Chapter Eight #2
As they cracked the nuts, Mrs. Baldwin spoke of the decorations she wanted to put up in the next few days, and Risa listened with interest. She couldn’t remember ever having a Christmas tree.
When she was little, before her mother died, she recalled setting out stockings on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas morning, each stocking would be filled with little gifts and treats for her and her siblings.
Risa sometimes missed them all so much, she’d awaken with tears on her cheeks after dreaming about them.
She supposed missing them would always be a part of her.
Risa brushed the nut remnants from her hands and stood as the clock struck noon.
Mrs. Baldwin stood and lifted the bowl of walnuts. “Now that we have that task finished, let’s—”
The sound of the front door opening and muffled voices interrupted whatever Mrs. Baldwin had been about to say. They weren’t expecting anyone to be there until the boarders returned that evening.
“Aunt Gertie! I’m here!” a feminine voice called from the entry.
“Oh! It’s Candi!” Mrs. Baldwin plopped the bowl back onto the table and rushed from the room with more speed than Risa had ever seen the woman move.
Risa quickly wiped her hands on a dish towel, then hurried out of the kitchen and up the hallway to the entry where a trunk stood near the open door, and Mrs. Baldwin had engulfed a vision in pink in a tight embrace.
“Candi, darling!” Mrs. Baldwin pulled back, then hugged her niece again. “I can’t believe you’re really here! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
“I wanted to surprise you, Aunt Gertie.” The young woman threw her hands in the air. “Surprise!”
Mrs. Baldwin laughed and settled her arm around the girl’s impossibly tiny waist. “Candace Westcott, I’d like you to meet Risa Hoffman. Risa is the reason I can keep the boardinghouse running because she cleans the rooms and helps cook the meals. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“Hello, Miss Hoffman. It’s lovely to meet you. Aunt Gertie has written of you with such fondness in her letters. I hope you’ll call me Candi. All my friends do.”
Risa didn’t know when a name had so aptly fit the person bearing it.
Candi looked like a spectacular confection with her glossy black hair pulled up in a fashionable style beneath a pink hat adorned with raspberry silk roses and pink and cream velvet ribbons.
She whipped off a cream woolen cloak lined with raspberry-hued velvet to reveal a pink and cream striped gown that looked exactly like one Risa had seen in an issue of Mrs. Baldwin’s Godey’s Lady’s Book, from the thick lace at the collar to the ruffles flowing down the back beneath the bustle.
Candi oozed elegance from her pink mittens to the tips of her cream fur-lined boots.
A man stepped inside and set another trunk next to the first.
“Oh, this is Mr. Levi Stanton,” Candi said, smiling at the man who politely doffed his hat. “I hired him to bring me from Baker City. My gracious, I forget every time I come what a long trip it is. I think, if you don’t object, Aunt Gertie, that I’ll stay a month or so.”
“Stay all winter and spring, and forever if you like, darling.” Mrs. Baldwin beamed at her niece.
Candi laughed and hugged the older woman again as Mr. Stanton went out to retrieve her last bag.
“Oh! I just had a thought!” Mrs. Baldwin gave Risa a long observant look. “Oh, yes. It’s a grand idea.”
“Care to share?” Candi asked as she looped her arm around Mrs. Baldwin’s.
“In a moment.” Mrs. Baldwin focused her attention on Mr. Stanton when he returned with two bags and set them on top of the trunks.
“Mr. Stanton, I insist you join us for lunch. It will give you an opportunity to warm up before you head back to Baker City. I won’t take no for an answer.
If you’d like to drive over to the livery, Silas Evans will take good care of your team while you eat lunch. Just tell him Mrs. Baldwin sent you.”
“Well, that’s right kind of you, ma’am,” Mr. Stanton said. “I’d be pleased to join you and have a chance to warm up my toes and fingers.”
“It’s settled then.” Mrs. Baldwin clapped her hands together like a delighted child. “Risa, would you be a dear and set the table for four. We can warm a loaf of bread to go with the soup, and there are plenty of cookies to eat.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Risa said, turning to make her way back to the kitchen. She couldn’t hear what Mrs. Baldwin said in a quiet tone to Candi, but the young woman squealed excitedly.
Risa hurried to slice bread and butter it, then slid it into the oven to warm.
She opened a jar of pickles and another of spiced pears from the shelves that lined the large pantry.
After slicing a wedge of cheese, she cleaned the remnants of their walnut cracking off the kitchen table.
She made a fresh pot of coffee and set the tea kettle on to boil, in case Candi preferred tea.
Before she could set the table, Mrs. Baldwin and Candi arrived in the kitchen. Candi had removed her hat and the jacket of her ensemble. The shirtwaist she wore, dripping pink lace, only accented her delicate pink features and her unusual violet eyes.
“We’ll set the table, Risa, if you don’t mind dishing up the food.”
“Of course, Mrs. Baldwin.”
She caught Candi giving her aunt a knowing look, but had no idea what it meant.
Risa had just filled the soup tureen when there was a loud rap at the front door.
“That’s likely Mr. Stanton. I’ll be right back,” Candi said and dashed out of the kitchen. She returned a moment later with her driver.
The man was tall and lean, but looked strong. He was younger than Risa had first thought. She guessed him to be in his mid-twenties. The way Candi continued to cast admiring glances in his direction, it appeared Mrs. Baldwin’s niece was quite taken with the man.
“How was your trip from Baker City?” Risa asked as she dished bowls of soup and set them at each place setting.
“Other than the nippy air, uneventful, which is good,” Mr. Stanton said, motioning to the sink. “May I wash up?”
“Oh, gracious! Where are my manners?” Mrs. Baldwin pressed her hands to her cheeks. “If you’ll come with me, Mr. Stanton, I’ll show you to the washroom.”
Risa finished dishing up the food and made a pot of tea at Candi’s urging. It seemed, like Mrs. Baldwin, she preferred her tea with a dash of cinnamon and a generous spoonful of sugar.
Mrs. Baldwin returned with Mr. Stanton, who was, oddly enough, nodding his head in agreement to whatever the woman had said to him.
“Would you prefer coffee or tea, Mr. Stanton?”
“Tea would be fine,” he said as Risa set the teapot on the table. “Anything hot will be good.”
“Then you’re in for a treat. Risa makes the most delightful spiced tea with cinnamon,” Mrs. Baldwin said, taking her usual seat at the table after Mr. Stanton pulled out her chair.
He pulled out a chair for Candi next to her aunt, then Risa’s chair on the other side of the table. Risa almost couldn’t hide her grin when he took the seat closest to Candi. The young woman flushed becomingly, but kept her head down, focused on the napkin she draped across her lap.
“Let’s bow our heads,” Mrs. Baldwin said, then offered thanks for their meal and prayers for Mr. Stanton’s safe trip back to Baker City. “May our choices today be guided by Thine divine hand. Amen.”
“Amen,” Risa echoed, wondering what Mrs. Baldwin had meant by choices.
She couldn’t help but think of their conversation about Gunder as well as her need to decide if she wanted love or security.
It wasn’t like she had a line of suitors beating down her door.
She knew her father had warned everyone at the mine to stay away from her.
Apparently, Gunder was the exception to his iron-clad rule.
Mrs. Baldwin and Candi asked Mr. Stanton questions while Risa ate in silence. She was shocked when Candi hopped up to help her clear the table and serve their dessert of pears and cookies.
“Thank you, Candi.”
“My pleasure. It’s not often I get to help, although I don’t mind the work at all.
” Candi resumed her seat, smiling first at Risa, then Mr. Stanton.
“In fact, Aunt Gertie and I think you should go to Baker City with Mr. Stanton and visit your friend there for a while. I can help around here until you return.”
Risa looked from Candi to Mrs. Baldwin. “I can’t just pack up and leave.”
“Of course you can. What’s stopping you?
Candi will help me here. Two of the boarders will be leaving soon for the holiday anyway.
Go and stay with Mrs. Franklin. From what you’ve shared, I think she’d be delighted to have you visit for a few days while you sort out things.
I don’t think you’ll get the clarity you need while you’re here.
While Mr. Stanton retrieves his team and sleigh, you can dash home and pack what you need.
Candi said it only took them an hour and a half to make the trip.
You’ll be in Baker City before it’s even dark.
If it makes you feel better, I’ll send a telegram to Mrs. Franklin letting her know you’re arriving. ”
“I … it … but…” Risa sighed and rocked back in her chair, feeling outnumbered and outwitted. “You won’t mind me being gone?”
“No, dear girl. Candi and I can make do in your absence, and when you return, your job will be here waiting for you for as long as you want it.”
“What about Papa? It’s his day to journey back from Baker City. How will he know where I’ve gone?”
“Leave him a note, but you’ll likely encounter him on the way there.”
“Oh, yes, we probably will.” Suddenly, the thought of an adventure, of getting away from Lovely and going somewhere she could rest and think spurred her into motion. She stood and looked around the table. “Thank you so much.”
“Of course, dear girl. Now, run along home and pack your things, leave your father a note, and dash right back here.”
Risa snagged a cookie from the plate on the table and ate it as she grabbed her coat and yanked open the back door. She took off at a run through town. Before she went into the shack she called home, she checked on the animals to make sure they were all well.
She hated to arrive on Gloria’s doorstep without something to share, and retrieved a lidded basket she filled with straw, then carefully packed with eggs.
If she were gone, no one would be cooking with them anyway.
She retrieved two jars she’d filled with cream and set them, along with the basket of eggs, in an apple crate.
Only then did she hasten to fill a bag with her clothes, tucked in her hairbrush and toothbrush, and started to grab her mother’s Bible, but thought her father might need it while she was gone. Gloria would surely have one at the boardinghouse.
Quickly, Risa wrote her father a note and left it on the table beneath a small jar of honey, then wrote a letter to Gunder and tucked it into an envelope, writing his name on it with a flourish.
On a whim, she pulled open the cellar door and retrieved a jar of berry jam.
Once she had the rug over the cellar door back in place, she added the jam to the crate with the milk and eggs, wrapped a thick scarf around her neck, and retrieved her mittens.
She picked up her bag and the crate, then walked at a fast pace back to Mrs. Baldwin’s place.
Mr. Stanton was just coming down the front steps when she arrived. “I’ll set those in the sleigh and be right back,” he said, taking the crate and bag from her.
“Please be careful. There are eggs in the crate.”
“I’ll be careful,” he said with a nod, then hurried off to the livery.
Risa took the front steps two at a time and tamped the snow off her boots before she stepped inside. She ran down the hallway and into the kitchen, where Mrs. Baldwin and Candi were washing the dishes and chatting up a storm.
“Oh, Risa dear. Did you see Mr. Stanton outside?”
“Yes. He took my things and will be back in a moment.” Risa crossed the room and threw her arms around Mrs. Baldwin. “Thank you for thinking of this. For giving me much to consider.”
“You’re welcome, darling. Stay as long as you need to.” Mrs. Baldwin pulled back and patted her cheek. “You’ll make the right decision.”
“It was wonderful to meet you, Risa.” Candi offered her an impulsive hug. “I hope we’ll be able to spend time together when you return. Aunt Gertie tells me I have big shoes to fill if I hope to keep up with the work you do here.”
“I have a feeling you’ll do wonderfully well at whatever you turn your hand to.” Risa returned her hug.
“I hope you find the … peace and joy you are searching for, Risa.” Candi gave her hand a squeeze, then Risa knew it was time to leave.
Mrs. Baldwin and Candi walked with her to the front door and waved as Mr. Stanton gave her a hand into the sleigh.
Risa had never been in anything as nice as the conveyance with the velvet-upholstered seats. Candi had mentioned in parting she’d already paid Mr. Stanton for the trip, so Risa could just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Much to Risa’s surprise, Mr. Stanton had thought to have Silas Evans warm up the bricks he’d brought along to keep his and Candi’s feet warm.
With a thick robe over her lap and the bricks warming her feet, Risa didn’t have any concern about freezing on the trip as she gave Mrs. Baldwin one last wave and settled back in the comfortable seat.
The excitement of an unexpected adventure washed over her, and Risa couldn’t help but wonder what the days leading up to Christmas would bring.