The Mandie Collection (40 page)

“That is a good idea, Mother,” Mandie agreed. “Sallie has mentioned having to write on just any kind of paper she can find. I know she'll like it.”

Mandie quickly bought gifts for the other people left on her list—a wool scarf for Uncle John, a silk scarf for her grandmother, and a whole assortment of fancy hair clasps and combs for Celia. She and Celia had agreed to wait until they returned to school to exchange presents.

“I think I'll just buy wool gloves for Aunt Lou, Jenny, and Liza, and Abraham, too,” Mandie said as they walked through an outdoor stall where a woman was selling handmade gloves and scarves and hats.

“That's a practical idea,” Elizabeth told her. “Then I will get all of them scarves, and your uncle John will, of course, be giving them extra pay for Christmas.”

As Mandie selected the gloves and paid for them, Elizabeth purchased the scarves.

“Now I'm all finished,” Mandie said. “I've already bought other presents in Asheville that I brought home in my trunk.”

“Don't you want to walk around the block and see the rest of the goods these people are selling? We have plenty of time,” Elizabeth said.

“Well ...” Mandie said slowly as she tried to think of an excuse to go home. “I do have to wrap a lot of presents before the Woodards get here so I can put them under the tree tonight.”

“All right, we'll go on back, then,” Elizabeth agreed.

Since they lived within the town limits, it was only a short trip, but Mandie practically held her breath all the way, hoping the Guyers had not arrived. As soon as they entered the front hallway, she looked around anxiously. There was no one in sight. Then she saw Liza come out of the parlor.

“Has anyone else arrived yet, Liza?” Mandie asked as her mother went on toward the staircase, carrying her purchases.

“Nobody,” Liza replied, stopping to look at Mandie. “Whut you buy?”

Mandie hugged her packages against her, smiled, and said, “I can't tell you. I have to go wrap everything.” She started on down the hallway, looking back to be sure Liza was not following. “Is Grandmother in her room?”

“Nope, she dun went out soon as y'all left,” Liza said.

“Who did she go with? Uncle John?” Mandie asked as she stopped walking.

“Nope,” Liza replied. “Some rich lady come knockin' at de do' and yo' gramma know huh. She went somewhere wid de lady in huh fancy buggy.”

“You don't know who the lady was, Liza?” Mandie asked as she puzzled over this information.

“Nope,” Liza said, and then with a big grin she added, “Missy 'Manda, don't you 'member how yo' gramma always likes to go out when y'all leaves huh heah alone? She's done dat befo'. 'Member?”

Now that Liza mentioned it, Mandie did remember her grandmother going out after everyone else left her alone in the house one time before. “I believe it was during Christmastime last year,” she said thoughtfully. “Oh well, she probably just wanted to go shopping with her friend, whoever the woman was, Liza. Anyhow, I'm going to get these gifts all wrapped up before Joe comes.”

She hurried upstairs to her room and deposited her packages on the bed. Quickly removing her gloves, she stuck them in the pockets of her coat. Then, taking off her hat and coat, she hung them in the wardrobe. “Brrrr!” she said to herself as she rubbed her hands together and walked toward the fireplace. “It's cold in here.” She picked up the poker and pushed at the stack of burning logs with it. The flames went higher, and she put the poker back in its stand.

Mandie glanced at the packages and said, “Might as well get busy.”

But as she was wrapping and tying ribbons, she thought about her grandmother. She really should get her to stay still long enough to explain to her that the Guyers were coming for the holidays. So far Mrs. Taft had been too busy and put her off, but Mandie just had to tell her. Otherwise, if the Guyers came walking in and Mrs. Taft had not been told, she would be awfully angry with Mandie. But if
Mandie could have a few minutes to explain things to her, maybe she wouldn't be too upset.

Suddenly Mandie realized she had been so deep in thought she didn't remember what was in each package that she had wrapped.

“Oh shucks! Now I'll have to unwrap them to see what belongs to whom,” she said. “Then I'll have to wrap them all up again. Double work!”

Mandie was careful this time to mark the packages as she rewrapped everything. And finally she was finished.

“Now I'll just go downstairs and wait for Grandmother to return. I'll catch her as soon as she comes in the front door,” Mandie said aloud to herself.

CHAPTER FOUR

VISITORS

When Mandie got down to the parlor, she found her mother and Uncle John already there.

“Has Grandmother come back yet? You know she went out as soon as we left?” Mandie asked her mother as she sat down on a chair near her.

“No, dear, she won't return until sometime this afternoon. She left me a note,” Elizabeth explained. “Mrs. Willimon, an old friend of hers, heard that Mother was here and came by. They'll be having the noon meal at her house, so whenever Aunt Lou has ours ready, we'll go ahead and eat.”

“But Grandmother told us she has so much to do she couldn't go shopping with us,” Mandie reminded her.

“Evidently Mrs. Willimon's visit was unexpected,” Elizabeth replied.

“Oh, you know how your grandmother is anyway,” Uncle John said with a smile. “Just whatever whim strikes her, that's what she does.”

Mandie was beginning to believe that her grandmother was deliberately avoiding talking with her, and she couldn't figure out why. Maybe Mrs. Taft thought Mandie just wanted to discuss some trivial matter. But on the other hand, maybe she believed Mandie wanted to discuss some troubling matter that she didn't especially want to hear
about. But no matter what, Mandie was determined to get a chance to tell her about the Guyers' coming visit.

A few minutes later Aunt Lou came to the parlor door to announce, “Miz 'Lizbeth, de food be on de table.”

“Thank you, Aunt Lou,” Elizabeth said as she and John stood up.

Mandie rose and followed them to the door but suddenly ran ahead into the hallway as the knocker on the front door sounded. “It's probably the Woodards,” she called back to her mother.

When she opened the heavy door with stained-glass panels, she did find the Woodards on the porch. Elizabeth and John came to welcome them.

Mandie waited for Joe to enter behind his parents. “Oh, Joe, you've just got to see the strangest present I ever received. Come to the parlor,” Mandie told him as she started back toward the parlor.

“Amanda,” Elizabeth stopped her. “That can wait until later. I'm sure the Woodards all want to freshen up, and then we'll eat before the food gets cold.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Mandie replied as she realized her mother was right.

Aunt Lou had stayed in the hallway, and now she started toward the kitchen as she called back, “I'll go git mo' plates on de table, Miz 'Lizbeth.” She went on her way.

“I hope we are not interrupting your meal,” Mrs. Woodard said.

“Oh no, you're just in time, in fact, and I'm glad because we weren't sure exactly when you all would get here,” Elizabeth said as she walked toward the staircase and led the way upstairs. “Come on. I'll show you your rooms.”

As they all went up the steps, Mandie waited in the downstairs hallway. Joe called back to her, “We won't be long.”

They weren't very long, but they all came back down together and went directly to the dining room. Mandie would have to wait to show the gift to Joe.

Once they had all been served, Dr. Woodard spoke from across the table, “And how are you, Miss Amanda?”

“Fine, Dr. Woodard,” Mandie replied. “Has Mr. Jacob Smith moved into my father's house yet like he promised?”

“Why, yes, he did move in a week or two after y'all got all that settled in court and you asked him to take care of it,” Dr. Woodard
replied as he cut the piece of ham on his plate. “And he has certainly been taking care of it. Sure looks like a different place. He has painted everything and has cleared the overgrown fields and plans to start farming the land.”

Mandie smiled with satisfaction. “I knew he would fix everything up because he was my father's friend,” she said. “And I'm so glad we found him when we needed to clear up my father's will.”

Mandie had lived in a log cabin at Charley Gap near the Woodards until her father died, then she had come to stay with her uncle John Shaw who had married her mother later.

“And did you and your friend Celia Hamilton and her mother get home all right from that exciting trip to New York?” Joe asked, setting down his coffee cup.

New York! Oh, my goodness
, Mandie remembered.
Joe doesn't know that the Guyers are coming!
She quickly cleared her throat and said, “Oh yes, we had a nice trip home on the train. Did you find a college up there that you might want to attend?”

“I don't think so,” Joe said, shaking his head, causing a lock of brown hair to fall forward on his brow. “New York is too big, and there are too many people up there to suit me.”

John Shaw joined in the conversation and turned to ask Dr. Woodard, “Where else will you be looking for a college for Joe?”

“Well, there are several places,” Dr. Woodard replied. “We're hoping Joe won't want to go too far off so he can come home now and then.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Woodard agreed. “The house will feel awfully empty without Joe around and Dr. Woodard gone so much on patient visits.”

“Oh, Mom, you can come to college and visit me,” Joe said with a big teasing grin.

“I know how you feel,” Elizabeth said to Mrs. Woodard. “With Amanda away in school in Asheville, I don't see a whole lot of her, but it's all for her good, to get a good education. She'll inherit a lot of business problems someday.”

Dr. Woodard laughed and said, “I don't think I'd exactly call it business problems. To me it's more like a lot of business money.”

“But you can't have money without having problems, too,” John Shaw said.

“Yes, you're right, of course,” Dr. Woodard said, looking around the table. “Did Mrs. Taft not come with Amanda?”

“She came, but she's out visiting with friends right now,” Elizabeth said.

Mandie wondered how she would ever talk to her grandmother alone now that the Woodards had arrived. She glanced at Joe and thought about breaking the news to him that Jonathan was coming. She was sure the two boys would try to outdo each other the whole time they were there. And come to think of it, she realized she was not even sure she had told Jonathan that Joe and his family would also be staying at her house for the holidays. Oh, what a mess she had caused for herself. Uncle Ned, her father's old Cherokee friend, had always told her to “think first, then act,” and she had an awful time remembering to do that.

“Mandie,” Joe said sharply, bringing her back to the present. “What are you dreaming about?”

“Oh, I'm sorry, Joe,” Mandie said, flustered with being caught in her thoughts.

“Must have been something awful the way you were frowning,” Joe teased.

“It was,” Mandie agreed with a nervous laugh.

“How awful?” Joe asked, grinning at her.

“Shall we go into the parlor for coffee?” Elizabeth was saying at the end of the table.

Mandie drew a sigh of relief upon being saved from further explanation. She realized everyone was finished with the meal, and her mother was rising to lead the way back to the parlor.

“Come on,” she told Joe as the two stood up and followed the adults. “I want to show you that strange present I mentioned.”

When they entered the parlor, Mandie edged around the adults and went straight to the box sitting on the table where she had left it. Joe followed.

“Look at this mess that someone wrapped up, put my name on, and left on the doorstep. I found it early this morning,” Mandie explained as she pulled the gift wrapping back for a full view.

Dr. and Mrs. Woodard glanced at it as they walked past to sit near the fireplace.

“Some child must have made all that,” Dr. Woodard said.

“Unless it was meant to be a joke,” Mrs. Woodard added as they sat down.

Joe bent over the box to inspect the contents. He turned this way and that, mumbled under his breath, and then straightened up with a serious look on his face to announce, “Looks like a treasure map to me.”

“A treasure map?” Mandie quickly asked. She bent closer to look. “Why, yes, it could be a treasure map. Now, why didn't I think of that?”

“Oh, Mandie, I was only joking,” Joe said with a little laugh. “I know how much you love mysteries.”

Mandie continued gazing at the twigs, berries, and dirt. “But look, Joe,” she said, pointing to some twigs tied with bits of red ribbon. “Those could be markers on the road to some hidden treasure. And these little dents in the dirt could be roads. See?” She glanced at Joe.

“Might be, but I doubt it,” he said. “Looks more like a jumble of holly leaves and berries and dirt, all just thrown into the box and patted down.”

“But, Joe, all this must mean something,” Mandie argued as she straightened up to look at him. “Somebody sent it to me for some reason.”

“Probably some young child,” Joe said.

“But I don't know any child who would do this,” Mandie said thoughtfully, trying to remember just how many children she knew in Franklin. “In fact, I don't know any children anywhere near here. And they would have to live close by in order to bring this box and leave it on our doorstep at night. No, I'm sure it's a treasure map, just like you said.”

“And I think I said the wrong thing. Look, Mandie, I was only joking,” Joe replied, waving his hands at the box. “Why, you could never make any sense out of that mess to try and follow it as a map.”