Free Bouquet for Iris by Diane T. Ashley

across the marble floor of the vestibule. His hair was mostly gray, although she could see a few strands that were as black as a raven’s wings. He wore it parted in the middle and pulled back in a neat queue, which had the effect of making him look very old-fashioned. Most of the men she knew had shorter haircuts that did not have to be tied back. Mr. Spencer used a cane carved from black walnut that made her think of the one Grandpa Taylor had made for her grandma.
    A wave of homesickness struck her as suddenly as a bolt of lightning. For a moment she desperately yearned to visit her grandparents’ farm. She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath.
    What nonsense! She was here because it was her dream. She opened her eyes, smiled brightly, and held out her hand to her new employer. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Spencer.”
    He moved his cane to his left hand and took her hand in his. “Many prayers have been answered by your safe arrival.” His face was weathered, and his nose was broad and slightly crooked, as though it had been broken sometime in the past. His eyes were faded brown in color, but they held an expression of welcome that eased fears Iris hadn’t even realized she held.
    “Thank you, Mr. Spencer. I am thankful to be here.”
    “Perhaps you shouldn’t be quite so thankful, Miss Landon.”
    Iris squinted in the direction from which Mr. Spencer had come. A man stood in the doorway, but she couldn’t see his features because of the sunlight streaming into the vestibule from the room behind him. She could see that he was tall and slender, but he didn’t look at all familiar to her. How did he know her name?
    “Don’t pay any attention to Mr. Stuart.” Her host frowned over his shoulder at the man. “He is filled with doom and gloom today.”
    Iris looked back toward the man in the doorway. Mr. Stuart? The man who had knocked her down on the night of her arrival? She barely heard Lance’s greeting as she remembered that evening.
    Mr. Stuart looked completely different when he was not inebriated. His light brown hair had been styled so that it no longer fell over his forehead, and his clothing was neither wilted nor creased. He stood much straighter, too. The only thing she did not like about his transformation was the stern look on his face and the disappearance of his dimples. His mouth had a distinctive downturn, and his brows were drawn together in a frown. How had she ever thought him charming or genial?
    She turned her attention back to Lance. “Thank you so much for bringing me. I will come to visit as soon as I may.”
    “We’ll look forward to it, Iris. You know that Camie and I are thrilled to have you so close.” He nodded to the older man. “I suppose we’ll see all of you again soon.”
    Iris tried to ignore the snort from Mr. Stuart as she assured Lance that she hoped to see him and his family at church. She glanced at Mr. Stuart. From his raised chin and downturned lips to the way he cast his gaze to the ceiling, he personified disdain. Did the man not even attend the local church? What an awful thing. She could not imagine trying to get through the week without the chance to join other Christians in worship and fellowship.
    A little voice inside her head stopped Iris’s thoughts. Was she being judgmental? Perhaps Mr. Stuart attended services across the river at Brainerd Mission or in some other community. Perhaps he had a sweetheart who lived nearby, and he chose to attend her church’s services. A disagreeable feeling fluttered through her stomach, and Iris wondered if she was coming down with a cold. She hoped not. She didn’t want anything to mar her first days with her new charges.
    As she followed Josephine upstairs to the nursery, she heard Mr. Spencer invite Lance in for a business discussion. She wondered if their business would change the expression on Adam Stuart’s face.

    Adam watched as the young woman gathered up her skirts and followed the