The Sailor and the Seamstress by Lynn Winchester

Author:Lynn Winchester [Winchester, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Her head cradled in her hands, Angela listened to the list of wrongs Mr. Colvin committed against the people of Aurora Lake. Wrongs that he’d committed in the guise of an honest businessman. Crimes he mockingly called “creative legality”.

Outrageous interest rates on bank loans. Calling in those loans years before were due. Forcing businesses all over town to close—how had she not noticed all this happening?

Because you have been wallowing in your shop for weeks! Lord, when would she learn that life continues on outside even though hers seemed to stall? Selfish! That’s what is was. Selfish. She had been so focused on her own woes—and the handsome tailor next door—that she hadn’t even lifted her eyes off her own feet when treading the boardwalks on her short trips to the mercantile. The only other time she’d set foot outside her shop was when she was doing her laundry using the pump and wash line outside the back of the building.

“How can he get away with all of this?” she finally asked, finding her voice buried beneath her outrage. Outrage at Colvin and herself. She’d known what sort of man Phineas Colvin was, and she knew what he’d wanted of her even though he hadn’t pressed her suit. She should have been more aware of what he was doing in town, knowing full well he was just as crooked as her father.

“He has the smile of a snake, he lures you in and then delivers a venomous bite when you least expect it,” Miss Green remarked most aptly.

“Indeed,” Mrs. Green agreed. “Why, we didn’t know he owned the bakery until we couldn’t buy flour on our account at the mercantile. Mr. Floyd said Mr. Colvin had ordered a stoppage on all supplies for the bakery, saying he intended to shutter the business we have toiled over for fifteen years, and install a law office. A law office? What does he plan to do with the full kitchen? Do lawyers need to provide their clients baked goods just before they slide the heart stopping bill for their services along the counter?”

“A cake with your kidney, Mrs. Green?” the lady in question sneered mockingly.

Mrs. Langley waved off the younger woman’s ill-humored remark. “That’s why we haven’t been around, my dear Miss Flowers,” she offered, her expression one of apologetic guilt. “He has required too much from us, and we had no choice but to make deals with the Devil to keep our roofs over our heads. Thankfully, my darling brother has stepped in to help Bob and I, but these other ladies are feeling the pinch.”

“The stab in the back, more like,” Mrs. Brown grumbled.

“We haven’t had the coin to afford your wondering and immaculate mending services, dear,” Mrs. Green admitted, pink rising into her already ruddy cheeks. “We’ve had to resort to doing our own mending—it was a pure miracle that Mrs. Langley’s brother had arranged for new dresses for our daughters—as a favor to Mrs. Langley, of course—before all of this horridness occurred.

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