Chapter Seven

After breakfast, Lucy walked with Brian to the work shed which had a table, a dresser, and the beginning of a bed frame. “These are for Harvey and Ingrid’s child. He turns three and will be moving out of the crib. It’s a good thing too since they’re about to have another one.”

She nodded then remembered he couldn’t see her response. “That’s good news for them.”

He smiled and tapped his walking stick on the floor as he walked over to the table. “They had a hard time having the first one, so we’re all happy for them.”

Sighing, she wondered what it would feel like to be excited over the impending birth of a child. She considered what she would feel if this was Brian’s child she might be carrying, and noted the difference in her mood. Her heart would be lighter.

“Lucy, what’s wrong?”

She turned to him, surprised he detected her change in mood so easily.

“Your sigh,” he explained. “There was a hint of sorrow in it.”

“You don’t miss anything, do you?” Tracing the unfinished dresser, she marveled at the precision in the cutting. “What part of the furniture work do you do? You don’t cut the design, do you?”

“You’re avoiding the topic,” he gently said.

“Because I’d rather not talk about it.” She looked at him, wondering if he’d press the issue.

After a moment of silence, he said, “I smooth the surface of the furniture, sometimes stain and paint them, and help deliver them.”

She exhaled, glad he agreed to change the topic. Maybe in a few days she’d feel comfortable enough to discuss it, but she wasn’t up to it now. She cleared her throat. “Do you always have something to work on?”

“Pa and I do very well, but there are brief periods when there’s no work. Once in awhile, I assist him on a house repair in town, but for the most part, I stick with the furniture.”

“Do you enjoy it?”

“Yes, I do. It’s soothing work, and I can feel the progress. I like knowing something is getting done.”

“Well, it’s gorgeous work.”

He smiled. “Thank you. Pa and I keep the stains, paints, and lumber in the other shed. Would you like to see it?”

“No, that’s alright. I was more interested in the furniture.”

Someone knocked on the door, so she turned. John stood in the doorway and waved.

“Morning, Pa,” Brian said and walked over to him.

She was about to ask Brian how he knew it was John but figured he probably picked up on some scent.

As if he read her mind, Brian turned in her direction and said, “Ma will start talking. Pa knocks.”

“Oh.” Well, so much for that guess. She was beginning to find how he picked up on so many things intriguing.

John placed his hand under Brian’s and made some more of those signs she saw him make the day before.

“Yes, we ate,” Brian said. “Lucy’s a great cook.”

Her cheeks grew warm from the compliment.

John smiled at her and used more signs.

Brian laughed. “I think so. Lucy, do you enjoy cooking?”

Looking at John, she nodded. “I like it well enough.”

After John used a few more signs, Brian said, “Ma doesn’t care for it. She hoped that you liked it enough so that you’d help her improve her meals.” He directed his face to John. “Ma doesn’t cook that badly.”

John shook his head and did more signs.

“Oh, right. You said she doesn’t like it. I understand.”

John continued to sign.

“Lucy, would you like to stop by their house for coffee and cookies? Ma actually enjoys making those.”

“In that case, it would be wrong to miss it,” Lucy replied.

John waved her toward the house and stepped aside.

Taking that as her cue, she walked passed him, said thank you, and left the small cabin. The two men joined her, and as soon as they reached the house, Eliza opened the door.

“Well, come on in,” she said.

Lucy walked in first, followed by Brian who set his walking stick by the door.

“How are you feeling today, Lucy?” Eliza asked as she shut the door once John walked in.

Lucy glanced at Brian and smiled. “Much better. I like where you live. Nice and quiet. Peaceful.”

Brian pulled out a chair. “Will you have a seat?” he asked Lucy.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Don’t mind me,” Eliza told the men. “I’m going to be jumping up and down getting the snack. Sit down and rest. We had a big day yesterday.”

Brian sat to Lucy’s left and John sat next to him, leaving the seat to her right empty.

Eliza set out the cups and poured coffee into them. “Today John and I were planning to pick up your buggy. In fact, we were going to head out after this snack. Did you and Brian want to come along? You could pick up some items from the mercantile. I’m sure there are supplies you’ll want for your new home.” She nudged Brian in the shoulder as she passed by. “You might as well learn that once you married Lucy, that house became hers to do with as she wishes.”

Brian laughed. “I don’t mind, Ma. At least she can see what’s in it.”

John slipped his hand under Brian’s and signed to him.

Brian glanced in Lucy’s direction. “When Pa and Ma met, she insisted they paint all the rooms in the house.”

Eliza set the coffee pot back on the cook stove and shook her head. “Really. I didn’t insist,” she told John. “You wanted me to pretty the place up. Why else would you have planted those flowers all around the house?” She looked at Lucy as she picked up a plate of cookies. “He didn’t plant any flowers by that cabin I stayed in. His plan all along was to marry me and have me live in this house.”

John shrugged, turned to Eliza, and raised his eyebrows.

“I know it worked,” she told him before she put the plate on the table and sat down. “Lucy, would you like to paint your new home? That Willy has some paints on hand.”

Lucy thought about the wood walls of Brian’s place. “Well, I wouldn’t mind something off-white. It’d lighten up the rooms.”

John signed under Brian’s hand, and Brian said, “Pa says you have good taste.”

“Oh, come on now,” Eliza told John. “You didn’t mind it when I wanted to paint this kitchen yellow.”

He winked at her.

She smiled and turned to Lucy. “What kind of curtains would you like?”

Lucy thought about it for a moment. “A light blue might be nice.”

“There you go,” Eliza told John. “She does want some color. You’d want white for everything.”

Lucy hid her amusement and couldn’t help but wonder if she and Brian might one day share the easygoing relationship his parents did. She’d like to have that kind of closeness eventually. She glanced at him as he reached for a cookie.

To her surprise, he held it out to her. “Would you like one?”

She took it, thanked him, and bit into it. “It’s good,” she told Eliza.

“It’s one of the few things I make without periodically burning it,” Eliza said. “It’s not that I try to be a bad cook, but I don’t have whatever it is women are born with to be good cooks.”

“Lucy did a real fine job of making pancakes this morning,” Brian spoke up as he selected another cookie.

“Yes,” Eliza began, “I tried those a couple times. I never can figure out when to turn them. Hence why I burn those. You know what I like? I like making scrambled eggs. That’s easy. You just stir them and they pretty much cook themselves.”

Lucy finished her cookie and drank some of the coffee. She listened for the most part as they talked while she ate a couple more cookies and drank the rest of her coffee. It seemed the day’s plans had been set, and she rather enjoyed the notion of picking out things to make her new home with Brian a more cheerful one.

After they got through eating, they got the wagon ready and headed for town. As before, Brian held her hand, and she leaned against him. The contact was beginning to feel more comfortable, more familiar. This time, she took better note of her surroundings as they traveled down the beaten path.

As the town came into view, there was the moment where she recalled her first time entering it, when Adam came to get rid of her. She tightened her hold on Brian’s hand, and he placed his other one on top of hers.

Eliza looked over at her. “I think we should get the paint first. Then we can pick up the fabrics for the curtains. Addy makes curtains, unless you can do it yourself. Can you make curtains?”

“Yes,” Lucy replied. “I can sew just about anything.”

Eliza laughed. “Why, aren’t you a marvel. Addy tried to teach me how to sew. I can make something basic like a pillowcase, but other than that, I’m not very good. I once made a shirt for Brian when he first came to live with us, and one sleeve was much shorter than the other. From then on, I let Addy do the sewing or ordered items in the catalogue at the mercantile.”

“I remember that shirt,” Brian said.

“I thought since you were a boy, it would be easier to make you a shirt than try to make one for John,” Eliza replied. “Some lessons have to be learned the hard way, I suppose.”

Lucy relaxed her hold on Brian’s hand as they entered town. Brian wasn’t Adam. He wasn’t going to leave her. With a relieved sigh, she scanned the buildings, grateful Addy had insisted on giving her the tour of the place.

After John parked the wagon, they got out and went to gather paint. Eliza led the way, explaining to Lucy that William Jafferty went by the nickname Old Willy. “He’s one of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet,” she rambled on.

Beside her, Lucy noticed Brian smile, and she smiled too, though probably for a different reason than Brian did. She was enjoying the way Eliza could talk about anything and make it sound interesting. She’d never come across anyone as engaging as Eliza before. Eliza had a way of putting people at ease and making them feel as if they were important.

They stopped at Old Willy’s place, and Eliza knocked on the door. A woman holding a one-year-old child on her hip opened the door. “Good morning, Daphne,” Eliza said and leaned forward to ruffle the little boy’s hair. “My goodness, every time I see you, you get bigger. I hardly even recognized you.”

“Yes, well, he’s been getting into everything.” Daphne laughed and bounced the baby on her hip.

Eliza straightened back up. “Daphne, Brian married Lucy yesterday. Lucy’s from Minnesota.”

“Oh yes. I heard we had a new person in town,” Daphne said. “How are you, Lucy?”

“Fine,” Lucy quietly replied, surprised by the commotion going on inside the house. If she counted right, four children ran around the kitchen to get things ready for an early lunch.

“Did you come to talk to Willy about some paint?” Daphne asked, reaching up and stopping her child before he could pull her hair.

“Actually, we did,” Eliza said. “Is he around?”

“He’s out back in the shed. You can go on to the backyard if you wish. It’d be easier than coming through the house.” Daphne glanced over her shoulder and sighed as one of her children screamed. “Rachel, let Bob put that dish on the table.”

“But he keeps picking it back up,” Rachel complained.

“Let him do that. It won’t kill anyone.” Daphne looked back at the visitors. “It’s like this all the time. After awhile, you don’t even notice all the noise.”

Lucy wondered how that was possible but decided to take the woman’s word for it.

“Well, you and Willy are doing a fine job of raising them,” Eliza said. “They’re well-behaved in public, and that’s where it counts the most. That way, you look good.”

Daphne chuckled. “I never thought of it like that.”

“We’ll go on back to the shed and see about that paint. Now, you be good to your mother,” Eliza told the children before leading the way to the shed.

After they collected enough paint, they went to the mercantile where Lucy got to select the supplies she needed for making curtains and chose what she wanted to make for meals.

“I hope you don’t mind if I ask you to cook with me on occasion,” Eliza told her. “You’re picking some mighty fine things that I’d love to eat but can’t make well enough for it to be edible.”

“I don’t mind,” Lucy replied. “To be honest, I’d like it.”

“You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”

She chuckled. “No. I mean it.”

Eliza gave her a quick hug. “You know, ever since Brian got to be the age where he could court girls, I had this dream of being friends with the one he ended up marrying. Sometimes I don’t make it to town except once every month or two, especially in the winter. And as much as I enjoy John and Brian, it’s not the same as having another woman to talk to. I really like you, Lucy. I have a feeling we’ll get along just fine.”

Blushing, Lucy said, “I agree.” Uncertain of what else to say, she turned back to the shelf in front of her and selected more items for her basket.

When they finished shopping at the mercantile, John borrowed a horse from Frank and hooked it up to the buggy, and Eliza took the reins of the wagon so they could all go home. Though Lucy had plenty of room now on the seat, she sat close to Brian and held his hand.