Secret Promise

Chapter One
The Clemons Household
 
Spring 1907

The thought occurred to Caroline that no one would believe what went on inside the Clemons household. She slipped out of Millicent’s bedroom. Glancing over her shoulder, she rushed through the dining room back to the warm kitchen, leaned by an open window, and drew the breeze into her lungs.
“Land’s sakes . . .  you done got too hot.” Rachel brushed the thick soft back of her brown hand against Caroline’s cheek. “Sit a minute. I’ll fetch you some cool water.”
Caroline swigged it down and set the empty glass on the worktable. “Thank you, Madear. Got to go.”
“You can’t let Miss Horsey catch you back here when you supposed to be at the front door.”
In the parlor Caroline plumped the needlepoint-covered pillows on the sofa. A burst of wind blew a filmy curtain into her moist face. Reaching to straighten it, she looked through the window in time to see two Tennessee Walking Horses pull an elaborate surrey with fringe trim into the circle drive.
A dark-haired man perhaps in his early twenties stopped the team next to a hitching post. He jumped out to tie the horses and bounded up the steps to the high front porch.
***
Jacob MacGregor thought he was at the right place – the corner of East Main Street and Old Town Road. The steps led him onto a porch, which wrapped around the north and east sides of the pristine white house. When he raised his hand to knock, a young woman with sparkling blue eyes swung open the door with its etched glass panel to welcome him into the Clemons house. Smiling without speaking, she motioned him inside and then floated away through the dining room and toward the swinging kitchen door. Even though the door had a wide crack on the hinged side, he lost sight of her.
High hat in both hands, he stepped into the Victorian parlor of Mrs. Hortense Smith Clemons. She had sent him a formal invitation to come for tea. Delectable smells of baking food wafted from the kitchen to the front of the house.
“Oh, do come in. Place your hat on the table or hang it on the rack, whichever you prefer.” Hortense, bustled in from a bedroom opening into the dining room on the left side. She tripped and almost fell.
Having plastered a solicitous smile across her face, Hortense stretched one hand toward him. She teetered in her high-heeled shoes to her wing-backed chair, where she sat too hard. “Caroline should have taken your hat.”
“It’s all right,” he said.
“Girls, we have a guest.” She turned her head and shouted, “Come here now.” She looked back at Jake and forced a laugh. “How are you?” The left of her mouth turned up and the right side curved downward. “Do be seated on the sofa or the love seat.” When she talked her voice went up and down two octaves.
“Caroline,” she scolded. “Bring the tea.” She clapped her hands. “Make haste.” Almost losing her balance, she leaned toward Jake. As she recovered her composure, she daubed her flushed face with a dainty handkerchief.
Jake sat on the sofa. Mrs. Clemons was not at all as he had expected her to be.
She folded her hands in her lap. “Ah, here we are. This darling girl is Lydia.” Hortense beamed with pride as she pointed toward the tall thin young woman. “This precious one is Millicent.”
Jake arose and stood until the young women entered, curtsied, and seated themselves. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, ladies.” He nodded his head in a polite gesture.
The server, whom he supposed was the person Mrs. Clemons called Caroline, entered with the tea.
He thought: it isn’t supposed to happen this way.
In all of God’s creation, he had never seen anyone so lovely. She was graceful but unassuming. He forced himself to focus on Mrs. Clemons and her daughters. What could be more uncouth than feasting his eyes on a servant in the home of the Senator’s wife?
Caroline moved with fluid grace as she served. Her intriguing eyes remained focused on her task. Her facial expression was pleasant, but it seldom changed from a sad half smile. He leaned forward to take the teacup and saucer from her hands. The smell of her perfume – ah, what was it? A blend of roses, peaches, and sandalwood, all floating above the exotic black tea.  
No one bothered to introduce her. “Come here, Caroline,” Hortense tapped her spoon on her saucer. “Bring me my medication so I can add a spoonful to my tea.”
At the mention of the medication, Jake thought he saw the slightest hint of a sparkle in Caroline’s eyes accompanied by a covert grin.
“Here it is, ma’am.” Caroline had anticipated the woman’s needs. Mrs. Clemons doctored her tea.
“For my lumbago,” she explained to Jacob. Caroline walked through the opened French doors with glass panels. She placed the bottle somewhere in the dining room.
“Now bring us some teacakes. Be quick about it,” Hortense said.
Did he see her looking back? She gazed over her shoulder at Hortense Clemons. What was behind the expressive glance of her cornflower eyes?
Jake, despite his sensibility of etiquette, found himself admiring Caroline as she walked away. He noticed the way her skirt swished.
“I was saying, Mr. MacGregor, it is hard to get decent help nowadays.”
“Oh, really?” he replied, as she jerked his attention back into the proper focus.
“Yes, I have Rachel, my cook. Jim is my flunky. He drives us. We have a serviceable buggy for every day and a surrey we use on special occasions. He takes care of the horses and yard. He goes to the Mercantile with our list and brings home our groceries. If the Senator would require Caroline to take boarding elsewhere, I’d have room to place someone more reliable.”
Jake, not the least interested in her domestic affairs, gave the woman a blank look. She had rare grace and elegance for a serving girl. She hardly acknowledged his presence. Try as he might, he couldn’t bring her into eye contact. Except for the look she gave Hortense, she looked away or down.
A braided cord held her hair away from her delicate face. Blonde waves flowed in rivulets down her back. At the neck of her navy dress, she wore a plain collar and a large locket hanging from a crimson satin ribbon. In her pierced ears she wore sparkling diamonds, out of character for a serving maid.
He noticed the sisters’ elaborate hairstyles with pompadours crowning their heads and shiny curls streaming over their shoulders. He was amazed to see such professionally arranged hairstyles in Taylorsburg, Mississippi, in the middle of the week.
He gazed at Caroline . . . he was losing control. He admired the gentle pleasantness of her expression. Her apparent concern was to make everyone comfortable.
He blurted out the words on the tip of his tongue: “Beautiful hair.”
“What?” Hortense demanded.
“Uh . . . .” He thought fast. “Excuse me, if I’m forward, but your daughters have their hair arranged beautifully.”
***
When Jacob left a few minutes later, his mind was hazy. He would need to return to the Senator’s home soon. He was sure Mrs. Clemons would invite him to see her two eligible daughters, since he was the newest bachelor in town. He could gain business in his mercantile from them, also from their friends. But what about Caroline? Having entered his mind uninvited, she lingered.