Bride of Paradise (6 page)

*****

They ended up pushing through instead of stopping, and it was after eleven that night when they pulled into Paradise.  She’d slept on and off with her head on his shoulder throughout the journey, wishing she was better company, but she knew she wasn’t right then.

He pulled up in front of the parsonage and patted her.  “We’re here.”

She sat up and blinked, looking around her.  It was hard to make anything out in the dark, but she could just barely see the house.  He helped her down and she walked straight to the house, carrying just her carpet bag inside.  There was no need to unload the trunks yet.  Besides, he’d need another man to help him lift them down.

She stepped into the house and went straight toward the small kitchen area, thankful there was a stove and she wouldn’t have to try to learn to cook over a fireplace.  There wasn’t much else to recommend it, though.  There was a basin obviously used for washing dishes.  There was no pump, so she’d have to carry water in from outside for cooking and cleaning.  She put her hand to the small of her back, already imagining how hard it would be.

She put on a brave smile and looked through the kitchen, trying to see what foods he had available for her to cook for a late meal for them.  They were both hungry, and she wasn’t about to serve sandwiches again.  They’d had enough of those on their long trip.  She spotted a note on top of the stove.  “Casserole is in the oven.  Welcome home Pastor and Mrs. Benner.”  Kristen stared at the words.  She hadn’t thought of herself as Mrs. Benner.  How odd.

She wasn’t sure if she was pleased or disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to cook the first meal in her new house that night.  She wanted to cook for her husband, but they were both so tired, it was probably best that someone had left a casserole.

She opened the oven and pulled it out, noting that it was still warm.  She found the plates and served them each a plate full of the casserole, which consisted of some kind of meat she wasn’t sure which, potatoes, carrots and a heavy sauce.  She poured them each a glass of water from the pitcher someone had kindly left on the work table. 

When he walked into the house from putting the horses in their stable for the night, she had his plate ready for him.  He took the seat across from her, reaching out to grip her hand as they prayed together.  “Thank you, Lord, for watching over us on our long journey.  Please help us to do everything we can to glorify your name.  Thank you for the food.  We pray this is Christ’s name.  Amen.” 

He lifted his head and stared down at the food.  “Mrs. Simmons must have cooked.”
  His eyes were weary after their long journey.

“Do you know what that meat is?” she asked
moving it around on her plate with a fork.

“Rabbit?  I think?  I don’t know.  It tastes good.”  He forked up a bite and chewed it slowly.  “I’m just thankful there was a meal waiting for us, and you don’t have to spend hours cooking before we finally go to bed.”

She nodded, taking a small bite of the food.  She was surprised that the flavor was so good, and happily ate a bigger bite.  She had a huge appetite that night, because they’d grown tired of the sandwiches and she wasn’t able to choke more than half a sandwich down at dinner time.  “It is good.”  She just wished she knew how it had been cooked.  She stopped after a few bites, unable to force herself to eat more.

They ate the rest of the meal in silence.  As soon as they were done, she stood up and started to wash the plates.  He stopped her with a hand on her back.  “Just soak them in the basin with water tonight.  I know that’s not something you’d usually do, but
we’re both too tired.  Let’s just go to bed.”

She nodded tiredly.  “Where’s the outhouse?” she asked. 

He pointed out the back window.  “I’ll bring your things in tomorrow if that’s okay.  Do you have what you need for tonight?”

“Yes.  I put a couple days change of clothes in my carpet bag.”  She went to the outhouse before returning to put her nightgown on before joining him.  The house was so small.  There were really only two rooms.  She had no idea where she was going to be able to put all her things.  She yawned as she crawled into bed.  She’d figure it all out tomorrow.

Chapter Five

Fresh eggs and milk were on the doorstep the following morning, so she made scrambled eggs for breakfast.  He left while she was cooking, and came back a few minutes later with three other men.  “We’re going to bring in your trunks.”  He shook his head at her.  “I’m just going to put them wherever I can find room so you can go through them.”

She nodded, smiling shyly at the men.  She assumed they were from the church, but she had no idea.  She put their breakfast in the oven when it was finished so it would keep warm before going in to make the bed.  She wanted to use her own sheets on it, but that would have to wait until tomorrow when she’d had a chance to go through everything.

For today, she’d find places for all her things, and scrub the small house.  She hated dirt to be anywhere, and all of the windows were full of grime.  The floor had footprints on it.  She had a lot of work to do.

It took the men almost an hour to get all the trunks into the house, and they were scattered everywhere.  She could barely walk through the house by the time Samuel thanked them and they left. 

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

He nodded, taking his seat at the table.  “I am.  And I have a sermon to write today, so I’ll be putting in a lot of hours.  I’ll come home for lunch, but will have to go back.   I usually only work half days on Fridays, but I was gone so much this week that I need to put in a full day today
and tomorrow as well.”

“I’ll have lunch ready around noon.  Will that work out for you?”

“That sounds good.”

She put the food onto the table, and he said a prayer for them.  While they ate, he asked, “What do you have planned for today?”

“I need to deal with all the trunks first.  Is there anything in particular you need me to do other than that?”

He shook his head.  “No, I think the trunks need to be your first priority.”

She looked out at the sea of trunks covering the floor.  She couldn’t disagree with that.  “I’ll have them taken care of before I do anything else.  Other than cook lunch, of course.”

When he left for the church, she spent time slowly walking through the house and getting acquainted with it.  There was a small dresser in the bedroom, and he’d cleared out two drawers for her, which was nice, but she’d need those two drawers plus another dresser.  There wasn’t a place to hang clothes, so she’d have to get creative there.  She had a little money of her own, so she decided to walk to the mercantile and see what she could come up with.

Once she was outside, she realized she had no idea where the mercantile was.  A woman was passing her, dressed in an old dress that looked like it had seen better days.  Kristen smoothed her bright yellow dress down and smiled.   She would be the best dressed woman in town.  There was no doubt about that.  “Excuse me, ma’am?”

The woman turned.  “Yes?”

“Can you tell me where the mercantile is?”

“I’m on my way there now.  Would you like to just walk with me?”  She was younger than Kristen had first thought, probably not much older than she was. 

“I’d love that.”  She smiled at the other woman.  “I’m Kristen Benner.”  The new name felt strange on her lips.

“Oh!  You’re the new pastor’s wife.”

Kristen nodded.  “Do you go to our church?” she asked.

“Yes, I do!  My husband and I were married by Pastor Benner just three months ago.”  The woman didn’t seem to be in a hurry, so Kristen ambled along beside her, wishing she knew of a way to ask her to hurry without being so blunt.  She had a lot of work to do that day.

“Oh, how nice.  What’s your name?”  It hadn’t occurred to her that Samuel had already performed some weddings.  It made sense, though.

“
Adelaide Tomlinson.”  She pointed.  “There’s the store.  Where are you from?”

“Dallas.”  Kristen didn’t realize how forlorn she sounded when she mentioned her home town.

Adelaide smiled.  “Paradise is a nice place.  You’ll like it here.  I promise.”

Kristen sighed.  “I hope so!”  They walked into the store, and she went to the merchant.  “Do you have any dressers?  Or anything I can hang dresses from?”

The man looked at her for a moment before shrugging.  “Most people around here make their own.”

She sighed.  “If you know of someone who can make me one, please let me know.”  She searched through the room, her eyes lighting on a broomstick.  She could purchase two broom sticks and use them to hang her dresses from, couldn’t she?  She made a face as she thought about it.

Adelaide touched her arm.  “My husband makes furniture sometimes.  I’m sure he’d be happy to make you a dresser if you need one.”

Kristen’s eyes lit up.  “That would be wonderful.”  She picked up the two brooms and put them on the counter, before turning back to Adelaide.  “Do you have a saw I could borrow?  Just for an hour or two?”

Adelaide nodded, seeming surprised by the question.  “I’ll bring it to your house after I finish my shopping.”

“Thank you!”  Kristen hurried from the store, thrilled she’d figured out her first problem.  She got home and immediately started digging through her trunks.  Until she had her dresser, she could use one trunk for her clothes that would be folded, and the broomsticks for her hanging clothes.  She just had to cut them off. 

She put all her clothes that needed to be hung up on her bed, laying them flat so they wouldn’t get more wrinkles and she put away her folded clothes in the drawers Samuel had cleaned out for her.  She put one trunk at the foot of their bed, and she carefully placed her other clothes that needed to be folded into that trunk.

By the time Adelaide came with the saw, she’d accomplished a lot.  She opened the door wide for the other woman to invite her in and saw her jaw drop.  “You brought a lot of things with you,” Adelaide said in surprise.

Kristen shook her head.  “Only the most important things.”  She took the saw Adelaide offered and walked to the kitchen.  She sat on one of the chairs and held the first broomstick between her knees.  She carefully sawed off the end of the first broom and then the other while Adelaide stood watching her.  “Would you help me hang these?” she asked.

Adelaide nodded, slightly bewildered.  When she walked into the bedroom, she understood better.  Kristen had fashioned two small planks of wood and she quickly nailed one end of the first broomstick into each.  Then she nailed the whole thing into the wall.  “I know it’s not pretty, but it’s functional.”  She thought about using some of her precious fabric to fashion a curtain around the clothes, but that would need to
happen later.

They did the same thing with the second broomstick, and Kristen stepped back, nodding happily.  “That will be perfect.”

She went to the bed and carefully hung each of her dresses on one of the hangers she’d brought with her.  When she was finished, Adelaide would take the dresses and hang them on their makeshift rods.  When they were finished, Kristen smiled.  “That will work beautifully for now.”

Adelaide stood looking around, noting all the shoes everywhere.  “Is there anything else I can help with?”

Kristen smiled.  “You’ve done more than enough.  I need to get the floor in here scrubbed before I put my shoes down.”  She sighed.  “It’s going to be a long day.”

Adelaide looked at her new friend.  “I really don’t mind helping.”

“Really, it’s okay.  I’d rather do it myself.”  She rubbed the small of her back.  “Samuel’s worried I won’t be able to handle the work that comes with being a pastor’s wife.”

Adelaide smiled.  “I think I understand.”  She looked at all the trunks, most of them now empty.  “What will you do with all the trunks?  They look brand new.”

“I haven’t really thought about it.  I certainly don’t need more than one or two.”  She looked around the room.  There were so many of them.  “Do you think the mercantile would buy some from me?” 

Adelaide nodded.  “And I think we’d be happy to trade a dresser for one of them.”  She touched her stomach.  “I’m expecting, and I’d like a trunk to put the baby’s things in as I sew them.”

“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea!”  Kristen nodded emphatically.  “I’d love to make that trade.”

“I’ll bring my husband by when he gets home from work, and we’ll pick one up to get it out of your way.  He’ll start on your dresser first thing tomorrow.”
  Adelaide rubbed her hands together happily.  “I’m so glad we ran into each other today!”

“Thank you!”  Kristen’s eyes lit up as she thought about what she’d already accomplished.  She was going to make it work, if only because Samuel didn’t think she could.

As soon as Adelaide left, there was a knock on the door.  When she opened it, an older woman stood on her doorstep.  “Mrs. Benner?”

“Yes?”

“I’m Alice Cheevy.  I brought your lunch.”  The woman held a small pot in her hands and held it out to Kristen.

Kristen smiled sweetly, although she was slightly annoyed.  She’d wanted to make lunch herself.  “Thank you so much.  I’m sure we’ll enjoy it.”
  It was probably for the best with everything she had to do, though.

“Just heat it up when it’s time for lunch.”  Alice peeked around Kristen and saw the trunks scattered everywhere.  “Oh my!  You have a lot of trunks!”

Kristen nodded, wondering why people always felt the need to state the obvious.  “I do.”

“What will you do with them all?” she asked.

Kristen shrugged.  “I’m planning on keeping two, and I’ve traded one for a dresser, but I’ll probably just take the others to sell at the mercantile if they’ll buy them from me.”

The woman looked at the trunks again before asking, “Could you use a bookshelf?  I’d love to trade you a shelf for one of those trunks.”

Kristen thought about it.  She had brought a few of her favorite books with her, and she had some things she wanted to display somewhere.  “I’d like that.”

Alice clapped her hands.  “I’ll send my husband over as soon as he’s finished with work today.  He’ll pick up a trunk and drop off the shelf.”

“That sounds good.”  Kristen was pleased with how things were working out.  She’d rather get good trades for the trunks than money anyway.

She glanced at the clock and saw it was already after eleven.  She started a fire in the stove and put the pot in it.  The women there certainly were generous, she thought.

When Samuel got home for lunch, she had all of the trunks emptied and pushed to one corner of the big room.  She had scrubbed the floor in the bedroom and put her shoes around underneath the hanging dresses.  It was looking a great deal homier without her trunks scattered all over.  He looked around, obviously happy with the work she’d done. 

“Mrs. Cheev
y brought lunch today,” she told him after he’d prayed.  “I was getting ready to fix it when she came with the pot.” 

He ate a quick bite.  “That’s fine.  I’m not fussy about who cooks or even what they cook.  I just like to eat.”

She laughed.  “She’s sending her husband back later.  They want to trade a bookshelf for one of my trunks.”

“That sounds good to me.  I don’t know what we’ll do with ten trunks.”

She grinned.  “I want to keep two of them, at least for now.  One for some of my clothes, and the other to keep linens and things in.”

He shrugged.  “That’s fine.  Do what you want with them.”
  He didn’t say it, but he was pleased to see that she was figuring things out.  He hadn’t been sure how she was going to put things away, but she was managing.  He had to admire her for that.

Once he’d left for the church again, she did
the dishes, carefully setting the pot lunch had come in into one of the trunks, and making a mental note that the trunk would need to go home with Mr. Cheevy.  She pushed the table out of the kitchen area and put the chairs onto it, before getting down on her knees to scrub the kitchen floor. 

By the time Samuel
got home from work, she had scrubbed every window, the kitchen floor, the stove and the work table.  The kitchen practically sparkled, and she eyed it proudly.  He carried the trunks that were to be picked up out onto the front lawn and helped carry in the bookshelf Mr. Cheevy brought with him.  Kristen rushed over to scrub the shelf off, and then she carefully placed her books, the books of Samuel’s she’d found in various places while she’d cleaned, and the prized possession she couldn’t leave behind.

She smiled proudly at how the shelf looked when she was finished.  The house was really starting to look better.  Samuel came to her and said, “I’ve hitched up the wagon.  I’m going to the mercantile to see if I can get Mr. Davidson to buy a couple of the trunks from us.  That will give us a little extra money, and get the trunks out of our house.”

She nodded, happy with the solution.  If he bought two, that would only leave four to get rid of.  She walked to the kitchen to start dinner, but just as she started to dig through the cabinets, there was a knock at the door.  She rushed to the door, throwing it wide.  She’d expected to see Adelaide or her husband, but instead, it was another older woman.  “Mrs. Benner, I brought dinner for you and the pastor.”  She handed Kristen a pot filled to the top.  “It’s beef stew.  He loves my stew.”