by Linda Ford
“Thank you, Matt.”
“I’m just glad to be contributing to it.”
“Well, have no doubt you are. I’m so glad this has turned into a group project!”
“I can tell. Your eyes are shining as bright as the stars above.”
His smile and the way he looked at her as he was doing now made Millicent’s heart do a kind of jump and dive, and she told herself she was reading things into his expression and that the warmth she felt from it meant nothing other than they seemed to be becoming good friends. And that couldn’t be a bad thing, could it?
Chapter Twelve
Millicent’s pulse began to race as Matt grasped her arm a little firmer and pulled her nearer as he whispered, “It was very thoughtful of you to take photos of Gretchen and Maida.”
“Thank you. I feel bad that I didn’t think of including them before now. I hope they’re in some of those photographs that were taken before I came to live at Heaton House.”
“Surely they will be. They’re part of the daily life at Heaton House and I can’t imagine them not being in any of the photos. But if not, you’ll make sure they are from now on.”
“I’ll try. But you give me too much credit.”
“I don’t think so. All of this was your idea after all.”
His words warmed her heart and Millicent looked up at him and smiled. “I’m so looking forward to seeing Mrs. Heaton’s reaction to the albums.”
“She’s going to love them,” Matt assured her.
Millicent stumbled over a rough place in the walk and Matt quickly used both hands to steady her, sending her pulse racing faster and her heart slamming against her chest.
“Oh, that was close. I wasn’t watching where I was going very well.”
“It’s dark out. I should have been paying attention.”
“You two coming or what?” Joe called as they stood gazing at each other.
Only then did they realize the others were a half block ahead of them. “We’re coming.”
Millicent felt a flush of color she was glad no one could see as Matt hastened their pace so that they caught up with everyone quickly when they turned the corner. Two more turns and they were on John and Elizabeth’s street. The house was lit up, as if expecting company, and they all hurried up steps to the front porch.
John opened the door wide and welcomed them in as Elizabeth joined him.
“Come in,” she said from over her husband’s shoulder. There seemed to be an extra sparkle in her eyes tonight. “We’re so happy to welcome you all to our home. I don’t think we’ve had everyone over since our housewarming last winter.”
“Come join us in the parlor,” John said. “The Roths and Heatons arrived a few minutes ago.”
They all headed to the parlor, where the married couples and present boarders all greeted each other as only close friends could, and Millicent sent up a silent prayer of thanksgiving that she was living at Heaton House and counted so many as treasured companions.
Millicent glanced at Matt and found him looking at her and once again her heart fluttered deep inside. Matt was her friend; there was no doubt about that. But her heart didn’t feel as if it were taking flight when she looked at any of the other male boarders. Her pulse didn’t hasten at their smiles as it did the one Matt flashed her. So what exactly did she feel toward this man that made her reaction to him so different?
“Come on into the dining room, everyone,” Elizabeth said. “Please help yourself from the sideboard and then take a seat at the table. After we eat we’ll clear everything off and get started on the albums.”
Everyone lined up and Millicent joined in the small talk as she waited in line to fix her plate. Elizabeth had gone all out, although she wouldn’t take credit, saying her aunt had sent her maid Amanda over to help. But the buffet was filled with all manner of tasty treats.
She joined the others at the table, which, with the addition of two leaves, was much longer than when she’d eaten there last. Matt took the empty seat beside her and Millicent was pleased more than she thought she should be.
Once everyone was seated, John asked them to bow while he prayed. “Dear Lord, we thank You for the friendships that have grown over the years and for new ones being made with the new Heaton House boarders. We ask you to bless this project we are all honored to be part of for Mrs. Heaton, and we thank you for the food we’re about to eat. In Jesus’s name, amen.”
“We really are so happy you’ve included us in this album project, Millicent,” Rebecca said from across the table. “My mother is going to love it for years to come.”
“You’re welcome,” Millicent said. “Your participation will make the gift even more special for her. But, oh! Before we all start eating, I’d like to get a shot of you all at the table. Please excuse me while I get my camera!”
“Of course, but if you brought your Kodak, would Amanda be able to take the photo, so that you could be in the picture, too?” Elizabeth asked.
“Of course, it’s very easy. I’ll show her how,” Millicent said.
Matt stood and placed a hand on Millicent’s shoulder. “Let me get your camera. I know right where I put it.”
“I—” But he was on his way to the parlor before she had a chance say anything more. Matt seemed to be getting more thoughtful of her with each passing day and Millicent wasn’t sure what to make of it. All she knew was that her attraction to him was growing, too, and she must fight against it.
Matt came back with her camera bag and Elizabeth went to ask Amanda if she would mind taking their photographs. It took only a few minutes to show her how to use the camera and then she began snapping photos from both ends of the table to be sure to get everyone. Then Amanda handed the camera back to Millicent with a smile.
“Thank you, Amanda.” Millicent slipped the camera back into her bag, and knowing Elizabeth wouldn’t mind, she hung it over the back of her chair.
“Thank you all for waiting. I’m sure you’re all starved. I won’t take any more photos until we begin work on the albums. I just want to make sure Mrs. Heaton will be able to see that everyone wanted to do this for her.”
They all began to eat and conversation flowed easily. Rebecca and Ben Roth were trying to get their home ready to be able to offer a room to one of the young women in need Ben worked with while teaching business at the college and the YWCA. They also wanted to provide a gathering place for those young people who were out on their own for the first time and occasionally needed encouragement. They planned on being able to open their smaller version of Heaton House after the first of the year and were looking forward to their first Christmas as a married couple.
“Normally, it might seem a bit early to be thinking so much of Christmas,” Julia said. “But when you’re working on a present as special as this one, it’s impossible not to.”
“Oh, you should hear all the talk about the holiday at Macy’s,” Emily said. “The planning for this year’s windows began even before I started working there.”
“It’s the same at Siegel-Cooper,” Stephen said. “We’ve been in planning mode for months now.”
“I think I’m looking forward to Christmas more than I have in a long time,” Georgia said.
“So am I,” Matt said.
“Have you decided if you’re going home or staying in the city yet?” Millicent asked.
“I’m staying here. I can’t wait to see Mrs. Heaton when she opens this present!”
“It’s going to be the best Christmas ever.” Elizabeth looked down the table at her husband and gave a little nod as she smiled at him.
John cleared his throat and stood, walking around to stand behind his wife. “Elizabeth and I have an announcement to make. Some of you have noticed she’s been a bit pale lately and expressed concern for her, but we want to assure you it’s been for a very good reason.”
Elizabeth reached up and clasped his hand on her shoulder as she smiled and looked back at everyone. “And I’m feeling much better,
as you can tell.”
The couple looked at each other once more and John grinned. “We’re thrilled to tell you all that Elizabeth is expecting our first child in the spring!”
Everyone burst into a chorus of “Congratulations!” followed by clapping and laughter. Millicent joined in, as joy for her friends flooded her along with a stab of envy she tamped down as hard as she could. Oh, how she longed— No! She couldn’t let herself start thinking of what she truly wanted. She’d already accepted her lot in life.
*
Matt watched as differing expressions passed over Millicent’s face. She looked so wistful for a moment he wondered if she were feeling much like he did.
He’d been surprised by the depth of longing he’d felt as John looked at his wife and made their announcement. How was it he knew four men who’d found true love and seemed to have everything he wanted, but didn’t believe the same would ever be in his future? He held no hope after the break with his fiancée. Although he realized now that he hadn’t loved her enough to stay and make a living back home, either.
But it’d taught him a lesson about falling for the wrong kind of woman. At least he’d thought it had, but as Millicent smiled at the happy couple and then glanced at Matt, his chest tightened and he knew he’d become more drawn to her with each passing day.
If possible, she was more independent than Carla had been, yet, hard as he tried to fight it, something about Millicent drew him like a moth to a flame. He told himself he should stop spending as much time with her, but he was getting nowhere with that. In fact, he’d begun to look for opportunities to be with her.
“Thank you all,” John said. “We’ve known for a while but wanted to wait until tonight to let everyone know. We think of you all as family and this party seemed to be the perfect time.”
“And now that we’ve told you, we’re going to get to work on Mrs. Heaton’s album,” Elizabeth said. “Please go back to the parlor and get all your things together while Anna and I clear the table.”
“I’ll stay and help,” Millicent said. “It’ll go faster that way.”
The other ladies did the same and Matt was pretty sure they wanted to congratulate their friend without all the men watching. He followed John and the others as they headed toward the parlor but in only minutes they were called back. They gathered up the supplies and took them to the table.
As everyone took a seat once more, Millicent stayed standing. “I really can’t thank you all enough. This gift is going to be so much better than I’d originally planned with you all helping. Julia has so many photographs and I know some of you brought some, too. With those and what I’ve taken, I think we’ll have enough to fill several albums.”
“I’d say so,” Matt said as the photographs were pulled out of boxes. “Are we going to be able to get this done in one night?”
“I don’t think so,” Millicent said. “I believe the best thing we can do right now is to put them all out—probably starting with Julia’s, as many of them were taken when some of us weren’t boarders. We can pass them around the table along with a sheet of paper for you to write down your memories of when the photo was taken. When we get them in the album, Emily has offered to write in your comments in her lovely handwriting. We’ll do what we can tonight and maybe we can get together again.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Kathleen Patterson said. “I’d like us to start doing this more often even after the albums are full.”
“Yes, so would I,” Rebecca said.
“I love that idea. And I am certain with all your help, we’ll be done by Christmas.” Millicent clapped her hands. She loved these people!
Millicent placed a batch of photos at each end of the table and on each side. “Please choose a photo and comment if you’re in it or if you have a special memory of the day it was taken, and then pass it to the person next to you. Not everyone has to comment on each photo, but it’d be great to have two or three with each one.”
Matt watched as everyone picked a photo from the nearest pile. He took one as Millicent continued with her instructions.
“When the photo gets back around to the person who had it first, please wrap the paper around it and put it back in the empty box in the center of the table.”
Millicent sat back down beside Matt and everyone took a photo. The one he picked was taken before he came to Heaton House and he passed it on to Millicent, who passed it on to Luke, who was on the other side of her. He chuckled when he gazed at it and began to write.
Soon others were laughing or saying “Aww” or “Oh, look! Remember this?” to the person next to them.
“Maybe I should pull out photos from those I’ve taken for you and me and the newer boarders,” Millicent whispered to Matt. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re right,” he said. “Otherwise we’re going to be sitting here doing nothing but passing photos to the others.”
With his encouragement, Millicent stood once more. “Everyone, I wonder if you’d mind if we line up around the table with the newer boarders, starting with Matt and me, on one side of the table and then the boarders who were there before all of us on the other side? That way some of us could begin working on photos taken by me, and the first boarders can do the ones before that time. Then, if we run across photos others are in, we can pass them around to the other side. I think we might be able to get more done if we do.”
“That’s a great idea, Millicent,” John said. “Come on, everyone, let’s change places. Older boarders come sit on this side, newer on the other side.”
After a few moments everyone got settled in their new places and the photos were passed around once more. Millicent leaned over and whispered to Matt, “I love hearing their comments as they look at the pictures. I can’t wait to read some of the notes they’re writing.”
“Neither can I,” Matt said, smiling as they watched Luke and Kathleen put their heads together over a photo and then pass it on to Violet.
“What if one of us doesn’t particularly like the shot of us and doesn’t really want it in the album?” Emily asked.
Everyone chuckled. “I wondered the very same thing,” Julia said. “Some of the photos I took weren’t the best.”
“Just put them to the side—maybe write don’t use on the back and we’ll gather them up after we’re through,” Millicent said.
“Oh, thank you,” Emily said. She sounded so relieved, one couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re welcome. None of us want bad photos of us for all to see. I’m sure some of my shots weren’t that great, either,” Millicent said. Then she pushed her chair back again, stood and grabbed her camera. “But I must get some photographs of us working on this. Please continue what you’re doing and I’ll walk around and take some shots.”
Everyone did as she asked but would look up if she asked them to smile for her. She was like a little whirlwind, going around and snapping shots. After making her way around the table, she took her seat once more, looking quite happy with herself. She truly seemed to love what she was doing and Matt had no doubt the photographs would be great.
Then Julia excused herself and came back to the table with her own camera. “My pictures won’t be as good as yours, but we need a few with you in them, Millicent. So I’ll take them and you can develop them.”
“Thank you, Julia. I’ll be happy to.”
“That’s a great idea, Julia,” Matt said. “I’m glad you thought of it. Since Millicent took so many of these later ones, she isn’t in them.”
“Well, I’ve taken a few with her in them,” Julia said, stopping by her seat to pull a few photos from her pile. She handed them over to Matt.
Millicent looked at them with him. Matt wondered if she liked the one of them skating together last winter as much as he did. It was the day had Rebecca sprained her ankle and what they all thought of as the beginning of her and Ben’s romance.
But this photo showed him and Millicent smiling at each other as they s
kated. Matt’s chest tightened as he saw the expression on both their faces. There was something…
“I really like this photo of us.” Matt leaned near her and whispered as they looked at the photo. “That was a fun day—at least until Rebecca took her fall.”
“Yes, it was.” Millicent met his gaze and smiled.
Matt picked up the next photo. “Oh, look at this one.”
Millicent bent her head toward him and then Matt heard the click of a camera and looked up to see a grin on Julia’s face.
“That was a great shot. I think you’ll both like it,” Julia said before heading to the end of the table and snapping another of the whole group.
“Will you make an extra copy of the one Julia took of us?” Matt asked.
“You want one for yourself?” she asked as she looked into his eyes.
“Yes. I do. If it’s not too much trouble.”
“It’s no trouble at all.”
Matt felt as surprised as Millicent looked at his request. The words had just popped out of his mouth but he didn’t want to take them back. He wanted a photo of them together. But why? And how would having a photo of the two of them help him distance himself from her? And did he even want to do that now?
He picked up another photograph. This one Julia had taken when they’d all gone to Central Park one day. Again, it was of him and Millicent, and it appeared they were sparring a bit. They were grinning at each other, but Millicent’s eyebrow was raised as if challenging something he’d said. He’d seen that expression on her quite often in the past year and if truth be told, he’d enjoyed bringing it about.
“I like this one, too,” he said as he showed it to Millicent.
“Looks like we were at it again, doesn’t it?”
“That’s what I like about this one. You look quite feisty.”
“Oh, you!”
Elizabeth stood and asked, “Is everyone ready for a cup of tea or hot chocolate? I asked Anna to prepare some for us. She’ll put everything on the sideboard and you can help yourselves and bring it to the table. Just make sure not to spill anything on these wonderful photographs.”
