Moonlight on the Millpond (29 page)

He didn't want to wish his life away, but looking forward to working in the mill, even knowing how cold some of those days could be, put some fire back into his blood and gave him something to look forward to, something that had been sadly lacking in his life of late.

The thought that things might have been different lingered in his mind from time to time. He asked himself what he could have done to make it so but always ended up frustrated or hurting worse. In the end, he tried not to look at the future at all but do his work and get through one day at a time.

“How is Maddie?” Clara asked Doyle when she was in the store; she was the only person from the farm who didn't seem afraid to voice the question.

“She's settled back in Boston and writes each week.”

“Does she sound all right?”

“I'm not sure,” Doyle admitted to the woman who had been shopping in his store for as long as he'd had the doors open. “You can't always see between the words, if you know what I mean.”

“I do know what you mean. I miss seeing her.”

Doyle cleared his throat. “Stop in and see Cathy. She's missing her something terrible.”

“I might do that, Doyle,” Clara told him. She thanked him for his time, took her basket, and went out to visit the other shops on her list. Her errands took more time than she expected and she had to get home, but she told herself she would make a point to see Cathy Shephard the next week.

Clara drove the wagon out of town and down the road, spotting what seemed to be a familiar figure up ahead. As she drew abreast of Eden Randall, she stopped the wagon. She didn't like Eden and didn't trust her, but no one had asked her opinion, and she was Jace's sister, so she deserved at least some respect.

“Headed to the farm?” Clara asked.

“I am, yes.”

“Climb in.”

Eden did so, glad for the lift. The days were getting cooler, and since she had been too warm on the train, her body temperature was now headed the other way. She was swiftly becoming chilled.

“How are you?” Eden asked, her voice a little cautious.

“Fine.”

“And the farm?”

“The farm's fine as well.”

Eden's chin came up a bit even though she didn't speak. She knew that Woody and Clara didn't like her, but this was Jace's home now, and she had every right to visit. Until Jace told her to go away and not come back—something she knew would never happen—she would consider herself welcome.

It was a relief, however, to see the farm come into view. She only hoped that Jace wasn't so far into the fields that she couldn't see him. A familiar face would be nice, and somehow Eden was certain that as soon as she saw Jace, she would know for certain, one way or the other, whether Maddie Shephard was still in his life. She had stayed away all this time. She now deserved to know.

It was midafternoon. Dinner was over, and Eden had retired to the room she stayed in while at the farm to settle a few things on the dresser. She was glad for the time alone. Jace had not been as she expected. His jocular, easygoing manner was gone. He was subdued, thinner, and ill kept. Eden had never seen him like that, and it shook her.

She had tried to find some of the old Jace, but he was unresponsive and distant, even with Woody and Clara. Eden knew that Maddie was gone. No one had said it, but the sense of it hung around the farmhouse like a cloud. Eden began to doubt herself for the first time. She had been so certain that Maddie was a passing fancy.

A sudden vision of her mother's bracelet hanging from Maddie's wrist came to mind. For a moment she asked herself whether Jace may have truly lost his heart this time.

A strong shake of her head sent that notion away. Maddie was gone, and Jace would get over whatever infatuation he might have felt. Eden finished in the room and went downstairs. There was nothing else to worry about. She had done the right thing.

“What are you baking?” Hillary asked of her mother on the last Saturday in September.

“A few breads, muffins, cookies, and scones.”

Hillary smiled at the parent whose likeness was so similar to her own.

“What are you grinning about?” Alison caught the look.

“Just you.”

“Why?”

“Because it's always so fun when you feel better. The smell of flour made you sick until just recently, and now you're baking enough to share with all the village.”

“Which reminds me,” Alison replied, perking up. “I need you to take one of those pies over to Mrs. Carter.”

“When did you bake pies?” Hillary asked with a laugh, but Alison only smiled.

Hillary did as she was told, however, and the next person through the kitchen was Peter.

“I can't remember which was created first, fish or animals,” he told his mother.

“Day five for fish and birds, and day six for animals,” Alison answered, stirring all the while. “It's all in the first chapter of Genesis.”

“I was going to look it up,” Peter explained, “but Papa's door is shut.”

“You were wise not to disturb him. He might be praying.”

Peter came close and laid his head on his mother's extended stomach.

“Have you been kicked today?”

“A little.”

“She's going to be naughty,” Peter predicted, and Alison smiled. They were still all so certain that it was a girl. She couldn't tell, and in truth thought that another girl would be wonderful, but she didn't have her heart set one way or the other.

“Where is Marty?” Alison suddenly asked, and Peter's eyes grew large.

“I forget to get him from Ben's house.”

“Go,” his mother ordered and shook her head when he made a run for the door. “Some days,” she said quietly to the Lord, “I can't keep track of four. I'll certainly need Your help with five.”

“Have a good trip,” Jace told Eden at the train station on Monday. His voice carried little inflection and even less expression.

“Thank you. I hope the harvest continues to go well for you.”

“It should,” Jace said noncommittally, still thinking about the mill work.

And with that they waited in silence. Eden shot glances from the corner of her eye, taking in Jace's thin cheeks and unshaved chin but also noticing his eyes.

Jace had always had an eye for the ladies, but not today. Several attractive women walked by, all looking his way, but he did nothing. His eyes did not meet theirs or follow them when they walked past. He looked straight ahead at the side of the train, seeming dead inside to his sister.

“I'd better board,” Eden finally said, knowing she couldn't stand to watch him any longer.

“Take care,” Jace said with a small wave and moved off the platform.

Eden found a seat on the train and stared ahead, willing herself to be in control. She was always in control. It was best that way.

I got my way,
she said to herself.
I planned and I worked and I
got my way, and I'm happy about it.

Eden felt herself begin to shake and thought she might be cold, but deep in her heart she knew better. She was a woman who had lied to herself often; she just never admitted it or faced that fact. Right now her heart wouldn't allow her to do anything else, and that knowledge made her cold all over.

Boston

“Maddie, did you pack my light blue cloak?” the missus asked Maddie for the second time.

“I'm sure I did, but I'll check,” she had learned to say.

With plans to be gone for several months, the family was leaving in just one week, quite possibly not returning until after the first of the year.

Maddie had mixed feelings about this. There was always a small amount of chaos with the missus and Paige at home, but there was also plenty to do, plenty to occupy her mind. When they were out, Maddie would breathe a sigh of relief—as would the rest of the staff—and feel free for a time. But this was early October. The first of the year was weeks and weeks away, and Maddie worried that she would have too much time on her hands.

In any other year, she would have jumped at the chance to make plans for an extended stay at Doyle and Cathy's, but not this year. Right now Tucker Mills was the last place she wanted to be. She toyed with the idea of asking them to come to Boston but knew that Cathy would not come without Doyle, and Doyle would not leave the store so soon after returning. If his letters were any indiction, he was still having the time of his life, feeling almost the way he did in the days when he'd first opened.

“There's still time,” the missus suddenly said, and Maddie was jolted back to the moment.

“Thank you, Mrs. Nunley,” Maddie said to her, coming close to touch her arm. “Your wanting me to come means a lot to me, but I need to stay here.”

The older woman looked into her eyes, not wanting to be separated so soon, but mostly not wanting Maddie to be hurt ever again.

“Will you ever want to talk about it?”

“I don't know,” Maddie said honestly. “I guess I don't see much point.”