A surge of relief washed over Victoria even as she heard Rocky say, “Certainly. Not a problem.”
“It’s just been a hard couple of weeks, if you catch my meaning,” Tom continued.
“We understand,” Rocky assured. “Why don’t you just get a hold of me when you think you’ll be ready to meet them?”
“I’ll do that.”
Victoria lifted the man’s hat off the peg by the door and handed it to him.
“Thank you, ma’am.” He motioned with it for Paul to head out the door. “Get the team, son.”
“Yes, sir.” Paul shuffled by, casting his mother a worried glance.
Victoria felt the heaviness of their grief wash over her. She folded her arms and blinked back tears as she watched them shuffle across the yard and climb slowly into their buckboard.
Suddenly she realized they hadn’t even gotten to eat any dinner. “Oh! Rocky ask them to wait for just a minute and I’ll send some dinner home with them.” Quickly, she snatched up a basket and a towel as Rocky headed out the door. “Jimmy get me three of the empty canning jars from the pantry.” She filled the middle of the towel with the crisp golden fried chicken and tied the corners together, then filled two of the jars Jimmy brought out with mashed potatoes and gravy and the third with green beans. She tucked all of them into the basket and carefully eased the pie in next to them.”
“Not the pie!” Jimmy protested.
She gave him a hard look. “Yes, the pie. You knew exactly what the girls were planning and you never said a word to me. And just look at the hurt this caused Mrs. Rackler. Now quickly,” she pressed the handle into his hands, “take this out to them.”
Jimmy grumbled but complied and Victoria leaned back against the sideboard, her legs suddenly too weary to solely support her weight. What a mess! Hard as it had been to think of the girls going to another family, she never would have wanted to hurt Mrs. Rackler like that. Obviously the girls hadn’t realized how hurtful their actions would be to the still-grieving woman.
She sighed. How should she and Rocky handle this? The girls only wanted to stay on here with them. Could they blame them for not wanting to move on again after they’d found a measure of happiness here with her and Rocky? Still, they couldn’t just let the situation pass as if nothing had happened. The girls had been downright disobedient and Jimmy had been deceptive.
What had they all been thinking?
A few moments later she jolted upright as Rocky banged through the back door followed by three very meek children.
Stopping by the table, Rocky gestured for each of them to sit but he himself remained standing, hands resting on his hips and fury radiating from his face. “ChristyAnne? Would you care to explain your thinking today?”
In the face of Rocky’s anger ChristyAnne looked befuddled, and large tears pooled in her big dark eyes.
Victoria’s heart melted at the sight and her lips pressed together as she rested one hand against her chest.
“We only wanted to stay here with the two of you.”
“Yeah. We love it hewe!”
Rocky’s feet shuffled at that proclamation and Victoria peered over at him to see what his next course of action would be.
“Well,” he cleared his throat, “what you did was wrong. A lady’s feelings were very hurt, not to mention the fact that you directly disobeyed Victoria when she told you to come out. So,” he sighed and looked over at Victoria, pain radiating from his eyes, even as he continued to speak to the girls, “you won’t – uh, you won’t get any dinner tonight. Both of you go to your room.”
Victoria could tell that was probably the hardest thing he’d ever had to say to anyone.
“But Damera can’t sleep when she’s hungry! You can’t do that to her!” ChristyAnne stamped one foot.
A muscle pulsed in Rocky’s jaw. He speared ChristyAnne with a look and he lowered his voice. “Young lady, do not make me repeat myself.”
Victoria wondered if the children had heard the tremor that laced his tone.
Jaw jutted off to one side, ChristyAnne tilted her chin up with all the air of royalty and stood slowly, regally, to her feet. She paused there, assessing Rocky for a moment, the glitter of decision in her dark eyes.
Victoria held her breath. Please don’t challenge him, child.
Jimmy’s feet shuffled and Damera glanced back and forth from ChristyAnne to Rocky for a moment before she pulled her thumb from her mouth, slid off her chair, and walked toward their room.
The air of challenge in ChristyAnne’s expression dissipated and her shoulders slumped. She turned and quietly followed her sister from the room.
Releasing a puff of breath Victoria sank down into her chair.
Jimmy let out a low whistle and reached for a dinner roll. “WhooEee! That was some stunt they pulled, huh?” A twinkle danced in his eyes.
“Jimmy?”
The roll stopped half way to his mouth and he glanced up to meet Rocky’s scrutiny. “Yeah?”
“Am I correct in my understanding that you knew what the girls were up to, yet you didn’t say anything to Victoria or me before the Racklers got here.”
Jimmy glanced back and forth from the roll to Rocky. Finally, he tossed the roll back with a disgusted snort. “Yes, sir. In fact,” defeat cloaked his stance as he studied the table sheepishly, “it was all my idea.”
Rocky cleared his throat. “Well then. You can head for your room, too.”
As Jimmy shuffled from the room Rocky sank into his own chair at the opposite end of the table. Leaning forward he planted his elbows on his knees and dropped his face into his hands. After a long moment, he turned his head to look over at her. “You think that was the best way to handle it?”
She shrugged. “I might have let them eat dinner, and given them extra chores to do instead, but I don’t think you were too hard on them.”
A grimace flickered across his features. “Well, let’s just hope they learn their lesson the first time, because I don’t ever want to have to do that again.”
She couldn’t prevent a grin. “Daddy used to take me on a picnic fishing trip the next day after he had to discipline me.”
“You?” Rocky thought for a moment. “Whatever could you have done to need discipline?” The sparkle in his eyes belied the seriousness of his tone.
A chuckle escaped her lips. “Once upon a time there was this very annoying boy who put a toad in my lunch pail.”
He smiled softly now.
She arched one brow. “The next day at school, I broke his slate over my knee, after he dipped my braid into his ink-well.”
His head tipped back in a full blown laugh. “I’d forgotten about that!” He leaned forward, studying her face intently. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think I was comfortable sitting down for a full two days after the Infamous Ink-Well Incident of…, what year was that…? 1880?”
“Yes. I was ten and you were twelve, that year.”
“I didn’t mind the paddling. Or even the soreness afterwards. What I hated was that Miss Childers wouldn’t let me sit behind you for the rest of the year.” His gaze roved over her hair before it captured hers again and he added, “I always was more interested in your beautiful red curls than I was in arithmetic.”
She felt her face heat and turned to look at the floor.
After a long moment he turned to examine the meal on the table. “A picnic, huh?” He reached for a roll. “Well if we’re going on a picnic tomorrow, you best save that chicken.” He sighed and snagged two more of the golden orbs. “I have a harness to finish repairing.”
As she watched him walk out through the kitchen she wondered just why it was that she couldn’t seem to let that wonderful man past her emotional barriers.
Rubbing one hand over her full tummy, ChristyAnne watched Mrs. Jordan tuck the last of the leftovers into the picnic basket. Mrs. Jordan’s Mama and her husband had come along too, and ChristyAnne had known she would like them from the moment they drove up in th
eir buggy and handed each of them a long stick of hard candy from the general store. Part of hers still rested in the pocket of her dress for later, but Jimmy had gobbled his down in the first five minutes.
Across the way Mera squealed in delight as she swung through the air on the knotted rope that Mr. Jordan had climbed up and tied to an old maple tree’s branch. Each time she swung back toward Mr. Jordan, he reached out and tickled her. Mera was squirming and giggling like ChristyAnne hadn’t seen her do in a long time.
ChristyAnne leaned back on her arms and refused to allow a smile, not quite ready to let go of her frustration with their punishment the night before. Although, she had been surprised at how quickly Mera fell asleep. Probably the fact that she’d been eating well for a couple weeks before the missed meal had helped. Reluctantly, ChristyAnne admitted that it hadn’t hurt them too much to miss dinner last night. She especially felt better now that her tummy was full from the huge breakfast Mrs. Jordan had made and then the yummy left over chicken and fried potato patty lunch they’d all just shared. The peach pie Nana Martin had brought wasn’t bad either.
She sighed and watched Mr. Jordan grab the tail of the rope and pull Mera back and up before he let her go again.
A wood chip landed in her lap and she turned to frown at Jimmy.
He grinned. “Smile. Your face is scaring the wildlife for miles around.”
Nana and Doc chuckled.
She glared at him, sitting there on the rock whistling tunelessly and carving another dumb animal that Mrs. Jordan would probably fawn over and put in her windowsill.
“If anything is scaring them, Jimmy, it’s the stupid song you’ve been whistling all morning!”
“ChristyAnne!” Mrs. Jordan stood to her feet and lifted the picnic basket to her hip. “Fold up the blanket and come with me please.”
Great! Now he’d gotten her in trouble again. She stood, shook off the blanket, folded it with swift sharp movements and then followed Victoria to the wagon several feet away. The horses bobbed their heads and swung around to look at her as she dropped the quilt into the back right corner of the bed. One flicked its tail at a fly, then they both turned back to munching grass.
From the corner of her eye she saw Mrs. Jordan fold her arms. Here it comes! She’s gonna stand up for Jimmy again and tell me how mean I’m being to him!
“ChristyAnne, I want you to know that it was never Rocky’s or my intention to force you to go live with the Racklers. We invited them to dinner specifically so you could meet each other and see if everyone, including you, thought it could be worked out. I’m sorry it was so upsetting to you, and that you felt your only option was to hide away in the outhouse. I hope next time you take issue with something we ask you to do, you will have the courage to come and talk to us about it.”
ChristyAnne folded her arms and huffed. “Why should I come talk to you? You don’t even want us! I don’t see you kicking Jimmy out to go live with someone else!”
“Oh, honey. Rocky and I not keeping you has nothing to do with you and Mera. Nothing at all. Honestly, Rocky and I just don’t feel that our…, that we…, we just don’t get along well enough to have children in our home. And the only reason Jimmy was staying on for a bit is that we haven’t found a family for him yet.” Victoria stepped forward and tried to wrap her in a hug.
ChristyAnne took a quick step back. “You two get along better than my mama and papa, and they had children.”
Mrs. Jordan’s face washed pale. She swallowed and glanced over toward the make-shift swing. “That may be, but grown-up issues are often a lot more complicated than they appear.” Mrs. Jordan met her gaze again. “We really are trying to do what we feel is best for you and Mera.”
The tears that sprang to Mrs. Jordan’s eyes made ChristyAnne feel a little sick inside and she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her.
Mrs. Jordan pulled her close and soothed one hand over her hair. “I know this is hard. We just have to trust that God will lead us all through this, okay?”
ChristyAnne nodded, her cheek still pressed against Mrs. Jordan’s shoulder.
I suppose it wasn’t very nice of us to pull that hiding trick on the Racklers. She hadn’t known it would hurt the woman’s feelings so badly, but she maybe should have thought about it a little before going along with stupid Jimmy and his plan.
Still, even though she felt bad for hurting the woman’s feelings, that didn’t mean she wanted to go and live with that family. She and Mera were happy right here with the Jordans and she planned to do everything in her power to keep them there.
She angled a look up at Mrs. Jordan. An apology probably wouldn’t hurt. She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry for the… way we acted last night.”
Mrs. Jordan gave her another squeeze. “I know you are, darling. Let’s just move on and let the past rest in the past, shall we?”
ChristyAnne nodded, suddenly feeling like she could fly. “Can I go swing with Mera for a bit?”
A smile lit Mrs. Jordan’s blue eyes. “You most certainly can. Then when you are done, how about you help me plan how to decorate our basket for the doings tomorrow?”
Through the sheen of tears still blurring her vision, Victoria watched her dash over to where Rocky and Mera giggled together. Lord , she turned her face to study the sky through the fluttering leaves overhead, I really want to keep these children. She glanced at Jimmy. All of them.
Remembering Rocky’s word from a few days ago, she looked over at him. Could she really let go of all her carefully constructed walls and let him fully into her life? Give him trust, openness, love…., intimacy? Her breath eased out through pursed lips. And all that without taking it back again?
He would want to know if she was offering simply to keep the children. Would she be?
She watched him help Mera off the rope and bend down so she could climb up onto his back as ChristyAnne grabbed the swing and clambered up until her feet could rest on the highest knot.
“You ready?” he called.
ChristyAnne nodded, her eyes sparkling like sun-kissed snow.
As Rocky took several large steps back, pulling the rope with him, Mera, her chubby little arms wrapped around Rocky’s neck giggled and jounced. “It’s fun, Sissy! Close yo eyes and tip yo head back. It feels wike yo fwying!”
Rocky grinned as ChristyAnne arched through the air with a happy screech.
Sunday morning dawned bright and clear and Victoria popped out of bed with a light heart. She glanced outside and grinned at the clear blue sky. Today was the day of the mystery-basket picnic auction fundraiser for the school. Sharyah had put a lot of effort into organizing it.
Each woman was to create a full meal. Then they were each to decorate a basket to hold the food and keep its appearance secret from their husbands.
At the auction, the men would bid to win the basket they thought was their wife’s. And after all the meals had been auctioned, the man who won a particular basket would eat lunch with the woman who had prepared it. The married women’s offerings would be auctioned first, followed by the single women’s.
Victoria hurried the children through their preparations and then hustled everyone outdoors while she added the final touches. For her decoration she had decided to wrap the whole basket up in a lap quilt she had made the year before. The quilt was a light blue patchwork and thin enough that she could knot the corners to the braided Willow handle. Then through the center of the knots she pushed the stems of several roses and hydrangeas to create a bouquet of yellow and blue that cascaded down the front. Stepping back, she eyed her handy work and was quite pleased with the effect. She added one more rose for balance and then poked her head out the door.
Rocky sat on the seat of the wagon chatting easily with the children. Damera was beside him on the seat and ChristyAnne and Jimmy were in the bed at the back.
“Okay, ChristyAnne. You’re on!” Victoria gave her a nod.
With a gleeful clap of her hands ChristyAnne hopped over
behind Rocky and nearly knocked his hat off in her exuberance to cover his eyes.
“Jimmy, come and get this, would you please?” Victoria set out a separate quilt to drape over the basket to keep Rocky from seeing what it looked like.
The girl’s ooohhhed and aaahhhed in appreciation as Victoria carefully carried it out ahead of Jimmy.
“I’ll take you by the mercantile on your way home from school tomorrow and buy you some candy if you let me get just a peek, ChristyAnne,” Rocky tried.
The girl giggled and tossed her dark curls. “That would be cheating.”
“Two pieces?”
“Nope,” she laughed.
Jimmy grinned mischievously. “I’ll tell you what it looks like for two pieces of candy.”
“Not a word, young man!” Victoria nailed him with a tough-as-hide-leather look.
Rocky threw back his head on a laugh. “What about you, Mera? You gonna help me out any?”
Grinning around the thumb firmly planted in her mouth, Damera shook her head. Her expression sparkled with merriment as the basket disappeared under the drape of the old quilt.
At her silence, Rocky reached out to the space where he’d last seen her. “I’ll take that as a no, young miss.” His hand connected with her dress and he pulled her into his lap and set to tickling her. “Why won’t you help me? I’m going to starve! Or worse yet have to eat something Mrs. Halvorson makes!”
“Rocky!” Victoria gasped.
Mrs. Halvorson could take the blue ribbon at the county fair for “notoriously bad cook,” but he didn’t need to be letting the children in on that secret!
He chuckled sheepishly.
ChristyAnne removed her hands and resumed her seat in the wagon bed next to Jimmy. “She sent cookies to the school for all the children on Friday.”
Jimmy shuddered and it was all Victoria could do to keep from giggling at the wretched face he pulled. “Not even the ducks would eat them!”
Rocky cleared his throat and gave her an apologetic look as he jumped down to lift her up to the seat. “Yes. Well. I probably shouldn’t have said anything. God gifts us all in various ways. Mrs. Halvorson’s gift just isn’t cooking, that’s all.”
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