Christine Johnson - Mail Order Mommy

That’s why she had to return to the only place that would accept her, albeit as a maid rather than a daughter. That, and Pearl’s upcoming wedding. Three and a half weeks were just enough time to finish the wedding dress planned for the special event. Amanda would see her friend married and settled. Then she would depart.

Pearl would not be pleased with the decision, but it couldn’t be helped. Since Garrett refused to marry and no other prospects loomed, Amanda must take charge of her life.

She pulled open the back door of the boardinghouse and stomped the snow and sand off her shoes before venturing into the steamy kitchen. The heat made her yank off her mittens and unbutton her coat in a hurry. She unpinned her plum-colored hat, which did nothing to shield her from the cold, and shoved the outerwear onto a hook in the butler’s pantry.

Platters of ham and poached eggs waited on the stove’s warming shelf, while the teakettle whistled. Since no one was around, she took the kettle off the heat before it boiled dry.

“Miss Amanda, what are you doing out so early on a Saturday morning?” Mrs. Calloway, the boardinghouse owner, breezed into the kitchen and grabbed a tray of cinnamon rolls out of the oven.

“I saw the mail boat was in and wanted to post a letter.”

“Oh, my, I should have had you take the boardinghouse mail.”

“I took it.”

“You’re such a fine girl. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” The boardinghouse proprietress whirled out of the kitchen just as quickly as she’d come in.

Amanda donned one of the aprons that Mrs. Calloway kept in a cupboard and lifted the tray of ham off the stove. Meals were served in a specific order. This time of year, those items that could be eaten cold were served before those that must remain hot. Even with the stoves blazing hot, many of the public rooms remained cool. The bedrooms were icy.

Upon entering the dining room, she found four seated at the table: Pearl, Fiona O’Keefe and two sawmill workers, whose presence reminded her that she’d missed a chance last month to locate her lost brother. Fiona was one of the other ladies who had answered Garrett Decker’s advertisement, and was from all appearances his current favorite. She sat with him at church, and he had attended some of her music recitals on Saturdays. Fiona’s smile grated on Amanda, so she concentrated on her friend, who looked ready to lecture the men for shoving the warm rolls into their mouths without the slightest regard for manners.

“Good morning.” Amanda set the ham on the table, and the men dug into that next.

Pearl shifted her attention to Amanda. “There you are. I wondered where you went so early. Mrs. Calloway said the mail boat is in.”

Naturally, Mrs. Calloway had passed along that bit of information. For all her lovely, good-hearted qualities, the boardinghouse proprietress couldn’t keep the tiniest scrap of information to herself.

“They’ve left already,” Amanda said. “The captain fears a storm is on its way.”

“A storm?” Fiona sipped tea from a porcelain teacup, three fingers daintily extended. “There’s not a cloud in the sky.”

“I suppose we will know in time.” Amanda found it easier to agree with Fiona than to get into a debate. The redhead refused to budge from a single opinion. “Anyway, the mail has arrived. Roland said it’ll be sorted by midmorning.”

Pearl smiled at the mention of her fiancé, who also happened to be Garrett Decker’s brother. When they’d first met Roland aboard the ship from Chicago, there’d been a terrible mix-up about the brothers. All three women answering the advertisement thought Roland was the man seeking a wife. Once they arrived in Singapore, the misunderstanding got sorted out. Pearl fell in love with Roland, and Amanda had managed to catch Garrett’s attention through his adorable children. But after last month’s fire, everything changed.

Fiona slid the pastry server under one of the cinnamon rolls that the men hadn’t gobbled up. “I’m expecting my manager to send word of a role in a new production at Niblo’s Garden.”

“I hope you get the part.” Amanda clapped her mouth shut. Though a booking at the popular theater would be a huge step in Fiona’s career, Amanda had said that a bit too eagerly.

Fiona noticed. “Want me gone, do you? Well, I’ll have you know that I’m this close to coming to an understanding with Garrett.” She held her thumb and index finger a fraction of an inch apart.

Amanda’s spirits sank. She had no idea Garrett was that close to proposing to Fiona. She swallowed tears of frustration. Everything had gone wrong here. Everything. It was best she’d decided to leave.

Pearl, on the other hand, set into Fiona with the tenacity of a guard dog. “Then why hasn’t Roland heard anything about this? As his brother, he should know.”

“Since when do brothers discuss romance?” Fiona brushed back a red curl that had slipped over her shoulder. “Garrett is a quiet, brooding sort. He requires a lively, vivacious woman to counter his natural disposition.”

Amanda edged toward the doorway. She would rather fetch the eggs than listen to one more confirmation that she’d lost all opportunity to win over Garrett Decker. Before she could slip away, Pearl’s teacher’s glare froze her in place.

Pearl returned her attention to the elegant redhead. “I hope you won’t be disappointed.”

Fiona’s brow furrowed. “Disappointed? Why should I be disappointed?”

“A star of the New York stage could never be happy in a lumber town. She must return to the theater at the beckoning of her adoring fans. Garrett doesn’t strike me as a man who cares for the big city.”

That brought to mind the one thing about Fiona O’Keefe that had perplexed Amanda since they first met. If Fiona was such a star, why would she leave New York to answer a mail-order bride advertisement? It made no sense.

Fiona smiled coyly. “A man will do almost anything for the woman he loves.”

Then Fiona is certain. Amanda pressed a hand to her midsection. Her last shreds of hope were rapidly disappearing.

“He will not go against his nature,” Pearl insisted.

Amanda could not picture Garrett in evening attire and top hat. Roland, yes. Garrett, never. Not for the first time she marveled at how different the two brothers were. Roland was tall and suave, always dressed in style. The shorter and more powerful Garrett preferred workingman’s clothes. His auburn hair was in direct contrast to Roland’s dark locks. They barely looked like brothers, though they certainly acted that way, often in playful competition.

Mrs. Calloway entered with the eggs. “Sit, Miss Amanda. Breakfast is served.”

Amanda did not feel like a guest, especially given the uncomfortable reality that she had a room here only by the charity of Pearl, who paid the cost of the room from her wages as a teacher, and the Calloways, who gave Amanda board in exchange for housekeeping. She could not ask the Calloways to let her stay free of charge once Pearl wed and moved on. Since Amanda had but one dime left to her name and no paying employment, she’d written her foster family asking for a service position in their household.

Under those circumstances, she should eat in the kitchen, but she’d learned from experience that Mrs. Calloway wouldn’t tolerate it. Even when Amanda explained that she’d always eaten in the kitchen at her foster family’s house, the boardinghouse proprietress shooed her from the room.

Mrs. Calloway set the eggs in front of the ladies and disappeared.

Amanda had barely taken her seat, prayed over the meal with Pearl and Fiona, and dished up one poached egg and the smallest slice of ham when a forceful knock sounded on the front door. Everyone stopped eating and looked up.