Hello again! I´m back with chapter 3! And I´m super sorry for not updating sooner but my mind was empty. I had nothing in it. I had no idea what to write. I´ll try to update at least once a week, but I can make no promises. And also, for those of you who still don´t know me, I´m Booklover. I´ve reviewed some stories with that name, so just to let you know, I´m the same person.
MandieFan: Thanks for the compliment. Do you really think that the character are right? I feel that Celia´s a bit off. And I´m glad you´re liking the mystery so far.
CantDecideOnUsername: Thank you, Thank you! I really want people to feel like they´re reading something that LGL wrote! I think that maybe I could put in some more M&J moments and also thanks a lot for the quick info on "Charleston Phantom".
LinaKTC25: Thanks for reviewing. I get super excited when someone reviews my story because that tells me that someone is reading my story. And I do have the basic plot for other stories so as soon as I finish this one, I´ll start writing more.
"Miss," the young maid spoke as Mandie opened the door to her room, "lunch is ready. The Pattons have appointed me to be your personal maid while you are here. I believe you are Miss Hamilton?"
"Oh! Thank you! I could use some food after the long walk we had earlier this morning. Oh, and by the way, I´m Amanda Shaw. My friends call me Mandie. You can call me Mandie too," she said cheerfully.
"Forgive me, please. I did not know who you were," the maid said in distress as if Mandie were to scold her.
"Nonsense. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while," Mandie said rather confused because of the maid´s behavior.
"Thank you, Miss. Thank you," she said relieved that Mandie had not said anything harsh. "Lunch will be served in the Blue Dining Room. We have an important guest. Mrs. Patton asked me to inform you. I´ll be leaving you now so you can put on a formal dress."
"Thanks for letting us know. I guess we´ll be seeing each other around, umm… I don´t believe I caught your name," Mandie said.
"Heather," said the maid.
"Then I guess we´ll be seeing each other around a lot, Heather," Mandie said with a big smile on her face.
"Yes ma´am," she answered.
"Please, call me Mandie," she said.
"See you later, miss," the maid finished and hurried off.
Mandie watched go down the hallway and then entered her room. She saw Celia preparing a dress for the evening dinner.
"Celia, you might want to put that now instead of later," Mandie told her.
"Why´s that?" she asked, "and who was that at the door?"
"Oh, that was Heather, the maid who will be taking care of us while we´re here and she said that we´ll be having important guests for lunch," Mandie said, "so I guess that we should put on more formal clothes," she finished.
"I wonder who they could be?" Sallie said thoughtfully.
"I don´t know. She didn´t say," Mandie answered.
"Well, let's change and then go down to the dining room. I think I could use some food," Celia said.
"Yeah, after that long walk we had I think food would do us some good. Then maybe after that, the boys will want to go swimming and we can rest on the beach while they swim," Sallie suggested.
"That´s a good idea," Celia agreed.
"I agree," Mandie piped in.
When the girl finally dressed and were ready, they started heading towards the dining room and met up with the boys.
"I wonder who could be the special guests?" Joe asked.
"So you heard about them too?" Celia questioned.
"Yeah, this young man came into our rooms to tell us where lunch would be served," Jonathan replied.
"I wonder were Tommy is," Sallie said thoughtfully.
"I bet he´s in his room changing or… he´s already waiting for us downstairs because I see him waving," Jonathan said.
"Oh, look! There he is!" Mandie said pointing down the stairs to where Tommy was standing waiting for them.
Together they headed downstairs and caught up with Tommy. When they finally reached them Mandie was the first to speak.
"Tommy," she said, "who are the guests?"
"Guests?" he asked.
"Well, yes… a maid, Heather, said that there would be special guests," Mandie said rather confused that Tommy didn´t seem to know what she was talking about.
"You mean, a special guest, not guests," Tommy said while chuckling.
"Oh, I guess we misunderstood," Sallie said.
"Well, common then, we don´t want to be late for lunch, do we?" Jonathan said with a big smile. "My stomach is getting kind´a hungry now."
"Yes, let´s go now," Celia agreed.
The friends walked together heading towards the dining room. As they walked, they discussed how they could find out more information on this new mystery.
"Oh! How nice to see you Mandie! It´s been quite a while since we last saw each other! and I see you´ve brought your friends with you this time," Mrs. Patton welcomed Mandie when they arrived at the parlor.
"Yes ma´am. I agree. I can´t remember the last time I came to visit," Mandie replied.
"I apologize for not being able to be here and welcome you yesterday, but my husband and I had important business to do in town," Mrs. Patton apologized.
"Oh, don´t worry ma´am. Tommy had already showed all of my friends around the house. We even went down by the ocean this morning and the boys plan to go swimming some time," Mandie quickly said.
"Who are your friends?" Mrs. Patton said turning to look at Jonathan, Joe, Sallie, and Celia.
"Oh! These are my friends from back home. Sallie is from Deep Creek. That is near the Cherokee reservation. Joe is from Charley Gap, back where I used to live when my father was still alive. I believe you already know Celia, who´s from Richmond but we met at Misses Heathwood´s school. Celia and I met Jonathan when we were heading towards Europe," Mandie finished introducing them.
"It´s very nice to meet you. All of you," Mrs. Patton said smiling warmly.
"Thank you for having me in your home, Mrs. Patton," Sallie said shaking her hand.
"Yes, thank you," Joe also said.
"Now, come along and meet Ms. Olivia Blakely. She is part of a governmental—"
"Very nice to meet you, children," Ms. Blakely interrupted. "I´m just an employed lady who is helping the Pattons with some business paperwork."
Olivia Blakely was a middle-aged woman around her 40´s with dark hair, glasses, and a small hat. She was dressed in dark purple. So dark, that it almost looked black.
"Hello Ms. Blakely. I´m Amanda Shaw, Mandie, my friends call me," she said, "and it´s very nice to meet you."
"Oh! You must be Elizabeth Taft´s daughter! Who married John Shaw. The richest man in the Carolinas," Olivia Blakely said.
"Yes ma´am," Mandie answered with confusion. She didn´t know how this lady knew so much about her. "Mrs. Patton started to mention that you were a governmental person. What is your job?" Mandie asked trying to get more information about this person.
"Oh, like I said, I´m just an employed lady who´s helping the Pattons," Olivia said.
"Well hello there, Miss Amanda!" Mr. Patton said cheerfully. "I´m glad that you and your friends were able to make it. Tommy has been telling me about your visit," leaning down to Mandie he whispered, "and that you´ve come to help with this new mystery."
"Yes sir!" she said.
"Lunch is ready Mrs. Patton," a maid called to her.
"Shall we go then?" Mr. Patton asked to the group while extending his arm to his wife.
"Yes, dear," she replied.
The small group walked to a nearby room which was blue. It was small and had a table in the middle surrounded with settees, couches and a loveseat.
While the adults quietly sat down, Tommy, Jonathan, Sallie, and Celia raced for the settees leaving Mandie and Joe no other option but the loveseat.
"You look very pretty in that green dress, Mandie," Joe whispered to her.
"Thank you, Joe," Mandie answered while blushing.
"Do you want to go out for a walk later?" Joe asked.
"Umm… maybe."
The young people quickly started chatting together while the adults conversed about "business paperwork", as had said Ms. Olivia.
"I was thinking about a new plan… it could be risky… it´s worth trying…" Ms. Blakely said in a hushed tone.
Mandie gasped.
"Mandie?" Celia asked. She was the only one who seemed to notice Mandie´s expression.
"No way!" Mandie said in a whispered tone.
"Mandie! What is it?" Celia asked again.
"She´s the woman from the train! She´s not an employee! She´s an imposter!" Mandie said in an almost impossible to hear whisper.
"Mandie? What do you mean?" Celia questioned her.
"When we were getting off the train, a woman was talking about the Pattons. I hadn´t found out yet what had happened and I didn´t make much of it, but now I know what she was talking about. I´m sure it´s her," she continued to talk softly.
At that moment, Ms. Blakely eyed Mandie with a stern glance. Almost as if she knew they were talking about her.
After lunch, Ms. Olivia Blakely left, leaving the young people free to do what they wanted.
"You know," Jonathan started to say, "I think I´m too tired to go for a swim now. I think I might just have to wait for tomorrow."
"Yeah, I guess you´re right. It´s getting a little late and the guest left later than I expected," Tommy said. "I think I might just go and read a book instead."
"And that way, I´ll be sure I don´t miss dinner time," Jonathan said thinking of his stomach.
Mandie just rolled her eyes.
"Then, will you take a walk with me?" Joe asked her.
"I guess so, now that you won't be going for a swim," Mandie replied hesitantly.
Later that afternoon, when Mandie and Joe were going for a walk by the beach Mandie discussed the lady she had seen on the train and how she thought Ms. Olivia could be an imposter.
"Well, if anyone can find out who see really is, it´s you, Mandie," Joe said enthusiastically.
They walked in silence for quite a while.
"Joe…" Mandie hesitated to keep going.
"Yes?"
"Back down in Florida, I…"
Pause.
"I… I just wanted to tell you that you´re a very good friend. I´ve missed you terribly now that you´re in college and I was really worried that you might not be able to make it home for the summer vacations," she finally said. Oh! Common Mandie! Just tell him that you love him! It can´t be that hard! she thought.
"Thank you, Mandie, that means a lot. But I sense that you want to tell me something else," Joe eyed her suspiciously.
"Joe," she took in a deep breath, "I…" she let it out. Took in another deep breath, "I love you," she let it out.
"Come here," Joe said gently pulling her close and hugging her.
She let him hug her.
"I love you, Amanda Shaw," he said.
Back in her room, Mandie thought of the "romantic" moment, if you could call it that.
"What did Joe tell you?" Sallie teased her.
"What!?" Mandie asked turning around quickly to see her friend.
"Oh, nothing. You just seem to be daydreaming."
"We just discussed the mystery. That´s all," Mandie said plainly.
"That´s all?" Celia questioned.
"Yes. That´s all," she said stubbornly.
"Well, you get ready for bed and when you are, turn off the lights," Celia instructed.
"Yes, your majesty," Mandie said while curtsying.
"What!? I´m tired! my dear maid. Go and fetch me my comb!" Celia said teasingly while laughing.
"Yes, madam!" Mandie obeyed. "I´ll just get ready for bed and then I´ll turn the lights off."
Mandie quickly undressed and put on her night gown. She brushed her teeth, combed her hair and was ready to go to bed.
"Oh, right! The lights!" she murmured to herself.
She walked towards the switch and turned it off. She looked down at the floor and…
There it is again! The light! Someone has to be out there, she thought. Maybe I should follow them. No… But, Celia´s already asleep, and so is Sallie… No, I don´t think I should. Well, as long as the lights are still on while I change back into my clothes. Just this one time, Mandie Shaw. You shouldn´t get yourself into trouble. Remember what Uncle Ned told you, she told herself. I´ll just see where that light is coming from. That´s all, she kept thinking while she quickly changed back to her clothes.
The light was still on when she started to open the door slowly and silently. Then, the lights went off. Darkness!
"Oh! I should have brought a lamp with me!" she said silently. "But there´s no turning back now."
She kept going into the darkness and then… a shadow. She saw it. She was sure.
She followed the shadow downstairs until she couldn´t figure out where it had gone. Then she heard a small noise come from the garden outside and a window was open.
"But how?" she asked herself. "They must have a key to the window if they come in and get out so easily. I´ll just follow whoever it is for a little while. Just that."
She grabbed her skirt and put one foot out the window.
Here I go again! She thought.
Done! I hope you LOVED it! And I´m starting to think that maybe it´s too similar to the Seaside Rendezvous, anyway, Sorry for finishing it here with all the suspense and all but maybe that will force me to update sooner next time. Again, I´m really sorry for not updating sooner. Oh! and…
LinaKTC25: What did you think of the MandieJoe moment? Did you like it? Let me know if you want more JoeManda moments!
