“Yes,” she confirmed, sliding into the chair. “Thank you, Ms....”
“Saben, dear.”
“Ms. Saben. I’m a photographer, working on documenting the rebuilding of the mill.”
“Ah, yes. I heard about that. Very exciting.”
It certainly had been, but probably not in the way Ms. Saben meant.
“The town—and the Blackstones in particular—have had a very exciting year,” she went on. “What with young Aiden coming home and marrying Miss Lily’s nurse. Christina is such a lovely young lady.”
Ms. Saben smiled at the waitress as she served the drinks. Sadie asked for a refill on her tea and got one. “You doing okay, Miss Saben?” the waitress asked.
“Sure am. Glad to be back in for a bit.”
As the waitress went on about her way, Ms. Saben explained, “I’ve been coming up here for a long time. Ms. Gatlin and I are old friends. But we each have very busy lives.” She took a sip of what Sadie had overheard to be a rum and Coke. Ms. Saben tipped the drink in salute. “My granddaughters say it’s bad for me to drink, so I’ve gotta sneak in a little tipple when I can. Otherwise I’d be left watching them down margaritas while I’m drinking water.”
Her sass had Sadie laughing out loud.
“Especially now,” Ms. Saben went on with a small smile. “I’m just fully recovered from pneumonia. Off all my medicines and pronounced one hundred percent by my doctor. If I had to stay in that house one more second, I’d have gone stir-crazy. So I offered to come out here with the girls.
“They get a fun night out from watching me,” she went on. “And I’m not afraid to get out on the dance floor myself in a bit.”
“I’ll bet you know a thing or two about dancing,” Sadie said, inspired by the older woman’s daring.
“Honey, you’ve gotta dance while you still can. Besides, I’d rather break a hip that way than push a walker at the old folks’ home.”
“Amen,” Sadie said with a salute of her tea.
The same muscular server who had delivered Sadie’s food earlier came bearing Ms. Saben’s potato skin appetizer. Sadie suppressed a grin when the older woman said, “It’s a vegetable, right?”
“You got that right, Ms. Saben,” the man said before ambling back to the kitchen area.
“I’m so glad Zach was able to hire some decent men to work around here, now that he and KC have so much going on in their lives,” Ms. Saben said. “But life does go on, especially new babies.” She eyed Sadie. “You have any babies at home?”
“Not yet,” Sadie said. Babies were far in her future, if ever. Right now, she had her mom and sister to take care of.
“Well, that little Carter is a joy, and KC deserves her happiness.”
“I heard James Blackstone tried to keep KC and Jacob apart...” Sadie prompted, sensing the woman enjoyed telling her stories.
“Indeed he did. And KC had every intention of telling Jacob about the baby, but she was fearful—for herself and her family. James threatened their livelihood, you know.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Oh, yes. He owned the land Lola’s is built on. Luckily, Jacob and Aiden have deeded it over to KC’s mother. You know, so she could feel secure.”
Sadie murmured her approval.
“Jacob Blackstone is a good guy. Not like his grandfather. None of the boys are, but there’s a lot of men who are none too happy about having the responsibility of a child sprung on them. A lot who would walk away. Ignore it. Not Jacob. And soon there will be a wedding to celebrate, once the, well, sadness is done.”
For Lily. They would definitely need some celebration after losing a woman so important to all of them.
As if she were a hunting dog, Sadie suddenly caught the deep timbre of a man’s voice and knew immediately that Zach had arrived. Her eyes searched restlessly until she spotted him coming out from the kitchen area, where she knew there was a back entrance.
Apparently Ms. Saben didn’t miss her interest. “So that’s the way it lies, huh?”
Sadie swung guilty eyes in the older woman’s direction. “What?”