Page 56 of The Heart of Bennet Hollow

“Afternoon, Mr. Drake. Can I help you?” Cook balanced a bowl of white frosting in the crook of her arm. Behind her, the stove was covered in bubbling pots and two trays of fresh baked bread for the start to his and Lizbeth’s honeymoon travels.

“Yes, thank you.” He tugged at the cuffs of his crisp starched shirt. “I’m looking for my wife.”

Cook’s cheeks were as rosy as her hair. “She was just in here helping me make the frosting. We thought we’d make a smaller version of your wedding cake to bring on the trip.

Seein’ as the pair of ya didn’t hardly get a taste.

We were just pullin’ the cakes out to cool when she was summoned for a telephone call. ”

“A call?”

“Yes, sir. She hurried out just a moment ago. Try the butler’s room.”

“Of course.” William retreated from the kitchen and with maids and a footman watching, he strode the length of the downstairs servants’ corridor toward the butler’s quarters.

A daily habit for him to venture down here in search of his bride.

Ever since they’d exchanged vows at the church, he suspected that he would spend the rest of his days finding his wife in the unlikeliest places and he rather liked it.

Yesterday she’d been in the greenhouse, talking to the gardener as they planted hydrangeas near a footpath, and this morning, she’d been up to her elbows in cakes and frosting.

With the butler’s door open, he heard Lizbeth as he neared.

“Are you still there, Pa?” came her sweet voice.

William entered and relief flooded her face. She waved him nearer then lowered the mouthpiece with its dangling black wire. “It’s Pa. He’s callin’ from the new telephone you had installed at the mine office, but when I answered, we got disconnected.”

“Can I help you try again?”

“Please.” She held over the phone. “I was helpin’ Cook make a cake. The same one from our wedding since we didn’t get any.”

He smiled at the second reminder in as many minutes of that blessed day.

Her family had been in attendance, along with his friends and relatives.

All save Aunt Catherine, who had sent a card instead.

Now a band of gold glinted on Lizbeth’s slender finger, next to a princess cut emerald.

The jewel matched the dark green of her new dress as she peered up at him, and her finger was the same one resting on the lever that ended her telephone call.

“I think I may have figured it out.” He kissed her forehead and accepted the telephone. “Hello, Operator? I’d like to place a call.”

“Go ahead, sir.”

William’s focus stayed on Lizbeth’s face. “To New River, Virginia.”

“Hold please.”

While he waited, he offered the handset and receiver back to Lizbeth.

“Oh!” Her eyes widened. “It’s connected now.”

Leaning nearer, William listened. Her pa’s voice came through the line. “Lizzy girl?”

Her eyes watered. “Hello, Pa. It’s so good to hear your voice.”

“And yours, sweet girl. I’m callin’ from William’s office.”

“He’s here with me.”

“Tell him I said hello. And that I’ve got good news.”

Rising onto her tiptoes, Lizbeth ensured the earpiece was balanced between them. “We’re listening.”

“It’s about the mules, and the farm.”

“Yes?”

“The workers finished the last corral just days ago. It’s somethin’ else, Lizzy, all bright and new and as wide as the whole meadow. Not a splinter or sliver in sight.”

Her gaze found William’s and he saw her heart shining there.

“And yesterday, you’ll never guess what I saw.”

At the pause, William felt Lizbeth holding her breath.

Bennet’s voice came through the line, patient and earthy. “I was standin’ there, puttin’ my tools away with the workers, and when I looked up I saw a mule in the distance, comin’ toward the farm.”

William watched his wife’s face as her father’s story unfolded there.

“And then I saw that it wasn’t just one. It was near a dozen.”

Her lips parted and she squeezed a hand to her chest. At the worry that she was going to accidentally end the call again, William offered to hold the telephone while she balanced the receiver.

“All bein’ led by a few of the mule drivers from the mine just minutes before.

The first pit ponies of many, I suspect.

They were a sight, Lizzy girl. All lit by a settin’ sun.

You’d have been amazed by it. Some practically pranced right into the meadow.

Some bucked. Others sniffed the wind. It was as though they couldn’t believe they’d finally made it home, right there in Bennet Hollow.

I’m thinkin’ I might have a new sign made up. What do you think?”

Chin trembling, Lizbeth swiped at her eyes. She was gripping the front of her apron now. The very apron she’d brought along from her beloved farm.

William kissed the top of her hair, which was warm and sweet.

“They all came from the one-hundred level,” Mr. Bennet continued.

“Where production’s been the slowest. We figured those ones would be the best to start with.

The first ones to let loose back into the open and the first place to put in the electricity for electric carts.

You did that, my girl. You and William.”

Her eyes glistened as she nodded.

“Your Eugene would have made you mighty proud. He trotted all around greeting each one. I think he may have recognized a few of his brothers or sisters.”

William squeezed Lizbeth’s hand again. It was trembling now.

“And William?” Mr. Bennet said.

He cleared his throat. “Yes, sir.”

“The funds you sent to cover the corrals and feed supply. It more than covered the materials. And the pasture there. It’s a thing of beauty.”

It always had been. Overwhelmed, William nodded. “Very good, sir. It was my honor and I can’t thank you enough for all the work you and the men have done to get the farm ready like that.”

“Of course.” Bennet’s own voice quieted, and William sensed a knot of emotion on the other end. From a man who had just given two of his daughters in marriage. “I can’t thank you enough, son.”

“It’s my pleasure, sir.” Reaching over, William squeezed Lizbeth’s hand.

How had God blessed them so? This richly?

In the lives they not only had the privilege to lead, but now to share each and every day.

The blessings came in ways William had never imagined.

All the years he’d spent walking the halls of this estate, longing for it to speak of home and now, it was a home unlike any other.

“You two have safe travels,” Mr. Bennet said at last. “Enjoy the races and we’ll see you after your trip.”

Lizbeth thanked her pa and William stepped back to give his wife a few more minutes to say goodbye. Taking the chance, he retreated to the kitchen to confirm with Cook that all would be ready for their evening departure aboard the Pemberley.

“Yes, sir. I’ll be heading over soon with the last of the supplies to light the oven and make sure there’s a nice supper awaiting you and Mrs. Drake upon boarding.

Several maids are there now, giving the master suite a once-over and to add touches they thought a young lady might appreciate. Fresh flowers and the like.”

He could hug the woman. “You’re a wonder.”

From the butler’s room, William heard Lizbeth hang up the receiver. Her footsteps were soft, the rustle of her taffeta skirt softer still as she joined him. “I hope I haven’t made us late.”

“Not in the least.”

“Should we finish packing?”

“Let’s.”

She led the way up the stairs that took them from the servants’ hall to the living quarters.

“I wonder if it’d be possible to add a stop in New River to our travels,” she mused.

“Only for a day.” The look she gave him was tentative.

Especially since he’d arranged a bridal month for them that would begin at the Belmont races in New York, landing the Pemberley just steps from the track for the Long Island Rail Road.

There, they’d have the joy of meeting up with Jayne and Callum for an entire day.

After the race, William and Lizbeth would journey onward to the New Jersey shore where a stay at Brighton House promised views of the ocean and an easy walk to the beach.

William touched the small of her back. “I think that’s a marvelous idea.

How about we take a look at the itinerary tonight once we board and see what changes we can make.

” Since they would be travelling the US and Canada by rail for a month’s time, there should be a way to stop in Virginia before heading out west.

“But you’ve told me that train itineraries can’t easily be adjusted. Nor with a train car in tow.”

“What if I tell you that I’m learning to change my ways?” He winked. “And if necessary, we can always leave the Pemberley behind and try our hands at coach.”

She laughed softly, here in this hallway that had needed that sound for so very long.

Lizbeth felt the crack of a pistol as she raised a set of binoculars toward the starting gate.

With a gasp, Jayne did the same. Their elegant sleeves brushed together in the warmth of the day.

Callum stood proudly at Jayne’s other side here in William’s private owner’s box.

The air brimmed with the aromas of popcorn, lemonade, and horses as in a thunder of hooves, twelve thoroughbreds barreled down the track.

The crowd filling the grandstand roared so loudly, Lizbeth felt it straight through her chest.

She gripped William’s hand with all her might. “They’re so fast!” she cried.

The crowd’s cheers shook even the platform beneath them. Flags of bright colors waved in the breeze and men waved hats and newspapers overhead in excitement while women clutched gloved hands together, or lifted opera glasses to peer through.

Heart pounding, Lizbeth peeled her gaze away from the track just long enough to see William whisk his hat off and toss it on the seat beside him.

His focus stayed fixed on Lady Light. “Come on, girl.”