Stephanie Grace Whitson - [Quilt Chronicles 03] by Message on the Quilt

Author:Message on the Quilt [Quilt, Message on the]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Grace stood at her bedroom window, looking down as Ladora drove Josiah’s small farm wagon out onto Ella Street. They’d left the tailgate down, and Miss Rhodes and Noah Shaw were perched on the back, their legs dangling, the five rhubarb pies nestled in the thin layer of straw behind them. Just seeing the two talking to each other made Grace smile. Her own experience with love at first sight hadn’t worked out, but that didn’t necessarily mean that Miss Rhodes and Mr. Shaw were headed down that road. It would depend on Miss Rhodes’s ability to adjust to a life she hadn’t been prepared for—in her case life with a traveling man who turned women’s heads wherever he went. A woman inclined to jealousy would never last with a man like Noah Shaw. Maybe you should warn her. Or him.

“No,” Grace muttered aloud and turned away from the window. “You should mind your own business is what you should do. And get to work.” And there was work to be done. Thankfully, she hadn’t lost her touch when it came to playing a role. The sudden emergence of a sick headache had been played just right. She’d convinced Ladora that, while she was too sick to attend opening exercises, Ladora should definitely go. Grace would be fine. She just needed to rest in a quiet room with the shades lowered. Now, as the wagon disappeared from view, Grace took up her comb and brush and began to restyle her dark brown wig.

When the sun dipped low on the western horizon, she got ready, donning the wig and a rural-style blue chambray bonnet. Next came a gray knit shawl and a cane. As shadows lengthened, Grace made her way downstairs and out the back door, avoiding the busiest part of town as she hurried south toward the river. Emerging from behind a lumberyard on Bell Street, she joined the stragglers headed toward the only bridge crossing this part of the Blue River. By now she was using the cane.

She knew her disguise was a good one when a couple driving a buggy pulled over and offered her a ride. She thanked them in a wavering, aged voice. When the driver helped her up, it would have been easy to check his coat pocket for a money clip, but she decided not to. Safer to wait until she was out on the grounds where she could get lost in the crowd. That’s how she’d always worked. Get the cash fast and use the crush of people to obscure the act of discarding money clips and coin purses.

It took a moment to convince the young driver and his pretty wife to leave her just outside the entrance to the assembly grounds. No, she really didn’t need any assistance. Yes, she really did wish to wait here. Her friends would be along any minute; she was sure of it. She’d promised them she would wait at the gate, and she wouldn’t want them to worry.

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