Both children turned toward her. Then Morgan nudged Abel aside and marched off to the kitchen. Abel watched her with narrowed eyes, then glanced at his sister.
“That wasn’t very well-behaved,” he told his sister as he hurried into the kitchen.
Geordie looked at her and grinned. “Are ye still certain they will get along?”
“Yes. Well, as long as he doesn’t throw a frog at her, and she doesn’t crack his head open with her doll. Go into the sitting room for a while. We are trying to make a nice luncheon for everyone.”
He watched her go into the kitchen. She was looking very fine. The gown fit her nicely, hugging every curve on her slender body, and the ivory color brought out a slight copper tone to her skin. Her long black hair was pulled back from her face and braided to stay there. Then he wondered who “everyone” was and hurried into the sitting room.
* * *
Belle looked at all the food they had made and, after taking off her apron, rubbed at her lower back. It was a feast. She had to wonder just who was coming to this wedding.
“You look a bit frightened,” Emily said as she handed Belle a cup of coffee.
“Just how many people are coming? And why?”
“Most of our neighbors, the Powells and their families, and several people from the tiny collection of shops we call a town. I am not all that sure they care why, because for them the why is Mrs. O’Neal’s cooking. I don’t recall anyone even asking which brother was getting married.” She grinned when Belle laughed. “It is a gathering. The ones that can get away are always ready to come to one of those.”
“It is pretty much like that where I live.”
“Small towns.”
“I fear so.”
“We’ll take some coffee into the men.” Emily got a tray and Belle moved to help.
By the time they got into the sitting room, the men were deep into conversation about the shower bath. After handing out the coffee, Belle sat next to Emily. When she glanced at the woman, Emily just grinned and shook her head.
“Do you think they will try to make one?” asked Belle.
“Oh, yes. It is a new and fancy thing. They will not be able to resist.”
“Inside or outside?”
Emily listened to the men for a few minutes, then sighed. “It is sounding as though they want to try to get one inside, which means a lot of hammering and cursing.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Not to worry. It does sound like something nice if they can get it together. I just wish they could try to build something quietly.”
Belle was still laughing when Mrs. O’Neal brought over a tall, thin man with a wild mop of graying brown hair. He wore a white collar and a black suit. It was difficult not to worry too much about what he thought of this business. It had been arranged and announced with no warning and no meeting or conversation with the pastor. She knew their pastor at home would have found some way to make his disapproval plain to see.
After a surprisingly polite talk, the man went over to the brothers. “Did he marry Emily and Iain?” she asked Mrs. O’Neal.
“He did. Matthew and Abbie, too. He moved out here many years ago. He was somewhat too worldly for many people in the town he came from. They love him around here. Does all the weddings, all the christenings and all the burials. I go to his church when I can.”
“He does do a nice sermon,” Emily said.
Two men entered the room. They were dressed nicely if a bit roughly, and each had a wife. Belle easily recognized that the women were of Native heritage. They each had a child and one of the wives was soon to bear another.
After she was introduced to the Powells, things began to move fast. People began to arrive and Belle began to feel nervous. Geordie, on the other hand, was enjoying the teasing and congratulations he was getting. Then Iain’s lawyer and his wife came over to say hello. After only a short talk, Belle had information about a few lawyers that dealt in wills and offered them a place to stay if ever they wished to wander back East. By the time they went to talk to someone else she realized she may have also found a way to do something with the house in Boston that Morgan had inherited, a way that could build her a nice account for the future, something that would be of far more use to her than a house.
Then Mrs. O’Neal pulled her out of the room. Emily grabbed her friend Red and disappeared into the fancier sitting room. Several of Red’s army of children went with them as did her large redheaded husband. As Mrs. O’Neal pulled her up the stairs, Belle caught a glimpse of Geordie surrounded by a bunch of men all fascinated by his talk of the shower bath.
“Time to give you some finishing touches.”
Belle frowned at Mrs. O’Neal. “Like what?”
