Night of Eden 90

 Chapter 90

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 It was two days later that Jude Anderson visited Porche again. He had originally wanted to visit the next day, but a last-minute appointment interrupted his schedule.

He was very impressed with the 'salt tea' he tasted that day.

It cost a dime. He didn't expect much from a place that caters to workers, but after one sip, he realized that he had been extremely prejudiced and preconceived.

The flavor was excellent, with just the right amount of sugar and a smooth, nutty flavor. If he had to nitpick, he would say that the tea leaves weren't the highest quality, but they weren't cheap either.

They were at least medium-grade, judging by the pleasant flavor. And given the overly cheap price, the quality of the tea leaves was irrelevant.

But what about the blending skill?

Jude pushed open the door with his heart pounding in his chest.

Unlike that morning, the shop was empty. With some trepidation, he turned to the clerk.

"Welcome."

The redhead greeted him, just like yesterday.

Her eyes narrowed as if she hadn't forgotten the customer in the fine suit looking for salt tea.

"Are you here for a blended tea today?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll call for Mrs. Miller."

She led him to a sunny window.

His heart suddenly pounded in his chest.

He swore it wasn't because of Mrs. Miller's appearance. Although she was strikingly beautiful, he had never been needy enough to set his eyes on a married woman.

A moment later, she appeared.

Unlike the day before, she was dressed in a white top with a rounded collar and a rich dress with bustle. Her hair was braided on the side and tied with a mauve string, a color that suited her very well.

She must be a woman who liked to look good.

Jude smiled.

"Hello."

Her voice was friendly and pleasant to hear. The anticipation of tea made Jude's smile widen.

"Let's take a look at the menu first, and if you need any clarification, just ask."

She handed him a small card. The dimples in his cheeks deepened as he read the first line of the list. This wasn't a scammer, throwing together a bunch of tea leaves and herbs and calling it a blend. It was obvious.

"What is this?"

"It's a tea brewed with Inuksan tea leaves. It's not overpowering in flavor, and it's got a lot of fruity notes, so you can enjoy it lightly."

The description was accurate. Hopefully it would taste the same.

Jude prayed fervently and pointed a finger at the menu.

"I'll have this, please."

The woman headed for the kitchen. At the same time, the door opened and a man walked in. It was her husband.

"Dana, luckily they had a spare train ticket, so I managed to get it...."

He stopped talking and turned to Jude, as he seemed to recognize the suspicious guest from two days ago.

His instincts kicked in.

Noah Miller was like a male whose territory had been invaded. His eyes had a sharp edge to them, and his brow was furrowed.

In Jude's eyes, he was a little too much. In a way, it was understandable. Fortunately, Noah Miller hadn't been struck with paranoia, and he quickly fixed his hat and mended his sullen expression.

Still, he scurried back to the kitchen and stood at his wife's side. Jude chuckled , thinking it was kind of cute that a big guy was doing that.

Finally, Mrs. Miller appeared with a tray.

"Let me know when you're finished, please. I'll give you a second helping if you'd like."

"Yes, thank you."

Jude looked down at his steaming mug of tea.

The tea was good, for once.

When he hooked his fingers around the tiny handle and lifted the teacup to his nose, Jude almost laughed out loud. He calmed his racing heart with a deep breath and took a sip, then another, then another.......

When he finally drained the last drop, Jude had made up his mind.

"Do you need more tea?"

"No, thank you."

He placed the teacup on the table with a few bills. He wanted to hand over his business card right now, but first he needed to talk to his father one more time.

"That's delicious, thank you."

Jude bowed lightly and headed out the door.

***

The lamps in Porche shop didn't go out until nearly midnight every night. Dana, Noah, and Dorothy would end the day huddled in a small office behind the kitchen, chatting and catching up.

"Tough day again."

Dana handed them both tea.

"Speaking of hard work, I've been having way too much fun lately."

Dorothy said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Yesterday was a real tearjerker. Who knew Mrs. Sampson would hold your hand and wail like that?"

A wistful smile appeared on Dana's face.

Mrs. Sampson was a widow who worked at a nearby spinning mill and was one of the tea shop’s regulars almost every day. She had a sick son, and Dana used to make a special jar of salt tea for him. A few days ago, her son finally died.

After the funeral, she returned to the shop just two days later. Most of the workers at the tea shop were too busy living their lives to grieve.

She said that the last thing she saw of her son before he died was his happy face, drinking his favorite salt tea.

So thank God, thank God, thank God, she cried, hugging Dana. Dana cried too, and so did Dorothy, and the teahouse was filled with tears that day.

"Money doesn't matter after all. There are so many things in the world that are worth more."

"I don't know."

Noah interjected, laughing.

"Didn't you just say a few days ago that you should get paid more, and I think you were talking about tripling the prices?"

"I did... When?"

"You were telling Dana that we’re going to go out of business at this rate."

"Ha! You're making things up now, aren't you?"

"Really? You really think so?"

"What's with the look in your eyes?"

"Oh, nothing, just the righteous look of truth."

"Oh, you!"

Dana choked back a laugh as she watched the two of them give and take.

She recognized them from the ship bound for the Federation three years ago. She knew they'd be at odds, snarling at each other like dogs and cats.

"Let me be clear, I have no intention of taking more money from someone like Mrs. Sampson, I just want to sell more tea that makes me money."

"How's that easy, when people like Mrs. Sampson are the ones who tell you that blended teas are unclean?"

It looked like their conversation was about to take another dark turn.

"But we do have afternoon customers, and that gentleman the other day seemed to like both the salt tea and the blended tea quite a bit. I'm sure there will be more people who like both."

Noah and Dorothy chuckled at the quiet interruption.

"Well, I guess it's because we're doing something worth more than money anyway. I honestly can't get enough of it, and I'm actually bummed that we have to leave for Angus next week to start work."

Dorothy's words caused the three of them to stiffen slightly.

"Let's think positive."

Noah spoke up as if to clear the air.

"You and I only have to suffer for two months. Then all our problems will be solved and we'll be able to focus on the worthwhile work you're talking about."

"Yeah."

Dorothy pulled her sagging shoulders up.

Dana curled the corners of her mouth, trying not to let her sadness show.

"It's been a year since I took the plunge and opened this [porche].”

Despite the many twists and turns she'd had to endure, Dana was more content than ever.

She would be lying if she said that leaving Belvida and settling here wasn't a struggle, and there were many times when she cried herself to sleep wondering why she had traveled so far away. But thanks to those two people, Dana eventually adjusted to life in a faraway land.

For the first two years, they lived in a rural town called Angus.

Noah worked as a trainer on a horse farm called Cotter's, and Dana and Dorothy worked as maids at a nearby parsonage.

All three worked hard and were able to save up a good amount of money. The pastor and his wife were kind and they became quite friendly with the townspeople. Dana even thought about settling there permanently.

But Noah didn't seem very content. He always seemed to be longing for something, and Dana was always sad that she didn't know what it was.

The salt tea that had so delighted the maids of Belvida was a hit there, too. Word of Dana's skill spread around the parsonage, and people from all over town, including the Cotter's farm, came to drink salt tea.

Dorothy had always said that Dana was too good to rot in the countryside.

Words can create emotions, and Dana suddenly realized she wanted to experience the bigger world.

"What if I opened a tea shop? Remember when we first arrived in the Federation, the first place we went was the teahouse in the harbor. It was dirty, tasteless, and expensive, but we were surprised at how many customers there were?"

Dorothy had been talking about the teahouse ever since, and her opportunity came sooner than she expected.

The three of them were out exploring the city together, and they noticed that the teahouses near the train station were quite popular, and thanks to Noah's sociable nature, they found one in a good location and for the right amount of money.

Just like the day they left Belvida, Dorothy almost begged Dana to go with her. This time, with Noah at her side, Dana finally succumbs to their carpet-bombing rhetoric.

The physical and emotional struggle to open the tea shop was unbelievable. Taking out a loan and buying the shop was nothing; they had to face one obstacle after another at every turn.

The most deadly saboteur was the merchants' association.

Being near a train station with a thriving commercial area, the merchants' association was extremely domineering, and it was because of their domineering behavior that Noah was forced to abandon the farm and bet his life on the tea shop.

In fact, Porche wouldn't exist without their help.

It was no wonder Dana's heart was heavy, for next week she would be separated from them and alone.

Three months ago, Dana received an abrupt notice from her bank that the loan would not be extended. The reason given was 'deteriorating profitability of the store'.

It was one of those things that makes sense and doesn't make sense at the same time, nodding in agreement and resenting at the same time.

As Dorothy had feared, the shop had been running at a loss during the boom. But they'd been open less than a year, and they were just getting a regular clientele. Best of all, they had never missed an interest payment. No other shop in the neighborhood was ever notified to stop lending for that reason.

But the Commonwealth was a country where capital trumped everything else, and sometimes even noblemen of good blood bowed before capitalists. So the banks that held the purse strings were at the top of the hierarchy of power.

Noah went to the banker's house, grabbed him by the crotch, and begged him to make amends. But it didn't work. The bank set a deadline and threatened to evict him if he didn't repay the loan by then. They went to the authorities to complain, but to no avail. In the first place, officials were not on the side of powerless migrant workers like them.

In need of money, they went to every bank in Biltere, but were turned down by all of them.

As the three were at a loss for words, they received a call from Cotter's Farm. The farmer, Mr. Murray, asked if Noah could work for them for a couple of months because they were short-handed. Mr. Murray also said he needed a housekeeper and asked Dorothy to come with him.

Noah refused at first; they needed money, not a job. When Noah explained the situation, Mr. Murray made a surprising offer.

He offered to lend them the money, interest-free.

It was an unbelievable offer, but not surprising, considering that Mr. Murray had been very disappointed when Noah quit his job and had tried to talk him out of it time and time again.

Dorothy was no different; as if to prove her promise not to be a nuisance, she turned completely around as soon as she stepped off the boat.

The parsonage always looked at the timid Dorothy with pity, and there was no teasing or gawking as there had been at Belvida. So Dana was able to watch with pride as Dorothy became the beloved lamb of the parsonage.

"Come on, why don't we have a drink?"

Noah grabbed a fruity drink from the closet.

"It's not like we're parting on a bad note, and let's not sag."

Over the past three years, they had often enjoyed a drink together. Three glasses were filled and three emptied. As usual, Dorothy was the first to fall down drunk. Dana helped her up and carried her to her room on the second floor. The second floor of the teahouse was also home to the three of them.

Noah was drinking alone when Dana came down the stairs to clear the table. He turned his head when he sensed her presence.

"Do you think we should get another drink?"

Dana wordlessly sat down across from him and drained her half-full glass.

"We're breaking up again tomorrow."

He muttered, refilling her empty glass.

"Do you think you'll be able to get along without me?"

Dana smiled sheepishly, feeling a little awkward.

"Of course I can. Starting tomorrow, I'll be free of your snoring."

Noah didn't laugh. No, he looked like he couldn't.

"I'm just worried about leaving you alone. You get into trouble every time I'm gone."

He looked a little more serious, unlike before, when he'd been cracking jokes that didn't go over well.

"I appreciate your concern, but it's time for you to step up and stop being Dorothy's protector. You're sacrificing too much for us."

Noah stared into Dana's face. Through his dizzying vision, he could make out the side of her face and the ring on her hand beneath it.

When was he ever going to tell her how he really felt?

She was the most beautiful girl in the world, he didn’t want to part with her, it would be so hard to leave her behind, and so many other things filled his throat.

There was only one reason he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

It was the hurt that still lingered somewhere in Dana's eyes.

"By the way, Mr. Murray must have been in a bit of a hurry, too, to lend you such a large sum of money, interest free. He's the real deal."

Dana smiled. She'd smiled so well in the last three years. There were times when she'd gotten over her hurt and seemed genuine.

But Noah hadn't. Not even for a moment.

***

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