Brown River Queen Read Free Page B

home.
     
     
    The Missus and I have a standing lunch date, breakable only in cases of extreme emergency. She hoofs it toward home from the dress shop, I make my way from the office, and we meet up at the corner of River and Fane before strolling the last three blocks home.
    I reached the corner first and killed a quarter of an hour picking out a yellow peony for my lapel and a red fireflower for Darla. Then I decided to ply my detective skills by slipping down the alley by Sylvester’s Hat Emporium and sneaking up behind my betrothed, who was hurrying down Fane with a decided spring in her step and a brown paper parcel in her arms.
    I made it within two strides of her when she slowed suddenly and held the package out beside her.
    “For heaven’s sake, take this. It’s heavy.”
    I took it, and it was.  
    Darla turned and grinned. “It’s your shoes. I know the sound of your footsteps, my dear, and I can pick them out of a crowd, even a noisy lunchtime crowd.”
    “From now on, I’m going barefoot.” I moved the parcel around and drew her in for a kiss, which is no mean feat when neither party stops walking. We made it brief and managed to avoid any collisions. “How is my favorite wife today?”
    “Famished. Someone interrupted my breakfast.”
    I feigned surprise. “What mannerless ape might that have been? And what’s in the box? More lavish gifts for your new husband?”
    She laughed. “Mostly it’s for the kitchen. I found a silverware pattern I liked. Fireflowers and vines.”
    “My favorite.”
    My beloved grinned. “You’d be content eating with that old knife you keep in your boot.”
    “As long as I’m eating.”  
    “I got you a new hat, too. You’ll love it. Solid black with a dark grey band.” She turned and adjusted the hat I was wearing. “Elegant with just a touch of roguishness.”
    I nodded. “That’s me. Elephant with a touch of robbery. But you aren’t fooling anyone, dearest. Confess. You’re in cahoots with my junior partner, aren’t you?”
    We stopped to let a nanny and her pair of shrieking infants pass.  
    The quizzical expression Darla turned toward me was flawless, right down to the tilt of her head and the barely-raised eyebrows.
    “In cahoots how?”
    I laid my finger on the hatbox’s ornate stamping. “A new black hat. From Carfax. I’m no hat maker, Darla dear, but I know how they rank, and this is the top of the pile.”
    “You need a new hat.”
    “For our cruise on Evis’s new boat. Since we’ll be rubbing well-dressed elbows with the upper crusts of Rannit’s worthies.”
    “Will it help if I flutter my eyelashes and pretend I’ve never heard of Evis?”
    “Nope. When did Gertriss tell you?”
    “Yesterday. I got myself an evening gown. Black as a crow’s feather. Slit up the side, up to here.” She indicated a spot high up on her right hip.
    “You’ll cause a riot.”
    She laughed. “Well, if I do, you’re being paid to quell it. Speaking of being paid, how much did you manage to drag out of the poor pale soul?”
    “A thousand crowns. In gold.”
    She clutched my arm and danced a step.
    “A thousand?”
    I nodded. “Easy. Without that arm, my suit won’t hang straight. Yes. We’re rich, my dear. Almost rich enough to buy hats from Carfax and gowns from—”
    “Eloise’s.”
    “Eloise’s, then. So, what’s for lunch? Caviar and hundred-year-old brandy?”
    “Sandwiches. Ham. Two slices, since we’re rich.”
    I kissed her cheek. “See how quickly decadence takes over? Next we’ll be hiring servants to fan our brows and sleeping on pillows stuffed with money.”
    We stopped on the corner while a blue-capped Watchman waved a pair of lumber wagons through the intersection. Darla said something but it was lost in the rumble of wagon wheels and the clip-clop of heavy hooves.
    A dozen other pedestrians took up positions beside or behind us while the wagons thundered past.  
    I was still trying to puzzle out what Darla might have