As he turned and walked away, Evelyn was sure her mother was wrong. She hadn’t just dipped a toe into a dangerous situation.She was drowning in it, totally smitten with Jayce Clarkson, a man from the big city, from a world she knew nothing about.
And he’d leave here in a few weeks.
* * *
Esther awoke from a deep sleep, looked at the clock that read 2:00 a.m., then nudged Lizzie. “Wake up.” She turned an eartoward the noise she’d heard, which sounded like it was coming from the kitchen. “Do you hear that?”
Lizzie didn’t even lift her head. “It’s one of those Hollywooders.” Lizzie had taken to calling their guests by the nicknameeven though none of them were from Hollywood. “They eat at all hours of the night.”
“I know. But I never hear them.” Esther was on her feet. “It sounds like someone is singing.”
“Maybe they’re practicing for the movie.” Lizzie pulled the covers over her head.
“It’s getting louder. Whoever it is, they are going to wake up the entire household.” She nudged Lizzie’s arm. “Get up. Weneed to go see what’s going on for the safety of all our guests.”
Lizzie groaned but rolled out of bed. They hustled into their robes and threw scarves over their heads before they tiptoed out of the bedroom, then crossed through the living room. Esther saw movement coming from the dark kitchen, lit only slightly by the propane light in the yard beaming in through the window. The singing grew louder, so they picked up the pace.
Esther reached for the flashlight on a shelf in the living room and hurried to follow Lizzie.
“Hush!” Lizzie yelled in a loud whisper.
Esther shined the flashlight in Rose’s face, but the girl didn’t seem to notice. She only sang louder as she wiggled her hipsfrom side to side, her fingers pointed at the floor as her arms bounced up and down to her rhythm.
“This maedel is crazy as a loon.” Lizzie stomped her foot. “Rose, what in the world are you doing?”
“Lizzie, stop.” Esther pointed the flashlight at the ceiling, lighting the space around them. “She’s sleepwalking.”
“And singing?” Lizzie’s eyebrows shot up. “We don’t sing. And that sounds like that loud music Mr. Philips used to play after he bought that car without the top on it.”
Esther stood next to Lizzie, equally stumped. “Where do you think she learned to dance like that?” Esther cringed. Rose’sdance moves were inappropriate at best.
Lizzie shook her head. “Should we lock her in the basement?”
Esther gasped. “Of course not. I once read that you are supposed to just walk a sleepwalker back to bed, that it can be badto wake them up, make them feel confused and frightened.”
Lizzie’s eyes widened. “If anyone should feel frightened, it’s us.”
Esther walked toward Rose, and when she touched her arms, the girl stopped dancing. “Time for bed,” Esther said softly as she studied the girl’s dazed expression. Esther waved a hand in front of her eyes, but Rose didn’t even blink.
She allowed Esther and Lizzie to walk her back to Lizzie’s bedroom. After she was tucked in, the sisters tiptoed back to Esther’sroom.
“We fire her first thing tomorrow,” Lizzie said as soon as they were back in bed.
“We will do no such thing.” Esther set the flashlight on the nightstand, lay down, and put a hand across her forehead.
“It’s no wonder that girl doesn’t have a husband and her family shipped her to Big Roy and Katie Marie. Thinking back, KatieMarie practically pushed Rose out the door when I picked her up. We return her in the morning.”
“She’s not a package to be returned.” Esther wondered if she would ever have a good night’s sleep again, but firing Rose andshipping her back would leave her with sleepless nights as well. “Let’s talk about this in the morning.”
“It is morning,” Lizzie snapped. But within a few minutes, she was snoring.
Esther stared at the ceiling, thinking what a peculiar day it had been. Gus had risked his life to save another. Rose almostburnt down the house. Evelyn Schrock and Jayce seemed too smitten for comfort, going out to the bench by the pond together.Esther’s father used to call it the courting bench. It had been repaired and restained more times than Esther could recall.
They had a house full of English people, and more outside in big buses, who were as foreign as aliens. And now Rose was a sleepwalker. And she sang. And danced. Esther set herself to praying for all kinds of things, anxious about what the next day might bring. A body could only take so much.
Thirteen
It started raining before daybreak on Tuesday and hadn’t let up by Friday afternoon. If the forecast was correct, the stormswould continue off and on through the weekend. Esther’s achy knees usually weren’t wrong, but she hadn’t anticipated thiskind of weather. Or chaos.
“Giovanni went to Veronica’s motor home to see if he could get the generator going again.” Jayce held an armful of wet towelsas he walked into the kitchen. “The roof is still leaking in my room, but I’ve got a pot catching the water now. What do youwant me to do with these towels?”
“Can you please put them in the basement?” Esther took a deep breath. The inn had housed three generations, and it had certainly weathered some storms, but Esther didn’t remember anything like this. Places throughout town that didn’t usually hold water were flooded. The mail carrier said the East Fork of the White River was so far out of its banks near Williams that folks hadn’t been able to get out most of the week.
“We’re gonna need an ark.” Lizzie shuffled into the kitchen looking as worn out as Esther felt. Lizzie had dark circles underher eyes and was wearing a wrinkled dark-green dress she’d fallen asleep in the night before. And she’d misplaced her dentures.“How are we holding up on food?” she asked with a lisp.
Esther usually made a run to the market on Thursdays, but the roads had been