Lorna Seilstad - [Lake Manawa Summers 03]

by The Ride of Her Life

  “I’m not sleepy.” Levi, slurring his s’s, tried to open his eyes.

  Lilly pulled the covers around his shoulders and laughed to herself. “I can see that.”

  “Got to finish my snake cage ’morrow.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “Mama?” He opened his eyes a slit.

  “What, sweetheart?”

  “You like Mr. Nick now?”

  She kissed his forehead. “Go to sleep, my sweet boy. I love you.”

  “Mama, you like him lots now. Don’t you?” His voice trailed off as sleep claimed him again.

  She fingered a little curl forming around his ear. “Yes, Son,” she whispered. “I do like Mr. Nick, but I shouldn’t.” Tears filled her eyes. “I can’t, and I won’t.”

  Frost crystals glittered on the cobweb hanging from the eaves of Thorton’s Lunch Counter. The sunrise pinked the sky as Lilly unlocked the back door and entered. Thank goodness Emily offered to keep Levi and let him sleep in this morning.

  If she hurried, perhaps she could get the biscuits in the oven for breakfast and the ham and beans started for lunch before she had to fry the eggs and bacon for the men. Soon she’d have Eugenia trained to help her. She chuckled. At least, she hoped she could teach the girl, although it might take a miracle.

  She sent up a prayer asking for one, knowing that probably would not be God’s plan since He had a tendency to teach her patience in concrete ways.

  After mixing the biscuits, Lilly rolled them out on a floured board and cut them in circles with an upside-down glass. She slipped a biscuit-filled pan into the oven as the back door opened. She gasped and banged the oven door shut.

  “Sorry, Miss Lilly. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Eugenia, what are you doing here so early? I thought I told you to come in around nine.”

  With a smile, Eugenia removed her enormous orange bonnet and slipped an apron over her head. “I couldn’t let you do breakfast all by your lonesome.”

  “I don’t mind.” Lilly poured dry beans into a pot of water and set it on the back of the stove to soak before hefting the cast-iron skillet into its place in the front.

  “Oh, but I do. I want to help. What can I do?”

  Lilly complimented the young woman on her desire to help, but not ready to trust Eugenia with food, Lilly glanced around the kitchen for a task to assign. “I know. Why don’t you set the tables for the men? We need ten place settings.”

  Eugenia nodded and scooped a stack of plates into her arms. “Will they need bone dishes too?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Well, full place settings have bone dishes. Soup bowls too, now that I think of it.”

  Lilly stopped placing slices of bacon in the pan. “Eugenia, have you ever needed a bone dish or a soup bowl for breakfast?”

  “No, ma’am, I guess not.” She hung her head.

  “Plates, cups, napkins, and silverware will be fine. You figured out where all those were last night.” Lilly went back to her work, chuckling to herself. Lord, if You sent Eugenia to teach me patience, please help me learn this lesson fast.

  No sooner had Lilly pulled the last crispy slice of bacon from the skillet than she heard the heavy footfalls of the men entering. She grabbed a dry towel and wrapped it around the handle of the coffeepot before passing through the kitchen door into the dining room. “Morning, gentlemen. Breakfast will be out in a minute.”

  “I can pour the coffee, Miss Lilly,” Eugenia offered.

  Nick flashed Lilly a knowing smile, but Lilly pretended not to notice it. After hesitating for a second, she passed the girl the coffeepot. “I’ll be out with your bacon and eggs shortly.”

  “That’s good, lassie,” she heard Sean McGready tell Eugenia as Lilly turned to leave. Maybe the girl would work out after all.

  “Blech!”

  Lilly whirled and saw Mr. McGready spew his coffee across the table.

  8

  “Are ya trying to poison me, lass?”

  Rushing over, Lilly grabbed the pot from Eugenia. “Is there a problem?”

  “Taste it.” Mr. McGready thrust his cup in her direction.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll …” She picked up another cup and began to fill it. Easing the cup to her lips, she took a sip. A rancid taste filled her mouth.

  “Go ahead and spit it out, lass.” Mr. McGready handed her a napkin. “Ain’t fit for a soul to drink.”

  She forced the liquid down. “That won’t be necessary.”

  “So, what’s wrong with it?” Nick asked. “The girl mix it up wrong?”

  “I made it myself.” Lilly stared into the cup. What was the film on top of the brew? What had she tasted?

  The answer hit her so hard she nearly dropped the cup in her hands.

  Soap.

  She turned toward Eugenia. “When you washed the dishes, did you rinse them well?”

  “You didn’t say to rinse them. You said wash and dry them.”

  Chuckling broke out among the men, and soon the room was filled with full-bellied laughter.

  Tears pricked Eugenia’s eyes, and Lilly took her arm and guided her into the kitchen. Poor girl. Lilly chastised herself for not speaking to her in private. After giving Eugenia a hug and apologizing for not giving clearer directions, Lilly returned with fresh cups and gathered the soapy ones. “I’m so sorry about all of this.”

  “’Tweren’t yer fault.” Mr. McGready tugged on his beard. “Besides, this is the best laugh I’ve ever had before me mornin’ biscuit.”

  His humor was infectious, and she found embarrassment ebbing and a smile forming on her lips. She handed him a cup brimming with coffee. “Want me to taste this first?”

  He chuckled. “I’ll take me chances.” After a tentative sip, he grinned. “Good as it gets.”

  She quickly poured coffee for them all. When she reached the kitchen, she found Eugenia sobbing in the corner. What had her mother been thinking, never teaching her a thing about kitchen work? If she was from a wealthy home, perhaps they had household servants, but if so, why was she working now?

  “Eugenia, it’ll be fine. You’ll catch on.” She patted the girl’s arm, then began to crack eggs into the skillet. “Why don’t you come over here and I’ll show you how to crack eggs?”

  A few minutes and some shells later, she had a platter full of fried eggs ready to serve. “Here, you take the bacon out and I’ll serve the eggs.”

  “Are you sure, Miss Lilly? What if the men tease me?”

  “I’m sure they will.” She passed her the Blue Willow platter, its oriental scene obscured by bacon. “And you can laugh right along with them. We all make mistakes.”

  She caught Nick’s gaze on her as she approached the table.

  Lilly’s chest constricted. And some mistakes were worse than serving soapy coffee.

  “Mr. Perrin, may I have a word with you?”

  Nick halted on the sidewalk at the sound of Avery Nash’s voice. He moaned. Why did the man in charge of the Lake Manawa management company annoy him so? He watched as the small man with the big attitude hurried toward him.

  “You fellows go on,” Nick said to his men. “I’ll be along shortly.” When Nash reached him, he offered his hand. “Good morning, Mr. Nash, what can I do for you?”

  Mr. Nash looked at the offered hand and crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t look like you’re far enough along on your roller contraption.”

  “Roller coaster?”

  “You know what I meant.” Nash grunted. “I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I wasn’t in favor of the monstrosity. However, the investors felt like it would be advantageous to the resort, so naturally, I gave in to their wishes.”

  “Naturally.”

  “And I’d hate to have to tell them what you said about it not being ready by opening day. Surely even you can see the importance of meeting the deadline.”

  “Mr. Nash, I do understand, but it may not be feasible for safety reasons.”

&
nbsp; “Fred Ingersoll himself assured us you could handle this job, and I will not hesitate to inform him if you do not meet the deadline.”

  Nick stiffened and his jaw tensed. Was Nash threatening him? While he believed Mr. Ingersoll had faith in his abilities, he didn’t want to jeopardize his reputation with his employer, especially since this was the first coaster he had designed without oversight.

  After inhaling a steadying breath, Nick met Nash’s gaze. “I can assure you my workers and I are doing everything possible to ensure the coaster is ready for the guests on May 27, but as I told you before, much depends on factors beyond our control—such as the weather.”

  Nash thrust a finger toward Nick’s chest. “Just see that it opens.”

  Nick sighed as Nash walked away. If the irritating little man didn’t wield so much power, he would have insisted he leave him, the roller coaster project, and its crew alone. But Nick knew in the amusement-ride business, reputation was everything. And if he wanted to start his own company soon, his name had better be golden in the world of trolley park investors.

  With Levi in tow, Lilly slipped away from the diner to meet her friends at Marguerite’s home. Trip had promised to take the children on a boat ride. With supper already under way, she could spare a few hours this afternoon for enjoyment. Besides, it would take Eugenia most of that time to de-flour the kitchen from this morning’s baking lesson.

  Running ahead on the boardwalk surrounding Lake Manawa’s north shore, Levi scooped up a stone and attempted to hurl it into the lake. It fell short and landed with a plop in the shallows.

  They passed the Grand Pavilion and waved to the men putting a fresh coat of white paint on the large building. Further down, she saw a gardener clearing a planter of dried leaves. In another month, the whole park would be teeming with patrons. Most likely, even more people would visit than last year because of the roller coaster.

  Guilt tugged on her heart at the thought of the coaster. She’d had another reason to leave this afternoon. Every day about this time, Nick came by, offering to take Levi to finish his snake cage. Even on Sunday, when she’d crossed paths with Nick following church services, he’d asked if Levi could spend some time with him, but Lilly had made a lame excuse to keep her son with her. She hated seeing the two deep lines that had formed between Nick’s brows when he frowned.

  “Lilly!” Emily waved from a park bench in front of the Rowing Club and stood with Katie in her arms. “I saw you two coming and thought I’d wait and walk the rest of the way with you.” She turned to Levi. “So, are you excited about your uncle Trip taking you on a boat ride?”

  He kicked a stone with the toe of his shoe. “I’d rather be working with Mr. Nick.”

  “Levi, you silly boy, you’re gonna love sailing.” Lilly ruffled his hair.

  His lower lip protruded. “But I wanted to finish my snake cage.”

  “Remember, I told you Mr. Nick is a busy man.”

  “But he asked me to go, Mama. You aren’t never gonna let me go, are you?”

  “Levi, we’ll talk about this later.” She squeezed his shoulder. “Now, run ahead and let Aunt Emily and me talk.”

  He shuffled off with a frown on his face, but spotting several geese, he seemed to forget about being upset and began honking at them to get their attention.

  “What was that all about? It sounds like Levi’s grown quite attached to Nick Perrin.”

  “Levi is attached to the snake cage, not the man. Mr. Perrin is only helping him construct it. You know how Levi is with anything having to do with slimy, slithering creatures.”

  Emily lowered Katie into the wicker baby carriage and tucked the soft wool blanket around her. “I heard you two talking last week when he brought you home. I didn’t say anything then, but I’ve been dying to ask what that means.”

  “It doesn’t mean a thing,” Lilly said more forcefully than she intended.

  “Okay, don’t get upset.” The wheels of the baby carriage clacked on the boardwalk, and its fringed, cardinal-red parasol swung back and forth with the beat. “So, how did Nick Perrin come to be carrying your son home?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  Emily grinned. “In that case, hold on to the story until we get to Marguerite’s, because I know she’ll want to hear it too.”

  “You’re so thoughtful.” Lilly gave her a fake smile.

  “I’m only thinking of you. I’d hate for you to have to tell the same story twice.” Emily giggled.

  Lilly tipped her chin in the air. “Maybe I won’t tell either of you.”

  “You will.”

  “How do you know?”

  “If you don’t, you’ll imply there’s something going on that we should know about, and even if there isn’t, you wouldn’t want us to think that, so you’ll have to explain.”

  Lilly sighed. So much for her relaxing time away.

  When they reached the front of the boat shop, Marguerite met them. As soon as Trip Andrews and a couple of his crew had corralled the children, they took off for the sailboat. The ladies then departed for the yard behind the Yacht Club to enjoy a bit of croquet.

  After taking one look at the croquet mallet Marguerite offered her, Emily held up her hand. “I think Kate and I will sit this out. Remember the last time I played croquet?”

  Lilly grinned. Even though Emily had overcome a great deal of her clumsiness, last summer had proven the tendency was still there. During a match between Emily and her husband, Carter, Emily had tripped over a wicket and sent her mallet through one of the Yacht Club’s windows. Good-natured Carter had kissed his wife and said he’d replace the window by nightfall.

  “How about we play Poison? You can sit out the first game, but whoever wins gets to hold Katie while you play in the second.” Lilly fished a nickel from her pocket for the coin toss.

  “If I have to.” Emily sank onto the park bench and propped Kate on her shoulder.

  From the wooden box containing the equipment, Lilly selected a red-striped ball, and Marguerite, a blue one. Lilly passed Emily the coin. Marguerite won the toss and placed her ball midway between the stake and the first wicket. She gave it a soft strike with the mallet, and the ball landed inches short of the wicket.

  “Well, Lilly, I’m ready.” Emily patted Katie’s back, a telling smile on her face.

  “Ready for what?” Marguerite looked up from her disappointing shot and scowled. “Did I miss something?”

  “No, you didn’t miss a thing except Emily’s overactive imagination.” Lilly nudged Marguerite to the side and set her own ball on the ground. Her swing sent the ball through the first wicket. “I believe the first point goes to me.”

  “Well done!” Emily adjusted the blanket around Katie. “And now you can tell us why Levi suddenly prefers Nick Perrin’s company over sailing and how that same gentleman came to escort you home the other night.”

  “At night? You have been keeping secrets.” Marguerite’s ball tapped Lilly’s after going through the wicket. She held up two fingers, indicating the points she received for the shot.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Lilly sighed. “If you two magpies promise not to make this more than it is, I’ll tell you what happened.”

  As she and Marguerite took turns throughout the course, she explained how Nick had taken an interest in Levi. Doing her best to downplay any significance, she told them matter-of-factly how he and Levi had become so engrossed in the snake-cage construction that they’d missed dinner. “Since I had to heat a plate for Levi, I figured I might as well make one for Mr. Perrin as well. After all, he’d been kind to Levi.”

  “So how did he come to carry Levi back to the cottage?” Emily asked, her green eyes alight with a twinkle.

  Lilly crouched to get a good look at the post at the end of the course. If she hit it, her ball would be poison, and hitting Marguerite’s ball would mean eliminating her friend from the competition. “Levi fell asleep while Nick and I were washing the dishes.”

  “Nick?�
�� Marguerite tented her eyebrows.

  “He washed dishes?” Emily giggled. “My, my, my.”

  “You two are as bad as Emily’s meddling aunts. The whole thing meant nothing.” Lilly whacked her ball hard, and it sailed beyond the striped post at the end of the course. “See, you made me miss my shot.”

  “Oh.” Marguerite grinned. “I think you’ve still got a shot, but you simply refuse to admit it.”

  9

  Spring was measured in flowers. It might not be manly, but Nick knew it was the truth. First the crocuses and hyacinths bloomed, then the daffodils, a flower to which he was particularly partial because his mother had loved them. Now the bright blooms of tulips lifted their faces to the sky, and soon the air would be filled with the scent of lilacs. He smiled at the thought as he made his way to Thorton’s Lunch Counter.

  Nick glanced at one of the Lake Manawa gardeners carefully sprinkling seeds from a packet into one of the Midway’s large, round flower planters. If Iowa didn’t get a late snow as he’d been told sometimes happens, those seeds should be in bloom by June. By then, folks would be enjoying both his roller coaster and a planter filled with marigolds.

  Sean had once pointed out that the Lord used a lot of references to sowing and reaping when he taught. Nick found it was Jesus as a carpenter’s son, however, that he thought of most often. The sweet smell of sawdust, the grain of wood, and the feel of a hammer would not have been foreign to the Lord. Jesus would have known what it felt like to make something with your own hands, to see it take shape, and to see it finished. He would understand the joy of doing one’s best, and Nick felt a kinship to that. But most of all, Jesus would have known what it was like to take a rough piece of wood, smooth its edges, and make it into something usable.

  Just as the Lord had done with him.

  His musings came to a halt when he spotted Mr. Thorton heading to the lunch counter. Nick flagged him down. God had worked this out perfectly. The last thing he wanted was for Lilly to see him talking to her employer.

  The heavyset man met him on the Midway paving. “What can I do for you, Mr. Perrin? Everything okay with your meals?”