Page 10 of Hank and Elsie
“Leg,” Miss Taylor said in a dry tone.
Leg of mutton.Elsie couldn’t help giggling.
With a chuckle, Miss Taylor joined her.
“Geego. I’ll remember that.” Elsie reached out a hand toward the bolt of blue gingham—pretty, but still practical—careful not to touch. “I’ve chosen this fabric.”
“Do you need me to help you figure out how many yards to buy?”
Elsie sighed. “Only in my dreams.” She leaned closer, catching a whiff of the woman’s rose perfume. “But I tell you, Miss Taylor, that dreams are important out on the prairie when you don’t have much else.” She hoped the dressmaker would understand. Still, she braced herself for the rejection that was sure to come when the woman realized Elsie wasn’t buying anything.
Miss Taylor’s eyebrows pulled together. “What is your name?”
“Elsie Bailey.”
“Miss Bailey, are you interested in dressmaking?”
Heat crept into her cheeks. “Call me Elsie, please. That’s what I’m used to answering to. Making a dress is just a dream.”
“Doesn’t have to be. Would you be interested in a job?” Miss Taylor waved around the shop. “As you can see, I have more work than I can handle. I’m looking to hire someone.”
Excitement fired up, sending energy through her. “I’d love to, Miss Taylor. I can sew a fine seam by hand, embroider,tat, crochet.” She touched her collar and then the embroidered pansies on her cuffs. “I make patterns from old newspapers, but I don’t actually use them on fabric, since I don’t have any material.” She shrugged. “Every scrap we have is already put to use.”
Miss Taylor smiled. “You sound very talented.”
Reality poured cold water to quench her dream. Elsie sighed, trying not to feel the hurt. “But what with needing three hours todriveto town and another three home…” She shrugged. “Don’t even know how long I’d take towalkto town. Wouldn’t have enough hours in the day to actuallyworkfor you, although maybe in the summer, when it stays light for a long time, I could give you a few hours and maybe even take sewing home with me.”I’m babbling.But she so wanted to earn money in this way.
“Housing comes with the job.” Miss Taylor pointed upward. “I have a suite on the third floor with an extra bedroom. You can live with me.”
Elsie sucked in a long breath. “Really? You’re not pulling my leg?”
“Limb, Elsie,” Miss Taylor chided in a mock plummy tone. “Ladies use the termlower limb, not leg.”
“You’re not pulling my lower limb, Miss Taylor? Mygeego?”
“Why, Elsie, you learn so quickly.” Miss Taylor chuckled. “I wouldn’t be so cruel as to pull yourgigot.”
Delighted by the woman’s humor, Elsie clapped her hands together. “I’d like nothing better than to work with you. I’ll ask Pa and Ma right now. They’re at the mercantile.” She whirled and headed out the door, pulling on her sunbonnet.Please, please may they say yes!
Although wife huntinghad been a bust, at least, Hank could buy supplies for himself and Torin at the mercantile. Brian Bly had also requested a few cans of stew.
A little straw hat hadn’t been on his neighbor’s grocery list, but when Hank saw the jaunty boater with a pink—Jewel’s favorite color—ribbon tied around the brim, he couldn’t resist buying it. After all, the girl had a birthday coming up next month.
But, unlike the other supplies that could fit in his saddlebags, he’d have to hand carry the hat—not the easiest thing to do when riding horseback lest he crush the delicate straw. He’d just mounted Chipper and settled in the saddle, when an unexpected gust of wind grabbed the hat from his loose grasp and floated it down the street, toward a mud puddle.
Oh, no!Hank urged Chipper forward.
A girl in a drab, yellow dress, a sunbonnet hiding her features, walked up the street, a bounce to her step. She saw the fly away hat, picked up her skirts with one hand, and took a running leap to catch the boater with her free hand. “Woo-eee!” She waved the hat in triumph, a big grin on her expressive face. Her lustrous brown eyes sparkled, and she hurried over to hand him Jewel’s hat.
Reining in, Hank took the boater, this time holding more tightly to the brim, lest the wind carry it away again. “Much obliged.”
“Gotta watch these straw ones. I made the prettiest hat—saved for ages for the yellow ribbon and two hatpins—and despite jabbing the crown withboth, the prairie wind wrenched it off my head and dropped the thing smack into the pig pen,”she said with obvious indignation, her brown eyes narrowing. “You wouldn’t believe what our wretched pig did with it.” She wrinkled her snub nose, making her freckles dance. “Let’s just say there wasn’t much left. Now I have to wear this ugly ole sunbonnet.”
The girl’s story was so descriptive, Hank couldn’t help laughing. “No pigs on Main Street, thank goodness. But that mud puddle would have surely ruined my present for a special little girl.”
“Your special little girl sure is lucky to get such a pretty gift.”
“She’s very loved, and so I do thank you for the save.”
