or they would find out he’d been standing there. He shuffled his feet a bit and strode into the kitchen, putting on his mask of indifference and focusing on Ivy.

  “Mr. Williams is in need of a bit of sustenance and, though he didn’t ask for it, perhaps a bit of headache powder after the incident earlier.”

  Ivy tipped her head slightly a question in her clear eyes, and he knew at least one of them wasn’t fooled.

  “I can get it for him right away, thank you doctor.” She set a few things on a tray and went over to a small cabinet on the wall with a few various sized amber bottles inside. It amazed him once more how she could know her way around the room in such a short time. She lifted the tray and he moved to the side to allow her to pass. Carol sat on a stool. Her face was the palest white and she glanced about as if she wanted to eject from the seat, as if she would much rather he just leave than attempt to talk to her. He almost laughed at how easily he could read her.

  She stood and squared her shoulders. Her chin rose level and her lips turned down slightly. “If you are in need of anything, Ivy will be back shortly.” She swept past him and he smiled. Yes, she was learning much from Ivy. The longer she stayed, the better for Miss Williams, but where did that leave him? If Ivy took the time to teach her about men, his little game was over, and it was far too much fun to watch the play of emotion over Carol’s face with each interaction they had.

  She only planned to keep Ivy here as long as she wanted to stay, which meant she still had her strange plan to marry to make certain her father was taken care of. Strange that they didn’t have more men callers if that were the case. Though, perhaps she’d worn out the town men already and she was merely waiting on the elusive Beau...all the more reason for him to continue before Carol lost all chance of marrying someone within her own town.