Chapter 6 #3
The young man hung his head for a moment, then did as he was asked, reluctantly. He stepped forward and attempted to grasp his mother’s hand. “Come on, Mother. Let’s go home.”
Samantha pulled away as her gaze swept over her son, as if seeing him for the first time as young man and not a boy, able and willing to make his own decisions.
She looked at his outstretched hand and shook her head.
She didn’t say a word as she turned and pushed her way through the crowd, to the edge of the ice.
George gave Sheridan and Barrie a quick, apologetic nod then followed his mother.
Sheridan watched them leave the ice, then turned to Barrie and reached for her hand. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she whispered, but there was a catch in her voice.
Sheridan glanced around and spotted Lily. “Will you help Barrie?”
“Yes, of course.” Lily gathered the young woman close and escorted her off the ice to the murmurs of the small crowd, which was dispersing now that the confrontation had ended, except for Susannah and Valentine, who stood staring at her as if she were their hero. The look gave her pause.
“Well done,” Wyatt whispered close to her ear.
She jumped, startled, having forgotten that he’d been beside her this whole time, but thankful that he had.
“I’m proud of you for standing up for Barrie.”
“I had to.” She looked at him, her gaze searching his face, surprised at her own behavior. Never, in all her twenty-six years, had she disregarded her own rule of not drawing attention to herself, and here she’d done so in defense of someone else. A month ago, even a week ago, she wouldn’t have.
He reached for her hand. “You’re shaking.”
“I’ve never done something like that before, but I couldn’t just let someone—anyone—criticize another person like that, especially someone as kind and sweet as Barrie.
” Sheridan’s gaze moved to where George and his mother stopped to take off their skates, then she searched for Barrie and Lily, who were doing the same.
“She’s one of the sweetest women I know.
She didn’t deserve Samantha’s anger or the terrible things she said. ”
“There are some minds you’ll never be able to change, Sherry. People will think what they want.”
“I know, but still…she did not have to attack Barrie. She could have asked nicely. She could have spoken to her son, privately, and avoided that—that public spectacle.” She drew in her breath, her anger still seething. “I will not have anyone saying a disparaging word against my girls.”
She stilled. Not only had she confronted a bully—and Samantha was a bully—but when had she come to think of Barrie, Lily, Susannah and Valentine as her girls?
It seemed, the longer she stayed in Serenity, and at Josie’s house, the more she was changing, and she liked that change.
For the first time in her life, she was starting to feel like she belonged.
Tonight, she had smiled and laughed and even become angry, not in defense of herself, but of someone else and it felt good.
Was she slowly becoming like her mother, who, by all accounts, had been kindness itself?
“I’d like to go home now.” She nodded toward Susannah and Valentine. “Actually, I think we all should go home.” Disappointment showed on the women’s faces, but no one argued. Whatever fun they’d been having had disappeared.
“Of course. I assume you walked here?”
“Yes. It wasn’t far.”
“My mother’s buggy is just over there.” He pointed toward the dirt road. “I’ll take you all home. Let me just tell her and Royce.”
She watched him skate toward his mother and Royce, who were skating in the middle of the pond, their gracefulness catching her attention for a moment. Then she made her way, awkwardly, toward the bales of hay where she and the other girls had placed their belongings.
“Wyatt is going to take us home,” she announced, as she started removing her skates. “I’m sorry this happened.” She looked at Barrie, who still had tears in her eyes.
“I am, too. George is a nice boy. He was only being kind, asking me to skate.” Barrie drew in her breath. “Thank you for standing up for me. You reminded me of Josie. She would have done the same.”
The statement brought a fresh wave of pride. Wishing once again that she had known her mother, her throat closed, so she simply nodded and waited for Wyatt to take them home.
A short time later, Wyatt brought the buggy to a halt in front of the parlor house.
He stepped down and extended his hand toward Susannah, helping her to alight, then did the same with the other girls.
Sheridan watched him, a little confused as to why he hadn’t helped her after Susannah, since she’d been sitting between them.
Finally, he smiled and held out his hand. “I had a good time tonight.”
Sheridan took it, feeling the warmth through her gloves. “I did as well.” And she had. Spending time with Wyatt, learning how to skate, coming to know him better, had been perfect, until Samantha made a scene.
“Maybe we can do it again.”
“I would like that.”
He let go of her hand, a bit reluctantly, she thought, then touched two fingers to the brim of his hat. “I’ll just wait until you’re inside.”
She climbed the porch stairs, then stopped with her hand on the doorknob and turned to face him. “Thank you, Wyatt.”
“My pleasure, Sherry.”
She let herself into the house just in time to hear Lily exclaim, “Oh, Mrs. Gallagher! You should have seen our Sheridan tonight!”
“Why?” Mrs. Gallagher rose from the chair where she’d been reading, curiosity dancing in her eyes. “What happened?”
“Mrs. Graves was trying to bully Barrie, and then when Sheridan came to her rescue, she tried to bully her, too.” Lily looked at her with something akin to pride. “Sheridan took her down a peg or two without even raising her voice.”
“It was like watching Josie,” Susannah chimed in and quickly told Mrs. Gallagher every detail of what happened.
Sheridan pulled off her gloves and shoved them in the pockets of her cape. She didn’t feel like she deserved any praise. She merely did what was right.
“Are you all right, Barrie?” Mrs. Gallagher turned toward her and rested a gentle hand on Barrie’s shoulder.
“I’m embarrassed, but it’s not the first time.”
“No, an’ it probably won’t be the last, but a nice cup of tea will fix you right up.”
Barrie laughed, though it was a bit on the rueful side. “You always think a cup of tea fixes everything.”
“An’ doesn’t it, lass?” Mrs. Gallagher laughed as well, then prodded the girls toward the kitchen.
She turned toward Sheridan, her eyes glowing with…
was that pride? “That was a nice thing you did for Barrie. It’s what your mother would have done,” she said, then pushed through the kitchen’s swinging door.
Sheridan watched the door slowly stop swinging and hung up her cape on the coatrack near the front door.
Mrs. Gallagher’s comment was sweet, and it did thrill her that she seemed to be becoming more like her mother.
She was proud of herself for standing up for someone else, but one thing remained clear.
As Samantha said, she didn’t belong here.
No matter how much she liked the girls her mother had employed, no matter how much she liked the town. Or Wyatt. She just wasn’t cut out for the drama of owning a brothel. Her original plan still made the most sense. It would be best to sell the business and go back to New Orleans.
And yet, she really didn’t want to leave Serenity.
There was nothing for her in New Orleans, not now that she knew her family had lied to her about her mother.
Even before knowing they lied, she’d been lonely and oppressed by the rules Odette, Estelle, and Bouchard’s had imposed on her.
If she went back, she’d be under their rules again and she was beginning to enjoy her freedom.
She joined the girls in the kitchen and listened to the conversation around the table.
To know she was welcomed here, despite Samantha’s rudeness, warmed her heart.
And then there was Wyatt MacLean, whose welcome was especially warm, even if they did start off on the wrong foot.
She had to admit she enjoyed his company, though she didn’t have much to compare it to.
If only she hadn’t inherited a brothel.
The realization she could sell the business, but still stay in Serenity, struck her with the subtlety of angel’s wings. But what would she do if she didn’t have the income of Josie’s parlor house?
She could teach music. Find herself a little house with the proceeds of the sale and hang out a shingle offering piano and voice lessons. Yes, she could do that. She should do that, but first, she’d have to sell the business.
A new life, created in her own imagination, suddenly materialized before her, and like her love for peppermint candies, it was far too irresistible to ignore.
Two days later, Sheridan knocked on Lucy Hart’s door, the first step in her plan to find a buyer for the brothel.
She had to smile at the sign that said Matchmaker.
She’d already heard of some of the matches Lucy had made from the ladies at the house.
She liked Lucy even though they’d only met a short time ago.
She was warm and welcoming and didn’t look at her like she had three heads, because she’d inherited a parlor house.
The door swung open. “Sheridan! How lovely to see you!”
“Do you have a moment?”
“Of course.” Lucy opened the door wider. “Come in, come in. I just made a fresh pot of coffee. Would you like a cup?”
Though she preferred tea, she accepted the invitation.
“Let me take your cape.”
Sheridan slipped out of her cape and handed it to Lucy, who hung it on a hook beside the door, then followed Lucy down the hall into the homey kitchen.
“Please. Sit. Make yourself comfortable.”
Sheridan dropped her drawstring bag on the table and slid into her seat, rehearsing in her head what she came here to say as Lucy took a fine China cup and saucer from the cabinet.