Second Chance Match

“Ms. Pagett,” Magnolia said, pausing on the stairway beside Hypatia to acknowledge the young woman and her son.

“Oh, call me Jessa, ma’am.”

“Very well. We’ll all be on a first-name basis, then. Much easier that way.”

Hypatia bent forward slightly and spoke to the boy. “How are you this morning, Hunter?”

“Fine,” he answered softly. His mother gave his hand a waggle, and he added, “Thank you.”

Hypatia smiled. “My, you are a well-mannered young man.”

“Thank you,” he and his mother said at the same time.

Magnolia opened her mouth to ask how they’d slept, but the sound of a buzz saw had her grimacing instead. Tossing a resigned glance upward, she offered Jessa a wan smile. The screech of the buzz saw ceased, leaving abrupt silence. Magnolia offered her apologies.

“It never lasts very long. Mr. Bowen is a most considerate fellow.”

Jessa nodded as she slipped past the two older women, tugging her son behind her. “No problem. Excuse us, please. We have books waiting.”

“Did you find the library, then?” Magnolia asked, pointing to the door below, across the foyer from the front parlor.

“Not yet. I meant our lesson books, ma’am,” Jessa clarified, hurrying Hunter around the curve in the stairs.

Magnolia tilted her head at that, but Hypatia just sighed and resumed her descent. Magnolia fell in beside her sister, trying not to smile at Hypatia’s exasperation.

“What happened to hand saws?” she asked. “I’m sure they were more accurate.”

The things that upset the usually unflappable Hypatia always amused Magnolia. Every flower, tree, shrub and blade of grass on the place could die overnight, and Hypatia wouldn’t blink an eye, but forget one little rule of etiquette or upset her routine, and she groused. Politely, of course. True to form, Hypatia waited until they were safely in the sunroom and out of earshot of anyone who might be offended before she complained.

“Really. Guests while the house is undergoing construction! Not to mention planning two weddings. How are we to be proper hostesses with that racket going on and our focus consumed with getting Ellie and Asher married?”

“Most of the time, we don’t even know Mr. Bowen is around,” Magnolia pointed out.

“Nevertheless, I wish he’d get on with it,” Hypatia grumbled.

“You’re the one who told the Historical Society that we would use materials only from the period when the house was built.”

Hypatia made a face. “I’m not the one who invited the Pagetts to stay without consulting another soul, however.”

“What could I do?” Magnolia asked. “The Pagetts were obviously in dire straits.”

“And you didn’t want them moving into the Monroe house,” Hypatia surmised flatly.

“Much more difficult to evict them than host them,” Magnolia conceded.

“And are you so confident that Garrett will win the day?” Hypatia asked.

Magnolia chose not to answer that. “I’m confident that the hand of God is at work here.”

Hypatia arched an eyebrow, but Magnolia took her time settling onto the chaise longue of her choice. Spreading her dark plaid skirts around her, she lightly asked, “Do you know why Jessa Lynn Pagett wants to lease the Monroe place?”

“It’s a lovely house in which to raise a child, I imagine.”

“It’s also a great site for a florist shop,” Magnolia said. “Garrett told me last night that she’s a florist, and she herself said she was opening a shop there.”

Hypatia let that sink in. “A florist, is she? Well, well.”

“Exactly,” Magnolia said with a satisfied lift of her chin. “A florist and a gardener.”

Hypatia tapped the cleft in her chin with one gleaming fingertip. “It’s something to think about, I must say. We’ve seen matches made of less.”

Magnolia crossed her ankles and folded her hands. “Indeed. Just look at Ellie and Asher.”

“Or Chandler and Bethany.”

“Or Reeves and Anna! Not to mention…” They both laughed, eyes twinkling as they thought of Odelia and Kent coming together again after a half century apart. “So you agree with me that it’s a matter for prayer.”

“Definitely,” Hypatia said.

They smiled in perfect accord. Then Hypatia touched the pearls at her throat.

“About the meeting this afternoon,” she said. “I really can’t abide the idea of another buffet.” She was still miffed that Ellie and Asher had stood firm on a buffet for their wedding reception. Worse, Hilda agreed with them! Personally, it seemed the only sensible solution to Magnolia at this late juncture, but Hypatia would never be entirely happy about the matter. “Surely, we can hire a decent number of wait staff for the June wedding. Don’t you agree?”

Magnolia rolled her eyes. Suggest that to Odelia, and she’d be out scouring the DFW Metroplex for waiters of identical height, weight, complexion and hair color—and rainbow-hued tuxedoes to outfit them. Magnolia chuckled, wondering just how pleased Hypatia would be then.

“At least,” she said hopefully, “God has provided us with a genuine florist.”

“Ah, yes,” Hypatia agreed, nodding. “There is that.”

And, Magnolia hoped, much more.

“Very good,” Jessa praised, watching Hunter practice the last of his letters in his copybook.

“Done now, Mommy?” he asked hopefully.

They’d taken several breaks throughout the day. He’d watched his favorite program on TV and played with the tiny cars that were his personal delight. The remainder of his few toys were stuffed in a box stacked with several others in Abby’s tiny living room. Jessa wondered if she ought to move the boxes here. Chatam House certainly had more space for such things.

She shook her head. Chances were that she and Hunter would be out of here today or tomorrow. Where exactly they’d go, she didn’t know, but surely she could afford a cheap motel for a couple days until they could return to Abby’s. Then what? A knock at the sitting-room door derailed that unhappy speculation.

“Come in.”

A fortyish woman with long, lank, dark blond hair opened the door and peeked into the room. “I’m Carol, the housemaid.”

“Oh, yes. Your sister mentioned you earlier.”

Carol slipped fully into the room. Dressed in polyester pants and a cotton blouse, she did not quite meet Jessa’s image of a maid, but then the cook had worn a flowered muumuu under her apron that morning. “The misses would like you to come down to the library now, if it’s convenient. Miss Ellie and Mr. Asher have arrived.”

Jessa’s heart leapt into her throat. So the moment had come. It was sooner than she’d expected, not even 3:00 p.m. She patted Hunter’s hand comfortingly and rose from the floor in front of the coffee table where they had conducted their lessons. “We’ll be right down.”