Hometown Cinderella: Hometown Cinderella\The Inn at Hope Springs (19 page)

“Here, let me take those—”

She drew her palm back, unwilling to relinquish the broken pieces she carried. “That’s all right, I’ve got them.” She rose from her knees, hardly knowing what she was doing. “I’ll put them away.”

In the kitchen, she stared at the broken pieces, the last thing she had of her mother’s and father’s, the only thing she had to call home. She sighed. Perhaps Carina was right. She had been putting too much stock in a pile of crockery.
Forgive me, Lord,
she whispered.
Forgive me for idolatry.
She drew in a shuddering breath and shoved the pieces into a cupboard drawer. Despite what she’d told Gideon, there was no point in trying to glue the pieces together.

She straightened her shoulders and turned her footsteps back to the parlor, determined not to let the incident ruin the tea party. She didn’t want to spoil Lizzie’s day nor did she want to make Gideon feel worse than he did. He’d been trying to help Dietrich.

She pasted a bright smile on her face as she pushed open the parlor door.

Chapter Fifteen

G
ideon rode home in silence, Lizzie at his side. Despite Mara’s cheerfulness the rest of the afternoon, he hadn’t been fooled. He knew that cup had meant a lot to her. Lizzie told him when they’d first gotten into their wagon that it had been a gift of her father’s to her mother and the only thing she’d kept of home from all her years of travel.

“She didn’t bring anything back from Europe but their clothes and that tea set.”

He felt awful inside, even though he, too, had done his best to act as if nothing terrible had happened. He’d even forced himself to stay a good half hour more, when all he’d wanted was to get out of his Sunday best and spend the rest of the afternoon in his barn among his cows and horse. He was more fit company for livestock than fine ladies in a parlor.

But he’d not wanted Dietrich to feel badly, nor ruin Lizzie’s day—not that he hadn’t already. Nor did he want Mara to think he took their words or the stricken look in her eyes to heart.

But he had.

Mrs. Blackstone might be a cruel, unfeeling woman, but her words had probably contained a grain of truth in how valuable the tea set was to Mara.

He drew in a long breath now as they approached their house. “I was thinking maybe I could replace that cup of Mrs. Keller’s.”

Lizzie turned to him with a hopeful look in her eye. “That’s a wonderful idea, Papa. I know how sad she must be even though she didn’t let on. But she’s like that. She never shows how she truly feels about something if it’s something bad.”

“That so? What kind of bad things are you thinking about?” He maneuvered the mare up the snowy drive toward the barn.

“Well, I think things Mrs. Blackstone says. Wasn’t it awful what she said today?” Lizzie shook her head before hopping down from the wagon to open the barn door.

When they were both in the barn, unhitching the horse, he probed her further. “Does Mrs. Blackstone say those kinds of things often to Mrs. Keller?”

Lizzie stroked the mare’s forehead. “Not as bad as this afternoon’s, but little things, you know, when it’s hard to tell if they’re unpleasant or not, but they have a kind of edge to them. I look at Mrs. Keller and she gets real quiet. It’s gotten so’s I notice a tightness around her mouth, or her hands curl up, and I know she doesn’t like what Mrs. Blackstone’s saying, but she doesn’t let on. It makes me think of a tightly wound spring, you know. You’re afraid it might spring loose.”

Gideon led Bessie to her stall and started rubbing her down with an old blanket, considering what Lizzie had told him. He hadn’t seen Mara around Mrs. Blackstone as much as Lizzie had, but he’d come to suspect the same things Lizzie had.

Mara kept a lot bottled up.

Dear Lord,
he prayed, his strokes rhythmic as he took up a brush to the mare’s coat,
show me how I can help Mara. Grant me the ability to replace that cup for her. I feel terrible, Lord. I suspect she’s known a lot of loss in her life. I don’t want to add to her loss.

Lizzie gave the horse her oats. “But other than the cup breaking, it was a nice party, wasn’t it?”

He looked over at his daughter and forced a smile to his lips. “It certainly was. You did me proud. You’ll make a fine lady.”

Her tentative smile widened. “Well, I’ll go in and see to the fire. You won’t be long, will you, Papa?”

He shook his head.

But the time alone in the barn helped sooth his troubled feelings. He always needed that time after being out in company. Time to pray, to allow the silence of the barn or the outdoors to settle him again. But an afternoon among ladies was particularly trying.

And to be the one to hurt the last person he wanted to hurt.

He stared out at the twilight sky before securing the barn door for the night.
Dear Lord, why’d it have to be me?

Gideon entered the last shop on his list. The small bell above the door tinkled as he drew it open for Lizzie to precede him.

“Good afternoon, sir. How may I assist you?” a middle-aged clerk asked him from behind a glass counter whose case was filled with china dishes.

He approached the counter, feeling more adept at what to say now that he had visited a number of stores in the large city. “I’m wondering if you have any teacups in this pattern.” As he spoke he withdrew his handkerchief from a coat pocket and placed it on the counter. Unwrapping it, he held up the large shard of porcelain from Mara’s broken cup.

“May I?”

Gideon handed it to him.

The man took it from him silently and held it up then turned it over before handing it back to Gideon with a shake of his head. “A beautiful piece. It has the name of a Parisian firm on the bottom. I only carry British and American. We don’t have much call for anything else European. How did you happen to come by it?”

“It’s from a neighbor of ours. From what I understand from my daughter here, it’s an old French pattern.”

“It certainly looks like a fine piece of porcelain. Have you checked any of the other stores in town?”

“Yes. This is the last one.” His heart felt heavy, knowing he’d have to return home tomorrow without a replacement cup for Mara. He’d taken off a couple of days, asking Paul and his father to stop in and check on his livestock while he was away with Lizzie, and they’d taken the steamer from town to Bangor.

“I’m so sorry I can’t help you.”

Feeling it was his last hope, Gideon ventured, “Do you have anything similar in looks?”

The man took the piece from him again and studied what was visible of the pattern. Luckily it was large enough to show a bit of both painted roses.

Lizzie spoke up. “It only has the two roses on either side of the cup. And we wouldn’t need the saucer.”

The man took a pair of spectacles out of his shirt pocket and examined the design more closely. “I may just have something…” He looked at them, removing his glasses. “If you’ll excuse me a moment.”

“Certainly, sir.” Gideon felt a spurt of hope. As they waited while the clerk went into his back room, Gideon turned to his daughter. “Well?”

“Oh, I hope he has something. Wouldn’t it be awful to have come all the way here and not be able to take anything back to Mrs. Keller?”

He nodded, his spirits plummeting again.

In a short while the clerk returned, this time with a cup and saucer in his hands. “Well, this might serve the trick.” He placed them on the countertop.

Gideon looked at the set without touching it. It did look similar, with a deep pink rose and a yellow one beside and slightly behind it.

Lizzie took up the cup and turned it around.

“It’s English,” the man told her.

“Oh, it looks just like it! It’s very pretty,” she added.

“That is so,” the clerk agreed. “It’s the closest match I have.”

“And it’s the closest we’ve been able to find,” added Gideon. “What do you think, Lizzie?”

She took another moment looking at it and the saucer. Finally, she nodded. “I guess it’ll have to do. We’ve been to every shop.”

“Have you tried Boston?”

Gideon blinked. Boston was too far to consider going shopping there. “No, sir, I haven’t.”

“I could give you a few addresses to write to, antique shops that specialize in fine porcelain.”

Gideon rubbed his chin. “I don’t know. We’ve come from Down East, and Boston’s quite a journey.”

“You shouldn’t have to go all the way there. If anyone had this specimen, they could ship it to you, I’m certain.”

Gideon’s hope lifted. “That would fine then, I’d appreciate the addresses.”

“Very well, sir. Do you still wish to purchase this cup and saucer?”

“I’d better, just in case I can’t get anything from the Boston shops. But I only need the cup.”

The clerk pursed his lips. “We only sell the set, sir.”

“Well, all right then.” He reached for his wallet. “How much will it be?”

The clerk quoted a price.

It was a bit more than he’d expected to pay for a cup—and now saucer. He sighed, opening his billfold. His carelessness was proving expensive. “Very well.”

“I shall wrap it up for you.”

“I’d appreciate some good wrapping. We have a long journey home and I’d hate to have it break.”

“Never fear, sir. We are experts in wrapping and shipping fragile objects.”

When they left the shop with their parcel, Lizzie turned to him. “I’m glad we found that. I’m sure Mrs. Keller will like it. Do you think we could do a bit of Christmas shopping before we head home?”

Christmas was only a couple of weeks away. They’d come this far and it would be a shame to waste the opportunity of all the shops. He didn’t look forward to traipsing through more stores, but he didn’t want to disappoint his daughter. “Sure. Why don’t we eat some dinner first and then go shopping?”

“Yes, all that hunting for china has made me famished. Let’s go!”

Mara was ironing in the kitchen when she heard a wagon come up the drive. She set down the iron and went to the window and drew back the lace curtain a fraction. Gideon and Lizzie were heading to the house.

Her heart sped up a bit. She hadn’t seen Gideon since the tea party some days ago. Lizzie had told her that she and her father had to go to Bangor on some errands so she knew they’d been away.

Dietrich had found the days long, not being able to go to Gideon’s, and not having Paul around as much, since he was also looking after Gideon’s livestock. The weather had been gray with a mixture of rain and snow, making everything too icy to go outside much. Mara had finally taken her son to visit a friend and spend the night, giving her a few hours of peace and quiet.

As she watched Gideon stop the wagon and get down, she admitted how much she’d missed him, even when it was only to look outside and see him chopping wood or deliver some item to Mrs. Blackstone, like a side of ham or bacon from his butchering.

Lizzie made her way to the woodshed door while her father saw to the horse.

Mara removed her apron and glanced at her hair in a small square mirror hanging near the door. She tucked a few stray locks into her chignon right before she heard the knock on the door.

She opened it at once, greeting Lizzie with a wide smile, feeling a genuine burst of gladness at the sight of the girl. The sentiment was returned if the girl’s smile was any indication.

The next moment the two embraced. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Oh, Mrs. Keller, I wanted to come right over, but we didn’t arrive till late yesterday.”

Mara ushered her farther into the kitchen. “Come in. Can you stay a while? I’m sure you have a lot to do at home.”

Lizzie closed the door behind her and unwound her woolen scarf. “Oh, not so much. I left everything neat and tidy, and Paul and his father took good care of our animals. Dietrich must come over. The kittens are quite big now. It’s a shame he can’t have one. They’ve grown enough to be given away.” She glanced around her. “Where is he, anyway? I didn’t see him outside.”

“I let him go visit young Tommy this afternoon. He’s been cooped up for a few days.”

Lizzie nodded.

Mara took her things. “Is your father coming in, or just dropping you off?” She tried to keep her tone casual as she hung Lizzie’s cloak on a hook.

“Oh, he’s coming in, but he’s probably chatting with Paul. He’s very impressed with all he did. I know he wants to make up for it somehow.” Lizzie’s cheeks dimpled. “We bought him a little something for Christmas, though. I know he’ll like it.”

“Christmas shopping?” Mara had hardly given Christmas a thought although she knew it was around the corner. “Is that why you went to Bangor?”

“Oh, we had an errand, a very important errand to do, but we thought we might as well do a little shopping while we were there. Mrs. Keller, they have so many shops and an emporium and a dry goods store, where you can find ever so many things, so much larger than in town. Have you ever been to Bangor?”

“Once, passing through, but usually I’ve traveled direct by steamer from Boston.”

“Boston must be vast,” she said somewhat wistfully.

“Perhaps you’ll visit some day.”

“I don’t know. It’s pretty far from Eagle’s Bay.”

“Oh, nowadays it’s not so far by steamer. Well, come in and have a cup of tea or coffee.”

“Thank you.” She sobered, looking around. “Is Mrs. Blackstone home?”

“No. She has gone to the harbor to visit the Allendales.”

The girl seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Can I help you with the tea? Papa may want coffee.”

“I have some in the pot here on the side of the stove, and the water’s hot for tea, so you just sit down.”

As she brewed the tea, there was another knock on the kitchen door and Lizzie rose to answer it. “There you are, Papa. I told Mrs. Keller you’d have a cup of coffee. Would you rather have a cup of tea?”

“Anything’s fine,” he said as he entered, his glance going at once to Mara. Mara nodded, smiling shyly before turning back to the teapot. “As long as you don’t go to any trouble.”

“No trouble at all,” she said as Lizzie added, “The coffee’s all ready.”