Page 13 of The Pursuit of Elena Bradford

13

By the time Elena got back to the hotel, the sun was well up and shining fully on her bare head. She had paused more than once in the gardens to lift her face toward its warmth. The feel of her hair sweeping across her back was somehow freeing too. All she needed was her cat, Willow, to make the morning perfect.

But of course, Willow was not in the Graham Springs gardens, and Elena was not in her father’s rose garden with the freedom to wear her hair down and let the sun touch her nose.

Now, unless she could slip up to their room without her mother seeing her, she was in for a lecture. Her mother might even have a fit of the vapors at the sight of her bohemian daughter. Elena sighed as she approached the hotel entrance. Nothing for it but to face her mother’s wrath if she was still in their room. Thank the heavens, Elena spending so much time hidden away among the roses with Andrew Harper could remain a secret.

The thought made her smile. Andrew. A friend who shared her passion for roses. A friend who said kind words about her sketch. She wondered whether Kirby Frazier would have been as kind. More likely he would laugh at her amateur efforts, especially if she tried sketching something other than flowers. Say, his portrait. She couldn’t imagine asking him to pose for her, but still, she might attempt it in private. She could bring up his face in her memory.

She could do Andrew’s too. He might even consent to posing for her some early morning in one of the gardens. And why not? He would be kind even if her sketch looked nothing like him.

On the stairs up to their room, Elena thought about the lines of both Kirby’s and Andrew’s faces. So different. The men were every bit as different. Andrew quiet with a kind of confident assurance, even though Ivy was right. Something had hurt him deeply and left the visage of sadness behind. On the other hand, Kirby could never go unnoticed in the background. No sadness veiled his eyes. Determination hardened the lines of his face.

And yet, there was something else, too, that she hadn’t quite figured out. She shook her head. She didn’t have to try to figure everyone out. Except perhaps those her mother was putting on the potential husband list. Kirby Frazier would not be listed there. His pockets definitely weren’t the deep ones her mother was after.

“Elena, where have you been?” Ivy rushed down a couple of steps to meet her. “Mother is beside herself.”

“I went for a walk in the gardens.” Elena shifted her sketchbook in her arms. “To do some sketching.”

“Mother feared it was so. She says you should have never brought your art supplies with you.”

“Why ever not? I can surely have a few minutes to myself in between husband hunting.”

“Shh.” Ivy looked around. “You don’t want someone overhearing you. That sounds so ... so ... I don’t know. So unromantic.”

“It is unromantic.”

Ivy sighed. “I suppose you’re right, but don’t you think it better to pretend it is?”

“I don’t think pretending will make it any different. I’m the same as up for sale.”

“Really, Elena. It isn’t as bad as that.” Ivy looked near tears. “Is it?”

Elena took pity on her and made her voice cheerful. “No, of course not. I may yet meet my prince. I have weeks and weeks to find him.” She managed a smile. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t go out in the mornings to sketch some of the beauties of this place.”

“Oh, I think you should. I don’t know why Mother would be bothered by that. It’s the evenings where you can charm the men.” Ivy held out a straw bonnet bedecked with flowers she’d been hiding behind her skirts. “But here. I noticed you forgot your bonnet this morning. You should put this on before we go to the room to keep Mother from knowing you went out without anything to shield your face from the sun. You know how Mother is about freckling.”

“My skin doesn’t freckle the way yours does.”

“Yes, but I don’t think Mother trusts that to be true.”

“You are right and a dear to smuggle out a bonnet for me.” At the top of the stairs, Elena put down her art supplies and took the bonnet. She tucked up her hair and tied the ribbons under her chin. Maybe, thanks to her sister, she could avoid the lecture after all. “Thank you, Ivy. That was thoughtful of you.”

“I love you and Mother so much, and I hate it when either of you is upset.”

“How about when you are upset?”

“I hate that too.” Ivy’s face drooped into sadness. “Mother says I can’t write to Jacob. He will think I’ve forgotten him.”

Elena started to tell her that was exactly what their mother was hoping, but she didn’t let out the words. Ivy was upset enough as it was. “He will understand when you explain.”

“But what if he finds someone else this summer?”

“Then he surely isn’t the prince you deserve.” When Ivy looked ready to tear up again, Elena gave her a hug. “But that hasn’t happened. And I doubt it will. He’d never find another girl as sweet and beautiful as you.”

“But I promised I’d write.”

“Write your letter. Perhaps we will find some pennies on the pathways to pay the delivery charge. Most of those here are so well off they probably wouldn’t pick up a coin if they dropped it.” Elena smiled as she retrieved her pencil box and sketchbook. “Especially if it was one of us ladies with our waists whittled down so tight. However could anyone expect us to lean over to pick anything up?”

Ivy frowned. “Then how can we get the pennies were we to see them?”

Elena’s smile turned to a laugh. “Some of us rebel at times and wear a dress that lets us breathe.” She took Ivy’s hand to make her touch her midsection.

Ivy’s eyes widened. “You don’t have on a corset.”

“I didn’t think the roses would mind, and it’s such a struggle to properly adjust if you or Mother don’t pull the laces tight.”

“But what if someone had seen you?”

“Then I wouldn’t have let them touch my waist so that they wouldn’t mind either.”

“You are wicked, Elena.” With a smile, Ivy shook her head. “Come on. Let’s hurry to the room. Oh, and a lady moved in next to us this morning. She came by coach very early. Did you see her when you went out?”

“No. The hallways were empty. You’ve already talked to her?”

“I did. A while ago. She seems very nice. She came all alone.”

“A lady coming here alone seems a little strange. The three of us being here without a male relative to keep watch over us is unusual enough.”

“Vanessa says her father, a judge in Louisville, has been delayed but will be joining her soon.”

“Vanessa. You are on a first-name basis with her already. You make friends so easily, dear sister.”

“She didn’t say her family name. Was that odd as well, you think?” Ivy answered her own question. “I don’t think so. We were just two girls meeting in the hallway, although I guessed her several years older than me. She had that certain grace about her that I don’t think I’ll ever have no matter how old I am. Anyway, I didn’t say my family name either. But we talked awhile. She seemed glad to make an acquaintance here.”

“So, what else did you find out about her?”

“I didn’t question her.” Ivy frowned slightly. “I’d never do that. But she is very beautiful. Blonde hair neatly styled and lovely eyes. A pure blue. Skin very pale as is so fashionable right now.”

“To stay that way, she best keep her bonnet on.” Elena moved her head to one side and then the other. “Even if it does limit what a woman can see. You know what? A bear could sneak up on me and I’d have absolutely no chance of escape. But then how could a woman run in a full skirt and petticoats with the air squeezed out of her by a corset? It would be hopeless.”

“Oh, Elena.” Ivy giggled. “I’m sure Vanessa faithfully wears a bonnet, but she didn’t have one on when I met her. She must have heard me in the hallway and came out to meet me. Anyway, when I told her I was looking for my sister, she said she would love to meet you. She seemed impressed that you had gone out for a stroll by yourself so early in the morning.”

“I can’t see why that would have impressed her since she came all the way from Louisville on her own. That would seem to take more courage than simply going out to enjoy a sunrise.”

Ivy shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m sure you would like her.”

“Once I am suitably outfitted with corsets and have my hair twisted into the proper buns, I will grab a parasol and knock on her door to introduce myself.” Elena looked toward their own room with some reluctance. “But first, I suppose I best face Mother.”

“You won’t argue with her, will you?”

“I would if it would help, but since it won’t, I’ll meekly listen to what she has to say and agree to it all.”

Ivy sighed. “And then do whatever you want.”

If only that were possible, Elena thought, as she followed Ivy into their room. Her mother delivered her upbraiding quietly, obviously aware of neighbors close enough to hear angry voices. Elena said nothing in her own defense and did as she had told Ivy, nodding at all the right places but saying little. She could agree without capitulating. After all, she was not a child.

“I am sure that anyone who saw you out so early thought you were no more than a common maid going to clean the guest rooms.”

“It’s honorable work that someone has to do,” Elena said.

Her mother’s eyes tightened. “And work you may have to do if we fail in this grand adventure we’ve undertaken.” She sank down into the chair and put her head in her hands. “I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve such a rebellious daughter.”

“I’m sorry, Mother. I wanted to see the gardens at sunrise. Is that so awful?”

“A lady has to guard her reputation. Think of the example you are setting for your sister.”

“A woman willing to marry for money rather than love is hardly a lady. Nor is it a path I would wish my sister to follow me down.”

“Not money. Security.” Her mother stared up at her. “And to keep from falling into a hard life of cleaning and cooking for others. Being that maid I mentioned a moment ago. You can’t want that for your sister.”

“Of course not.”

Elena glanced over at Ivy wringing her hands as she watched them. Such a gentle soul. Even if Elena did take up the broom and mop of a maid’s job, she couldn’t make enough to support her mother and Ivy or her brothers.

Perhaps she could get some other job. She could teach art. For a moment, a spark of hope flickered, but then it went out. Artists were notoriously poverty stricken. Her mother’s grand adventure—rather, scheme—was the best answer. What Elena needed to do was find the right man, one she could imagine living with for the rest of his or her life.

Everyone always thought she would end up a spinster. A marriage without love wouldn’t be very much different. Except ... well, she wouldn’t think about the except right now. She couldn’t think of what would be expected. If only there was a prince somewhere out there who would turn this sentence of marriage into a promise of actual love.

“Dear Father in heaven,” she whispered after Ivy and her mother left to take the waters. “If there is a man like that here, please let me meet him. One I can love as a wife should love her husband. I realize I’ve done nothing to deserve love, but love isn’t something to earn. It just is.”

She pitched the bonnet onto the bed, scooted the chair over close to the window and raised the sash. Then without the first thought to arranging her hair into the proper style or squeezing herself into a corset, she opened her sketchbook and finished drawing the butterfly.

She held her hand over it the way the butterfly had hovered over the roses before it alighted on the rose Andrew held. That had let her get the best look at its wings and the small white spots on its body. She was glad Andrew hadn’t pinched its wings to keep it there but had allowed it to stay or fly away.

How wonderful to be allowed to stay or fly away.