Autumn Air
Samuel and Elizabeth had disappeared at the same time for the last two weeks. Emelina wouldn’t have known except, from her dining room window, she had seen Samuel leave the garden just as the kitchen door closed. She guessed that it was Cook. It could have been Digby, but it was too early for him to leave. Most days, he was here till well after six. Of course, Emelina didn’t stand at her window every day at four-thirty. She may have been in the kitchen, on the jogging track, or anywhere on the estate. She smiled to herself, feeling as though she was in on some kind of secret. Glad for them both.
Today was different. Today Elizabeth was back in the kitchen. Autumn on the Island was still warm, but she had already started the soup making and beef stews for the changing season. She was busy organizing her fall and winter menus, talking with Miss Em about what she wanted. In the first year after pandemic restrictions had been lifted, she was often unsure about what she wanted. “You know my tastes, Cook. You just set the menus.” As she gathered strength, physically and otherwise, her tastes changed. She was not as interested in the complex meals she had once demanded. “Just simple things, Cook. I don’t need or want elaborate menus any more. Just your good food.” Since Dr. Jeremy had come into the picture, Cook found that she needed Miss Em’s approval for more groceries more often. “The poor man needs feeding on his time off. Hospital food is no better for the doctors than their patients.”
~~~~~
Samuel had his shed in order, his summer tools cleaned and hung on pegboard in rows as straight as his garden plantings in spring. One faithful tomato plant left in the garden was still producing tomatoes. Whistling softly, he thought of the previous weeks with Elizabeth. He re-tied the supports he’d put in as the plant grew. From that one plant, he had a small basket of the ripe red fruit for Elizabeth. He would take it up to her when he went to talk with Digby. They also had a regular autumn meeting about the year’s produce and what would be best for the next year. Now that the restaurants were open, they were resuming their fall meetings over lunch off of the estate. He and Digby talked about much more than Samuel’s work ~ Elizabeth’s name came up frequently. “We don’t want anything more than what we have. Each have our own home. We do spend time together. There are times we even go away together for a weekend.” He paused and looked up at the ceiling. “I like those weekends. Always thought it was because we were away.” He pushed his plate away, finished his lunch. “I’d best get back. Whenever you’re ready, James. Need to get tidying up the yard.” James hadn’t said a word, just kept to himself. He had always wondered if the two of them really needed to change anything. He and Martha were quite happy being married after all the years they spent ignoring it. But it just didn’t seem right for Samuel and Elizabeth.
~~~~~
It is odd in any community, how people ‘pair off’, just as though it were expected of them. Even the small community of the Beaufort Estate. In rapid succession, Digby and Martha ~ butler and housekeeper ~ then Emelina Beaufort, the lady of the Manor with Dr Jeremy Crawford, an old friend of the Beaufort family. The most recent was Emelina’s sister Dez Eliot and Matt Hamilton. Dez had known him for quite some time but they had recently reconnected over apple orchards and bees. It seemed a new love. Elizabeth, the Estate Cook and Samuel, the Estate yardman were a different pair. Their lives separate but as loving as any of the others. Giles Thornton, the Estate chauffeur, was already married and had children. Not on the Estate as often as he once was, he still kept in close touch with them all. He had the advantage of that distance to watch them all and wonder about such things. Relationships ~ always changing without notice. He and Melanie had been young and in University when they fell head over heels. These friends were long out of high school. As he drove home to his wife, Melanie, he wondered aloud “What will be next for them all?” He rolled down his window to the cool island air, took a deep breath and drove on.
“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
as I have seen in one autumnal face.”
~ John Donne
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