“And that should make me content, should it? I am doing everything I came here to do, and I feel like I’ve done it all with a good attitude. But I’m sick and tired of you not even thanking me for working so hard and cleaning up the mess of almost a year. I deserve that, not just the cold shoulder, which is all I get from you!” The last words were almost a scream, and in response, she heard a cry from upstairs. “Now look what you did. You woke the baby!” She got up and hurried up the stairs to take care of Ruth, leaving him sitting there, picking the shells out of his eggs.
By the time she had changed the baby and dressed her for the day, Kane was gone. She wanted to scream at him some more, but she knew it wasn’t a good idea with the baby watching. The child needed to feel like she lived in a home with love in the air, whether she did or not.
She fed the baby and washed the dishes before sweeping the kitchen floor. She was actually relieved that Kane left before she got back down, because she couldn’t keep badgering him about his behavior, no matter how much she wanted to.
Making a pot of chicken, vegetable, and barley soup was easy enough, and they would have it for lunch. She could even feed some bites of it to the baby. She felt like she was constantly thinking about the best things to feed the baby, because Ruth had to be her focus.
She thought for a moment about doing the rest of the laundry, but her arms needed the rest. She would do it all on Monday, and that would become her routine. Laundry every Monday. She’d already looked at the basement and found there was a spot to hang a clothesline there for snowy or rainy days. She was a little surprised not to find one there already.
She baked a couple of fresh loaves of bread for the day, and she planned to serve one with the soup for lunch. Then she sat on the sofa in the parlor, with the baby lying on a quilt on the floor, and she worked on mending the clothes that Kane had thrown into a basket to be dealt with later. She couldn’t believe how many things were there that needed to be worked on, but she started on one thing on the top of the heap. If she could mend one item per day and keep up with the baby and other household chores, she would consider it good.
The baby gurgled happily while Berniece sewed, and she was thrilled that Ruth was such a good baby. If she had been a fussy baby, she wasn’t sure how she would have handled it.
When it was time for lunch, she served two bowls of the soup and cut up some of the bread, adding a small ball of butter. She would need to make butter as soon as her arms were recovered enough from all the other work she’d done.
Berniece looked up when Kane came in the door at five after twelve. She had a bowl of soup in front of her that she hadn’t yet touched, and she was feeding the baby small bites out of another bowl.
Kane sat down at the end of the table and bowed his head to say grace. He frowned down at the soup. “I prefer something heartier than soup for lunch with as hard as I work.”
Berniece glared at him. “I think you’ll find that my soup is very hearty.” She couldn’t believe after their talk that morning he was still being rude.
He took a bite of the soup, blowing on it first. He was surprised by all of the chicken, vegetables, and barley in the soup. “I guess it’s not too bad.”
“Not too bad? Is that how you compliment someone’s cooking?” she asked. He could easily have said something kinder, but he was too sure of himself to bother.
He shrugged. “I guess I don’t think you need to be complimented for doing your job.” His slight emphasis on the word job had her ready to start screaming all over again.
Berniece bit her lip to keep from saying what she really wanted to, but she knew yelling at him with the baby present was not something she wanted to start now, because she wasn’t sure she could go back. Instead, she started to plan her escape for the afternoon.
As soon as he was gone, she put the last of the soup into the ice box, and she cleaned the kitchen. She knew she’d be coming back, and she wasn’t about to return to the filth she’d had when she arrived two days prior.
Once the kitchen was clean, she went upstairs and packed enough things for her and Ruth to stay a couple of nights with Charlie and Abel. She had to get away from the man, so he could appreciate all she’d done. She put the clothes they needed in the empty space at Ruth’s feet in her buggy, and then she added some clothes that needed to be mended. She couldn’t sit around idly while she was in town, no matter how much she wanted to or how much Kane thought that was her desire.
She scrawled a quick note to him.
Kane,
Ruth and I will be in town for a couple of nights. There are plenty of leftovers in the ice box for you to eat. When you’re ready to be appreciative of all I do, please come and fetch us from your brother’s house.
Berniece
Walking to town was actually very nice for her. The cool September breeze and the beauty of the area she lived in made her feel so much better about how things were going. It was good to be able to walk and let her thoughts flow freely from one topic to the next. Her and Ruth leaving for a while would be a wake-up call that Kane dearly needed, and hopefully he would understand where she was coming from.
When she reached Charlie’s house, her friend was there with a wide grin. “I’m so glad you came to visit!”
Berniece stepped inside, pushing the baby’s buggy into the entryway. “I’m hoping we can stay for a night or two. Kane and I have had a couple of run-ins today, and I think he needs to be taught how to treat a lady.”
“I think you’re exactly right. I heard how he talked to you yesterday, and I was appalled.” Charlie looked down into the buggy at the sleeping child and smiled widely. “I’m so glad you brought the baby. You have no idea how much I’ve been missing having her here. I keep listening for her cry, and it never comes, because she doesn’t’ live here anymore.” Charlie shook her head.
“I brought mending to do so I wouldn’t just be sitting idle. And I’m happy to help you with supper or anything you need. I’m not trying to get out of working, but I am trying to get away from the constant arguing.” Berniece didn’t think her new friend shared her husband’s views of her, but she had to make sure.
“Of course.” Charlie made a face. “I hate mending, so I have a nice little pile myself. Why don’t we sit together and work?”
“That sounds lovely. I love little Ruth, but she isn’t the best conversationalist while I’m working on something.” Berniece had taken to singing while she worked, because the baby reacted well to it.
Charlie grinned. “Yeah, until she starts talking, work will be a little lonely. But then, if she’s like my younger siblings, once she starts talking, you’ll want her to stop. Quickly.”
Berniece laughed. “I have no younger siblings, so I’m unaware of feeling that way. I hope Ruth won’t always be an only child.” She bit her lip after that. She didn’t know if Charlie knew that she and Kane hadn’t consummated their marriage and probably never would.
Charlie shook her head. “Kane is going to come around, you know. He’s a good man, but he got a raw deal with Veronica. He just needs to see that you’re not like her, and everything will be better.”
“Wait . . . what? I thought Veronica was this paragon of female virtues. He won’t even talk about her, and that makes me feel like she was so perfect, he can’t deal with a day without her.”
“Not at all. I shouldn’t have said as much as I did, and I’m not going to say more, but . . . Kane needs to tell you all of it when he’s ready. Just keep being kind to him, and things will look up.”
Berniece frowned, looking at her hands. “I guess leaving shells in his eggs and yelling at him like a shrew this morning didn’t help anything.”
Charlie threw back her head and laughed. “Maybe it will wake him up and cause him to see you for you and not taint you with the memories of other women.” The way she emphasized “other women” had Berniece grinning.
“I guess I need to be more patient with him and stop being a brat. I just . . . I w
ish he appreciated something I did. Anything I did. He never once thanked me for all the work I’ve done since I arrived, and I ache from it. He did apologize last night for being rude to me about you being there, though. That helped a little.”
“But he needs to be grateful as well. I think you letting him know what you need in a husband can only be a good thing.”
“I hope so.” Ruth made a noise, and Berniece gathered her up immediately. “Oh no! I forgot her bottles and infant food.”
Charlie smiled. “I kept some here. I knew you’d be visiting, and it will be easier than taking everything back and forth.”
“You know . . . I may not have the best marriage right now, but marrying Kane gave me the mother-lode of sisters-in-law. I’m grateful to you and the help you are to me and little Ruth. Thank you for being you.”
“Happy to do it. And honestly, I’m sure you and Kane are going to be happy. It’s just a matter of you working together to get through this rough time at the beginning. You’re going to make things work. I just know it. You’re the sister-in-law I need as well.” With those words, Charlie went into the kitchen to make a bottle for the baby, while Berniece looked down into her big blue eyes.
“Are you hungry? Auntie Charlie is making you some milk. Do you want to eat?”
Ruth gurgled something completely incomprehensible to Berniece, and Berniece smiled. “That’s right. You just keep talking to me, and I’ll figure it out soon enough. I’m so happy to be your new mommy, Ruthie. I can’t believe just how happy your little smile makes me.” As happy as she was unhappy with Ruth’s father. Hopefully soon, the two would meet in the middle and all would be right with the world. She hoped.
When Charlie came back with the bottle, she scooped the baby up. “I get to feed her. You feed her all the time now.” Charlie sat back down and saw to the baby’s feeding, while Berniece picked her mending back up.
“I know you. You’re trying to keep from having to do the mending.”
Charlie nodded emphatically. “You’ve figured me out.”
Berniece grinned as she applied herself to the mending that still needed to be done. She would try and help Charlie with any mending that she needed to do now that she knew how much the other woman hated it. It would be a break for her to go over and let Charlie take care of Ruth while she did her mending for her. Berniece truly didn’t mind the task, and she would be happy to help someone who had only shown her love and kindness.
As Charlie became involved with the baby, Berniece’s mind went back over everything they’d said that day about Veronica and Kane. Hopefully she could get Kane to understand that she was a hard worker and she only wanted to be a good wife to him. If she worked at it enough, he’d start believing her. He had to.
Six
When Kane arrived home after work, he found his home empty and nothing cooking on the stove. He was still frustrated from the way his wife had acted that day, and he wanted her to be there so he could yell at her. He found a note from Berniece on the table and read it quickly, throwing it down.
He heated up some of the soup she’d made—which was very hearty and exactly what he needed for a good meal—while he thought about what he wanted to do about the situation. As he ate three bowls of the delicious soup he’d criticized just a few hours before, he became angrier and angrier. How dare Berniece take his daughter and run off to town with her? Charlie and Abel had no right to keep the two of them from him. They were his family.
As soon as he’d finished his third bowl of the soup, he put the pot back in the ice box with the same towel she’d draped over it. He thought about leaving the dishes, but with all the work she’d gotten done in the house already, he felt like that would be a slap in the face. Instead, he washed out his bowl, his spoon, and the glass he’d had milk from and wiped them dry. And then he headed into town. He had something to say to his brother and sister-in-law.
He drove into town in the wagon, fully expecting to collect his wife and child while he was there and bring them back to the ranch where they belonged. When he walked into his brother’s house, he could hear laughter coming from the parlor. Female laughter. Apparently Berniece wasn’t as upset as she’d made it seem earlier.
When he stepped into the parlor, he glared. “Get Ruth and your things. I’m taking you home.”
Berniece simply stared at him. “As soon as I feel welcome and as if it is my home, I’ll consider it.” She felt brave with Charlie beside her and Abel sitting in a chair in the same room. Ruth was already asleep for the night.
“Abel, tell her she’s leaving with me,” Kane said, disbelieving his own eyes and ears. His wife was refusing to go home with him in front of other people. He had no idea what her problem was, but he wasn’t pleased. At all.
Abel slowly shook his head. “From what she and Charlie have told me, you don’t deserve to have someone as nice as her as your wife. You need to remember how to speak to a woman with respect.”
“Are you kidding me?” Kane was shaking with anger. His own brother was taking his wife’s side against him? That wasn’t right!
Charlie got to her feet and walked to him. “I’d like to speak with you alone for a moment, Kane. I hope you can spare me a few minutes.” Her voice was soft and sweet, as it usually was, but he saw a hardness in her eyes that had him backing up a step.
“Yes, ma’am. I think I could spare a moment or two.”
“Come into my office,” she said, grasping his upper arm and dragging him toward the kitchen.
He grinned. Dragging might be a bit of an exaggeration. It was more of her tugging at him and him following along so his brother wouldn’t clobber him later. Abel was older than he was, and he’d always been able to kick his butt. He didn’t need to experience that in front of their wives, though.
Once they were in the kitchen, Charlie let go of his arm and turned on him, her eyes full of fire. “Do you know anything at all about your wife? Do you have any idea how hard she’s worked since she’s arrived in Montana, all to try to make you happy and your surroundings habitable?”
Kane shrugged. “She knew what she was getting into when she married me. My letter was very specific about what I needed from her.”
Charlie took a step closer to him, poking him in the middle of his chest with her pointy little finger. For such a delicate woman, he was surprised at just how savage her poke was. “She didn’t expect to spend her entire life paying for Veronica’s sins, though, did she? She thinks you all but worshipped Veronica. You need to tell her about Ruth’s mother, and you need to do it soon. And you need to start thanking her for the things she does for you. I’m tired of seeing her being treated like an indentured servant instead of like the lady she is!”
Kane folded his arms across his chest, trying to look tough but mostly trying to protect his chest from her vicious little finger. “What? I should be thanking her for doing her job?”
“Yes, you should. You should be thanking her every time she puts a meal on the table in front of you. Every time you have something clean to wear and something clean to eat from. Every time you don’t have to change a diaper. Berniece is the best thing that has ever happened to you and that baby, and if you continue to treat her poorly, I will do everything I can to help her get an annulment and find a man who will provide well for her—and for Ruth.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“Oh, I definitely would. I’ve watched how you’ve treated her for too long. An hour was too long! And now it’s time for you to court your wife. She is staying here until she chooses to return to the ranch. Period. You may call on her after church tomorrow and perhaps take her for a drive or a picnic or maybe even both. But you will not tell her what her duty is or take her for granted. Do you understand me?” Charlie was on tiptoe by the end of her little speech, trying to make herself taller so she could scold him without feeling small. At least that’s why he thought she was doing it.
He shook his head. “You seriously think I need to woo my wife?”
She nodded emphatically. “Yes, I do. I think you need to treat her like she’s the most beautiful woman you’ve ever laid eyes on. Treat her like you would have treated a beautiful woman who moved to town before you ever met Veronica.” She sighed. “I know you got a raw deal with your first wife. I knew that the moment I met her. But I also know that Berniece is absolutely nothing like Veronica. You need to give her a chance to show you how good a marriage can be. Do you know she’s worried that you’ll never come around and Ruth will be an only child like she was? She wants children. And my baby needs more cousins.”
Kane closed his eyes for a moment as he thought about what she’d said. “All right. I’ll do the right thing.”
“And the right thing is?” Charlie obviously didn’t trust him to do what she’d told him. She needed him to spell out his plan for her.
“I will go in the parlor right now and ask her if she will take a drive with me tomorrow and perhaps fix a picnic lunch for us to share.” He frowned. “Will you watch Ruth if she agrees?”
“I will be happy to watch Ruth. You know that. I love that little girl as if she was my own.”
“All right. I’ll go ask her now, but if she says no, I’m not sure what I’ll do.” He walked toward the parlor, feeling rather than seeing Charlie right on his heels. When he was in the parlor facing Berniece, he took his hat off and held it over his heart, as he’d been taught to do in polite company. “Berniece, would you be willing to accompany me on a drive tomorrow?”
Berniece wanted to scream no at him, but Charlie was standing behind him nodding emphatically. She didn’t have the option of saying no apparently. “Yes, I will do that. After church?”
“Yes, after church. And if you would like, I’d be happy to stop for a picnic along the way. I’m afraid you’ll have to fix the picnic, though, because I’m not much for cooking.” It felt strange to Kane to ask to court his wife, but it felt right as well. Berniece was special, and Charlie was right. He hadn’t given her a chance to prove herself. Instead, he’d assumed she was just like Veronica, and that wasn’t fair to anyone.
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