As Love Blooms (36 page)

The screen door scraped open, and Erik welcomed him. “It’s good to see you, my friend, but what are you doing here?”

“You left a message at the boardinghouse that you had a branch come down and needed help cutting it up, so here I am.”

“I see that, but I expected you’d arrive before the fireflies.” He reached for a lantern. “Still, I won’t turn away the help unless the neighbors complain.”

Erik struck a match and touched it to the wick. The smell of kerosene surrounded them. As they approached the backyard, it was clear why Erik had telephoned. A dead tree, not a branch, had fallen. The tree’s length took up most of the Swenhaugens’ plot.

Erik removed a bucksaw and a small axe from his shed. “Choose your weapon.”

Reese took the axe. “There are a lot of smaller branches to clear before we can get to the trunk.” He hooked the lantern on the branch of another tree and set to work. While he began strategically hacking at the branches, Erik used the saw to cut some of the larger ones. Lafayette found a spot by the house and stretched out.

Erik tossed a branch out of the way. “What were you up to earlier this evening?”

“Tessa and I went to celebrate. The new conservatory project at Como was approved, and Mr. Nussbaumer asked me for my opinion on the new plans.”

“Does that affect your position?”

“It might.” Reese swatted a mosquito. “Mr. Nussbaumer will put one person in charge of it. He has that person narrowed down to Nels Anderson or myself.”

“Sounds promising.” Erik began to saw with a steady back-and-forth motion. “I’m sure the extra money would come in handy if you decide you wanted to take a wife.”

Reese snapped to attention. “I didn’t say anything about marrying Tessa.”

His friend didn’t miss a beat. “You didn’t need to. I’m right, though, yes?”

Reese carried a load of small branches to the burn pile and
returned. “All right, yes, I have to admit marriage has entered my mind a couple of times. You’ve met Tessa. You see how great she is. How could I not be thinking about it?”

Erik chuckled. “It happens to the best of us.”

Truth be told, Tessa permeated most of his thoughts these days. He found himself longing to be with her, which he figured was a good thing. Still, marriage was something else.

There was a lot to think about. Tessa made every day an occasion. She kept him thinking, growing, and changing. Most of all, she believed in him.

But she didn’t know the entire truth about him.

He sat down on the log. “Erik, do you think you need to tell someone all about yourself—warts and all—before you commit to them?”

“If you’re anything like me, you’re growing new warts every day.” He laughed. “If you’re hiding something from her, then I think you’d feel better if you told her, but I’m guessing she already knows you have some flaws.”

Everyone had a few flaws in their character. He had gaping weaknesses in his abilities.

Did she know he lacked the creativity she had in abundance? It had been obvious to his father. He could still hear his father’s words on the day Reese proudly told him he wanted to be a gardener. “You’re a hard worker, son. That should cover up your lack of creativity enough for you to be a good gardener.”

Good. That was the word he’d used. Adequate. Okay. He wanted to be a great gardener like his father, and he wanted his father to see his success. With Tessa by his side, that reality was closer than he ever thought possible.

Erik broke off a branch. “One thing I know, Reese, is that our warts can be jewels in God’s hands.”

Or the wart could be the glaring ugly thing he knew it to be, and Tessa deserved to know the truth about why he’d partnered
with her. It had been selfish of him to let her think it was all for her own good.

He sank the axe into the tree trunk. She deserved to know the truth. Why hadn’t he told her all of it already?

Tessa couldn’t believe what Reese was telling her. She stood before a boxwood bush with a pair of shears in her hand. “Mr. Nussbaumer really wants the garden completed in less than a week?”

“That’s what he said.” Reese thrust a shovel into the ground. “He said Nels and I were needed elsewhere.”

“Do you think Nels told him about me?” Tessa pushed her straw hat up. “Reese, I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“You didn’t mind before.” He dumped a clump of earth next to the hole.

“I’ve always cared, but maybe I care more now.” She patted the earth around the plant. “If it would be better—”

“Tessa, now is not the time to bail on me.” He leaned on the shovel. “I need you.”

The letter from the university popped into her mind. If she didn’t get a position here, her family would expect her to go back to her studies, so she needed this garden to be a success now more than ever.

She picked up the next plant. Once this garden was complete, Reese would finally be able to tell Mr. Nussbaumer about her and how she’d been helping them both.

“Tessa, did you hear me?” Reese asked. “I said you can’t leave me now.”

“I’m not going anywhere, except to White Bear Lake this weekend.”

“
This
weekend?”

“Sorry.” She wrinkled her nose. “It’s a family thing. You’re invited too.”

“We’ll have to see.” He drew in a deep breath. “What’s got you smiling now?”

“Remember what that policeman said to us that first day?”

“He said you were a polecat.” He shot her a lopsided grin. “And he was right. Then he said, ‘She’s all yours.’ Best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Her heart warmed, and she could almost feel the roots of their love deepening.

Please, God, let this work.

 30 

A weekend without work sounded divine. A weekend without Reese sounded dismal.

Tessa rubbed the muscle on her aching arm and took in the view of White Bear Lake. She and Reese had worked hard to get the garden done, and he would be finishing things up in her absence.

Beside her, Aunt Sam fidgeted with her pocketbook in the back of the Cadillac while Henry whistled “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in the front seat.

Tessa laid her hand on Aunt Sam’s arm. “Are you worried about something?”

“Nothing of any significance, dear.” She stilled her hand and took a deep breath.

“It was kind of Senator Ferrell to invite us up to his cabin for the weekend, but I admit it surprised me.”

“Oh?”

“Well, I knew the two of you have been friends for quite some time, but I didn’t know you’d seen him lately.”

“You don’t know everything about me, dear, any more than I do you.”

“There it is.” Henry pointed to a spacious two-story home with a wraparound front porch and a gabled roof.

Tessa sucked in her breath. Calling it a cottage hardly seemed
accurate. Behind it, the azure waters of White Bear Lake stretched for miles.

Henry pulled into the driveway while Lincoln and Joel parked each of their cars on the street. Everyone tumbled from the vehicles, excitement in the air. Before they’d removed the last suitcase from the vehicles, Senator Ferrell arrived in his Packard with Edward in tow.

The family stopped and stared, first at him, then at Aunt Sam.

“Oh, did I not mention James and Edward will be joining us this weekend?” Aunt Sam smiled at the senator. “Pardon me. I must have forgotten.”

Forgotten, my eye!
For some reason, Aunt Sam had purposely omitted this fact.

“But don’t worry.” Senator Ferrell moved to stand next to Aunt Sam. “I’m staying at my son’s cottage next door, so all of you will have full run of my house.” He turned to Alice Ann. “And maybe you can even convince your mommy and daddy to take you to the fun house at Wildwood. We have quite a nice amusement park there, missy.”

Tessa cocked her head to the side. Why was Senator Ferrell suddenly interested in making Aunt Sam’s family so comfortable? Could he and Aunt Sam be . . .

No, she’d know about it. Then again, what had Aunt Sam said? That she didn’t know everything about her?

The hair on the back of her neck tingled. A mystery to uncover? Perfect.

Where would Allan Pinkerton suggest she start? Observation? Tessa studied her aunt and the senator. As he swept his arm toward his home, he placed his other hand on Aunt Sam’s back. A clue? Perhaps. Still, they were old friends. She’d need more.

Suddenly, this Reese-less weekend didn’t seem quite so bleak. She’d dig up the dirt on her aunt’s relationship with the senator before the end of the day.

Tessa eyed the shore of White Bear Lake. The gentle, lapping waves taunted her, begging her to dip a toe in.

“I dare you.” Edward took three steps down onto the beach.

“Excuse me?”

“You were thinking about stepping into the water, so I said, ‘I dare you.’” He sat down on the wooden deck chair beside her. “The water will be frigid this early. It doesn’t get warm until July, but if you’re afraid—”

“Hardly.” Tessa moved her index finger in a circle. “Turn around.”

“Why?”

“I can’t very well remove my stockings with you watching.” She clapped his shoulder. “So move it.”

After he complied, she moved to the edge of her deck chair and eased her shoes and stockings off. She sank her toes into the cool sand and pulled her skirt down to cover them. “All right, you can turn around.”

He glanced at her discarded accessories and grinned. “Change your mind?”

“No.” She padded down the beach. When she reached the water’s edge, she paused and hiked up her skirt.

“It’s okay to turn back.”

“I don’t turn back, Mr. Ferrell. I’m a go-ahead girl. No risk too big.” The wind whipped at her straw hat. She held it in place and submerged first one toe in the frigid surf, then her whole foot. She shivered and lowered the other foot into the water.

“Cold?”

“Not so much.” Her voice quivered.

“Liar.” He chuckled and moved down to the shoreline. “Okay, you proved you could do it. Come on out. There’s something I want to ask you about.”

Was Edward wondering about his grandfather and her aunt too? When he held out his hand, she took it, then followed him back up the beach. She longed for the warmth of her stockings, but the sand stuck to her chilled feet, so she’d have to let them dry.