What the Heart Keeps (30 page)

“
At least you know I’m not normally a lie-abed,” Minnie stated. “Unfortunately at Granite Bay Mrs. Jackson was always holding up my punctuality for breakfast, and everything else, as an example to Evangeline, who was never on time for anything. No wonder she grew sick and tired of my name.”

Lisa
’s lids flickered open. “I think I should hear now whatever it was you felt unable to disclose when you arrived.”

Minnie
made a wry grimace. “You’re not going to be pleased with me, I warn you. You’ll think you’ve been landed with a wanton on your hands.”

“
I’ll be the judge of that when I’ve heard you out.”

Minnie
rose abruptly from the rocking-chair and leaned against the pillar by which Alan had sat the evening before. She entwined an arm about it with unconscious grace, but drew away sharply almost at once from its sun-baked surface. “Ouch! That’s hot. Everything is too hot.” She brushed a hand across her brow, her rising state of agitation not inductive to coolness. “Isn’t there a lake for swimming anywhere around here?”

“
There’s a lake shore a few miles away. Alan and I have been to swim there twice when he has been home and we’ve had the lake to ourselves. Nobody goes there on a working day but at weekends it’s a popular place for picnics among those who live around here. Folk who haven’t a horse and buggy of their own go in hired wagons.”

“
How do you and Alan get there?”

“
By automobile. It’s a rough ride and the last half mile through the trees to the lake has to be on foot.”

“
Let’s go there now! Alan told me that you’re a good driver.”

Lisa
glanced at her locket-watch. It was no chore to drive that distance and it would refresh her to do something positive. “We’ll go then. I’ll get Harry ready.”

“
I’ll prepare a picnic. We’ll talk on the way about the Jacksons.”

Lisa
gave an amused shake of the head. “I think we must wait until we get to the lake. You’ll soon find out why.”

The
reason was obvious as soon as Minnie took Harry on to her lap in the automobile. He disliked the boredom of that mode of transportation and promptly became fractious. “I want to walk, Mama,” he protested vehemently.

“
When we get near the lake,” Lisa replied soothingly as she drove away from the house.

It
took all Minnie’s efforts to keep him entertained until they began being tossed about along the rutted forest track once the road had been left behind. This he enjoyed and his good humour was restored. When they left the vehicle he promptly ran ahead of them along the beaten path.

“
When shall you tell him you’re his stepmother?” Minnie asked.

“
I’ll not make an issue of it. He’ll learn gradually that his father was married before and his own mother died.”

“
Wouldn’t you prefer that he should never know?”

“
He has a right to the truth and I’d never wish to deny him that.” Lisa could recognise from Minnie’s tone of voice that what she was asking was a prelude to something more. “Are these questions linked to what you have to tell me?”

“
Yes. Indirectly.”

While
speaking they had overtaken Harry, who had found some small rocks for them.

Lisa
swept him up with a laugh and held him high, breaking into a run to bear him the last few yards until the trees parted and the lake spread out in a sparkling blue entirely rimmed by forest. Harry wriggled to be set down at once and when released he began to play with stones on the shore at the water’s edge. Minnie put down the picnic basket she had been carrying and flung herself full length on the grass in the shade. Lisa sat down beside her, keeping an eye on Harry.

“
Well?” she prompted.

Minnie
gazed skywards, an arm under her head. “The Jacksons are moving back East for Evangeline’s sake. Mr. Jackson has gone ahead to start work for a new firm in Ottawa and get a house there. His wife and daughter are to make the journey in two stages. They’ll stop somewhere along the line in Alberta and find a place where Evangeline can have her illegitimate baby. Then Mrs. Jackson will pretend it is hers when they arrive in Ottawa and nobody will ever be any the wiser.”

There
was a pause before Lisa spoke. “What was your role in all this?”

“
I was an equal partner with Evangeline in the escapades that led to her getting in the family way. We met two young loggers working at the boom outlet in the bay. They would never have been allowed to call at the house and we began to meet them secretly.”

“
Where was that?”

“
In the forest behind the house. They worked during the day, but they would come across to our side of the bay at night. Evangeline and I used to climb out of our bedroom window once her parents had gone to bed.” She sat up and tore angrily at a blade of grass. “Before you start censuring me, I tell you it’s impossible to describe how boring it was in that household. Mr. Jackson was so strict and his wife so strait-laced. I hadn’t noticed the monotony of everything when I was younger, because I found it wonderful to be in a real home, but gradually I didn’t know how to endure the rules and restrictions. Evangeline kept up a constant battle with her parents and her temper displays were devastating, made all the worse when Mrs. Jackson held me up once again as an example of good behaviour.”

“
I have a certain sympathy with Evangeline there.”

“
Oh, I agree. I suppose it was a natural culmination of everything that, when she and I did break loose, it should be with reckless abandon. You see, we found the loggers, Don and Billy, so much fun to be with. There were jokes and laughter and horse-play and games that maybe we shouldn’t have played. Unlike Evangeline, I never touched the liquor they brought with them. Not because I was being goody-goody but because I knew I mustn’t lose my head. I’ve heard enough in my life about what it’s like for girls who have landed themselves with a bun in the oven.”

If
the whole discourse had been less serious, Lisa might have smiled at the old English euphemism that she had not heard since leaving her homeland. “You showed good sense there,” she endorsed quietly.

“
Billy didn’t think so. He became steadily more sulky about not getting his way with me. One night he flew in a rage about it and blackened my eye. At the same time Evangeline, having realised by now she was well and truly in the family way, was screaming at Don for declaring bluntly that he was not the marrying kind. In the midst of the quarrelling, Mr. Jackson arrived unheard with a lantern and shotgun to discover all four of us. The boys fled and we never saw them again. They were gone from the site with, their gear when Mr. Jackson went in search of them next day.”

“
What happened then?”

“
Evangeline denounced me as having persuaded her into all of it against her better judgement. I said nothing. All I wanted was to get away from there. Reservations about your Alan’s attitude towards me had to be overcome, something that had always daunted thoughts of rejoining you, or else I was going to find myself homeless. That’s when I wrote to you.”

“
I’m glad you’re here,” Lisa said sincerely.

Minnie
leaned forward and hugged her. “This is the third time you’ve rescued me. Twice from Mrs. Grant’s clutches and now from being turned out by the Jacksons with nowhere to go. I hope that one day I’ll be able to do something as a small return for all you’ve done for me. Will you remember that?”

Lisa
merely smiled at the well meant offer. She thought how good it was to have Minnie’s company again.

The
rest of the afternoon at the lakeside passed pleasantly. They both swam, splashing about in the shallow water where it was warm, with Harry, naked as a cherub, between them. He slept in Minnie’s arms all the way home.

Two
days later Lisa went to pick up her shopping basket and found that it still contained the undelivered notices that should have cancelled the motion picture show at the hotel that same evening. They had completely slipped her mind, firstly through the trauma of her reunion with Peter and afterwards when Minnie had arrived to occupy her time and neighbours had offered them hospitality in welcome to the newcomer.

It
was too late to distribute the notices now. There was only one course of action. She knew how to load the reels and run the projector. The show should go on as programmed. Minnie could take her place as ticket-seller and the custom of Harry being delivered into Mrs. Saanio’s charge should go unchanged.

Minnie
was overjoyed to be of assistance with the movie shows sooner than she had anticipated. “What fun! Do I get to see anything of the programme? I’ve never seen a motion picture.”

“
You can remedy that this evening when it seems as if the last latecomer has drifted in. Any drunks have to be barred. You can summon Risto Saanio to get rid of them by a special emergency bell if he’s not there. He’s the young man who has always been so helpful to Alan and to me on these cinema evenings. The proprietress knows it’s good for business in the saloon and the restaurant to have such crowds of people coming to the movie shows, which is why we have an arrangement with her for Risto to be free of his other duties when we need him.”

Lisa
transported the cinematograph apparatus by automobile to the hotel that afternoon. It was Alan’s policy always to leave it under lock and key except in his own home. Risto was surprised to find her in charge as he came down the hotel steps to unload the heavy projector in its carrying box. When she explained that she had overlooked the distribution of the cancellation notices, he congratulated her on taking on the show. As he set up the projector, a task to which he was well accustomed, the pianist arrived to watch the run-through of the reels and adjust her music accordingly. Risto, who was free of his duties elsewhere, lounged back in one of the chairs with his long legs stretched out before him and watched the whole programme through. One reel had not been rewound before delivery by the distributors and appeared backwards and upside down when projected, giving Lisa and him some spontaneous amusement. The pianist, ill-tempered as usual, merely banged her fingers away from the keys and tapped her foot irritably until the reel was put to rights.

In
the early evening Minnie arrived at the hotel, having handed Harry safely into Mrs. Saanio’s care. Risto, setting the ticket-table into place, straightened up and stared at her as Lisa made the introductions.

“
Glad to know you,” he said, bowing his head in the Finnish manner to which he had been brought up. He wanted to go on staring at her. Her willowy figure and clear-formed face made her appear fragile and forceful at the same time. He was intrigued and showed it.

She,
in her turn, was almost struck dumb by his unfamiliar courtliness, which was at odds with his brash young appearance. Nobody had ever bowed to her in her life before. Neither could she remember ever seeing such smiling eyes as his. The very depths seemed to twinkle at her.

“
I’m pleased to meet you, too.”

“
Is Mrs. Fernley your sister?” he asked her.

She
exchanged a quick smile with Lisa who was setting out a roll of green tickets. “We’ve always been asked that and we feel like sisters, but there’s no blood tie between us. I hear that you keep order if anyone gets objectionable, Mr. Saanio.”

“
Call me Risto. Yes, I’m the hotel’s right-hand man.” “Cinema assistant as well?”

He
grinned at her. “That’s linked to my hotel work more than you might think. The motion picture shows give most of the male patrons a powerful thirst, and they crowd the saloon afterwards where I join the other barmen in serving them. We expect to be extra busy there tonight. That’s why I won’t be able to walk you home.”

She
arched her eyebrows. “What makes you think I’ll need an escort? I’ll be riding with Lisa in the automobile.”

“
That’s okay then. We’ll make another arrangement. I have a couple of hours to myself every afternoon. I’ll call for you tomorrow at two o’clock.” He turned his attention inquiringly towards Lisa. “If that’s permissible, Mrs. Fernley?”

“
Hey!” Minnie exclaimed, setting her hands on her hips. “Hold your horses! Maybe I don’t want you to walk me any-where.”

He
saw she was having difficulty in keeping at bay the smile playing at the corners of her rosy mouth. “Then we’ll sit and talk somewhere. We have to get to know each other some way.”

She
had a gurgling laugh and could no longer restrain it. The merry banter between them would have lasted longer if Lisa had not called the situation to order by getting Minnie to sit down at the ticket-table to have everything explained to her.

The
movie show that evening maintained its usual standard. Fortunately there was no hitch or misloading of reels, nothing to reveal to the appreciative patrons that it was the first time Alan Fernley’s wife had managed a show on her own. As the audience departed she faced with confidence the next two evenings for which the programme was booked. Soon she and Minnie were alone in the room, the only sound the rewinding of the reel, which was done by hand. To her surprise, the girl made no move to come forward to assist, but remained leaning against the wall where she had previously joined those obliged to take standing room, her gaze still directed on the blank screen as if she were transfixed: