Refining Emma

by Delia Parr

  Mother Garrett smiled. “I was just on my way to check on Ditty. She’s polishing the furniture in the parlors. Your cape is in the kitchen where you left it after you finally managed to brush out all those pine needles.”

  Emma nodded and turned to exit the dining room.

  “It’s hanging on the peg right next to the sleds Mr. Massey was kind enough to bring down from the garret,” her mother-in-law added.

  Emma braced to a halt. Tempted to turn around, she decided she had no time to take the bait on Mother Garrett’s hook this time and let herself into the kitchen. She spied her cape, noted the two wooden sleds leaning up against the wall, and grinned at Aunt Frances, who was storing away the last of the pots from cooking dinner.

  “Have you changed your mind yet about spending the afternoon on the patio?” Aunt Frances asked hopefully.

  “Not exactly,” Emma replied and walked past her elderly friend to snatch her cape off the wall.

  Aunt Frances glanced at the sleds. “I do wish you’d change your mind. I think Mercy might be serious about the two of us going sledding, just to prove she’s as stubborn as you are.”

  “You’re not going sledding,” Emma argued as she searched the back wall. “Where’s your cape? It was hanging here before dinner.”

  “It was in the way. Ditty took it upstairs for me to make space for the sleds.”

  Emma groaned. She would have given her own cape to Aunt Frances to wear, but the cape would be too long for this tiny woman. “I’ll be right back. Don’t leave. Just stay put,” Emma insisted, worried that a long delay might give the fire too much time to melt the snow.

  By the time she scampered up the service staircase to Aunt Frances’s room, found the cape, grabbed a bonnet as well as a pair of gloves, and rushed back downstairs again, she had a stitch in her side. “Here. Put these on,” she said as she handed Aunt Frances her outerwear and donned her cape.

  Aunt Frances held her garments at arm’s length. “Emma dear, I’m not sure what you’re—”

  “Do you trust me?” Emma asked.

  “Yes, but—”

  “Then get dressed. Quickly. I have something out on the patio I want you to see.”

  Without further argument, Aunt Frances put on her cape, but she was just trying the ribbon on her bonnet when Mother Garrett charged back into the kitchen. “I won’t be a moment, Frances. I just have to get dressed so we can go sledding.”

  Emma looped her arm with Aunt Frances’s, smiled, and started for the dining room.

  “Where are you going?”

  Aunt Frances looked back over her shoulder. “I’m not sure. Emma said—”

  Emma turned to face her mother-in-law. “I’ll have her back in no time. I’d invite you to come along, but I know how opposed you are to my plans for the afternoon,” she quipped and left Mother Garrett standing there, mouth agape and eyes wide with disbelief.

  Getting Aunt Frances outside onto the patio and along the winding pathway was easy. Convincing her to go around the final turn on her own was more difficult. “You go on ahead,” Emma repeated. “I have to go back to the house for a moment. I’ve forgotten something I should have brought along.”

  “I’ll go back with you.”

  “Don’t be silly. I won’t be long,” Emma promised and turned back toward the house.

  “I’m afraid I don’t quite have my bearings. I don’t want to be out here all alone,” Aunt Frances said in a trembling voice.

  When Emma turned around, Aunt Frances had started walking back toward her—until Reverend Glenn came around the corner and called out, “Frances?”

  The elderly woman turned to face him.

  “You won’t be alone,” he said gently and held his hand out to her. “You don’t ever need to be alone again. Come. Be with me.”

  With her throat thick with emotion, Emma quickly backed away and returned to the house, ever respectful of the couple’s need for privacy and ever mindful of the blessings of affection and companionship waiting for Reverend Glenn and Aunt Frances within the sacred bonds of marriage.

  When she got back inside, once again Mother Garrett was waiting for her. This time she was dressed for winter from head to toe and her expression was remorseful.

  “Where are you going?” Emma asked and pressed her back against the patio door.

  “I was coming out to the patio to see you.”

  Emma’s heart dropped down to her feet and back up again.

  “I came to apologize. Once I saw Frances going with you, I realized I’d been a foolish, stubborn old woman. If all it takes to make you happy is a place to sit outside in the snow in front of a fire, then I have no right to stop you. You’re a grown woman with a good mind and more sense than most folks. You wouldn’t do anything to get yourself sick.”

  “And you weren’t really serious about going sledding, were you.”

  Mother Garrett scowled. “I’m not dumb. Just stubborn. I thought I could threaten you into changing your mind.”

  Emma chuckled.

  “Where’s Frances? You didn’t leave her out there in the cold all alone, did you?”

  “She’s not cold,” Emma argued, took her mother-in-law’s arm, and guided her back through the dining room. “There’s a good fire going. Once she saw how cozy and private it was, she didn’t say a word when I left. I thought maybe I should fix some tea,” she said, quickly ushering Mother Garrett through the door and into the kitchen. “Why don’t you set some water to boil. I’ll fix the teapot.”

  “We just had tea with dinner.”

  “I’d like more,” Emma argued and took a tin of tea from the larder. She tried not to panic, but keeping Mother Garrett away from that patio now was going to be nearly impossible.

  “Stop. Put the tea back. You’re wasting my time as well as yours.”

  Emma gripped the tin harder and stared at her mother-in-law. “I am?”

  “Yes. You are. You don’t want tea right now any more than I want Anson Kirk to show up here again as soon as the snow melts to pester me.”

  “He’s a nice man,” Emma countered, hoping to sidetrack and prolong their conversation long enough to let Reverend Glenn propose before Mother Garrett charged her way out to the patio.

  “You’re changing the subject.”

  “I am?”

  “Yes, which tells me you don’t really want that tea.”

  Emma shrugged, feigning innocence.

  “You’re stalling. You don’t want me out on that patio, do you? I’m not sure why you don’t want me there, but you’re definitely stalling.”

  “I am?”

  “Emma, if you say, ‘I am?’ one more time, I have a good mind to lash you onto one of those sleds, push you right down the back hill, and watch you slide straight through the woods to the canal.”

  Emma baited a hook of her own. “If you do that, then you’ll never have a chance to discover my secret.”

  The elderly woman pulled back. “Secret? What secret?”

  “The one out on the patio,” Emma murmured and measured out a good amount of tea before putting the tin back into the larder.

  “You have a secret out on the patio?” Mother Garrett asked, removing her gloves and bonnet to get a pot for the water. “Why does Frances get to see this secret of yours before I do?”

  Emma managed to keep Mother Garrett guessing for a good twenty minutes. By then, the tea was steeping in the teapot, and Emma was running out of ways to stymie her mother-in-law. She no sooner said a silent prayer begging for divine inspiration when Reverend Glenn and Aunt Frances walked into the kitchen, hand-in-hand, with their aged faces beaming. Butter, as always, tagged along.

  Mother Garrett went directly to her friend. “It’s about time you wandered back inside, Frances. Emma should never have left you . . . alone . . . on . . . that . . . patio,” she said, slowing her words and widening her eyes as she spoke. “You . . . you weren’t alone,” she murmured, staring at the couple’s joined hands.

 
“No, I wasn’t alone, and we want you and Emma to be the first to know that Reverend Glenn and I won’t ever be alone again.”

  Speechless, Mother Garrett looked up at Reverend Glenn, whose smile came straight from his heart. “Frances has given me the honor of accepting my proposal,” he said proudly. “We’ll need to speak to her sons, Andrew and James, of course, but with your permission, Emma, we’d like to be married here as soon as possible.”

  Emma’s heart soared. Her eyes filled with tears that spilled down her cheeks. “I would consider it a great privilege,” she managed, and her mind raced ahead, impatient to begin planning the first-ever wedding at Hill House.

  29

  IN YEARS PAST, CANDLEWOOD SLEPT through most of the winter under a heavy patchwork quilt of bitter cold and heavy snow. With the construction of the Candlewood Canal, however, the strong winds of commerce had grown warmer year by year, slowly waking the town after each heavy snowfall for a spell until another storm forced the town back to sleep.

  Several days after Reverend Glenn proposed to Aunt Frances, excitement and commotion seemed the order of the day. At mid-morning on Tuesday, an odd assortment of travel bags and other paraphernalia on the floor wound from the oak rack in the center hallway into the west parlor. Baskets of food bound for several different destinations rested on the dining room table, while guests and residents alike scurried from one room to another.

  Emotions ran the gamut from high to low, and the only areas of the boardinghouse insulated from the chaos and commotion were the library and Emma’s office, where the Burkes remained in virtual seclusion.

  “They’re here!”

  Liesel’s cry, announcing the arrival of two horse-drawn sleighs, drew everyone to the front of the house. While the drivers, Mr. Massey and Mr. Lewis, loaded up the many bags and baskets, Emma bid farewell to the travelers, starting with Judith Massey, now in her final month. She hugged the younger woman to her. “Please don’t forget to send word when your little one comes.”

  Judith blinked back tears. “I won’t. I . . . I don’t know how to thank you for everything you’ve done for Solomon and me.”

  “You’ve both been a joy to have at Hill House. Truly,” Emma replied as she walked the very expectant woman to the front door.

  Judith stopped and glanced down the hall toward the library. “I’d like to stop and see Miss Burke during the day once her brother doesn’t require such constant care. I . . . I still remember how difficult it was to leave my sister’s bedside when she was so very ill,” she murmured, shaking her head sadly. “Do you think she’d like it if I came by with Solomon now and then?”

  “I think she’d like it very much,” Emma replied and handed Judith over to her husband, who was anxious to take her home. Deeply concerned that Lester Burke’s health was apparently not improving, Emma was also awed by the odd friendship that had apparently developed between Orralynne and Judith. “Liesel should be right down,” she offered and bid the Masseys a final good-bye. She watched the young couple through one of the two glass panels on either side of the front door as they slowly crossed the front yard and prayed they would soon share the great joy of welcoming a healthy, strong babe into their home.

  Liesel came charging down the center stairs and raced toward Emma. “Ditty’s upstairs crying. She’s awfully sad she can’t go home, too.”

  “It’s too far. She understands that.”

  “I feel bad for her.”

  “She’ll be fine. I’ll talk to her,” Emma assured her.

  Liesel still hesitated. “Are you certain it’s all right for me to stay home for a few days?”

  Emma nodded. “You haven’t seen your family for weeks. Now hurry. Mr. Massey is anxious to get his wife back home again. Since you didn’t want to leave earlier with the Ammond brothers, and Mr. Massey offered you a ride, you shouldn’t keep him waiting,” Emma cautioned.

  Liesel needed no further encouragement and nearly got to the sleigh before the Masseys did. Chuckling to herself, Emma walked to the east parlor and poked her head inside. “You’re next. Sleigh’s waiting!”

  With Butter on one side and Aunt Frances on the other, Reverend Glenn started walking toward Emma immediately. Mother Garrett followed reluctantly behind them, along with Mr. Lewis.

  “We’ll only be staying with Andrew for a few days. We don’t want to be stranded so far from town with the next snowstorm,” Aunt Frances offered.

  Reverend Glenn looked less confident. “I might need more time than that to convince those boys of hers to give us their blessing, but we’ll be back for Sunday services.”

  His future wife looked up at him and patted his arm. “You’ll have their blessings as fast as you had mine.”

  Emma hugged them both. “I know everything will be fine,” she offered and turned them over to Mr. Lewis to escort them outside.

  When Butter tried to follow his master, Reverend Glenn patted the dog’s head and shook his own. “You can’t go with me on this trip. Behave for Emma, now,” he warned.

  The dog turned, walked over to Emma, and plopped down at her feet.

  While Mr. Lewis helped the elderly couple to the sleigh, Mother Garrett made one last plea to remain behind at Hill House. “I don’t see why it’s necessary for me to go along. The idea that the two of them need a chaperone traveling back and forth from here to Andrew’s farm is ludicrous.”

  “They’re going to be married. They don’t want folks to gossip about them,” Emma argued.

  Mother Garrett scowled. “So I get to be chaperone to a couple whose combined ages add up to more years than we’ve been a country, but you get to stay here at Hill House with not one single man under your roof, but two. That’s proper? You don’t think people might gossip about that?”

  Emma laughed out loud. “One of those single men is so sick he can’t get out of his bed, and his sister has to tend to his every need. Mr. Lewis, as you well know, is going with you now as far as the hotel to make arrangements to sleep there each night. For propriety’s sake,” she added.

  “That’s all well and good. Until another storm hits and he can’t leave Hill House to get back to the hotel one night.”

  “You’ll be back by then,” Emma countered.

  Mother Garrett sniffed. “Have your way. But don’t complain a single word to me when I get back.”

  “What would I have to complain about when you get back?” Emma asked, gently guiding her mother-in-law to the front door, with Butter tagging along.

  “You’re going to spend the next few days here alone with that dog on your heels and only Ditty to help you. I cooked up enough food to last while I’m gone, but what food one of them will invariably drop or spill on the floor, the other will devour faster than you can remember I said ‘I told you so.’ And then you’ll all starve to death.”

  Still laughing, Emma pressed a kiss to her mother-in-law’s cheek. “I love you. I’ll miss you. And I promise we won’t starve. Now go,” she insisted and opened the front door.

  Mother Garrett looked out at the sleigh, took Emma’s hand, and pressed a kiss to it as Mr. Lewis returned to escort her. “I love you, too. Just say a prayer the sleigh doesn’t tip over.”

  “You’re worried about traveling by sleigh? You? The woman who said she was going sledding just recently?”

  “I’m old enough to know my sledding days are long gone, thank you, but I haven’t forgotten how to sled. That driver out there doesn’t look old enough to drive nails, let alone a sleigh,” she grumbled. “I’m glad either Andrew or James will bring us back. I know I can trust them,” she added and waited for a moment until Mr. Lewis was close enough to offer her his arm.

  “Godspeed,” Emma murmured and closed the door. Butter stayed with her while she watched through the glass again as the sleigh disappeared from view. She patted the dog on the head and turned around to face an unusual hush of silence within Hill House.

  Slowing her steps a bit to allow the old dog to keep up with her, she went straig
ht upstairs to the room Ditty shared with Liesel and knocked on the door.

  Ditty opened the door with one hand while swatting at the tears still trickling down her cheeks with the other. “I’m sorry, Widow Garrett. I didn’t mean to stay in my room for so long.”

  “I feel very badly that your family lives so far from town that you couldn’t go home to see them,” Emma offered.

  Ditty rubbed one of her eyes with the back of her hand. “Me too.”

  “I really do need a few things from the General Store. It’s too bad I didn’t think of it before so Mr. Lewis could bring them home for me. I’m not certain I want to risk slipping and sliding down the hill to get to Main Street.”

  With her reddened eyes wide, Ditty perked up. “I could go to the General Store for you.”

  Emma feigned concern by furrowing her brow. “You’d end up slipping and falling all the way down, too.”

  “Not if I use a sled! I could borrow one of the sleds Mr. Massey put back up in the garret to get down the hill. When I get to the General Store, I could load up what you needed and pull the sled back home.”

  “You wouldn’t get hurt sledding down the hill?”

  Ditty squared her shoulders and straightened up to her full height, barely an inch or so now shy of six feet. “I can sled better than most anyone.”

  Emma suppressed a grin and relented. “All right, then. I’ll make up a list and meet you in the kitchen.”

  “I’ll have whatever you need back here in no time,” Ditty promised, rushing past Emma to get to the stairs that led up to the garret.

  “There’s no hurry. I certainly wouldn’t object if you wanted to stay in town a bit today. I assume there might be other young folks anxious to test their skills with their sleds. You might want to stop and see if Liesel wants to go sledding, too.”

  Ditty stopped and spun around so fast she nearly tripped, but caught herself. “Really?”

  “You and Liesel have been punished long enough. It’s time for both of you to start earning back the trust you lost.”

  “We won’t disappoint you. I’ll be sure to be back in time for dinner to help you, too,” Ditty said before scampering away.