Thank you for the recent comments, they are so appreciated. No Elizabeth-Nathan in this chapter, but hopefully some other stuff to enjoy. :)
x
It was two weeks later that Elizabeth and Rosemary Coulter sat having tea on the settee in Elizabeth's row house. Elizabeth was trying to spend time with her friend, to offer extra attention in these difficult weeks since the adoption of little Christopher had gone so wrong. And Rosemary, well she was just trying to keep busy, staying busy being the only real remedy to keep her mind off things.
"Would you like to try a cookie?" Elizabeth offered the plate to Rosemary, an assortment of delicacies to choose from.
"Oh Elizabeth, these look wonderful! Did you make them yourself?" Rosemary asked as she selected an appealing morsel.
Elizabeth nodded. "Well, Allie helped me," she said with a smile. It had been fun teaching the little girl to bake on those nights when she minded her. She got the distinct impression that baking was not something she shared with her uncle.
"Oh, that's so nice," Rosemary said, that Elizabeth was helping the little motherless girl that way, sharing the domestic chore with her. "Maybe next time...maybe next time Lee and I will adopt a little girl," she said matter of factly.
"Next time?" Elizabeth shot her friend a look. Next time? Rosemary was already thinking of next time? After the painful ordeal she'd just been through, it wouldn't have surprised Elizabeth if Rosemary decided not to adopt again, not to risk the hurt and pain again.
But Rosemary was nodding. "I think we'll adopt again," she said. "I know we will," she corrected. "Not...right away," Rosemary clarified, knowing they needed time to heal, her and Lee both. But at Elizabeth's questioning look, questioning why she would contemplate it, Rosemary tried to explain. tried to explain why she'd do it. Why she'd put her heart out there again. "You should have seen all the little kids there at the orphanage, Elizabeth. They've already lost so much in their young lives. I can't..." Rosemary hesitated. "I can't elevate my pain over theirs," she said simply.
Elizabeth reached over to squeeze her friend's hand, her heart swelling with something more than pride. Some might have called Rosemary Coulter loud and overblown, meddlesome, even a busybody. But Elizabeth knew. She knew that if Rosemary was loud and overblown on the outside it was only because it perfectly matched her overblown heart on the inside. And she was proud of her, proud to be her friend and proud that Rosemary had chosen to be hers.
x
Henry Gowen stepped into the mayor's office, startled at the sight of Bill Avery leafing through the town's ledgers.
"Bill," Henry said in acknowledgement, as he removed his hat and hung it on a nearby peg.
"Henry," Bill said, not looking up from his task.
"I hope everything there meets with your approval," Henry said and sighed.
"Come on, Henry," Bill said. "You really didn't expect me not to keep an eyes on things, did you?" he asked. While the town had appointed Henry acting mayor, mostly out of desperation, he wasn't such a fool as to give him free reign, and that Henry's past indicated he be watched. Bill knew Henry could do the job of mayor, he just wondered what else he might do.
Bill finished perusing the last few entries in the ledger, then closed the book in front of him.
"Well?" Henry prompted him for his opinion.
"It all looks good," Bill conceded reluctantly. All the bills paid, all the accounts flush with funds. There was even extra money to fund new books for the library, and to regrade the town's roads. Already work was underway fixing the town's wooden sidewalks, even adding new ones. Bill had to concede it. Henry was a good manager. The town was flourishing under his care.
"Alright, Henry, till next time," Bill got up to leave, implying he'd be back. He'd be back to keep an eye on Henry's activities.
Henry watched Bill Avery leave and heaved another sigh, knowing he'd now have to be extra careful. With Bill Avery watching his every move, he'd have to be extra extra careful.
x
Lucas Bouchard watched Fiona Miller across the barroom floor. After many postponements, she'd finally come back to work on installing telephones in his guestrooms but he didn't know if he liked this new development any better. She was up on a ladder, running cable to the second floor and something about her precarious stance worried him. His eyes grew wide as she suddenly seemed to lose her balance and her arms began to comically flail in the air as she fought to regain herself.
Lucas took several long strides towards her, managing to catch her just as she lost the balance battle and fell backwards. They both toppled to the floor, Lucas once again sprawled inelegantly on his backside, only this time with someone on top of him.
"Lucas, I'm so sorry, I don't know how that happened," Fiona apologized breathelssly, scrambling away from him and the sudden jar she'd felt by his closeness, by his touch.
"Do you always send your clients to the ground, Miss Miller, or am I just the lucky one?" Lucas asked dryly, noting this was the second time he'd endured such an accident in her presence.
Fiona seemed not to hear the question as she rose and peered at the ceiling. "You know, maybe it'd be better if I ran the cable from the second floor down the first, instead from the first to the second," she mumbled out loud, trying to organize the work in her mind.
"Might be worth a try," Lucas agreed, as he too rose, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He watched Fiona pick up a small saw and her hand drill and head to the second floor. Lucas rolled his eyes slightly. Not more holes. Not more holes in his building. Would it survive? he wondered. Survive the onslaught of one Miss Fiona Miller?
Lucas grumbled as he headed back to the bar counter and reached for the telephone there. He clicked the receiver a few times but there was no response, the line was dead. Lucas let out a long sigh and set the phone down. She must have disconnected the line. Fiona must have accidentally disconnected the line with the current work she was doing.
Unable to help it, Lucas braced his arms on the bar top and began to grouse out loud, "That woman! She's going to be the death of me! If the falls don't kill me, now she's drilling holes all over my building, and I don't even have a telephone that works! She's driving me crazy!" he complained to no one in particular.
Lee Coulter, standing at the bar with a glass raised to his lips suddenly stopped mid-air. Uh oh, he thought. He recognized that frustation, that frustration of being driven to distraction by a woman. It was not unlike his early encounters with Rosemary Leveaux. Lee downed the rest of his drink, then approached Lucas at the bar, who still stood there shaking his head from side to side. Lee raised a fist and tapped Lucas on his arm near his shoulder. Lucas looked up.
"What?" he asked at the strange gesture.
"Nothing," Lee replied, something like sympathy in his voice. "Just...good luck buddy," he finally amended with a small smirk, thinking perhaps it wouldn't be long before Lucas joined them, the group of married or attached men, before he turned and headed out of the saloon, leaving Lucas staring after him in consternation.