American Frontier - Chapter 7

Missy was pleasantly surprised to find the house empty. It appeared that Father had yet to come home, so he probably didn't even know of her absence. She breathed a sigh of relief and put dinner where it would keep. She would get it all out again when Father returned.

In the meantime, she tidied up the house and worked on some mending. When Father still hadn't returned by the time she usually went to bed, she made sure his dinner was easily accessible and headed to her room.

When Missy woke up the next morning, the food was gone, replaced by a few dirty dishes. She smiled, happy to know that Father had made it home safely. She managed to get the dishes cleaned and a small breakfast laid out for Father before she headed to work.

She arrived at the bakery to find Emmaline looking pale and tired. The older woman was still working on her dough for her well-loved raisin buns that always sold out, but Missy could see that she was lagging.

"What's amiss?" she asked, gently pushing Emmaline out of the way and taking over the kneading. She had never made the raisin buns herself, but she had helped enough to know what to do.

"I just don't feel quite the thing, dear," Emmaline said in a weak voice, slumping down in one of the chairs she kept for customers in front of the counter.

"You look like you need a rest. Just tell me what you want done and I'll run everything for today. Once everything is ready to your satisfaction, you can go back to sleep and I can run the counter."

"Are you sure? I would hate to drop the full load on you."

"I'm positive," Missy said firmly. "You are in no condition to work, so either I do all of the physical labor or I'm afraid we'll just have to close for the day."

Emmaline laughed weakly. "You're such a good girl. Thank you. Now mind you knead that for another three minutes exactly, then let it set for another minute before you add the raisin filling."

Missy was happy to see some of Emmaline's spark return as she sat and observed. She was still pale, but her voice was stronger by the time Missy had finished up all the baked goods for the day. Usually Missy baked one or two more batches while Emmaline handled the morning rush, but Emmaline agreed that was unnecessary.

"I'll just trust you to take care of things, I guess, and get these old bones of mine back up to bed," she said, standing with a groan.

"Do you need any help?" Missy asked.

"I'm not that frail yet," Emmaline said grumpily. "I just need a little more rest and I'll be back on my feet, grumping at you as usual by tomorrow."

"I expect nothing less," Missy answered with a smile.

Emmaline returned the smile as she made her way slowly through the door and up the stairs to the living quarters. Missy kept her eyes on the older woman until she was safely up in the family area, then turned her attention to the long counter where all the baked goods were displayed in neat rows. She rarely interacted with customers, so it would be quite a morning.

Thankfully all the usual morning customers came through first. They were all surprised to see Missy manning the counter, concerned when she said Emmaline just needed a break (Emmaline never took breaks), and very patient as Missy got used to working with customers.

By the time the morning rush of regulars had disappeared, Missy was feeling much more confident. The next two hours were slow. She managed during a few long breaks between customers to sneak upstairs and peek in at Emmaline, who looked to be resting peacefully.

Just after the lunch rush, Missy went up for one more check. She only had a few things left in the cases to sell, so she would probably be done earlier than usual. Of course, she needed to clean up as well, but even then, she would be leaving well before Jacob got home. She wasn't sure if she should leave Emmaline alone for those few hours.

Her decision was made for her when she found Emmaline still asleep, but pale and sweating. She was tossing and turning in her sleep and had already gotten the blanket tangled around her.

"Emmaline," Missy called, trying to wake her up. "Emmaline!"

Emmaline just groaned and flailed around a bit. Even when Missy carefully shook her, she was unable to get her friend to wake up.

Hurrying back down the stairs, Missy headed to the door of the shop and peeked out. To her relief, one of the boys she knew from church was playing near the bakery.

"Timothy!" she called.

The tall, gangly blond boy hurried over and smiled. "Hello Missy! How are you today? Do you want to see what I can do with my ball?"

"I'd love to another time," she said. "I need your help. Mrs. Dillon is really sick and she needs a doctor. Is Doc Jones around today?"

"Naw. He won't be coming back through 'til Wednesday, last I heard."

"Then can you run grab Mr. Eddington and ask him to come check up on her please?"

"Sure thing!" With a quick wave, Timothy ran down the street.

Missy returned to the bakery and was heading up the stairs when she decided she should probably lock the door and flip the sign to "closed". She was halfway to the door when it flew open and a familiar tall, slim figure strode confidently in.

"Isabella," Missy said softly, greeting her old classmate.

"Missy Taylor," Isabella said in a voice that was rather too sweet.

"I was actually just about to close the bakery. Emmaline isn't feeling well right now," Missy said apologetically. "Perhaps you could come back another time?"

Isabella just kept speaking as though she hadn't heard what Missy said. "When Parker told me that he was going to be spending time with you, I honestly thought he was joking. I mean, honestly, he's seen you around for three years. Why would he suddenly develop interest in you NOW?"

Missy couldn't stop the blush that rose over her neck and cheeks. "H-he hadn't actually noticed me until very recently," she answered timidly. Isabella's loud, confident personality always made Missy feel awkward and shy.

"Something happened." Isabella examined Missy more closely. "What did you do?"

"I d-didn't do anything? Not intentionally. We just ran into each other unexpectedly and. . ." Missy wasn't sure how to describe their initial meeting without embarrassing herself even further.

"Why are you blushing? What happened? Did you throw yourself at him? Seduce him?"

Missy flinched as Isabella hurled accusations. "Of course not!" she answered in a louder voice, gaining confidence. "I would never! How dare you accuse me of such a thing!"

"How dare I? How dare you, you little hussy!" She reached out and grabbed Missy's arms in a punishing grip, digging in her long nails.

"What's going on here?" a familiar voice interrupted.