“No, they think he murdered her.”

  She rocked back on her heels, arranged for the food to be delivered, and left before she could snap his ear off. She stalked to the baker, pushed through the door, scowled as she ordered a cake for Friday when Joseph and Marian would return. Eunice’s frown was fierce as she adjusted their breakfast buns order since Charles preferred toast with his breakfast, and Marian was going to stay through the next week. As she ordered, her ferocious frown didn’t leave.

  “Are you all right?” the baker asked.

  “I just heard the most astonishing nonsense.”

  The baker lifted his brows and Eunice told him what the grocer said. The baker, however, didn’t immediately leap in and contradict Eunice. “Do you really think that it’s haunted?”

  “No.” Mr. Remington tapped the counter where he was placing cookies in a box. “What Mr. Devon didn’t tell you was that Polly Siegel disappeared right around the same time that Yelena Essent died. Mr. Essent quite lost his mind. The house was in pristine condition only five years ago. It’s like a bugbear in our little town, Eunice. The problem isn’t just what happened to Mrs. Essent, who hadn’t showed a trace of illness before she died. It’s what happened to Polly Siegel. Because one of them is buried in the church yard and the other hasn’t been seen in near five years.”

  Eunice wanted to shake the entirety of the town. There wasn’t a better job than working for her Georgie and Mr. Charles. “Is there anyone desperate enough to work in the haunted house for good pay and kind masters or shall I start looking beyond Harper’s Hollow?”

  The baker’s head tilted. “Are they offering room and board?”

  Eunice paused. “They might. For the right situation.”

  “If your mistress wants to do a good deed as well, there’s three kids who just lost their parents and don’t have anywhere to go. The vicar is housing them right now, but—”

  “How old are they?”

  “I believe they’re sixteen and seventeen. There’s a fourteen-year-old as well.”

  Eunice had little doubt that they’d be welcome once Georgette heard of their tale.

  Which she did as soon as she found Georgette still at her writing.

  “There’s no family?” Georgette had set aside her pencil and notebook to listen.

  “I don’t believe so,” Eunice said.

  “They must finish school. That’s not negotiable. I won’t take advantage of children to get some help with our dishes.”

  Eunice nodded. “They could go to school and come home and do the work together.”

  Georgette rose and stretched as she said, “Well let’s go get them.”

  Chapter 7

  GEORGETTE DOROTHY AARON

  Eunice and Georgette walked to the vicar’s house through Harper’s Hollow. It was in the main part of the town at the end of the street where the church held the place of honor. The church was grey bricks with a white steeple, and the vicarage, a plainer building, was immediately behind the church with the graveyard in between.

  The three children were nearly grown, but not quite. The oldest child was one of two girls. She was hanging laundry. Though on the cusp of womanhood, she was dressed like a schoolgirl, her wheat-colored hair back in braids. Her face appeared and disappeared in between the movement of the clothes being pinned to the line. There were dark circles under her eyes and she nibbled her lip as she worked quickly. The look on her face was not one that had been provided comfort, and Georgette’s heart ached at the sight.

  She looked beaten, Georgette thought. It was more than grief. It was complete and utter dejection. Georgette pressed her hand to her heart as her gaze slowly moved to the boy. The next oldest, he was taller than both of the girls. His shoulders were narrow, showing his youth. He had dark circles under his eyes that matched both sisters along with the same pale hair. He worked as quickly and efficiently as his sister.

  The youngest sat nearby. She was stick slim with long, pale hair braided back, red cheeks, and dark circles under her eyes highlighted by the shine of slow tears. She was snapping sugar peas. She, like the others, seemed utterly and completely broken.

  “Hello,” Georgette called. All three children’s gazes snapped up. The boy and the younger girl turned back to their work without interest.

  “Ma’am,” the oldest girl said. “Can we help you?”

  “I thought you might be able to,” Georgette told them. “I’m looking for help at my house. I understand you need a place to stay.”

  The children glanced at each other and then back at Georgette. It was, she thought, the start to quite a spooky story, but Georgette intended them no ill will, and they weren’t as spooked as they should be.

  “All of us?” the oldest demanded with the dawning light of hope. “Even Janey?”

  “Do you need a place to stay?” Georgette asked. “All of you?”

  The boy nodded. “We do. Yes, ma’am. We’ll do whatever it takes.” He said the last with such pleading that Georgette understood at once.

  “They are separating you?” Georgette demanded, pressing harder on her chest. “Why?”

  “Janey is too young. She can go to an orphanage. She can finish school there. The vicar says it’s best for her. Lucy and I are too old.” The boy scratched the back of his neck. “She has the chance of a better future.”

  “Would you rather all stay in school and live with us?” Georgette offered, gesturing to Eunice. “I won’t lie to you. We also need help.”

  The youngest squeaked but didn’t speak. It was the oldest who replied this time. “We do.”

  “I have the room and a supposedly haunted house.”

  “What kind of help?” the boy asked, the haunted house part ignored in his desperation.

  “In the kitchens, with the cooking, with the garden,” Eunice said. “I’d expect you to help.”

  “And in exchange?” the boy asked.

  “You’ll have a home, food, and schooling. We could help each other.”

  “For all of us. Janey too?”

  “Siblings are a blessing,” Georgette told them. “I’m quite jealous of you, and yes, you can stay together.”

  “Where do you live?” the oldest girl asked.

  “The old Essent place,” Georgette said.

  All three of them winced, glancing at each other and weighing the offer. It seemed the superstition of the village had not escaped the three orphans.

  “That’s where Polly was last seen,” the boy replied. “She was my friend.”

  “I don’t know about Polly,” Georgette told him. “I just know that no one wants the job because of whatever happened there before. It’s why your names came up.”

  “It is,” the oldest girl added. “I’m Lucy, this is Eddie, and our sister, Janey. We want to stay together. You just want help around your house? Like chores? That’s it?”

  Georgette and Eunice glanced at each other, looked back at the children, and nodded.

  “And we can go to school?” Eddie demanded. Like schooling was a gift.

  “Do you want to go to school?”

  “I want to be a doctor,” Eddie told her. His fists clenched as he prepared for a scoffing reaction.

  “That’s a high goal,” Georgette told him. “You’ll have to study hard. You’ll need a tutor. Charles will know about that.”

  Eddie stared and Lucy moved, pulling Janey to her feet. “We’re going to do this.”

  They went to speak to the vicar’s wife, Mrs. Oddington, and she looked so relieved, Georgette whispered to Eunice that they might have made a terrible mistake.

  Only, Mrs. Oddington was making cabbage soup for supper. They couldn’t afford the children, Georgette realized. They were, perhaps, taking food from their children’s mouths to feed the orphans. Mrs. Oddington tried to ask the right questions, but she also added some preserved meat to the soup. Their dinner just got better when she realized she wouldn’t have to feed three more.

  “You can look after them from a distance,” Georgette told the vicar’s wife. “We aren’t far, and I’m sure it’ll be good for them to know others care.”

  The final shreds of guilt faded from Mrs. Oddington’s eyes and she nodded, kissing each child and helping them to gather their things. “You do have so much room.”

  “We do,” Georgette agreed. “It helps all of us.”

  They left soon after.

  “It occurs to me,” Georgette said as the house came into view, “that I might have discussed this with Charles first.”

  Eunice snorted evilly. “I wondered when it would.”

  “You could have said something.”

  The children gave each other concerned looks with the littlest tearing up.

  “Don’t worry,” Georgette said. “He won’t object. Just do well in school, be quiet around his office, and work reasonably hard. Charles is kinder than I am.”

  “Only to you,” Eunice told Georgette. “He loves you.”

  The children started again.

  Eunice sighed. “He’s a kind man. Don’t worry. He won’t turn you away.”

  “We will work hard,” Eddie swore. “We will do whatever you need. They were going to send Janey to an orphanage. Me and Lucy were going to have to get jobs, and I’d have never been a doctor. My mama would have said that you were an answer to prayers.”

  Georgette’s hands were on her hips as she stared into the first of the two servants’ attic rooms. The storage had overflowed into the nursery with, as Eunice had declared, too much scuttling for anyone’s comfort. Both rooms were of an equal size and both had metal frames and thin mattresses that had been mouse homes.

  “We need cats,” Georgette said. “Immediately.”

  Janey gasped. “We had a cat! I could get her! She was a good mouser!”

  “Well, of course,” Georgette said and Janey was running down the stairs before anyone else could say a word.

  Lucy’s laugh of joy was echoed by Eddie.

  “I don’t know if one cat will be enough.”

  “There’s a woman who lived near us with kittens,” Lucy said. “Their mama was a good mouser. The kittens probably are.”

  Georgette’s dogs were snuffling and Georgette’s head tilted. Three dogs…three cats? “Ask Eunice how many to get.”

  “She has a pair of rather attached ones,” Lucy said carefully. Her gaze was afraid to hope, but Georgette guessed Lucy had become attached to those kittens.

  Georgette smiled. “Lucy love, get whichever ones you think best. A pair of kittens who adore each other is fine with me.”

  When Lucy left to find Eunice, Georgette turned to Eddie, who was eying her carefully. “This feels too good to be true.”

  “You seem like good children to me. Maybe being able to keep your cat is the answer to your mother’s prayer, like you said.”

  Eddie swallowed thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “We tried to be good. You only want us to help around the house?” He was so suspicious, so…concerned she wanted something more that Georgette wondered if Lucy or Janey had been inappropriately propositioned.

  “Eddie,” Georgette examined his face, the dark circles under his eyes. He and Lucy had been sleepless as they’d tried to decide what to do after losing both of their parents. “I understand what it’s like to be you.”

  “How can you?” he demanded. His accusing gaze on the oversized house was disbelieving.

  “I wasn’t that much older than Lucy when my parents died, but I had Eunice. I know the hurt of that, however. It’s not fair you lost your house, and your cat, and were losing each other. All we can do is take the chances we’re given, work hard to craft the life we want, and trust that not all of mankind is out to take advantage of us.”

  Eddie frowned at Georgette, but he nodded.

  “Do you have a final year left of school?”

  He nodded.

  “I expect you to study hard for the exams for university. We’ll try for a scholarship and if that doesn’t happen, we’ll see what we can do.”

  His jaw dropped, and she patted his arm.

  “How were you going to go to school before your parents died?”

  “I’d learned about a scholarship, and I hoped to find work. The vicar was studying with me to help me prepare.”

  Georgette nodded and then said, “You’ll need to scrub these rooms down and throw out the furniture. We are making quite an unsightly heap in the back garden while we get rid of all the skeletons of broken furniture. We’ll get some better beds, but until then, cots are all we have.”

  The boy nodded as Georgette made a list for him and his sisters. It wasn’t much, and it was all for their bedroom. They’d paint later, and they’d fix that cracked window later. One of the rooms would be for the girls, one for Eddie. They’d be all right. Now to explain to Charles.

  The afternoon ended as the workmen left. One of them helped Eddie carry the old bed frames out to the garden and agreed to take them away. The bare pads that could hardly be called mattresses were going to be burned in the garden. While Eddie and Janey scrubbed down the empty rooms, Lucy met Eunice in the kitchen to help get the stew and berry pie from the pub.

  Once they’d eaten, Georgette returned to her new story of Harper’s Bend. It was easier to write now that the actual lives of characters that she’d based off of villagers had stopped infecting her story.

  The doctor who had once been Dr. Wilkes was just Dr. Williams now. He was his own creature, and he almost told his own story as the antics of his demon children charmed Georgette on the pages. She had given the doctor and his wife a soon-to-arrive baby.

  As she wrote, she realized that even though she had never lived anywhere else, she did not miss Bard’s Crook. In fact, the only thing she missed was her little house, but this bigger, more beautiful house was quickly replacing that small cottage in her mind as home.

  A young couple had purchased the cottage while she and Charles had been traveling, and there would soon be small feet pattering around the floors where Georgette and her mother had once learned to walk. Georgette would have regretted the same being lost for her child, but this house—this house called to her spirit.

  It was a bit like Marian had said. The old Georgette fit the cottage where she had been raised. The new Georgette fit this big old house with its layers upon layers of stories. She didn’t want her child to be the overlooked wallflower or the town’s personal cipher. She didn’t want him or her to grow up defined before the first breath had been taken.

  Chapter 8

  The goddess Atë had not expected Georgette to take on the orphans. She wasn’t surprised that Georgette had. It was possible that no one knew Georgette Dorothy Aaron better than the goddess Atë. It was just that the children would bring out in Georgette responsibility and carefulness far more than anything else could, which would really destroy Atë’s viewing pleasure.

  Atë considered turning her eye to the village in the north with the funny little man who had discovered a recent crime, but Georgette was delightful. Like a kitten chasing a light. Atë watched as Georgette left her house with its secrets and walked towards the train station. The last train was coming in for the night, and she’d been writing for so long that her back ached.

  She wandered slowly towards the train station and found that it had been early for once and Charles was already walking towards her in the dimming light.

  “Georgette?”

  She slipped her arm through his and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “There you are.”

  “Did you miss me after all?”

  “No,” Georgette said instantly and then laughed at the look on his face. “I’m afraid I didn’t think about you nearly as much as I should have. I confess I was distracted.”

  Charles paused and looked down at her. “Is this where you tell me you took a lover?”

  She grinned at the look on his face and shook her head.

  “Is this where you tell me that you burned the house down?”

  She shook her head.

  “Is this where I discover that you’ve bought a steamship ticket to Nice?”

  Georgette laughed.

  “What then?”

  “It all started with discussing a nanny with Eunice.”

  Georgette paused for Charles to object. To tell her it was her duty, but he just nodded and said, “Robert figured out you are expecting but is prepared to be silent and surprised at the appropriate moment. He is finding a good service for us to find an excellent nanny. Along with a doctor who isn’t a fool.”

  All those worries Georgette had possessed about a nanny and for no reason. He had already started thinking of it. “You don’t think it should be me?”

  “Nannying?” Charles frowned. “I think you should write.”

  “Even though we’ll have a child?”

  “That’s what nannies are for, Georgette. You’re a very good writer, and it’s not like you won’t be there if our baby needs you.”

  She’d had scolded herself for being worried over nothing, but they were getting closer to the house and Charles still didn’t know about the teenage orphans.

  “So, after we talked about the nanny, Eunice said we needed a daily maid.”

  Charles just nodded. “We do. Eunice isn’t as young as she could be. The house is too much even for a young woman.”

  “She’s not old,” Georgette hissed. Eunice was in her late 40s, and she was going to live forever.

  Charles wrapped his arm around Georgette. “All I’m saying, darling, is that someone else can scrub the floors.”

  “Yes, well. No one wants to work for us. Our house is haunted, apparently. The wife of the previous owner died rather unexpectedly. Rumors abound! Supposedly the master bedroom was perfect five years ago, Mrs. Essent died, and Mr. Essent grieved by destroying their bedroom.”

  Charles’s head tilted and he said, “It’s ridiculous, but I can just imagine it given the state of the room.”

  “Then the baker told Eunice about some young people who might be willing to work for us. Since they were desperate.”

 

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