Page 27 of Valley of Dreams

Chapter Seven

Eliza had been in heavenduring the town party on Saturday night. With the music and dancing and storytelling and coming to know her new neighbors, it had been an utter delight. On a whim, she’d asked a stranger in the crowd to be her partner for the required New Arrivals Dance. His name was Dr. Burke Jones. He’d proven kind and friendly, and, though quiet, not unwilling to chat a bit.

He had only arrived in Hope Springs a few months earlier. She looked forward to knowing him better. She looked forward to knowing the entire town better.

A few mornings after thecéilí,Maura peeked her head inside the kitchen where Eliza was sweeping up the dust blown in by the unending Wyoming wind. “The Archers are in town. They’ll be home any moment.”

Eliza clamped down the rising worry in her heart. She couldn’t help the reaction. Life had taught her all too clearly that the well-to-do were best approached with great caution. She knew the Archers were wealthy because nearly everyone who had spoken about them had mentioned it.

Terrence, her late husband, had come from just such a family. She’d been a maid in the service of his aunt and uncle. She and Terrence met in the corridor of that fine New York City home. She’d been charmed by him and his unassuming air, and lulled into a sense of safety by how immediately accepting of her he’d been. They’d fallen in love quickly and wholly.

The viciousness with which she’d been rejected by his wealthy family, and the cruelty with which they’d completely and irrevocably disowned him, still stole her breath. They’d not even attended his funeral. They’d refused to acknowledge their granddaughter, responding to Eliza’s letter telling them of Lydia’s birth with venomous insults.

“Leeches are never loved,” they’d written. “Weights are never wanted.” They’d cast doubt on Eliza’s virtue. They’d questioned Lydia’s paternity. Then they’d threatened her should she attempt to contact them again.

The wealthy were not to be trusted. Yet there was no avoiding them this time. They were paying her salary.

She leaned her broom against the wall and rushed into her room, where Lydia sat playing with her handkerchief doll. Eliza did her best to tame Lydia’s wispy waves. Then she quickly recombed her own hair and pinned it up in a proper and prim knot. Though she was tempted to change into her Sunday dress and Lydia into hers, she couldn’t imagine her employer would be pleased with her pausing her work—twice—for an unnecessary change of clothing. Their humble but well-cared-for, everyday clothes would simply have to do.

Even so, Eliza tied on a clean apron before taking up her broom once more, all the while listening for the sound of wagon wheels. When she heard them, her pulse immediately quickened to a worrisome clip.

Lydia stood on a kitchen chair “walking” her handkerchief doll across the tabletop. She was oblivious to the tension quickly filling what had been their private corner of the world.

“Time to scrape and bow a bit, sweet pea.” Eliza scooped up Lydia and set her on her bare feet. Until she had some money saved, she couldn’t address the matter of Lydia’s non-existent footwear.

She held fast to Lydia’s hand as she stepped onto the back porch and searched out the newly arrived wagon. Three children were in the process of climbing down from the wagon bed into the arms of a woman she assumed was Mrs. Archer. Finbarr and Aidan were seeing to the horses. Eliza didn’t spot anyone who might have been Mr. Archer.

The girls moved toward the front of the house.The front. Of course.A fine family would not be entering the house through the back door. How had she forgotten that after only three years away from her time as a maid?

She picked up Lydia and slipped back inside. Careful not to set her hair flying loose in her haste, she moved quickly through the kitchen, the dining room, the sitting room, and into the front entryway. She set Lydia down once more.

Weights aren’t wanted.

She’d make herself useful and not a burden. That was the surest way to survive.

After a quick, deep breath, she opened the front door.

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