Love Finds You in Maiden, North Carolina by Tamela Hancock Murray

Author:Tamela Hancock Murray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Love Finds You in Maiden North Carolina
ISBN: 9781934770658
Publisher: Guideposts
Published: 2011-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

A few days later, Hestia was on her hands and knees waxing the dining room floor when she heard a knock on the front door. They weren’t expecting visitors and the mail had already been delivered, so she wondered who it could be. Hopefully the person waiting on the veranda was a door-to-door salesman and Aunt Louisa could dismiss him. Looking frazzled and not at her best since she was in the middle of a big chore, Hestia had no desire to see anyone herself. She listened for footsteps but heard no one stir.

“Aunt Louisa? Selene? Could one of you get the door?” she called.

“Selene’s napping. I’ll answer it!” Aunt Louisa shouted from the kitchen. “Just let me get this teakettle situated.”

“Thanks.” Hestia dipped into the wax, applying a clump of soft tan paste to the cotton rag that had once been white. Though the task was hard on her knees, she enjoyed rubbing the smooth, fragrant paste into the wood, giving it a well-deserved drink. Applying wax wasn’t the bad part; the real effort happened after it dried and she had to take a clean rag to it, buffing the wax into the floor until the pine planks shone. The pungent, clean smell would likely linger at least a week, reminding her of such accomplishment in keeping a sparkling home. The floor would be slick for some time after waxing no matter how much Hestia buffed. They’d have to remember not to slip and fall.

Her aunt’s footsteps signaled her approach. “Hestia, it’s for you.”

She stopped in midstroke. “For me?”

“Yes. It’s Judith Unsworth from church.”

“Oh.” She rose to her feet and wondered what had prompted a visit from her friend. There was no time to make herself presentable other than to give her hands a quick rinse. At least Judith would understand her sorry state of appearance and wouldn’t mind seeing her in her worst housedress and a white cotton scarf holding her hair out of her face.

“Hey, you,” she greeted her friend in the parlor. She didn’t want to sit down on the good furniture lest she get wax on it. “I’m so glad to see you. Sorry I look a fright.”

“Hey, yourself. I’m the one who should apologize for coming here unannounced, but I wanted to stop by and ask if you and your family would like to share Thanksgiving dinner with us this year.”

Hestia had been so concerned about Selene that Thanksgiving had slipped up on her. She hadn’t even thought about preparing a meal. Perhaps she’d procrastinated about planning. The prospect of cooking an entire turkey for three people was too depressing to contemplate. “Do you mean Aunt Louisa and me?”

“No, I mean you, Miss Louisa, and your cousin.”

“Selene?”

Judith grinned. “Yes, unless you have another cousin staying here that you haven’t mentioned.”

Hestia recalled a stern-looking Mr. and Mrs. Unsworth. “Your parents won’t mind?”

“They understand and say they are glad to include Selene.”

Hestia didn’t know what to say. On one hand, she was sorry yet another

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