by Danni Roan
Would Miss Haven be willing to help him if he tried? Would his children forgive him for abandoning them in their time of greatest need? Was there truly a loving God who, though He had not spared Alice could create a new start right here in Biders Clump for the ones Alice had too quickly left behind?
In what seemed no time at all, the carriage was pulling up in front of a smart house with blue shutters, and pretty flowers in the window boxes out front. Ellery recognized the home of Jasper Williams the town’s bank manager and knew it was time to go home.
“I hope you won’t mind walking from here,” Bruno said turning to nod at Ellery. “Janine wanted to come visit her father and new stepmother.”
As the younger man finished the bright blue door of the house flew open and the new Mrs. Williams rushed out the door. She was elegantly dressed, and her gray hair was carefully styled. Ellery had never met the woman, but based on his mothers news over the months she was not the easiest woman to be around.
“Let me see that baby,” the older woman gushed as Janine stepped down. “You’re father is coming home for lunch to see you both,” the older woman in the expensive dress gushed, taking the baby from Janine and hurrying back into the house without a word to Bruno or Ellery.
“Jasper married a widow woman who came to town a couple of years ago,” Bruno laughed. “Her daughter married Willem Druthers. It’s a long story, so if you want the whole yarn, you’d best ask Miss Polly.”
Ellery felt his lips twitch, his mother was known as a dramatic storyteller, and he couldn’t blame Bruno for suggesting it. “Thanks,” he said simply, still bewildered by recent events, as he shook Bruno’s hand and turned toward home.
***
The house was quiet as Ellery stepped inside, but he could hear voices down the hall. It was still early, but he was pretty sure the children would have already left for school.
Quietly slipping up the stairs, he felt the tiredness, and doubt slam into him again, but he moved steadily upward until he came to the second door in the hall and placed his hand on the latch. Perhaps if he tried, then maybe, just maybe, things really could change.
Chapter 13
“Alyssa,” Mark leaned toward his sister as they stepped from the schoolhouse and pointed. “Do you see what I see?”
Alyssa stopped, Mark matching her as they stared into the street but Georgie raced past them, his lunch pail swinging against his hip as he raced forward.
“Pa! Pa! Is it really you?” the boy shouted dropping his books, lunch bucket, and slate as he sprang into his father’s arms. “You look different,” the boy said, leaning back then and scowling at the neatly trimmed beard before hugging his father again. “Did you come to walk us home?” Georgie continued. “Alyssa, Mark, Pa’s here.”
“I can see that,” Alyssa nodded, her green eyes hooded. “Hello father,” she greeted stiffly. “It’s very nice to see you.”
Ellery felt his heart sink at his oldest daughter’s cool words. She was too polite, too formal, and he suddenly missed the little girl he had once walked to school each day back in Virginia.
“How was school?” he asked looking between Mark and Alyssa. He wanted to reach for them, but felt like he would be pushing things if he did, so he simply placed Georgie back on his feet.
“Fine,” Mark said. “I moved up a level in math, and Alyssa is at the top of the class.”
“Shush,” Alyssa snapped, her beautiful green eyes flashing.
“Top of the class,” Ellery smiled. “Well that’s wonderful.”
Alyssa shrugged turning toward the boarding house and nodding for Mark to follow even as Georgie gathered up his belongings and took his father’s hand.
A long silence stretched between them as they started along the dusty road and Ellery strained his brain trying to think what to say next.
“Hey Alyssa,” a boy with dark hair and keen eyes spoke as he passed the group, a little girl in blonde pigtails at his side.
“Hey Toby,” Alyssa replied but nothing else was said and the group broke up each heading toward their respective homes.
“That’s Toby,” Georgie said. “He and Alyssa get all the A’s at school all the time.”
“Georgie you talk too much,” Alyssa snapped glaring at her little brother.
“Alyssa don’t yell at your brother,” Ellery chided, his voice gentle but firm.
Alyssa shot her father a harsh look, but didn’t say anything else.
Ellery felt like a fish out of water. He’d had a good wash, trimmed his beard, and changed into clean clothes, but he still felt out of step with the rest of the world, as if he walked a parallel path, but peering into a life he wasn’t a part of. Nothing had been right since Alice had died, and now it seemed that there was even more to be concerned about.
“What’s for supper?” Georgie asked grinning up at his father, his dark hair falling away from his head and exposing a smudge of chalk on his forehead.
“I don’t know,” Ellery admitted.
“Did Grandma make cookies?” the boy persisted. “Me ‘n Grandpa love her cookies.”
Ellery half smiled at his youngest son, running a hand over his head and wondering when the boy had grown so much. “I don’t know,” he admitted. He had spent the majority of his day in his room trying to figure out how to reconnect with his children.
“You don’t know ‘nothin’ do ya?” Georgie accused looking bewildered.
“Georgie don’t be rude,” Alyssa snapped hurrying onto the boarding house step. “You ask too many questions, anyway.”
“No you don’t Georgie,” Ellery said staring at his daughter as Georgie dropped his head with a sigh. “Asking questions is how you learn things.”
“Well all I want to do is learn about cookies,” the boy smiled shooting through the now open door and racing down the hall.
Ellery followed his three children into the boarding house, tipping his hat at a couple on their way out. Business had been booming as far as he could tell, and there were people in and out of the house all the time.
“Hello,” Polly Esther’s voice met the children as they came pouring into her special domain. “Who’s ready for a cookie?”
“Me!” Georgie squealed then fell silent as Polly looked up to see Ellery step into the room.
“Ell,” she said her voice tight. “Is something wrong?”
“No Ma,” Ellery said pushing the words out as he met his mother’s blue gaze. He could see the doubt, worry, and fear in their cobalt depths and sighed. “I walked the children home from school is all.”
“Hello children,” Miss Ernestine Haven swished into the room in a rustle of skirts, a laughing Sophie on her arm. “How was school?” she asked stopping and staring at Ellery in surprise.
“Pa came to fetch us from school,” Georgie said climbing into a big chair and reaching for Ernie’s hand. “He walked us all the way home.”
“Isn’t that nice?” Ernie’s words were short but not unkind.
“Come have cookies,” Georgie insisted patting the chair next to him. “I’m starving.”
Ernie smiled indulgently at the little boy. Though sometimes precocious, he was sweet and loving, a trait that endeared him to everyone. “And what did you do at school today?” the woman asked carrying the milk pitcher to the table and helping Polly arrange the sweet snack for the children.
“I wrote my letters out and my numbers,” Georgie grinned.
“He even got most of them right,” Alyssa drawled. “He needs to be more careful with his fives and his Ses, they look just the same.”
“He’s very young yet Alyssa,” Ernie said kindly. “You’ll have to give him time. His hands don’t work as well as an older child’s do.” Ernie smiled noting Alyssa’s dropped gaze. “We all have to start somewhere,” she finished glancing at the younger Mr. Olson.
***
Ellery watched the interaction between the governess and his children, noting the way his daughter offered her the respect she hadn’t given him. Georgie
was full of chatter and talked to the woman freely sharing with her as comfortably as he may have his own mother.
“Mark how did things go for you today?” Ellery asked, trying to draw his other son into the conversation, but only receiving a shrug in reply as the front door opened and his father called to them all.
“Look what I found over at the mercantile,” George Olson’s voice echoed down the hall pulling all eyes in that direction as he hastened toward the kitchen. “We haven’t seen either of these two…”
George froze at the entrance to the large kitchen, his words hanging unfinished as his dark eyes picked out his son, neatly dressed, groomed and sitting at the table.
“Well who is it?” Polly asked covering the awkward moment and trying to see into the dark corridor at the two shadows that had come to a hasty stop behind her husband.
“What?” George mumbled still blinking at the scene in surprise.
“Who’s with you?” Polly tried again.
“It’s me Miss Polly,” a sweet female voice called over George’s shoulder. “Cam and I brought Andrew to town, and when we met George at the store, he insisted we stop for cookies.” The light laughter of Aquila Adams-Royal made Polly hurry across the room and take George by the arm. “You are more than welcome,” the matron smiled as she dragged George from his stupor. “We’ve already started as a matter of fact.”
Aquila, a tall woman in her late twenties with dark hair, followed the older couple into the room smiling at the family as her green eyes fell, in surprise, on Ellery. She hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the man in the two months he had been back in Biders Clump and didn’t know if she should be relieved or concerned.
“Hello Ellery,” she finally managed. “I don’t believe you’ve met my husband Cameron Royal yet.” Quil smiled indicating the tall cowboy behind her. The man had broad shoulders under a flannel shirt, and his denims fit his lean form and narrow hips well. “Cam, this is Polly and George’s oldest son Ellery. He was a few years ahead of me in school,” she finished with a kind smile.
“Pleased to meet you,” Ellery said standing and reaching for the other man’s outstretched hand. “I take it that little fella is Andrew?”
Cameron Royal nodded his head of nearly black hair as his pale gaze took in the other man. He had never met any of the Olson children, and this one looked a little worse for wear. Rock, the boulder shaped cowboy who still rode for the brand had told him about his encounter with Ellery on the road to town a few weeks earlier, but this was the first time he’d laid eyes on him.
“Give me that little man,” Polly said taking a two-year-old Andrew from Aquila. “He’s getting so big, why he’s just a month or two older than sweet little Sophia.”
Polly carried the little boy toward the seat next to Ernie and slipped into the chair laughing as the two babies eyed each other.
“Cam, Quill,” Polly said still watching the little ones. “Please join us, you know where everything is.”
A moment of silence seemed to fill the room as the new couple joined the table, but soon conversation started again.
“Any new stories comin’ out yet?” George asked the young mother, now seemingly recovered from his earlier shock.
“I’m still working on a few,” Quill admitted. As the local wordsmith, she kept everyone in anticipation of her next serial, which had been picked up by a paper in the east. “I’m trying to come up with a way to make a wedding funny,” she finished pouring herself a cup of tea as Cam grabbed a coffee from the stove and took a seat.
“You should get my Polly Esther to tell you our tale,” George chuckled. “It seems like years ago and only yesterday that we said our vows,” he added his dark eyes full of affection that made Miss Polly’s pale cheeks flush.
“Really,” Quill asked sitting up straighter as she turned to gaze at Polly, brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. “What happened? Was it funny? Please do tell?”
Polly shook her head offering a soft laugh as her mind drifted back many years to the day that changed her life. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “You don’t want to hear about that.”
“Yes we do,” Alyssa’s voice was full of hope and her eyes burned with a curiosity that seemed to tug at Polly’s heart.
“Yah Grandma tell us about how you and Grandpa got married back in the olden days,” Mark agreed. “It’ll be like a real life history lesson.”
“I’m not that old,” Polly chided, her deep blue eyes twinkling with delight. “You’d think your grandpa and me were a hundred years old the way you speak.”
“Ain’t ya?” Georgie piped up looking confused when everyone around him laughed.
“Go on honey,” George grinned “Tell this lot how you made the best decision of your life.”
Chapter 14
“Our wedding wasn’t supposed to be anything fancy,” Polly began then paused as another voice interrupted.
“Whoo hoo,” a cheerful voice called through the open door. “Polly is Quill here?” Priscilla Adam’s Rutherford called. “I haven’t been able to find her anywhere, and I know she’s in town.” A young blonde woman stepped into the kitchen a bright smile on her plump face as she paused looking at the group. “Oh a tea party!” she enthused clasping her hands. “Hold on a second.”
Ellery looked at his mother who only smiled at the interruption while the young woman hurried back to the door returning again with a handsome blonde man who was carrying a tray of baked goods.
“Rupert and I were just taking a few items to mother, but we’d rather share them with you,” she laughed.
“Hello Prissy,” Quil looked over at her sister who waved Polly back to a seat while she gathered cups and topped up the teapot.
“I know my way around,” Prissy said. “Carry on,” she stopped again mid pour and squinted at Ellery who still sat silent and disoriented at the table. “Do I know you?” Prissy asked. “You look familiar.”
“This is Ellery,” Quil said while George and Cam pulled up more chairs. “If any of you don’t know this is my sister Priscilla and her husband Rupert,” the older girl spoke.
“’Ello,” Rupert nodded, his rough English accent making the children grin as he placed his tray on the table and grabbed a plate.
“Prissy, do sit down,” Quill chided. “Polly Esther is telling us about when she and George got married.”
Prissy Adams-Rutherford grabbed Rupert’s hand and pulled him down next to her with a happy grin. “Do tell Miss Polly,” she added enthusiastically. “We all love your stories.”
Polly looked around the table, a happy grin on her face as the others helped themselves to cookies, cakes and tea as she began her tale again.
“I think most of you know that I grew up in the company of a traveling acting show. My parents were wonderful performers who raised us all to perform on the stage in various shows. My father was highly acclaimed in his youth for his roles in the Shakespearian plays and passed on his skills to each of his children. One night as we performed A Mid Summer’s Night Dream George saw me perform, and I never could get rid of him after that.” Polly’s blue eyes sparkled with a teasing light and George laughed.
“Well that sums it up about right,” he grinned. “Now get on to the wedding.”
Polly turned making sure she had everyone’s attention and opened her mouth to continue as the front door opened again.
“Miss Polly,” a woman’s voice echoed down the hall again. “Have you seen my sisters? Oh, there you are.”
“Hello Sara,” Polly said, as a lean sandy haired cowboy came to a stop behind the new arrival.
“Looks like a party,” Rafe Dixon said, wrapping an arm around his wife’s slim waist and propelling her toward the table. “What’s the occasion?”
“Polly is trying to tell us about her wedding,” Quil said in exasperation. “And before you ask this is Ellery, George and Polly’s oldest,” she pointed to Ellery who waved in acknowledgment.
“You go on Polly,” Sara said
, pushing a stray curl of russet hair behind an ear. “I’ll fetch us coffee Rafe,” she added grinning at her husband affectionately.
“Thanks darlin’” Rafe grinned pulling up two more chairs and taking a seat near Ellery where he introduced himself more fully.
“Polly please continue,” Quil said glaring at her sisters. “I really want to know what happened.”
“All right,” Polly laughed. She loved having an audience and this group felt just about right.
“Once George had proven to my parents that he had only honorable intentions, we set a date and decided to be married at a little church in the town we had come to for a performance. George had signed on to work with us doing odd jobs and somehow won my heart along the way. It was almost Christmas and everything seemed to sparkle under a blanket of snow.”
“It was colder than blue blazes if I remember,” George added.
“The wind was fierce that year and the snow was thick. Normally Mama and Papa would have moved further south, but they’d been commissioned to perform a Christmas story of sorts. I had made a few friends in that town, and two of the girls decided they’d stand up with me while George’s best friend joined him from home.”
Quil grinned lifting her teacup and memorizing each word. It was always possible a scene like this could end up in a book.
“Mama, worked on my dress for days and days,” Polly said her eyes taking on a faraway look. “The day of the wedding was bitter cold and the snow that had been falling the night before finally petered out to expose clear blue skies and a dazzling sun. My dress was as white as the snow, but with a red and green satin ribbon braided into the waistline.” The older woman smoothed her hands over her waist as if remembering the feel of the bright sash.
“It sounds beautiful,” Prissy gushed taking Rupert’s hand in hers with one hand and taking a second small cake with the other.
“Mama wrapped me in a green velvet cloak lined with fur that she wore for special scenes. I remember it was so warm and the white ermine trim looked like the fresh, fluffy snow outside. Together Mama and me walked to the church. I was nervous as can be, but so full of love, hope, and dreams of a bright future. Back then George was very romantic,” she teased.
