Mail Order Mommy. Christine Johnson

had already noted the gaps between the glass panes and the frame, not to mention the windows and the siding. He’d have to caulk those before the snow began in earnest, or they’d wake up to drifts across the floor.

      “That’s why I have to get working on this place now,” Garrett stated firmly. “There’s a lot to do.”

      “Like cleaning out the firebox,” Pearl pointed out.

      Roland didn’t even attempt to hide his snicker.

      That drew Pearl’s attention toward her fiancé. “We will make a work bee of this. Roland, you round up as many of the men as you can. I’ll get together the ladies. Garrett and Amanda can get the supplies and materials they need from the mercantile.”

      “Yes, ma’am,” Roland answered crisply.

      To Garrett’s surprise, Pearl’s take-charge attitude melted into laughter.

      “But Pearl,” Amanda said, so softly that Garrett figured her friend wouldn’t hear her, especially since Pearl’s attention was fixed entirely on Roland. “You promised to help me...at the boardinghouse.” Every bit of rosiness had drained from her cheeks.

      “Later,” Pearl assured her. “I won’t forget.”

      Amanda nibbled on her lip, a girlish gesture that made her even more endearing. “But...”

      “I promise.” Pearl linked her arm around Roland’s. “All right, we’ll get everyone together and meet back here in thirty minutes. We can turn this house into the perfect home for Isaac and Sadie.”

      Garrett caught Amanda blinking back tears. Roland was right. She did care about his children. That made him feel a bit better about leaving them in her care for a few hours each day, but an instant later, those warm sentiments turned to annoyance. Pearl and Roland left, leaving him alone with Amanda.

      She gave him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. Sometimes Pearl gets caught up in an idea, and nothing can make her change course.”

      Amanda looked as uncomfortable as he felt. They’d both gotten caught in the web of Pearl’s plans.

      He cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his coat pockets. For some reason he got tongue-tied around Amanda. He had to get out of here and into a public place. “I suppose we’d better get what we need before everyone shows up.”

      Her face bloomed pink. “I suppose.” She glanced up at him. “I won’t make anything for the house that you wouldn’t approve.”

      The tremble in her voice undid him. Amanda was nothing like Eva. His late wife would have begged and demanded until she got her way. Amanda only sought to please. Perhaps Roland was right, and Garrett had badly misjudged her.

      He drew in a deep breath. “As long as there’s no ruffles or lace, I don’t care.” An idea crossed his mind. “Have Sadie pick out what she likes.”

      Amanda visibly brightened, the hesitancy gone. “What a wonderful idea! She has an artist’s eye for color.”

      Garrett couldn’t help it. Amanda’s obvious affection for his daughter melted the coldness in his heart.

      He smiled.

Chapter Three

      Since cleaning the Cherry Street house took all day, Amanda never got her cooking lesson. She’d counted on helping Mrs. Calloway prepare Sunday dinner, until Louise Smythe invited Pearl, Fiona and her to join the Elders. Fiona had other plans, but Pearl accepted for herself and Amanda.

      “But I’m needed to help with dinner,” Amanda had protested.

      Unfortunately, Mrs. Calloway overheard and put an end to that thought. “Go. It’s only brisket and cabbage. Simple as can be.”

      Nothing was simple when it came to cooking, but with Pearl and Mrs. Calloway insisting she accept the invitation, once again the opportunity to learn slipped away.

      Louise expressed such gratitude that Amanda felt badly for wishing she could be elsewhere. “Captain and Mrs. Elder are desperate for company. She is too frail to go out-of-doors anymore, and he won’t leave her side.” Her friend blinked back a tear. “He’s so devoted to her. I wish...well, I can only hope to find someone like that.”

      Poor Louise had lost her first husband in the War Between the States. Widowed and poverty-stricken, she had spent everything she had hoping that Garrett Decker would marry her. So had Amanda. As for Fiona, no one quite knew if the concerts were given from financial necessity or to hone her talents.

      When Louise learned Garrett did not want to marry, she took the position caring for Mrs. Elder in their home and found a perfect match for her love of books in Mr. Elder’s extensive library.

      That afternoon they gathered around the Elders’ dinner table and listened to Captain Elder’s tales from when he’d captained a ship on the Great Lakes. Mrs. Elder smiled at each story, though she must have heard them a thousand times, and encouraged her husband to continue.

      He said with a twinkle in his eye, “Adeline indulges me.” He leaned over and pecked her on the temple, drawing a playful scolding. “That’s why I married her, that and her walnut tarts.”

      Mrs. Elder giggled like a young girl, her adoration wiping away the years for a moment. “Billy is such a tease.”

      Amanda’s heart ached for such a close relationship, one that weathered the trials of time. Once she had dreamed of it with Hugh. He had been so attentive. Compliments flowed from his lips each time they met, and she began to believe his professions of love in spite of the vast difference between them. He was a man of society, and she an orphan who was little better than a maid in her foster family’s home. He told her she was more beautiful than her foster sister, Lena, whom the Chatsworths believed he would soon court. When Hugh said that he would rather marry Amanda, she took it as a proposal, only to discover that his real purpose was to ruin her so she would become his mistress.

      She shuddered at the memory of that day and the liberties he had taken in spite of her protests, tears and struggles. If not for Mrs. Brighton’s timely intervention...

      “Are you warm enough, dear?” Mrs. Elder asked. “I have plenty of shawls if you need one.”

      Amanda pulled her thoughts from the terrible past. “Oh! No, thank you. I am quite warm.”

      By the time she and Pearl left, daylight was slipping away. Soon darkness would shroud the landscape, just as memory had darkened Amanda’s spirits.

      “What’s wrong?” Pearl asked. “You’ve been quiet since dessert was served.”

      Amanda sighed. She could not reveal to anyone the depth of humiliation and shame she’d endured at Hugh’s hands, so she focused on the other disappointment of the day. “It’s too late to learn to cook.”

      “Nonsense. I can still show you the basics.”

      “But Mrs. Calloway said anything we make had to be available for the guests at the boardinghouse. There aren’t any more meals today. You know that.”

      “We could make rolls for tomorrow morning.”

      Amanda shook her head. “Garrett asked me to make supper, not breakfast. No one eats sweet rolls for supper.”

      Pearl hugged her around the shoulders as they approached the boardinghouse, with its cheery pine wreath on the front door and glowing windows. “Then I will help you fix supper tomorrow. A stew will be simple enough.”

      “Will there be enough time after school?”

      “Of course. Do you know what food he has on hand?”

      “How would I know that?” Amanda’s mouth went dry. “Oh, dear, I’m going to fail on the very first day.”

      Pearl laughed.