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Chapter Fifteen
"You must be Miz Gray's sister-in-law."
The sound of a woman's voice startled Mary, who stood at the worktable with her back to the door, daydreaming about Lee—the naked Lee—the one she'd just seen striding across the bedroom floor. Mary whirled around, nearly upending the pan of biscuits she had just made to go with the beans, to find a middle-aged woman wearing a black dress, black bonnet, and a black crocheted shawl standing in the doorway. "I beg your pardon?"
The woman stood just inside the kitchen door and Mary saw that she had a wicker hamper over one arm. "I said, you must be Tabitha's sister-in-law."
"I…"
She didn't give Mary a chance to reply, but walked farther into the room and set the hamper on the kitchen table beside the stove. The woman held out her hand. "I'm Louisa Shockley, but my friends call me Lou."
Mary shook hands. "Mary Alexan… Mary Kincaid. I'm pleased to meet you."
Lou took off her bonnet and shawl and draped them over the back of a chair. "I'll bet you're wondering what I'm doing here."
"Yes, I am," Mary admitted.
"I help out around this place," Lou told her. "It's way too big for one woman to manage alone, so Tabitha hired some of us women to help cook and clean and wash. I do most of the cooking for everybody. Nan and Birdie clean, and Katrina comes on Mondays to do the washing and ironing." She glanced at the wet garments hanging in the scullery. "I see you've been doing a little laundry yourself."
Mary managed a smile of relief. "Madeline had an accident when we arrived."
Lou walked into the scullery and examined the laundry. "Looks like you did a pretty good job of it." She turned to Mary. "It's a good thing, too, because Katrina is real touchy about the wash. She takes real pride in having the whitest linens this side of the Mississippi."
"I noticed that the house was dusted and that the beds had fresh clean sheets and the water closet had fresh towels. I thought everything looked as if someone was expecting us," Mary said.
"We've been expecting you," Louisa told her. "Tabitha said she'd made arrangements for her brother, Lee, and his wife to come take care of little Maddy and poor old Mr. Crane within the month. We've been keeping the house ready and keeping a lookout for you and your husband, but since we weren't exactly sure when you'd get here, I didn't stock any perishables. When I heard you all had come in on the morning train, I decided to give you a while to rest up from your trip before I came by. I bought some eggs, milk, and butter from Sherman's General Store and I stopped by the smokehouse and cut down a ham before I came in." She nodded toward the hamper.
"That was very kind of you," Mary told her. "Let me get my purse and I'll be happy to reimburse you for expenses."
"Oh no, ma'am." Lou stopped her. "Ain't no need for that. I put the groceries on Tabitha's bill just like I always do. You can settle up with Mr. Buford later."
"Thank you," Mary said. "I can't tell you how relieved I am to know I won't have to tackle this huge house all by myself. When I saw it. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage."
"Yeah," Lou agreed. "It does kinda take your breath away, don't it?"
"Yes, it does," Mary admitted. "It's so big and empty." She shivered involuntarily. "I'm used to a smaller house and having lots of people around me most of the time. Do you or any of the other women live in?"
It took Lou a moment to understand what Mary meant. "You mean here in the castle?"
Mary nodded.
"No, ma'am. We live just outside Utopia closer to the mine. We have children and houses of our own to look after."
"Oh."
Louisa unbuttoned her cuffs, rolled her sleeves up to her elbows, and began to unpack the hamper. "Now, don't you worry about being lonely. Come morning, you'll have plenty of people around you."
"What happens tomorrow morning?" Mary asked.
Lou chuckled. "Breakfast."
"But there's only four of us. Five, counting you."
"Honey, come breakfast time, that big trestle table in the room next door will be slam full of people."
"Who?"