gestured about the room. “No lunch and a dirty house. What do you call that in England?”
“I’ll have you know it would have been my pleasure to clean your filthy house. You would have walked in the door and lost your senses at the great beauty of clean floors and windows not covered in grime. But you’re out of supplies.” Ann bit her lip to keep from saying more, though she feared the damage was done.
James’s eyes widened and the taut muscles of his jaw relaxed. His voice grew soft. “I’m out of supplies?”
Ann stood up straight and clasped her hands submissively behind her back out of habit. She’d assumed this same stance whenever her employers addressed her while in service. She realized this immediately and let her hands fall to her sides.
“I used all of what you had cleaning the kitchen. I should have told you earlier.” If you hadn’t stomped out of the house before I could.
James dipped his sandy head and his cheeks colored. “Figures. I paid a woman from town to clean the house but she obviously cheated me. House is still dirty and she took the extra soap and polish with her.”
He ran a hand through his hair and glanced at Ann. He looked...sheepish? Like a schoolboy caught with candy in his desk. “I’m sorry I accused you of being lazy. What have you been doing this morning?”
“I made Uncle Mac breakfast, though he didn’t come to the door when I knocked. I left the food on the landing.”
“It’s my fault for not making proper introductions. We’ll right that this afternoon. What else did you do?”
Her heart raced as she dipped her hand into her apron pocket. James would likely think her time better spent staring at the wall than working on needle lace. She withdrew the piece from her pocket. “I worked on this.” She held out the handkerchief and cringed when he took it from her with dirty fingers.
She gestured to the cloth. “I’m sure you think such work is worthless, but I had nothing else to fill the time. I would have cleaned had I found more supplies,” she repeated.
James examined the handkerchief as she spoke. Over and over, he turned it in his calloused hands. The more he studied it, the lighter his touch became, as if he handled a fragile porcelain cup. “You did all of this? The lace?”
She nodded.
His eyebrows raised and Ann saw a flicker of what appeared to be admiration. “No one helped you?”
Ann laughed at the absurd question. “Do you see anyone else here?”
James chuckled softly. “I meant—did someone help you with this before you arrived in America?”
“No. I began the work a week ago.”
“After lunch we’ll go into town for cleaning supplies. You’ll take this.” He gently folded the handkerchief into quarters and set it in her hand. His fingertips brushed her palm. The touch sent a warmth through her hand. She set her jaw and shook off the feeling.
James cobbled together a stew for lunch. “For Uncle Mac,” he explained as he ladled the first steaming bowlful. He paired the stew with a mug of milk and they took the meal upstairs together. They hadn’t even reached the top step before Ann spotted the breakfast tray. The spotless plate and empty mug suggested at least someone had enjoyed his meal that morning.
James rapped on the door. “Uncle Mac? Lunch is ready.” Bedsprings creaked, but still the door didn’t open.
“Best leave these here. There’ll be plenty of time for introductions when we get back from town.”
After lunch James retreated upstairs and returned wearing a clean shirt. His freshly scrubbed cheeks shone pink and water droplets clung to his tousled hair. Ann made a mental note to refill the pitcher in his room.
While James hitched the wagon, Ann stood outside and took in the expanse of land. Row after row of young green plants stretched in all directions. A small grove of oaks and maples, no more than five or six acres, anchored the east end of the field.
“May I ask what you did outside this morning?” Ann asked James as he helped her onto the wagon seat.
“Hoed the fields.”
The field nearest Ann seemed enormous as she imagined someone clearing the weeds row by row. “When will you be done?”
James laughed drily. “A job like that is never done. Not until the corn grows tall enough to shade out the weeds. I’ll be out here every morning until then.”
“And when might that be?”
“Well...” James paused and rubbed his chin. “We have a saying. ‘Knee-high by the Fourth of July.’ When the stalks are that tall, we should only have a week or two more of weeding.”
Weeks and weeks of hoeing this sweeping vista of green. Ann made a note to help him beginning tomorrow.
“What crops are you growing?”
James’s eyebrows rose and his shoulders drew back. “Corn in the big south field and some wheat in the north field. Most everyone around here grows either corn or wheat as their main crop.” He pointed to the next farm. “Hal Schneider has corn, too.”
The meandering rows of corn on Ann’s right weren’t planted with nearly the precision of James’s fields, and weeds were in abundance. In a few spots she couldn’t tell the crop from the intruders.
“It looks like Hal Schneider needs to weed,” she observed.
James glanced at the field. “Hal has a lot more than weeding to do.”
“What do you mean?”
James’s brow knotted and his mouth became a hard line. “The man has two young children and a house falling down around them. His wife died last year, and he didn’t take it very well. He needs to tend to his children and himself as well as those fields.” His voice held an edge of concern.
Ann strained to see the Schneider house, expecting to find children playing in the yard. It stood quiet and empty. She turned to James to ask him another question about his neighbor, but the top of an envelope jutting from his pocket caught her eye. So that was why he’d been so quick to suggest the trip to town. He needed to telegraph the agency and mail the letter to Mrs. Turner. Another reminder of her unknown future.
“Do you have much business in New Haven?” Ann tried not to sound too curious.
“A bit.”
She waited for him to continue. He didn’t.
“Am I to accompany you on your errands?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
It was like their trip from town to the farm all over again. Why must he swing betwixt friendly and withdrawn? Ann smiled through clenched teeth. “And what am I to do?”
“First you’ll buy the supplies you need to clean. And then—” he turned to look Ann straight in the eye “—you’re going to make yourself a new friend.”
