Steampunk Carnival (Steam World Book 1) by Cassandra Leuthold

Author:Cassandra Leuthold [Leuthold, Cassandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Green Hill Press
Published: 2015-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Katya hurried down the steps of the Weekly Boarder into the basement. She steered into the kitchen, almost colliding with Magdalene on the way in. “Is the curling iron ready?”

Mrs. Weeks stood at the stove. She lifted the curling iron away from the fire of the gas burner. “Maybe another minute or two. It hasn’t been on long.” Mrs. Weeks replaced it over the burner.

Katya heard a gentle splashing sound and found Mary cleaning a corner of the floor. “Did something spill?” Katya asked.

Mary glanced over her shoulder. “I dropped a jar of jam, and it broke.”

Mrs. Weeks faced Katya and Magdalene directly. She set a loose fist on her hip. “Why in such a hurry today, Katya? Do you have a date?”

“No, but my curls are falling out, and I want to look my best for work.” Katya unbraided her long, dark hair. She was determined not to mention a word about Maddox to anyone except Magdalene until he showed up at the house for tea.

Magdalene spoke up for the first time since Katya arrived in the room, barely raising her eyes from their thoughtful place on the stove. “No one’s going to outshine you, Kat.”

Katya did not doubt the genuineness of the compliment, but she caught the serious, preoccupied undertone of Magdalene’s words. Katya kept to the subject at hand. “Isolde Neumann shows me up every night,” she grumbled.

Mrs. Weeks turned back to the stove. “Who’s that?”

“Mr. Warden’s rich girlfriend. Her father owns an ornament factory.”

“They’re getting so popular these days. When I was a girl, everyone made their own decorations with whatever we could find.” Mrs. Weeks turned off the gas burner and lifted the curling iron by one of its wooden handles. “Who’s going first? Katya?”

Magdalene gestured Katya ahead of her. Katya took the spare handle, warm despite the wood, and stepped in front of the mirror hung in the kitchen for this very purpose. She squeezed the handles together, letting the spring separate the two lengths of ten-inch metal. She wound a section of her bangs around the round rod and let the other piece relax to pin it in place.

“Don’t you worry, dear,” Mrs. Weeks told Katya. “I’ve seen a lot of women in my time. Few of them were as lovely as you. Even fewer of them remain comely as the years get on.”

Katya swelled with adoration at her mother away from the one who raised her. “Thank you, Mrs. Weeks.”

Mary erupted into a coughing fit in the corner. Katya swiveled away from the mirror to watch Mary hack pitifully into her sleeve.

Mrs. Weeks rushed to her daughter’s side. “Are you all right, Mary?”

Mary nodded, brushing her mother aside with her free arm. “It’s a little dusty back here.”

“Let me clean it up for you.”

“No, it’s all right. I’m almost done.”

Katya returned to the mirror, concentrating on the loosest curls and flattest sections of her hair. The heat left her locks with the frizziness most women’s hair suffered, the flyaway curls Katya expected for her look.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.