“Get more towels for Ma,” Doug told Bob.
Bob bounded out of the room, and before she could warn him to avoid the sugar, he jumped over the spot. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least one thing was going right! The last thing she needed was to track sugar through the house. She took the towel and mopped up the floor as best as she could. Then when Bob returned, once again jumping over the sugar, she got Charles out of the tub and dried him off.
Someone knocked on the front door and she groaned. Of all times, why did someone have to stop by now?
“I’ll get it, Ma!” Doug bounded out of the kitchen.
She wiped the sweat from her face with the towel and threw it down so she could put a clean diaper on Charles. Granted, the kitchen table probably wasn’t the best place to do this, but the floor was still damp.
Bob shook his head. “You pinned it in wrong. It should go the other way.”
Sighing, she removed the safety pin and turned it over so she could insert it through the cloth. Sure enough, the hold was more secure. She picked up the other safety pin and got ready to put it into the other piece of the cloth at Charles’ hip when a man and woman entered the kitchen.
“They said they have some pots you will want to buy,” Doug said, following them.
“What?” Margaret pricked her finger, rubbed it against her thumb, and tried to get the pin through the fabric again. She glanced at the couple. “May I help you?”
The woman raised her eyebrows. “Is that child still in diapers?”
Margaret immediately felt like shoving the couple out of the house. Really, wasn’t she having enough to deal with without putting up with the woman’s shocked tone? She finished fastening the pin and gave the woman a look she was sure expressed her annoyance at the question. “Did you come here to ask what I do with my children?”
“No,” Doug piped up. “They want to sell you pots.”
The man smiled. “We apologize, ma’am. The boy is right. We represent the Anderson Kitchen Supply Company, and we thought you might be interested in new cookware.”
Charles sat up, so she quickly grabbed a shirt and put his arms through the sleeves.
“I have enough pots,” she replied, wishing they would leave.
“We offer more than that,” the man continued. “We also sell baking pans and kettles.”
The woman nodded. “We also offer pot hooks. I notice you don’t have any in this kitchen. If you had some hooks, it would clear up some of that shelf space. I have a couple I use in my own kitchen, and I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
“It does save up a lot of room,” the man agreed.
Margaret buttoned the boy’s shirt, glad that her focus was on the task at hand because, otherwise, she might not be able to hold her temper in check. She hated salespeople. If she wanted to buy kitchenware, she’d go to the mercantile.
Doug and Bob stared at the couple while Ben made raspberry noises.
“I am fine with what I have,” she finally said, realizing she had to say something. She stood Charles on his feet and got the pants ready for him to put on. He held onto her shoulders as she instructed him to place his foot into the pants. “I don’t need the extra room.”
“May I check your cookware?” the woman asked, already stepping to the side of the table and toward the shelves.
“No!” Margaret took Charles into her arms, even as his pants dangled on him, so she could dart in front of the irritating woman. “I’m sorry, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m busy. I have a houseful of children to take care of, and the last thing I need is for you to go through here and tell me what’s wrong with my pots and pans.”
The woman’s eyes grew wide and she let out a light gasp. “I certainly didn’t imply to overstep my bounds. I thought as a woman who does a lot of cooking, I might offer some advice on a better set of cookware.”
Charles kicked his legs until the pants flew off of him and onto the sugar that was still on a part of the floor.
“Oh my,” the woman said, just noticing the mess. “You certainly do have your hands full. Are you sure you can handle all of this? I do know a nanny who might be a big help.”
That’s it. Margaret couldn’t take it anymore. “I would be able to do this if I didn’t have unwanted company trying to sell me something I don’t need or want.”
The woman blanched. “There’s no need to be rude.”
“Rude? You come in here and insult the way I take care of my children while you try to make a sale, and you call me rude?”
The woman stared at her as if she couldn’t believe her ears.
The man cleared his throat. “We’ll leave you to your work, ma’am.” He took something out of his briefcase. “You might like to check our catalogue. At your convenience of course.” He set it on the kitchen table. “Come along, Mildred. We’ll try the house next door.”
Mildred gave one last look around the room and muttered, “My children were out of diapers when they were two,” before she left the house with the man.
“I’ll get one of Ben’s pants, Ma. Charles can still fit ‘em.” Bob ran off down the hall.
“I can wash up the pants,” Doug said. “I helped Pa with this. I know what to do.”
Overwhelmed, she glanced around the kitchen. Never in her entire life had she ever felt that everything was out of control.
Bob returned with the pants. “I’ll watch him, Ma. Go ahead and clean up the sugar.”
She stared at Bob as he told his younger brother to hold onto him so he could help him into the small pants. Then she turned her gaze to Doug who started scrubbing the pants along the washboard. Ben banged on his highchair but laughed when Charles fell down while Bob tried to get the pants around his waist. Finally, she went to the drawer and pulled out a clean cloth. As she pumped the water to wet it down, her tears started to fall.
***
When Joseph came home, he noticed that everything seemed to be in order. Doug and Bob were quietly playing on the porch with some jacks. The house was quiet.
“Is everything alright?” he asked his sons.
“Sure, Pa,” Bob said. “We helped Ma, just like you said.”
For some reason, something seemed to be off. “Where is she?”
Doug shrugged. “She said she needed a moment alone. We promised to play nicely out here, so she let us out.”
“Where are Charles and Ben?” he asked.
“Sleeping. They just settled down.”
“You boys be good out here.”
“Of course, we will, Pa. Ma’s gone through enough.”
That’s what he was afraid of. Joseph entered the house and hung his hat on the hook by the door. He shouldn’t have gone to work until Margaret had time to adjust to being a mother. At the time he agreed to start right away, his sole thought was getting a steady paycheck as soon as possible.
“Margaret?” he called out as he walked through the house. Everything was in order. The parlor and kitchen were clean. He glanced in the children’s room and saw that Charles and Ben were fast asleep. He wasn’t surprised since they had a busy day with the wedding and stayed up later than usual last night. He turned his attention to his bedroom. “Margaret?”
She quickly turned over on the bed so he couldn’t see her face.
He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard a sniffle. Sighing, he went over to the bed and walked to her side, but she turned the other way, blocking his view of her face. He sat down behind her and touched her shoulder. “Margaret, what is it?”
She shook her head and buried her face into her pillow.
“Margaret?” he softly asked.
“I’m a failure,” came a muffled sob.
“No, you’re not.”
“You weren’t here.”
She started rambling, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying into her pillow so he gently rolled her over. “What happened?”
She brought a well-used handkerchief to her eyes and dabbed them. “Who is Debra Potter?”
The question surprised him. “Did she come over here?”
“She found me and the boys at the park and gave me a hard time. Why does she want to marry you so badly?”
He groaned. “I hoped she would leave town since we married.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. When it came to Debra, it seemed that a headache was inevitable. “I don’t know why she wants to marry me. Hannah never liked her. We all grew up together, but Hannah made it a point to avoid her. I didn’t even know she was interested in me until I started courting Hannah.”
“Did you ever tell her that you don’t want her?”
“Well, I proposed to Hannah instead of her, and I married you yesterday. I don’t know how much more obvious I can be in how I feel about her.”
Though he dreaded it, it looked like he was going to have to find her and tell her to go back to Ohio. Just the thought of seeing her made him queasy. What did he ever do to deserve being followed by a woman who couldn’t take no for an answer?
He rubbed Margaret’s arms. “I’ll see what I can do about getting rid of her. Did she mention where she’s staying?”
“No. And I don’t care.”
He offered her a sympathetic smile. “Did anything else go wrong today?”
She shrugged and sniffled again. “There were a couple of other women who came by the park, and—” Her lower lip quivered as tears filled her eyes. “I’m not a good mother.”
He dug into his breast pocket and pulled out a clean handkerchief to give her. “Why do you say that?”
“Well...” She took the handkerchief and wept into it. “So much happened so fast. I thought I had control over everything. But then Charles had an accident, Ben got into the canister of sugar, and Bob and Doug tried to help but things just got worse. Then people came by to sell cookware, and the woman suggested I needed a nanny. I can’t do anything right.”
“Everyone’s settled down now,” he softly said, lightly brushing some stray strands of hair from her face. “You succeeded, sweetheart.”
“Oh sure. Just in time for you to come home.”
He laughed. “Hannah used to say the boys had a way of knowing when I was going to be here because things fell into place right before I walked through the front door.”
“She’s right. They do know, and what’s scary is that I didn’t even have to tell them.”
Sighing in sympathy, he helped her sit up. He gathered her into his arms and let her lean against him. “I’ve been there. I know what it’s like. You did better than I did the first time I had to be alone with them.”
She glanced up at him. “Really?”
“Yes. You have the house looking nice and everyone is clean. When it was me and the boys, I didn’t get around to feeding them supper until nine at night. I spent so many hours running after them. I don’t know how you women do it.”
She wiped her nose with the handkerchief. “You’re not just saying this to make me feel better?”
“No, I’m not. It’s not easy to take care of four children. The kids are happy and the house is in order. You did well today.”
She relaxed and smiled. “They are good boys. Even with the way everything was around here, they were trying to help me, especially Doug and Bob.”
“Well, they want to make their ma happy.” He kissed her cheek and stroked her back. “It’ll get better as you get used to it.”
“You think so?”
“It did for me. And I had no idea what I was doing.” He cupped her face in his hands. “You did great, Margaret. Try not to be so hard on yourself, alright?”
She nodded. “I’ll try.”
“Good.” He gave her a kiss, and since the boys weren’t around, he lingered at her lips. She was such a good woman, and it occurred to him that she didn’t know her worth. When he ended the kiss, he said, “I don’t trust my children with just anyone. Their well-being was my biggest concern, and now yours is too. I’m sorry Debra gave you a hard time. If I see her, I’ll tell her to go back to Ohio.”
“Thank you, Joseph.”
“I’ll have Sunday off, and we can all go out to the park as a family.”
“I’d like that.”
The front door opened and Bob and Doug entered the house and talked about what they thought their new ma would make for supper.
She chuckled. “Their minds are always on food.”
“They’re growing boys.” He grinned at her, glad to see her happy again. After he helped her to her feet, he gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll keep the boys out of your hair while you cook.”
She thanked him again, and they left the bedroom.
Chapter Eleven
Two days later, Margaret was sitting on the porch swing Joseph had put up, and she had Ben and Charles down for a nap while Doug and Bob were playing tag in the front yard. She had decided to work on sewing a pattern into one of the pillowcases she was making for her new family. She thought Bob might like a design of his soccer ball, so she was currently filling in that pattern with her brown thread. Next, she would sew his name into it.
“Hello, Doug and Bob,” a familiar voice called out.
Margaret looked up and smiled as Jessica waved to the boys and walked up the porch steps. She moved aside and placed her sewing basket next to her feet. “I didn’t think you’d be in town this soon,” she told Jessica. “I’ve hardly seen you since you married Tom.”
Jessica’s face glowed as she sat next to her. “I just found out I’m expecting a baby!”
Margaret’s jaw dropped. “So soon?”
“It’s been a month.”
“Well...yes...but that hardly seems like enough time.”
She giggled. “It is though. I missed my monthly flow. I was supposed to get it yesterday, but it’s still not here.”
“You might be late.”
“No.” She waved her hand and shook her head. “I’ve never been late.” Grabbing Margaret’s arm, she squealed, “Isn’t this exciting? Maybe you’ll soon be expecting too! Then we’ll have our children together.”
Margaret’s eyes grew wide in horror. Her gaze darted to Doug and Bob and she thought of the two sleeping inside the house. Oh goodness. She was doing good to handle the ones she already had. The last thing she needed was another one!
Jessica gave a contented sigh and sat back in the swing. “You must have a wonderful time out here.”
It took her a moment to respond as she thought over her friend’s statement. “It is wonderful,” she admitted, glancing at the pillowcase in her hands. She recalled how excited the boys were to see that they were going to have their very own pillowcases. She smiled at the memory. “They are terrific children.” And they were. They didn’t knowingly get into trouble and did all they could to help her. “But sometimes, I get overwhelmed. It’s a lot of work.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“It’s exhausting at times. I don’t regret my decision, but I don’t know if I could handle another one.”
Jessica placed her hand on her arm and squeezed it. “God won’t give you anymore than you can handle.”
“You weren’t here a couple days ago when that horrible Miss Potter, Connie James, and Maureen Brown insinuated that I was a horrible mother.”
“Miss Potter? Didn’t she go back home?”
“Not yet. She thinks I’ll take off running and leave her with Joseph.”
“Why, that’s horrible!”
“I saw her at the park an hour ago, probably seeing if I was there to badger.” Her cheeks flushed with a mixture of shame and anger. She purposely avoided the park just because she didn’t want another confrontation, and she couldn’t remember a time in her life when she let anyone keep her at home. “I wish she would go. Joseph ran into her yesterday and suggested she return to Ohio, but she’s taken a job cleaning houses.” Her frown deepened. “I wish I knew what I could do to get rid of her.”
Jessica sighed and patted her hand. “I’m sorry, Margaret.”
“Why? It’s not
your fault.”
“You know what I mean. I hate to see you upset.”
She pulled the needle through the pillow case and shrugged. “I thought my problems would be over when I finally married, but who can anticipate a Debra Potter?” She sighed and glanced at her friend. “You’re lucky that Tom didn’t have any other women chasing him.”
“How were you to know this would happen?”
She couldn’t know, she realized. Neither could Joseph. What other woman made the trip across the country to pursue a man who didn’t want her? In many ways, Debra spooked her. “That woman needs another man to latch onto.”
“She needs someone she can control,” Jessica added. “Then she can spend all her time bending him to her will.”
“Joseph would never allow it. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a wonderful man, but I can’t see him letting anyone dictate his life for him.” Which was exactly the way a man should be. How else could he be the head of the household? And since he managed to lead with gentleness and care, Margaret certainly had no complaints. “He’s worth it though. I mean, having Debra lurking around, just waiting for me to bolt out of here. It isn’t what a wife dreams of, but if this is the worst of it, I suppose I’m doing pretty good.”
Jessica looked amused.
Margaret furrowed her eyebrows. “What?”
“You were looking at the glass half full instead of half empty. I never thought I’d see the day when that happened.”
Margaret playfully swatted her friend on the arm. “Oh, really. I’m not that bad.”
“No?”
“No. Granted, I have my moments, but I can see the good side to things.”
“I suppose now that you’re happily married that’s the case. It’s amazing what love can do for a woman, isn’t it?”
Margaret felt a grin tug at her lips as she shrugged.
“Anyway, I ran into Connie James on my way here. She caught me coming out of the doctor’s office and guessed why I was there.”
She put the pillowcase down and looked at her friend in interest. “And?”
“She insinuated that this child should have been her grandchild. You know, she might have accepted my marriage to Tom on the surface, but I don’t think she ever forgave me for it. Even if her son didn’t love me, she wanted grandchildren in the worst way.”
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