"And the answer is no." Sarah Jane got to her feet. "Come on back to the buggy now."
Chrissy stood up obediently, but her face was full of defiance. "Why can't I have a puppy? I couldn't have one when I lived in the orphanage because there was no extra food for a dog. Is there no extra food at our new house?"
Micah took a deep breath. He knew he had to remain firm. Suddenly, the advice about starting strict and letting up later made sense to him. "Now isn't the time. I'm used to living alone. Your mama is used to living with lots of people. You're used to the orphanage. Until we're all used to living with each other, we don't need to add a dog to the mix."
Chrissy kicked a rock on the ground, her face a pout. "But I want a puppy."
"I'm not saying no forever. I'm saying no for now to those puppies. Maybe someday, we'll get you a puppy, but that day is not today." Micah looked at Sara Jane to back him up.
"Your daddy is right. We all have to get used to each other before we get a puppy."
Chrissy made it clear she was not pleased with the answer, but she didn't ask again.
Soon, they found Thomas and Jill and called off the search. "She saw a dog, and followed it. She wanted a puppy," Micah explained.
Thomas laughed. "Puppies are wonderful, but not on the day you marry!"
Moments later, they were in the buggy, headed back to Nowhere. "I brought lunch if we get hungry," Sarah Jane reminded Micah. She was a bit worried about how angry he'd seemed when they'd first realized that Chrissy was missing.
"Once we're out of town, we'll stop for lunch," he told her.
Chrissy sat silently, her arms folded over her chest. She was obviously upset she hadn't gotten her way. Sarah Jane couldn't figure out where their sweet little girl had gone. "Edna Petunia sent some wedding cake," she told him. "Chrissy helped her make it."
"She did?" Micah asked, the smile returning to his face. "I could happily eat some cake."
"We have fried chicken, baked beans, and cake. I was going to make a potato salad, but Edna Petunia told me I should go easy on myself on the day of my wedding."
"We'll do fine without potato salad. I appreciate you making chicken for us. It's going to be a long day." He glanced down at Chrissy, who was still refusing to speak.
"But at least everything we're doing today, we're doing as a family. That's what really matters," Sarah Jane said, refusing to look at the child.
"We'll be far enough out of town to stop in about five minutes. I'd rather be in the country for our picnic. Would that suit you?"
She nodded. "Yes, I'm getting really hungry. And I don't feel married."
He chuckled. "And how does being married feel?"
"I wish I knew."
Once they stopped, she pulled the quilt from the back of the buggy and spread it on the ground. When she turned to go back for the picnic basket, she saw he was already holding it. He set it on the ground for her, and she knelt on the quilt, pulling out the dishes and fixing three plates.
She glanced over at the buggy and saw that Chrissy was still sitting in it moping. "Are you going to get her?"
Micah shrugged. "Sure. But I'm doing it my way." He turned to the buggy and called out, "I'm saying the prayer in exactly one minute. Anyone who isn't sitting on the quilt goes hungry!" He sat down and smiled at Sarah Jane, who was doing her best to hide her grin.
"Works for me," she said as she poured lemonade into three glasses.
Chrissy came to the quilt and sat down with her legs crossed in front of her, her too-short, patched skirt barely covering her knees.
Sarah Jane reached out and fixed the child's skirt for her before handing her the glass of lemonade she'd just poured. "I'm glad you joined us."
Chrissy frowned, taking a sip of the lemonade.
Micah said, "Let us pray," and then he bowed his head. "Father God, we thank You for the food You've so generously provided and for bringing us together as a family. We want to do everything we can to praise You and please You. We pray this in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen."
He reached out, grabbed a chicken leg, and took a big bite. "This is delicious. How did I ever end up with such a wonderful cook for a wife?" He looked at Chrissy. "Isn't the food good?"
Chrissy nodded. "It's very good, Mama." She said nothing else, and kept her eyes lowered, but it was enough for Sarah Jane. Chrissy was at least trying to behave, and that was what really mattered.
When they arrived back in town, it was too early to go to supper at the Sanders' house, so Sarah Jane chose to go straight to their new home. She would take stock of what was needed, and decided if she needed to go shopping the following day.
The house was small, as he'd said, but it was sturdy. It needed a good cleaning, but considering he'd lived there alone as a bachelor, she didn't think it was bad at all.
There was a kitchen with a table where he obviously took his meals. A small parlor with a sofa and two chairs, a bathroom, and two tiny bedrooms. "Which bedroom is ours?" she asked Micah.
He took her to the littler of the two rooms. "This one, unless you need the larger room."
She shook her head. "No. When we share a room, we'll want the larger of the two." Running her hand over the mattress, she smiled. "It's a good bed. We'll do just fine in here, won't we, Chrissy?"
Chrissy nodded. She'd been in better spirits since lunch, but it was still obvious that she was annoyed not to have come home with a puppy.
Sarah Jane put their things on the bed and quickly unpacked. "Do you have bedding for this room?"
He shook his head. "I don't. I don't have much extra of anything."
"I can get some from Edna Petunia. It's not a big deal." She put their things away, blushing as he stood watching as she unpacked her unmentionables. Of course, he was her husband, and he had to know she wore them. It was still embarrassing.
She went to the kitchen next with both Micah and Chrissy trailing after her. She wasn't sure why they were so concerned with her actions, but she said nothing. She dug through the shelves of his pantry, finding little. "I'm going to need to go to the store first thing in the morning."
He nodded. He showed her where he kept the household funds and gave her a budget. "I know you're used to spending whatever you want, but you'll have to be a bit more disciplined. Being a minister necessitates a shoestring budget, I'm afraid."
Sarah Jane smiled at that. "I expected nothing else. I know how to squeeze a penny until the Indian chief begs for mercy!"
"So glad to hear you won't be putting me in the poor house anytime soon." He glanced down at Chrissy with a grin. "I don't know about this one, though."
Chrissy threw her arms around his legs. "I won't make us poor, Daddy. I promise!"
He picked her up and hugged her tightly. "I know you won't. Your mama won't let you!"
Sarah Jane smiled at the picture they made. He may not love her yet, but he made it very obvious that he loved Chrissy. That was what really mattered to her. At least, that's what she told herself.
* * *
A few hours later, they were back at the Sanders' house for supper. There just wasn't enough food in the parsonage for Sarah Jane to make a nutritious meal. She would start cooking for her family in the morning. Of course, she'd have to borrow some eggs from Edna Petunia to make it possible.
When they got to the house where Sarah Jane had lived for the past three years, Edna Petunia shooed Sarah Jane from the kitchen. "You've been traveling all day. You don't need to help with supper. I've got Katie helping."
"Katie's no help in the kitchen. Food burns if she looks at it!" Sarah Jane protested.
"True as that may be, she's singing to me while I work, and it's keeping my ears happy."
Sarah Jane shook her head, laughing. "All right. We'll go to the informal parlor. I want to have Penny help me make a few dresses for Chrissy before Christmas. Do you know if she has time?"
"For her new niece? I promise you, she has time. All the girls are excited about Chrissy joining the family."
&
nbsp; "And you?"
Edna Petunia laughed. "I'd give up my cough syrup habit for another six just like her."
"That's saying a lot!"
"It really is. Now, go! Enjoy your time with the other girls. You won't be seeing them so often any longer."
Sarah Jane was in luck. Penny was in the informal parlor with her feet up, embroidering a pillow. "I need your help."
Penny sat up straighter. "What do you want?" She looked at Sarah Jane skeptically.
"I need to make Chrissy a few new dresses before Christmas. And a nightgown. Her clothes are in terrible shape."
"Like ours were when we first moved here?" Penny asked with a smile.
"Worse! She didn't have you patching her clothes and keeping them looking fashionable." Sarah Jane sat beside Penny on the couch. "Could you help me?"
"Absolutely. Does she have any old dresses we can use as a pattern for size?"
Sarah Jane shook her head. "I'm afraid not. None of her dresses fit her properly. There aren't any long enough. Most are too tight in the torso. We really need to measure her to be certain to make them to fit her rather than relying on old dresses for size."
"I'll run upstairs and get my tape measure. If I cut the dresses out, and pin them together where they need to be sewn, can you sew them while I'm at work?"
Sarah Jane nodded. "Make sure you make it very clear where, though. Being me, I'll sew the wrong sides together, and you'll just have to take it all apart."
"You're going to owe me two dozen cookies when I'm done with this one!"
"I can do that in my sleep." Sarah Jane smiled, glad Penny was turning it into a trade. She wouldn't feel guilty about it then.
Penny rushed out of the room, and Sarah Jane went in search of Micah and Chrissy. She was sure the little girl had stayed with her new daddy once they arrived, because she certainly wasn't with her.
She found Micah in the formal parlor talking to Cletus. "Where's Chrissy?"
"I thought she was with you," Micah said, his voice perplexed.
"She's probably upstairs with the girls. I'll run up and check." Sarah Jane immediately started for the stairs, not particularly concerned. When she got there, no one had any idea where the little girl was.
Hurrying back down, she stopped at the formal parlor. "She's not there."
"Where did she go this time?" Micah asked, obviously exasperated.
"I wish I knew!" Sarah Jane rushed into the kitchen. "Do you have any idea where Chrissy is?"
Edna Petunia shook her head. "She might be in the stable. Thomasina just had a litter of kittens this morning."
Sarah Jane sighed, shrugging into her coat and hurrying outside. Everyone had called Thomasina "that old tom cat" until she'd had kittens a year before. They'd had to change her name then, and Thomasina had stuck. Of course, they usually still called her Tom.
"Chrissy!" Sarah Jane called as she walked toward the stable.
"In here!" Chrissy yelled. She was at the back of the stable kneeling over the cat and her kittens, patting the cat's head. "May I have a kitten, Mama?"
Sarah Jane sighed. The child had a desire for a pet that she wasn't going to have fulfilled any time soon. "No, Chrissy. We just had this conversation about a puppy a few hours ago. You can visit the kittens here."
"But I want one to live in our house with us. I'll be lonely if I don't have a kitten." Chrissy held one of the tiny kittens cradled against her chest.
"The answer's still no. Maybe in a year, but not today. It's going to be enough for all of us to get used to each other. We don't need to throw an animal into the works."
"But I want it." Chrissy frowned. "You're my new mama. You're supposed to get me whatever I want."
Sarah Jane shook her head, hearing someone come up behind her, but not turning to see who it was. "No, that's not a mama's job. I need to make sure you have everything you need, not whatever you want. And I also need to make certain you know not to speak to adults the way you've been speaking to me. It's unacceptable."
"Daddy, tell Mama I can have a kitten."
Sarah Jane closed her eyes and went through the books of the New Testament in order. She found it more productive than simply counting to ten. "I said no."
Micah shook his head at the scene before him. Their new daughter was proving to be a brat when it came to having an animal. "The answer is no. You will listen to your mother. We need to see that you can behave well for at least a year before we can have an animal in our home."
"But I want a kitten!" Chrissy stood up and yelled at Micah.
Micah shook his head. He wasn't sure how he felt about corporal punishment. He knew the Bible promoted it, but his parents had never spanked him, and he just wasn't sure if it was right. In his heart, he knew it was wrong when she'd only been his daughter for twenty-four hours.
"You can't speak to us that way, Chrissy," Sarah Jane said, her voice calm. "No dessert tonight." It wasn't a harsh enough punishment, but it would do to begin with. She had to make certain Chrissy knew they were her parents, and she wasn't in charge.
"You can't do that!" Chrissy yelled at Sarah Jane.
"Oh, yes, I can! And if you argue with me about it, it'll be no dessert for a week!"
Chrissy folded her arms over her chest and plopped down into the hay, right there in the stable. "I hate you!"
Sarah Jane felt her heart break a little as her eyes met Micah's. He stared back at her, shrugging as if he had no clue what to do either. "No dessert for a week. Don't make me say a month. I will if I have to," Sarah Jane told her.
Chrissy said nothing else, but continued to sit on the ground with her arms crossed over her chest. She wasn't crying, but her face was mutinous.
Micah took Sarah Jane's arm and led her away to where Chrissy couldn't hear. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Sarah Jane shrugged. "I think she needs her bottom beaten, but I can't do that when we've had her for such a short time. I'll be creative with punishments until we know a bit more about her past."
Micah nodded. "I don't feel like it's enough, but I also feel like it's too much. She should have come with an instruction manual!"
"It's hard to know what to do. We've only been parents for a day."
"I'll back up your decision. No dessert for a week. Does that mean you won't bake any cakes or cookies for me?"
Sarah Jane laughed. "You look like a little boy who climbed onto the work table for a cookie, and found the cookie jar empty."
"Well, I do have to say, one of my favorite things about you is how well you bake. I had visions of cookies and cakes filling up the kitchen. And now I can see that won't happen."
"Why won't it?" she asked. "It wouldn't be a punishment if they weren't around. It's a punishment because they will be around, and she can't have any."
"Seems mean, but I see what you're saying. Besides, I can't complain when I'll get cookies!" He turned to Chrissy. "You need to go back in the house, Chrissy. Your new grandmother has supper almost ready."
"I don't want a grandmother."
"That's too bad, because you have one, and your punishment will be much more severe if you hurt her feelings."
Chrissy got to her feet, her eyes shooting daggers at Sarah Jane. "I'm going. I'm not happy about it, but I'm going."
Sarah Jane took a deep breath and waited until the girl had left the stable. "Today, I'll take obedience. Tomorrow, we'll start working on the spirit of obedience."
Micah shook his head. "What have we gotten ourselves into?"
She shrugged. "I'm sure I don't know. I need to read over the paperwork the orphanage has on her. See if we can find out about her history. She said she doesn't know her father, and her mother left her. Do we know who her mother was? Or why she left?"
"I can tell you why she left," Micah mumbled.
Sarah Jane laughed. "Don't be like that! You know we both still want her with everything inside us."
He sighed. "We do. I just wish she was still acting like she did the night
I met her."
"Me too."
Convincing Edna Petunia that her new granddaughter wasn't allowed to have dessert was almost more than Sarah Jane could do. "Edna Petunia, she's been disobedient and disrespectful. If we let her get away with that today, imagine what she'll be like in a year. You have to allow me to carry out her punishment."
Edna Petunia looked almost as mutinous as Chrissy had just minutes before. "I don't like it."
"Of course you don't like it! You're too soft. And you love having bastard grandchildren too much."
Edna's eyes lit up. "Is she a bastard? Are you sure?"
Sarah Jane shook her head with a sigh. "No, I'm not sure, but I guess she is. I'll be looking into her history so we can figure out how best to help her."
"She's a good girl. I like her. If she can't have cake, can she at least have a peppermint stick?"
"I know where those peppermint sticks have been, and the answer is no."
"Oh, posh. A little sweat never hurt anyone. It'll help her grow hair on the bottoms of her feet!" Edna Petunia said with a smile.
"Why would anyone want hair on the bottoms of their feet?"
"I have no idea, but it would look interesting, wouldn't it?" Edna Petunia asked. "Help me carry the food into the dining room since you just can't seem to stay out of my kitchen."
"Yes, ma'am." Sarah Jane picked up a platter of meat and a gravy boat, carrying them through to the dining room. Two of the other girls were rushing back and forth carrying things as well.
When they were all sitting around the table for the meal, Sarah Jane noticed that Chrissy had situated herself between Edna Petunia and Cletus, obviously planning to make a play for their sympathies. Sarah Jane stared at Edna Petunia until she caught the older woman's eye. "You promised."
Edna looked angry, but she nodded.
At the end of the meal, when Edna Petunia and Katie were serving cake, Chrissy asked, "May I have a piece of cake, please?"
Edna looked at Sarah Jane and shook her head sadly. "No, sweetie. You had dessert taken away for a week. You shouldn't even request it."
Chrissy said nothing else, but she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair, obviously surprised that Edna Petunia had done what Sarah Jane wanted. She glared at Sarah Jane and Micah, who ate the cake Edna had made for their wedding.
Sarah Jane (Countdown to Christmas Book 1) Page 7
