Refining Emma

by Delia Parr

  After rinsing a pot, Mother Garrett handed it to her. “It’s simple, really. A summer suitor is a man who has little or nothing to his name but wants you to marry him so he can harvest everything you’ve worked hard to earn or to keep. That Mr. Langhorne? He was a summer suitor. He came calling in June, if I recall.”

  “But he had his own fortune,” Emma argued.

  “But he wanted yours, too. Except he didn’t know you were smart enough to see him for what he was—a conniving, sneaky treasure hunter. Dumb, dumb man. Even that chicken you call Faith saw him for what he was.” She chuckled. “I sure wish I could have seen that creature send the man running. Scared the hat right off his head, didn’t it!”

  Laughing, Emma dried the pot and set it aside as her mother-in-law continued her explanation. “Now, an autumn suitor, he’s pretty crafty, and I personally think he’s the craftiest of them all. He’s thinking he should settle down, but he’s a fickle one. He’s got one eye on an unsuspecting woman in one town and the other eye on some poor woman in a different town. He’s having trouble making up his mind, so he just travels back and forth until winter gets close. By then, he’s either been found out or he’s forced to make a choice because he can’t travel in winter with all the snow we usually have.”

  She paused and worked at a piece of crust burnt into one of the corners of the pan. “Silas Knell was an autumn suitor.”

  Emma’s eyes widened. “Was he the one who—”

  “He’s the only one I ever gave a serious thought about after moving here. It was right after you gave birth to Mark. I was helping Jonas in the store. Lo and behold, one day there’s a letter for Silas. A pretty-smelling letter, too. Pity. Back in those days, as I recall, it was real hard to get decent wax to seal up a letter.”

  Emma gasped. “You opened it?”

  “Read it, too. I didn’t bother to seal it back up again, either, but I did send the poor lady a letter of my own to let her know she was welcome to marry that scoundrel because I sure didn’t want him.” She turned and handed the pan to Emma. “Here. I think that one’s as clean as I’m gonna get it.”

  Emma took the pan and dried it. “At the time, I remember wondering what happened. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “With three little ones plus the store, you had enough to worry about,” Mother Garrett countered and wiped her hands.

  “Aren’t you going to finish? There’s still one kind of suitor left. The spring suitor.”

  Mother Garrett put her arm around Emma and hugged her. “You know all about spring suitors. We both do. A spring suitor courts you because he loves you deeply enough to see a whole new life ahead, one full of promise and hope. That was my Joseph.”

  “And that was my Jonas,” Emma whispered. She did not have a hand free, but she did not really need to reach into her pocket to take hold of her keepsakes, a simple treasure made of simple bits of cloth that celebrated special memories in her life and the lives of her children and grandchildren. Her memories of her beloved husband, now eight years at Home, were precious and tucked close to her heart.

  Before she let fond thoughts of the past distract them both from the challenges of the present, Emma smiled. “Thank you for reminding me how blessed I was to be married to your son.” She cleared her throat. “Speaking of blessings, what about Judith Massey? Didn’t she offer to help you in the kitchen just this morning?”

  Mother Garrett let go of Emma and tidied the sink. “She did, but she’s teeming. She should be resting.”

  “She’s not sick. She’s going to have a baby. Besides, sitting around only gives her more time to worry about her home and whether or not it’s going to be repaired before she has her baby. She’d be better off keeping busy with you. Or don’t you like her?”

  “Despite my opinion of Anson Kirk, there’s not a soul on this earth I truly don’t like, with two exceptions I’m not going to name because I’m trying hard to be kind.”

  “Then let Judith help you.”

  Her mother-in-law sighed and shook her head. “If it makes you happy, I’ll talk to her at dinner.”

  “It makes me happy.”

  Mother Garrett sniffed.

  Emma grinned. “I probably should have talked you into doing this days ago. Did you say Liesel and Ditty were upstairs? I should tell them the Burkes are coming, too.”

  “John Ammond saved you that bother. When he came back to tell his brother the news, he didn’t just tell me, you know. He told everyone here, which means you only have to bother yourself with two things, since the folks coming back here for dinner will no doubt have heard about it in town.”

  “Only two? What are they?” Emma asked as she donned an apron and grabbed another drying cloth.

  “First, you have to worry about finding enough room for the Burkes, which is going to be nigh impossible, if you ask me, unless you intend to hang their sleeping cots from the ceiling. You might want to consider asking the chickens to move over and make room in the coop, but I have a feeling those critters will refuse and stop laying the few eggs we’re getting this winter for spite, just because you asked them.”

  Mother Garrett dried her hands one last time on her apron. “Second, between Liesel and having Judith helping out in the kitchen, you don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of Anson Kirk, too. But I wouldn’t plan on volunteering in town anytime soon. You’re going to be far too busy playing peacekeeper here at home.”

  Mother Garrett was right. As much as she wanted to continue volunteering in town, Emma had no choice but to stay home at Hill House and meet her obligations to everyone staying there. She looked at her mother-in-law, shook her head, and groaned.

  It was definitely not easy living with a woman who was usually right.

  4

  EMMA WAS RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

  Making room for twenty people, even at Hill House, required more than an organized mind. Adding the Burkes, without asking anyone to move from one room to another, also required more mental patience and stamina than Emma possessed at the moment.

  With less than an hour before dinner and with the Burkes expected momentarily, she sat behind her desk in her office and pulled a scrap of paper from the clutter she stored in one of the drawers. She used a pencil to draw a quick sketch of the bedrooms on the second floor, made a list of all the people staying at Hill House, and labeled each room with the names of the occupants.

  The six primary guest rooms on the second floor were filled. Solomon and Judith Massey had one of the two rooms at the front of the house, while the Ammond brothers shared the other. Mr. and Mrs. Kirk and their four children shared the two rooms across from one another in the hall behind the Masseys. Mr. and Mrs. Wiley and their three children shared two similar rooms in the hall behind the Ammonds.

  Four smaller rooms that stretched across the back of the house were also occupied. Anson Kirk, unfortunately, was staying in Aunt Frances’s old room next to Mother Garrett, and Liesel and Ditty were sharing the room next to Emma’s. Her original plan to close off one of the parlors for a married couple would not work. Not for the Burkes.

  To accommodate the brother and sister, Emma would have to close off both parlors, which she could ill afford to do, since the guests used them both at night. If the Burkes could manage two flights of stairs, she could put them in the garret where there were two small bedrooms separated by a sitting room, but not in this cold weather. There was only one small warming stove in the sitting room, and they would no doubt file a complaint against her for trying to freeze them to death.

  She let out a sigh and doodled on the paper. She hesitated to ask Liesel and Ditty to go back up to the garret to share the sitting room. Not that the two young women would argue with her. But Emma had moved them down to the second floor from the garret to keep a closer watch on them, and she was reluctant to change that now.

  She probably could move Anson Kirk out of the room next to Mother Garrett and put him in the garret. That way she could move Orralynne Burke into hi
s old room, but that might be a bit like trading a little problem for a bigger one. Instead, Emma could offer her own bedroom to Orralynne and sleep in her office. She had done that for Aunt Frances willingly for a few nights at the end of the Founders’ Day celebrations, and she would probably have to do that now, though not quite as willingly.

  That left only Lester Burke without a room. Like it or not, she might have to close off the library for him, but that meant she would not be able to cut through the library to access her office, since the only other entry was from her private bedroom upstairs, where Orralynne would be staying, or from outside.

  She tossed the pencil to the desk and scrunched up her paper. Maybe someone would come back for dinner, announce they were leaving this afternoon for home, and solve her problem for her. As long as she was dreaming, she may as well hope the Burkes would decide not to come to Hill House after all because they had been offered better accommodations.

  The sound of a wagon going past the side of the house drew her attention to the window. But by the time she dragged herself out of her chair to take a look, the wagon had already turned into the backyard and all but disappeared from view.

  She let the curtain fall back into place. “It’s probably Steven bringing the supplies from the General Store. And not a day too soon, either. Not with twenty mouths to feed,” she murmured, then hurried to the kitchen to help Mother Garrett put everything away.

  By the time she reached the kitchen, Mother Garrett was already opening the back door. Along with a blast of cold air, Andrew Leonard and two of his nephews, Harry and Thomas, walked into the kitchen carrying baskets of foodstuffs.

  Andrew set his down on the floor. “If you tell these two rascals here where you want everything, they’ll store it away for you. I’ll just get the rest and be right back,” he promised and disappeared back outside.

  Wide-eyed, Emma approached Harry. “What’s all this?”

  He grinned. “When we heard about the fires, my father and Uncle Andrew wanted to do something to help.”

  Thomas nodded. “Father is at town hall with our brothers unloading a wagon there, but since we thought you’d probably be taking in some folks, too, we wanted to bring you some extra supplies.”

  Harry held up the burlap bag he was carrying. “We even brought some feed for the chickens.”

  “You’re all so good to us. Thank you,” Emma said.

  “Come with me, boys,” Mother Garrett suggested. “I’ll be right back, Emma. I’m taking them down to the root cellar to make sure they store everything in the right place. Thomas, you can come with me now. Harry, put that feed by the back door and bring that basket of turnips down for me, will you?” she asked, leading Thomas down the cellar steps.

  “How’s your grandmother?” Emma asked Harry.

  He winked and nodded toward the door. “You should ask her yourself,” he whispered.

  As if on cue, Andrew poked his head into the kitchen and glanced around before leading his mother inside.

  Emma stifled a yelp of surprise when Aunt Frances put a finger to her lips. “Not a sound, Emma dear. I thought I’d surprise Mercy,” she whispered.

  Emma rushed to her and hugged her tight. “You’re half frozen! Let’s get you over to the fire and warm you up. What were you thinking coming all this way in the cold just for a little visit?”

  Andrew cleared his throat and held up one hand. “Don’t blame me. I tried to warn her not to come.” He hoisted up a basket of sweet potatoes, motioned for Harry to do the same, and they promptly disappeared down the cellar steps.

  Aunt Frances smiled and spoke in a whisper. “As soon as we heard about the tragedy and how many people lost their homes, I had a notion you’d be taking in a lot of them. How many do you have staying here?”

  Emma helped the elderly woman remove her outerwear. “Fifteen, with two more arriving sometime today.”

  “That many? Oh dear. Poor Mercy must be plumb tuckered to the bone. My joints are pretty stiff, so I don’t think I could do much sewing, but I’d surely love to stay and help her in the kitchen. I’d enjoy visiting with Reverend Glenn, too, but with that many people here, I don’t suppose you’d have room for one more, would you?”

  After storing the woman’s garments on a peg, Emma pulled a chair close to the fireplace and helped Aunt Frances to sit down. “For you? Always. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I have someone staying in your old room, but you can take my room. I was planning to move downstairs and stay in my office anyway,” she insisted and immediately cancelled her plans to put Orralynne Burke in her room. Instead, Emma would have to put the woman in Liesel and Ditty’s room and have the two young women move back up to the garret.

  When they heard Mother Garrett talking her way back up the cellar stairs, Emma helped Aunt Frances to her feet and stepped out of the way. The moment her mother-in-law reentered the kitchen and saw Aunt Frances, the look of pure astonishment on her face quickly turned to joy that put a sparkle back into her weary eyes and a bounce to her step.

  Emma watched the reunion of the two friends and offered prayers of gratitude for having Aunt Frances back here at Hill House, if only for a short visit. For the first time in a long while, Emma wondered what it might be like to have a friend her own age, perhaps someone who might stay at Hill House from time to time, or even better, someone who lived nearby so they could visit each other more often. Although she did not have the burden of operating the General Store day and night any longer, she still had little time or opportunity at Hill House to enjoy the same type of friendship and companionship with a friend her own age that Mother Garrett shared with Aunt Frances.

  In all truth, however, she longed even more for the friendship and companionship she had found in her marriage to Jonas.

  Unfortunately, the only female guest close to her own age who was staying at Hill House at the moment was Orralynne Burke. The likelihood that Emma could become friends with that woman was even less than the prospect that Emma would find a suitor at her door in the spring . . . which was twice again as likely to happen as having the legal owner arrive and simply hand her the title to Hill House.

  5

  THE BURKES WERE LATE FOR DINNER.

  In all fairness, there were only four rules at Hill House, and they were simple enough for anyone to follow. Attend services every Sunday you were in residence. Show respect for other guests, as well as the staff. Conduct yourself with proper decorum at all times. And finally, be on time for meals.

  Without even crossing the threshold, however, Orralynne and Lester Burke had already broken one rule, and Emma suspected it was probably only a matter of hours before they broke the others.

  When Sheriff North finally arrived with Emma’s newest guests, everyone else staying at Hill House was already at the dining room table, halfway through dinner. Because of the cold, Emma had been waiting just inside the front door, ready to open it as soon as the couple reached the porch. She held the curtain back on one of the glass panels on either side of the door and watched the brother and sister as the sheriff helped them to disembark from a buggy parked just outside the front gate.

  Over the years, Emma had seen the Burkes from time to time, though not recently. But Orralynne and Lester had not changed much. Like a pair of well-worn, mismatched shoes, the brother and sister did not look like they belonged together at all. Orralynne was the same age as Emma but younger than Lester by three years. Where she was slender, with fair skin and hair, Lester was bulkier, with olive skin and dark, curly hair.

  Their disparate appearances lent visual evidence to the rumor that they had been sired by different men. Their mother, Beatrice Burke, who had been widowed shortly after Orralynne’s birth, had gone to her grave two years later, however, insisting they had only one father, Charles Burke.

  With no other living relatives, Orralynne and Lester had been raised together, moving from one household to another each year, depending on which family submitted the lowest bid to the town for their care. In time
, Lester had been apprenticed to a tailor, which gave him a trade and allowed him to support both himself and his sister to this day.

  When they came through the gate and crossed the yard to reach the porch, they each wore a perpetual scowl that testified to their miserable dispositions, perhaps the inevitable scars of their desperate childhoods. Sadly, Orralynne was also troubled with a number of minor physical frailties, while Lester had been born with a deformed foot and now leaned heavily on a cane for support.

  The moment the guests reached the porch, Emma dropped the curtain back into place. Bracing herself, she opened the door and stepped out into the bitter cold to greet them. “Welcome to Hill House. I hope you’ll be comfortable here,” she said as she looked from one to the other and smiled.

  Lester’s dark eyes snapped with irritation. “I’d be comfortable in my own house, but I suppose I’ll just have to make do staying here. Frankly, this is the last place I’d choose. Not that I have any say in the matter.” He looked around the porch and frowned. “In all truth, I’m surprised anyone would pay honest money to stay here at all, given the history of the place.”

  Orralynne nudged him with her elbow. “Move over. Stop crowding me,” she snapped. She cast a dark glance at Emma but waited until the sheriff passed them and carried some of their bags inside before addressing her. “I don’t fancy staying here, either, but I trust you won’t think about putting us out come morning like the others did. We’re tired of being shoved around like pieces of old furniture no one wants anymore.”

  She lifted her chin in defiance and locked her gaze with Emma’s. “Until we can have our home repaired, we’ve both decided that we’re not being forced out again. Regardless of what you might like to do, we want to remind you that it’s your Christian duty to help us.”

  Emma clenched her jaw. Being reminded of her duty as a Christian by a woman who had not been to services for years soured the taste in her mouth. She swallowed hard, turned the other cheek, and stepped aside. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. Please come in out of the cold.”