Outside the store, men jabbered about her. Inside, a small group of women stood in a corner and whispered. One even pointed in her direction while the others frowned at Alice.
Ignoring the hen party, Alice moved to the counter. A red-haired man stood behind it, facing away from her. Setting her list on the counter, Alice called a greeting.
“Good afternoon. I have a lengthy list for you today.”
He turned, and Alice gasped in disbelief. The obnoxious man from the train. He owned the store?
His eyes momentarily widened before a wide grin broke out on his face. “Well, if it isn’t the little lady I tried to show a warm welcome to only yesterday? Have you come for that tour I offered?”
The storeowner spoke loudly in a voice that dripped with innuendo. Alice heard the women in the corner titter in chorus before their whispers took on an earnest quality. She didn’t bother to eavesdrop but could feel tension radiate out from the women.
Looking away from them and back to the red-haired man, Alice stared silently. One eyebrow arched and her lips thinned. She hoped that would be enough reaction on her part.
The man stupidly waited. When he realized she wouldn’t answer him, he reddened like his hair. If the moment weren’t so uncomfortable Alice might have laughed. The poor man, with his round fleshy face, looked like a bright red tomato.
Even so, Alice didn’t laugh. She only stood with arms akimbo, expecting the man to pick up her list to read it over. When he didn’t, she put one finger on it and scooted the paper towards him.
Again, her dark eyebrow arched as she challenged, “Would you prefer I go to another store?”
He answered her with a snort. “You’ll find all you need to set up housekeeping in my pa’s store. I just brought back some fine things from Chicago.”
Alice lifted her finger from the list and shook her head, careful not to move it too vigorously since her fine hair made a habit of slipping out of the bun at the base of her neck. “No, Doctor MacKenzie’s home is furnished. I only need the foodstuffs.”
A chorused gasp at her mention of the name pulled Alice’s gaze once again to the women. She saw they’d left the corner and migrated very near the counter. Once again, they reminded her of a flock of hens.
A tall, bony woman stood at the front of the group. The spokeswoman, Alice decided. She stuck a bony finger near Alice’s face and shook it.
“You’ll come a cropper if you stay in that house.” Behind her, the half dozen others nodded.
With their support, the woman continued. “Course, maybe you’re his fancy woman. The doc’s son’s only been back a few weeks, and now his father’s gone. Makes sense he’d send for his woman.”
She turned to look at her cronies and nodded. Instantly, the group muttered their agreement.
Dumbstruck at the strange scene around her, Alice wondered if she’d fallen down the rabbit hole. Just like the girl in the book she’d begun the night before. Was Kilbourne City really a wonderland where nothing made sense?
The bony finger no longer shook near Alice’s nose even though the woman stood near her. Alice stuck out her hand. “I’m Alice Cordell, a nurse Doctor MacKenzie, senior, hired.”
With a jaundiced look at Alice’s hand, the other woman refused to touch it. “Dorcas Potter, the reverend’s wife. And, if you’re supposed to be nursing, why’re you doin’ the shoppin’?”
Alice shook her head sadly as she pulled her hand back, ignoring the woman’s slight. “Until I can find another position, the doctor’s son has graciously allowed me to stay and keep house for him.”
The woman made a rude sound, half laugh and half snort. “Gracious, huh? Good gracious is more like it since he’ll be after gettin’ under your petticoats next. That is if you wear any.”
Styles in the East had changed, with less full skirts. That had to be what the woman referred to as she and her gaggle eyed Alice’s black skirt. Turning away from them, she focused on the grinning man across the counter.
“Have you read over the list? Will you have everything I need?”
At her prodding, he picked it up and read it aloud. The women leaned in to hear, though why, Alice didn’t know. The man’s voice boomed out each item along with his yes to indicate the store had it. Only one thing, the allspice, wasn’t available.
“Too many ladies making pickles right now. It’ll be in next week, I expect.”
“That’s fine. I’ll just browse while you fill the list.”
He stiffened at the implied command, then turned to get busy. Alice moved with her step, drag motion to a notions counter nearby. As she ran her hand over a cheery red gingham, Mrs. Potter’s voice sounded close to Alice.
“You know he had to leave. After he wouldn’t marry the girl, his father sent him away.”
She should ignore the preacher’s gossipy wife. Alice knew that. Only, her curiosity over Niall’s hatred for the town ate at her. Oh, the bite of temptation!
“He who? What girl?”
That was all the woman needed. Dorcas Potter gushed with details that women behind her occasionally echoed.
“Murphy’s girl. He’s the blacksmith and a black-tempered man. Old Doc MacKenzie knew that man would kill his boy if he didn’t send him away.”
A timid voice echoed, “Kill him,” and a chorus of yes followed. It was like an odd Greek chorus. Maybe something out of that horrible play her father had once read aloud to the family—Antigone. Just the thought of
