Promise of Yesterday by S. Dionne Moore Page A

into the room beyond. She held her breath in hopes it wouldn’t make a loud sound as it hit the floor.
    She bent her left knee first, careful not to lower herself too fast lest the pain be intense, and sunk to the floor. As soon as she caught a glimpse of Jenny and Aaron, she knew that knot could have clattered and clanged up a storm and they wouldn’t have noticed. How could two people so right for each other not see it for themselves?
    Aaron was handing over some coins, and Jenny was taking them with a grateful, pink-cheeked smile. The man cleared his throat. “I hope you have a good day, Miss McGreary.”
    “Thank you,” Miss Jenny responded in a breathless rush that made Marylu roll her eyes. “You have a good day, too, Mr. Walck.”
    Vexed at having gone to all the trouble to hear their conversation only to catch the end of it, Marylu got vertical and went out into the main room as fast as her legs could carry her.
    Jenny gasped at the sight of her. “Marylu!”
    “I saw him here, and you’re going to tell me every bit the reason why he came over here.”
    Jenny’s eyes went wide, and she covered her pink cheeks with her hands. “I should have known you were spying on us.”
    “Not spying.” She sputtered to an indignant stop and realized that she had been spying. “Well, not at first anyhow. Got here and heard his voice. When I peeked and saw it was him, I …”
    Jenny looked over her shoulder at the wall behind her and the knothole in the center of the floor. Her eyes smiled up at Marylu. “I thought I heard something fall. I hope you didn’t hurt your knees too much.”
    Marylu crossed her arms.
    Jenny giggled and rolled up the dark material she had spread across her lap. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw him walk in. But there he was.”
    “Your cheeks are pinker than I’ve seen them since you had the fever two years ago.”
    She pressed a hand to her face. “Yes, I suppose they are.”
    “So you going to tell me what he was doing here, or am I going to have to go ask
him
?”
    Jenny released a sigh, and her expression sobered a bit. “It was nothing, really.”
    “
Nothing
didn’t seem to be what I was seeing.”
    With the bolt in her arms, Jenny got to her feet and replaced it in its spot against one wall. “He said he felt badly about the dress and offered to pay me for the material.”
    “Seemed like he said a whole lot more than that in the time he was here.”
    “Oh, we talked about the show. He asked me if I was going, and I told him no, that I had work to do.”
    “Did he say if he was going?”
    Jenny brushed a hand across the striped material of Sally’s dress. “He was. He wanted to see Eddie perform again. He admires the man’s singing.”
    “Just like you do.”
    “Yes.” There was a wistful clip to Jenny’s voice that wasn’t hard to translate.
    “He say if he was going with Sally?”
    “No, and I didn’t ask since she already said they were going together.”
    “After he saw the way she treated you, I thought maybe he’d be smart and change his mind.”
    Jenny shrugged. “Maybe he feels it wouldn’t be the gentlemanly thing to do.”
    Marylu snorted.
    Jenny made a face at her, but when she lifted the striped material, a wistful expression bloomed.
    “You know how much you enjoy hearing that young Baer fellow sing.”
    “It’s a minstrel show, so it won’t be all about him.” Mirth played along Jenny’s lips. “And what’s this I hear about you being riled up over Chester?”
    “Cooper been running his mouth again?”
    Jenny tilted her head. “Cooper cares about you. He always has. And you’re avoiding my question.”
    “What question?”
    “The one that’s killing you.”
    Marylu licked her lips and pulled in a deep breath. “I’m worried about Chester. He left.”
    “Then go look for him.”
    “I don’t know where he went.”
    Jenny laid aside the striped material. “Maybe you had better start from the beginning.” She picked up