After the men had eaten their second bowlful of beef and vegetable stew and buttered bread, Olivia poured them another cup of coffee, and Stella brought over some of her wrapped sweets.
“I know you took all those people in and made them feel at home. I’m proud of you. But, Grandmother,” Neil scolded, “I suppose you gave them your cold since you didn’t follow the doctor’s orders and stay in bed.”
She shushed him. “I don’t need a doctor to tell me when to get out of bed. Anyway, a lot of sickness is right up here.” She tapped the side of her head. “Why, there’s nothing like a houseful of people to invigorate me.”
They all laughed. Olivia saw Stella nod. She’d told Olivia before that she drew energy from the crowds who watched her perform. That seemed to be how Mama McCory felt about having people around her.
Danny began to praise the sweet he was eating. “I’ve never tasted anything as good as this. Where’d it come from?”
That led to the discussion of Stella’s Sweets. “You could make a fortune selling these.” His grin at Stella dimpled his cheek and gave him a cute, boyish look.
That night after she and Stella were in bed, propped up with their now-usual bowl of popped corn, Olivia said, “I think Danny took a shine to you.”
“Oh, I know his kind. He has those dark curls falling over his forehead and looks at you with those big blue eyes and gets those dimples in his face and expects a woman to fall for him. They probably have. But I’m not taken in. Anyway, I think he’s too young for me.”
“No, he’s not. He has a lot of gray hair in those dark curls you noticed. I wonder what kind of work he does. . . .”
The next morning at breakfast they learned that Danny was a logger. “I can’t do that kind of work with a broken arm,” he told them.
“You need to be around where I can check that arm every day for at least another week,” Neil told him. “It was a nasty break, and if you get infection in it, you could even lose it.”
“To be honest with you, I don’t have the kind of money to stay in a place like this. But I’ll make it. Have all my life.” He looked at Neil. “Don’t suppose you could use some help around here?”
“What can you do?”
“Lot of things a man can do with one hand. I can carry logs and a coal scuttle, clean out a fireplace, and lay a fire. I can take care of horses and clean out a stable.” He looked around at the women. “I reckon I can dust if I have to. And sweep. Even crack an egg with one hand.”
Neil studied him for a while. “Room and board for a week in exchange for work. That is, if the ladies agree. They usually only serve breakfast to guests.”
Olivia and Mama McCory looked at Stella, since she’d taken over most of the cooking. Danny’s big soulful eyes pled with her.
“Oh, all right,” Stella said. “Just know it’s the egg-cracking part that swayed me.”
Over the next few days, Danny proved to be a good worker. Having a man around during the day, even with only one good arm, was better than Olivia and Stella having to try and fix things themselves. The slats on an upstairs bed had fallen out. A curtain needed to be taken down so the hem could be sewn. There was always something.
Danny was fun, too, and since there were no guests in the inn and he was having meals with them, Neil invited him to join them in the parlor after their dinners.
Olivia enjoyed seeing how Neil related to another man. They seemed to go beyond the doctor-patient relationship to being friends. They discussed the bigger issues of progress and politics, but what she liked most was their banter over baseball teams and which were the better trout streams for fishing. Each claimed to have caught the bigger fish.
Some evenings, Olivia and Stella took turns playing the piano. Olivia played sheet music and hymns. Stella entertained them with her rambunctious style of playing. “Best not to sing the words to these,” she’d say.
The icy wind howled outside, but they were warm and cozy by the fire, singing and laughing.
After several nights, Danny seemed unusually serious. He thanked them for taking him in like he was a part of a family.
“Don’t you have any family?” Mama McCory asked.
“I’ve been on my own since I was sixteen. I roamed around, had odd jobs until I finally found a girl I wanted to settle down with.” Danny paused as if to compose himself for what he was about to tell. “She went out on a boat one day. Something happened, and it capsized.” He grimaced with the memory. “She couldn’t swim, and nobody could get to her in time. She wasn’t the only one that day. . . .” His voice trailed off, but he seemed to shake himself out of that mood. “So”—he slapped his knees—“I’ve been all over since—seeing the world, so to speak.”
“What did you find was the most interesting?” Stella asked.
He looked at her a long time, curiously, as if she might be making fun, but she just stared back. Finally, he nodded. “The circus, I guess. I wanted to be the lion tamer, but the one who had the job kept his head, so I never did get to do that.” Danny laughed lightly. “I did some trapeze work and even cleaned up after elephants. I’m experienced in a lot of things. I’ve also laid railroad tracks.” He held up his hands. “Not the ones where the train derailed.”
They laughed at that.
His serious mood returned as he said, “I have to leave tomorrow. There’s business I have to take care of. You’ve all shown me what a real family should be like. I’ll never forget it.”
“You’re welcome here anytime.” Neil voiced what Olivia knew they all felt.
eighteen
Danny left the next morning after breakfast. His last words were, “I’ll be back.”
“He won’t be back,” Stella told Olivia when they were alone in the kitchen, cleaning up. “He’s like many actors. They just can’t stay in one place.”
“You have for quite a while,” Olivia said.
“It’s all right for a man to travel around alone, but not for a woman when she gets a little age on her.”
The house seemed cold, lifeless. There were no guests.
Olivia thought Neil missed Danny, too. They all obviously did, as it was much quieter during supper. They ate in the kitchen that was warm from the stove to avoid having to light fires in the dining room, making the house seem even colder.
After supper, Olivia expected they would all turn in early. Neil had enjoyed a male friend. He probably preferred that over having to pay attention to his “wife.” She expected Neil would have her play something and probably suggest they all turn in early.
They did go to the parlor as usual after supper. Neil threw on another log, and soon the glow and warmth of the fire displaced the former chill of the room. Mama McCory settled on the couch with her embroidery.
When Neil went to the phonograph, Olivia thought he knew none of them felt like being too lively tonight. She saw him look through the recordings, then one she gave him for Christmas began to fill the room with the melodic tones of “Sweet Adeline.”
Neil walked over to where she stood near the fire. “Shall we try our hand at a game of checkers?” he said, as if that were a usual night’s event. It wasn’t, of course.
Olivia nodded. She hadn’t played in a long time.
He took first the checkerboard table then the two straight chairs away from the window and brought them closer to the fire and the couch, then sat.
Olivia looked at Mama McCory and Stella. They lifted their eyebrows and shrugged.
Neil opened the drawer in the checkerboard table. “Black or red?”
“Red.” She sat and scooted up to the table.
He filled her side of the board with red, then started on his side with black. “On your mark, get set—”
“Are we running a race or playing checkers?”
“The goal is to win, fast or slow.” He set down the last black checker with a sense of finality and moved closer to the table.
Olivia could hardly believe the challenge in his dark eyes. All right, s
o he played to win. Well, he would find out his meek and mild wife could be just as determined. She made her first move.
Before long, accompanied by “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree,” Neil leaned back and rubbed his hands together in victory.
“That was your lucky win.”
“Two out of three, then.”
He won the next one and wore a triumphant grin while placing the checkers.
“I need some hot chocolate,” Olivia said. What she needed was to get her wits about her. She’d expected Neil to be sad that his new friend had left. Instead, he was acting like he wanted nothing more than an evening with his “wife” and family.
As they continued to play several games, he even joined in softly singing, “Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider.”
Olivia stared at the board as if trying to figure out a move. Much of the time, however, she marveled at how sincere Stella sounded about embroidery. One would think she was simply a middle-aged mother enjoying a quiet evening.
“My mother taught me when I was a girl,” Stella said. “But I haven’t done this in years.”
“Stella Kevay,” Mama McCory scolded, “I know you heard Neil tell me to take up embroidery again because the exercise might be good for my fingers. Now you’ve become his nurse, making me use my hands.”
Stella didn’t deny it. “Sounds like a good reason to me.”
The wood popped and crackled in the fireplace. Olivia felt the warmth and smelled the wood smoke mingled with hot chocolate when she lifted the cup to her lips. At least she did not smell that faint musky fragrance.
She could not sit there and think all night, so she made a move on the checkerboard and to her surprise was able to jump several of Neil’s black men. “Crown me,” she said.
He did. Finally, he was cornered. “You win,” he said and sat back with his thumbs hooked into the armholes of his vest. He seemed pleased.
“It’s about time,” she said.
“All you needed was a good teacher. You’ve watched me win several times tonight, and you’re finally getting the hang of it.”
She scoffed. “Oh, so you’re taking credit for my win.”
“Of course.”
Olivia shook her head and went over to look at the little bluebirds with pink ribbons in their beaks that the two women were embroidering on pillowcases. Soon, however, Mama McCory said she must turn in. “You know the saying that ‘early to bed and early to rise makes one healthy, wealthy, and wise.’ ”
“I should try it,” Stella said.
“Oh, but you must be very wise, having come from the mining area, raising your daughter alone, and even sending her to college. That must have been a great sacrifice for you.”
“When Juliet went to college, she lived with my brother in the city. He paid for her education.”
Olivia was glad Stella had not lied about that. She simply omitted the fact that her brother was also Olivia’s father.
“That’s good.” Mama McCory was nodding. “Families should help out. That’s what I’ve told Neil when he has said I’ve sacrificed for him. Trying to be a parent to Neil was never a burden. Oh, he could be a pistol at times, but it’s still a joy to care for someone you love.”
Olivia watched warmth come into Neil’s eyes when he looked at his grandmother and smiled. They all seemed rather mesmerized as “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” permeated the room.
Then the music stopped.
Olivia realized she was toying with the locket Mama McCory had given her for Christmas. She often wore it, although there were no pictures of her and Neil inside. The locket was empty. She quickly moved her hand from the locket and with her glance saw the rings she wore.
It wasn’t often she thought about it. But someday she’d take off the locket for the last time. She had no right to Mama McCory’s locket, Neil’s mother’s engagement ring, or Neil’s wedding band. Did he ever think of that?
He got up and put the screen close around the fireplace. There would be ashes by morning. Just like the warmth of this room, the laughter, the togetherness, the love. . .someday, those things, too, would be ashes.
nineteen
March winds whistled through the trees. Much of the land-scape remained blanketed with snow and ice until the rains and floods of April washed them away. First came the white dogwood and yellow forsythia. Then tender red maple buds and tender green leaves made their appearance.
So did Danny.
His arm had healed and was getting stronger every day. Neil gave him a job and also the room on the lower floor that Bart and Hedda had in the summers when they stayed overnight at the inn.
Sunshine and longer days meant Danny would be painting or repairing until late. He still had time to comment on Stella’s Sweets. “You could sell these all over.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “You get the stores to buy them, and I’ll bake them.”
So he did. Before long, he was acting as her promoter, selling her sweets to the general store, the Soda Shoppe, the bakery, the grocery store, and even the bakeries and shops down in Canaan Valley. He’d found out how to get paper with Stella’s Sweets printed on it. Before long, he had her baking and packaging, and he sent her sweets on the train to the nearby cities.
Danny wasn’t just a friend anymore, he was a full-time employee. Like I am, Olivia often thought. She and Stella, and even Mama McCory, spent time in the evenings in the flower beds making sure the inn would be spectacular for tourist season.
Danny began sitting beside Stella on the family pew at church. On Easter Sunday, Pastor Whitfield talked about Jesus, who grew to be a man and was sacrificed for everyone in the world who would believe in Him.
He said now that the mountains had thawed, new people would be moving in, so they needed to spread the gospel. And they could now baptize people in the river.
Later, when they were changing out of their Easter bonnets and fancy clothes, Stella asked Olivia, “You think we should get dipped in the river?”
“Do you understand all that? I mean, what they mean about Jesus coming into your heart?”
“I think it’s a symbol, like baptism. The church members didn’t have some kind of heart attack. It’s ridiculous to think this little Man, or big Man, climbs in there and lives.”
“That sounds funny,” Olivia said. “But I’m not about to laugh. God might think I’m making fun of Him.”
“I know,” Stella said seriously. “I’m just trying to figure all this out, too. But if we’re going to do this right, we have to do what the other church members do and learn to be good Christians.”
Olivia sighed. “I keep hearing that we’re supposed to have Jesus in our hearts, but nobody tells us how to do that.”
Stella agreed. “We need to ask without sounding completely ignorant.”
That evening when they, Neil, and Mama McCory had a light supper in the kitchen, Olivia approached the subject she and Stella had discussed. “Baptism,” she began. “The church I went to in Davidson never mentioned it. But, um, Pastor Whitfield talked about being baptized in the river.”
“Different churches have different symbols for showing a change has taken place inside someone,” Neil said. “Pastor Whitfield likes to take believers down to the river and baptize them.”
“I’ve heard of that,” Stella said. “You mean he holds them underwater?”
Neil saw his grandmother put her hand to her mouth, and she chuckled. “Not hold them under,” Neil said. “He just takes them under until they’re covered with water, then brings them up. That symbolizes being dead to the old self and starting a new life living according to the teachings of Jesus.”
“So, since Stella and I go to church and we are having the Bible studies again, should we be baptized? Otherwise, are we being hypocrites?”
Olivia didn’t know what the ensuing silence meant. When her gaze met Mama McCory’s, the woman said, “I’m thinking on this.” She looked at her grandson. “Neil?”
Finally, Neil said, “You
may be right. If the church people knew you hadn’t been baptized, they might think you don’t believe like we do. But,” he said quickly, “baptism doesn’t save you. It’s a symbol of what you believe.”
“Save?” Stella said. “From what?”
“From being eternally separated from God after you die.”
“Oh-wee,” Stella said forcefully. “Now there’s a tragedy.” Recovering, she gave a thin smile. “Would you explain what your church members believe about all that? I mean,” she added quickly when a surprised look came onto Neil’s face, “in case it’s different from some other churches. We’ve had to move around so much, it’s hard to remember it all.”
Neil’s eyes looked stuck on Stella.
Olivia’s quick glance at Mama McCory revealed she must still be thinking. Her lips were clamped together, and she stared at her iced tea glass. Without looking up, she said, “All you have to do is believe in Jesus.”
“That’s true, Grandmother,” Neil said. “But there’s more to it. You do believe in Jesus, don’t you?”
“Well, of course.” Stella sounded insulted. “There has never been a time when I didn’t believe in Jesus and whatever the Bible says.”
Neil must have detected indignation. “I think,” Neil finally said, “we should have Pastor Whitfield talk to you about what our church believes.”
The following week, Danny walked down to the front of the church to ask Jesus into his heart, and they all went down to the river to see him and some others baptized.
“What’s Danny’s going to think about me,” Stella said, “when he finds out I’m just pretending to be a good Christian?”
Olivia felt bad about it, too. “Maybe Neil is right. We need to talk to the preacher.”
In May, when spring was alive in all its glory, workers returned to their work of building shops and homes. Roads were being built or improved.
Tourists arrived on the trains. Business at the inn was booming, along with Stella’s Sweets. There was no time for special talks, with the preacher or anybody.
twenty
A Bride Idea Page 12
