Wedding Belles (8 page)

“Oh, you precious, precious girl!” Fanny squeezed Lottie’s hand. “This place you’ve brought us to is spectacular in every way. I’ve never seen such lovely views. Simply breathtaking.”

Flossie grunted. “One would think you’d never been outdoors, Fanny.”

“I’ve never been outdoors…like this. Why, already I’ve seen deer and a moose.”

“Elk,” Gilbert said.

“Elk.” Fanny clutched her hands to her chest. “With giant tusks.”

“Antlers.”

“And the birds! Oh, they’re lovely. I’ve never seen such variety. I would like to close my eyes and capture it all. Commit it to memory.”

Flossie clucked her tongue. “Keep your eyes open and you’ll stand a better chance of not falling in the creek.”

“Actually, it’s a river,” Gilbert said. “Fall River.”

“Not very deep.” Flossie’s nose wrinkled. “Or wide.”

“At least if we fall in Fall River, we won’t drown!” Fanny giggled. “Oh, that’s priceless. Fall in Fall River.”

Flossie rolled her eyes. “Sister, how you do go on.”

From across the room, Mrs. Parker rang the dinner bell. All the women gathered around and were soon joined by Augie, Jeb, Chauncy, and Phineas.

“Do they work here too?” Grace asked, her gaze on Chauncy.

“Nah,” Lottie said. “But they usually show up around suppertime.”

“No wives to cook for them?” Fanny asked. When Lottie shook her head, Fanny whispered, “Well, the food must be good, then. Keeps ’em coming back for more.”

Hardly. But this probably wouldn’t be the time to mention it.

The ladies gathered in a line at the front of the room, and Mrs. Parker dished up heaping bowls of the steaming venison stew. Once all the ladies were seated, Gilbert rose and removed his hat then offered up the blessing.

Cornelia appeared startled. “Can’t remember the last time I heard a man pray,” she said. “ ’Less you count the reverend at the church I visited as a youngster.” She gave Gilbert an admiring smile, one he returned straightaway with his boyish dimples now prominent.

“That young fella has a nice speaking voice.” Fanny pointed at Gil. “I could tell by the way he prayed. Nice projection. Good tone.” She squinted and gave him an inquisitive look. “I daresay he would do just fine on the stage. And this show’s gonna need a hero, is it not?”

“Oh, well, I…” To be honest, Lottie had been so preoccupied with the female roles that she hadn’t really thought about the men’s parts. “I think some of the other fellas are hoping they’ll get to play a role.” She gestured to Augie and the others.

“Those men?” Hannah shook her head. “Can’t imagine a one of them as hero material, to be quite honest.”

“Looks can often be deceiving.” This time it was Prudy who chimed in, though her words were so quiet Lottie had to strain to make them out.

The women dove into their food—eagerly at first, but then with what appeared to be some trepidation after they’d had a few bites.

“What did you call this again?” Hannah pushed her bowl back as if it held poison.

“Venison stew.” Lottie pretended to take another bite.

“Ah.” Hannah stared at it. “Can’t say as I’ve ever had anything like it.”

The other ladies agreed, and none of them ate much.

Thank goodness the chocolate pie that followed dinner proved quite tasty. The women ate it like they might never eat again.

As soon as dinner ended, several locals—mostly men and children—showed up to audition. Lottie rose and addressed the crowd, ready to get the auditions under way.

“Folks, thank you all for coming. Please take the time to fill out the audition forms and to prepare yourselves. I’ve got a handful of audition scripts here.” She pointed to the table, her nerves suddenly kicking in.

The ladies grabbed the forms and went to work, filling them out. Cornelia approached, a concerned expression on her face. “Looking at this form, I can see that signing on the dotted line means I’ll be committing to stay through late November. Six months.”

“Well, there’s nothing legally binding,” Lottie assured her. “And if for some reason, you feel you simply can’t stay, we’ll certainly understand. I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll understand.”

“Just one question…” Fanny next took a few steps in Lottie’s direction, her brow wrinkled. “The woman who prepared the meal tonight—Mrs. Parker—is she, well, is she going to be doing all the cooking? This might affect my decision, I’m afraid to say.”

Lottie lowered her voice. “Gilbert and I have already spoken about this and will come up with a plan. Trust me when I say that you won’t starve. In the meantime…” She glanced Mrs. Parker’s way. “Please spread the word to the women that they can meet in the kitchen at midnight for a snack. I’ll make sure there’s something available every night, starting tomorrow night.” She lowered her voice another notch. “But this has to be between us, all right?”

“A woman never divulges her food sources, honey.” Fanny slapped herself on the rump and laughed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to warm up my voice before auditioning. It’s something Flossie and I always do, you see.” She gestured at several of the other women. “Looks like we’re not the only ones.”

Off to the side of the room Grace did some dance warm-ups, stretching and bending in elegant style. A couple of the women sang “
la-la-la
,” in an attempt to warm up their voices, no doubt. Sharla, Patricia, and Cherry did a funny little dance that involved kicking their legs up in the air. Cornelia stood off in the corner rehearsing some sort of speech. Fanny joined her sister and they began to rehearse a fascinating scene about a mother and daughter. Lottie couldn’t make heads or tails out of what they were doing but found it all intriguing.

“I can’t tell if those two sisters are fighting for real or acting out some sort of a scene,” Mrs. Parker whispered as she dropped into the empty seat next to Lottie.

“Surely they’re acting. Flossie looks worked up.”

“That’s what makes me think it might be real.” Jeb took the seat to Lottie’s left. “Bossy Flossie. That’s what I’m calling her. That woman has an attitude, to be sure.”

Hannah closed her eyes and paced, her lips moving but with no sound coming out.

“Do you suppose she’s praying?” Mrs. Parker’s brow wrinkled.

“I haven’t got a clue. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Lottie clapped her hands to get the group’s attention once more. “Time to begin, everyone. Grab your scripts and let’s get going.”

Mrs. Parker disappeared into the kitchen and Gilbert took her seat next to Lottie. “Ready for this?” he whispered.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Cornelia went first. She did a fine job of reading for Miss Information, the heroine in the show. Unfortunately, Gil couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. That might be problematic, particularly if she ended up playing the lead role.

Next came Margaret, who rose and approached the stage with the same air of superiority she’d exuded back in Loveland. “I’ll need a fellow to read the hero’s lines.”

Augie rose and took a few steps toward the stage, but Jeb beat him to it. “Allow me, miss.” He pulled off his hat, revealing messy hair underneath. From a few seats away, Hannah cringed.

Margaret did a fine job of reading too. In fact, so did Hannah. And Flossie. And Fanny. And all the others, even the low-cut trio, though they thrived on acting flirtatious and silly. Prudy struggled a bit with her audition. Her voice trembled as she read through the lines. Still, she wasn’t half bad.

Lottie breathed a sigh of relief when the ladies completed their auditions. Could it be that the Lord had provided just the right woman for every female role?

And the men! Though she had long accused them of being dramatic, Lottie had never guessed they might perform tolerably well on a real stage. Phineas surprised her with his somewhat convincing rendition of the evil villain. Chauncy, though bumbling at times, seemed the great comedic sidekick. And Jeb and Augie did a decent job too. So did the children and the other men from town. As the audition process drew to a close, Lottie felt hope as she never had before.

“Thank you all for coming.” She rose to face the group. “I can tell this is going to be a remarkable show. We’ll be posting a list of the cast members on Sunday at noon on the front door of the community church. That way everyone in town can see it.”

Sharla raised her hand. “Does that mean we’ll have to go to church if we want to find out what part we got?”

Hmm.
Lottie thought through her response. She’d never considered the fact that the women might not be churchgoers. “If you don’t want to attend the service, you can just stop by and look at the list at noon. Will that work?”

Sharla nodded.

“Rehearsals will be four evenings a week and on Saturdays. We’ll have more information available at the first rehearsal. Thank you again for auditioning.”

As folks headed out the door, Lottie sorted through the audition forms with Gilbert looking over her shoulder. “I think that went pretty well,” he said. “Don’t you?”

“A little too well,” she said. “Makes me wonder when the ax is going to fall.”

“Ax?” He looked perplexed.

“Yes.” A shiver ran down her spine. “You know how you sometimes get that feeling just about the time you think all is going well?”

He nodded. “Yes, but you have nothing to worry about, Lottie.” His gaze shifted across the room to Cornelia and he rose and walked her way.

Lottie watched him leave, the heaviness in her heart returning. Flossie slipped into the empty seat next to her. “I realize you have a lot to think about right now,” the older woman said, “but I feel compelled to share something with you.”

“Oh?” Lottie braced herself.

“Yes.” Flossie released a breath. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, Lottie, but this is one of the weakest audition scripts I have ever read.” She held up her copy of
Predicament at Parker Lodge.
“The dialogue is stilted, the plot is contrived, and not one thing about it rings true.”

“W–what?”

Flossie clutched the script. “You promised the people an actionpacked drama.”

“Yes.” Lottie’s thoughts felt scrambled as she fought for a response, and tears stung her eyes. “I—I know.”

Flossie waved the script in the air. “You call this action-packed? It’s filled with clichés, loaded with exaggerated stereotypes, and riddled with grammatical errors.”

“Oh, I, well…”

Thank goodness Fanny arrived at that moment, just as a lone tear dribbled out of Lottie’s eye.

“Now, Flossie…” Fanny clucked her tongue. “It’s not that bad. We’ve certainly seen worse. Remember that show we did back in ’03? Terrible! We felt sure it would close before it opened to the public, remember?”

Flossie paled. “Well, yes, but…”

“Who turned things around?” Fanny looked her sister in the eyes. “
You
did, Flossie. You turned things around. You took the time to help that young director with his script and his directing, did you not?”

Flossie’s gaze shifted to the ground and then up to Lottie before she whispered, “Yes, I did.”

“And what did the reviewers say?” Fanny asked.

“They said it was the best show Atlantic City had seen to date.” Flossie’s hardened expression softened into something that almost resembled a smile. “Guess they liked it.”

“They loved it, and you know it.” Fanny took hold of Flossie’s arms. “There has never once been a show without flaws. Most of them need someone to step in and save the day. This poor girl just needs someone on her side.”

“It’s true.” Lottie hung her head in shame. “I need your expertise, to be sure.”

“Every theater person throughout time has needed a boost at some point.” Fanny stared at Flossie. “Sister, we were young once, remember?”

“Of course I remember,” Flossie said. “What a ridiculous question.”

“You’re missing my point,” Fanny said. “We were once green around the gills just like this young woman standing before us. Remember our very first show back in ’91? You were a silly chorus girl, and I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. I shudder to think where we would be today if Mr. Jamison from the Poughkeepsie Theater Company hadn’t taken the time to take us on in spite of our inexperience.”

Flossie sighed.

“That’s all she needs, Flossie,” Fanny spoke with great passion as she slipped an arm around Lottie’s shoulder. “She needs a shot.”

Flossie mumbled something about how they were all going to need a shot of whiskey if someone didn’t step in and save the day…to which Fanny responded, “You
are
that someone.”

After that, well, Flossie fell silent. So silent, in fact, that Lottie wondered if she would ever speak again.

* * * * *

A
FTER A BRIEF CONVERSATION
with Cornelia, Gilbert noticed Flossie and Fanny talking to Lottie, who appeared teary-eyed. He headed their way and caught the tail end of their conversation. He sensed Lottie’s frustration, of course, and felt bad that Flossie had stirred her to tears, but if what he’d heard was right, the older woman spoke the truth. The script did need work. Not that he had anything to worry about now. No, from the looks of things, God had brought just the right people and at just the right time. With Bossy Flossie taking the reins, the details would practically iron themselves out.

If tonight’s auditions were any indicator, the melodrama would come together with little effort and the very real predicament at Parker Lodge would soon be a thing of the past. Guests would come out to see the show and leave content. They would spread the word, and before long others would come. Over time things would turn themselves around. He would keep his father’s dream alive by filling the lodge with paying customers. And all because of Lottie’s willingness to humble herself.

He would have to remind himself to thank her later. Right now he was simply content to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

SEVEN

H
OMESTEADERS
G
O A
-C
OURTIN
’

Recent auditions for the Parker Lodge theatrical came off without a hitch. Locals and out-of-towners alike showed up to read for parts. What a night! What talent! What flair! What enthusiasm! Truly, a memorable evening for all involved. So, who will play the various roles? Stay tuned for more information. Our cast list will be posted on Sunday at noon on the door of the Estes Park Community Church. We can share this little tidbit—we will have a very fine-looking female ensemble, thanks to the addition of ten professional actresses. Add to that our local talent and we’ve got the makings of a wonderful show. So hang onto your hat, Estes Park friends! You’re about to witness drama as you’ve never seen it before.
—Your friends at Parker Lodge