As much of a relief as it was to have the house and businesses sold, Maybelle worked herself into a panic on the way back to the house that was no longer hers. She had five days to pack everything she wanted to take and move on.
Where would she go? What would she do? She’d never had to have a job. She’d never even cleaned off a table, folded a blanket, nothing that required the least amount of energy. She was used to painting, taking music lessons, and socializing.
She’d never thought of herself as spoiled. Tobias hadn’t given her that much money and, in reality, very little attention to make her believe she was unique in any way. She was just not used to thinking about getting a job.
And she had no idea where to start.
Maybelle could see by the look on Louise’s face there was something she wanted to say. She studied Louise’s profile for a moment, noticing how the young woman kept her eyes straight forward, almost unblinking, as she was so deep in her thoughts.
“Hello, Louise…” Maybelle waved one hand in front of her friend’s face. “Where are you? What’s wrong? What are you thinking about?”
Louise gave her a side-glance, slapping the reins gently so the horses would pick up the pace slightly. “Oh, just everything that’s going on. It’s not going to be an easy journey, you know. For you or me. I’m so used to… being in that big house, enjoying the luxury with you, being envious that it wasn’t mine…” She sighed, chuckling softly. “Yes, I’ll miss that a lot.”
Maybelle scoffed, shaking her head. “Look where it got me. Just look where it got me. Debt-free but without a home, a job, or any money. Well, not a lot of money. I don’t know what I’m going to do. If I try to pay for the boarding house, I’ll be out in a few months because I’d run out of money. I could get a job, but what in heaven’s name would I do? I was a socialite, a lay-about.”
“Like a lazy princess…” Louise teased, giving her a wink.
Maybelle laughed. “Yes. Exactly like that. What can I do? Sell smiles?”
“You could start with some of the clothes you have.”
Maybelle felt a little stab in her heart, thinking about giving up her wardrobe. She held a great deal of pride in the things she wore, her own personal style. She tried to keep ahead of the trends, be a trend-maker herself, and all of her items of clothing were a treasure to her.
“I reckon I could,” she said, feeling downhearted. “I don’t want to do that. Surely there’s something else I can sell. Furniture? Mother’s jewelry?”
Louise sighed. “I think you’ll find most of the furniture and jewelry are cheap copies of the expensive stuff. I doubt you will get much money from them. Besides, I think the house was just purchased with everything in it, right?”
Maybelle gave Louise a narrow side-glance. “My mother’s jewelry, real or not, is coming with me. I’m not leaving everything I own with these people. I’m taking my clothes, personal items, and anything else I can stick in the back of the wagon.”
Louise nodded. “I understand, Belle.”
That was the thing about Louise. No matter how riled up Maybelle got over anything, she was always calm and could bring the situation under control with just a few words. Maybelle felt her heartbeat slowing down. She’d gotten way too excited. It wasn’t good for her to be like that. She didn’t like the pain that getting excited like that brought to her chest. It made it difficult to breathe, which scared Maybelle.
“So, what are you going to do now? You only have days to leave the house, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. As soon as I get home, I’ll start packing up the things I want with me. Well, first, I’ll get something to eat. Then I’ll start looking for things to pack. I don’t think I’ll have more than a few trunks of things. But then again, I’d need somewhere to take all that stuff. I guess I’m going to the boarding house.”
Anxiety shot through her at the idea. How much her life would change now. And would she be able to accept how different everything would be? From living in a big house with just her, her father, and a few servants to a boarding house with rowdy mine or construction workers passing her door every few minutes, other residents and guests talking and laughing…
The thought made her want to weep. From a house to a room.
One single room.
“Don’t even think about that,” Louise said, grabbing her attention. “You’ll be coming to stay with me. It’s the only thing to do. You have nowhere else to go, and my place is cozy.”
Maybelle stared at her friend. She hadn’t even known Louise had a place of her own. She was always at the Tippins’.
Louise laughed when she saw the look on Maybelle’s face. “What? Yes, I have a home of my own. Of course, I do. Did you think I was living with you and your father?”
Maybelle didn’t answer. She just gave Louise an amused smile that made her friend laugh again.
“Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I do have my own place. It’s a cottage on the outskirts of the Junction. My parents left it to me when they went abroad to seek a fortune in fabric. I told you that story.”
“Yes, you did. Many times.” Maybelle was always impressed by how often Louise spoke of her parents and how wonderful the pair were. She’d felt the same way about her father and was still trying to come to terms with the man not being everything she thought he was all through her childhood. “But you failed to mention that they had left you a cottage. How is it that I’ve never been there?”
Louise let out a tittering laugh, sounding a little nervous. “Like I was going to bring the little rich girl to that cottage.” She winked at Maybelle. “You’ll like it now. But before all this happened, you wouldn’t have been impressed. I know you, though, and you’ll be satisfied as long as you’re safe and comfortable. You will be at my place. That’s just until you figure out what you want to do, of course. I’m not going to trap you there forever.”
Maybelle had to laugh with her friend. “You couldn’t trap me if you wanted to, Lou. I enjoy spending time with you too much. You might be hard-pressed to get rid of me.”
Both women continued bantering with each other until they got back to the large house Maybelle had grown up in and was accustomed to.
She hadn’t thought about the beauty of the front lawn that stretched out in front of the big building and of the house itself. Tall and majestic, three stories high, more room than either of them needed. It was white with black shutters that flanked the many windows stretching to the left and right from the double front doors.
Louise pulled the buggy around to the front steps, and Maybelle jumped down. When she looked up at the front doors, she half-expected to see her father pop out and hold his arms open wide to receive a hug from his girl. She had indeed been his girl. She had been from the moment she was born to the moment he died.
Despite the illegal schemes he’d had in the works.
Her father hadn’t been a bad man. He’d just been running businesses illegally and making money hand over fist doing it. He used that money to give himself a happy, outgoing, fun life and showered his daughter with gifts whenever he felt like it, special occasion or not.
It was amazing that he had never been caught doing anything wrong. Not once in his entire life. None of it had come out until after he was already gone.
Maybelle wondered if her amazing father had planned it that way. It sure seemed like he had the best of luck. She’d never been one to espouse luck. She attributed everything that was good to God. How could God bestow the blessings of wealth, happiness, and charm on a man who was doing things against the law?
“I’d love to stay with you at your cottage, Lou. Thank you so much for the invitation.”
“You know you’re welcome to anything I have, Belle. You aren’t the type to take advantage of other people. You don’t do it to others, so you don’t expect it to be done to you. My things are your things.” She grinned wide. “At least until you move out. Please don’t take all my things with you.”
Maybelle tilted her head back and let out a sharp laugh toward the sky. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with everything I want to take with me when I leave. I doubt I’ll be getting my hands on anything of yours. But really… thank you, my friend. You are so dear to me. I’m so grateful and blessed to have you in my life.”
Louise put her arm around Maybelle’s, so they were linked at the elbow as they went up the steps to go into the mansion. “I think I have the perfect solution for you, Belle. You’ll have to hear me out. But I think I know what would be the best solution for you.”
“You do?” Maybelle was curious.
“Yes. Mail-order bride advertisements. You can pick up a magazine like Marriage Times and look for one. I-”
“Mail-order…” Maybelle interrupted Louise in a soft voice. The idea was intriguing. She squeezed Louise’s arm with her hand, grinning. “I hadn’t thought about that before. Thank you! I think it’s a good idea. Let’s get a paper. Right now!”
Laughing, both women turned and ran down the few steps they’d taken to get back in the buggy and head to the nearest paper stand.