As Mariah and her young chaperones exited the wood, they were struck with wonder at the house’s transformation. Where once had stood a gray, weather-beaten, and obviously vacant old house, now stood a home with brilliant white siding, a flower box of cherry red impatiens at each window, sky blue trim, a newly placed slate walkway, windows wide open and lace curtains fluttering in the breeze. Even the outhouse had been salvaged, standing as a miniature replicant of its “mother,” the main house. Hannah and Jemima forgot for a moment their antipathy toward Jonas and marveled at his achievements for the house.
“Surely,” Hannah said breathlessly, turning to Mariah as she spoke, “surely it is much more beautiful now when it was when it was first built.”
“Oh, yes!” Jemima agreed.
Mariah laughed with delight. “Perhaps it is, Hannah! It is difficult to imagine that any house could be more beautiful that the one before us.” She clasped each of the girls’ hands and together they walked up to the house, all of them eager to see Jonas and express their sentiments. Mr. Reynolds came out of the house and, seeing them on the walkway, shouted to them in his deep Irish brogue.
“Hello, young lassies,” he said with much cheer. “By the looks of your faces, you must be admiring the house. Fine work we’ve done here, don’t you agree?” Of course they did, and for a few minutes, Mariah and the girls stood and chatted with Mr. Reynolds, less out of courtesy than because all of them so enjoyed hearing him talk. Like some of the other townsfolk, Mr. Reynolds had come to Constance all the way from Great Britain. In his case, it was the hope of marrying Sadie McTimmons, whose family had neighbors of his, that brought him here. He eagerly settled into the town, claiming it was much like the one he left in Ireland, and he wrote to many of his friends and relatives, encouraging them all to move to “this bit of Paradise in America.”
Mr. Reynolds and his Sadie married nearly forty years ago, and Constance grew by almost one-half due to an influx of immigrants who had received Mr. Reynolds’ missives. It had helped revitalize much of the town which was starting to feel the pain of a declining population and a shrinking gene pool. The new immigrants with their cheery dispositions and strong work ethic were welcomed in Constance with open arms.
Mr. Reynolds took his leave of Mariah and the girls as he was headed home to have tea with his Sadie. He directed them to the kitchen where he said Jonas was making tea for himself and the few men that were still there. Marian and the girls thanked him and stepped into the foyer. Again, they were struck with awe. The wood floor and walls had been oiled and buffed to a dazzling shine, a thick dark red carpet lined the staircase before them, and, overhead, an exquisite chandelier made of thousands of delicate crystals that sent a gentle kaleidoscope of color dancing along the walls and high ceiling.
Mariah and the girls rallied themselves and stepped around the perimeter of an intricately designed tapestry rug that blanketed the floor. In the kitchen they found Jonas serving up cups of tea to three men sitting at a large white kitchen table. Before them was a platter holding a mound of cakes, and they were all laughing and talking at once. Mariah and the girls smiled mischievously at each other and then stood silent, waiting for the men to notice them.
Jonas was the first to see them, glancing up as he fetched a towel from the sink. His eyes went directly to Mariah’s, and it was as if she were the only one in the room. The men noticed that Jonas had been struck dumb and followed his eyes to the doorway. They politely nodded to Hannah and Jemima, but they broke into great smiles and elbowed each other as they took in the sight of Jonas and Mariah staring at each other with obvious and deeply held affection. While the townspeople had discreetly discussed the possibility of marriage between Jonas and Mariah, no one had actually ever seen them in any kind of affectionate display. Except for one evening in the library, when Mrs. Hardcover saw them sitting quietly, their heads bowed and their hands clasped in each other’s. That was considered evidence enough for the townspeople but none of them knew whether Jonas and Mariah were aware that they were in love.
The men began to shift in their chairs. Their wives would be content to sit back and watch the spectacle of the two young lovers in their shared reverie, but they weren’t. Finally, William Masterson cleared his throat loudly while his companions tried to suppress their laughter. Jonas and Mariah were startled into realizing that they, in fact, were not the only people in the kitchen, much less on the planet. Marian blushed a sweet rosy red, and Jonas winced at his inappropriate behavior and the understanding that he would be in for a severe ribbing after Mariah left. He quickly came to himself and offered Mariah some tea and cakes. It was only when she softly said, “Thank you, we would love to have tea and cakes,” did he realize that Mariah had not come alone.
He was not pleased when he saw that it was Hannah and Jemima that had accompanied Mariah. Their persistence belief that the house was sentient or at least haunted disquieted him, and they also seemed to have developed a dislike for him. He had thought they initially liked him; but Jonas was not savvy in the way of little girls and the kinds of jealousies they harbored, so he did not know that his own relationship with Mariah had compounded the more distant irritation they had had with him when he discounted their story about the fright they had had in the master bedroom. They might have forgiven him eventually, but now, they had resolved, they never would. Not as long as he was part of Mariah’s life.
The girls were glaring at him. They still held Mariah’s hands and looked as if they were ready to drag her away from the house and from him. They resented being neglected and, more so, they resented the display of love between Jonas and Mariah. Their intention to commend Jonas for the house’s beautiful rebirth dissipated. They each moved to just behind Mariah’s skirts, pretending shyness when they actually felt animosity.
No one but Jonas saw anything strange in their behavior. Even Mariah later excused the girls’ behavior as typical for their tender ages. “They are developing into women,” Mariah would say to him. “They can shift from outgoing to wallflower in the blink of an eye. It’s nothing to fret about.”
The men at the table gave up their seats to Mariah and the girls, and took their cups and stood along the far wall. Jonas poured the tea and passed them the plate of cakes. Hannah and Jemima remained sullen and looked down at their hands rather than take a cake. Jonas gave Mariah a worried look, but she smiled and gently shook her head. He understood that she wanted him to let the girls be, that his efforts to engage them would only backfire. The men drinking their tea against the wall were all fathers of girls the same ages as Hannah and Jemima. They knew too well what such little girls were like and kept themselves out of their way.
