The Piano Teacher

Chapter 29

"Where'd you get that dress?" Samuel asked as soon as he saw her wearing it before going out for the church social.

Charlotte had kept it hidden from him before, wearing it only under her big coat. But now it was impossible to hide. She wished she could lie and say she bought it, but he knew that she didn't have nearly enough money to buy such a lovely piece of clothing. Reluctantly, she answered, "Mr. Oleson gave it to me. My other dress was muddied; it was impossible to salvage it."

Samuel peered at her as he heavy-handedly knotted his string tie. "That's a real fine dress for him to give you to replace your old one."

Charlotte's ears stung as she focused on putting on her coat to protect herself from the bitter cold. The sky outside the cabin's windows had already turned pitch black, save for a soup of stars and a bright half moon that reflected against the snow. The lunar light gave the snowfields a blue tinge, like a great pale sea.

Charlotte wanted desperately to tell her uncle that she and Nels desired to be married. But she was terrified of how he would react. It wasn't that she believed he would be angry, but rather that he would simply disapprove. She feared her uncle's disapproval perhaps more than her father's, for her uncle almost always approved of what she did. Unlike her relationship with her father, she could do no wrong in her uncle's eyes.

I ought to tell him, she thought. Just get it out of the way. But the very thought of bringing it up created an impenetrable lump in her throat. "Well, you know how kind he is," she answered.

"Mm-hmm," he answered, propping his boot up on a chair and tying his laces. "Especially kind to you, seems to me."

Charlotte had a hard time reading her uncle, which worried her. In truth, Samuel was curious, if not a bit worried himself, at how much the relationship between his niece and Nels Oleson had progressed.

Each time she left the mercantile in the evenings, she seemed happier each time, though she always attributed it to a fine day's work. Samuel knew that Nels Oleson was not one to take advantage of a young lady like Charlotte, and it was obvious that he treated her with the utmost care, which was perhaps the main reason Samuel was not more concerned.

But he still meant to talk with the man alone about his intensions, as he had not had a chance to have a real conversation with him in a while.

But for now, the main focus was the church social. Charlotte was eager to attend and felt very little of the fear and trepidation she felt when she went to the last town gathering in the fall. This evening, she felt entirely herself, and it showed. When she glanced at herself in her small mirror, she looked precisely as she used to before she went out on stage for her grand musical performances: elegant, collected, bright, grounded... sure of herself.

Samuel was pleased to see her looking like that again as well. She had grown out of her withered self and become the bloom she used to be. Yet, a part of him that he wished to ignore wondered when she would crumble again, as she always did.

Charlotte had the same fear, but its realization was impossible, as she had buried it deep down under her happiness where she hoped it would never have to see the light of day.

As soon as they drove into town, Nellie's restaurant had become a glowing beacon. Every other building was dark and empty, but not the restaurant. The whole town flocked into it, a fiddle playing a lively tune, a few young children in their finer clothes running about outside in the slushy snow. The dancing inside had already begun, and there were many tables filled with food, reminiscent of the time Charlotte was last here for the harvest festival.