He certainly hadn’t forgotten, although he had thought to be showing off his new fiancée. Nodding, he slipped out through as small an opening as he could and hurried down New Bond Street without a backward glance, hoping she counted slowly.
“ZOUNDS!” CHARLOTTE exclaimed when an axe head abruptly came through the ceiling. She’d had a ruder curse word in mind and luckily kept it from crossing her lips since Edward was in the next room.
As promised, his uncle had shown up the following morning. After Charles’s hasty departure the day before, she’d spent time dismantling the shelves and storing them upstairs, and then emptying the display cases of the last bibs and bobs. With the sign firmly attached to the front window, she wrote another one for the door, just in case.
With everything ready, she’d been able to enjoy her dinner and her night, thinking of Charles Jeffcoat and how much she enjoyed being with him. Yes, she wanted to become his wife. Her heart was fully engaged. But she had done the right thing in halting his proposal. She wanted him to speak with words the way he kissed with his lips. For if he felt what was in his kisses, then he was half in love with her already. She was with him — more than half.
With her heart pounding as she stared at the axe head, which disappeared in the next instant, leaving debris falling down onto the floor in its wake, she wished Mr. Tufts had laid down floor covering. After all, in a few hours, there would be a good chunk of ceiling on the polished wooden floor of the confectionery. Surely, it would be easier to clean up if he could drag it all out at once.
“Mr. Tufts,” she called up to him, just as the axe appeared again.Shouldn’t he be using a saw?
“Mr. Tufts,” she tried again.
“Yes, miss?” he yelled through the ceiling.
“Two things, can you cover the floor down here and will you soon switch from axe to saw?”
Silence met her words. “Mr. Tufts?”
“Yes, well, miss. I shouldn’t think you want me to go away now and get what we call a tarpaulin for the debris. It would take up time better spent on my working.”
She sighed. He ought to have thought of that at the onset.
“In any case,” he added, “dust is going to go everywhere. A tarpaulin isn’t going to hold it, and that’s no lie.”
The axe struck again. “As soon as I get a big enough hole, I’ll start sawing,” he assured her.
She’d already paid him half his fee, and was simply relieved when he’d actually strode in with his tools to do the job. But she couldn’t help wishing he would take a little more care with the existing part of the shop.
“Edward, are you ready to make deliveries?” she called to him.
His head poked through the curtain. “Nearly ready, miss.” Then he glanced up at the axe head sticking through the ceiling, rolled his eyes, and retreated. A minute later, he reappeared with two bags.
“I’ll stop back for the rest, miss. But I can’t find enough sacks.”
“Oh, Edward. That’s my fault.” She handed him the keys, just as the end of a saw appeared and began to move, back and forth. “I used them to carry the tins. Just go take the tins out of a couple of the sacks. I’ll think of something else to put them in later to keep them clean.”
“Yes, miss.” And the boy disappeared out the front door and into the glass front door next to it. She could hear his feet trudging up the stairs.
The stairwell in which she’d again allowed the viscount to kiss her. She really should have let him ask her to marry him since she intended to eventually. Suddenly, she heard raised voices from above. It was such an unfamiliar occurrence since for all the years of her daily working at Rare Confectionery, she’d never heard a peep from upstairs.
“I will not,” came filtering through the small hole.
“You will. Not another word, or you know what’ll happen.”
And then the sawing started up again.
Hm, Charlotte mused. Edward and his uncle were having a quarrel apparently. This time, she knew better than to ask the boy anything, since the more she’d tried lately to find out what was bothering him, the more stoic he became.
“I’ll take these that are packed, miss, and fill the rest when I get back.”
“All right.” Although with little to do besides make enough confectionery for the next day’s deliveries, she would surprise him and pack them herself. After that, what task could she set for him? He would be crushed if she had to cut his hours and his pay, but she wasn’t sure what she could use him for.
Then she had an idea. She would create a notice announcing their expansion and send him to the printer. Edward could walk around New Bond Street, Old Bond Street, and all over Mayfair and then through Hyde Park handing out the notices.
She opened the door for him and watched him head along the street. An unexpectedly loud crash behind her made her jump. Whirling to face it, her heart racing, Charlotte saw a large chunk of the ceiling had slammed to the floor.
Gracious! Why hadn’t the builder warned her?
