Be My Guest (15 page)

With great ceremony, Kelly produced one item
at a time to tell Aurora and Will about each purchase in great
detail. When she finished, Aurora helped her put them away in the
closet and antique cherry dresser.

Will glanced at his watch. "We'd better get
started for Aunt Rose's. She doesn't tolerate tardiness, does she,
Kelly?"

Kelly laughed and explained to Aurora that
her father made a little joke, "She's a school teacher, see, and
doesn't like tardiness. Well...she used to be a teacher, now she's
my school principal.”

"Is that awkward--your great-aunt as your
principal?" Aurora asked.

Kelly thought a few seconds before she
answered. "No...well, I guess it would be if I ever had to go to
the principal's office for something bad. Aunt Rose told me if I
got in trouble she would punish me once as the principal and once
as my aunt"--she peered at her father, who in turn looked at Aurora
and winked--"and then Daddy would punish me, too, when she told
him."

Aurora laughed. "I guess that's enough
incentive to be good at school, isn't it? Both my parents are
teachers, so I sympathize with you. Do you like school?"

"Oh, yeah." Kelly saw the frown on her
father's face and corrected, "Yes, ma'am. I'm on the honor roll,
too. I'm ready for summer now, though. I want to have more time to
ride Misty. Misty's my pony. Would you like to go see her?"

"Another time, Kelly," Will cut in. "Right
now, we have to go see your Aunt Rose or suffer the consequences
later."

* * *

Aurora expected Aunt Rose to be the
stereotypical sweet, plump, gray-haired, little old maid. What a
surprise to be greeted by a tall, elegant woman. In her late
fifties, Rose's soft brown eyes gleamed with lively intelligence.
Her rich brown hair showed only slight touches of gray at the
sides.

Aurora found herself very glad to be on this
woman's good side. She imagined Rose would make a formidable
opponent. As principal for the middle and elementary schools, Rose
Webster brooked nonsense from no one. Well, almost no one. Clearly,
both Will and Kelly received special treatment in this
household.

Rose's gracious smile greeted her. "Welcome,
Aurora. The spare bedrooms are upstairs. I hope you can manage
stairs all right. We could make a bedroom of the sun room if you
find climbing stairs difficult."

"That's kind of you. I'm sure I can manage
the stairs very well."

"Good. I've given you the bedroom at the
front of the house. Kelly, please take Aurora's things up." Rose
dismissed Kelly and turned to Aurora. "Aurora, perhaps you'll help
me get dinner on the table. Will, you stay out of the way. Go into
the living room and prop that leg up while you read the Sunday
paper."

Rose stopped in mid-step as if she had just
had a thought. "Oh, since you'll be staying here, maybe you want to
know some things about the house. Rose extended her arm as if to
indicated the whole house. "The red brick for this house came from
a plant in Bennett near Fort Worth." Rose indicated an old portrait
on the wall. The portrait was of a young couple very stiffly posed
for the camera. "My grandparents built this house in 1923--it's
prairie revival style, you know. Except for the time I was away at
college, this is the only house in which I've ever lived."

"I really like this place, Rose. It has such
a warm, welcoming feeling."

Rose almost beamed. "I've traveled almost
every summer of my adult life and I seem to have filled the house
with souvenirs of those travels." She picked up a delicately carved
jade figure of Quan Yin on an ebony base. "Since I retain the
original family furnishings, these rooms overflow with the
furniture and memorabilia of three generations." Lovingly, she
returned the figure to its place. "To me, the effect is cluttered,
but pleasing."

Each flat surface Aurora could see contained
at least one museum quality item. "I agree that it's very pleasing.
I think it must be similar to living in a museum, though. All of
this must be time-consuming to clean."

With good humor Rose admitted, "I confess a
cleaning woman comes every Thursday. She probably finds my
treasures less pleasing than I do."

Aurora stood surrounded by the comfortable
smells of furniture polish and delicate lavender mingled with the
tempting aromas of dinner. She guessed roast beef and broccoli were
on the menu and recognized the cinnamon and apple aroma of warm
apple pie.

Furniture shone like that in a furniture wax
commercial and wood floors gleamed around the edges of well-cared
for carpets. A small oriental carpet in the foyer matched the large
carpet of the living room and a dark blue camel-back sofa sat at
one edge of the carpet. Matching tie-backs pulled heavy burgundy
velvet draperies away from the window to reveal softer sheer
panels.

Bookshelves were on one side of a small
fireplace that appeared to contain artificial gas logs. Aurora
walked to the table near a tall burgundy chair in the corner. "Is
this a Tiffany lamp?" She gently touched the glass with the tip of
her forefinger.

"Yes, my father bought that for mother many
years ago. It's lovely, but it isn't as good for reading as some of
the others."

For a few moments Aurora stood and savored
the new smells and sights before she noticed Will's smile.

"I guess I'm relegated to the living room
while you and Aunt Rose slave away in the kitchen." Will hobbled
across the living room to sit in the large blue rolled-arm chair.
He adjusted the ottoman just perfectly in front of the chair and
raised his cast onto the ottoman.

Aurora stood with arms akimbo. "You’re not
exactly heartbroken, Will. I think you're used to Rose spoiling
you."

Will settled himself in the chair and picked
up the front section of the newspaper from the nearby table. His
eyes twinkled and he flashed one of his dazzling smiles. "I didn't
intend to imply I'm in any way complaining."

The remodeled kitchen included a dishwasher
and several other modern conveniences without destroying the
atmosphere of the original room. Counters of white ceramic tile
trimmed in black gleamed as if recently replaced, but in the small
octagonal tiles common in the 1920's.

Multi-faceted glass pulls gleamed on white
cabinet doors. Cheerful red print chintz covered benches of the
breakfast nook and matched curtains at the windows. It was an
efficient, comfortable, and pleasant room.

Rose nodded to indicate a door at the back
of the kitchen. "There's a small utility room and half bath through
there. That's the only addition built to the house, but we did
remodel when I was a girl to include a bathroom upstairs. We also
took in some of the attic space to enlarge the closets. These old
houses didn't have much storage."

Aurora walked over to the utility room door
and peered at the small area. "This is very nice, Rose. And your
room is downstairs also?"

"Yes, down the hall that opens off the
foyer. It was my parents' room when they were alive, and my
grandparents' before them. When my parents were alive, I used the
room you'll be using."

"It must be wonderful to have so many family
treasures about you. I have such a large family on both sides.
We're fortunate even to have one or two items handed down through
the family." "Will tells me you had quite an ordeal this
weekend"--Rose carved slices of the roast and placed each slice
onto a serving platter as she carved--"so I thought you might need
a few days to recuperate before you start work. Is that all
right?"

"Will's friend Nick Harris said to take
things easy for a couple of days until the headaches decrease. I
should think that by Wednesday or Thursday I'll be able to work. Do
you have something lined up already?"

"I have something in mind. Perhaps I should
see if you'd be interested before I pursue it." Rose finished
carving the roast and cleaned the carving knife. She slid the knife
into the proper slot of the wooden holder on the counter. "Frankly,
I'm worried about my friend Peggy's health. Your visit really seems
like a Godsend." Rose handed the meat platter to Aurora, "Take the
meat through, please, and I'll bring the vegetables. What is
keeping Kelly?"

Aurora found talking to Rose like keeping up
with a whirlwind. Kelly came into the kitchen as Aurora exited to
the dining room. Rose issued staccato instructions to Kelly, then
followed Aurora into the dining room. When food and table settings
met her satisfaction, Rose called to Will to join them for
dinner.

During the meal, Rose revealed her plan for
Aurora to take over the shop of a friend. "Peggy needs surgery
badly. Her health is really failing rapidly, but she's afraid
she'll lose her shop if she's not there every day. Her business has
declined the past few years, you see. In her mind the shop will
fold completely without her."

Will’s eyes held a speculative light. "You
mean Raphael's Cards and Gifts?"

"Of course I mean Raphael's, Will. How many
shop-owner friends named Peggy do I know?" Having chastised her
nephew to her satisfaction, Rose turned back to Aurora. "Will says
you have a marketing degree and are a very good business woman.
Peggy's shop is a card and gift shop on the main street of Post.
Would you be willing to manage Peggy's shop while she has surgery
and recuperates?"

Momentary panic hit Aurora at being put on
the spot by this no-nonsense woman regarding an unseen shop. Her
professional confidence soon resurfaced and she admitted the appeal
of the idea. "It sounds like the very thing that I've been thinking
of for myself. Will may have told you, though, that I'm on my way
to Colorado. What sort of time frame do you have in mind?"

Rose tapped the tip of a finger on her chin
as she sat in thought for a minute. "Well, if you start on
Wednesday or Thursday, Peggy can spend the three or four days of
this week showing you how she wants things done. Possibly she could
have her surgery Monday or Tuesday of next week. She'll be able to
return to work in only four weeks time."

Rose leaned forward and placed her hand on
the table. "Aurora, if you can convince Peggy you can handle the
shop, you'll be doing her a great service. It will also ease my
mind and that of her other friends. She's postponed this surgery
for over a year and suffered terribly for it."

Kelly asked, "What's wrong with her, Aunt
Rose?" Aurora wondered the same thing and appreciated Kelly's frank
question.

"It's not something to talk about at the
dinner table, Kelly. She has what we used to call `female problems'
but she wouldn't appreciate me going into details about her
personal life."

Aurora thought aloud, "Hmm, I think this
must be a very busy time for her with Mothers's Day next Sunday and
graduations and weddings coming before Father's Day next month.
Don't you think she'll hesitate to be away at this time of
year?"

Rose heaved a great sigh. "She thinks she's
indispensable to that store at any time. Meanwhile, she gets weaker
and weaker and less able to take care of the store or herself.
Leave Peggy Hopkins to me! This is a good chance for her. If you
agree to help, I won't let her miss such a good opportunity."

Excitement rose within Aurora. This seemed
too good to be true, like kismet, or fate provided an opportunity.
"To be perfectly frank, I'd love the opportunity to see if I enjoy
that type shop as much as I think I will. If you can convince your
friend to let me try, I'd love to tackle it for a month."

"Good." Rose appeared satisfied....but not
nearly as satisfied as Will.

Aurora chewed on her lip. "Doesn't your
friend have someone working at the shop who could take over for
her?"

Rose leaned back in her chair and put her
hand at her throat. "No. Oh, my goodness, no. Mattie Evans works
for Peggy full time but, frankly, Mattie can just barely stock and
ring up sales. At that, I suspect she makes a lot of mistakes.
Susan Stevens is a nice young woman, but can only work part time.
Susan has small children and just wants a little extra money for
the family. No, neither Mattie nor Susan is qualified to keep
things going without supervision."

Rose smiled and picked up her fork. "I think
this will be the perfect solution. We'll consider the matter
settled, then. I'll go over and talk to Peggy after school
tomorrow. Now, Kelly, tell me about your shopping trip."

* * *

Will called Aurora about midmorning Monday
to see if she languished alone. Aurora soon set him straight. "Rose
is such an efficient person, she left a list of instructions for me
for three days of convalescence. The list includes names of people
to call if I feel ill, as well as her number at school. There are
directions to various businesses in town, and suggestions for lunch
for each day."

"That sounds like Aunt Rose. Is my number on
there?"

Aurora laughed and teased. "No, sorry. I
guess you don't rate as high with Rose as you thought."

"Hm. Likely she knew I'd call you before the
day was out. She knows me pretty well."

"Do you have a lot of damage from the storm?
Did you lose many cattle?"

"We've lost cattle, but I don't know how
many yet. All the horses are accounted for, but there's some damage
at one of the oil wells. So far, though, there's not as much havoc
as I feared. There's no sight of your car."

"Rose had me take her to school this morning
so I can have her car to run errands. I hope the insurance company
is reasonable about the loss of my little car. I'm afraid it might
never be found."

After the phone call, Aurora leaned back in
the rocker and sighed. Will's call brightened her day more than she
cared to admit.

The room Rose had assigned her was pale,
pale blue with white organdy priscilla curtains at the windows.
Floral rugs of cabbage roses on a dark blue background dotted wood
floors. In one dormer space sat a small oak writing desk beneath
the window with a dark blue velvet cushion on the seat of the desk
chair. Draped across a high-backed rocker with its own blue velvet
seat cushion lay a lovely patterned throw. A double wedding ring
patterned quilt was used as a spread over a blue dust ruffle. On
the walls were Monet and Renoir prints matted in blue and framed in
white and gold.