Neil came into the living room and dropped a pile of old, ill-fitting pants in front of the young ladies. He smirked at them. “Papa told me that I didn’t have to work today since going outside is a bad idea. But here you two are.” He tisked like they had been put to work and hadn’t chosen to take on the task of their own volition.
“Sometimes working in aid of others, out of the goodness of one’s own heart, is better than working because one feels obligated.” Hattie raised her eyes from her stitches and met Neil’s belittling gaze. “It’s good of you to mind Papa, but you might consider how you can help our new neighbors feel more comfortable and at home, too.”
Neil mimicked her a moment until he realized that their mother was watching.
“How may I help?” he asked then, invisible tail between his legs.
“See that a space is cleared in your room,” their mother said. “And make sure that your room is tidy. Young Mr. Cooke will be staying with you.”
He nodded and was gone. At least he was a quick worker when he was asked to do something.
Zelda reddened a bit when she thought about Tom sharing a room with Neil. “Oh, I do hope that he doesn’t embarrass me!”
Mrs. Hughes smirked at her. “Hopefully he won’t embarrass any of us.”
Chapter Eight
Mr. Hughes left the house early the following morning. The strong winds had died down some, making it possible to walk about without being swept away. Hattie and Zelda were bunked together in Zelda’s room, leaving Hattie’s room free for Miss Diana. “If Mr. Thomas Jr. would rather, you can sleep with Daniel,” their mother informed Neil at the breakfast table. “I’m not sure how much space he will be needing.”
“Besides, he might not like you,” Zelda said teasingly.
“I don’t care about being liked by him as much as you,” Neil shot back.
She stared at him, shocked and outraged that he’d stooped to such a low, but she knew that it was better to guard how offended she actually was. After all, then he would know that he was right. She didn’t need him knowing just how big of a crush she had on their new male neighbor.
It was the day before Christmas Eve and after they had shared breakfast together, they went into their rooms to get ready to greet their guests. Zelda went through the wardrobe she had set out especially for the occasion. She decided to wear a red velvet dress, saving the green for the following day. Hattie helped her into it and helped brush her long hair. Afterward, Zelda spun around and helped Hattie with her own dress – a pleasant blue gown that she usually reserved for Sunday services.
“Well, there’s no accounting for how Neil and Daniel behave, but at least we’re putting effort into things,” Zelda said with a grin. She gently braided Hattie’s locks and then set them with some dainty blue and white bows.
They heard the sound of the front door opening and eagerly came down the stairs together, holding onto each other’s hands in their excitement. When they reached the bottom, they watched as their father held the door open and gestured for their neighbors to come into the house one after the other. Mr. Cooke – Thomas, Sr. – came in first, smiling mirthfully as he took in the home’s decorations and furnishings. There was a tree in the living room, though it wasn’t the height that Mr. Hughes would normally have aimed for. He’d meant to go out looking for a taller one, but then the snowstorm had thwarted his plans.
The staircase’s rails were covered in green garlands, and there was no shortage of candles and baubles of red and green everywhere one looked. Thomas, Sr. was enchanted. Zelda saw it in his eyes. “Thank you for inviting us into your home for Christmas,” he said sincerely, to Mrs. Hughes.
She nodded to him politely. “It is our honor to have you here with us,” she replied.
His wife, Mrs. Violet Cooke, entered, carrying a tray of sweet smelling treats covered with a dish to protect them from the harsh weather. She beamed as soon as she saw Mrs. Hughes standing there and went over to her at once. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought along some Johnny cakes for the festivities.”
“Mind?” Mrs. Hughes said jovially. “Oh, why on earth would I mind? I’m delighted! Thank you so very much, Mrs. Cooke.”
The two ladies disappeared into the kitchen to take care of the cakes and to prepare some tea and cider for everyone. Zelda smiled, happy that her mother, at last, had a friend who wasn’t a family member. A friend her own age.
Right as she was thinking such a thing, Diana came through the door. She was wearing a blue and white dress beneath a brown hooded cloak. She smiled widely as soon as she was inside, taking off her hood and revealing her long blond, curled locks. She had sweet dimples on her cheeks and Zelda was pleased to see her looking much happier now that she’d been in town for a while. She locked eyes with Zelda and rushed towards her, extending her hands to her. Zelda happily took her hands and they hopped up and down together with excitement.
“Thank you so much for the lovely letter!” Diana said at once. “I meant to write back to you, but I simply never found the time or the paper.”
Zelda giggled a bit. “It’s all right,” she said, giving her hands a gentle squeeze. “What matters is that you received it and that you liked it. I hope that Ogden has been treating you well; this weather notwithstanding.”
“Oh, it has been treating us fairly well,” Diana said. “Father has been working awfully hard on the railroad. And my brother Tom, of course, has been right there with him. My mother and I have been doing our best to keep busy with the home. Though I’m sure you’re no doubt aware of our difficulty in keeping our home intact.”
Zelda’s heart went out to them. “Surely the supplies that my father gave have been helpful?”
“Oh yes,” Diana was quick to affirm. “We’ve been much better off ever since. Father is skilled with woodwork and normally would be able to build quite a nice home for us, but due to the fact that he’s been gone most days with the railway workers… Well, he hasn’t had much time. And now that the weather’s turned so cold and bitter…”
Nodding sympathetically, Zelda bit her lip.
Only then did she cast her eyes back towards the front doorway, where she found Thomas Jr. deep in conversation with her father. She reddened and lowered her gaze to the floor.
Diana noticed where Zelda’s gaze went and she smiled rather more amusedly than Zelda wanted. “He hasn’t quite been able to keep himself from mentioning you in conversation, you know,” she whispered to Zelda, which succeeded in making her go even more crimson.
“That’s not true, is it?” Zelda asked her in a shy whisper. “What have I done to deserve that?”
She was relieved that Diana seemed to approve, at least. It would’ve been a great deal more embarrassing and humiliating if Diana had been irked in some way by Zelda’s apparently obvious crush.
Tom finished up his polite conversation with Mr. Hughes and came into the house, strolling easily to Diana’s side. He smiled and gave a friendly nod to Zelda. “Hello again,” he said. “I hope you’ve been well.”
Mrs. Hughes knew that her new guests still needed to get settled in and were likely cold, so she ushered the Cookes upstairs to the bedrooms that had been prepared for them. There was one guest room in the house that would serve as Mr. and Mrs. Cooke’s bedroom, and as for the younger folks, they would be sharing the space between them.
The house was certainly a full one before the Cookes arrived, but Zelda knew that there was going to be something cozy about having them stay over. She looked forward to spending Christmas with the Cookes and she hoped that this would be her chance to get to know Tom a bit better, too.
Chapter Nine
On the morning of Christmas, Zelda rose with the sun, forgetting briefly that she didn’t have to go out into the snow to feed the animals. They’d been fed more than their usual portions so that they could last throughout the nasty bout of weather. As she sank back into her bed, she smiled to herself. It’s Christmas! she thought.
“Hatt
ie?” she whispered, not wanting to disturb her sister if she was still fast asleep. “Are you awake?”
Hattie’s only reply was a strange little snore sound, like the mew of a kitten. That reminded Zelda of poor Genie the cat. She quickly got out of bed, put on a thick, wooly red robe and stepped into her pink slippers. She made sure to close up her robe so that she’d be decent in case any of the men were about, particularly the young ones.
Zelda crept into the hall and let out a short sigh of relief when she didn’t see anyone. One thing she liked best was the early hours of Christmas when she was the only one awake in the house. She wasn’t sure why, but it always seemed to work out that way. It must’ve been because she was in the habit of heading out first thing in the morning to take care of the animals, she thought.
Suddenly, the sight of someone in the living room woke her from her musings. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, who should appear but Tom! He was sitting on the couch in the living room, admiring the tree with its candles and the stacks of colorfully-wrapped presents underneath. As soon as he heard the sound of footsteps, he turned around and grinned. “Zelda,” he said softly, careful to not disturb the blissful silence which filled the room.
“I didn’t think that anyone would be awake yet,” she said, as she entered the room. “I just realized that we’ve closed the door on our cat and she’ll want to come inside instead of sleeping in the drafty old barn…”
“You have a cat, too?” he asked, sounding both amused and surprised. “It seems as though you’ve thought of everything, you and your family. We came all the way here from California with nothing but the random odds and ends in our wagons. We weren’t quite prepared for things here. Only the promise of a more lucrative business venture.”
He looked at her. Zelda’s lost expression amused him even more than the fact that she had a cat that she obviously cared strongly about. “I don’t mean to bore you with that right now,” he said as he stood up and placed his hands on his hips in a pose of mock urgency. “Where could your cat be?”
Zelda giggled at him a little. “It’s cute of you to pretend to care,” she said.
“Oh no, no, I care a lot,” Tom said, in a tone that was surprising in its lack of ridicule. “I really do think that time is of the essence, considering how cold it is outside.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Well then, it’s nice of you to care. She usually does an okay job of finding someplace to shelter.”
Zelda led him to the back door of the farmhouse, curious about how he might react once they found the little one-eyed beast. “I’m warning you now, though, she is a sight only a mother could love.”
“Does she catch mice for you?” he asked. When she nodded, Tom whistled a light, airy note that seemed to signify that he’d only recently learned how to whistle. “We should get one of those. Mousers. We’ve got a lot of mice in our house, probably on account of my mother’s baking.” He grinned at her then. “Which reminds me: wait until you taste her Johnny cakes. They’ll make your Christmas. They’re the reason my parents got married… or so the Cooke family legend goes.”
Zelda smirked at him. “Cooke family legend…” She turned her attention back to finding the cat. Opening the back door just a crack, she called the cat’s name in the general direction where she was last spotted. “Genie!”
Sure enough, the white cat came sauntering into the house from the direction of the chicken coop. She looked up at Zelda and Tom and meowed softly.
“Oh, I really hope you weren’t giving the hens a hard time,” Zelda groaned, scooping the cat up into her arms before closing the back door. She held her up for Tom to see.
He was a bit taken aback by the cat’s missing eye. She had an all-around rugged and scruffy appearance. “She looks like she could live through anything,” he remarked, stroking the top of Genie’s head.
“I know,” Zelda said with another giggle. “I think it makes her look tough. Papa doesn’t like her in the house, but I think we can make an exception this time, because of the weather. And it’s Christmas!” As she said it, it was as if she was just remembering what day it was.
Tom chuckled. “You just realized?”
Zelda shook her head and gently set the cat down, watching as she scampered off in search of mice or any spare bits of food that she might find on the floor.
“I didn’t just realize – I just remembered. It’s the reason I’m awake so early. I always wake up early on Christmas, even though I don’t have to. Speaking of, why are you awake?”
Tom smiled at her. “The same reason, mostly,” he told her. “I have a hard time sleeping when I’m excited about something. And who isn’t excited on Christmas?”
She smiled back at him. Together, they went back out to the living room and sat on the couch, a cushion between them in order to remain proper. They took turns trying to guess what each present under the tree was, and they had a laughter-filled time doing so.
This all ended rather abruptly when Zelda’s father appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He was watching them, glaring and frowning and she knew that she was in for it. She didn’t exactly know why, but she was in trouble.
Chapter Ten
It didn’t take long before everyone else was awake and assembled downstairs. Though they were trying to be good hosts, Zelda’s papa led her mama into the kitchen for a discussion away from their guests and children. Being the eldest, Zelda wanted to be aware of what was going on. She approached the doorway of the kitchen, keeping out of sight and listening in on what her parents were saying even though it meant sacrificing precious time she could be spending with Tom and Diana Cooke in order to do so.
“I’m sorry, Emma, but I cannot abide having that man in my house longer than necessary,” Mr. Hughes told his wife in a low voice, thinking that no one else could hear him.
“What did he do?” Mrs. Hughes asked him. “Apart from happening to work for the railroad?”
“That’s enough for me to not want him here,” Zelda’s father said indignantly. “He’s so arrogant. And his son follows in his footsteps. I caught him sitting with Zelda this morning, putting all kinds of ideas into her head.”
Mrs. Hughes clicked her tongue in that way she did when the children were behaving in a way she didn’t approve of. “Really, dear, are you sure of any of this? I’ve found the Cookes to be nothing but polite and grateful for our help… I know that Zelda, in particular, is quite fond of them.”
“Doesn’t it concern you at all?” he returned. “She is slipping away from us to join that… that…”
“She’s young,” Mrs. Hughes said. “And, like it or not, the railways are the future.”
“Well, I do not approve of it.”
Zelda’s heart sank. That seemed to be the end of it. She’d hoped that her father might be coming around to the idea, but he was dead set against the Cookes and their occupation in Ogden.
She swiftly went back out into the living room so that her parents wouldn’t discover her standing within earshot of their conversation. Hattie looked at her curiously but said nothing. After a few moments, their parents reappeared in the living room as if they hadn’t been off talking about how much they disliked their guests.
“Good morning and merry Christmas, everyone,” her mother said brightly, smiling all around.
Zelda averted her gaze from her mother’s eyes. She wished her mother would be a bit more argumentative when it came to matters on which she and Mr. Hughes disagreed. It would go against the rules of society, of course, if she was to be too strong-willed, but it wouldn’t hurt to speak her mind a little. Zelda vowed to be more like the way she wished her mother would be in her own future marriage.
“We are so glad to have you all here with us this year,” her father told the Cookes; lying through his teeth even as he smiled at them.
The gift exchange was an altogether sweet affair, with the highlight being when Zelda and Hattie presented their quilt to their neighbors. “Please don’t fee
l obligated to use this if you don’t want to, but we thought this would be a big help in keeping warm this winter.”
Mrs. Cooke in particular was touched. Tears welled up in her eyes and her chin even shook a little. “Aww, thank you so much! How thoughtful of you.” She looked at her husband. “This will help with some of the drafts we’ve been noticing of late.”
“Very sweet,” he agreed, nodding and grinning at the young ladies. He gratefully took the heavy blanket from their outstretched arms and his family all gathered around to admire it.
“You really must teach me how to stitch like this,” Diana told them, running her fingertips over the threaded squares of fabric.
Mr. Hughes watched this exchange with growing malice in his eyes.
“Hopefully that quilt will be helpful for you once you’re back at your own house,” Mrs. Hughes said quite awkwardly, trying to gently hint at what her husband was thinking.
The entire Cooke family looked at her, their smiles fading from their faces. “Yes, well,” Thomas Sr. said, surveying the opened presents on the floor in front of them. “I do suppose since the storm has let up, that we should really be on our way now. Thank you for having us over for Christmas. It truly was an honor.”
Zelda listened to Mr. Cooke speak, noting with a small, bleak measure of satisfaction that he didn’t at all strike her as arrogant or even the slightest bit rude like her father had said. He struck her as a hard-working, honest man…
“I hope that we can spend more time together in the future,” she offered with a friendly, sincere smile to combat her father’s forced one.
“I’d like that,” Tom said to her, smiling back.
“Yes, well, you see, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Zelda’s father said. “After all, don’t you find that your way of life is at odds with ours? We are simple farmers, yes, but we are happy here. We don’t want your railroad coming through this area and changing everything. We also don’t want you and your kind blowing through this town and then going away without doing anything to contribute to the prosperity here.”
Annie: A Bride For The Farmhand - A Clean Historical Western Romance (Stewart House Brides Book 3) Page 18
