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“You should take a nap.”
She shook her head. “I’ll have to get up shortly in time to make her dinner. When I go to sleeptonight, I want it to be uninterrupted. It’s been a long day.”
“It has been. We’ve only the one bed, so you take it and I’ll make do out here.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, I’d much rather sleep with you, honestly, but I’m not going to impose myself. I’d rather be invited.”
She wasn’t touching that bait, either. “Then how about we switch off. I’ll take the bed tonight. You sleep in it tomorrow night.”
“That might be a good compromise.”
“Then let’s do that.”
“Okay.”
Raven found clean bed linens in a large chest in the room. After putting them on the bed and handing Steele some for the sofa, they unpacked their clothes and other belongings and stowed their travel valises and carpetbags in the room’s small closet. She viewed the bed longingly. “I think I should go sit outside because if I stay in here any longer I’m going to crawl into bed and it’ll take a cannon to wake me up.”
Outside, she sat in the rocker and he took a seat on the lip of the porch. “Where’d you learn the wall-knocking technique and all the other things?”
“Family, of course. My uncle Saul. He was a master at finding hidden safes and the like.”
“Is he the one who drowned at sea?”
She shook her head. “No, that was Ezekial. Saul died during the yellow fever outbreak in ’67. Over three thousand people lost their lives that summer.”
“Is it always that serious?”
“No, sometimes the numbers are much smaller. Each summer seems to be different. There’s already been a few deaths this year so far. I just pray we don’t have a repeat of ’67.”
When it came time for dinner, Raven began her preparations in the kitchen while Steele used the time to familiarize himself with the Stipe horses and carriage, and the tools he’d be using to maintain the landscaping.
When the food she prepared was ready to serve, Raven placed a clean tea towel over the plate and walked it the short distance to the house. Assuming the meal would be eaten in the dining room she’d seen earlier, she entered it and found their employer seated at the table.
“You’re to be commended, Mrs. Miller. You’re on time.”
“You said five, ma’am, not ten minutes past, or a quarter past.”
Raven set the plate down. “It was too late to start bread, but I will make some tomorrow.”
“That will be fine.”
Raven turned to go.
“No, stay. In the future you and your husband will eat in here with me.”
“That isn’t necessary.”
“No, it isn’t, but it is what I prefer. Dahlia and Sylvester always ate supper with me. Made us feel like family.”
Raven didn’t know how she felt about that but knew what she was supposed to say. “I’ll let my husband know.”
Stipe nodded. “Go fix yourself a plate and come back. I’d like to learn a bit about you. Bring your man.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Raven left and returned with Steele. They sat and ate and gave their rehearsed answers to the questions she posed about where they’d met and how long they’d been married. “Mr. Miller, you sound like a true Yankee. What state?”
