Chapter 30
Dear Citizens of Monticello,
I feel compelled to write a response to a letter that was published in the last paper by a MissAlta Brewer. I am the country
lass she referred to, who came to Monticello to find work. Upon arrival, I did find work at the Hoag factory, a job that kept
my family fed and helped us endure a season of challenge. I also discovered a town with beautiful shops, churches, and skating
rinks.
During my months in Monticello, I learned about the people, discovering both kind hearts and chin-wagging gossips. I learned
that we can be too quick to judge someone's appearance or to shame someone because of a mistake. I saw the pain and fruits
of such actions.
Most relevant to the previous letter is my relationship with Otis Taylor. I did indeed get to know him, though never in the way described by Miss Brewer. What I discovered was a man whose history many of you are familiar with: the son of a wealthy businessman and the brother to Monticello's once favorite bachelor. He is those things, but he is more than his family name. He is a man with a big heart who carries scars from the cruel deeds of others, and a man who came home but was not welcomed how he ought to have been.
I have seen beneath the scars, and if you would but look, you would see that Otis Taylor is the finest Taylor ever to set
foot in Monticello. If you drive him away, you will lose an asset and friend.
The last letter said this town needed to weed out refuse, but the author was wrong. We need to rally around one another. Never
again should we fail when a son or daughter of Monticello comes home. If you were one who looked with distaste or who believed
idle rumors, ask yourself why and then make amends. The Monticello that I want to believe in does better than that.
Yours truly,
Sadie West
"It sounds very good, and it ought to make everyone who turned up their noses at Otis stop and think." Molly set the paper
aside. "Why haven't you gone to see him? It's been days now."
"I would," Sadie said, picking at her fingernail, "but I left a letter. If he doesn't want to see me, then I have to respect
his wishes."
Molly frowned. "He wrote plenty of letters to Jane Squatter. I would have expected him to write, even if only to say he was not interested in further... courting, or whatever it was the two of you were doing."
"I thought he would too." She sighed. "He might be too distraught over his decision to let Bessy stay."
"You said yourself that it was the right choice."
Peter and Nina had come over three nights ago with tears of gratitude running down their faces as they told of Otis's generous
act. Bessy had even asked everyone to play marbles with her. Sadie had been relieved, but then she'd thought of Otis in his
big house with the freshly sanded and oiled rocking horse, void of a rider, and she'd felt his loss.
"The right thing can still hurt," Sadie said. "He loved her before he ever met her. He would have been a good father to her.
I hate thinking about what his choice must have done to him. He spent so much of his life alone, and now he's alone again."
"You're worried about him, aren't you?"
"I am." She paced the room. "I've given up my job at the feather duster factory. I can't show up at his house and beg to live
under his roof when I have no reason to be in Monti. Besides, there isn't enough cleaning to justify my working all day at
the mansion."
"And so you just wait? Like you did for Marvin? Are you going to waste two years on Otis too?"
She groaned. "Marvin was a fantasy. I built him up to be something more than he was, but Otis is real. I love him."
"Love?"
"Yes, I didn't see it at first, but it's love. I know it is."
Molly grabbed Sadie by the shoulders, making it impossible to do anything but look into each other's eyes. "Sadie West, follow
me to the barn. I believe we need to get the rest of our little brood together. It's time for us to make a plan."