Beth_Bride of Massachusetts

by Ashley Merrick

  George looked furious annoyed for a moment and then his face softened. “I’ll have to think about that. My first instinct is to say no. But I was once a child, too, and I used to love to climb trees.” He turned to address Beth and his expression was hard to read. “I’m a bit surprised to hear that Miss Mitchell was also climbing the tree.”

  “I wanted to ensure their safety, of course,” Beth said and then grinned. “And I’ve always loved climbing trees. It’s still a lot of fun.”

  “I see. It’s been many years since I’ve attempted to do that.”

  “Will you climb with us sometime, Uncle George?” Harriet asked eagerly.

  “We’ll see, Harry. We’ll see.”

  “Do you still want me to join you tomorrow morning when you meet with Bob Brown?” Beth asked.

  George hesitated for a moment, and then said, “Yes, of course. I’ll be by in the morning to collect you.”

  “Very well. We’ll be on our way, then. Girls, it was a lovely day. I hope to see you both soon.” Beth stood and her mother did the same.

  “Mandy, thank you for joining us today. I enjoyed our conversation,” her mother said graciously.

  “I did as well,” Mandy said with a smile as she gathered their empty teacups from the table.

  “I had fun today,” Harriet said.

  “I did, too!” Genevieve added.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, then,” Beth said as she and her mother walked out the front door.

  Chapter Seven

  When the door closed and the Mitchell women were on their way, George turned to his family.

  “Cup of tea?” Mandy asked as she set a steaming cup and saucer on the kitchen table.

  “Thank you.” George sat and stirred some sugar into his tea. The house was curiously silent. Mandy and the girls just watched him, waiting to see what he would say next and what kind of a mood he was in. He realized that he still made them nervous at times and the girls especially were not sure how he would react.

  “Come here, girls.”

  Genny and Harry walked over slowly, and Genny was still clutching her dress.

  “Let me see the dress.”

  She handed it over to him and he held it up. It looked fine to him.

  “Where did you tear it?”

  Genny indicated the spot that was now so well mended that unless you looked very closely, you’d never know there was once a rip. Mrs. Mitchell did indeed do beautiful work.

  “So, tell me, what did you both think of Miss Mitchell and Mrs. Mitchell? And did you have a good day?”

  “It was a wonderful day!” Harry said enthusiastically. “Mrs. Mitchell is really nice, but Miss Mitchell is fun and she climbed the tree with us, like she was one of us!” Her voice held an awe that made him smile. Beth had won over his youngest niece, it seemed.

  “It was a very fun day,” Genny confirmed. “Even when I ripped my dress, Miss Mitchell didn’t seem worried about it at all and I only scraped my knee a little bit. It didn’t even hurt. And Mrs. Mitchell said she’d take care of fixing my dress, and she did.”

  “You scraped your knee? Let me see.”

  Genny lifted her dress and showed him her knee, which had the faintest of scratches on it.

  “You’re right, it doesn’t look too bad. Why don’t you two go get washed up for dinner. We’ll be eating soon, I imagine?”

  “I have a roast heating up in the oven, and it should be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

  Once the girls were upstairs, George turned to Mandy. “So, what did you think of the two Mitchell ladies?”

  Mandy hesitated. “I had a wonderful chat with Mrs. Mitchell in the park. She is a lovely woman. I didn’t speak as long to Miss Mitchell as she was off with the children. But from what I saw, she has a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and the children seemed to enjoy being with her.”

  “Do you think she is careful enough with them? That she can be trusted? It is a bit worrisome that on her first day with them, one manages to scrape her knee and tear her dress. What’s next?’

  “I think you will need to make that decision for yourself, after spending more time with her and the children together.”

  George sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

  “If you’re asking if I like her, though, the answer is yes.” Mandy smiled and went to check on the roast.

  George took a sip of his tea and thought about both women. Mrs. Mitchell, he had no concerns about. She had a calming way about her that he felt would be good for the children. She was easy to be around. From Beth’s letter, it was how he’d expected her to be, and she was quite different, from what he’d seen thus far. The children did seem to like her and she was a beautiful girl. He frowned, though. It would almost be easier if she wasn’t so attractive. He hadn’t come to this decision looking for romance. He simply needed a wife, someone who could be a mother to his nieces. He worried that his attraction to Beth could cloud his decision on her suitability for the role.

  And he did find her attractive. Very much so. Thoughts of her pale blonde hair had interrupted his thoughts at the factory more than once today and that was not a good thing. He needed to keep his focus—especially if he wanted to negotiate the best possible deal for the former Brown Textile Mill. He was glad that Beth was going to be joining him tomorrow and his hope was that her presence at the meeting would distract Bob Brown so that he might let something slip that he shouldn’t. Some bit of information that could be useful as he moved forward to prepare an offer to buy his mill.

  Chapter Eight

  George arrived at Beth Mitchell’s apartment promptly at 9:45 the next day. Bob Brown’s office was just up the street a few blocks, so they would be right on time for their appointment at ten. For his appointment, that was. Bob Brown had no idea that he was bringing Miss Mitchell with him. He was looking forward to seeing his expression when she walked in with him.

  George knocked on the door and it was opened a moment later by a pretty young woman with hair as blonde as Beth’s.

  “Hello. You must be Mr. Montgomery. I’m Alice, Beth’s roommate.”

  “A pleasure, Alice. Please, call me George.”

  “And I’m Judith,” a bubbly, red-haired girl introduced herself.

  Beth came out of a back room then, and took George’s breath away. She was dressed in what he guessed might be her Sunday best, a pale lavender dress that made her hair look even lighter. She grabbed a small purse from the kitchen table and put on a long coat, which was a good thing because the air was decidedly cold outside.

  “I’m ready,” she said with a shy smile.

  “Very well, then. We’ll be on our way. Good day, ladies.”

  George led Beth to his buggy, which sat right outside the building.

  “Oh, I assumed we’d be walking.” Beth sounded surprised.

  “I know it’s a short distance, but it is colder than usual today and I always prefer to arrive to these things a few minutes early.” He helped her into the passenger side and then drove the short distance to Bob Brown’s office. George was initially surprised to learn that Bob had an office outside of the mill, but then learned that he was involved with multiple businesses, other than the mill, so conducted all of his business from this office.

  When they reached his building, he pulled up to a hitching post and tied his horses securely to it. Then he helped Beth down and the two of them went inside. The door to Bob’s office was closed, so George knocked on it and waited. A moment later, Bob opened it and invited them in.

  “Welcome, come in.” Bob then saw who was with George and took a step back in surprise. “I didn’t realize that you were bringing someone with you.”

  “Yes. I think you may know Beth Mitchell. She has graciously agreed to become my bride, so I thought it might be interesting for her to become more familiar with my business and since she used to work for you, it seemed appropriate to bring her along. I hope you don’t mind?”

  “Mind? No, of course not,”
Bob stammered as he spun around and then settled himself in the chair behind his desk. He indicated that they should sit in the two chairs facing his desk. As they did, George looked around the office and was not impressed.

  Bob was a slob. There were stacks of soiled papers all about the room, bulging files in a corner, several dirty teacups on a windowsill and there was a distinctive scent, not unlike dirty socks that permeated the room. George wrinkled his nose and wished for Bob to get on with it. He also couldn’t help wondering if the state of his office was any indication as to how he ran his business. He rather hoped so. If the operation was losing money, George would likely be able to get an even better price.

  “So, you’re interested in buying my building? It would be an excellent investment for you,” Bob began and George took an instant dislike to the man. He hadn’t corresponded directly with Bob before this. His attorney had handled that for him, and had arranged for this meeting. He’d offered to join George, but George didn’t want to involve his attorney yet.”

  “I may be interested, yes,” George confirmed.

  “I rather expected that you might have your attorney with you, instead of Miss Mitchell,” he said and then turned to address Beth, “No offense meant.”

  “Of course not,” she said sweetly.

  “I am sure my attorney will get involved at some point. For this meeting, I wanted to just gather some information and learn more about your property.”

  Bob’s face fell.

  “Oh, I thought we would be negotiating today.”

  George was amused by that and it was interesting as well. Bob seemed to be eager to sell.

  “I’m not in a hurry. I never am with big purchases like this. I’m sure you can understand, being a businessman yourself.”

  “Oh, of course, of course. I only bring it up because—well, there are others that have shown interest also.”

  “Oh? That’s good for you, then. Do you have any other offers currently?” George knew that he didn’t but wanted to see his reaction.

  “Um, no. None officially. But strong indication that at least one other is coming, any time now.”

  “Well, do keep me posted on that, if you would. Now let’s discuss the particulars.”

  They chatted for the better part of a half hour, with George asking very specific questions about the building, the business and the extent of the damage.

  “You could be up and running in no time. There are five hundred cast-iron looms that are as good as new. The fire hardly touched them. There is a bit of work to be done to restore the structure of the building—clean it up, put in new support beams.”

  “If it’s that easy, why aren’t you rebuilding?” George asked with an easy smile. The question seemed to catch Bob off guard.

  “Well, I, ah, I could do that, but I’ve decided to focus my interests elsewhere. I’m involved in several other businesses, you know.”

  “Oh, no, I didn’t know that. What else is it that you do?” George smiled again to indicate friendly curiosity. He hoped that Bob would take the bait and try to impress.

  Bob sat up straighter in his chair. “Well, there are several enterprises. There’s an iron mill where we make all kinds of machinery and parts, and a general contracting business.”

  “Oh, that’s interesting. How is the market these days, for building?”

  “It’s good, very good. Business is booming. Lawrence is growing rapidly, as I’m sure you are aware. Prices on everything are going up. This mill could be a very good deal for you, but you should move quickly.”

  “Right. Say, I’m fairly new to this area and was wondering if you could suggest a few places around here where a man could grab a beer after work?”

  Bob glanced at Beth before answering the question and George immediately added, “Oh, Beth knows I sometimes like to have a drink with some of the men I do business with. She doesn’t mind. Perhaps you and I might even share a beer one day. If we did, where would you choose to go?”

  Bob leaned forward and said conspiratorially, “Well, Bill O’Reilly’s is my pub of choice. The food is good and the beer is plentiful. And the price is right.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be sure to stop in there soon.” George turned to Beth then and asked, “Did you have any questions for Mr. Brown?”

  Beth looked surprised for a moment. Then her face lit up and she said, “As a matter of fact, I do. Mr. Brown, I’m curious, do you recall how many looms per floor you had at the mill? I thought you said it was a hundred and fifty, but I’m sure I must have heard wrong. I know on the floor where I worked, there were well over two hundred. At least.”

  George watched in fascination as Bob’s face flushed an angry red.

  “Did I say that? There may be closer to 200. You are correct.”

  “Oh, that’s good to know. I was just curious.” Beth smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes at Bob. He looked both relieved and confused by her demeanor. No doubt he thought she was a dim young girl who suddenly found him attractive, as ridiculous as the very idea was. But yet, Bob was sitting taller in his chair as Beth continued to smile at him.

  “Bob owned the mill for so many years and was a very successful businessman. It really does seem like it could be a wonderful investment, George.” Beth was at her most charming, demure and smiling, and Bob was eating it up. George was amused. He’d never seen this side of her before. She’d managed to completely distract the vile man, while at the same time eliciting some valuable information. If indeed he had two hundred looms on a floor, he was potentially jeopardizing the structure of the building. He would have to look further into that before preparing any kind of an offer.

  “Well, this has been very informative. Thank you for your time, Bob. I am interested and will consult with my attorney regarding next steps. We will be back in touch shortly.”

  Bob stood and held out his hand. “Thank you for coming by. Pleasure to meet you and I look forward to doing some business with you real soon.”

  “Good-bye, Mr. Brown. Lovely seeing you again.” Beth let her smile linger as she rose from her chair.

  “A pleasure to see you again, Miss Mitchell. You are looking very well.” Bob held the door open for them as Beth followed George out of the office.

  Once they were on the street, George turned to her. “Thank you for coming with me. That was very informative. Thank you for picking up on his comment about the number of looms per floor. I don’t suppose that was a simple oversight on his end?”

  Sweet, demure Beth had disappeared. “What do you think? That could be his motive for the fire. I think I recall Roberta, the factory manager, mentioning something about an upcoming inspection. A new policy that had been implemented to help prevent mill tragedies like what happened to the Pemberton Mill.”

  “The one that collapsed unexpectedly?”

  “Yes. The building wasn’t designed to handle the weight of all those heavy looms, especially on the upper floors. They finally buckled like dominos. We were just talking about it yesterday when we went to the park.”

  “You may be on to something. If he was trying to cut corners that way, it may have caught up with him.”

  Chapter Nine

  “It’s a bit early, but I’d like to take you to lunch as a thank you for accompanying me this morning. We have time for a tour of my mill, if you’re interested?” George asked.

  “I’d like that.” Beth was curious to see the inside of George’s mill. The only place she’d ever worked was at Bob Brown’s mill and she wondered if George’s might be very different. She’d been impressed by him during their meeting with Bob. George was obviously a very smart and successful businessman and Bob Brown—well, Bob was not. The state of his office did not surprise her one bit and in her opinion it did reflect the way he ran his business. Poorly.

  She and George chatted easily during the short ride to his mill. When they stepped inside, she felt an immediate difference. The workers seemed happy, people were smiling and looked interested in wha
t they were doing. The energy level was high and as they walked around and George introduced her to some of his workers, she was impressed by the respect and admiration they showed for him. It was a very different environment than the Brown Textile Mill. Beth also noticed that although there were many heavy looms on each floor, they were spaced out and the floors were so clean that they gleamed as the sun shone through the windows.

  Once they’d toured the whole company, Beth followed George back to his buggy. As they drove off, she felt her stomach grumble, signifying that it was indeed time for lunch. They went back to Sherman’s and the same, white-haired man at the front desk smiled when he saw them and led them to a quiet table by a window.

  “I hope you don’t mind that I’ve brought you here again. It’s just that their food is the best I’ve had in this town.”

  “Of course I don’t mind. It’s a treat to come here.” It was. Food was such a scarcity lately that going out to eat was much more welcome than George could ever realize. It would make up for the cabbage soup she knew they’d be having once again for dinner. The specials sounded delicious, and when the waiter returned for their order, Beth chose a bacon, tomato and cheese grilled sandwich and George ordered a small steak.

  “I thought that we could get to know each other a little better,” George began.

  “I’d like that.” Beth tried to sound sweet and shy. George raised his eyebrows and she blushed for real. It was an effort trying to be someone she was not.

  “There’s one thing that I can’t stand, and that is someone who is not being truthful. We’ll get along well, but don’t ever lie to me, Beth. I can handle bad news. But I won’t put up with dishonesty.”

  Beth swallowed hard. “I understand.”

  “Do you, I wonder?” He picked his water glass and Beth felt her anger grow. Was he calling her a liar?

  “I have never lied to you,” she said stiffly.