The Wedding Cake (The Wedding Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

one of her helpers out of their room. No one need know.”
    “I’d know.” She scooped flour from the bin, shaking it through the sifter.
    “But, Miss Cinnamon—”
    “Do be quiet, Biddy. I said I’m... I’m... Achoo!”
    “Oh, Lord bless you, miss.”
    “Achoo...  achoo!”
    “Goodness, miss. You’ve come upon a fit of sneezing. Do you think it might be the flour?”
    “Achoo! Yes, of course it’s the flour.” She swiped at her streaming eyes. Fine particles of white hung in the air descending slowly to cover the table and her. “Achoo! Why do you think ’tis necessary to sift this stuff?”
    “I’m sure I don’t know, miss. I’m a lady’s maid, after all.”
    A fact that Biddy took great pride in, as Cinnamon often noted in the past. Now her lofty position seemed to preclude Biddy even helping her mistress. That was fine, Cinnamon decided. After all it was she and she alone who insisted upon baking this cake when the staff had at least three women whose sole job was to feed the family.
    If only she hadn’t told everyone she could do it, she thought as she rubbed the butter into the flour—the remaining unsifted flour. It was a slow process, one that made her arms tired and her back hurt, but she persevered. For it wasn’t really “everyone” that concerned her.
    She’d told Captain McGregger she’d have the cake baked by tonight. She’d invited him to dinner because of it. What had she been thinking? He already knew that she’d failed once. For some reason she didn’t want that to happen again.
    She dragged the wooden spoon through the thick mixture with renewed determination. He would eat wedding cake tonight, and she’d make certain the captain thought it was the best cake he’d ever eaten.
    Feeling more empowered, she washed the currants, setting them in the gas oven to dry. She found several cinnamon sticks, smiling to herself as she caught their scent, then began grating them. It really was very clever of her parents—her father really—to name her for the aromatic spice. As it happened, her hair was nearly the same color. And she liked her name so much better than the stuffy names her poor sisters were forever saddled with... “Ouch!”
    “What is it, miss?” Biddy, who’d been seated at the table absently making designs in a thin layer of flour, glanced up. “Have you hurt yourself?”
    It was only her determination never to raise her voice that kept Cinnamon from screaming at her maid. Instead, she clenched her jaw and stared down at her bleeding finger. “I suppose I should have been more careful.”
    “I should say so, miss. Do you want me to bandage it for you?”
    “No.” She tore a strip of fabric from her apron and wrapped it around her finger. “That’s all right. As a matter of fact, why don’t you go take out my green taffeta? I plan to wear it tonight.”
    “Oh, miss, I couldn’t leave you here all alone. It’s helping you, I am.”
    “True.” She emptied the grated cinnamon into the batter. “However, I really do want everything to be perfect tonight, and I think that gown may need brushing.” She remembered the currants drying in the oven, and whirled to open the door, stopping herself at the last moment, and wadding a section of her apron to use rather than her bare hand.
    The currants were perfect, plump and fragrant. The sight of them forced any lingering pain from her mind. Assuring Biddy that she really could handle this alone and that she was much more concerned about her gown, she added the currants to the batter.
    Candied orange peel was next and the walnuts she’d shelled and chopped earlier. More pleased with herself than she could say, she scooped sugar from a bin, blending the granules into the mix. She added yeast and set the mixture to rise, then settled back in a chair. This really wasn’t so difficult. Of course she wouldn’t let Captain McGregger know that. No, he must think her the most talented of young ladies to create a