A Gathering of Memories (6 page)

“Luke, I thought you were going to the barn.”

“I am, but Si took the Jackson kids out there and I wanted him to have some time with them. Hey, Christine. Do me a favor and give me their names again.”

“Okay, let’s see—Mandy, Carrie, Levi, Clovis…or is it Clovis, Levi…well anyhow, then Rebecca.”

“Mandy, Carrie, Levi, Clovis, Rebecca?”

“That’s it, I believe.”

Luke let out a low whistle and shook his head. “That’s quite a family to acquire overnight. Sometimes I think I won’t hold up with two.”

“Yes, who would have thought when Pastor Nolan came to Gram’s yesterday it was to tell all of us that Si had just taken the Jackson children home for an indefinite period of time.”

“It was a surprise. But if anyone can handle it, Si and Amy can. I’ve never seen a couple so ready for children of their own.”

“Speaking of children—what do you mean you can barely hold up with two? How about three?” Christine’s hands went to her hips and Luke smiled at the movement for it made her very pregnant stomach stick out that much farther.

“Oh, I’ll love three.”

“As much as you love the first two?”

“Yep.”

“As much as you love their mother?”

“No-o-o, I don’t love their mother. I just keep her around to cook and clean.”

“Luke Cameron!”
Christine cried in outrage as she swung a dishcloth at him. He sidestepped it easily and kissed her cheek
on the way by. But the teasing smile fell from his face the instant he saw the tears in her eyes.

“Christie, you know I don’t mean it.” His voice was repentant, all teasing gone.

“I know,” she sniffed, “but when I’m pregnant—”

“You cry all the time,” he finished for her and put his arms around her. “Forgive me, I won’t tease you again.”

“You probably will and I’ll cry all over again and you’ll be sorry and I’ll…”

“Have I been that bad?” Luke asked.

“No, I’m just—”

“Pregnant.” He finished for her one last time and they both laughed. Luke looked out the window then and saw Silas leaving the barn.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Umm hmm.”

“Okay, I’m headed out now.” He kissed her lingeringly and looked into her eyes to gauge how she really was. “If you need me, send Josh.”

“Well, how was the barn?”

“Big.” Mandy and Carrie answered in unison and Amy laughed.

Both girls used the washbasin without prompting, and Mandy went to the bread dough waiting to be kneaded. Carrie picked up a wet skillet and a drying towel.

“Where are Becca and the boys?”

“Silas was showing them the swings in that big tree.”

Amy knew the place of course. Most of the trees on the Cameron acres were bunched together, such as the oaks near their house, but there was one oak, a real beauty, that stood alone by the barn. From it hung two swings with thick ropes
and wide wood seats that let a person soar with the birds if they could pump that high.

Amy stepped to the back porch off the kitchen, and could see Levi and Clovis already high in the air with each forward thrust of their legs.

“Will they let Becca have a turn?” Amy called through the door as she watched the little girl at the trunk of the tree.

“Not unless they’re told to.” Amy heard Mandy say as she reentered the house.

“Amy, do you always bake this much bread?” Carrie questioned as she joined Mandy over the dough.

“No, the extra is for tomorrow.”

The girls both looked blank.

“Oh no, didn’t my uncle tell you there’s a light lunch planned after the funeral? It’s to be at Silas’ grandmother’s.”

“No,” Mandy’s voice was small.

“I’m sorry he forgot. If you’d rather not we can cancel. Whatever you’re the most comfortable with.”

“It’s not that we’re uncomfortable, it’s just that this is so much food and—” Mandy’s voice trailed off.

“What Mandy is trying to say is we didn’t get out much, and well, there probably won’t be very many people there.”

Amy’s nails dug into her palm as her fist clenched beneath the folds of her skirt. They were so accepting of not having anyone care, just as long as no one was put out by having prepared too much food or anything.

“Mandy—Carrie—I hope I can say this right.” Amy spoke slowly, weighing her words.

“For however short or long a time you stay here with us, you are family. Even if you were to leave today, the five of you would always be thought of as family by me, and I know Silas feels the same way. And if you’re in our family, it automatically makes you part of the whole Cameron family. They’re a big group, all of whom are planning to be there tomorrow.”

“How many are in Silas’ family?” Mandy looked a little uncertain.

“Luke raises horses with Silas and he’s married to Christine. They have Josh and Kate, and Christine is pregnant. Luke has a twin brother who lives in town. His name is Mark, and he is Baxter’s doctor. He and his wife, Susanne, have four little girls—Emily, Elizabeth, Ellen, and Erika.

“Silas was born after Luke and Mark, and the three of them have a sister, Julia. She’s married to John MacDonald, ‘Mac’ for short, and they have Calvin, Charles, and Robyn. The youngest is Paul, and he lives up in Bayfield, Wisconsin. You won’t meet them now, but Paul’s wife is Abigail and they have twin girls, Jessica and Julie, and a baby boy, Timothy.”

“How many was that?”

“With Paul’s family not being here and counting Silas’ Grandma Em, there will be over 20 of us. And don’t forget that your family has lived in this town a long time. I’m sure there will be friends and acquaintances of your mother and father of whom you’re not even aware.”

Both girls nodded and Carrie smiled at her before they bent back over the bowl. Amy, thinking they might want to talk in privacy, said she was going out to see that Becca got a turn on the swing. She’d have been surprised to know that neither of the girls felt like talking after she left.

“Grandma Em?” Ross Beckett called out as he opened the front door. “Are you in?”

“Ross!” Grandma Em spoke the name with obvious pleasure as she came down the stairs and into the parlor. He bent and kissed her weathered cheek and then hugged her closely as if she really were his grandmother.

“How was your trip to Hayward?”

“Great!”

“And your parents?”

“They’re fine. You’d think I’d set up my law practice in Baxter years ago, the way my mother cried.”

“Maybe she saw changes in you.”

“She said as much. My dad always attributes it to my getting older. I hope one of these days he’ll see God in my life and realize
He
is making the changes.”

“You know Ross,” she spoke as they took seats on the elegant living room furniture, “maybe he does see God in you and doesn’t know how to respond to the man you’ve become.”

He looked at her without comment, then across the room at nothing in particular.

“Have you eaten?” She finally broke into his pensive mood.

“No, actually I haven’t.”

“Well, come along then. I’ll feed you and bring you up to date on the news in town. The very latest of which is that Silas and Amy have five children.”

“What!”

“You heard me right. Sit down and I’ll explain.”

Shortly after lunch at the Silas Cameron home, the women of the house, Amy on down to Rebecca, stood in serious discussion in Mandy’s room.

“I think I’m the only one who has a black dress that fits.”

“Alright Carrie, why don’t you go and get it, and we’ll make sure it’s pressed and ready for tomorrow.”

“I have one of Mama’s.”

Carrie stopped on her way out of the room. “Don’t believe her, Amy. The dress Mandy’s talking about is terrible on her.”

“Hush, Carrie.” The words were spoken more in tired resignation than anger.

“No, I won’t hush. We could fit two of you in that dress and you know it.”

“Well that’s just too bad, because I’m not wearing anything but black to Mama’s service and that’s that.”

Amy could see Carrie was going to continue to argue the point. It was time she stepped in.

“Carrie, please go ahead and get your dress and Becca’s, too, the brown one you said would fit this winter. I have a dress Mandy can wear.”

“I need a black dress, too.”

“I’m sorry, Becca, but I don’t have one your size. I think your brown dress will be just fine. Carrie is bringing it and I’ll get it pressed and all ready for you.”

The little girl didn’t look convinced, and Amy held her breath waiting for a top-of-her-voice objection. Blessedly, Carrie returned in only a few seconds and Amy was on her knees in front of Becca trying the dress on her.

The fabric was far from new, but the original seams were still in very good shape and the dress wasn’t as roomy in the body as Amy had been expecting. Even the length would do for the few hours she would be in it.

Amy concentrated on buttoning the dress and then praised her littlest houseguest on how nicely the dress fit, as though Rebecca herself had something to do with the growing of her body.

They checked the boys’ things before heading downstairs to Amy’s room where she pulled a black dress from the closet and laid it across the bed.

“Why don’t you stay in here, Mandy, and try this on? I’ll go to the kitchen and put the irons on the stove. Come out when you’re ready.” Amy exited, taking Mandy’s sisters with her, praying as she went that the dress would be suitable.

Mandy heard the door close but didn’t move from her place. She hadn’t been in this room before, and even though she was not surprised to find it as lovely as the rest of the house, she still felt like standing and taking it all in.

The bed was quite big, she decided. No,
grand
was a better word. The headboard was towering and ornate, and though the bed was not very wide it was extremely long to the foot. The woods of the bedroom furniture were not consistent, but it didn’t detract in any way from the dark green decor. The bed itself was dark walnut, as were the small tables on either side of the bed. The small wardrobe and writing desk under the window were pine.

Mandy spotted an open book on the desk and looked no further. She had to restrain herself from picking it up to read. She did move closer though and saw instantly it was a Bible, opened to the book of John. Mandy had read the Bible a few times at the schoolhouse, enjoying as always the sensation of seeing words with recognition. But each time she read it she went away with a thirsty feeling, a feeling of not quite understanding all she’d read. Most times Mandy assumed that a person had to be very smart to understand the Bible and that she had never reached that level of intelligence.