The Nanny Proposal, page 9
Mrs. Green stood up. “You mean the woman that Ben Gordon jilted is going to stay here in Tucker Springs?”
Ezra held back a groan at Mrs. Green’s question. She held her ever-handy paper and pencil, ready to add town gossip to tomorrow’s edition. But now that she had brought it up, everyone seemed to be leaning in to hear the answer. “Yes, that’s right. She was planning to take the stagecoach back East on Monday, but I asked her to stay on until spring and take care of Louie.”
Mrs. Green gasped. “Do you mean to tell me you hired a stranger to look after your son? Why, you don’t know what might happen to him. He could be kidnapped.”
“I’m reasonably sure that won’t happen,” he said. Then he couldn’t resist a grin. “But if it does, think about the front-page story.”
“Aw,” Frank Bauer said, scowling as much as the perpetually smiling postmaster could manage. “You folks. First you tell Ezra, you must control the boy. Then he finds someone to do that and you tell him, this is not good enough. Well, the woman is here through no fault of hers. I haf met her, and I liked her a lot.”
“Where will she live?” Mrs. Green looked down her nose at Ezra. “Surely not with you and the boy?”
“No, ma’am. She’s going to live in Ma and Pa’s old cabin back behind the store.”
“Humph. I hate to think of the work it will take to get that place livable.”
“I’m organizing a workday there tomorrow. Maybe you should bring your oldest apron and some cleaning supplies and come help,” Miz Caroline said.
“Well! I never...”
Miz Caroline nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
“It’s settled, then,” Mr. Will said, not quite concealing a smile at his wife’s handling of Mrs. Green. “Ezra’s hired himself a nanny.”
Chester scoffed. “It’s not settled until we get some proof this is going to settle things down.”
“Well,” Mr. Lowe said. “I vote that we give this nanny a chance. As long as Louie is no longer allowed to run wild, I see no reason to take further action.”
Relief washed over Ezra as one by one the council members voted against a boycott. When it was Robert’s turn to speak, Ezra’s stomach grew tight.
“I’ll be moving my hogs out of town anyway, so it’s unlikely the dog will get into the pen anymore, nanny or no nanny. As far as how things will be in town...as long as the woman settles him down, I can’t see a good reason to drive all the way to Jamesburg for our goods. I say we give it a chance.”
Ezra slipped away before the meeting was dismissed so that he wouldn’t be forced to answer questions about Miss O’Brien, particularly questions from Mrs. Green. Gratitude filled him as he drove the wagon to the cabin. As he replayed the day in his mind, he became swept up in a sense of well-being he hadn’t felt in quite some time.
Smoke came from the chimney, and he could see the lamplight flickering through the spaces he needed to patch in the walls. He’d tend to that tomorrow along with the roof and several other small fixes. He wasn’t as skilled as Wyatt, but he knew how to patch or plaster a hole well enough. He was a little ashamed of himself that he’d let the place go to such an extent. It was his property, and it was a man’s job to take care of what was his. By the end of another day, Miss O’Brien would be all set, snug and cozy in the cabin. He smiled and nodded, satisfied with himself. It felt good to know things were beginning to head in the right direction.
He set the brake and hopped down, excited to share the good news.
He tapped on the door, but there was no answer. With a frown, he pushed it open and peeked inside. A lump formed in his throat at the sight of Miss O’Brien seated on a chair in front of the fire, and Louie and a very clean Archie curled up together on the floor by her feet.
His mind went back to the last woman who had occupied this cabin. How different that had been from now. Marie had shown up just after the war with a tiny newborn Louie in her arms. It had been a shock to learn that she was John’s wife. She was lovely, to be sure, beautiful, even. But there was a coldness to her beauty that couldn’t be more different from Jennie Avery, who had been John’s sweetheart before the war. If not for the letter of introduction that had accompanied her, Ezra might not have believed her at all.
There had been no mistaking John’s handwriting, nor had there been any question that Ezra would honor his brother’s request.
Dear Brother Ezra,
If you are reading this, I didn’t make it home. Please take care of my wife and the child she is carrying.
John
Ezra shook off the memory as Miss O’Brien stirred and slowly lifted her head. She opened her eyes, then gasped. “Oh! Mr. Murphy!” She stood suddenly, startling Louie and Archie awake. Archie shot up, barking. Then he darted toward the door, which Ezra had failed to shut behind him.
“Get him, Pa!” Louie scrambled to his feet. “Archie!”
Ezra took swipe at the fleeing animal and missed. Archie shimmied through his legs and took a flying leap...straight into the mud, and then scurried into the night.
“Archie!”
“Whoa, there, fella.” Ezra caught Louie just before the boy could slide past him and go after the dog. Ezra heard a soft feminine sigh. He turned slowly and looked helplessly into Miss O’Brien’s bewildered face.
Her hands rested on her hips as she stared at the opened door, shaking her head. “But we just gave him a bath,” she murmured, more to herself than to him.
Ezra felt the need to apologize anyway. “I’m sorry. I should’ve closed the door.” In the second it took him to get lost in Miss O’Brien’s eyes, Louie broke free. In a beat, the boy had followed the dog, right into the mud.
As he thanked Miss O’Brien for keeping Louie and told her of the council’s decision, his stomach sank a little as reality sank in. Having a nanny didn’t necessarily mean that Louie’s rambunctious behavior would end. He was still a boy who wanted to chase his dog in and out of mud puddles and all over town. Could Ezra really expect that to change, nanny or no nanny? Nothing he’d said had ever curbed his son’s behavior, even after nearly six years of trying. Was it plausible that this woman would have more success—and that the success would happen fast enough to appease the town?
If she wasn’t able to get him in hand soon, the council just might change their minds and suggest the town shun his business. And then where would they be?
Chapter Six
Hazel rose early Saturday morning to get ready for Mr. Murphy, Wyatt and Louie’s arrival. She was dressed and ready to start her day by the time the sun peeked up over the horizon. The trees, already beautiful in their autumn colors, seemed to glow a mixture of red, orange and yellow with the first golden rays of the sun providing a spotlight. She lingered on the porch for a minute, and just thanked God. She could not believe that the turmoil of the past few days, past few months, even, had brought her to this moment.
Movement caught her eye, and she waved as Mr. Murphy’s wagon came down the small lane. Before she could turn to go back in the house, she noticed another wagon behind it and another. She recognized the Averys and the Bauers, and there were other families she didn’t know. They all pulled up onto the grass and disembarked from their wagons with cheerful shouted greetings and plenty of bustling around. She watched the men carrying roofing and carpentry tools make a beeline for Mr. Murphy who gestured toward the barn and chicken coop, then turned toward the house. He lifted his arm in greeting as she caught his eye. Overwhelmed, she waved back and turned as Miz Caroline and several other women descended on the cabin with buckets and rags and lye soap.
Speechless, Hazel stepped back and allowed them to enter.
She knew that this outpouring of love and support was for the Murphys more than for her, but she could not help but be touched by it.
Miz Caroline directed each woman to a different area, then turned to Hazel. “Ezra mentioned that you haven’t kept a home before. Correct?”
Hazel nodded. “I’ve been in service since I was old enough to work, but only as a nanny. I know how to care for children. And I can take care of myself and my quarters. But I’ve never had more than a room to myself. I’ve certainly never had my own kitchen.”
“Your ma didn’t show you anything while you were growing up?”
“She died when I was younger than Louie is now.”
“You work with me then,” Miz Caroline said kindly. She lowered her voice. “Watch what I do and ask me if there is anything you don’t understand about the way I do something.”
Hazel nodded and made sure she was ready for every job Miz Caroline gave her. At lunchtime, Gilly Bauer and Jennie showed up with baskets of food for the hungry workers.
Amid the loudly talking men, the chattering women, and the shouts and laughter of several children who had played outside all day, Hazel felt herself fade back until she leaned against a wall, observing the love and friendship between the townspeople. She had to wonder, if they knew her past, would they be welcoming her into their lives this way?
As she watched the scene all around her, her gaze repeatedly rested on Mr. Murphy. Even as disheveled and dirty as he was from the morning’s work, he was so handsome. His lips curved into a smile, and Hazel felt her heart start to beat faster. No man had ever made her feel whatever this was. He stood, and for an instant, she thought he would cross the room and come to her.
“Ezra!”
Like a splash of icy water, Jennie’s voice broke into the moment, and Hazel woke from whatever stupor she’d been in. She pushed away from the wall, made her way to the door and slipped outside for a minute of fresh air. Now you listen, she admonished herself. What you’re feeling is nothing more than gratitude. You did not stay in the town after being humiliated and jilted just to fall in love with the man who was kind enough to hire you.
She felt marginally better after closing her eyes and reminding herself to stick to her plan. She would use this time in Tucker Springs to gain some independence. She’d be able to save some money, gain new housekeeping skills and write letters back to Boston to see if she could scout out job prospects for the spring. She’d smooth the way for her future—which wasn’t here, and certainly wasn’t with Mr. Murphy.
She turned to go back inside just as a pair of men exited. Wyatt grinned as he passed her. “By tonight, you’ll have a palace fit for a queen.”
Mr. Murphy scoffed and clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Miss O’Brien, you’ll learn that Wyatt here tends to exaggerate. You won’t have a palace, but at least the walls won’t let in a draft and the roof won’t leak.”
Wyatt feigned confusion. “Isn’t that what I said?”
Hazel couldn’t help but chuckle at their silliness as she stepped past them back into the house. The ladies were cleaning up from lunch.
“Oh, Hazel.” Jennie smiled as she called from the kitchen. “I’m leaving the leftover ham and beans for your supper. Also a few of these corn muffins I hid under a napkin for you—if I’d left them in plain sight, that brother of mine would have wolfed them all down.” Hazel stepped in to help, and the next several hours passed in a whirlwind of scrubbing and chatting and laughter.
By the end of the day, her muscles ached, but her heart felt lighter than it ever had.
She stepped out on the porch with Miz Caroline and almost bumped into Mr. Murphy. “Whoa there,” he said, catching hold of her arms to steady her.
“Well,” Miz Caroline said with a wry grin on her lips, “I’d say today was a success. I’ll see you two at church in the morning.” She shook her head as she stepped stiffly toward her wagon. “These old bones are going to feel this for a couple of days. Henry Avery! It’s time to go.”
Louie came running up to the porch as Henry followed his mother. Louie took his place between Hazel and Mr. Murphy on the porch, and they waved until the wagons disappeared down the road.
“Well, it’s been a long day,” Mr. Murphy said. Dirt smudged his forehead where she suspected he’d wiped the sweat from his brow. He seemed exhausted but satisfied. Hazel’s stomach twisted with something that felt like a revelation. She’d never seen her pa work this way. And Mr. Wells didn’t do the sort of work that roughened a man’s hands. A new respect formed within her not just for Mr. Murphy, but for all these men and women who worked the land and survived from the fruit of it. This wasn’t the kind of life she’d been born to, but for the next few months, this was her world.
Hazel understood Mr. Murphy’s satisfaction as he looked across the yard, the barn, the chicken coop. Despite the aching arms and back, there was a satisfaction—more than satisfaction, there was joy—in doing a hard day’s work in her own spot in the world. Her own kitchen, sitting room, bedroom.
Mr. Murphy glanced at her over Louie’s head. “Would you like for us to pick you up for church service in the morning?”
Hazel’s heart lifted at the thought of fellowshipping with other believers. “Yes, I would.”
“All right, then. We’ll see you in the morning.”
“Mr. Murphy,” she called after him as he led Louie toward the wagon.
He stopped and turned. “Yes?”
There was so much she wanted to say to this man who had given her a home. A real home. But the right words to express the depths of her gratitude eluded her. All she could manage to say was “Thank you for this.”
He seemed to scrutinize her, then simply nodded. “This is part of your pay. And even with this included, I still feel like I should thank you. It’s not every day a fancy nanny from Boston agrees to look after the son of a simple shopkeeper. I know this cabin is not everything you’re accustomed to, but I hope it’ll do.”
Disappointed, somehow, by his response, Hazel simply nodded. “It’s just fine.”
“Good, then. We’ll see you in the morning. Tell your nanny good-night, Louie.”
The boy turned. “’Night, Miss Hazel.”
As she watched them leave, a little joy went out of Hazel’s day. It was idiotic for her to be disappointed. But with his response to her gratitude, Mr. Murphy had made the lines between them very clear. He had not come and worked on her home out of friendship, but simply as a duty from an employer to an employee.
She was too exhausted to pull out the dinner Jennie had left for her, so after cleaning herself up, she crawled into her bed in the scrubbed room that looked and smelled fresh. She stared at the ceiling, reliving the day. The week was ending much differently than she had expected. Instead of starting her life as a wife, once again, she was a nanny. At least she knew how to take care of children. Even precocious children like Louie. The rest, she wasn’t so sure. If those women had taught her anything today, it was that there were many things a woman needed to know in order to run a household. And she barely knew how to build a fire in the cookstove, let alone how to cook on it.
But she had always done whatever had to be done. She’d do it again. She’d been gifted a few recipes by the women who had come, and she would learn how to cook from them even if she had to cook a hundred meals that were barely edible while she learned. She’d learn to build a fire, even if the first hundred tries failed. And if she had no prospects arranged yet for employment when Mr. Murphy sent her away in the spring after his troubles with the town were over, well, somehow she would find a way to live. After all, God had provided this remedy for Mr. Murphy and for her. When Mr. Murphy no longer needed her, God would provide again.
The tap-tapping on the roof didn’t wake Hazel right away. Instead, it worked its way into her dreams. She was a child again, huddled against the side of a building, knees to her chest, trying desperately, ineffectively to stay dry in the rain. Her stomach sank as she knew that no matter how quick the shower or extended the storm, her thin dress would be soaked in minutes and sticking to her skin for hours afterward, even after the rain stopped. And yet...her clothes still felt dry. How could that be?
She came awake, and with a contented sigh, she remembered where she was, that she was safe and warm, no longer the girl whose family lived in alleyways or abandoned buildings.
Rain couldn’t invade this home. Yesterday, Mr. Murphy had fixed the roof. She had no worries in this cozy little cabin. The walls were patched; the floors were clean. She had firewood and food and several new pieces of furniture, with more on the way as soon as they were made. She could barely even believe how blessed she felt. Everything in the cabin was hers to use, and all she had to do was care for and teach one child. Granted, Louie would be a challenge. But he was well-spoken and thoughtful. And any boy whose heart held that much love for an animal who constantly tried to leave was a good child. Or at least had a good heart.
She wasn’t so sure about Archie.
But Louie and Archie were tomorrow’s responsibility. Today was church. As much as she looked forward to worship, this would be the first time since she came to town that she would be forced to see Benjamin. She knew she couldn’t avoid it forever, but her stomach twisted with dread at the thought of facing the man who had jilted and humiliated her.
She tried to push away that worry by focusing on the thought of church. As a child, she had been drawn by the bells and beautiful singing, but when she was very young, she hadn’t thought she’d be allowed to attend services. Certainly, there was no adult to take her, and she was too shy to enter herself, intimidated by the large buildings and solemn, even stern faces of the men and women going in and out.
When she was ten years old, she had found God in the kind smile and generosity of Miss Hastings, the teacher at the Mission of Mercy school in a one-room shack close to the waterfront. She was the one who had first brought Hazel to a church service and had let her know she was welcome there. And before long, she was dragging her sister to the mission church each Sunday.
