Page 18 of Beauty and the Baker
“It will be fine. The butter is packed so tightly that water won’t get into it. Now measure out the ingredients while I call them out to you.”
Georgina sifted the ingredients into a bowl as she thought about everything that had transpired the past week. Once she arrived in Creede she sent off telegrams to Lawrence and her parents.
To Lawrence she said that a family emergency prevented her from arriving as planned, but she gave him her aunt’s address to reach her.
To her parents, she pressed the urgency of visiting Aunt Maybelle and apologized for the sudden departure. She didn’t mention anything about San Francisco.
Her father responded almost immediately with a telegram of his own and let her know they would make plans to join her within a month.
Oh bother, she thought.
“You are putting more flour on the table than you are the bowl,” her aunt said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
Georgina looked down. “Oh goodness,” she said, yanking the sifter away from the bowl, causing it to fly over her head. Flour went everywhere, rising in a cloud above her. She coughed as the flour dust settled into her hair and on her face. “Oh, Auntie, I am so sorry,” she said, wiping the flour from her eyes.
Maybelle took one look at Georgina standing there covered in flour and let out a loud laugh. She laughed so hard, that soon tears were rolling down her cheeks. She finally caught her breath. “You… should… see yourself,” she said between peals of laughter.
Georgina went to her bedroom and looked at herself in the mirror above the wash basin. She tried not to laugh too much as she looked at herself. Her aunt was right. She looked like a ghost.
Flour dust covered her hair, turning her blonde locks an even lighter hue. Flour clung to her cheeks and lashes. She even had flour on the tip of her nose.
Grabbing a cloth, she placed it in the water basin and then tried to get as much flour off her cheeks as possible. What she couldn’t remove, now clung to her in paste-like streaks.
Oh bother, she thought.
“Mr. Gladstone!” a voice called through the window. Georgina stood up straight and peered out from behind the mirror. The voice called again.
“Mr. Gladstone!”
Georgina could see a mop of dark hair just above the fence surrounding the small yard. Suddenly a cat jumped over the fence and disappeared beneath the small wooden structure in the back yard.
The back gate opened, and that same dark head of hair popped through, into the garden. Georgina dropped her cloth into the water and headed back towards the kitchen.
“What is it, dear?” Maybelle asked.
“There is someone in the back yard,” Georgina whispered. She looked around and grabbed the first two items she saw – a broom and the coal pan.
“What are you doing with those?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Why are you whispering?”
“Shh! He’ll hear us,” Georgina insisted.
“Mr. Gladstone!” the voice called once more, the sound drifting into the kitchen area.
“Oh, my,” her aunt said. “That is my neighbor’s cat from down the alley. But that doesn’t sound like my neighbor.”
“Does he visit often?”
“The cat. Yes, I’m afraid. Quiet frequently.” She pointed to her leg. “That is how this happened. Poor creature dashed out and got caught in my skirt. Down I went. All rather frightful, I must say.”
“Stay here, Auntie. I’ll handle this.” She lifted the broom and headed out to the garden. The man was hunched down, peering under the benches that littered the garden. The yard was small, but the perfect size for a widow woman. “May I help you?” Georgina asked, pointing the broom handle towards the intruder.
The man froze and slowly lifted himself to his full height, raising his hands in the air so she could see them. He turned around and looked at Georgina. She nearly dropped the broom as she gazed upon the most beautiful man she had ever seen.
He stood a full head taller than her, and she was considered tall at five feet, eight inches. He had light skin and dark hair, almost black, that fell around his shoulders. And he had the bluest eyes she had ever seen on a man. They were the color of the Chesapeake Bay when the sunlight hit it just right.
