A Love For Keeps (Truly Yours Digital Editions) (5 page)

Nate wasn’t sure what kind of welcome he was going to get when they arrived at the Connorses’ home, but he really wasn’t that much later than usual. He lifted Natalie up so that she could use the knocker and let her grandparents know that they had arrived.

“We’re here!” Natalie said as her grandfather let them in.

“That you are. Are you hungry?” her grandfather asked.

“I am!” She sniffed. “It smells really good in here!”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Jacob said. “I’m a bit on the hungry side, too.”

Georgette and Abigail came in from the dining room. “Well, it’s about time!” Abigail said. Nate knew she wasn’t upset with Natalie, but he didn’t like that she’d managed to take the smile off his daughter’s face.

“It’s not Natalie’s fault, Abigail.”

“Oh, I know that.” She gave him a look that told him she was not pleased with him at all. He just wasn’t sure why. They really weren’t that late.

“We hurried, Aunt Abby. Honest we did.”

“There just was a clog-up getting out of the building.” Nate turned to his hostess. “I’m sorry if we’ve held things up, Mother Connors. Is there anything I can do?”

“It isn’t a problem, Nate dear. Really. Abigail is just having a bad day. We rarely get things on the table until one o’clock, and it’s not even that now. Natalie, would you like to come help finish up?”

“Oh, yes!” Natalie said, following her grandmother to the kitchen.

“Nate, come tell me about your week while our women get dinner on the table,” Jacob called.

Nate looked from Abigail to her papa, shrugged, and followed Jacob to the drawing room. Some days there was no pleasing Abigail, and he’d learned not to worry overly much about it. He certainly wasn’t going to start now.

Nate was glad for Monday to arrive. Abigail had been decidedly cool all through Sunday dinner, and he didn’t enjoy being around her at all when she was in that kind of mood. The Connors parents had talked him into letting Natalie stay the afternoon with the promise to bring her home after supper, and Nate had been glad to take off. He’d tried to relax and read his Bible for a while when he got home, but he kept thinking about Meagan Snow and her family. He still couldn’t quite understand how they’d been attending the same church all this time without him knowing it. Yet he supposed there really was no reason he would have known them had he not begun doing business with them.

As he headed to work on Monday morning, Nate reflected that, most Sundays, he spoke to the people who sat around them and then hurried off to the Connors home for Sunday dinner. He couldn’t remember when he’d done things any differently until yesterday. That was probably why Abigail was upset with him. With reason, he supposed, as she most often rode with him after church. She could have done so yesterday, too. He’d been polite to people doing business with her father’s bank. It was what he was supposed to be doing.

Later that Monday, he told himself it was what he should do when he went to check on how things were going at the Snow home. Meagan had told him that Mr. Adams was going to start on the renovations today, and he wanted to see firsthand how it was going. Mr. Adams’s work wagon was outside, and Nate was sure he was still hard at work.

“Mr. Brooks, please come in,” Meagan said as she opened the door. “Mr. Adams has been working all day!” Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she led him into the parlor. The older man stopped working and came to shake his hand.

“Miss Snow said you’d recommended me, and I thank you for it, Mr. Brooks.”

“You’re welcome. It looks like you are making good headway.” Nate entered the parlor to see that the carpenter was building shelves all along one wall, where Miss Snow could store her sewing supplies.

They’d also decided to turn one of the side windows into an entry door, and Mr. Adams would be installing that by the end of the week. “I should have everything Miss Snow asked for finished by the middle of March,” the man said.

Nate nodded. He knew Adams would keep his word; that was the main reason he’d recommended him.

“It is looking great, isn’t it, Mr. Brooks?” Meagan asked.

“It is. I think you are going to have a lovely shop here, Miss Snow.” She was the one who was lovely. Her hair was upswept, and the afternoon dress she wore was one of the ones he’d admired the day he’d inspected her work. It was made of a blue and cream stripe that brought out the color of her eyes. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and he was sure it was from the excitement of seeing her plans come to life.

“Thank you. I already have a few orders even before the shop opens. Of course, they are from friends and neighbors. But they wanted to be the first to be able to say they bought from our shop. I’ll be getting clothing labels to put inside all my work soon, and these dresses will be the first to have them.”

“But the shop isn’t quite ready.”

“No. But I have my old sewing machine set up in the dining room. I don’t want to lose any time. And these ladies will be wonderful to spread word about the shop opening.”

“Sometimes that’s the best kind of advertising.”

“That’s what I thought. I’ve had flyers and business cards made up to leave with some of the dry-goods stores for people who ask about seamstresses, and I’ve paid for some newspaper advertising to come out the day the shop opens.”

“It seems you’ve thought things through. I’m sure you will build up your clientele in no time.” As he spoke, Nate reminded himself to urge Abigail and her friends to give Miss Snow some business. They spent untold money on their wardrobes. Surely, they’d be glad to know there was a new dressmaker in town. As far as that went, his daughter needed new clothes, too. Even though Abigail and her mother had seen to having Natalie’s clothes made, he was her father, after all. “I’d like to bring my daughter around to see you. She’s growing so fast these days, and I’m sure you could help us choose some styles and fabrics that she would love.”

“I would be honored to make something for your little girl, Mr. Brooks.”

“When would be a good time for you to see us?”

“Whenever it is convenient for you,” Meagan said.

“I’ll wait until the shop is open and bring her in then.”

“Wonderful! She can be one of my first clients. I’ll pull out some of my most recent ladies’ magazines and patterns and designs, and we’ll see what she might like.”

“She’ll love that,” Nate said.

“Why, Mr. Brooks. How nice to see you,” Mrs. Snow said on entering the house. He supposed she was coming in from work. She peeked inside the parlor to see the work that had been completed. “Isn’t it all so exciting?”

“It is that. I wanted to see what Mr. Adams had done and was talking to Miss Snow about bringing my daughter in to see her. She is in need of some new things, and I am sure your daughter can please her.”

“Oh, I’m sure she will. Meagan will listen carefully to what your little girl likes and will come up with some beautiful ideas.”

“I’m certain of it.” Nate pulled his watch out of his pocket. “I’d better be leaving now. I’ll be back to see how things are going, and if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.”

“Oh, we won’t,” Meagan assured him. “You’ve helped us so much, aside from approving our loan. With Papa gone, it gives us peace of mind to know that we can come to you for advice.”

Nate felt a swell of pride at her words. It felt very good to feel needed. “I’m more than pleased to help. And Miss Snow?”

“Yes?”

“Your papa would have been very proud of you and your mother’s decisions, I am sure.”

Meagan ducked her head, but not before he saw a tear spring to her eyes. “Thank you.”

“I’ve been trying to tell her how proud her papa would be, Mr. Brooks. Thank you for your kind words.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Over the next few weeks, Meagan began to look forward to Nate’s visits. Just when he’d become Nate to her, she couldn’t say, but somewhere along the way, they’d begun to call each other by their first names. As she began to stock the shelves that Mr. Adams had just finished that morning, she found herself humming and wondering if Nate would be by that afternoon.

He’d been visiting often to check on the work being done, and while Meagan couldn’t wait to open her shop, she was afraid she wouldn’t be seeing much of Nate once she did. Her humming stopped, and then she remembered that he was bringing in his daughter, Natalie, once the shop opened. She would be seeing him at least some after the opening. That was set for the very next Monday, March 22. She shivered with excitement as she put a bolt of copper silk atop a bolt of nutmeg brown brocade. She stepped back and looked at the bolts of fabric she’d arranged by color. They were the latest colors and fabrics, and they’d just come in on the train the day before. More and more, her family parlor was taking on the look of a real dressmaker’s shop.

Not only had Mr. Adams made shelves to hold her fabrics, he’d also made drawers for all her notions and trims. He’d put the most beautiful glass-windowed door in the place where a full-length window had been. The man was a wonderful craftsman, and he took into account all of her suggestions and ideas. But he’d be through here before long. He’d be moving his work outside tomorrow, as they’d decided to have him paint the porch railing to freshen it up.

Meagan’s new sewing machine had come in, too, and it was set up in front of the south-facing bay window where she’d have good light all day and could see anyone coming up to the shop. It was so easy to use, she’d almost finished the frocks that had been ordered before Mr. Adams had begun transforming their parlor.

She loved her shop. It was coming together even better than she’d imagined. Their own settee and two chairs with round tables sat in the front of the shop where her clients could look at the ladies’ magazines and fashion plates and the sketches of her own designs. The settee had been recovered in a rose damask and looked lovely. She and her mother decided that she needed two screens in case she was taking measurements of a customer and another came in at the same time for a fitting. Meagan could only hope she’d become that busy. But just in case, and so they’d both be alike, she’d ordered another screen. It had come in today, and Mr. Adams had put both screens up in opposite corners. She only had to organize and put up her trims and notions to have everything in place.

Mr. Adams had hung a bell above the shop door to alert Meagan to arriving customers, and she turned in surprise now as it rang. Nate Brooks entered with a smile on his face, and Meagan’s heart felt all fluttery as it always did when she first saw him. She’d been trying to tell herself to quit being so silly, but she really had no control over the way her heart beat faster in his presence.

“Good afternoon, Meagan. Mr. Adams said he thought you were in the shop.”

She loved the way he said her name. “Good afternoon, Nate. I’ve lost track of time today, but look how much I accomplished!” She swept her arm around the room. “Isn’t it looking wonderful?”

His deep laugh had her heart doing a little flip. “It is. Mr. Adams says he’s nearly through here, and I can see that he is. It looks as if you are ready to open today.”

“Oh, I still have some things to be delivered from the dry-goods store, and Mr. Adams has the railings to finish up. I actually could open now, but we want to make sure everything is as clean as it can be. We’ll have it completely ready on Monday. I’ll use the extra time this week to finish up the frocks I’ve been working on.”

“I’m sure your open house will be very successful. I’m handing out the cards you gave me. Perhaps I should wait until the next day to bring Natalie. Although, she is so excited I hate to disappoint her.”

“Why don’t you bring her tomorrow and then again on Monday for the open house, so that she can enjoy that? If you bring her in early, I’ll be able to give her my undivided attention. And she can be the first real customer to come to the shop.”

“Oh, she would love that! Thank you for suggesting it, Meagan. Will this time tomorrow be all right?”

“Of course it will be. Or you could bring her a little later—whatever works with your schedule.”