Posted June 8, 2021

Lucinda had missed being in church. The sound of all the voices around her joining in harmony with the harmonium (most of the time) was so refreshing. She felt tears come into her eyes once again during the closing hymn, tears of happiness at being able to congregate with people once again. You never knew how much of a blessing fellowship was until you didn't have it for a while.

She slid her hymnbook back into the seat of the pew and stood, waiting until there was a path for her to leave. Even though the singing had made her feel like she belonged, after it was finished she felt like a stranger again. There were a few people she recognized from her first night helping Emeline, but she hadn't been officially introduced to anyone yet.

She definitely wasn't going to introduce herself to anyone right now, so she stood aimlessly by the edge of the pew with her arms crossed over her red patterned vest, watching the congregation as it dispersed. Her gaze fell on the hymnbooks on her pew and the ones behind her, and she realized that she could be doing something useful while she waited.

She walked down the aisle and gathered up the hymnbooks as she came to them, then turned down the next aisle and did the same thing. Her arms were nearly full, but she had room for a few more books, so she decided to cross the aisle and get the books from there, too. As she reached the edge of the pew she caught sight of a man standing across the aisle. Her mouth dropped and she stared at the man. Francis?

Her foot thunked against the end of the pew and threw her off balance. A few stray hymnbooks tumbled from her arms as she tumbled, too. A jumble of thoughts ran through her head, the foremost of them being how embarrassing it was going to be picking herself up, how loud noise of the hymnbooks falling to the floor seemed, and just how much like Francis the man across the aisle looked.

She hit the floor, bumped her chin on the stack of hymnbooks, and blinked. The man was still there, and he still looked like Francis. Not as much as he had at first glance, but still enough that she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

It was just a typical Sunday service like every other Aurelian had attended in the past but somehow it did seem different this time. Clara was not next to him. He missed her. It was him and Wyatt now. Clara had been by far the best singer of the family, it didn't sound the same either as he struggled thru the songs. Wyatt was hopeless when it came to carrying a tune. But life was different now, Aurelian needed to get used to it.

The service over, he waited as Wyatt needed to tie his shoe. It was taking a long time and he glanced down at the kneeling boy, "You done yet?"

"Nope, Pa, the shoelace broke but I'll get it," Wyatt looked up to answer then went back to work on the problem.

Just then there was noise and he looked up to see a woman take a tumble losing her armload of songbooks while she was at it. He hadn't even noticed her during the service but then she had been sitting head of him in the pews. He certainly did not recall ever seeing her before though. No matter, he bounded on over to be the gentleman.

"Are you alright, ma'am? Can I give you a hand up?" Aurelian held down an outstretched hand for her to take. Nope, definitely had not seen this woman prior to then, he would have remembered such a pretty face.

Folks who attend church regular, and who have specific tasks assigned to them before, during or after the service, tend to get just a wee bit protective about their roles. For instance, if the roughest toughest, six-gun-shootinest cowboy in the wild, wild west had moseyed into that little church on that Sunday and sat down and tried to play the accompaniment to Hymn number 31 (God reveals His presence) on the harmonium, the usually cowardly Arabella Mudd would have marched right up to that varmint and snapped his neck like a twig! Or if the notorious outlaw Thomas Gage Love had ridden in and tried to provide the flowers that brightened the place up, old Mrs Challenor, the usual provider, would have given him a severe beating with her walking cane.

Arabella also had similar feelings about her role as the-person-what-collects-up-the-hymn-books-at-the-end-of the-service. Her ‘closed shop’ protectivism over the duty had only intensified after Pastor Evans had stopped her doing the collection plate (mainly due to the many sarcastic comments she made about how little some folks contributed. Mrs Evans herself, finding herself short one Sunday, had only put in a couple of cents, earning a derisory “What’s that supposed to be – the ‘widow’s mite?!”).

Anyhow, Arabella bustled up to the scene of the accident in high dudgeon and although she completely ignored the fallen woman (whom she suspected probably was a fallen woman), Aurelian’s subsequent conversation with Lucinda was played out to a grumbling obligato as Arabella muttered to herself as she tidied up the books from the floor.

“Hmmpp, don’t she know collectin’s my job!?”

“Strangers comin’ in stickin’ their noses in where they ain’t wanted...”

“OH! This one’s all bent!...”

“And people say I’M clumsy...”

“Well, she’s getting this bent one from now on!...” etc. etc.

Another person less than thrilled with Mrs Dietrich’s sudden appearance on the scene was Leonora Lutz who had just summoned up enough courage to talk to Aurelian after the shambles she had made of keeping her brother and his daughter at a ‘respectable distance’ from each other. She had puffed her courage up into a balloon and was about to float over to her new Sister-in-Law’s father, for whom she burned an ardent torch, when the sight of him talking to the stunning blonde woman popped her bubble, which withered flatulently as she withdrew and sadly walked outside.

Lucinda was making lots of new friends in Kalispell!

What was she to do? She was all right, and she didn't really want to accept his help. But...it would be the ladylike thing to do, and it would give her the chance to talk to the talk dark stranger who looked so much like her husband. What was wrong with her? She was thinking like a school girl. Wintering alone was obviously detrimental to her mind. She shook her head and offered an embarrassed smile to the man.

"Oh, thank you." She took his outstretched hand and pulled herself up, trying to make it seem like she actually needed his help while also trying not to pull him down while she got up. She could have managed it by herself, although his help did make her ascent seem more graceful.

"I believe I'm all right." She swatted her skirts with her free hand and then realized that she was still holding his hand. What a perfect time to introduce herself. "I'm sorry for staring. You look like...someone I used to know. My name is Lucinda Dietrich."

With that, she shook his hand firmly and met his eyes, trying to ignore the mutterings of the young girl who was picking up the hymnbooks she had dropped. She should really thank the girl, but she had more important things on her mind, and the girl seemed not to be terribly happy about her presence for some reason. Her ears caught the word strangers but nothing else. Oh, dear. That didn't sound good at all.

"Oh, thank you," the woman took his outstretched hand and pulled herself up.

"My pleasure, ma'am," Aurelian nodded, he would have removed his hat but it wasn't on as they were still in church.

Wyatt hung back, more amused at Arabella's grumping while she picked up the books than interested in his father and some stranger. In his opinion, women were pretty boring creatures with little to no appreciation of what was fun. At least Arabella was funny.

"I believe I'm all right." She swatted her skirts with her free hand and then realized that she was still holding his hand. What a perfect time to introduce herself. "I'm sorry for staring. You look like...someone I used to know. My name is Lucinda Dietrich."

Though he did not expect it, he certainly responded to her handshake as one was supposed and there was a quick and vigorous pumps of the hand before separating.

"I did not even notice you were staring, to be honest, Miss Dietrich (after all she had not put a Mrs. in front of it)," he smiled, Clara always told him he had a charming smile though that could be just a daughter talking and subject to some bias.

"It is nice to meet you. I am Aurelian Redmond and that lad behind me is my son, Wyatt."

Normally he would have started with Clara then Wyatt but she was no longer at his side now in services. It would take some getting used to. As for Arabella, he completely ignored her, he firmly believed the girl was a bit tetched in the head most likely from her ordeal that winter in Whitefish.

"You're new here, just visiting our town, or new arrival to stay?" he added as much to make conversation as anything.

Oh, dear, what if he thought she had been staring through the whole service? She wanted to say something, but that would almost make things worse. And should she correct him? She wasn't married anymore, so to speak, but her proper title was Mrs., so maybe she should say something.

In the end, propriety won out over her desire to seem young and...well, desirable. "Mrs. Dietrich, technically. But I will accept Miss. It makes me feel young." She smiled, and whenever she did that, one corner of her mouth turned up a little higher than the other, which gave her otherwise serene face a spark of mischief. She continued, "a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Redmond. And you, Wyatt."

She gave the boy a smile even though he didn't seem particularly interested in her or seem pleased to meet her. What was wrong with children in this town? First the dark-haired girl was harrumphing about her dropping the hymnbooks and how this boy was practically ignoring her. Maybe that was the way children were.

But Aurelian was asking her a question about her purpose in town. Her eyes flitted away from Wyatt and the dark-haired girl back to him.

"Both," she answered quickly, then realized that that sounded odd and laughed. "I had planned for this just to be a stopping point on my way back east. But money is tight and then I met Emeline...just yesterday, fact, when I came in on the stage. I've decided to stay here, at least until I can get a little money saved up."

She corrected him then, she was Mrs. Dietrich. But then she immediately muddied the waters by saying he could call her 'miss'. He did not get it so he settled for nodding.

"Ah, sorry," he left it at that then.

Wyatt heard his name mentioned and looked away from the Arabella entertainment, suddenly realizing his Pa must have introduced him? He quickly flashed a smile.

"Hello...umm, nice meeting you too," he threw in cuz that's what adults said a lot.

As to Aury's two questions she answered.

"Both." But then further explained.

"I had planned for this just to be a stopping point on my way back east. But money is tight and then I met Emeline...just yesterday, fact, when I came in on the stage. I've decided to stay here, at least until I can get a little money saved up."

"Ah, yes, Mrs. Pike, a wonderful person that woman. My daughter, Clara, works for her at the Lick Skillet. She can't stop talking about her. But yes, I know what you mean about money being tight. As a small farmer, it is always a challenge."

Wyatt gave up on Arabella now and moved to stand next to his father. He might as well listen in on this conversation, nothing else to do. He couldn't wait to get out of these going to church shoes.

"Oh, is your daughter the waitress who just got married? Congratulations!" There. She'd made a connection with him, and putting a name to the newly-married waitress would help if she did end up working at the Lick Skillet.

She continued on in this vein of thought. "Mrs. Pike told me about her and I joked that she must put something in the food at the diner for both her and her waitress to get married." She smiled again, her eyes crinkling up a little at the corners. She hoped that either Aurelian or Wyatt would find what she had said to be humorous, but she had never been known for being funny even though she loved fun.

Aurelian's mention of farming made her realize that they had something in common. "Oh, you're a farmer?" She leaned forward curiously. "That's what my Francis wanted to do. It is hard work. I do hope you've been more successful with your farm than my husband was with his."

She said this last with a soft sadness tinging her words and her smile. It was still odd to talk about Francis in the past, especially here with a man who looked so much like him.

"Yes indeed, that is my daughter. So you've met her? And thank you but I'm already missing her not being around," he had to admit.

"Mrs. Pike told me about her and I joked that she must put something in the food at the diner for both her and her waitress to get married."

Aurelian smiled, "Who, my daughter? She is quite the baker, she won a blue ribbon a couple years ago at the summer festival."

"That can't happen though, Pa? Something in the food to marry folks?" Wyatt took her a bit literally though as was his wont on occasion.

"No, son. It cannot," Aurelian glanced down and shook his head.

The woman then found out he was a farmer, turned out her husband wanted to do the same thing. Though she did not go into detail something went wrong. More likely, it was his death? But he was not one to pry especially since the lady must be a rather recent widow.

"Sorry it did not work out for you and Francis. As for us, we're hanging in there although it isn't gonna get any easier as I'm now out a reliable and hard worker in Clara. But the girl's first duty now is to her husband," he admitted ruefully.

"I think either your daughter or Mrs. Pike could be the culprit." She grinned. "Or maybe it's just the building. Or the air. There's an atmosphere of...not quite love, but...warmth in the diner."

At Wyatt's question she couldn't help laughing. "No, Wyatt, your father's right. It's just a joke. Our cook used to say that her food tasted so good because she made it with love, but I think she was just a very good cook." She bent down slightly and winked at the young boy.

She realized she was probably keeping Aurelian from leaving, so she side-stepped closer toward the church doors. She didn't want to stop talking to him, though, so she tried to find a solution to his problem of not having enough help on his farm.

"Isn't there anyone nearby you could get to help you? Neighboring farms who might have a few extra hands?" Here she met hands literally; one or two extra people who might be available to help; not hands as in farmhands or ranch-hands.