Willow Springs

by Jan Watson

  Benton met her at the window. From where Copper sat, they looked like a family already. When he reached out, Alice didn’t flinch; she merely let her body rest against his. His arm circled her. “I want her, Benton.” Copper saw his face soften as Alice’s voice turned raw with need. “You know how much I’ve wanted a child.”

  Copper dropped her eyes. Some moments shouldn’t have a witness.

  “People will think we’re doing it out of charity,” Alice begged. “No one would dare question you.”

  When Copper arrived home, she didn’t have the energy to go inside. Giving Dodie over to Searcy, she collapsed on the porch swing and pondered what had happened at Alice and Benton’s.

  In a way, it was like the transformation she had witnessed in the relationship of her father and stepmother back home on Troublesome Creek. All of her growing-up years had been marked by the tension between her parents. And then, right before she left the mountains, they had become like sweethearts. How sad to waste your time that way.

  A warm zephyr gusted round her, the scent of petunias and roses riding its wake. She bowed her head and prayed, Father, is this the answer You’ve sent for Dodie? Is she to be Alice’s daughter? What about Marydell and Andy? And why do I carry this dread in the pit of my stomach?

  She laughed at herself then and pushed the swing with one foot. I’m sorry, Lord. That wasn’t much of a prayer. The children are Yours. I accept Your will. Please bring Simon home safely. Amen.

  It felt good . . . safe . . . to sit here as the afternoon wore away, but her arms felt strangely empty. Silly, but Copper had begun to picture Dodie as her baby and Marydell and Andy as hers also. Now Marydell was missing, Andy was despondent, and Alice claimed Dodie.

  Oh, she missed her husband. He’d make everything right again. Besides, she had something to tell him. Something she’d been keeping secret until she was positively sure. She only hoped he would be as happy as she was.

  Simon and Andy were gone for two weeks. Copper thought she’d die of loneliness before she spied their horses coming down the street at a fast clip. It was all she could do to stay on the porch and wait, as a patient wife should. “Searcy,” she called through the screen, “bring Dodie out.”

  Simon met her with arms outstretched. Had a kiss ever been so sweet? She pulled back as befit their audience.

  “Later,” Simon whispered in her ear as she clung to his arm.

  Dodie shouted, “Andy! Andy!” before her brother had her seated on his hip. His boyish face had hardened, and Copper saw a hint of the handsome man he would become. “Mardee?” Dodie questioned. “Andy, where Mardee?”

  It was much later before Copper heard the full story of Annalise Tolliver. First there was supper and getting the children settled. Reuben had fetched Dodie’s crib days earlier, so she went right off to sleep, but Andy was a different story. Simon had to take a firm stand with the boy or else he would have lit out for the little house on the other side of town. Finally he agreed to sleep on the porch and now lay bedded down in the swing.

  “You won’t believe this story, Copper,” Simon said from upside down as she washed the road dust from his hair.

  She massaged his favorite Larkin’s Tar Soap into his scalp before finishing with a rinse of cold water.

  “We caught up with them in Three Mile, Ohio. Annalise and Marydell were staying with a woman on the outskirts of town. Rosemary Hitchfield, her name is—Billy Hitchfield’s mother. Billy is Marydell’s father. Annalise says Billy’s the only man she’s ever loved.”

  “What does a woman who abandons her children know about love?” Copper asked.

  “Not much.” Simon towel-dried his hair as he talked. “Annalise was thrown out of her house when she was fourteen and pregnant with Andy. She said his father was the mayor’s son, but he wanted nothing to do with her or with Andy. Imagine it—just a girl herself and turned out in her time of need.”

  Remembering her own father’s love, Copper replied, “I can’t imagine. How terrible for Annalise and for Andy.”

  “That’s the thing; she kept her baby. She really tried. Then she met Billy, the love of her life. She winds up pregnant with Marydell, and he gets thrown into jail for killing a man over a game of cards. Seems Billy Hitchfield is quite the gambler. Story goes that the other man drew first, hence Billy’s relatively short time in prison.” He sprinkled his toothbrush with dentifrice and talked around a mouthful of foam. “Annalise came to Lexington because she had a sister here. She was waiting out Billy’s term.”

  “My goodness,” Copper said, “how terrible.”

  “It gets worse,” he said and rinsed his mouth. “Annalise’s sister was no better off than Annalise was. She trailed off after some man not a year after Annalise arrived here. So what was she to do? She had Andy and Marydell and no means of support.”

  Copper sprinkled cleanser on a cloth and cleaned the sink as he talked. She bit her tongue to keep from jumping ahead of the story, while her mind screamed, Where is Marydell now? What has happened to Marydell?

  “Thankfully Billy’s mother tracked her down, by Billy’s request, and rented the little house you found them in. Mrs. Hitchfield doesn’t have much herself, but she’s tried to do right by Annalise. So Andy has one father, Marydell has another, and who knows who Dodie belongs to.”

  Copper raised her hand as if she were in school asking for permission to speak. “I know.”

  Simon slipped the nightshirt she’d put across the end of the bed over his head. “Whatever do you mean?”

  “She’s Benton’s, Simon. Dodie is Benton’s daughter.”

  He sank onto the bed, his face a mask of disbelief. “What did you say?”

  As she told him her story, the downstairs clock chimed midnight, surprising them both. “That’s all of it. Except that Alice wants Dodie.”

  “What would convince my upright sister to raise her philandering husband’s daughter?”

  Stifling a yawn, Copper took down her hair and sat on the bench in front of her dressing table. “There’s so much more to tell. I guess it had best wait until morning. But please tell me; where is Marydell?”

  Standing behind her, Simon wielded the silver-backed brush and began to work the tangles from her hair. “Don’t be upset, but we had to leave Marydell behind.”

  “Why?” Copper could see her own tears in the shadowy mirror. “I don’t understand how you could think of doing such a thing.”

  “I had no jurisdiction over the girl. I couldn’t force her to leave with Andy and me.” He ran his hands through Copper’s thick mane. “Annalise gave Marydell the choice, and she chose her mother.”

  “Didn’t that just make you sick, Simon? Leaving her there?”

  “I was more worried about Andy than Marydell. I like Mrs. Hitchfield. She assured me she’d keep track of her granddaughter, but Annalise didn’t even ask Andy what he wanted nor was she concerned for Dodie. She just assumed we’d take them both in.”

  Finishing, Simon laid the brush aside and took Copper in his arms. “I guess I assumed the same thing. I certainly never entertained Alice wanting Dodie. Let’s get some sleep now. We’ll unscramble all this in the morning.”

  It took more than one morning’s talk to put everything together, but within a week things had fallen into place. Dodie was living with Alice and Benton, and Andy had his own room at Birdie’s boardinghouse. Benton had had a charitable moment, and Andy’s room and board were secured. Copper was sorely disappointed to give up Andy. But she understood his explanation.

  “Miz Corbett, you don’t need me except for this and that. Now Dodie don’t need me either—” he dashed at tears with his knuckles—“but Miz Birdie does. She’s got all them boarders and her little crippled boy to think about. Besides, Tommy Turner’s going to teach me to play chess.” He allowed an embrace then.

  “I’m so sorry,” Copper said. “I wish things had turned out differently.”

  His hug was brief but fierce. “It’s for the best. Ma was happ
y, and that other lady will see to Marydell.”

  “I love you. You must promise to come to me if you need anything. Anything at all.”

  “I will,” he said. “Doc said I was like a son to him. Ain’t that something, Miz Corbett?”

  “Yes, it is,” Copper answered, her arm still around the boy. “That’s really something.”

  In the wee hours of the morning on the night after Andy left to live at Birdie’s, Simon awoke with a start. Copper’s side of the bed was empty.

  Lighting an oil lamp, he searched the house for her. “Sweetheart?” he asked when he came upon her sitting on the floor of the pantry. “Whatever is the matter?”

  “Oh, Simon,” she said matter-of-factly, as if he found her eating pickled cucumbers in the dark every night. “I woke up hungry.” Juice trickled down her chin, flashing silver in the lamplight. “Want one?”

  “Not right now.” He saw the weighted wooden disk cast aside, watched as she speared another pickle. She was going to have such a bellyache.

  “I dreamed I was back home,” she said around a crunch, “going to the cellar to fetch some of Mam’s bread-and-butters. I woke with such a yearning; I couldn’t wait another minute.”

  “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  Laying her fork aside, she reached into the crock with both hands. “I didn’t think you’d be hungry.”

  Catching hold of her, he entreated, “Stop now. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

  Standing, she swayed a little. Her gown was wet and clung to the little swell of her belly. He could have smacked himself on the head. Though he guessed she was not more than six weeks along, how could he have missed this?

  “Oh, dear,” she said. “I think you’re right.”

  Soon Simon had the mess cleaned up and Copper in a clean gown. After tucking her into bed, he leaned over her, smoothed the hair from around her face, and placed his palm on her forehead.

  “I feel fine now, Simon. Do you think there’s any sauerkraut left from supper?”

  He shook his head. “Dearest,” he started but stopped when her eyes drooped and closed. Settling the light quilt over her shoulders, he whispered, “You can have sauerkraut with your eggs in the morning.”

  Simon pulled a chair close, then turned up the oil lamp and opened his Bible to a favorite Scripture: “Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.”

  Simon set the Bible on the nightstand. He extinguished the wick and knelt beside the bed, where his wife lay sleeping. This was a night to give thanks.

  The porch swing squeaked a protest as Copper settled down, resting her feet on a small stool, stationery and pen in hand. Her dressmaker had paid a visit this morning to let out the darts in her blouses and move the buttons on her skirts. Soon she’d need new clothes—dresses with no waistbands and billowy wrappers. And no corsets; that was very good.

  It was July, and she was five months along according to Dr. Thornsberry’s calculations. She smiled to remember the kindly man pulling on his white beard as he counted the months backward, then added days until he came up with the probable time of her confinement, give or take two weeks. The baby would come, Copper reckoned, when it was ready.

  The only hard part of being with child was staying in. The doctor would allow her only short trips in the buggy. And, of course, once she started showing, it was indecent to be out in society anyway. She missed church the most, but Simon told her everything the minister said and served her Communion himself.

  Shuffling pen, paper, and ink against her expanding belly, she sighed and gave up. Her lap had disappeared. She’d have to go inside and sit at the table to answer a letter from Hester and Isaac, but first she’d enjoy the bright summer day from her porch swing and try to contain her growing excitement.

  After supper last night, she and Simon had taken a stroll around the yard and stopped to admire the roses and the hollyhocks, the marigolds and the lilies. “We’re going to have some company,” he said, plucking a pink rosebud and holding it for her to smell.

  She caught the gleam in his eyes, and she knew. She just knew. “Is it Daddy and Mam?” she asked, clapping.

  He put his hands on her shoulders as if she needed holding in place. “Now don’t get too wound up; you must think of the baby.”

  “Simon!”

  “Yes,” he said, “they’re coming by train the first week of August, and Willy and Daniel also.”

  Now the swing swayed when she waved at a neighbor lady who passed by on the sidewalk. “My family is coming for a visit,” she called out, unable to contain her happiness.

  Pausing on the sidewalk, the lady shaded her eyes against the sun and called back, “That’s wonderful news.”

  “Yes, it is,” Copper replied. “It is the most wonderful news.”

  It seemed as if Copper’s world had shrunk to nothing more than waiting—waiting for Simon to come home from the office each evening, waiting for her family’s visit, waiting for the baby to come. Finally she marked August 5 off the calendar hanging on the pantry door. Her mother and father and eight-year-old twin brothers were on their way.

  Simon wouldn’t let her accompany him to the train station to pick them up—too much hustle and bustle there—and so she waited some more. Trailing through the house, she dusted already-spotless furniture and rearranged knickknacks until Searcy gave her a mess of green beans to break.

  It was Willy’s voice she heard first—his voice and his pounding footsteps across the porch floor. “Sissy! Sissy!” he hollered.

  Then they were all in the foyer, hugging and laughing while Simon stood beaming in the open door.

  How had the boys grown so tall in such a short time? Willy reached her shoulder, and Daniel was not far behind. Daniel held Copper’s hand, smiling a little shyly.

  Willy told her all about the train in his nonstop way, his eyes dancing with mischief. “We flew down the tracks fast as greased lightning, a thousand miles an hour or more.”

  “The average speed was thirty-five miles an hour, Sissy,” Daniel interjected in his studious way. “The brakeman told me.”

  “Me and Daniel got to go to the coal car and watch the fireman sling coal in the furnace.”

  “And we went to the observation deck,” Daniel said, tugging on her hand. “My hat blew off.”

  “Felt like we were going a thousand miles an hour when you lost your hat, didn’t it, Daniel?” Willy teased.

  “Daniel, Willy,” Mam said, “go help with the luggage.”

  Mam, her hair a faded replica of Copper’s own, was dressed in a fawn linen suit with a white handkerchief-linen blouse. She looked . . . how did she look? Surer maybe, steady, with a light from within. Copper realized her stepmother looked like she was supposed to look, like she would look if she’d never left the city to live on Troublesome Creek. Copper’s heart softened; maybe she’d finally be able to understand why Mam had taken Daddy away from their mountain home.

  There were tears in Mam’s eyes as they embraced. “I’m so happy for you, Laura Grace, so happy.”

  And then Copper was in her father’s arms. He might have seemed a little thinner, but his hug was as strong as ever, and she saw that his face had good color. When he stood back to look her over, his smile stretched from ear to ear. “A grandbaby,” he said. “I’m right proud of you, girl.”

  A flurry of activity interrupted them as Simon and Reuben brought in the humpback trunks and hefted them up the stairs, followed by Willy and Daniel carrying valises and hatboxes. Searcy called lunch, and Andy came by to take the twins off exploring.

  “You must eat first,” Copper said. “You too, Andy. Searcy’s been cooking all morning.”

  A veritable feast awaited them: chicken and dumplings, candied carrots, green beans, creamed corn, yeast rolls, and chocolate meringue pie.

  Simon’s blessing was heartfelt if short.
“Lord, we thank You for safe journeys, welcome family, and good food.”

  Copper was nearly too full of gratitude to eat. All her most loved people were gathered around one table. Even though Searcy didn’t sit, still she was here.

  Willy was the first to push back from the table. “May I be excused? And may Daniel and Andy too?” He wiped his face and tucked his napkin neatly by his plate. “I can’t wait to get outside.”

  Mam’s eyebrows rose in an expression Copper remembered well. “Once the table is cleared and the dishes washed, you boys may do as you please for the rest of the afternoon.”

  A great clinking and clanking arose from the kitchen. Copper knew Searcy would be in a dither with three boys in her kitchen, but it was good of Mam to offer their help. She was raising them as she had raised Copper—to be of service to others.

  The two weeks of their visit sped by. On weekday afternoons Copper and Mam and Alice received lady guests. Everyone wanted to meet Copper’s mother. Some were Mam’s friends from long ago. While they were entertaining, Simon would see patients, the boys would tear around town with Andy, and Daddy would go off to the barn, where he was working on a surprise. Copper was forbidden to go anywhere near his workshop.

  In Copper’s eyes, the best part of the visit was late evenings after supper. As if by design, she and Daddy had the porch to themselves, just like all those nights on Troublesome Creek. The only difference was the view—the house across the street instead of the mountains shooting up around them.

  “Are you happy, Daddy?” she asked one evening as she watched him chew on the stem of his pipe. “I mean, really happy?”

  He took the pipe out of his mouth and chuckled. “I’d be happier if your mam would let me have some tobacco for this pipe.”

  She took the pipe from him and turned it over and over in her hands. “Don’t tease me. I want to know.”

  “I don’t think on that very often, Daughter.” He stroked his short-clipped white beard. “I reckon I’m as happy as a man has any right to be. I feel better since the move, and I like working in the store. Gives me a chance to meet all sorts of folks. And Grace, well, she’s like a different person. It pleases me right smart to see her happy.”