Lucky Girl

I felt like the envy of town. It had only been a year since the handsome blacksmith made our small forgotten corner of the kingdom his home and turned the heads of every maiden he passed. Soon every eligible maiden had made him their target, yet somehow I became his aim.

My father is a carpenter by trade and I was often sent to buy nails and door pulls from the new handsome stranger. The rumor was that he had been the nephew of the old smithy who had passed away a month or two before. He didn't look much like the older man to me, but then I didn't look at old smithy Tomlin nearly as often. I also never had to fight through the throng of women to get to his shop. Every eligible woman in town suddenly needed new shoes for their horses and it seemed the new shoes would only last a fortnight at best. It was almost comical when Gretchen insisted her horse had unusual feet and he must come have a look before making the horse shoe. He simply asked her to draw her poor horse's misshapen feet so he wouldn't take time from the rest of his orders.

By the time I got to the front of the swarm on my first trip to his shop his green eyes were dull and glazed over. He hadn't bothered to wipe the soot from his coffee colored skin.

"How many horse shoes will you be needing, m'lady?" his voice reflecting the dozens of times he'd asked that question.

"No need for f shoes, sir. I'll have a hundred nails."

"Nails? Your husband's a carpenter, madam?" Brightness crept back into his eyes as he spoke.

"My father is a carpenter. Makes fine work." I stated proudly.

"I suppose I'll have to see it sometime," He smiled. "Come tomorrow, I'll have your nails, a dema for the lot."

"5 shekels" I countered

"7 shekels if you'll be buying often." he replied

"Deal. Lovely meeting you, Mister...?" I drifted off realizing I never got the handsome newcomer's name.

"Julius Bane," he replied " See on the morrow Miss...?"

"Ophelia Marsh," I answered "Until the morrow"

"No new orders today! Come back in the morning!" I heard him shout as I pushed my way back out. A collective sigh of disappoinment permeated the air.

After leaving his shop, I was halfway home with a grin on my face before I remembered I needed to pickup up bread for supper. By the time I doubled back and made it home, supper was ready and my step sister was tapping her foot.

"Get in here before it gets cold! What on earth took you so long?"

"The new smith attracted quite the crowd. You should have seen it, even girls from Oakton were there."

"What's so special about him? Is he world famous? I thought he was just old Tomlin's nephew?" she asked with her eyes squinting.

"I couldn't find the family resemblance, but he's certainly handsome." I smirked

"Handsome enough to bring in girls from the next town over?"

"Come with me tomorrow and I'll help you with the cooking after. You can see for yourself" I offered.

"Oh fine, let's just get to the table before your dad starts grumbling." she sighed. I followed her to the table and was greeted by my father's puzzled look.

"No nails, Ophelia?" he asked

"He'll have them ready by tomorrow"

"Tomlin used to have them ready the same day," he complained

"Tomlin had far fewer orders," I replied.

"I'm told there were visitors from Oakton there today," Marvetta chimed in. My father snorted at the mention of Oakton.

"Food's getting cold," Marvetta's mother chided, rocking our brother in her arms. He was almost three but was still treated like a baby.

The next morning the crowd had diminished, but it still took a bit to reach the smithy.

"Good morning Mr. Bane, Ophelia, I made your acquaintance yesterday. This is Marvetta. I'll be having the nails I ordered."

" Not a lady to trifle around I see," He grinned and placed a cloth roll of nails on the counter, "You left without giving me the 7 shekels yesterday, so I'll be having that miss."

" Twit," Marvetta muttered under her breath.

"Oh dear, here you you are. I am sure we will see plenty of each other Mr. Bane. Until next time." I waved.

He smiled and watched me leave, prompting some whispers among the crowd. Marvetta jabbed when we got outside.

"He's taken a shine to you." she whispered.

" Don't be daft, he's got a stream of girls flocking to town daily for him." I said, unable to stop my chestnut cheeks from turning maroon. Later that evening he turned up at our house to see how my father liked the nails. My stepmother invited him for dinner and Marvetta looked at me eyebrows raised.

"Shouldn't he be too busy to for house calls?" she whispered, "There's obviously something here attracting him, don't you think, Phie?"

"Oh quiet" I replied