“Okay, one teddy bear at a time,” I whispered then got to work.
An hour had passed before Laura appeared beside me.
“Scarlette, when did you get here?”
“Oh, a while ago. These are done,” I told her, motioning to the bears. “I was just about to work on this boy,” I said, picking up a baby doll that still needed his face painted.
Laura chuckled. “I’ve got him. Busy, busy, busy. It’s a madhouse here.”
I slid out of Laura’s seat then went to the end of the workbench where my gnomes waited.
“The village is all astir,” I said. “I could barely push through at the bakery.”
“No doubt! Oh, I’ll have to send Lizzie to get some bread before we close. I say, I scarcely remembered to eat yesterday.”
“Laura! Do you need anything now? Can I bring you something?”
“Oh no, dear. I’m fine. Just fine. So, what do you have there?” she asked as I opened the lid on the box containing the stones.
“Hagstones.”
“Hagstones?” she replied, surprise in her voice.
“Master Boatswain said my gnomes needed a little magic, a little heart. Hagstones, he said, have magic at their very core.”
Laura laughed. “My old mum told me that you could look through a hagstone to read elvish.”
“Elvish?”
Laura laughed. “My mum had quite the imagination. Full of fairy stories, that one.”
“And are her daughters any less imaginative?”
“No,” Laura replied with a light chuckle. Settling in, she smiled at the baby doll. “Now, let’s give you a little sparkle.”
I headed to the other end of the workbench. I pulled out a spare square of red cloth and cut little hearts from the fabric. Lifting one gnome at a time, I cut a tiny slit in their chests. Removing a little stuffing, I slipped the hagstones into the gnomes. When I was done, I stitched their chests closed then sewed the red hearts over the top. The work took some time, but when I was done, I felt a great sense of relief. All this time, the gnomes had felt unfinished. Now…well, now they had hearts. I looked at their little glass eyes. Something about them seemed entirely different. They seemed more…alive. Maybe Master Boatswain was right. Magic.
“Come close to me,” I whispered, setting the gnomes on the table in front of me. “Are you really alive now? No answer? I didn’t know gnomish men were the peevish type. Very well. Don’t tell me. But if you are alive, I have a job for you. Tonight, finish all of Laura and Lizzie’s work and tidy up the shop.”
Taking out the windup key, I set the clockwork gnome in motion. How jolly the little band of gnomes looked in the Christmas finery with their little red hearts.
“She’s back here, Master Boatswain,” I heard Lizzie say, a gleeful lilt in her voice. “Just here.”
I froze for a moment then turned to look. Archie was standing at the entrance to the workshop, his top hat in his hand. He was so tall that he had to bend a little not to hit his head on the ceiling.
“Archie?”
“When I realized you’d gone, I knew where to look. And I wanted to meet the doll-making sisters. Miss Rossetti speaks very highly of you both,” Archie told Laura and Lizzie.
Lizzie was smiling happily at the tall man, a joyous expression on her face.
Laura stared at Archie over her spectacles. She looked dumbfounded.
“Laura, this is Master Archibald Boatswain III,” I said.
Laura swallowed hard then rose. “Pleased to meet you, sir.”
“My grandfather wanted to come, but it was too much of a walk. Is this the pianist?” Archibald asked, eyeing the doll at the end of the table. “May I see it?” he asked Laura and Lizzie.
“Of course. It’s all Scarlette’s work,” Laura said. “All born of her hands.”
I motioned for Archie to follow me. I set the doll on her seat, readied the music box, then turned the windup key. At once, the pianist began to perform. When she tapped her hand on the keyboard, she tripped the switch for the music box hidden inside the piano. Her hands moving, it appeared as if she were genuinely playing.
“I’ve been thinking of how her movements could be timed to press the keys in truth,” I said. “It would take precise movements, but I think it would be possible.”
Archie stared at the doll, nodding as he thought. “Very well done, Miss Rossetti. Marvelous.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling a blush creep up on my cheeks.
“I…I was wondering. It’s very nearly time for afternoon tea. Are you planning to return to Strawberry Hill? I thought I could walk with you. That is unless you have more work to do here.”
“Is it?” I asked. “I’d swear there is a time disturbance in this shop. How the hours escape me here. I should go back now. Have the others missed me?”
Archie shook his head. “They’ve been in conference all morning.”
“Indeed? Laura, Lizzie, do you need anything else? Can I be of more help?”
“Oh no, dear. Oh no. Please go on ahead,” Lizzie said, still smiling wistfully at Archie.
“We shouldn’t have kept you this long. Miss Rossetti is such a helpful girl, Master Boatswain. And quite ingenious,” Laura added.
I cast a quick glance at her, not missing her chance to advertise me a bit.
“So I see. Well, there is a wonderland of material to work with here. I can hardly blame her,” Archie said, motioning around the workshop.
The sisters smiled widely.
“I’ll get my things,” I told Archie.
He nodded to me then turned to Lizzie. “Was that a carousel in the front window? May I see it?”
“Oh, yes. Of course. If you please,” she said then motioned for him to follow her back to the front of the shop.
After he left, Laura came and stood beside me. “What a gentleman. He came to admire your work. He looked like he was very impressed with the doll.”
“I hope so.”
Laura laughed. “Well done, Scarlette. A very bright prospect, my dear. Very bright. And handsome at that,” she added with a chuckle.
“Were you ever married, Miss Laura?” I asked her in a whisper, eyeing Archie who was touring around the shop with Lizzie.
“Lizzie and I were both married. We married twin brothers,” she said with a laugh.
“Did you?”
“And had many happy years. Sadly, they died within a year of one another. Influenza. I miss him still. Love of my life. Now it’s just Lizzie and me.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Life is precious and fleeting,” she said with a sigh.
I patted her gently on the shoulder then picked up my outdoor wraps. I slipped on my cape, fastening it at the neck. As I pulled it on, I grinned at the little gnomes. “Now, remember my request,” I said, tapping the clockwork gnome playfully on the nose. “And I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
“My father will be here soon. I’ll try to come in the morning to wish you Happy Christmas Eve, at least,” I told Laura.
“Don’t worry about us, my dear. Just be with your family,” Laura said.
“Dear Laura, you are like family after all these months.”
Laura patted my cheek.
I joined Archie who was slipping a wrapped package into his pocket.
“Shopping?” I asked him.
He nodded, pointing to one of the wind-up ducks on the shelf. It was a simple toy. One merely wound up the mechanism inside and the duck would move about the room on the rollers underneath. “A Christmas gift for Grandfather. He’ll love it.”
I chuckled. Master Archibald Boatswain was the greatest mind, the greatest tinker, the world had ever seen. And his grandson had bought him a wind-up duck for Christmas.