An Unlikely Mother

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“I believe it’s my turn to serve the meal,” Sarah said coldly.

“Oh!” Rose smiled. “I’d be pleased to do so in your place. Take the night off. Spend some time visiting with Flora.”

Sarah murmured an acceptance, but her eyes flashed fire. For a moment, Flora regretted asking her, but then she remembered that she was called to be a peacemaker, and she was doing her very best.

“Now that we have that settled,” Flora said, trying to sound pleasant, “I have some wood to gather.”

She bent and told Pierre that they were going to collect some wood, and that he needed to remain close to her.

As Flora turned to go toward the area where they collected wood, George said, “Shall we come help?”

Sarah smirked, like she thought poorly of the idea but knew Flora would accept.

“Yes,” Peanut said. “I’d like to contribute somehow. I can carry firewood.”

Rose smiled broadly. “Very nice. I love the spirit of everyone coming together. I think I’ll join you, as well. Sarah, would you like to come?”

Would it be awful of Flora to say that she’d rather not have Sarah? Yes, she’d done the hard task of inviting Sarah to sit with them during dinner, and she’d be kind and polite to the other woman. But it seemed like more punishment to be continually working with Sarah.

“I need to check on Maureen,” Sarah said, a smile on her face but ice in her eyes. “As well as let the others know that I found Flora and she’ll be attending to her duties tonight.”

“All right then,” Rose said. “We’ll see you at dinner.”

From the murderous look on Sarah’s face, she wasn’t too happy at the prospect. Knowing Sarah, she’d find a way out of the task, if at all possible.

But at least Flora had tried.

Rose reached forward and squeezed Flora’s hand. “You did well. I know it was hard for you to make the overture, but it was the right thing to do.”

George nodded. “I was impressed. The friendship is her loss, not yours.”

She shouldn’t have been so pleased at George’s compliment. But the way he looked at her made her want to stand a little taller. He was the most honorable person she knew, and it felt good to have his support.

If only they didn’t come from two different worlds.

Chapter Five (#ub96cbda0-4629-5bba-82b7-c86782c1804f)

Once they’d finished gathering the wood, George left the ladies at the cabin so he and Peanut could talk to Stumpy about getting into the office. As they rounded the corner to the main area of the mine, George saw John Montgomery mounting a horse. Hopefully to go back home. He’d been relieved when Flora hadn’t wanted to talk to her father, and knowing that one fewer person was around to recognize him was a good thing.

“That there’s John Montgomery,” Peanut said, pointing. “Your lady friend’s father. I hear talk that he’s trying to buy the mine. Would be nice having a gent like him running things instead of those Bellinghams. Just leeching the money from the place, not bothering to grace us with their presence or see how things are being run. Montgomery mines are a nice place to work, that’s a fact. I’ve tried to get hired on, but my back’s not as strong as those young bucks.”

Peanut grinned. “But if Montgomery buys this place, well, now, I’d be working for him, wouldn’t I?”

As if he sensed the men talking about him, Montgomery turned and gazed in their direction, shading his eyes from the glare of the fading sun.

“Flora said she thought she’d seen him earlier, but she wasn’t keen on running into him.”

Peanut shrugged. “I can’t see him being all too happy about her spending time with the likes of us. The man’s got more money than a body’s got a right to, and that daughter of his is his biggest treasure. He’d be a fool to let anyone without deep pockets himself near her. She’s going to marry well, that one.”

A fact that made George far more miserable than he would have expected. He’d already made up his mind that he couldn’t marry a socialite like Flora. As much as he’d like to, he knew he couldn’t give her what she wanted out of life. He’d seen enough of the mine’s condition to know that it would take a great deal of capital to improve things, and based on the financial documents his brother-in-law had shown him, the Bellinghams didn’t have it.

The best they could hope for was selling to a man like Montgomery, which would at least replenish the Bellingham coffers, but it wouldn’t give Flora the life she wanted. Besides, if Montgomery was involved in the mine’s sabotage, he couldn’t see the man willingly giving his daughter in marriage to the man whose family he’d just destroyed.

They hurried around the building, out of Montgomery’s field of view.

Once they were far enough away, George asked, “Do you think Montgomery would be causing the problems here at the mine, trying to make the mine worth less to get a better price when he buys it?”