Catching Kent (24 page)

“
But is Kent alright with
it?”

Rose took the cameo from her and
walked over to the counter. “You needn’t worry about him. He gave
me an allowance, and I have more than I’ll ever need.”

“
No kidding?”

She shook her head and lowered her
voice so the salesman wouldn’t overhear. “When he first told me how
much, I thought he meant for a year, but it turned out to be one
month. He’s very generous.”

“
Indeed he is. He’s going
to spoil you,” she teased.

“
I won’t spend everything
he gives me. I wouldn’t feel right doing that. But I very much
wanted to get you a cameo that would match mine.”

“
You were always
sentimental.”

Rose grinned then directed her
attention to the salesman who finished with another customer. After
she made the purchase to her husband’s account, she led her sister
out of the store. “You said you need to pick up a few things from
the mercantile?”

“
Yes. Ma needs more sugar,
flour and butter.”

“
I bet she’s glad you’re
going instead of Pa. At least you don’t need a list.”

Harriett chuckled and followed her to
the carriage. “Ma joked that she was surprised Pa remembered to go
to your wedding.”

“
How could he forget? I
talked of little else.”

“
That’s true.”

They settled into the carriage and the
coachman closed the door before taking them to the mercantile. Rose
didn’t know if she’d ever get use to having people wait on her. And
it was especially awkward when her lady’s maid helped her get
dressed. Ever since she’d learned to dress herself, she hadn’t
accepted anyone’s help to do that. But with the corset, layers of
petticoats, and many buttons, she learned that she needed her
lady’s maid’s assistance in order to put her new outfits
on.

Even more surprising than having her
own lady’s maid was the fact that she had to change clothes about
three times a day. Once for her morning dress, another outfit if
she wanted to go out, and a gown for dinner. Her new status as
Kent’s wife meant an entirely different world than the one she’d
grown up in. She could only hope she wouldn’t disappoint
him.

“
What do you think?”
Harriett asked, bringing Rose’s attention back to her.

Rose saw that Harriett had already put
the cameo on her shirtwaist. “It looks lovely. The gold goes well
with your hair.”

Harriett playfully nudged her in the
side. “It’ll look just as lovely on you, too.”

She decided to slip her cameo on her
blouse. “I’m glad you let me get it for you. Now this is something
we have that is uniquely ours.”

“
And this time Adam and
Jacob won’t be trying to find out our secrets, not that there were
any real secrets.”

Thinking over the club she had created
for the sole purpose of having something that belonged to only her
and Harriett while they were growing up, Rose giggled. “So what if
we made up things to entertain ourselves? We had a lot of fun in
that club. Bugging Adam and Jacob about it just made it more
fun.”

“
You’ve got a mischievous
streak in you, Rose.”

“
If you can’t bother your
brothers, then who can you bother?”

“
I’m glad I was your sister
instead of your brother,” she teased.

The carriage came to a stop and Rose
winked at her. “You and I will always be close, no matter what.”
The coachman opened the door, and Rose thanked him as he helped
them out. “We’ll be going to my home after this,” she told him,
eager for Harriett to see her new house. As she turned back to
Harriett, she added, “Next time you come to town, you should bring
clothes suitable for riding horses. I’d love to give you a tour of
the grounds.”

They entered the mercantile and Jacob
glanced their way from where he was writing in his ledger at the
counter. “Oh wonderful. I see it’s the troublesome duo. What
mischief are you two up to today?”

Amused at his joke, Rose walked over
to him while Harriett went to get the items their mother wanted.
“We’re not going to cause any trouble, Jacob.”

“
No?”

“
Of course not. We’re going
to be perfect angels.”

Though he made a big show of eyeing
her warily, his lips curled up. “Since when have you been a perfect
angel?”

“
All the time.”

“
Sure.” He broke out into a
grin. “So tell me, is your poor husband tired of you
yet?”

“
Why, Jacob Larson, I can’t
believe you’d ask such a thing.” With a playful swat at his arm,
she continued, “He’s very happy with me, just as I knew he’d be
since the first time I laid eyes on him.”

“
Oh, is that
so?”

“
Yes, it is.”

“
Then why did he come in
here yesterday crying and saying he needed more handkerchiefs
because he was in agony over the recent mistake he
made?”

Noting the wicked gleam in his eye,
she huffed. “You’re a horrible person.”

He laughed and placed his pencil down.
“Did you come in here to talk or is there something you’re looking
to buy?”

“
Harriett’s picking up some
items for Ma. I’m here to distract you while she sneaks some things
into her coat.”

“
Harriett might have been a
rascal when we were younger, but she
has
been
a perfect angel ever since she became
a woman. Too bad I can’t say the same for you.”

“
Can I help it if she got
serious once she noticed the young men?”

“
I’d say that you should
have acted more like her but I guess since you got married, your
husband is doomed to put up with your antics. Poor man.”

She debated whether or not to say
anything but decided to let him win this round when she realized
Harriett was finished gathering the things she needed. They could
resume their good-natured banter another day. “Fine. You win this
one. Lucky for you, Harriett and I have many things to do
today.”

“
Or maybe you couldn’t
think of anything clever to say,” he countered as he took the box
Harriett gave him so he could total up the price.

“
Our brother thinks he’s
smart,” Rose told Harriett. “I feel too sorry for him to tell him
otherwise.”

“
So she says,” he
retorted.

“
See?” Rose shrugged at her
sister then smiled at Jacob. “It’s alright. We’ll let you believe
it.”

“
But just this once,”
Harriett added, a twinkle in her eye.

Impressed, Rose grinned at her. “I
didn’t realize you still had some of that old spunk in
you.”

With a shrug, she said, “Once in a
while it comes out.” She directed her gaze to their brother. “How
much for the items?”

“
$4.25. Should I put it on
Pa’s account?”

“
No, Ma gave me the money.”
Harriett dug into her drawstring purse and handed him the coins.
“Here you go.”

“
So when are you getting
married?” he asked her as he put the coins into the
register.

“
I’m still waiting for the
right man to come along.”

“
Maybe you should pay Stan
Craftsman a visit,” Rose said.

She grimaced. “Why would I do
that?”

“
Because he has to care for
a little girl and needs a mother for her.”

“
Stan doesn’t want to marry
me. He wanted to marry you. I’m surprised he didn’t even
ask.”

Rose bit her lower lip, wondering if
she should say anything. On one hand, it would upset her. But then,
what if someone let it slip and her sister had to find out from
someone else? It’d be much worse if she had to find out from
another person. With a sigh, she admitted, “He did.”

“
He did?” Harriett grabbed
the box and turned with Rose to leave the mercantile.
“When?”

“
At Uncle Tom’s barn
dance.”

Her jaw dropped and her steps slowed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“
I was afraid to hurt your
feelings.”

She considered her words and nodded.
“I understand. I would have done the same thing if I were
you.”

“
I told him he should ask
you instead.”

Her face grew pale. “You
didn’t!”

“
I was only trying to
help.”

“
Oh, Rose! That’s not
helping. He has no interest in me at all. I told you that
already.”

“
But he has to get a chance
to know you.”

“
He did have a chance. At
the auction, remember?” Groaning, she proceeded to the door and
opened it. “I hope I never run into Stan again. This is so
embarrassing.”

She hurried after her sister. “I’m
sorry, Harriett. Really, I am.”

“
I know you didn’t mean any
harm in it. I just don’t like him knowing I want to be with him
when I know full well he has no interest in me.”

“
If he took the time to get
to know you,” she began as she adjusted her gloves and headed for
the carriage, “then he would be interested. Only a fool would not
want to marry you.”

“
Rose, wait,” Harriett
called out.

Turning around, she saw that her
sister was still by the entrance of the mercantile. She hurried
back over to her. “Did you forget something?”

“
No.” She lowered her
voice. “There’s a man who is on the other side of the
street.”

She laughed. “There are lots of men on
the other side of the street.”

“
You didn’t let me finish.
I think he’s following us.”

“
What?” She began to look
over her shoulder when her sister warned her not to. “How will I
know who he is unless I see him?”

“
I don’t want him to
realize we know he’s been spying on us.”

“
Why would anyone spy on
us?”

“
I don’t know. I’ve never
seen him before.” She shifted the box to her other arm and
shrugged. “Do you think he saw the cameos we bought and think we
stole them?”

“
Well, he doesn’t work for
Uncle Owen, so I don’t think so.” Their uncle was a sheriff, and
she could only imagine that a deputy would be interested in whether
or not they bought the cameos.

“
You’re right. He doesn’t
work for our uncle. Unless he’s new. But even so, he’s not wearing
a deputy’s badge.”

“
What’s he
doing?”

“
Sitting on a bench and
pretending to read a newspaper.”

“
And what is he
wearing?”

“
A dark gray suit with
vertical stripes.”

With a nod, Rose motioned to the
carriage. “There’s no sense in us standing here on the boardwalk
all afternoon.”

“
What if he follows us? I
don’t want him to know where you live.”

“
If he follows us, I’ll
have the coachman take us to Uncle Owen’s. He’ll know what to do
about him.”

The solution seemed to please Harriett
since she visibly relaxed. “Alright.”

As Rose turned to follow her sister to
the carriage, she chanced a look in the man’s direction, careful
not to be obvious about it. Like her sister, she didn’t recall
seeing him before. She turned her gaze from him so he wouldn’t
detect that she’d been studying him.

At the moment, he appeared to be
reading the paper, but he could have been glancing over it to see
what she and Harriett were doing. But why would he care? She
couldn’t recall upsetting anyone, and she knew for sure Harriett
hadn’t. So why would someone be following them?

She and Harriett watched from the
window as they rode away. The man remained on the bench, still
holding the newspaper up as if he was reading it.

Sitting back in her seat, Rose looked
over at Harriett and asked, “Is it possible he wasn’t following us?
Maybe he just happened to be in the same places we were
at?”

“
Probably. It must have
been a coincidence.” Harriett laughed. “I’m getting as bad as you,
imagining things that aren’t really there.”

“
I don’t imagine things
that aren’t really there. I daydream.”

“
There’s not much
difference.”

“
There’s all the difference
in the world.”

“
Either way, there’s
something out of nothing.”

“
Harriett, you couldn’t be
more wrong.” As Rose continued to debate the matter, she forgot all
about the man who’d been sitting on the bench.

Chapter Twenty-One

Later that day, Rose’s heartbeat
picked up with nervous energy as her lady’s maid finished buttoning
the back of her evening gown. Tonight was the first time she and
Kent were going to entertain a prospective client and his family.
She started to take a deep breath to help settle her nerves, but
the corset prevented her from breathing too deeply. It was going to
take time before she got used to wearing one.