definition of beautiful. But the combination had always been a striking one, never more so than now with maturity fleshing out and smoothing away all the rough edges.
"You continue to underestimate yourself, Little Auntie," he teased.
"'Call me that again and I will punch you in the mouth." She narrowed her eyes in mock warning, but the laughter dancing in them erased any threat.
"Heavens, do you remember the time you gave Lije a black eye?" Eliza recalled, a smile forming at the memory.
"Very well," Susannah replied. "It was the last time he called me Auntie."
"You tried to punch me in the mouth and missed," Lije recalled.
"Only because you tried to duck."
"My eye was black and blue for weeks."
"It served you right. I am too young to be your aunt."
"But the fact remains you are."
"Then let it remain a fact and not a title," Susannah stated with an unconscious but typical air of one issuing a royal decree.
"As you command," Lije conceded with a mock bow as Shadrach returned with iced lemonade. Lije took two glasses from the silver tray and gave one to Susannah.
She took a sip. "Mmmm, wonderful."
After Eliza had taken a glass, Shadrach walked over to Kipp. "Lemonade, sir?"
"Lemonade?" Kipp eyed the pale liquid contemptuously. "Have you nothing stronger in the house?"
"If you would prefer, I could bring you some coffee, sir," Shadrach replied, cautiously respectful.
Lije glanced across the room. "Lemonade or coffee. That's your choice, Kipp. You didn't truly expect anything stronger from the mistress of this house, did you?" Eliza and her temperance group had agitated against the whiskey peddlers until they succeeded in getting Fort Gibson closed.
"To be perfectly frank, the work we did was necessary, but I regret they closed the fort." Idly, Eliza shook out her ornate fan and waved it back and forth in front of her face, keeping the summer heat at bay. "I miss the dinners and dances that were held there. And I know the young girls miss the young officers. Although I have to admit, I don't miss Captain Parmelee's snippy wife one bit." The motion of the fan quickened to a rapid tempo. "I have always admired and respected Jed, but that wife of hisâ" The fan went faster. "When I think of that time she forbade her daughter Diane to play with you and Lije because she didn't want her child associating with Indians, it makes my blood boil all over again."
"I think Captain Parmelee apologized afterwards, didn't he?" Susannah frowned, trying to recall.
"He did," Eliza answered, then sighed. "Poor Jed. I have never seen any man as embarrassed and upset as he was. I suspect he had cause to regret his marriage to that despicable woman on more than one occasion. It's truly amazing that Diane remained such a sweet girl. You can credit her father's influence for that."
Susannah glanced at Lije, curious to see his reaction to this comment about Diane. Diane's last letter had been full of talk about Lije, so much so that Susannah suspected a romance between the two. She was stunned to see Lije's expression-â the hardness in his features and the coldness in his eyes. Not until that moment did Susannah realize just how silent he had become since the subject of the Parmelees had been raised.
"Diane wrote to me that she saw a great deal of you when you stopped to visit Payton Fletcher," Susannah said.
"Did she?" He lifted his glass and drank down a quick swallow of lemonade. But Susannah saw the iciness of his eyes.
"How is she?"
"More beautiful than ever." But the smile that twisted his mouth wasn't kind.
The answer was too abrupt. Susannah knew at once something was wrong, something had happened. And Diane was at the core of it. How? Why? Susannah started to ask, then checked the impulse, realizing that it was quite obviously something he had no wish to discuss in the company of the others. Later she would make a point to see him in private and find out exactly what had happened with Diane.
Â
At the parlor
"You continue to underestimate yourself, Little Auntie," he teased.
"'Call me that again and I will punch you in the mouth." She narrowed her eyes in mock warning, but the laughter dancing in them erased any threat.
"Heavens, do you remember the time you gave Lije a black eye?" Eliza recalled, a smile forming at the memory.
"Very well," Susannah replied. "It was the last time he called me Auntie."
"You tried to punch me in the mouth and missed," Lije recalled.
"Only because you tried to duck."
"My eye was black and blue for weeks."
"It served you right. I am too young to be your aunt."
"But the fact remains you are."
"Then let it remain a fact and not a title," Susannah stated with an unconscious but typical air of one issuing a royal decree.
"As you command," Lije conceded with a mock bow as Shadrach returned with iced lemonade. Lije took two glasses from the silver tray and gave one to Susannah.
She took a sip. "Mmmm, wonderful."
After Eliza had taken a glass, Shadrach walked over to Kipp. "Lemonade, sir?"
"Lemonade?" Kipp eyed the pale liquid contemptuously. "Have you nothing stronger in the house?"
"If you would prefer, I could bring you some coffee, sir," Shadrach replied, cautiously respectful.
Lije glanced across the room. "Lemonade or coffee. That's your choice, Kipp. You didn't truly expect anything stronger from the mistress of this house, did you?" Eliza and her temperance group had agitated against the whiskey peddlers until they succeeded in getting Fort Gibson closed.
"To be perfectly frank, the work we did was necessary, but I regret they closed the fort." Idly, Eliza shook out her ornate fan and waved it back and forth in front of her face, keeping the summer heat at bay. "I miss the dinners and dances that were held there. And I know the young girls miss the young officers. Although I have to admit, I don't miss Captain Parmelee's snippy wife one bit." The motion of the fan quickened to a rapid tempo. "I have always admired and respected Jed, but that wife of hisâ" The fan went faster. "When I think of that time she forbade her daughter Diane to play with you and Lije because she didn't want her child associating with Indians, it makes my blood boil all over again."
"I think Captain Parmelee apologized afterwards, didn't he?" Susannah frowned, trying to recall.
"He did," Eliza answered, then sighed. "Poor Jed. I have never seen any man as embarrassed and upset as he was. I suspect he had cause to regret his marriage to that despicable woman on more than one occasion. It's truly amazing that Diane remained such a sweet girl. You can credit her father's influence for that."
Susannah glanced at Lije, curious to see his reaction to this comment about Diane. Diane's last letter had been full of talk about Lije, so much so that Susannah suspected a romance between the two. She was stunned to see Lije's expression-â the hardness in his features and the coldness in his eyes. Not until that moment did Susannah realize just how silent he had become since the subject of the Parmelees had been raised.
"Diane wrote to me that she saw a great deal of you when you stopped to visit Payton Fletcher," Susannah said.
"Did she?" He lifted his glass and drank down a quick swallow of lemonade. But Susannah saw the iciness of his eyes.
"How is she?"
"More beautiful than ever." But the smile that twisted his mouth wasn't kind.
The answer was too abrupt. Susannah knew at once something was wrong, something had happened. And Diane was at the core of it. How? Why? Susannah started to ask, then checked the impulse, realizing that it was quite obviously something he had no wish to discuss in the company of the others. Later she would make a point to see him in private and find out exactly what had happened with Diane.
Â
At the parlor
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