“Mr. McDowell, I am sorry. I told her she couldn’t come back here but . . .” the lady began but couldn’t finish as she took in the sight before her.
“Edna,” he spoke with his lips still pressed to Emmie’s.
“Yes sir?” she asked, looking down at her feet.
“Emmie is always welcome in my office. Now, close the door,” he said gruffly.
As soon as the door was closed he grabbed Emmie and pulled her down into his lap. She had missed his touch. When his arms were wrapped around her, there was nothing she felt she couldn’t do. Silas kissed her until she felt her insides turn to mush. She felt him smile with his lips still pressed close to hers.
“I’m liking this new assertiveness you’ve found in Chicago. It suits you.” He laughed, barely pulling away from her as he spoke.
Emmie laughed to herself, amused at his words. She knew he would be happy about this little surprise visit.
Chapter Sixteen
When his phone rang Emmie unfolded herself from his lap and rested against the edge of his desk. Silas leaned around her and grabbed the phone, pulling it closer to him. It rested just at her side. She had never seen such a fancy phone in all her life. Black. Shiny. Expensive. His voice was all business as he talked quietly to the person on the other end of the line, asking questions and giving instructions. He reached around and grabbed one of the stacks. She felt it pull under her. She shifted her weight and he pulled it out from under her. He playfully smacked her leg with them before he read a series of numbers into the phone.
He hung up, put the phone back in its proper place, and leaned back in the chair. Silas sat there for a moment taking in the sight of her propped on his desk. He liked this little surprise. He liked the sight of her sitting there ruining his neatly organized stacks. She looked so smug. Silas noticed the brown package she had carried in tossed on the corner of his desk. Clearly she had forgotten all about it.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this little visit? I seem to remember the plan was for us to meet you after you saw Ava this afternoon,” he asked.
Emmie snorted, “Don’t be mad at your sister for veering from the plan. It was my idea.”
“Because you just couldn’t wait until this afternoon to kiss me?” Silas squeezed her knee. She felt her body warm at his touch.
She picked up the newspaper near her and smacked his hand. “Don’t you pick on me, Silas. I came up here to say I was sorry.”
“You are great at apologizing. Remind me to make you feel sorry for something again . . . soon.” He gave her one of his crooked grins and took the newspaper from her hand, flattening it out on his desk with a grin. “I need that one. If you are going to hit me again use this.” He handed her a blank notepad.
She dropped the notepad and looked at the newspaper he had flattened on his desk. It was a copy of the Kentucky Journal. She frowned up at him and opened her mouth to ask why he needed the newspaper but didn’t get the chance.
“What did you have to be sorry about?” he asked, leaning forward in the chair.
She refocused herself to the conversation. She could ask about the paper later. “Yes, I’m sorry I was angry when we left.”
“You were angry when I left you with money? I didn’t notice,” he said smugly.
She picked up the notepad and playfully smacked him again. “Yes, you did. And I apologize. I should have known you would not have just sent me away with money to shop for the day. I know you better than that. I should have trusted you.”
Silas stood, coming to his full height. “I wasn’t angry that you were mad. Maybe I should have explained it to you but I thought it might be nice for you to figure it out. You always do love a mystery to solve. I thought maybe it would be part of the fun for you. Did you enjoy it?”
Emmie took a deep breath and put her hands on his chest. “It was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Bell House is an amazing place.”
“It is. We have a couple of their kids coming here tomorrow to run errands,” Silas said, pushing her hair behind her ear.
“I had a few questions about it actually,” Emmie said, looking at him.
“Why am I not surprised?” he asked. “Ask away.”
“Ha ha.” She pretended to laugh at his snide remark about her questions. “Do you go there often?”
“Not as often as I used to,” he answered.
“Did your family receive help from them when you were young?” Emmie asked.
“Not that I have any memory of,” he said thoughtfully and then added, “most of my memories are of us helping out at the house. Mainly with money but from time to time we’ve helped in other ways. Back when I was a teenager it was the place I always went with my friends.” Something about the memory made him laugh.
“You volunteered there as a teenager, Silas?” Emmie asked in an adoring voice.
Silas belly laughed. “Not exactly. We’d help out a little, but I guess our primary motivation was there were a lot of young girls stopping in from other countries. We were always happy to show them around town.”
Emmie’s grin turned to a deep frown. “I should have known teenage boys wouldn’t be thinking about helping immigrants.”
“Oh, we helped them out all right,” he teased and pulled her into him. “Say, aren’t you new in town?” He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I could show ya around.”
She smacked his chest, tried to contain the giggle bubbling up from her chest and failed. He laughed too. It came out as a deep throaty sound.
“So you don’t help out there as much as your sister then?” Emmie asked into his chest.
“I hire people from there, we support them financially. None of us would be where we are today if Mrs. Bell hadn’t helped Pop all those years ago. The Bells are a good family. We will always be in their debt,” Silas said seriously.
“It is a wonderful place. I wish I could volunteer there again. Do you think you could help me arrange it?” she asked, pulling away from him.
“I might be able to work something out. It would be easier if you were staying with me. Maybe we could say you are staying with Jemma at my house in the city.” He rubbed his jaw as he thought, then shook his head. “I’m not sure though. People are sensitive right now because of Gabe and Ava.”
Emmie took a step away from him as the realization dawned on her that he wasn’t surprised yesterday when she had mentioned that Ava was with child.
“How long have you known?” Emmie asked with a frown.
“A while,” he answered.
“A while as in since we came to Chicago or a while as in since we were in Kentucky?”
“Kentucky. Somewhere between Bardston and Bowling Green if you want a more precise location,” he answered.
“And you didn’t tell me? I thought we said no more secrets.” She put her hand on her hip.
“You never asked me. I did not lie.” He grinned.
“I had no reason to ask and that was something you just should have said. I would have told you,” she said and then wondered if that was the truth.
“No,” he shook his head, “that was not my truth to share. You always say you and Ava are like sisters. You needed to hear that from her lips, not mine. Besides, in case you have forgotten, you had yourself in your own pot of hot water down there. You didn’t need to go borrow trouble by jumping in hers.”
“What makes you think I would have jumped in hers?” she asked.
He grinned before he answered, “What was that you asked me to do for Ava? Oh, and what was that fight with her about when you unloaded, in front of my sister I might add, everything that had happened in the last month? Oh, that’s right. It was about you two needing help concocting some crazy plan to get Ava with Gabe. You know it will bring on a firestorm if my aunt or uncle hear about it and there you are, sitting right in the middle of it.”
Emmie couldn’t help but grin as she replied, “I have to help her. She would help me.”
Silas nodded. “
I know that. When you see her tell her I’ve got it worked out.”
“Thanks Silas. How are you going to do it?” she asked.
He closed the space between them and brushed her hair back from her face. “It’s another surprise, Mo Chuisle.”
“Is it a secret because you want me surprised or a secret to keep me out of the trouble if her parents find out about it?” she asked.
“Both,” he answered then grinned. “You know me well.”
“So what else is in store for today?” she asked, noticing from the clock on the wall they only had a few minutes left before she had to meet the car.
“Surprises that you know I will not share with you right now. Besides, I’ve got a question of my own,” he said, looking around her. “I’ve been really patient but you’ve brought a package in here. Is that for me?”
“Oh, yes. I’m so daft. How did I forget?” She pulled away from him and ran to the other side of the desk to retrieve it. “It is just something small but it made me think of you.”
Silas took the package from her hands and carefully undid the wrapping. It was a children’s book. On the cover was a little boy with black hair standing on the riverbank watching a fancy boat float lazily down the river. He flipped through the glossy pages slowly before he looked up at her. There were only a few words. It was mainly boldly colored whimsical pictures. Each page showed the boy captaining a different boat. The last page was an image of a little boy with a rustic handmade wooden raft floating down the river. When he finished the page he ran his hands over the spine of the beautiful picture book trying to find words.
Emmie was uncomfortable in the silence so she began to ramble, “I know it’s silly. I saw it when we were in the shop. I nearly bought it for the Bell House but ended up settling on a book of fairy tales. I just couldn’t get the book out of my mind though. It reminded me of you. You mentioned once that you used to want to design boats and you gave Max that toy boat as a gift. It just made me think of you. I thought you might like to read it to our little boy someday.” She couldn’t believe she had just brought their imaginary child into the conversation. As soon as the words left her mouth she felt her face flush with embarrassment.
Silas looked up from the book. His eyes were wide and startled. She couldn’t tell if he was scared or surprised at her words. She did know one thing though, she wish liked the dickens she could just keep her mouth shut.
Chapter Seventeen
An awkward silence ate up a few moments while Silas stood there, too startled to speak, with the children’s book in his hand.
“You bought me a book to read to our children?” he said quietly.
Oh dear Lord. When he put it like that it sounded so stupid. Emmie moved away from him and rubbed her brow before she spoke.
“No. I mean. That’s not what I meant. I mean . . . you can read it with your children someday. Not our children. I didn’t mean to imply that we will have children.” She frowned as she said the words. That hadn’t come out right either.
His surprise turned to a grin. “You bought me a book to read to my son I’m going to have with someone else?”
“No.” She rubbed her brow again. It was a mannerism she’d picked up from him. “I didn’t mean that either. I don’t want you to have a child with someone else.”
He poked a finger at her chest grinning as he said, “So you’ve been thinking about making babies with me, Emmie?”
Her face flamed with embarrassment. She put her hand out. “Just give me back the book. I’d like to donate it to the Bell House and pretend these last few minutes never happened.”
Silas looked down at the book again. For just a second she thought he looked sad before looking back up at her with a soft smile. “I shouldn’t have teased you. Honestly, this is one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received.”
Emmie relaxed a little. “I just wanted to do something nice for you. You’ve gone to all this effort for me today and who knows what else you have planned. When I saw the book I couldn’t help but imagine that must have been what you were like as a boy.” She swallowed hard and forced herself to say the rest. “I also couldn’t help but imagine what you might look like reading it to your own little boy or girl.”
Silas sighed as he pulled her into a hug. He kissed her temple before he spoke. “What did I do to deserve someone like you?”
“I feel the same way,” she agreed.
“I love you, Mo Chuisle,” he said into her ear.
*
Even now, an hour after the conversation, a part of her wanted to go find some dark cave to hide in. She still felt embarrassed. Of course, it had been presumptuous for her to buy a book for their children. Emmie looked at her best friend as she slipped a winter-white dress over her body. She smiled then felt foolish again as she thought of the silly book. She had no promise from Silas. She wasn’t the one choosing a wedding dress right now, was she?
“Emmie, what do you think?” Ava asked, spreading her arms wide and doing a little spin.
“Careful, Miss, there are still pins in it. I don’t want you to be full of holes,” the dress-shop owner said.
“It’s lovely,” Emmie said honestly as she walked forward to touch the fabric. It was perfect. She didn’t know the details of Ava’s wedding plan. She wasn’t even sure there was a plan but the fact they’d met at a dress shop and Molly was smiling and engaging in the dress discussion made her think they had come to some sort of understanding about the impending nuptials. Judging from the dress she had chosen it was going to be a small affair. The dress was an understated beauty. When it was hemmed properly it would come above her ankle. Thin layers of creamy colored silk began at Ava’s natural waist and cascaded down to the bottom of the dress. Although the dress was a little formfitting there would be no worry of Ava’s tiny bump showing in the dress because of the elegant drapes of the fabric.
“How long will it take to alter the dress?” Molly asked the shop owner.
“We are a little behind right now, but I’d say we could have it all ready for her in two or three weeks,” she said.
“Can we pay you for a rush order?” Molly asked.
“I’m not sure. I’d have to check with our seamstress. Surely you cannot be in that much of a hurry. Proper weddings, fit for someone of Ava’s class, take longer than that to plan,” she said and then turned to Ava. “If you will just slip off the dress, I need to get a few measurements.”
“My wedding is next week, can you have it ready by then? We will pay anything,” Ava said with a smile. Emmie could see the pain in her eyes.
“Next week?” The shop owner’s voice came out as a high-pitched squawk. Then a dawning of realization fell over her expression. “So,” she said looking at Ava’s abdomen, “I take it this is a rushed wedding. Well, I don’t think we can have this one ready. Perhaps you may like to try one of our ready-made dresses that wouldn’t need to be altered for you.”
Emmie watched as both Ava and Molly’s face fell. Jemma stood and put her hand on her cousin’s. “Ma sews a little. Maybe she could finish it for you.”
Emmie shook her head and closed the space between her and her friend. “Two to three weeks to finish this dress is a ridiculous amount of time.” She made a dramatic affair of giving the dress a once over. “It’s practically ready made,” she said, glancing up at the shop owner.
“These things take time. The silk is a delicate material,” she snapped at Emmie.
“Pish-posh,” Emmie said, pulling a word from Ava’s vocabulary. “What this dress needs is a stitch taken in here or there and a little hemming. I’ll have it done in a day or two. They will take the dress as is. I expect you will not charge them full price either, since you are not completing the dress and you are putting me out to do so.”
“Full price is fine—” Molly started.
Emmie put up her hand. “Well, if you aren’t going to give them a discount, the least you could do is throw in a headpiece. There’s a lovely beaded
one over there. You liked that one, right Ava?”
Ava was staring at Emmie like she was looking at a stranger. Her mouth still dangled open in surprise as she nodded. Emmie couldn’t help the smile that escaped her. “She does like it. It is only right that you give that to her.”
The woman stumbled over her words for a moment. “Of course. I suppose you are right. Did the rest of you want to pick out something to wear for the occasion?”
“Yes,” Jemma answered, leaning in and whispering to Emmie, “it was part of the plan. A nice evening gown with the rest of the money.”
Emmie sighed. She really didn’t want to buy anything from this store, but Jemma was already leading her over to the far corner that held a selection of party dresses. “He wants you to have something you can wear tonight that is fancy, and he said if you fought with me about it being impractical to remind you that you could wear it again to Ava’s wedding, when the time comes. That was the plan.”
“Okay, I’ll pick out a dress but let me talk to Ava first,” she said, leaving Jemma to search through the sea of dresses.
Emmie reached a hand out and rested it on Ava’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Her friend gave her a somber smile. “I don’t care what that woman thinks.”
They both knew she was lying but Emmie let it go. “Do you need me to help you get out of that dress? It really does have a lot of pins.”
“I’ll help her,” Molly said, walking up to them. “You go enjoy yourself.”
“You don’t have to alter the dress. That’s not why we brought you here. I just wanted you with me when I picked it out,” Ava said with a sad smile.
“Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t let anyone else finish it up for you. I want to do it. Think of it as one small part of your wedding gift from me.”
Come Rain or Shine (Shine On Series, Book Three) Page 8
