A Shelter of Hope (44 page)

Simone stared at him a moment longer before answering him. “I’ve come back to Topeka. Rachel asked me to work here for a time longer, and I thought it would be a good idea.”

Jeffery refused to look away, afraid she might vanish into thin air. “I see,” he replied curtly. “I suppose I shall be seeing the papers of transfer.” He forced himself to sit back down at the desk, but still he watched her.

She took a hesitant step forward, then another. Her eyes searched his face as if hoping to find something. Biting her lower lip she glanced back at the door for a quick moment before returning her gaze to Jeffery.

Afraid that his indifference would cause her to bolt and run, Jeffery gave up his pride. “Sit down and tell me what you’ve come to say.”

She twisted her gloved hands together. “I … I … oh, I can’t do this!” she suddenly exclaimed and moved back to the door.

Jeffery had never known himself capable of such speed, but when he saw Simone preparing to leave, he jumped up from the desk and beat her to the door. “No! Don’t go! You came all this way, now tell me what you’re thinking.” He put himself between her and the door and waited for her to speak.

“It’s just that …” She hesitated and shook her head. “This is so hard for me.”

“It’s been no picnic for me,” he countered. “I think you owe me some kind of explanation. Some word on why you refused to answer my telegrams—or even Rachel’s.”

“I needed time,” Simone snapped back. “You’ve never understood that, but I need time. I can’t just rush headlong into things, and I won’t be pushed around as if my feelings aren’t important.”

“I’d just like to know what those feelings are,” Jeffery replied, his voice edged with obvious irritation.

Simone bristled. “So would I.”

“Ha!” Jeffery stepped toward her. “You know exactly how you feel, but you won’t admit it.”

“That isn’t true!” Simone moved back a step.

“Yes, it is.” Jeffery took another step forward. This wasn’t how he’d envisioned their reunion, but he wasn’t about to back down. “You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t know exactly what you were feeling. I think you owe me the common courtesy of sharing those feelings. Is that too much to ask?”

“It didn’t seem so a few minutes ago,” Simone muttered.

“What?” He stopped short of touching her, but there were only mere inches separating their bodies.

“Oh, bother!” she declared, putting her hands on her hips. “I love you! There! Are you satisfied?”

The declaration was given with such an air of frustration and despair that Jeffery couldn’t help but be taken aback. But when the initial shock wore off, he began to chuckle, and then to laugh. Simone stared at him in total confusion.

“You’re laughing? I bare my soul and you laugh at me?” She started to sidestep him, but Jeffery would have no part of it.

“Oh no, you don’t. You aren’t going anywhere. At least not until we sort this thing out. You make it sound as though loving me is a loathsome thing. How can you imagine that I would allow you to just waltz out the door without any further explanation?” He felt her tremble beneath his hands and sobered. Instantly he knew that this wasn’t the way to handle Simone Dumas. People had been asserting authority over her all of her life. No, he needed to be gentle, giving, yielding … even though he didn’t feel like yielding. Humbling himself, he lowered his voice. “Please don’t go. Please. I promise to hear you out.”

Simone nodded. “I’m sorry. It’s just that this doesn’t come easy for me.”

“It’s not easy for either of us.” He reached up to touch her cheek. Oh, but her skin was soft, and her eyes were like a deep blue velvet. He wanted to never let her go from his sight, and yet he knew—instinctively he knew—she had not come here to accept his proposal of marriage. The thought sobered him even more. “I know you can’t marry me.”

Her expression registered surprise. “Not yet,” she finally whispered.

Hope surged anew in his heart. “Not yet?”

She smiled ever so slightly and reached a hand up to touch his face. “I need time. It isn’t that I don’t want to marry you. I do.” He watched her battle with her emotions as tears came to her eyes. “There’s just so much I need to put behind me. Can you understand?”

Jeffery nodded. “Yes, I think I can. And if not, then I respect your need.”

Silence hung heavy between them, and for several moments they did nothing but gaze into each other’s eyes and touch each other’s faces. Jeffery wanted to reassure Simone, yet he knew she had to control this situation. He waited impatiently for her to speak, praying that she’d be willing to make some form of commitment to him.

“I do love you,” she finally whispered. “And it’s such a foreign feeling to me that I almost didn’t recognize it for what it was. But I can’t marry you without giving myself some time to grow up. That may sound silly, but I feel as though I’ve been that scared little ten-year-old girl for the past seven years. I need to find a way to put her at rest in order to mature into the woman I want to be.”

He let his fingers trail up the side of her face. Gently caressing her hair, he nodded. “I do understand, but I love you so very much … and I’m so afraid of losing you.”

“That’s exactly how I feel about you,” she admitted. “In fact, I just told Rachel that very thing.”

“And what did the good Miss Taylor tell you?” he asked, smiling.

“To be honest with you.”

He nodded. “I’m glad I hired that woman.”

Simone giggled. “Me too.”

“So what do we do about this?” he questioned.

Simone bit at her lip and lowered her eyes. “Would it be so awful to wait for me?”

He pulled her against him tightly, relishing the softness of her, her willingness to be held by him. “I would wait forever—if you only ask.”

She pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. “Please wait.”

He smiled and nodded. “Forever.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Just a little while.”

Jeffery felt his heart nearly burst with joy and pride. She loved him! She loved him and she was willing to pledge herself to him—to ask him to wait for her. She put her hand behind his head and pulled him down to meet her lips. The surprise of her actions affected him in a way he’d not expected. He almost felt as timid and uncertain as she had looked earlier when first arriving in his office.

He let her lead the action, dictating how deep the kiss, how long the touch. When she pulled back, Jeffery tightened his hold and she put her head against his shoulder and sighed.

“You sure don’t kiss like a ten-year-old,” he teased.

Simone began to giggle and then to laugh. Her joy was like music to his heart. After seeing her so terrified and miserable for as long as he’d known her, Jeffery thought there could be no better sound in all the world. But he was wrong. The very best came when she finally regained control and with an expression of elation reaffirmed her feelings.

“I love you, Mr. O’Donnell.”

THIRTY-SIX

April 1891

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” a chorus of Harvey Girls cried as Simone came into the dining room on Jeffery’s arm.

Rachel came forward with a large hatbox. “We all pitched in and thought you should have this.”

Simone looked to Jeffery, who just shrugged his shoulders and moved away to allow her to take hold of the package.

“We know you might not need it today, but I have a feeling it won’t be so very long until you will need it,” Rachel added.

Simone took the box and allowed herself to be led to the table where a beautiful two-tiered birthday cake awaited her.

“Happy Birthday, Simone,” said Henri with great gusto. His English had improved much over the months he’d been under Fred Harvey’s employment.

“Oh, Henri, what a creation,” Simone replied in French. She loved the sound of her mother’s tongue. The way the words seemed to come forth almost in song. “I feel so honored that you would go to so much trouble.” She touched her free hand to a pale pink icing rose.

“Only the best for my dear friend,” he replied.

“Now sit down and open your gift,” Rachel commanded.

Simone took her gaze from the white-haired Henri and looked back to the expectant expressions of her fellow workers. “I’ve never had a birthday party.”

“This shall be the first of many,” Jeffery declared, pulling an envelope from his pocket. “Here, I believe I owe you this.”

Simone looked up. “Owe me what?”

“Just look inside,” he said, laughing. “You’ll understand.”

Simone opened the envelope and counted out seventeen dollars and fifty cents. She smiled, nodding. “I had nearly forgotten.”

“It’s the results of our bet,” Jeffery told Rachel and the other girls. “I told her I bet she couldn’t stay single for the duration of her contract with Mr. Harvey.” He put his hands to his chest in a melodramatic manner. “But, alas, she has proven me wrong and taken my last dime.” The girls giggled, and even Henri snorted a laugh.

“The day that seventeen dollars and fifty cents takes Mr. O’Donnell to his last dime will be the day pigs fly,” Rachel said.

“Well, my good woman, that is where you are wrong. I have this day given up my position with the Harvey office in Chicago and it is my intention to take over the running of the purchasing and shipping offices for the Santa Fe Railroad in New Mexico. Leastwise, in the town of Morita, where Mr. Harvey’s newest and finest resort hotel will feature our own Miss Taylor as house manager.”

“Rachel! Why didn’t you tell us?” the girls all clamored in unison.

Rachel looked at Jeffery and Simone in stunned surprise. “I suppose because I didn’t know about it. Is this true?”

“It is. You’ve been approved to become a house manager. Not an easy feat for any man, let alone any woman. But I told Mr. Harvey you were more than capable of dealing with the responsibility, and we both agreed it would be impossible to find a more trustworthy person for the position.”

“I … don’t know what to say,” Rachel replied. “Me, a house manager? And for a resort the size of Morita!”

“You’ll be perfect for it,” Simone said, putting aside Jeffery’s envelope of money and the hatbox. She came to take hold of Rachel’s hands. “I only hope you will hire me on as one of your staff members.”

“Of course! Oh, my dear, I wouldn’t even want to consider going if you weren’t going to be nearby.”

“It’s my hope she’ll be nearby for both of us,” Jeffery replied.

Simone threw him what she hoped was a loving look of affirmation. She loved him more every day, although she had no idea how it was possible. “I’ll be there for you both. You can count on me for that.”

“Open your present,” Bethel exclaimed. “Open it now, or I shall start crying at the thought of you both going away.”

Simone nodded and, after giving Rachel’s hands a squeeze, went back to the table where she’d left her hatbox. Opening the lid, she gasped at the sight of the wedding veil inside. Lifting it tenderly from the box, Simone could only stare in appreciation of the white Brussels lace and netting.

“It’s exquisite,” she finally managed to say. The lump in her throat refused to be swallowed down, and looking up, she met Jeffery’s eyes and the unspoken question that came from their depths. He had been so very patient with her and now seemed the perfect moment to honor his loving care. Smiling, she looked back to Rachel and the girls. “I’m sure I’ll be needing this very soon.”

The girls cheered and Rachel moved forward to hug Simone in a motherly fashion. “Oh, Simone, I’m so happy for you.”

Simone looked over Rachel’s shoulder to where Jeffery stood with a smug expression of contentment upon his face. He raised a questioning brow but never said a word.

The party passed all too quickly and soon the dining room was once again converted back into the Harvey dining hall. Simone took her things back to her room, including a big piece of birthday cake that Henri had insisted she keep for later. She had the rest of the day off, and Jeffery had promised to take her to a fine restaurant before escorting her to her very first opera at the Grand Opera House.

She dressed carefully for the evening in her very first store-bought gown of burgundy crepe de chine. This was Jeffery’s birthday gift to her, and he’d brought it all the way from Chicago. She had thought to refuse such a personal gift, but Rachel quickly assured her that under the circumstances, Jeffery would no doubt soon be buying all of her clothes.