LITMIR.BIZ

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out for herself and the children, knowing a local resident when visiting a strange town was always beneficial.

      Regina laid a hand across her chest, highlighting a bodice that was cut a tad too generously for such an early hour. The sight sparked a long dormant memory. Mrs. Hollingsworth hadn’t approved of Regina. The landlady had even locked Regina out one evening when she’d returned after curfew. Lily had snuck her in the through the kitchen.

      “Clearly you’re lost.” Regina swept across the room and grasped Lily’s forearms. “No woman with any sense of self-preservation travels to this part of the country on purpose.”

      “It’s a long story,” Lily said with a sigh.

      Even with their opposing temperaments, at least Lily had discovered someone who could assist in unraveling the mystery of Frozen Oaks.

      “You look a fright, and your hair is mess. Did you sleep in that dress?” Regina clucked. “Let’s get you a warm drink and put some color into those cheeks. One mustn’t be caught looking like a member of the kitchen staff. The management is liable to put you to work.”

      Instantly aware of her disheveled appearance, Lily smoothed the strings of her crushed bonnet between her thumb and forefinger.

      Her head snapped up. The outlaw.

      “Did you see a man around here earlier?” Lily asked, hoping her tone conveyed nonchalance.

      She gazed at her forlorn little bonnet with its faded daisy trim. Not that she cared if the man found her appearance more suitable for the back stairs than the front parlor, but she couldn’t shake her inherent curiosity.

      “Only Jake.” Regina shuddered delicately. “Best avoid him. As I recall, you’re too trusting by half.”

      Her dismissive tone raised Lily’s hackles. “You didn’t mind my trusting nature when I snuck you in after curfew.”

      “Exactly my point. I shouldn’t be trusted. You’re far too naive for your own good.” Regina linked her elbow through Lily’s and led her toward the foyer that opened to the restaurant. “Come along and I’ll tell you everything you need to know about Frozen Oaks while we unravel this long story of yours.”

      Lily bit her tongue. There was no use getting her back up. She’d be gone by morning, and Regina appeared to have moved beyond sneaking through kitchen windows after curfew. Judging by the expensive material of her dress, she’d done quite well for herself over the years. Lily hooked her fingers over the frayed edge of her worn cuff.

      “Wait.” Lily dug in her heels. “These are my charges, Sam and Peter. They’re the reason I’m here.”

      “Charmed.” Regina’s nose wrinkled. “They’re very quiet for children. I like that. After you freshen up, the dining room is that way.”

      She crossed the foyer without a backward glance.

      “You’re prettier than she is,” Sam grumbled. “I think she’s jealous.”

      Peter nodded his agreement. “You’re much prettier.”

      “Miss Dawson is obviously unaccustomed to children,” Lily said with as much diplomacy as she could muster. “But since she might know something about your grandfather, I suggest we accept her invitation.”

      Brushing at her rumpled skirts, she urged the children forward. The unexpected twinge of vanity startled her. When had she ever worried about her clothing or her station in life? Her recent faint had obviously muddled her head. She should be counting her blessings instead.

      Over the years, scores of people had passed through the boardinghouse. Though the transient nature of the business had prevented forming close relationships, delivering countless stacks of linens up and down endless flights of stairs had finally proved beneficial.

      “Don’t just stand there loitering,” Regina called from the dining room. “My curiosity about your new role as a schoolmarm must be sated. Not to mention I’m famished.”

      “I don’t like her.” Peter’s eyes took on a mutinous gleam. “I don’t like her at all.”

      Though Lily was inclined to agree, she held her tongue. “Regina can be a touch abrasive.”

      “If we’re gonna live here,” Sam said, “we’re stuck with her.”

      “This has been a trying day for all of us.” Lily stifled a grin at Peter’s grim expression. “We’ll all feel better after we eat.”

      The hotel restaurant was crowded with heavy furniture and shadowed with thick burgundy velvet curtains blocking the windows. Over half of the chairs were occupied. The majority of the patrons were men, their heads bent together in conversation, their voices low. An enormous stone fireplace dominated the far end of the room with a crackling blaze. The establishment struck Lily as something of a lair. A den of iniquity where deals were struck—deals that began in infamy and ended in blood.

      An unconscious shudder rippled through her. She was worse than Peter with her wild, ghoulish imaginings.

      Following Regina, the three wove their way between the packed tables toward a secluded enclave.

      The siblings discovered a checkers set and Lily excused them to play. Distracted by the game, the two were perched on wingback chairs covered in hunter green crushed-velvet fabric set before the fire.

      “You’d best be careful around here.” Regina patted her hand. “That Jake is bad news. He has the whole town quaking. Even Vic avoids him when he can.”

      “He didn’t seem so bad.” There’d been a grim, almost grudging sort of compassion to his warning. Not to mention Lily was starting to feel peevish toward Regina and her increasingly transparent insults. “Surely you exaggerate.”

      “Wait a second, it’s all coming back!” Regina clapped her hands. “You’re orphan Lily. You’re the one who stayed on with Mrs. Hollingsworth after your father died. No wonder you’re chaperoning those boys. You were something of a legend amongst the boarders. Anything must be better than working as an indentured servant in that gloomy old boardinghouse with Mrs. Grouch.”

      The shock froze Lily so completely that the sense of chill was almost physical. Never for a moment had it occurred to her that she was the subject of rumors. Having her personal tragedy reduced to backstairs gossip stung more than she cared to admit. She wasn’t some tragic figure to be pitied—a curiosity amongst the boarders.

      Biting the inside of her lip, she gathered herself, forcing her attention back to the current problem. There were far more serious issues at stake than the discovery of her humiliating, heretofore unknown, reputation. Despite the warmth of the room, she wrapped her arms around her body and rubbed her upper shoulders.

      “I haven’t quit.” Lily glanced at the two siblings. Speaking about them in the same breath as dollars and cents felt like a betrayal. “The children were recently orphaned. I’m chaperoning them until their grandfather arrives.”

      “All the way from St. Joseph? The train tickets alone must have cost a fortune. How well are you being paid?”

      “Well enough, I suppose. A judge arranged everything.”

      “Judges dump strays into orphanages. They don’t search for long-lost relatives. Mommy and Daddy must have left behind quite a lot of money to pay all those bills.”

      “They are not strays!” The crude language shocked Lily into silence for a beat. “They are children. With thoughts and feelings.”

      “Whatever you say. I’ve never been much for children.”

      “Apparently not.”

      A harried server wearing a stained apron loosely wrapped around her gaunt frame set two cups of coffee before them. The server darted away without a word of greeting. Lily caught a brief glimpse of the spill of gray hair escaping from the bun at the nape of the server’s neck before the kitchen door slammed.

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