She reached over and put one of her hands over mine. “Thank you, Phillip Baker.” Just as quickly, she removed her hand. “Would you like to go in with me?”
“Yes, sure. Sit tight. I’ll help you down.” I got out and sprinted around to her side to assist her. When I had her safely to the ground, she went to the box and chose three books: Anne of the Island, Summer, and O Pioneers! Of them, I’d only read the Willa Cather novel, thanks to Josephine sending it to Walter.
A walkway had been shoveled between the barn and back door of the house. We didn’t have to knock. The door flew open to reveal a young woman with skin the color of milk and black curls piled on top of her head. “Josephine, you can’t imagine how happy I am to see you. I’ve been done with all three books you brought last week for two days now.” Round green eyes traveled to me next.
“Shannon, this is Phillip Baker,” Josephine said. “He’s staying with us for the winter.”
The winter? I thought it was only through the holidays. I put that at the back of my mind to think about later.
“Come inside. Mam’s upstairs with one of her headaches, but she’ll be happy to get new books once she feels better.”
We walked into the kitchen. A large white sink and a cooking stove took up most of the room. Josephine put her stack of books on a scratched table with spindly legs, one of which had splintered and looked as if it might fall apart at any moment. They needed a sturdy table in here, one with thick legs and a wide top. The bulk of the housework was most likely done in this room: cooking, washing, canning.
Another girl about the age of Cymbeline appeared next. She had fair hair, lots of freckles and the same big eyes as her sister. “Hi, Josephine.”
She was introduced to me as Nora.
“Nice to meet you,” I said.
“You as well,” Nora said. “Other than Josephine, we don’t often have visitors.”
“We’ve only just finished the dishes,” Shannon said. “Or you would have caught us in the mess.”
Nora handed Josephine a copy of A Little Princess and snatched Anne of the Island from Josephine’s stack and twirled around. “I’m so happy for this one. A Little Princess was very sad, but I loved it.”
“Me too,” Josephine said.
Shannon must have noticed my gaze focused on the table. “This old thing’s about to fall apart.”
“I accidentally knocked the leg with my knee when I got up from the table the other day,” Nora said. “I’m so clumsy sometimes.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Shannon said as she wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulder. “This table’s old. Mam found it out by the abandoned mill when they first came here.”
“I could make you a new one,” I said, surprising myself. “One made of a harder wood. I’m a woodworker.” Those sentences shoul
d have been in a different order, leading with my qualifications.
“Are they expensive?” Nora’s forehead wrinkled as she peered at me.
“I could give it to you for the price of the wood,” I said. “The Barnes family’s been so kind to me, it’s the least I could do.”
Josephine smiled at me, and I felt as if I’d just hung the moon. “Papa has some odds and ends lying around. I’m sure we can find the wood at no cost to anyone.”
“Mam talks all the time about getting a new one,” Shannon said. “Maybe we could surprise her with it for Christmas?” She turned to me. “Could you make it by then?”
I caught Josephine’s eye. She nodded, smiling encouragingly. “Phillip?”
We were roughly three weeks before Christmas. It would be tight, but I could do it if I worked steadily. “Yes, I can make one in that amount of time.”
“Are you going to open a furniture shop in town?” Nora asked.
“I’d like to,” I said. “But I’d need customers first.”
“If you made one for us, we’d tell everyone, and maybe you’d get more orders,” Shannon said. “Here in Emerson Pass, we prefer to buy locally. No one wants to give city folks any of our hard-earned money.”
Lord Barnes had said he would front the cost for wood if I paid him back. If I could set aside my pride and take his help, I might be able to start a business of my own. Everyone needed tables, chairs, chests, kitchen cabinets, and dressers. No one here was doing it. Everything had to be brought in on the train. Making them here, I could do them cheaper than having them sent out from the city.
A plan for my life? One that would ensure my worthiness for the likes of Josephine Barnes? For that, I would do anything. Even taking a loan from her father.