The Mistletoe Kiss

Matt handed Millicent hers and took a seat beside her while John sat down next to his wife. Millicent took a lick and closed her eyes. She loved chocolate ice cream.

“Well, I thought we should talk about a schedule of some kind, so we all can plan. Matt has said late morning or early afternoon might be best, as the weather will be getting pretty cool going into fall. He’s used to working up high in changing climates, but we are not. So I think the decision should be left to you women to make.”

Millicent and Elizabeth exchanged glances. Both of them were morning people.

“We’d like mornings,” Elizabeth said.

“Sounds good. How about nine?” Matt asked. “That will give us time to get some work done and know what needs to be taken care of for the rest of the day. Hopefully, I can keep the men working instead of ogling you two lovely ladies.”

Millicent felt her face heat at his compliment. “Nine is fine for me. What about you, Elizabeth?”

“Yes. That time is good.”

“We’ll start there. As it gets cooler, we can change the time if we need to. I do feel the need to warn you—I’ve talked to my men, but there are a few whose language is not appropriate for a lady’s ears. Should you hear anything like that, please let me know and I’ll take care of it.”

It was decided they would begin on Friday afternoon.

“We can be as flexible as you need us to be, Matt. My editor will be happy with an article each week if possible, but if not, then hopefully one every other one.”

“That should work well for us. First time up, we’ll show you what’s been done until now and that might be your longest day. After that, you’ll be able to move floor to floor with us.”

Millicent’s stomach fluttered. But was it with excitement or apprehension? She wasn’t sure. She glanced at Matt and found his gaze on her. He smiled.

She answered with one of her own, hoping he couldn’t see how very nervous she felt about it all. When he winked at her, she almost dropped her cone. Oh, that man!

Chapter Three (#ulink_63cf9e7a-0072-5433-a02c-48f66163e434)

The rest of the week Millicent waffled between being excited about the assignment, and fear that she’d lost her mind in agreeing to take it and wanting to find a way to get out of it. She tossed and turned at night until she finally gave it all over to the Lord, asking for peace about her decision. She’d accepted the job and she didn’t want to let anyone down.

Thankful to keep busy with several requests to take family photographs over the next few days, if Millicent wondered why Matt didn’t mention anything at all about the assignment, she told herself it was because he dreaded having people disturbing his workday as much as she dreaded being there.

She’d worked on the album for Mrs. Heaton after coming up from downstairs each night, and Julia and Emily joined her. Emily had to work the coming Saturday, but Millicent and Julia made plans to go to another suffrage meeting that day and decided to make a quick trip to the Ladies’ Mile afterward, so this time when the men asked they could honestly say they’d gone. No need to listen once again to their negative opinion of their attending another meeting.

Still, busy as she’d kept herself, Friday came way too quickly for Millicent. John and Elizabeth picked her up in a hack to have room for her professional equipment, and Millicent felt more nervous than she’d ever been as they met Matt at the bottom of the Park Row Building.

“Come on, let’s go,” Matt said as he led them into the elevator. “I’m glad John helped you get your equipment. I suppose I thought you’d use your Kodak.”

“I wasn’t sure what I’d need,” Millicent said as the elevator began to move. Her stomach did a little flip before settling back in its place and she took a deep breath. She could do this. The Lord was with her and He would get her through.

“I thought I’d stop at each floor so that you’ll be able to see the progress on each one.”

Millicent grasped the rail a little tighter.

“You all right?” Elizabeth asked, looking at her closely. “You’re a little pale.”

No way was Millicent going to admit to being scared—not with Matt there. “I’ll be fine.”

The elevator lurched before coming to a shuddering stop and Millicent’s stomach did a deep dive, while her heartbeat thundered in her ears.

But when the door opened and she saw a mostly enclosed floor, with window openings instead of open space, she began to relax.

“I think I’ll need my tripod and camera for the inside shots,” Millicent said. Matt helped her set it up while Elizabeth and John explored a bit. After she took a few shots, they went up to the next floor and on to the next. Each floor was in varying degrees of construction. Some had offices already enclosed, and others were only framed. They didn’t tarry too long on any landing—only long enough for her to get a few photos of the differences on each. If it weren’t for that jerky elevator, Millicent could say it wasn’t near as bad as she’d thought it would be—until they got to the higher floors, which were mostly open expanses.

“This one is the last one we’ve got floored,” Matt said as the elevator doors opened. “It’s where my men and I are working.”

He went out first to help her and Elizabeth out. Millicent breathed deeply and briefly closed her eyes while his attention was on her friend, trying to fight her way through the fear of being up so high. She opened them again as Matt said, “There’s no ceiling yet, but the floor is solid. Just watch out for equipment and don’t go near where the men are unless I give you permission.”

He took hold of Millicent’s arm and turned to John, who held his wife close. “Follow me.”

As they walked, she caught her breath. Even from the middle of the wide expanse, Millicent saw out to the ocean. “Oh...” she breathed. “It is beautiful up here, Matt.”

“It is, isn’t it? Once you get a little closer, you’ll be able to see more. But you don’t want to look straight down your first time up. But don’t worry. I’m not about to let you get that close to the edge today.”

While the view was everything Matt ever claimed it to be, Millicent began to tremble at the very thought of being near the edge—even though a solid metal rail surrounded it all, she could imagine leaning out too far and—

Matt grasped her arm and turned to John and Elizabeth, bringing her back from where her thoughts were carrying her. “In fact, I don’t want any of you getting near the edge until I believe you’ll be safe and my men can do their jobs without gawking at Millicent and Elizabeth. You’d think they’d never seen a pretty woman before.”

He turned around and strode closer to his workmen. “You men get back to work or I’ll send you home and you’ll be a day short in your pay!”

The men quickly quit staring and returned to doing what they were hired to do, while Matt shook his head and hurried back to Millicent’s side. “I knew it’d be like this.”

“I’m sorry for the disruption, Matt,” John said. “At least we’ll only be here for a while one day a week. Hopefully, they’ll get used to us before long.”

“Oh, they’ll get used to you or they’ll go home,” Matt said. “Come on. You should be able to see the Statue of Liberty from over here.” Matt led her and Elizabeth farther out onto the floor while John followed with the rest of Millicent’s equipment.

He stopped about ten feet from the edge and pointed to the left. “There she is. Can you see her?”

“I can,” Elizabeth said.

“She’s lovely,” Millicent replied. She took her camera from John and set it on its stand in a position to get the best shot at that time of day, and took several photographs of the statue.

In the meantime, she heard Matt point out a man he called Burl to John and Elizabeth, and tell them that they could go ahead and interview him first, and then when the other workmen took their break, they could speak to them while he stayed with Millicent.

She turned her camera a bit and got shots of ships at sea, and then she turned back to Matt a bit too fast and became quite dizzy. As Millicent tried to focus, seeing all the open sky behind him, a wave of nausea washed over her. She swallowed hard and forced a smile.

“You’re white as a sheet, Millicent.” He moved to her side and gripped her arm as if he thought she might collapse. “Do you need to sit down?”

“No! I’m fine. I—” Dear Lord, please give me strength. I don’t want to embarrass Matt in front of all of his men. And she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of him.

“You aren’t fine. You look like you’re going to...be sick.”

She fought back the notion that he was right and stood straight up. Right now, all she wanted to do was run for the hills—if she could find any. And she wasn’t going to give Matt the satisfaction of thinking he was right all along. She gritted her teeth and whispered, “I am not going to be sick, Matt. I can do this.”

“Millicent, as much as I understand how you want to prove something to yourself, this isn’t the place for a woman, especially one who’s nearly paralyzed with fear being up this high,” Matt said in an exaggerated whisper. “You didn’t have to agree to this... I tried to—”

She looked him in the eye. “Mathew Sterling, I am not going to quit. I’d like to take some photos of Central Park from up here. Can you help me get my equipment to where the best view would be?”

He stared at her for several moments, then let out a deep breath and shook his head. “You are without a doubt the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met!” He picked up her tripod and camera and took off in the opposite direction. “Come on, follow me.”