you, Nolan.” As they shook hands, Tolley appreciated the respect this man showed him. He took the key and made his exit. Once he’d checked his new office, he couldn’t wait to get home and tell Laurie about this milestone in his professional career.
Home? Laurie? Where did that thought come from? Mrs. Foster’s boardinghouse wasn’t his home. And he should want to tell his family first, not Laurie. Except, he couldn’t bear to go back to the ranch only to be sent away again. Anyway, his family didn’t seem interested in what he was doing. Laurie did.
Marriage hadn’t been in his immediate plans, but he kept thinking marriage to Laurie would be a real feather in his cap, an accomplishment the Colonel could neither disapprove of nor ignore when...if...he woke up.
* * *
Laurie thought her back might break from putting fresh sheets on the beds, toting water up the stairs, scrubbing the rooms and weeding and watering the garden. In all her years of visiting this house, why hadn’t she noticed how hard Mrs. Foster must work to keep body and soul together? Her widow’s pension from the War must be pitifully small.
Before noon, she started a pot of beans and fatback for supper. The two older boarders always ate dinner at the hotel, so she needn’t prepare a midday meal for them. Tolley would probably dine at Williams’s Café, but she still prepared enough soup to include him.
“Vegetable soup. My favorite.” Mrs. Foster grimaced in pain as Laurie helped her sit up. After Laurie placed the tray on her lap, Mrs. Foster tried to use the spoon with her shaking left hand but only managed to dribble the soup down the front of the apron Laurie had put on her. “Oh, dear.”
“It’s all right.” Laurie dabbed up the spill with a napkin and took the spoon. “Let me feed you.”
Tears formed in Mrs. Foster’s eyes. “What a mess I’ve made of things.”
“Now don’t start that again.” Laurie gave her a teasing smile. “I’m grateful Doc says you’ve only sprained your ankle. We’ll pray you’ll be back on your feet soon.”
“My broken arm won’t heal any time soon.” Mrs. Foster viewed her splinted right appendage. “I won’t be able to play the organ for a long time. Or even show my students proper piano technique.”
Laurie had already decided what to do about both situations. “You leave those to me. Your job right now is to get well.”
Mrs. Foster gave her a sad smile. “But, my dear, what about your position at the conservatory this coming fall?”
“My dear, haven’t you always told me to take no thought for tomorrow, as the Lord said?” Laurie struggled with her own fears about losing her teaching position, but nothing could be done about it. She must do right, which meant helping Mrs. Foster. “Besides, we have all summer for you to get well before I go back to Denver.” While her brother-in-law said the bones of older folks took longer to heal, Laurie would pray for the best, more for her mentor’s health and comfort than for anything to do with herself.
That afternoon, when she thought she’d earned a short rest, Seamus and Wes arrived from Four Stones Ranch with Tolley’s trunks, so she guided them upstairs to his room. Shortly after they left, she greeted Mrs. Foster’s six piano students. By the time she’d finished the last lesson, she needed to make the corn bread and cook the tender turnip greens she’d harvested from the garden.
She’d grown up on a ranch and known hard work all her life. But at home, many hands made light work. While she’d never abandon Mrs. Foster, this day wore her out. How had the dear lady managed all of this work, plus helping Laurie achieve her dream of becoming a conservatory teacher?
In spite of her encouraging words to Mrs. Foster, Laurie knew she must get back to Colorado’s capital city in the autumn. Otherwise her position would be given to someone else, and Laurie would be forced to say goodbye to her dreams forever. Which made her prayers all the more urgent. Perhaps even desperate.
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