Chapter 15
Mrs. Shelbourne's guest house had a crooked porch step that Ella nearly missed in the fading light, and she caught herself on the railing before it could send her sprawling.
"Careful there," Mrs. Shelbourne said, opening the door before Ella had even knocked. "That step's been promising to break somebody's ankle for a year now. You'll be wanting a room?"
"If you have one."
"I do, as it happens. Might be the last one in town.”
“Mrs. Elizabeth said she was full."
"She would be, with Samson Tolliver's new bride taking her last room." Mrs. Shelbourne said it easily, the way a person mentions the weather, already turning to lead Ella down the hall. "Come on through, I'll show you what I've got."
Ella followed, and it took every ounce of discipline she had to keep her face arranged into something merely pleasant, because inside her chest something had gone tight and cold at the words.
"Samson Tolliver," she said, keeping her voice light. "Does he have a bride?"
“Oh, you know him? Not married yet, but everyone in town expects it won't be long. She only arrived a few days back. Come all the way from Boston, I hear, after he put an advertisement out." Mrs. Shelbourne opened a door onto a small, plain room. "This one's yours, if it suits."
"It suits fine." Ella set her bag down, working to keep her hands steady. "What's she like, this bride of his?"
"Couldn't tell you myself, I haven't met her.
But you hear things, in a town this size.
Folks who've been in his store say she's a lovely young woman.
Kind with the children, quick with the customers.
" Mrs. Shelbourne straightened the coverlet on the bed, unbothered, unaware of what she was handing over with each easy sentence.
"It's a fine thing, if you ask me. Samson mourned his Livvy proper, and those children have needed a mother's hand for a while now.
Whole town's been hoping something like this would come along for him. "
"How lovely," Ella said, and the words came out smoother than she expected, given how loudly her thoughts were working underneath them.
"You'll likely see her about, if you're staying any length of time. Maria, her name is." Mrs. Shelbourne moved to the door. "Supper's at six, if you'd like it. I don't charge extra for it, and it’s good food, so long as you're not particular."
"Thank you," Ella said, and once the door had closed behind Mrs. Shelbourne, she sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the wall, turning over this new and entirely unwelcome fact, and trying to work out what it meant for everything she'd come here to do.
One thing she knew for certain was that she didn’t have as much time as she’d hoped to. Not if there was somebody else vying for Samson’s heart.