In the Shadow: Day 12

Word Count: 72,019

Summary of Events:

Rowynna went over to Lorena's house to help her with the laundry and chatted about Parthenia a little bit. Parker came upon a man clearing some trees and asked if that man had seen Osborne and Parthenia; the man said he hadn't, only for his young son to come up and report that they were being robbed; Parker discovered the robber was Osborne, but Osborne was able to get away by shooting Parker's mare in the leg. Because her mother and Della were busy with wedding projects Rowynna went to answer the door when it was knocked on . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

A young boy stood on the other side of the door, looking nervous. He relaxed as soon as he saw Rowynna; she wondered if he’d been fearing Mother would answer.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Telegram for Miss Della,” he said, his voice slightly accented.

“Thank you,” Rowynna said, accepting the little piece of paper from the boy, who turned and hurried away before she shut the door.

Because of the fact that Della and Mother were working in the same room Rowynna took the telegram to the kitchen and opened it to see the message wasn’t from Parker at Fernie, but was actually from Tina at Macleod.

Will be arriving on morning train. Bringing Uncle Garfield. Tina.

Uncle Garfield? Who was Uncle Garfield?

“Who was at the door Rowynna?”

Rowynna startled and clutched the telegram to herself at the sound of Mother’s voice. “It was a telegram for Della.”

“Then give it to her,” Mother said firmly.

Nodding, Rowynna made her way out of the kitchen, past Mother’s suspicious gaze, and over to the parlour. She showed the telegram to Della.

“Who’s Uncle Garfield?” she whispered.

“Parker’s bachelor uncle from Nova Scotia,” Della whispered back. “Thank you.”

“Do you want me to reply for you?” Rowynna asked.

“Thank you, we will be waiting,” Della replied.

Rowynna nodded and managed to slip out of the parlour and upstairs before Mother returned. She collected some money and hid the telegram for Della to retrieve later if she wished to keep it, and then headed downstairs.

Putting on her coat, as it was still a little cool, although the weather was warming nicely, Rowynna then set out for the telegraph office, where she filled in a blank with Della’s reply and had the telegraph operator send it to Macleod for her.

Once that was finished Rowynna started back for home, her mind wandering in spite of itself to Uncle Garfield. How old was he? Where did he live? How much did he resemble Parker? Rowynna couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he was close to Parker in age and would be a suitable husband for her, or if he would see her and think of some wonderful young man he knew right away as a companion for her.

Rowynna had always thought Parker rather nice and not far off from what she wanted in a man, so maybe if he had some relations who were similar to him she might be able to meet them, starting with this Uncle Garfield of his.

If there wasn’t anyone who was related to Parker who was suitable for her to marry, however, maybe they would know men whom they would consider introducing Rowynna to; undoubtedly they would know people outside of Frank, seeing as some of them were in Nova Scotia, that would open her up to a much larger pool of men to choose from than the few lacklustre candidates in Frank.