Review, Revision, Edit and Update
I had a lot of cleaning up to do! Sentence structure was a bit of a mess further on in this episode. No misspellings, one or two punctuation issues, just sentence structure. I always surprise myself when I leave things in such a mess.
My apologies!
It's a Plan
Tender new shoots pushed through the soil. Samuel had carefully prepared his gardens as he did every spring. Gardens really owned by the Beaufort Estate, Samuel Forrester had tended them so long that they seemed to belong to each other. In the new greenhouse, the one Miss Emelina had built the previous spring, he had tender tomatoes, beans, beets, carrots and more all ready to transplant in a few weeks. Although the Island weather was more agreeable than other parts of Canada, his father had always cautioned him. “Not til after May 24th, son. Your grandpa never planted outside before that because ‘Weather can turn bad. You’d lose all your hard work.’” Most years, the weather stayed, but he was pretty strict about planting. The forecast for the next few weeks was full of warm sun and light breezes. He knew be doing a lot of puttering and working the soil to avoid planting early.
Heading home for the night, he wondered how Elizabeth was doing. He was not a man who knew how to deal with a woman crying, and when it was Elizabeth, he was really stumped. Calling Martha to come over had been Elizabeth’s idea and he as glad of it. About to open his front door, he paused, his cell phone buzzing. “Now, who could that be? It’s gettin’ pretty late for phone calls.” He glanced at the call display - Elizabeth! “Hope it’s not another panic call…….Elizabeth? How're you doing?”
“I’m just fine Samuel. I want to thank you for coming over the other night and for the raspberries. Martha and I finished them off - none left at all.” Elizabeth had put the last pot away, made sure the refrigerator was stocked and called him before leaving for home. “Martha stayed overnight with me. We talked late, late. Drank tea, ate cake and all the raspberries. I’m all cried out now, Samuel. But enough of that.”
Samuel, in the house, took his hat off and sat down in his easy chair while Elizabeth was talking. “You sound like your old self. Maybe a little wore out, but pretty good. What're you goin' to do now?”
“Today, I’ve been at work. Such a relief! The other thing I want to talk to you about, Samuel, is a picnic on Sunday.” Elizabeth heard a muttered grumble. “Before you get all blustery about it, we’ll get picnic tables out. Nobody’s going to sit on the grass. First of all it’s still too wet and second, you’ll be hard to get along with for weeks.”
He decided he’d better hear her out. He didn’t want to get her upset again. She may have said she’s all right, but he knew her better than that. “All right then, Elizabeth, tell me all about this turn around. What do you need me to do?”
“Well, it started when I went to James office to order some groceries.”……………….
~~~~~
“James, are you busy?” Elizabeth tapped on James' office door. “Just finishing something up, Elizabeth, but come in and sit down. I’ll be right with you…..Okay, what do you need? How are you?”
Elizabeth Saunders, Cook for the Beaufort Estate, had everyone concerned. It had not been like her to fall apart. Today, she seemed quite fine, as though nothing untoward had happened. He'd learned of her only sister's passing when Martha had stopped into his office in the morning. He turned from his desk to listen to her. “Oh, I’m just fine, James. Everything is just fine and Miss Emelina has given me a job to get done this weekend. Dr. Jeremy has some days off and the two of them will be living in the upstairs. I’ll be ordering groceries in the morning for their meals.”
“That’s quite all right, Elizabeth. Go ahead and order what ever you need. I wonder if Dr. Jeremy remembered that Miss Emelina’s birthday on Sunday.” As long as James had been butler for the Estate, he had kept note of everyone’s birthdays.
“Oh my, I had forgotten. I’ll make sure there’s something special for her. Hmm…….” Elizabeth looked out the window.
“What is it? What are you planning, Elizabeth? I know that look - it’s the same one Martha has when she’s up to something?” James sat forward in his chair, smiling.
“Well, can I use your phone? I need to call Martha. I can’t say anything more until I talk with her.”
~~~~~
Samuel wondered what Elizabeth had cooked up. “Martha and I have decided on a picnic for the wedding reception for Dr. Jeremy and Miss Em and for Miss Em's birthday. It’s short notice for Miss Dez, Matt, and Giles and Melanie, but Martha has already called them and they’ll be able to come. James will be calling Dr. Jeremy to get him in on the surprise.” Elizabeth sounded more excited than Samuel had known she could be, especially after her upset of the last few days. “This is where you come in Samuel - you’ll need Giles to help with the picnic tables. We need to have good distancing for us all…………..”
~~~~~
Elizabeth’s sore heart had been eased. In the quiet of her home that evening, only the scratch of pen on paper and the tick of the clock could be heard. She kept her box of tissues handy to keep her eyes dry while she wrote. Finished, she folded the paper, slid it in an envelope and addressed it to Charles B. Pickham. “I’ll get a stamp at the post office tomorrow. It is so strange that this letter is to Lily's husband and not my dear sister Lily. I will miss her forever.”
“Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness.
They are a sign of a pure heart.”
~ José N. Harris
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