by Bush, Holly
Belle stopped and turned smiling. “Do you have the keys? How far is the house?”
“Right past this brick one. On the right.”
Belle hurried along, and he followed. She stopped suddenly, and he pulled up beside her as she stared straight ahead. Her hands came to her mouth and Reed saw tears in her eyes. He followed the path her eyes took and knew she had seen her new home. “What do you think?” he asked.
Belle’s lip trembled. “It’s more than I could have ever hoped for.”
“Let’s look inside,” he said.
Belle walked slowly down the walk, admiring the little house. Reed swung the door open, and Belle stepped in. She touched the back of a davenport and a carved wood mantle. Belle pulled a curtain back and touched the pane.
“Glass windows,” she said.
“The kitchen’s through there,” Reed said as he watched her take in every detail. Belle ran her hand over wooden cupboards and the backs of the chairs at the table. Her shoulders shook as she looked out the window over the pump sink.
“Room for a garden. Millie would love it,” she said.
“Who’s Millie?”
“My tabby cat,” Belle replied as she turned.
Reed raised his eyebrows. He hated cats. “Didn’t know you had one.”
“Don’t anymore. She’s at the homestead. If she’s alive.” Belle turned to him. “She saved my life.”
“How did she save your life?” Reed asked.
“The night Jed was beating on me, she came from outta nowhere and latched on to his face, screamin’ and hissin’.” Belle swallowed and whispered, “I heard a shot when I was running to the hotel.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She was a good cat. But that’s in the past, and this is now.” She walked over to Reed. “I’m not sure why you want to marry me, but I’ll do everything I can to make you happy and be a good wife. I love this house. Thank you.”
Reed was unsure as well why he offered marriage, but he did know he basked in her smile as she relished these small pleasures. He smiled up at her and nodded. “Make a list of anything you might need.”
“Can we use all the stuff that’s here?” Belle asked as she opened cupboard doors. “What could we need?”
“Well, I was thinking of food,” Reed replied.
Belle giggled and then straightened soberly. “Can you hunt from your chair?”
Reed shook his head and repeated her question. “Can I hunt?”
“I’m a decent shot,” she said as she opened cupboard doors and inspected the contents.
“What are you talking about?” Reed asked.
“Meat, silly. How am I going to cook for us without meat?”
“I assume you’ll go to the butcher’s,” Reed said.
Belle shook her head. “Now why would anybody pay for meat when it’s free, running around the woods.” She turned away. “Sometimes for all the book learning, not too smart.”
“Belle, quit flitting around and sit in this chair. I want to talk to you,” Reed said. “I’m an attorney, albeit a poor one, but my wife is not going to go trouncing through the woods for dinner. Attorney’s wives go to the market and dress up for church and join the Ladies Aid Society. And whatever else women do. I’m not sure of it all,” Reed said.
Belle’s eyes opened wide. “The Ladies Aid Society? Those women don’t want me with them. I won’t know what to do,” she whispered.
Reed patted her hand. “Ask Mary Ellen, Mrs. Ames. She knows all those sorts of things.”
“I’ll ask.”
Reed could see that Belle was petrified. She had managed to stay alive with a violent father and brother but was scared of women in hoop skirts. Certainly, she had the wherewithal to make quilts for charities and whatever else they did. He wanted to put his arms around her and assure her she’d do fine, but he patted her hand again instead.
“Come back whenever you want, Belle. If you’re up to it. We’ll be living here next week,” Reed said. Their eyes met with Reed’s announcement of their impending marriage. They went slowly back to town, without a word between them.
“Let’s have dinner here,” Reed said as they passed a restaurant.
“They’re probably laying out dinner at the hotel.”
“I don’t want to have dinner with the laundresses today. I want to eat my meal with you. Alone,” Reed said. One thing he was learning about his bride to be was that she had a stubborn streak a mile wide.
Jim Lowell stepped out of the doorway beside the restaurant. “Good food here, Reed. Hello, Miss Belle. Not overdoing are you?”
Belle smiled. “Oh, no. Mr. Jackson showed me the house we’re going to live in when we get married. It’s grand. I couldn’t overdue today.”
Jim Lowell leaned back laughing. “You’re a peach, Miss Belle. A real peach.” He turned to Reed. “I’ll get you up the step if you’re going in to eat.”
“We’re to be married next Friday,” Reed said. He was admittedly curious what the folk in his new hometown thought of his upcoming nuptials.
“Henry told me. I think it’s marvelous news. Congratulations to you both,” Jim said.
“Thank you,” he replied.
“Enjoy yourselves,” Jim said. He walked away and turned back to Reed and Belle as they went into the restaurant. “I’ll be back in my office shortly. Reed, why don’t you stop in when you’re done eating? We can talk about what we spoke of after the theatre last week.”
“We’ll see,” Reed replied.
The restaurant was busy. A waitress pulled a chair away from a table for Reed. He waited till Belle was seated to wheel to the table. “Do you see how much everything costs?” she whispered.
“I think I can afford an occasional meal out. Order whatever you want,” Reed replied.
The waitress came to take their order and Belle told Reed to go ahead. “Steak, hashed browns and gravy. What are you having Belle?” he asked.
She stuttered and stumbled.
“She’ll have the same,” Reed said and took the menu from her hand.
Belle leaned down close to the table. “Do you have enough money for all that?”
“Yes, I do. Now sit up and enjoy yourself,” Reed said as he spread his napkin over his lap. Belle followed suit. She touched the silverware and table cloth and folded her hands in her lap.
“What did you and the doctor talk about after the theatre?” she asked.
“It’s theatre. Not thee-ate-her,” Reed replied.
Belle sat quietly and so did Reed, watching the comings and goings in the busy restaurant.
“Well what did he say?” she asked again.
“Who?” Reed said and leaned back as the waitress served them their meals. The steak was oozing blood, and the potatoes were burnt.
“The doctor. What did he say?” Belle repeated.
“Nothing. Eat, Belle. Don’t let it get cold,” Reed said between bites.
“I’ll eat when you tell me what the doctor and you were talking about,” Belle said and folded her arms across her chest.
“You saw how much this meal was. Eat it before it’s cold and you can’t enjoy it,” Reed said as he held his fork and knife poised over his plate.
Belle pushed back from her seat. “You ordered it, I didn’t.”
“Why are you being so stubborn?” Reed said.
“Stubborn? We’re getting married next week. I think you should tell me. I won’t tell anyone,” she said.
Reed put his knife and fork down. “Trust has nothing to do with it.”
“Then tell me.”
Reed resumed eating. “Dr. Lowell seems to think that my doctors in the South were wrong. That there is a chance I might walk again.”
Belle stared at him, smiled then as tears came to her eyes. “What wonderful news.” She picked up her fork and knife and cut her steak.
“Wonderful news? He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Reed said.
Belle talked even as she stuffed her mo
uth. “He might.”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Reed said.
Belle swallowed. “Don’t change the subject. We’ll go see him after we’re done.”
“We are not going anywhere, except the hotel.”
“Oh, yes we are.”
“Oh no, we’re not,” Reed shouted.
Belle’s face reddened as diners turned to look, and she wiped her mouth with the cloth napkin. She stared at her plate. Reed blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout. I saw the best doctors in Georgia. There’s no use getting your hopes up.”
Belle looked at him and tilted her head. “My hopes? My hopes have nothing to do with it. I don’t care you can’t walk. Walking doesn’t make you kind or able to read or nothing. Walking is just walking.”
“Walking is nothing to someone who can, Belle,” Reed muttered. He threw down his napkin and hailed the waitress for the bill.
“I don’t care that you’re in that chair. It’ll never matter to me,” Belle said as she faced him on the sidewalk.
“I’ll stop in to see him another time,” Reed said finally.
They made slow quiet progress to the hotel. Belle laid her hand on his shoulder as she walked, and he turned the wheels of his chair. Mary Ellen Ames came out to greet them as Reed pulled himself up the ramp, Belle behind him.
“Tell me everything, Belle,” she said.
* * *
Belle clapped her hands together. “The house is beautiful, and Mr. Jackson took me to dinner at a restaurant.”
Mrs. Ames put her arm around Belle’s shoulders and nodded at Reed. “Come on, dear. You can tell me everything while we put your things away in room four.”
Belle stopped on the landing of the staircase. “Why do I have to move to another room?”
“Because you are unmarried and no longer ill. It wouldn’t be proper,” Mrs. Ames said.
“Alright,” Belle said. “I have some questions for you anyway.”
“That’s fine. Now come along,” Mrs. Ames said.
Belle followed her into the room on the second floor. “All my clothes are at my old house. I’m afraid to go get them, Mrs. Ames,” Belle said.
“Let Reed take care of that, Belle. And please call me Mary Ellen.” She sat down on the bed. “Now what questions do you have?”
Belle paced the room nervously. She walked to the window and looked out. “Mr. Jackson wants me to join the Ladies Aid Society. I don’t know what to do.”
“Excuse me?” Mary Ellen said.
Belle rushed to the bed and knelt in front of the woman. “He wants me to curl my hair and wear gloves and be a lawyer’s wife. I asked him if he could shoot us meat from his wheelchair and he told me I had to go to the butcher’s and that’s a lot of money and …”
Mary Ellen Ames shook her head. “These are your questions?”
“Well, yeah.” Mary Ellen giggled, and Belle leaned back on her heels.
“Dear. I’m not laughing at you. I thought you wanted to ask me something else entirely,” Mary Ellen said.
“What did you think I wanted to ask?”
The older woman hemmed and hawed. “About your wedding night. I thought you were curious or afraid of what happens in the marriage bed.”
Belle’s hands flew forward. “Oh that. My Pa told me.”
Mary Ellen’s eyes opened wide. “Your father?”
Belle nodded. “He said pull my nightgown up and be quiet. Doesn’t sound so hard.”
Mary Ellen’s hand came to her chest. “Is that all he told you?”
“No.” Belle’s face colored.
“What else did he say?”
Belle leaned forward and whispered in her ear. She watched the woman’s lip twitch on the crude words her father had used.
“I suppose that is one way to describe the sex act, Belle. And the mechanics are clear.” Mary Ellen blushed. “There is more to it than that, though.”
Belle was unsure of what to say. “There’s more I got to do?”
“No, no. But there is so much more. It’s about your heart and mind, not your body.”
“What do you mean?” Belle asked.
“Loving is about giving pleasure, one to the other. About your heart touching his. And with the right person is beautiful and makes love complete,” Mary Ellen said.
Belle listened intently and could not fit her image of joining to the shy, hushed words of Mrs. Ames. “My heart touching his,” Belle whispered. This woman doesn’t lie, though, Belle knew, and she spoke from firsthand knowledge of something Belle could not imagine. She looked away as she thought of Mr. and Mrs. Ames in the marriage bed.
“One thing I do know,” Mary Ellen continued, “Reed will be patient and kind. He’s not always happy but he’s clearly set on your marriage, and I think sometimes we know the instant we see someone that they are the person meant for us. It was like that for Mr. Ames and me.”
“Are you saying he knew from the first time he saw me that he was going to marry me?” Belle asked.
“I don’t know, dear. I …”
“I didn’t know I was going to marry him the first time I saw him,” Belle interrupted.
“I’m saying that sometimes our mind sees people in ways we are not even aware of. And that the act of loving may make feelings clear you don’t even know you have. Be patient, Belle.”
Belle was truly worried now. Will our hearts ever touch? Will this be what brings a smile to Reed’s face? Make him happy? She knew one thing for sure. There was certainly a lot more riding on the loving than she had ever imagined. Belle barely noticed Mary Ellen Ames leave the room as she tried to envision Reed kissing her and touching her. She shivered.
Chapter Seven
“Reed?” Mary Ellen called from the hallway.
“How did that go?” Reed asked and saw Mary Ellen’s discomfort grow on her face. She held her hands at her waist and looked everywhere but his face.
“Belle seems to be worried most about joining the Ladies Aid Society rather than, rather than, well, anything else.”
“She mentioned that to me,” Reed replied. He hoped Mary Ellen could explain it. “Why?”
“She’s a farm girl, and she knows it. She is terrified of what the other woman would think of her. Belle’s knowledge of running a household consists of cleaning game and gardening, I’m thinking. Not serving tea,” Mary Ellen replied.
Reed leaned back in his chair. Women in his world all seemed to know what to do. They must have learned somewhere, he supposed. Who would Belle have learned from? Maybe he could teach her. Oh hell, he didn’t know anything about folding napkins.
“Will you help her?” Reed asked.
Mary Ellen nodded. “I would be happy to. Be patient, though, Reed. Women learn how to be ladies and run the households you’re accustomed to living in over a period of years. Not days.”
“Did she have any other worries?” Reed asked.
Mary Ellen’s face flamed. “She understands.”
Reed nodded and tapped his finger on his mouth. He knew what Mary Ellen referred to. He watched her hem and haw and shake her head, apparently struggling for the right words.
“Her understanding is rudimentary at best.”
“Thank you for explaining things to her, Mary Ellen.”
Her eyes widened. “I explained little. Her father apparently told her the facts of life.”
Reed’s face fell. Good, God.
“She is also concerned all her clothing is still at her father’s. She’s afraid to go get her things,” Mary Ellen added.
“What could she have there of any importance?” Reed asked.
“I’m sure not much, but I think Belle would still like to have them.”
Mary Ellen excused herself, and Reed went in search of Henry. His cousin agreed to take him to the Richard’s farm that evening. Later, when Henry and Reed pulled up in front of Belle’s homestead, there was complete silence as the two men stared. Henry cleared his throat and stole a
glance at Reed.
The farmhouse confirmed Reed’s worst fears. A rough patched soddie was apparently Belle’s home. A broken plow, grown over with grass, sat in the front. Chickens clucked around the yard, pecking in the dirt. Reed knocked at the door, hooked with a rope to a nail. A man Reed had not met opened the door with a curse. His rough pants were held up with a piece of twine, and his faded, stained shirt was short in the sleeves. Apparently, Belle had another brother.
“What do you want?” he said.
“I’m Reed Jackson. I’m here to pick up Belle’s belongings.”
The man stared openly. Jed Richards and his father gathered behind him.
Belle’s father spoke up. “She’ll git her things when the dowry’s paid.”
“I’m afraid not,” Reed said. “Belle needs them now.”
“Then hand over the gold,” Jed Richards said.
Reed eyed the three filthy, unkempt men and smiled. “I’ll hardly pay the bride price so you can steal Belle away in the middle of the night. You’ll get your gold after the vows are spoken.”
“Where you goin,’ Frank?” Jed Richards hissed as his brother turned away from the door.
“To get Belle’s stuff,” he replied.
Jed started to shout, but his father hushed him and backed away from the door. “You want to come in?”
Reed had won this battle of wills and did not, in fact, want to dirty the wheels of his chair in the Richard’s home, but curiosity got the best of him. He watched Frank, Belle’s other brother, he supposed, duck through a curtain. It was the only room of the house other than the one he sat in. A wooden sink sat on one end near a table with four mismatched chairs. Three piles of bedding lay near a stone fireplace. Dirty dishes were piled on a table, and he smelled cabbage cooking from the pot over the fire. Newsprint covered spots on the walls. Reed leaned and looked out a back door to an overflowing garden. As Frank pushed the curtain aside from Belle’s room, he spied a neatly-made bed with two boxes stacked beside it. A small kerosene lamp sat on the upside down crates. Frank handed Reed a bundle. He saw Jed sneering and the father’s quick shake of his head.
