Free An Unexpected Suitor by Anna Schmidt

Judy in the kitchen.
    “And you?” Nola asked.
    The actress smiled and gave a small bow. “I am here to serve at your pleasure wherever I may be needed,” she said. “However, I did have a thought.” She cast her gaze toward the piano that filled one corner of the large room. “What would you say to a bit of the light classics—background music?”
    For years now the piano had just sat there in the corner of the tearoom, a relic of the future she’d once imagined for herself. Nola immediately saw the potential in Eleanore’s suggestion and wondered why she’d never thought of it herself. On the other hand, she was reluctant to give the actress too much control over things. “We could try it,” she said. “Business won’t really pick up until next week. So if our current guests find the music intrusive or annoying…”
    “Exactly,” Eleanore agreed. “Thank you, Miss Burns, for everything.”
    “You’re welcome, and you may call me Nola.” She could give the woman that, at least. No need to let Eleanore think she was a complete stick-in-the-mud.
    The actress’s smile was radiant. “And I am Ellie. Eleanor-a is so pretentious, don’t you think?” She placed the back of her hand to her forehead and struck a melodramatic pose, then shrugged and giggled. “But then, that’s the point of stage names,” she explained. “I’ll just run up to my room and get some music.”
    “Ellie?”
    The actress paused on the third stair.
    “Mr. Starbuck mentioned the passing of your husband—I’m sorry for your loss.”
    Ellie’s lovely face flushed as she fought against her grief. “Thank you, Nola. I think the summer here may help. Performing always takes me back to the happier days before Phillip became so ill.”
    “You performed together?”
    Ellie nodded. “It’s how we first met and from that day until he died we were never apart. Have you lost someone dear to you, Nola?”
    Nola thought of her mother and father and nodded.
    “Then it’s no wonder you are so understanding,” Ellie said and hurried on up the stairs.
    Not really, Nola thought. She’d never known that kind of loss. That kind of love.
    “Miss Nola?”
    Nola turned to face the countess, who was actually smiling. “Yes?”
    “I hate to raise the matter, but the room I’m to share with the Misses Kowalski is quite—cozy. Forgive me, but I could not help but notice a more spacious room just across the hall.”
    “You would prefer the larger room?”
    “Not at all,” Olga replied quickly. “I was thinking that it would be more comfortable for the girls. I would happily remain in the smaller room.”
    “And share the bath?”
    Olga’s smile cracked slightly but she recovered by lowering her lashes. “If it would suit you,” she said.
    Why not? It’s not as if you plan on renting the rooms to others. And it may well make for smoother sailing with the countess.
    Nola gave the actress a warm smile. “I think the idea is quite a good one,” she said. “Have the Kowalski sisters ask Judy for linens for the beds.”
    Olga dipped into a curtsy worthy of greeting a queen. “Thank you,” she whispered huskily. Nola was relieved when the tinkle of the bell above the front door announced the arrival of customers. Olga glided forward. “Good afternoon and welcome, ladies,” she said. “We have a lovely table by the window if you’ll follow me.”
    Nola knew from the expression on Rose Gillenwater’s face that she and her constant companions, Lucille Dobbs and Dorothy Bosworth, had not come for tea. Rose ignoredOlga as she stepped forward and mouthed to Nola, “A word in private?”
    Nola indicated the parlor and waited for the three stalwarts of the church to sail through the doors. “Please don’t hesitate to interrupt should there be anything you cannot handle alone,” she told Olga.
    The countess seemed offended. “There is little that could occur that I would not be able to ‘handle,’ as you so quaintly put it,” she