Chapter 23: A Suspicious Customer
March 29, 1913: Jade's Bakery
Jade was putting the frosting on a cake when a customer walked into her shop. Jade usually recognized most of her customers because Chippewa Falls was such a small town. This man however, she did not recognize.
"How may I help you sir?" Jade asked the man. Little did Jade know that this man was Spicier Lovejoy. Lovejoy just looked up at her and smiled.
"I would like a cake please." Lovejoy replied. Jade replied with a nod.
"I'm almost finished with this one." Jade said as she pointed to the cake she was putting the frosting on. "You can have this one if you would like. It's fresh." Jade said with a smile.
"Well thank you Miss…." Lovejoy replied.
"Just call me Jade." Jade said as she added more frosting to the cake.
"Well, thank you Jade." Lovejoy said thanking the young woman again. "I'm Mr. Lovejoy." Lovejoy said with an evil grin.
"What brings you to Chippewa Falls?" Jade asked curiously.
"Oh well, I'm on a mission for the family that I serve. You see, I work for this steel tycoon in Pittsburg Pennsylvania. I guess you can say that I am his son's body guard." Lovejoy said with a frown.
"Did the son run away?" Jade asked.
"No but his fiancée did." Lovejoy said with a frown. "That brat sent me out to go find her instead of doing it himself. He doesn't need to know that I am taking a small break to have dessert, now does he?" Lovejoy said with a chuckle.
"No he doesn't need to know. Your secret is safe with me." Jade said with a laugh. "You deserve to have a treat after all that you do for this boy." Jade said with a frown. Just then Lovejoy notices a few pictures.
"Is that your family in those pictures?" Lovejoy asked as he pointed to the pictures on the wall behind the counter.
"Yes that would be pictures of my family." Jade said with a smile. She stopped frosting the caked and walked over to the pictures. This picture right here is of me, my siblings, and my mother. My father died when we were young." Jade said with a frown. Jade pointed to her mother. "This is my mother Meredith." Jade said. She then pointed to her and her sisters. "These are my sisters Jemma, Josephine, Johanna, and Janette." Jade said. "And the little boy is our baby brother Jack." Jade said as she pointed to the little boy. Jade then walks over to the other picture on the wall. "This is Jewel, the newest edition to our family." Jade said proudly as she pointed to the picture of the baby and her parents. "My brother's wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl three weeks ago." Jade said happily.
"Congratulations." Lovejoy said pretending to be happy. What Jade didn't know was that she gave Spicier Lovejoy some valuable information. He had to confirm his suspicions though, and that wouldn't be hard since she just told him a lot already.
"Your sister-in-law looks very familiar, what is her name?" Lovejoy asked.
"Her name is Rose, Why?" Jade asked.
"I was just wondering, because I swear, she looks just like someone that I know from Philadelphia." Lovejoy said. His suspicions were correct Rose was with Jack Dawson, and even worse she had a child with him. Lovejoy was now deep in thought.
"What will Cal do when he finds out that Rose had that gutter rat's child?"
Lovejoy confirmed his suspicions and was about to walk out, but Jade stopped him.
"Mr. Lovejoy, you are forgetting your cake." Jade said as she handed him the cake.
"Oh yes, I completely forgot about that, here." Lovejoy said as he took the cake and handed her the money to pay for the cake. He only bought the cake do he wouldn't seem too suspicious. He had gotten more information that what he originally came for. He couldn't wait to get back home to tell Cal all of the information that he just received. The only thing he needed now was where they were living.