Month: June 2021

Cora

Cora did not deviate from her course. She couldn’t.

Her father and mother back home in their beds, depending on her to provide them with food. With them both ill with fevers and wracking pains, it was left to her to provide.

Luckily, they had always been careful to save any extra money they earned for such times as this when Father wasn’t able to sell his furniture and wood-carved figures. Yet she hadn’t dared take more than a few pennies to buy a few vegetables at the market with the hope that the extra nourishment would hurry their recovery. There was no telling how long it would be before Father could get back to his own stall at the market. She might have to make the money stretch.

She kicked at the dirt. If only they would let her sell the wares. It wasn’t as if she would be exerting herself. However, her mother had been insistent that she not, so father had listened.

Reaching the market she stopped to catch her breath. She hated being away for long, in case her parents needed her for something.

It didn’t take more than a few minutes to gather what she came for; some tomatoes, fish, and flour. Had her purchase been any bigger though, she would have had a hard time carrying it all the way home.

She had only been walking a few minutes when she heard a wagon approaching from behind, from the direction of the market. Glancing back, she gave a happy wave at the young man in the front seat, driving his team.

“Miles!” She called as he drew closer.

He nodded her way as he pulled the horses to a stop beside her.

“Miss Shaw.” His voice had deepened to a marvelous low baritone over the past few months and it never failed to cause a thrill to shoot along her spine.

“How many times have I asked you to call me Cora?” She put her hands on her hips and pretended to glare. “It’s not as if I am some elderly matron.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “More times than I can count Miss Shaw. But my mama would scold me for days if I allowed myself to not address you properly.”

“Then I guess it’s about time I had a talk with your mama.” She laughed. It was good to see him. After the achingly lonely days of tending to her parents and nothing else, she was longing for such friendly and pleasant company as Mr Miles Tuckett. He never failed to make her feel special.

His presence lightened her day out of the bleak mire she had been wallowing in as she trudged home.

Miles hopped down from the wagon seat and leaned back against it. “We noticed that you and your parents had not been at the market for several days. Pop has been remarking on it. Everything ok?”

Her eyes and shoulders dropped. “They’ve been sick.”

“Anything I can do?”

“I wish I could ask you to try selling some of my father’s finished pieces but I know that would be impossible. Neither of our parents would allow that.” Cora shook her head. “I am just hoping that they will be feeling better soon. Even if it is just well enough for Father to sit on a chair in his stall at the market.”

“Do you have enough fire chopped to keep warm and are the animals needing some attention? I could spend a bit of my time coming to help sort through the gap your father’s being sick creates.”

Cora’s head popped up. “You’d be willing to take time away from working at your father’s farm to come help me with my father’s chores?”

“For you, Cora? Indeed I would.”

She beamed up at him.

“What?” Her joy had him shifting from foot to foot.

“You said my name. You said Cora, not Miss Shaw.”

He blushed.

She didn’t give him time to apologize because she didn’t want him ruining her delighted moment with a sorry and him retreating home. “I have to be honest. I haven’t given thought to all the things my father hasn’t been able to do other than his woodwork. Keeping them comfortable and well tended has taken up all my attention.”

“Well, lucky for you I have a bit of free time right now. If you want, I can give you a ride home and take stock of what needs doing. It’s possible that an hour of work can set it to rights well enough.” He climbed back up and held out his hand for her.

She motioned at the back of the wagon. It was covered with a tarp.

“I wouldn’t want to interfere with your deliveries.” She gave a helpless shrug. “I can walk. It isn’t too far to go.”

“Nonsense, Miss Shaw. Just climb on up and I’ll see you home.” Miles patted the seat next to him and waited.

She swallowed a giggle before it could slip out. “If you insist.”

“I do.” He squashed his wide brimmed hat back over his eyes. “Now let me get down and help you up. I completely forget my manners when I am around you.” Immediately he was jumping back down and reaching out to assist her.

“Much obliged Mr Tuckett.” She gave him a small smile.

His laugh rolled out from him like a deep wave. “Since when are you so formal with me?”

“Since you retreated back from calling me Cora. I admit to rather enjoying hearing you say my name. So I feel I must deprive you of the same pleasure. Maybe then you can get up to courage to inform your mother that you will be calling me Cora from now on.”

“You know I can’t do that.” He moaned, a pleading look in his eye. “Once Mama gives her opinion on a subject, there is no changing her mind. You shoulda heard how furious she was the last time I called you by your first name. Livid.”

Cora whispered as she looked straight up at him. His face was so close to hers. “I won’t tell.”

Ellery

There was a time when going to parties seemed glamorous. Getting all dressed up, fancy cars, red carpet events, paparazzi, celebrities, and delicious food. However, the novelty of it all was beginning to wear off for me and John didn’t understand. It was his life ambition to hobnob with the elite for so long that he has eventually become one of them. It had been fun, at first. I mean who doesn’t want to become famous?

Well, after 6 months of being treated like I am about to spark a scandal or drag some starlet’s boyfriend away from them or am going to beg or bribe one of the many managers or agents into “discovering me”, I want to be done.

No matter how many times I denied it, the assumption and stigma was still there.

“Ellery, we are going to be late.” John griped from where he stood just inside my front door.

I grabbed my shoes off the dressing table and stuffed my phone into my sleek black clutch.

Walking out to the living room where John tapped his foot and glaring at the clock on the wall I spun in front of him.

“It’s no surprise that we are going to be late when you make me change my dress at the last minute.” There was a slight bite to my purposefully sweet tone.

“Ellery, you looked fat. You had to change.” He shrugged as he hurried out the door. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t stop to escort me. Instead, he was already halfway in his car by the time I made it out, teeth grinding.

He didn’t pause to breathe as he launched into a spiel about all of the people he needed to meet and impress. It was when he started lecturing about my role in his evening’s plans that I interrupted him.

“Are you implying that I am only going tonight to shop for a new boyfriend?”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “Why else would you be coming? It’s not like we are in a committed, long term arrangement. Right now, in my life, you are the perfect eye candy to bring along to these sort of events.”

“Well, up until a minute ago, I was coming as your supportive girlfriend.” I spat out, wishing I could slap him.

John didn’t respond but kept driving.

I crossed my arms and glowered in the silence. He didn’t even say anything as we arrived. Yet, ever aware of his image he whispered, “Don’t you dare open your door.”

I didn’t respond or move.

When he opened my door, I glared at him. “I’m going home.”

“After the party, yes. For now, you will stay on my arm and smile pretty.”

Again, John wasn’t looking at me, expecting to be obeyed without question. I flashed my best smile at the photographers.

“John, if you say one more unkind thing to me, I will make an even larger and more dramatic scene than you could ever have possibly thought I would. “

John’s eyes darted around to make sure no one was noticing our delay. “Deal. Get out of the car.”

Gracefully I stepped out and scanned the people around me for a familiar or friendly face. None.

However, there were two men off to the side, dressed up in their tuxes looking at me in an almost speculative way. It wasn’t a leer or I wouldn’t have dismissed them immediately from her mind. Instead I was left mulling over them.

They must be famous since they were here and dressed well but I didn’t recognize them from previous parties. The muscular blonde one had a familiar feeling about him though. 

John cleared his throat loud, holding out his arm for me to take.

I had a feeling I was going to need a lot of deep breathing to get through the night without ripping his head off. The carpet and the pictures seemed to take even longer than usual. Maybe it was because I was purposefully hanging back and staying out of any shots with John.

I was surprised at how many of the photographers called me by name to have my picture taken, without John. That had earned a few glares from him but it had made my night.

Once they were inside I could feel my shoulders relax. And it wasn’t long before John was off making rounds without me, simply stating that there were some relationships best cultivated without my distracting presence. For the first time in our relationship I was more than happy to let him saunter off.

Within minutes of finding myself free of her now ex-boyfriend, the two men who I had noticed outside were by my side.

The man with short deep red curls bowed, his face lighting up with an almost boyish glint of mischief. “Pardon me. We couldn’t help but notice that your amor left you alone and we thought now would be the best time to introduce ourselves. I’m Connor. And this is my lookout Killian.”

The blonde half of the duo wasn’t looking at me as he scanned the room, yet he was still smiling.

I gave a laugh. “How fortuitous of you. And a pleasure to meet you.”

“Isn’t it?” Connor laughed.

Killian paused in his lookout duties to stun me with an intensity that had my arms prickle with awareness. “I may be forward in saying so but I can’t abide how your date treated you when you arrived.” He looked back out at the crowd. It was as if his subtle glares were keeping the crowds at bay.

I felt my skin heat. “You heard him?”

Connor gave me a side hug. “Maybe a little.”

“And you came to talk to me because of it?” My heart sank just a little.

Killian once again focused in on my face. “You don’t deserve to be spoken to in such a way.” His dark green eyes glittered almost black.

I put on my brightest smile and held firmly to Killian’ gaze. “And that is why I broke up with him.”

“You did?” Connor broke in, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“The two of you witnessed the end of it, where I agreed to attend this party and no more.” I nodded. Saying it aloud made it all seem so much more final.

“You are a strong woman, Miss …?” Killian said.

“Ellery Walker.”

It was Killian who snared my attention once again as he stepped toward. “Truly a pleasure to meet you, Miss Walker. I do hope it is not the last time we are together.”

I stared as the pair walked away, already deep in conversation. And I still couldn’t figure out why he looked so familiar.

Nina

“Drop the phone Nina and back away.” Trevor’s voice echoed over the mall’s speakers, causing Nina to jump.

“Trev?” She looked around the food court. “Trev?”

“Just do it. Nina, do it now.” His urgent voice continued to bounce around the large room.

It took another few seconds of glancing around to see if she could spot him before she set her phone down on the table.

“Thank you!”

“Where are you?” Nina called out.

She was met with silence. And if she wasn’t in a public place she might have screamed his name. However, she was currently surrounded by a large crowd of strangers, so she was going to keep the screaming to a minimum if at all possible.

As she searched the faces around her, her frustration grew. Trevor was nowhere to be found. “How did he even get access to the speaker system?” She groaned.

When she turned to sit back down and finish her lunch she found him sitting there across from her. Plopping back in her seat, she laughed. “Hello my sneaky friend.” 

He sat up with mock outrage on his face. “Sneaky? How could you call me sneaky?” He gestured around him. “I basically announced to the entire food court that I was here. And you knew it was me because you were calling my name.”

Kicking back in her chair she folded her arms. “Sneaky and bold. The oddest combination in a friend.”

“And the best.”

Nina shrugged. “I might reserve some judgment on that.”

“Aww why?” His face transformed once again to form a pout.

“My phone for a start.” She reached out her hand.

He laughed. “What phone?”

“You can’t give me that innocent look and honestly make me forget about it. I want my phone back, Trev.” She tried to look stern and not laugh at his antics.

“I am sure you do. However, I won’t be handing it over.”

All of the inclination for laughing vanished. “Say that again?”

Trevor laughed even harder. “Aww your face! You look hilarious.”

“And you still have my phone.”

“I need it, Nina.”

“Why? You sneak up behind me, steal my phone, and refuse to give it back. I’m beginning to not feel so happy to see you.”

“Don’t be like that.” He groaned. “I promise it’s a good thing. It’s a surprise.”

“A surprise that requires my phone?”

Apparently he didn’t catch the sarcasm. “Exactly. Now you get it.” He stood. “I’ll be right back.”

“Trev, no.”

He didn’t stop. She couldn’t gather up her things fast enough to chase after him. He was gone and out of sight as she moved to grab her purse.

With a groan, she sank back into her chair to pick at the rest of her cheese covered gourmet burrito. If he didn’t come back in the next 15 minutes she was going to leave and contemplate murder.

“Nina.”

Looking up, she saw Ian across the court. Immediately she was up and running over to him.

“Hey! I thought you had to work today.”

“I know I said that. Someday, in the grand scheme of things I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“Forgive you?” Nina took a step back.

“For telling you that I had to work so I couldn’t meet up for lunch when I didn’t actually have to work.” Ian shrugged.

“Why?” Nina hugged herself. People were definitely watching now. “And why are you telling me this here, with all of these people watching?”

“That’s another thing I hope you’ll forgive me for.”

Music blasted over the speakers causing Nina to jump. At the same time several people nearby jumped up and started dancing around the two of them.

Laughing she leaned into him, practically yelling in order to be heard. “It looks like we’ve been caught in the middle of a flash mob. I’ve never seen one live.” She twirled around once, a huge grin on her face. “I’ve always wanted to see one. Can we talk about you lying to me once this is done.”

Ian laughed. “Yes, definitely.”

Going to grab his hand she moved in to have him hold her while she watched but he wasn’t there. She looked sharply over to where he had stood only moments before but he gone.

“Ian?”

By this time even more dancers had joined in and somehow she had managed to stay in the middle of it.

“Ian!” She called out again. She even moved to stand on a chair to get a better view. Nina could see all the dancers so much better. So much so that she was momentarily distracted from finding Ian.

Caught up as she was in the music and the dancing she almost missed him. He was dancing. He knew she had seen him because he threw her a jaunty salute as he continued to prance around.

Then the song morphed into another and she clapped. It was one of her favorites. Ian must have had a hand in picking the music for this flash mob. Her smile widened even further.

Maybe this was why he had been lying to her. He wanted to get her here to see the flash mob he was in.

But why lie? He could have just come with her and started from wherever they had been eating.

In another minute the tempo slowed and morphed once again, now into a slow song. It almost seemed like one of those cheesy romance theme songs. Best flash mob ever!

She was momentarily distracted when she spotted Trevor holding up her phone like he was recording the dancing. But there was no way to get to him, as much as she wanted to tackle him and force him to give her her phone back.

All thoughts of Trevor disappeared completely when she realized Ian was standing right in front of her, not dancing. His smile said he was excited but his eyes looked nervous.

She didn’t understand why until all the dancers stopped in unison and he knelt down on one knee.

“Nina Octavia Florez, will you marry me?”

Gasping and looking around at all the flash mob dancers doing jazz hands in her direction had her near swooning. She looked back down at Ian. “Yes.” She squealed.

Maya

Maya’s shoulders slumped as she took in the sight of the dishes piled high in the corner of the kitchen. 

Add dishes to the list. 

With her children in bed, she was finally able to catch her breath and look around. Of course it looked like a disaster. The living room was covered in toys and balls and dolls and books. She hadn’t had time to clean up. 

Add toy cleanup to the list. 

Moving into the crumb covered floor of her kitchen, she winced. 

Add sweeping to the list. 

The more she looked around, the more she saw everything that still needed to be done. The oven needed cleaning. The laundry needed to be switched from the washer to the dryer. The front room needed vacuuming. Her to-do list before she could go to bed was growing longer by the second. And that was only the things she could see that needed doing.

So absorbed in avoiding the crumbs, she nearly tripped over the scattered kitchen utensils her son had joyously scattered about the room in his efforts to ‘help’ her make dinner.  Spatulas, stirring spoons, whisks, forks, and the potato peeler created a maze for her to wade through.

With a groan, she made it to the sink and let the warm spray of the faucet soothe her tired hands. The dishes were stacked to overflowing in the large farm sink, with the dirty pots and pans lining the counters. With a glance to the microwave’s clock to see how much longer until Jack came home, she picked up her first plate. She hated having him come home to a mess. He always felt like he had to clean up before he could sit down and rest from his own stressful and busy day. Even more than that, she hated going to bed with a mess. It meant she would be waking up to a mess and wide awake kids to deal with as well.

Quickly, the dishwasher began to fill as she rinsed and scrubbed. Someday she would get control of the mess that was her house. At least enough so that she wasn’t doing the entire day’s dishes after the kids were asleep. Scraping off dried spaghetti sauce was just as hard as chipping off the dried oatmeal leftovers from each breakfast bowl in the bottom of the sink.

There was something soothing about clearing out the sink of dirty plates, cups, and silverware. Not that it was something she particularly enjoyed, it just needed doing and she was the only one around to do it. Maybe the satisfaction came from being able to see the progress she had made as the sink began to empty. As she put another cup into the top rack of the dishwasher she heard the front door open and close.

Not having the energy to stop, Maya waved a soapy wet hand in his direction from her station in front of the sink. She didn’t even pause to look over at him. Any extra movement might tip her over into exhaustion and she wouldn’t be able to finish everything she had left to do. Besides, he always headed upstairs first to go say goodnight to the kids.

Seconds later, she practically melted as his hands slowly wrapped around her, pulling her back into his warm solid comfort. Well, to be totally honest, it was a toss up between gracefully melting into a romantic embrace and collapsing in an undignified heap in his arms. Romance won. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back and sighed.

Instead of letting her go after a brief hug, he turned off the water and turned her away from the sink to face him. She was tempted to lay her head on his shoulder and let him hold her for a while despite her hands still dripping with soapy water. However, his face showed signs of the long and wearying day he’d had and she couldn’t force him to take on more. 

His smile was soft and gentle, like he understood what she was feeling without her having to say a word.  It made her want to go up on her tippy toes and kiss him. So she did. 

That kiss steadied her. She didn’t feel as though she was going to be spread in a thousand different ways in order to get her to-do list done. Her mind slowed and the endless spinning of messes to be cleaned stopped battering her consciousness. Her focus narrowed solely on him, in the feel of his warm strength holding her space for her so she could breathe.

Taking both of her wet hands in his, he walked backward, pulling her with him toward the living room, a small smile on his face. How he didn’t trip over toys or kitchenware she couldn’t figure out. His dark brown eyes stayed riveted on her face. A sort of bubbly, fluttery, effervescenty feeling shivered through her core. Everything but the man in front of her faded into obscurity. Her to-do list forgotten. 

And for the first time that night, she allowed herself to breathe deep. It almost made her sob. And it did make her yawn. His low chuckle had her smiling too, while she shook her head at him. She had too much to do for him to be leading her away from the dishes still to be done.

Reality came crashing back as he left the kitchen completely, entering the war zone of a living room. When she opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, he stopped her with a finger softly crossing her lips. He shook his head and seated her softly on the couch.

Kneeling down in front of her, he bent and took off her shoes. Once they were off he gently propped her feet up on the ottoman.  He leaned in close and kissed her closed eyes one by one. Stepping away, he moved back to the kitchen and silently turned on the water.

Tears streamed down her face as she watched from the couch as he did the dishes she had tiredly been working through.

Her heart thumped with a deep joy, knowing that he was hers. He chose her over everyone and everything in the world. How was she so lucky? After working all day he came home to help so that she could finally sit without being crawled on by kids, knowing that while she sat, the mess was getting smaller instead of bigger. She couldn’t explain the lightness it caused her to feel in her chest.

The smile he then flashed her way was the whipped topping to what could have been a miserable end to the day. Instead she had reason to smile. 

She was loved.