“I should like to see yer carving work, if ye’ve a mind to stop by with it sometime.”
Catherine clattered into the room with a laden tea tray. “Miss Ann is a busy woman, Mother Gibson, she’ll not have time to stop by for silly whims.”
Mother Gibson’s face fell.
“I am never too busy to visit an old friend. Ye may count on seeing me soon, Mother Gibson.” Ann clasped her shaking hands in her lap. Perhaps she’d bring her mother with her. She couldn’t promise that, but she made a mental note to ask her mother to pay a visit.
The woman set down her tray and poured tea for each of them.
Ann and Reed took seats across from Mother Gibson.
Once anchored, Mrs. Gibson followed the conversation without a hitch. She asked Reed about his schooling and his voyage home.
Reed asked about her Christmas.
“I should like to get out of this chair and take a turn about the room.”
Reed went to his grandmother, hands outstretched, to help her from the rocker.
“Absolutely not,” Catherine declared.
Ann contained the outrage she felt. What right had this woman to tell Mother Gibson whether she could get up and walk around the room?
Reed took his grandmother’s hands in his. “She will be just fine.” With gentleness, Reed steadied his grandmother. Then he tucked her arm in his and slowly advanced on their trek around the room.
Ann lifted her tea cup for another sip forgetting the cup was empty.
Catherine speared her with eyes nearly black they were so brown. “She could fall.”
“She will be as safe with her grandson as she would be in that chair.” Ann glanced at the chair. Something wasn’t right about it, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was that seemed out of place. Then she was struck by what she’d said, and realized she believed it was true. Since she’d come to Archer Hall for Christmas, she’d seen Reed be nothing but kind. Even his discipline of the man he’d whipped was a kindness to Cubby. Not only did she trust Reed, but apparently she noticed other admirable qualities as well.
A gentle playfulness demonstrated with the Brent twins manifested itself before her again as he carefully walked with his grandmother. Mother Gibson let out a blast of laughter underlain by Reed’s deep-toned laughter.
“Mother Gibson needs her rest.”
“She’s enjoying her visit.”
A cold wind breezing through the room would have been warmer than the look that Catherine shot her way. Ann looked instead to the pair on the far side of the room.
Mother Gibson declared herself tuckered out after three turns around the room, so Reed and Ann took their leave.
“She appears to be doing well,” Reed declared when they’d reached the road.
“I didn’t see anything of the forgetfulness ye mentioned.” A thread of worry twined itself in the back of Ann’s mind.
“Me, either. I suspect it was mother’s excuse to move her out of the main house away from my father.”
“He’s been gone awhile.”
Reed didn’t respond, and Ann didn’t press him. Something bothered her that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Perhaps Reed felt it, too. Mother Gibson appeared to be clean and well cared for, and the house gleamed. Ann knew she wouldn’t figure it out until she made another visit. She could bring her mother if she were so inclined. Whether mother came or not, Ann would make sure she went back to see Mother Gibson soon. She could take her latest creation. A doll for her brand new niece, Rebecca.
She had finished the head and body just before Christmas, only a few finishing touches on the dress, and the doll would be ready. Then she would need to ask Ruby to lead her to the wood scraps. Having nothing to carve on this trip would simply not work.
They arrived back in time to meet a frenzied house preparing to remove to Maple Bridge for the night.
Ann allowed herself to be carried away in the preparations, for tonight Mattie would go to the house that would eventually be her home.
“Mattie’s parents seem happy in her choice of husband,” Ann’s mother offered as the carriage made its way down the drive toward Maple Bridge.
“What’s not to be happy about? He’s a good man.” Papa kept his gaze out the window towards the tobacco fields.
“Do ye have any news for us?” Her mother’s look was as transparent as it was hopeful.
Ann’s stomach clenched. How could she tell them of all she thought without them jumping to the wrong conclusion? In the last week, all that she’d known about Reed Archer had been turned on its head. He’d been gentle, kind, funny, steadfast. He’d confessed to Richard and found forgiveness. He’d found life-changing faith. But what of the old-man nature? That nature that refused to change, that part of us that rears its ugly head at unguarded moments. Challenging moments. What then? “Not yet.”
“He’s been very attentive.” Her mother prompted.
Two pairs of eyes watched her—hopeful Mother and careful Father.
“I don’t mind saying it gets my goat that Mattie Lawson is engaged to that lovely man, and ye are still floundering around with Reed.”
“Surely ye do not wish for me to have a life like Mrs. Archer.”
Her mother cast her gaze to her father. “Of course not. But Reed was always a pleasant boy. He used to come and carve with yer grandfather. Remember that?”
How could she forget it? Their friendship had formed there. If he hadn’t become friends with Hugh, none of the bad things that shaped his adolescence would have happened. No, that wasn’t true either. As he said himself, he was easily led when in his cups. He’d made decisions he wasn’t proud of. He’d done things he shouldn’t. It was the same question she’d been wrestling with the entire time she’d been at Archer Hall. “Of course I remember.”
“Well, then.” Her mother rested her hands in her lap as if the argument were made.
