A flash of panic struck Rose along with the urge to flee. “I—I …”
Too late. The next moment, she found herself twirling among a half-dozen other dancers, her steps guided by Jamie’s strong, confident hands. When her breath returned with her composure, she looked up into his stoic face. “I thought you couldn’t dance.”
The hint of a smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “Never said I couldn’t dance. Just said I wasn’t much for dancin’.” He raised her arm, allowing her to twirl to the music.
Surprise and admiration mingled in Rose. “For someone who doesn’t care for dancing, you do it quite well.”
He raised her arm for another twirl. “Ma made sure all us boys learned how to dance.” He glanced a few feet away where his twelve-year-old brother Charlie, danced with Lillie Ann and grinned. “Even Charlie can manage a credible waltz.”
Somehow, Rose needed to turn the conversation to Violet. Though she’d failed to get Jamie and Violet together for this dance, perhaps she could use the opportunity to act as her sister’s advocate. She needed to inject a subject of mutual interest to both Violet and Jamie. “What book were you reading?”
“The Count of Monte Cristo. Pastor Tom lent it to me.” He raised her arm, initiating another twirl.
“I’ll have to ask Violet if she’s read it.” Rose settled back into his arms. “If she has, maybe the two of you could talk about it together.”
“Don’t you like to read, Rose?” At his unexpected question, Rose almost missed a step.
“I suppose. Not as much as Violet does, though.” The conversation wasn’t going as she’d hoped. “Violet has stacks of books. I’m sure she’d be happy to lend you some.” Unsure her sister would sanction such an offer, Rose stopped talking. A surge of anger shot through her and she frowned. If Ty had done his job and got Violet here like he was supposed to, Violet could be telling Jamie what books she had and was willing to lend out and Rose wouldn’t be in this predicament.
“I’m sorry Ty didn’t show up to partner you for this dance.” The sorrow in his voice was tinged with another emotion Rose couldn’t identify. “I’m afraid he neglects you while he gets up to all sorts of tomfoolery with the likes of Bob and Si and the other rapscallions they run with. If you’d like, I’ll give him a talkin’ to about it.”
“No need.” She forced her frown into a smile. Jamie must have interpreted her sour expression as disappointment in not getting to dance with Ty. “I’m used to Ty’s mischievous ways. It’s part of his charm, I suppose.”
Jamie opened his mouth as if to say something but shut it when Dave Kriete drew his bow across his fiddle in a long, final note, signaling the end of the waltz. Relinquishing her hand, Jamie stepped back and gave her a deep bow. “Thank you for the dance. I enjoyed it very much.” A grin crawled across his well-shaped lips. “Believe you’re right. I should dance more often. And I will have that talk with Ty and tell him what he missed.” With that, he turned and walked toward the catalpa tree.
Rose gazed after him feeling deflated and a bit forlorn. She’d failed in her first attempt at getting Violet and Jamie together. Renewed determination filled her, sweeping away her sense of defeat. She would need to go at it from the other side and begin to work on Violet.
Her first opportunity to broach the subject came later that evening as she and her two sisters worked together cleaning up the kitchen after supper. Amid a general conversation about the wedding, the newly married couple, and the reception party, Lillie Ann piped up as she handed Rose a washed and dried serving bowl.
“Hey, Rose, why were you dancin’ with Jamie when you’re promised to Ty? Have you changed your mind about which Roberts brother you like best?”
Stunned by the unexpected question, Rose nearly dropped the serving bowl. Remembering the dance she’d shared with Jamie, her face warmed. “Of course not,” she said when her racing pulse slowed. “Ty was just busy, so Jamie stood in for him.” While not the exact truth, it was close enough to assuage Rose’s conscience.
“I don’t blame you.” Lillie Ann flipped a sandy-colored pigtail from her shoulder and wrinkled her freckled nose. “Ty is much more fun than Jamie. He’s always thinking of funny things to do. Jamie is just a stick-in-the-mud.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” A moment ago Rose had silently blessed her little sister for opening the conversation about Jamie, but now the imp threatened to destroy Rose’s entire plan to match Violet and Jamie by putting Jamie in a poor light. She needed to turn the conversation that had taken a dangerous swerve, back on track. “Jamie is just quiet, and he likes to read.” Affecting an indifferent tone, she turned to Violet scrubbing a cooking pot at the sink. “I mentioned to Jamie about your collection of books and told him you might be willing to lend him some.”
Violet lifted a dripping hand to brush back a straggling lock of chestnut hair from her face. “Oh, I don’t know, Rose. Those books cost me dear. I’d hate to lose any of them.”
While hesitant, Violet’s tone held enough ambivalence to encourage Rose to press the subject. “You’d never have to worry about that with Jamie. He treasures books.” The comment scratched at Rose’s conscience. While Jamie hadn’t shared that sentiment with her in so many words, surely his love of reading made it obvious.
Violet turned an indulgent smile toward Rose. “#x2018;Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.’ Shakespeare’s Hamlet.”
Violet’s teacher voice grated against Rose’s nerves, begging a retort and a Bible verse she had committed to memory months ago for a Sunday school contest flew to mind. “‘Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.’ Matthew 5:42.” The same exhilaration Rose felt when besting Violet in a game of checkers surged through her, lifting her chin in a triumphant tilt.
To Rose’s delight, Violet looked shamefaced. Of course the holy scriptures trumped the English bard. Violet’s voice turned humble. “Thank you for reminding me of our Lord’s command, Rose.” She went back to scrubbing the pot. “Of course Jamie may borrow any of my books he would like.”
Later, as they both prepared for bed in the room they shared, Rose decided to build on her earlier victory with Violet. Now that she’d managed to get her sister to agree to loan her books to Jamie, Rose needed to plant the idea of matrimony in Violet’s mind. At least she needed to get her spinster sister thinking along those lines.
“Sure was a nice wedding,” Rose said as she pulled on her nightgown.
Violet looked up from the open Bible on her lap, yawned, and set the book on the little table beside her bed. “I do hope Ty and his friends didn’t ruin Sam and Nora’s first night together with their silly shivaree.”
Rose ignored the temptation to jump to her sweetheart’s defense, which would do nothing to advance her cause. Instead, she decided to go straight to the heart of the subject. Violet wouldn’t abide a lengthy discourse at bedtime. “Have you given much thought to marriage?”
Across the room, Violet yawned again and slid under the covers, pulling them to her chin. “I’m a school teacher, Rose, and female teachers are required to be single.”
That Violet hadn’t ended the conversation outright emboldened Rose to push a bit further. “But you do want to marry one day, don’t you?”
Violet heaved a deep sigh that almost made Rose sorry she’d continued to prod her on the subject. “If God brings me a good Christian man whom I love and want to marry, then I’ll marry. If not, I’ll happily remain single and teach school for the rest of my days or until I’m too old to do it any longer. Besides, now that Ma is gone, someone needs to be a mother to Lillie Ann. I expect you will be skipping off to marry Ty Roberts within the next year, so that leaves me to tend to Lillie Ann. Now good night and go to sleep.”
“Good night.” Guilt-smitten by Violet’s words, Rose mumbled the salutation. Of course Violet would sacrifice her own happiness to take care of Lillie Ann as well as Pa and Rose. Tears of shame slid down Rose’s face, wetting her pillow. A surge of anger dried her eyes. No! She would not allow Violet to sacrifice her future happiness and live out her waning years alone and childless and, if Rose could help it, her sister would never be forced to dance in a hog trough. But Violet had brought a new problem to light. Beyond the challenge of matching Violet and Jamie, Rose would need to find a match for Pa as well.