CHAPTER 10
A Neighbor's Interest
Goldpine
Mrs. Constance Whitfield arrived at the Cross Ranch on a pretext so thin that even Otis, watching from the barn with the particular amused detachment of a man observing a courtship he considered doomed from the outset, could not quite keep a straight face about it — something concerning a borrowed preserving kettle that Mary Cross had apparently lent her some three years past and that Mrs. Whitfield had suddenly, urgently, felt compelled to return.
“Mr. Cross,” she said, presenting the kettle with a flourish considerably more elaborate than the humble object warranted, “I do hope I'm not troubling you.
I only felt it was high time I returned this, having borrowed it so very long ago, and I confess I've been meaning to call on you regardless, to see how you and the children are managing since — well, since your household situation changed again.”
Nathaniel, who had known Constance Whitfield since her own arrival in Goldpine some four years back as a widowed schoolteacher of considerable ambition and rather less subtlety, accepted the kettle with the wary courtesy of a man who recognized a pretext when he encountered one but lacked any polite means of declining it.
“We're managing well enough, Mrs. Whitfield. Miss Reyes has settled in nicely.”
“Miss Reyes.” Constance's gaze shifted toward Callie, who had emerged from the kitchen at the sound of visitors, with an assessment considerably sharper than the pleasant smile accompanying it.
“I don't believe we've been properly introduced.
You're the new housekeeper, I understand. From back east, is it?”
“From Santa Fe, in the New Mexico Territory,” Callie said, offering her own polite smile in return, though she felt, beneath Constance's evident scrutiny, the particular wariness of a woman recognizing a rival's assessment for precisely what it was.
“How exotic. And you've experience with children, I trust? Mr. Cross's two are rather particular, having been through so much upheaval these past years.”
“I've found Sam and Lily to be wonderful children, Mrs. Whitfield, and entirely reasonable in their caution, given all they've endured. I count myself fortunate to be learning to earn their trust.”
Constance's smile tightened fractionally at this response, which had rather neatly deflected the implied criticism, and she turned her attention back to Nathaniel with the particular determined brightness of a woman unwilling to abandon a campaign merely because its opening maneuver had failed to land as intended.
“I do hope you'll bring the children to the schoolhouse social this Friday, Mr. Cross.
It's been altogether too long since you've properly participated in the town's social occasions, and I know several of the ladies have remarked on it.”
“I'll consider it, Mrs. Whitfield, though the ranch keeps me occupied most evenings.”
“Of course, of course. Though a man cannot work every evening, surely, and the children would benefit considerably from more social occasions. I'd be glad to help arrange things, if Miss Reyes here finds the demands of two young children rather more than she anticipated.”
This last observation, delivered with a sweetness that did not entirely conceal its underlying edge, struck Callie as precisely the sort of remark calculated to suggest incompetence without quite committing to an outright accusation, and she found herself answering with rather more directness than strict housekeeper's deference might have counseled.
“I find the children's demands entirely manageable, Mrs. Whitfield, and rather more rewarding than demanding, if I'm honest. But I'm certain Mr. Cross appreciates your continued neighborly concern regardless.”
Nathaniel, watching this exchange with an expression he was working rather hard to keep neutral, found himself experiencing an emotion he did not immediately recognize, until some reflection later that evening identified it as something rather close to admiration for the deft, unflustered manner in which Callie had held her own ground without descending into open rudeness.
Constance departed some minutes later, her preserving kettle successfully returned and her social invitation duly extended, though the visit's true purpose — the careful assessment of a potential rival for Nathaniel Cross's evident and long-standing eligibility — had been accomplished with rather less satisfaction than she had likely anticipated.
“She does that,” Nathaniel said, once Constance's wagon had disappeared down the road, in the tone of a man offering a belated explanation for behavior he found faintly embarrassing on his neighbor's behalf.
“Has done since Mary died, near enough. I don't believe she means any real harm by it, only that a widower with a working ranch represents, in her estimation, rather too promising a prospect to leave uninvestigated.”
“I don't fault her interest, Mr. Cross, whatever its rather transparent execution. You're a decent man with a fine ranch, and doubtless the whole territory's noticed as much.”
“And is that your own assessment as well, Miss Reyes, or merely a polite repetition of the general consensus?”
The question, offered with more genuine curiosity than the light tone quite concealed, caught Callie rather more off guard than she cared to admit, and she found herself answering with more honesty than strict prudence might have counseled.
“I've found you a fair employer and a devoted father, Mr. Cross, which strikes me as considerably rarer and more valuable than mere general eligibility, whatever the wider consensus of Goldpine's marriageable ladies happens to conclude on the subject.”
Nathaniel said nothing further to that, though something in his expression, watching her retreat back toward the kitchen, suggested the answer had landed rather more meaningfully than either of them was yet prepared to properly acknowledge.
Constance Whitfield's campaign, undeterred by this first unsuccessful sortie, continued over the following weeks with a persistence that struck the whole town, watching from its usual comfortable remove, as either admirably determined or faintly comic depending on the observer's own disposition.
She called again within the fortnight, this time bearing a basket of preserves she claimed to have made in excess of her own household's needs, and made pointed inquiries, over the course of the visit, regarding Callie's precise qualifications and the exact nature of her employment terms, questions Callie fielded with a composed civility that gave Constance considerably less satisfaction than she had evidently hoped to extract.
“She means well enough, I expect,” Ruth observed, when Callie related the visit's particulars during one of their regular Sunday teas, “though her manner of meaning well could stand considerable improvement.
She's been angling for Nathaniel's attention since before Mary was properly two years in the ground, which I'll own strikes me as somewhat indecent in its timing, whatever her genuine feelings.”
“I don't wish to make an enemy of her, Ruth, whatever her transparent maneuvering.”
“You needn't make an enemy of her at all, dear.
Simply hold your ground with the same composed civility you've already shown, and let time reveal to her what's already becoming rather evident to the rest of this town — that Nathaniel Cross's attention has found considerably better use than anything Constance Whitfield's preserving kettles or schoolhouse socials can offer.”
The schoolhouse social itself, held some days later, provided Callie her first proper introduction to the whole considerable breadth of Goldpine society, Nathaniel having decided, after some private deliberation, that his children's continued isolation from the town's ordinary social occasions served them rather poorly, whatever his own preference for quiet evenings at the ranch.
Callie attended as well, at the children's particular insistence, and found herself observed with the same frank, assessing curiosity she had come to expect from this close-knit community, though the assessment proved, on the whole, considerably more welcoming than Constance Whitfield's careful scrutiny had led her to fear.
“You're the new girl out at the Cross place,” Mrs. Petty said, cornering her near the refreshment table with the particular directness Callie was learning to recognize as this territory's general social currency.
“I hear you handled Constance Whitfield's little inspection visit rather well.
Good for you, dear. That woman's been circling Nathaniel Cross like a hawk eyeing a particularly promising rabbit these two years past, and it's high time someone gave her proper competition.”
“I'm merely his housekeeper, Mrs. Petty.”
“Of course you are, dear, same as Amelia Thorne was merely Jed's mail-order arrangement, before that arrangement became considerably more.
I'll say no more on the subject, only that this territory's got a fine nose for these things, and mine's telling me you'll want to keep an eye on how this particular story unfolds.”
Callie found herself laughing despite her best efforts at composed denial, understanding that whatever discretion she hoped to maintain regarding her own uncertain feelings toward her employer, this whole observant community had already drawn its own conclusions, and seemed entirely prepared to watch the matter unfold with the same enthusiastic interest they'd evidently brought to Jed and Amelia's own courtship the year before.
Amelia herself approached later that same evening, drawn by Nettie's evident excitement at making a new friend in Sam, the two children having discovered a shared enthusiasm for a particular game involving considerable running and even more considerable shouting that occupied them happily through most of the social's remaining hours.
“I understand you've already earned Mrs. Petty's approval,” Amelia observed, settling beside Callie with the easy warmth of a woman prepared to extend genuine friendship on short acquaintance.
“That's rather a significant accomplishment for someone so recently arrived. She took the better part of a month to properly warm to me, if I recall rightly.”
“I confess I'm not entirely certain what I've done to earn it, beyond declining to be intimidated by Constance Whitfield's rather transparent maneuvering.”
“That's likely earned you rather more goodwill than you realize, dear.
This town has little patience for pretension, and rather a lot of respect for plain-spoken composure under pressure.
You'd do well in Boston society too, I'd wager, though I confess I found this territory's directness considerably more to my own taste, once I'd properly adjusted to it.”
The two women fell into easy conversation, comparing their respective journeys to Goldpine with the particular candor women sometimes extend readily to strangers who've weathered similarly difficult circumstances, and Callie found, by the evening's end, that she had gained not merely Mrs. Petty's approval and the wider town's evident interest, but a genuine friend in Amelia Thorne, a friendship that would prove, in the difficult months ahead, considerably more valuable than either woman yet properly understood.
Jed joined them briefly as the evening wound toward its close, Nettie having finally exhausted herself sufficiently to require collection for the journey home, and offered Callie his own brief but genuine welcome.
“Amelia tells me you're settling in well out at the Cross place,” he said.
“I'll say this for Nathaniel — he's a good man, and a fair one, whatever careful reserve he generally shows strangers.
You'll do well there, I'd wager, same as Amelia's done well with me, once the initial adjustment period properly settles.”
“That's kind of you to say, Mr. Thorne, and reassuring besides, coming from someone who's evidently navigated a rather similar transition himself.”
“It's no more than the plain truth, Miss Reyes.
This territory tests a person considerably, arriving as you have from somewhere so different, but it rewards genuine effort rather generously too, in my experience.
I'd wager you'll find that out for yourself soon enough, if the early signs are anything to judge by.”
Callie carried this small exchange of encouragement with her on the ride back to the Cross Ranch that evening, feeling, for the first time since her arrival, genuinely and thoroughly welcomed by a community she had initially approached with considerable trepidation, and grateful beyond measure for the unexpected friendships already taking root in this unfamiliar territory.