She hurriedly withdrew her hand. Was he offended? “No, of course not, but—”
“Fine,” he said, holding out his hand. “Give the half-sovereign to me. I’ll deduct any costs from it you incur.”
Mina handed over the sum of her wealth with some reluctance. “And you’ll put up that curtain rail for Edna?” she added boldly. He scowled. Mina wasn’t sure what imp of mischief prompted her, but before she knew it, she had added pertly. “After all, you can deduct any expense from my half-sovereign!”
He took a step closer and Mina took an involuntary step back. Their gazes clashed and Mina realized they were both breathing hard now.
“Careful Mina,” he told her in a low voice. “It wouldn’t do to give me an excuse, not right now.”
“An excuse for what?” Mina asked, wishing her voice didn’t sound so breathless. Had she fastened her self-lacing corset too tightly that morning? He took another step forward and Mina took another back. Her skirts were up against the dressing table now and she had nowhere to left to retreat. She stared at up him, transfixed.
“Nye!” the shout from the stairs startled them both.
Nye turned his head. “What is it?” he bellowed.
“Delivery!”
He growled something under his breath and turned away, heading down the stairs with a heavy tread. Mina stayed frozen where she was a moment. Oddly enough, at that moment, she couldn’t decide if her overwhelming emotion was relief or disappointment. Strange. She waited five whole minutes before she too went downstairs.
She finished the first pair of curtains that afternoon. Setting them down, she rose from her chair and stretched. She felt stiff and irritable. If she hadn’t been under such pressure to finish these wretched curtains by nightfall, she could have had a nice walk at lunchtime. She walked over to the window and peered out at the rapidly darkening sky. She hoped Edna would be back before nightfall, that was all.
The curtains in the parlor bar were dingy and dark and could likely do with a good wash, she thought, fingering the heavy fabric as she loosened the cord to pull them across the window. She would have to light the lamps in here if she was to dine alone in here as everyone seemed to expect her to. Crossing to the mantlepiece, she picked up one of the rolled spills Edna had placed there that morning for her convenience. Holding it to the flames a moment to catch, she walked across the room to light the two oil lamps on pewter bases that stood on two of the remaining small circular tables. They cast a soft golden glow over the room and Mina had just turned around to survey the results when a knock at the door was followed by Edna spilling into the room laden down from her shopping trip.
“Oh, Mrs. Nye!” she panted. “I’ll just set these things down in here and then get some water boiling for tea.”
“Let me see to the tea, Edna,” Mia said, crossing the room. “You look done in!”
“That Sam Coulter’s wagon does jolt a body.” Edna shuddered. “And the wind and rain didn’t help!”
Mina slipped out of the room with the silver teapot into the kitchen where she set water to boil on the range. By the time she returned with a fresh pot of tea, Edna had removed her bonnet and tidied her hair and was looking a lot less harried.
“How was your aunt?” Mina asked as she set out the cups and saucers.
“Very well,” Edna shared. “She’s a good soul and not one to make a fuss about her troubles. We couldn’t even get halfway down the pier, what with the weather, but we had a nice cream tea in our favorite tea rooms. Aunty helped me pick out the items from your shopping list too,” she added with satisfaction. “We went into quite half the shops on the high street.”
“I’m not surprised that you’re worn out,” Mina commented, pouring tea into two cups. “It sounds like you’ve been very busy indeed.”
“And how has your sewing progressed?” Edna asked, glancing over at the blue velvet at the other end of the table.
Mina passed a cup and saucer to Edna. “The first pair are completed,” she admitted. “And I shall sew up yours tomorrow morning.”
Edna’s eyes gleamed. “I told auntie you were making me some curtains and she bought you this,” said Edna, delving into a shopping bag before sliding a somewhat crushed looking cardboard box across the table.
“What is it?” asked Mina in surprise.
“It’s a cream cake,” said Edna. “I only hope it’s not too squashed.”
“Oh, how kind of her!” Mina peered inside at the cream slice. “It looks delicious.”
Edna nodded, looking gratified. She piled two more boxes onto the table and a large pink striped tin. “I hope this was what you had in mind,” she said. “Only Master Nye wasn’t terribly specific.”
“I’m sure you’ve done extremely well,” Mina said, eyeing the fancy packages done up with ribbons. She dreaded to think what this little lot must have cost.
Edna beamed and took a large drink of tea. “You’re not going to look at ‘em now?” she asked with faint disappointment.
“Of course,” Mina said, picking up the first box which was pale blue and contained a sheaf of notepaper and envelopes decorated tastefully with forget-me-nots, a pot of lavender ink and a box of new nibs for her pen. “Oh, how lovely!” she exclaimed. Papa had been of the opinion that black ink was the only acceptable color for letter writing. “Such tasteful decoration,” she said, running a finger over the borders of the small blue and yellow flowers on the writing paper.
“I picked that out,” Edna said, clearly gratified. “Auntie thought violets,
