Rescued by his Healing Touch, page 20
Since no one would ever see them, she didn’t care what they looked like—only that after a good wash, they would feel soft and lovely inside the pillow casing. Dirty and horrible as they were, they were perfect for stuffing, to make sure that Sophie’s pillow would stop aggravating her asthma.
The haberdasher, an older lady with iron-gray curls, gave her a good deal, while frowning at her and clearly thinking her insane. Angeline didn’t care at all. Insane or not, she had a plan, and she was sticking to it.
She had bought too much material, as it turned out, and she couldn’t fit it all into the bag she’d brought along. She wasn’t entirely certain how much it would take to stuff the pillow and only hoped she had enough.
“You could buy one of these shopping bags,” the haberdasher said, drawing Angeline’s attention to several fabric bags that hung from a broken off tree branch beside the table. Angeline hadn’t even noticed them with the bolts of material lying on the tabletop for her to work through.
“Oh, my!” she exclaimed. They had been sewn out of cut-offs and looked like patchwork quilts. She quite liked them. They were large and, upon inspection, turned out to be rather sturdy. What she liked most was the draw string that closed the bag so nothing could fall out. “Yes, I’ll take one,” she said.
That used up a large portion of her money, but since she’d saved on the material, she couldn’t complain.
Having tied Jones to a tree not far off, she walked back to him with her material in both her own bag and the new one. She fastened both bags to the saddle and then, seeing as how there was a lot to see in Galveston, she decided to go for a walk with Jones.
As she walked around Galveston, she inspected the damage. It was much worse than they had experienced at the farm. In fact, the farm had hardly had any damage. A tree had knocked one fence down and that had been repaired the next day.
She could only imagine how upset and dispirited the store owners had to be, looking at the mess of debris and water damage that was evident all over. And yet, there was a spirit of hope and soldiering on that she could see and feel all around her. The people of Galveston weren’t letting this get them down. Many of the stores had followed the haberdashery’s lead and were selling their wares from tables on the sidewalk.
While some repaired the stores, fitting new windows and hammering new shingles to roofs, others sold fresh bread, canned goods, and sacks of rice and flour that had managed to escape the water. There was one place selling books. Some of the covers showed water damage, but the pages inside were still good.
Angeline found a women’s magazine that had an article all about making cheese. It focused on using sheep’s milk, but she couldn’t think it was all that different from cows and so she bought it. It might help her work out what she’d been doing wrong.
The fact that her mother was making cheese left and right annoyed her. She’d tried so hard and failed every time. But then, her mother had never baked a cake worth anything. Perhaps that was how God worked, He gave different talents to people so that everyone would have a place in this world.
After some time walking down the streets, talking to store owners and inspecting goods, she saw something that surprised her. Was that Apricot tied at a hitching post? When she got close enough, she recognized both the horse and the saddle on his back. It was definitely Apricot. Even Jonesy confirmed it by snorting a greeting to his friend.
Angeline looked up at the building.
“Is Tucker inside, boy?” she asked the horse as though he could reply.
On a whim, she tied Jones up beside his friend and ventured into the building. Pushing the frontdoor open, the smell of tobacco smoke and coffee hit her forcefully in the face. It was very strong. Looking around, she found an open doorway with a sign above it is proclaiming it a gentleman’s club. That had to be where the smells were coming from.
Never having encountered such a club before, she doubted that Tucker and his father were in there. So, she climbed the stairs to the next floor to search for Mr. Tucker’s office. In her mind, that was where men conducted their business, sitting in chairs behind desks. That was how Tucker did it in his study at the farm.
After some walking around, she found Mr. Tucker’s office. It was locked, and she was surprised to find a note stuck to the door proclaiming that Mr. Edwin Tucker was out and would be back shortly. Any urgent enquiries could be left with Gerard downstairs at the club.
Sighing, Angeline went back downstairs. Where was Tucker? Had he and his father gone out? If so, they couldn’t have gone far. Tucker wouldn’t leave Apricot like that. Perhaps this Gerard person at the club would know. She decided to ask him.
At the door to the club, she was met by a man with a fussy mustache and the air of one who took his job very seriously.
‘May I help you?” he asked.
“I certainly hope so,” she said, trying to sound as proper as she could. “Are you Gerard?”
The man sized her up. “I am,” he said eventually. “What can do for you?”
“Oh, good,” Angeline said, relieved. “I’m looking for Mr. Tucker. There’s a note on his door that says—”
“I am aware of the note. Do you have a message for him?” Gerard asked.
“Do you know where he is?”
“Yes.” Gerard looked almost reflexively over his shoulder.
“Can you tell me?” Angeline asked, but she guessed she knew now. They were in the club.
“I can, but it would be unseemly. I can pass on any messages you may have, should you be able to communicate them,” Gerard said. He sounded awfully snooty to Angeline, who took an instant dislike to him. “Do you have a message?”
Angeline frowned.
“What do you want with him?” Gerard asked, taking her frown to mean she didn’t understand him or was possibly addled in her brain.
She understood just fine. What she was confused about was how it was any of this peacock’s business what she wanted with Tucker.
“Look, mister,” she said, a fisted hand sliding to her hip, “I’m his housekeeper and I need to talk to him, so be a good boy and step out of the way so I can go find him.”
That had clearly been the wrong approach. The man glared at her, shook his head and, retreating into the room beyond, closed the door in her face. She knocked on the wood but could hear that her fist was making little to no noise and no one inside was likely to hear her.
Grumbling, Angeline went to the steps and sat down. She stared off into the distance, not sure what to do now.
Didn’t the place have windows? Surely, she could get Tucker’s attention if she went around and tapped on the window. He’d tell Gerard the snoot not to treat her like that. She’d enjoy seeing him get his comeuppance.
She recalled that the windows had looked out onto the street. So, she walked out of the building and was just walking toward the first window, which stood open a crack, when the smell of tobacco smoke wafted at her. She stopped walking, rubbing her nose so she didn’t sneeze, and as she did, she heard her name.
“…Angeline…” It was Tucker’s voice. She was certain of it. She froze, not moving a muscle. Why was Tucker speaking to his father about her?
“Honestly, Ethan, you’re not supposed to fall for the staff,” Mr. Tucker said. Angeline knew his voice very well after his last stay at the farm. His words, however, struck her like a hammer to the brain. What was he saying? Tucker had fallen for her? She must have misheard.
“She’s not the staff,” Tucker said, sounding annoyed.
“Well, it’s a silly infatuation and you’ll have to end it,” his father said. “You’re marrying Sophie and that’s the end of this nonsense.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t love Sophie and she doesn’t love me?” Tucker moaned. “Are you simply refusing to hear me?”
“Yes, because you are refusing to hear me,” his father said, and then he sighed. “Fine, have it your way. But know that I will have to sell the farm to Oswald if you insist on pursuingthis ridiculous relationship with that unsuitable girl.”
“You wouldn’t!” Tucker gasped. “Father!”
Angeline could hear how angry Tucker was in his tone. She imagined his face would be brick red all the way to his ears and he’d be huffing. Why was he fighting with his father about her and Sophie and selling the farm? What was going on here?
“You are leaving me no choice, Ethan, none at all,” his father said. “Do you think this is all fun and games? That keeping this business growing and in the black is easy? I have sleepless nights. Especially now, with all this upheaval. Your mother has had to discard so many of her cheeses that were ruined in the storm when the water came in. It all costs. So, if you have to marry a quite frankly lovely young woman of my choosing to keep things afloat, well, then that’s what you will do. And do you know why?”
Tucker didn’t respond. Perhaps he’d made some sort of gesture.
“You’ll do this for the cows, for your family, for the good of all involved,” his father said. “Even for your precious Angeline. You’ll do it for her, too, so that she can have a job. And you’ll do all this with a smile because the alternative is horrific. Do I make myself clear?”
A moment of tense and horrible silence passed where Angeline hardly dared to breathe. What was going on? Her mind was in a whirl. Did this mean that Tucker was interested in her romantically, and not in Sophie? When had this happened? Had she done something wrong and taken his heart from her friend?
“I won’t do it,” Tucker said. “There has to be another way.”
“If there is, I don’t see it,” his father said.
“Give me a couple of weeks, Father, please. Let me see if I can come up with a way to make things right,” Tucker said.
Another moment of silence and then his father said, “Alright. But you have two weeks.”
Angeline walked away from the wall with legs like jelly. She felt elated and sick to her stomach at the same time. Tucker sounded like he loved her, but how did that help when he was risking losing the farm? And was she worth his risking his whole world for her? She didn’t even know for certain how she felt about him.
She’d been concentrating so hard on not feeling anything for him, trying to keep things strictly friendly between them. But she couldn’t say that every time he accidentally touched her, or when they got lost in each other’s eyes, it didn’t send sparks of lightning through her as though she was out in a storm. It did. And at night, she dreamed terrible, wonderful dreams of him. Was this love? Was this how it felt, constantly longing to be close to someone? Was that what it meant? Angeline had no idea.
Back at the horses, she tried to pull herself together. She couldn’t let Tucker know she’d been eavesdropping. That would be terrible. She had to smile and think of the stores she’d visited and, above all, act as though after Gerard had rebuffed her, she’d come out here to the horses and not gone listening at partially opened windows.
Eventually, Tucker came walking out of the building, his cheeks as red as she’d imagined even though he seemed calmer than he’d sounded through the window. With her mind whirling, she tried to smile, but imagined it looked more like a grimace.
Tucker didn’t seem to notice. He reached the hitching post before he saw her.
“Oh, you’re here,” he said.
“Yes, I was walking by and saw Apricot,” she said, her voice shaking a little. “I tried to get in to see you in the club, but Gerard wasn’t happy with it.”
“He doesn’t allow women in,” Tucker said. “Sorry, I should have explained before coming here.”
“It’s fine,” she said, forcing a smile. “How did the talk with your father go?”
Tucker huffed. He was clearly still upset, if no longer angry. For a long moment, he just stood looking at her, as though deciding how much he should tell her. Then, making up his mind, he said, “Badly.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, allowing all the concern she was dealing with welling up inside her to show.
“It’s alright, it’s nothing that can’t be fixed,” he said, trying a smile of his own. “How was shopping?”
“Good,” she said, “I got some real bargains.”
“Well, at least things worked out for one of us,” he said sadly. “Come on, let’s get going.”
Without any ado, Angeline climbed up onto Jones’ back. Tucker mounted Apricot and soon they were riding through the streets of Galveston. Their moods were severely subdued, and the ride home was nowhere near as much fun as the ride into town had been. Angeline was worried about Tucker. He was alternately sad and angry, his emotions boiling through him like steam through a kettle. And just like a boiling kettle, all that steam had to go somewhere. She wondered when he would start yelling. But the whole ride home, he never said one angry thing.
All that silence gave Angeline a long time to consider all she’d overhead. If it was true, and there was no reason to think it wasn’t, then Tucker loved her, and he didn’t love Sophie. Sophie didn’t love him, either. That was good news. But his father was forcing him to marry Sophie because it was a good business move for the farm. That was bad. Especially now that after much thought, Angeline was beginning to think she’d been in love with Tucker for a while now and just not known it.
She was relieved when they reached the farm and normal tasks could take over, pulling her out of her whirling mind. At least with dinner to make, she could find something to focus on that wasn’t he feelings or the mess of thoughts in her head.
Her mother had done a good job making sandwiches for everyone and the kitchen was nice and clean when Angeline returned to it. She began to fix things for dinner but found herself constantly distracted.
When she almost sliced her thumb for what felt like the hundredth time, Angeline gave up and decided to go and speak to her mother. She took the magazine with the article on cheesemaking with her to show to her mother.
As far as Angeline knew, her mother had been in love once. Perhaps she could help her daughter to work through her feelings and find out if they truly were love or something else. They had never had a talk about love and romance, but Angeline thought it was high time.
Chapter 20
August 1882
The Tucker Dairy Farm
Tucker was not happy when he reached the farm. It was the one place on earth that he loved more than anything and so returning to it should have made him very happy. But it didn’t. Not with things as they were.
In these circumstances, the only home he’d ever known, the place where all this favorite people and things lived, did nothing to lift his spirits. In fact, they weighed more heavily on him because it all hung in the balance. He could lose it all. And the reason his happiness was so precarious was because Cupid had fired his arrow askew and Tucker had fallen in love with the wrong woman. At least, according to his father.
Tucker knew his father had given up on trying to find some sort of solution that would be amicable and good. That much was clear. He’d stopped thinking and started reacting to things that were out of his control instead of trying to take control back.
Well, Tucker wouldn’t live like that. He would make a plan. He would find a way to save the farm and keep the woman he loved. Of course, there was always the possibility that she didn’t love him, but there wasn’t time to worry about that now. For now, he had to focus on saving the farm. Too many people relied on him and it for Tucker to ever give up fighting for it.
Anyway, he had a plan.
