The Shopkeeper's Widow Read online

  “Until we meet again, Mrs. Fleet,” Philips said with a nod of his head. “And we will meet again. I assure you I will see to that.”

  The waves hit her again, but this time she felt them roll off and away as though she was covered by a shield.

  Field took her hand. “Get in the house and stay there. I will come when they are gone.”

  Delany ran to the house.

  Molly was waiting on the other side of the thick, windowless door. “Who was that?” Her face was pale. Wisps of angel-blonde hair were plastered to her scalp. She rocked Christopher in her arms. “He made me sick.” Mary Ann and Annette held onto her arms. Ben paced with hands behind his back. David had gone with his father and Field.

  “Me, too.” Delany shook out her hands and upper body. “Let’s not allow him to overset us. They will be gone soon.”

  Molly’s eyes darted back and forth. “I don’t like him. I want him to leave. Here. Right. Now.” Panic fueled the staccato in her tone.

  Delany reached out for Molly’s hand. Molly grasped onto Delany and held hard. “They just want food, Molly. They won’t harm us today.”

  The darting gaze came to rest on Delany’s face.

  “I’ve seen this happen hundreds of times in Norfolk. It’s just Captain Squire. He’s stealing food. He won’t touch us today,” she said soothingly. “I promise.”

  Everyone’s gazes searched her face with the same intensity. “Come to the window.” She pointed to the soldiers walking in and out of the smokehouse. “Look over there. They took a ham. See them put it in their wagon?”

  The soldiers threw beef and pork into the wagon and headed toward the chickens. A soldier came out of the storehouse with a half barrel of flour.

  “If they take all the food, what are we gonna eat, Mama?”

  Molly’s eyes cleared at the fear in Annette’s voice. She reached out and pulled her into her embrace. “The Lord will provide. He always does.” She ran her fingers through the little girl’s hair and held her close. “He always does.” Molly looked at all of them. “Let’s all go to the back parlor. We have better things to do than stand here and worry about what we can do nothing about.” She shooed them down the hall taking one last glance as the soldiers headed toward the wagons in front of the barn.

  19

  It had taken every ounce of strength he had not to shoot Josiah Philips on sight. Delany’s tiny form standing defiant in front of evil perched on a horse was too much for his equilibrium. Every time the image played across his mind, he felt the need to clasp her to him and shoot the scoundrel.

  After they left, Field spent his days and his energy mending fences and anything else Sam or Ruben or Freewill had for him to do. Keeping busy was the thing until he could get the guns to Kemp’s Landing and get home. Today he was chopping wood—anything to keep him busy and out of Delany’s path.

  Dunmore’s raids were more frequent. He was confiscating guns and ammunition every day. They didn’t dare venture too far from the farm for fear of the soldiers’ return. Dunmore or no, he would have to go soon.

  “We’re hosting the preacher on Sunday,” Sam said walking up to the growing pile of wood.

  “Who is it?”

  “Craig Reid. I think you will like him.”

  And that was the other thing. He’d always been happy with his church. Now he found himself ensconced in a family of dissenters. More kind and generous people he’d never met. They knew more about the scriptures than he’d ever considered knowing, but if he had to hear another verse quoted at him, he’d hit something else. He steadied a half log on his splitting round, stood back, and swung the ax. The wood split with a satisfying crack. “I will look forward to it.” He placed another half log on the splitting round.

  “It won’t work, you know.”

  Field leaned on the ax. “What won’t?”

  “You can’t pound your feelings for Delany out on this wood pile.” Sam spared a finger from raking his beard to point at the rounds waiting for his ax.

  “I don’t have any feelings to pound.”

  Sam chuckled. “I told myself the very same thing.” He shuffled away.

  ~*~

  It was a week before Delany had an opportunity to get back out to Tom’s house. Perhaps she should call it Button Cove since she was no longer moving to Northumberland. It was a good sight better than thinking of it as “Tom’s house”. Yet it didn’t feel like her house. It would take time and living in it to do that.

  After breakfast, Delany and Pauline set out in a wagon loaded with cleaning supplies, a food basket, and her rifle. The morning was crisp with a breeze blowing that was just on the cusp of too cold to have the windows open. Dressed in a brown calico gown and petticoat that she used for cleaning the store, she was eager to get started on her future.

  The past week had anchored her more to her plans of removing from Norfolk and remaining in Princess Anne. Mary and Ruben had moved into their own home. It was a blessing she would be able to live close to them. Watching little Ruben grow would be a delight.

  Field had been more than distant. He was absent. Gone with the dawn, he appeared only at supper. He was obviously avoiding her to let what had passed between them at the Morgans’ disappear. He’d nearly kissed her on the porch. Ashamed at how easily she had fallen into the old longing to be in his arms, she could almost be glad he was keeping so busy. Except she wasn’t. The night at the Morgans’ dance had flamed her interest but not satisfied it. One unguarded night to acknowledge how she felt had not sated the longing at the sound of his voice or the sight of his mischievous grin. Stop. There’s too much work to do. Delany drove her thoughts to Tom’s house just as it came into view. It was much bigger now that she faced it in work clothes. She hardly knew where to start.

  Evie Seldon, and her husband, Thomas, would arrive at the end of the week. Evie was a cook and her husband a master gardener and groundskeeper. Sam had recommended the couple to her, and she was thankful they were available. Delany would rely on Evie and Sam to help her find the rest of the help the large house would need. Until then, she had herself and Pauline. Delany was no stranger to housework. In fact, she had an odd desire to complete quite a bit of the work herself. She planned to go through every room deciding what to keep and what to give away. When she was done, the house would no longer be Tom’s house. It would transform into her own Button Cove.

  Delany sent Pauline to clean the kitchen. She would start upstairs in the bedrooms and work her way down. She left the large front door open to let in light and fresh air. Then she opened every window and door on the first floor before heading up to clean. She did the same upstairs before focusing her attention on the main bedroom, the one that would be hers.

  The room was half the size of the second floor containing the bedroom and a small nursery. A large four-poster bed stood three quarters of the way down the long rectangular wall. Thankful she’d never shared the bed with Tom, she had no scruples about keeping it. She reached up to take down the red floral bed curtains that Tom had allowed her pick, his only indulgence in furnishing the house. These she would keep. She folded them into a neat pile. Once she’d removed all the linens and folded them, she carried them downstairs and put them in the wagon.

  A tall shadow passed the window of the kitchen. Delany picked up the rifle she’d foolishly left in the wagon. Standing on the stoop of the kitchen, she peered into the dark room. Blinded from the bright sky, she couldn’t see much.

  “Did you need something, Miss Delany?” Pauline, broom in hand, asked from the hearth of the large stone fireplace. A pail of water stood on the large trestle table in the middle of the room.

  “I thought I saw someone in the window.” Delany looked around the room.

  Pauline didn’t look frightened.

  Delany walked past Pauline into the back room. Empty. “Did you see anyone?”

  “No, ma’am.” She went back to sweeping, “Just me here.”

  Something didn’t feel right, but Pau
line was there the whole time. No one could have gotten past her unnoticed. The tall shadow must have been just that. A shadow.

  “I guess I better get back to work.” No one knew she was here but her family. Even if the soldiers came, she had nothing to give them. Josiah Philips was a different story, but there was no reason for him to know of her whereabouts, least of all here at Tom’s house. She glanced out the upstairs window. The yard was quiet. No strangers in all the acres she could see. Enough. She would not be a ninny.

  She pulled down the linens in the other rooms making one-armed trips up and down the stairs to put them in the wagon so she could keep her weapon with her at all times.

  By noon she had wiped down the wardrobe, dressers, and every other surface including the wainscoting in her room. Her room. She went to the windows and looked out over the fields that led to the Fleet farm. This would be her view. She couldn’t see the Bay from her window, but she could feel and taste its salty breeze.

  Even at this distance, she recognized him. He rode hard, his lean body tense with exertion.

  Was everything all right? Had the soldiers come back? Had something happened to Mary or the baby? She rushed downstairs as he arrived at the front drive.

  He alit quickly and nearly pushed her down in his rush through the door.

  “Is everything all right?” she blurted, holding onto his forearms to steady herself.

  “Are you all right?” he asked holding onto her waist.

  “I’m fine.” She straightened, but he did not release his hold on her waist. “I am cleaning my house.”

  “I came in for the noon meal and heard you were over here by yourself.” The concern in his amber eyes dissipated her worry.

  “You rode so fast I thought something was wrong.” She put a hand up to her throat. “You scared me to death.”

  He dropped his hands from her waist and ran one through his disheveled hair. “You scared me to death. You shouldn’t be out here on your own. It isn’t safe.”

  Irritation crept up her back as he stalked up and down the ballroom. What was he so upset about? She would not have deliberately caused him trouble. She was used to taking care of herself. If he was so concerned, where had he been all week? “I appreciate your concern, but I am not alone. Pauline is here.”

  At once he towered over her.

  She clasped her hands to keep them from reaching up into his loosened hair.

  “Not good enough. You should have Sam or Ruben or me.”

  “Mr. Archer, I can take care of myself.”

  “Can you?” He lowered his head and captured her lips. She stilled. His hands engulfed her waist. A gentle tug on her bottom lip and her decisiveness vanished. The years of waiting for him disappeared. She was fifteen, and it was her first real kiss. She melted into him, threaded her fingers through his hair, and poured all the longing and love she felt into their embrace.

  A gasp startled them both.

  Field pulled away, his chest heaving as though he had bounded up a flight of stairs.

  Delany’s heart pounded as though she had raced him up those same stairs.

  Pauline stared at them from the doorway. “Sorry, Miss,” Pauline fled the room.

  “I’m sorry, Delany.” Field scraped his hand over his face. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  Shame heated her face. Of course he was sorry. He would never dally with a servant. She turned from him. “Think nothing of it, Mr. Archer.” She managed to say through her tight throat, “I’m a widow. You are not the first man to steal a kiss.” Just the only one to succeed.

  He reached out to take her hand.

  She clasped them together in front of her waist. “Have you eaten your noon meal, or did you forgo that to rescue me?”

  Dropping his hand to his side, he said, “I came straightaway.”

  “You must be famished. There’s a basket in the wagon and a cask of fresh lemonade.” She started toward the door and the wagon.

  “Delany.” He caught her arm.

  She swung around to face him. “Let’s just put it behind us,” she said, “as if it never happened.” She hoped that he didn’t see the tremor when she smiled.

  “It did happen.”

  “I am aware of that, Mr. Archer.”

  “Aren’t we past that now? Field, please.”

  She breathed deeply. “Field, I understand you are sorry and that it didn’t mean anything. These things happen to widows sometimes.”

  His face stormed. “Stop talking.”

  She stopped short to survey him.

  “That’s better.” He came to stand in front of her. Her senses came alive at his closeness. The woodsy sent of leaves, the tangy smell of the work he’d done all morning, and the warmth of his body called to her trembling heart. “I’m not sorry I kissed you.”

  Astonishment wiped away the trepidation. “You’re not?”

  “No. In fact if we stand this close for much longer, I’m liable to do it again.”

  Delany was glued to the spot, mesmerized by what he was saying and the softness of his lips as he formed the words. She placed her hands on his chest to confirm she wasn’t dreaming. “I’m sorry that I was not more discreet. I didn’t mean to be carried away like a schoolboy.”

  20

  The crowd of people spilled out from the parlor into the main hall with some drifting into the dining room. Field had not seen this many people together since he’d come to Princess Anne.

  Craig Reid moved easily among them with arms wide open and a creased Bible in his well-worked hands. Clean, cheap black suit. Black hair cropped close to the scalp. Blue eyes like a crisp fall day surrounded by fine lines that echoed mirth. Joy radiated from every movement. “Welcome, brothers and sisters!” he bellowed from his place in front of the mantel in the parlor. “God loves you, and so do I.”

  The warmth of his greeting rebounded in smiles and general greetings from the crowd.

  “Open your Bibles to Revelation, Chapter 22, verse 17.”

  Field had never been to a service where he was told to open his Bible.

  Pages started to flip in the room.

  Delany’s fingers fluttered through the Bible’s pages, fluffed from use. She found the passage and angled it for him to see.

  How like her to help him without thinking, unobtrusively seeing what he needed and providing.

  “Whosoever will may come.” Craig’s voice caught his attention. “We all fall short, brothers. But we are all welcome to come.” The love radiating from this man could only come from God alone. Craig leapt from passage to passage weaving the story of salvation.

  Field left the passage finding in Delany’s capable hands while he continued to be fascinated by the words that came out of Craig’s mouth. He must have heard these words before since he’d been in church all his life, but they took on a new meaning as Craig spoke them.

  “God is no respecter of persons. If He loves me, He’s got to love you the same. And brothers and sisters, He does.”

  The power of his words fanned out through the room and hit Field right in the heart. The experience was unlike any he’d ever had. His logical mind agreed with the text. But this time he could feel the pull of God’s arms as He welcomed him into an embrace that Field knew would last a lifetime.

  “Let’s pray.”

  Field closed his eyes to pray but never heard the words. His heart overflowed with wonder.

  “If anyone here would like to come and pray with me, now is the time.”

  Field’s feet moved before his mind balked. Quietly, while the prayer went on, Field prayed with Craig a prayer that would secure his future for all eternity.

  When he regained his seat, Delany reached for his hand. Her silver eyes, liquid and soft, showed she understood.

  “Welcome to the family.” Sam gave him a handshake and back-slapping hug.

  Field couldn’t reconcile it all yet, but what had been presented to him was right. He took Delany by the hand and led her out to the large
maple tree shading the back porch. “Do you know what happened in there?”

  “Yes,” she said with her arms crossed and her Bible next to her heart.

  “There are times in your life when you have an epiphany, and it changes everything. It’s not that you’ve never thought about the issue before or that you’ve been exposed to new information. I think it must be dependent on time and the space in which you receive it. All of a sudden, in a blink, something opens up, and you see it, whatever it is. And this time, I saw all eternity before me, and it was so simple. I didn’t have to do anything but believe. He is real. Not someone I read about in a prayer book on Sunday. He is here now with us. Right now.” He stopped talking, filled with the wonder of it all. His spirit expanded and filled his entire body. “How can this be?”

  The breathtaking smile she’d bestowed on him the night they’d danced graced her face now.

  People milling about kept him from pulling her into his arms.

  “Momma’s looking for you, Aunt Delany,” Mary Ann said as she stepped between them.

  “We will talk more later.” She placed her hand on his arm, and he covered it with his own.

  ~*~

  The Indian-summer day heating up the shade could not deflate the exhilaration Delany felt after this morning’s service.

  Field would never be the same. He walked around with his Bible as Lucy carried Susan. He had asked her to write down the passages that Mr. Reid had used this morning, and she promised she would.

  She would never forget the joy in his face when they’d stood under the tree together. As soon as the guests left, Delany prepared to go to her house. She wanted to hang the freshly washed bed linens and make a list of things to get for her next trip into Kemp’s Landing. The time to herself would be a relief, for while she loved her nieces and nephews, she hadn’t had two minutes alone. She was giddy and off kilter. Solitude to think about what was happening between Field and her was necessary. He had not told her that he loved her. He’d just kissed her ardently. Had he felt that kiss as she had?

  She moved through her responsibilities and then got in the wagon heading to her house. It took an hour to replace the bed linens, including hanging the bed curtains. She stopped at the cherry writing desk in the corner of her room to write down the items she wished to pick up and order from Morgan’s.