Bride of Paradise (8 page)

“A virtuous woman’s price is far above rubies.  I know that’s not an exact quote, but Proverbs is
always right.”

She smiled and snuggled into his side, her eyes already drifting closed.

*****

Her tea with the women went better than she’d expected.  Ten women came, and though some had to sit on the floor, she thought they all had a nice time.  She spent Wednesday baking to prepare, and had cakes, pies, and cookies to offer them.  “Please, take more,” she urged them.  “Samuel and I will be eating them for a week otherwise.”

The other women laughed.  She sat on the floor with a group of younger women.  “Are there no unmarried ladies in the congregation?” she asked with a frown.

Adelaide shook her head with a big smile.  “That’s why the pastor had to send off for you!”

Kristen grinned.  “Well, I’m glad there are no unmarried ladies then, because he’s a good husband to me.”

Adelaide sat on the floor beside her.  “We’re the only two ladies in the congregation who haven’t been married at least five years.”
  She shrugged.  “Well, Mary’s widowed, but since her husband just died last month, she’s not exactly eligible to marry anytime soon.”

“Really?  That surprises me!”

Adelaide pointed out the next youngest woman.  “That’s Mary.  Her husband was killed in a logging accident last month.  She has two little girls three and five.”

Kristen frowned.  “That’s sad.  I hope everyone
is taking
them
meals.”

Adelaide looked at Kristen in surprise.  “Why, I don’t think anyone’s thought of it.”
  She looked almost embarrassed.

“Where are her girls today?”

Adelaide shrugged.  “She probably left them with a neighbor.”

“Are her parents close?”  Kristen couldn’t imagine trying to raise two young girls on her own without her parents around.

Adelaide shook her head.  “No, it’s just her.” 

“Excuse me.”  Kristen walked over to Mary, who was sitting apart from the others, her eyes sad.  “
Mary?”

When the other woman nodded, Kristen sat on the floor beside her.  “Adelaide just told me about your husband.  I’m very sorry for your loss.”

Mary just nodded stoically, but her eyes were filled with tears.  “Thank you.”

“Is anyone helping you?  How are you getting by?  I understand you have two daughters.”

“I have some food left from my kitchen garden.  I’ve sold off the cow, and we have eggs from the chickens every day.”  Mary shrugged.  “We’ll make it.”  Her voice was bold, but Kristen could see the fear in her eyes.

Kristen shook her head.  “Is no one helping you?”

Mary shook her head.  “No.”

“Would you mind if I organized some meals to be brought to your house?  Like they were doing for my husband before my arrival?”
  And after, but Kristen left those words unsaid as she concentrated on how she could help the young mother.

“I don’t want to be anyone’s charity project.”

Kristen sighed.  “You’re not a charity project.  You’re in mourning and you have two little girls to take care of.  Where are they today, anyway?”

“My neighbor’s been watchin
g them while I look for work.  She said it would be fine if I came to this tea before I go get them.” 

“Well, would you and your girls care to join
my husband and me for dinner tonight?  We’d be happy to have you!”  Kristen had cooked a large bowl of stew with the intention of having some left for lunch the following day, but she could just as easily cook again.

Mary looked at her in surprise.  “You wouldn’t mind?  I don’t want to be in the way.”

Kristen smiled sweetly.  “I’d love to have the three of you for a meal.”

By the time the women left, Mary had agreed to come back at six for the evening meal.  Kristen had baked three loaves of bread earlier that she added to the menu for the night, and she’d serve one of the pies she’d baked.  Even after pushing her baked goods off on anyone who would take them, there was enough left for
dessert.

When Samuel arrived home, she asked him about Mary.  “Why is no one helping her?”

Samuel shook his head. “I just assumed someone was.  I guess I should have asked around.”

Kristen sighed.  “That’s why you needed a wife.”  She brushed her lips across his cheek, which was covered with stubble.  “I’ve invited her and the girls for supper tonight.  They don’t have a lot left.  You can see the fear in her eyes.”
  She wasn’t sure how to really get the bad situation the other woman was in across to her husband, especially when Mary had never come right out and admitted how bad it was.

Samuel frowned.  “I wish I’d realized.  I’d have done something.”  What he didn’t know.  It was usually the women who arranged things like that in the congregation.  He’d never really considered that until now.

“Well, I’ll get it all taken care of.  They’re going to be here at six, so I’m going to hurry and finish getting everything ready.”  She had already scrubbed the floors after everyone left, and was making sure everything was as perfect as it had been before the women arrived.

When Mary and her girls arrived, Samuel welcomed them heartily, making it clear that they were thrilled to have them.  The girls went to Kristen automatically, helping her in the kitchen.  She gave them each small tasks, and Samuel smiled at how well she got on with them.

Mary stood off to the side, saying nothing, but watching Kristen with the girls.  After a moment, she introduced them to the pastor’s wife.  “The older girl is Edwina and the younger is Beatrice.”  Both girls had blond hair and blue eyes.  They were pretty as could be and Kristen felt her heart go out to them.

Kristen smiled down at the girl presently carrying the bread on a plate to the table.  “Hello there, Beatrice.”

Beatrice smiled up at her, but didn’t respond.  Once they were all seated, one girl on either side of Kristen, Samuel said the prayer for all of them, making sure to add a special prayer for Mary and her girls.

Mary helped Kristen with the dishes after the meal.  “That was a fine meal, Mrs. Benner.”
  Mary seemed shy with Kristen as if her status as the pastor’s wife put her above Mary.

“Please, call me Kristen.”

Mary nodded.  “You’re a good cook, Kristen.”

“Thank you.  I enjoy cooking.”

Mary gave a half smile.  “I’ve heard something about that.”

Kristen sighed.  “I’m sure you have.”  She washed the dishes quickly and Mary dried them, leaving them on the work table to be put away.  When they were finished, she stepped outside into the fresh air with her new friend.

“You’re really good with my girls,” Mary told her.

“I enjoy children a great deal.  I volunteered at an orphanage back in Dallas before I got married.”  Kristen shrugged.  “I really miss having children around.  If you need someone to watch them while you do your shopping or while you look for a job, you just let me know.”

Mary nodded.  “I will.”  She stared out at the street for a moment.  “May I ask a favor of you?”

Kristen turned to the other women and nodded.  “You can ask me for anything.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking…now that my John died so suddenly, there’s nothing really that would keep me from doing the same.  I don’t want my girls in an orphanage, and I never really made friends here.  I mean, it’s my own fault.  We were newlyweds when we moved here, and my whole life was my husband, but the girls came so fast, and then my whole life was my family…”  She shook her head.  “Anyway, what I’m trying to ask is if anything happens to me, would you take care of my girls?  If you can’t keep them, would you make sure that they go to good homes and not some orphanage somewhere?”

Kristen felt tears pricking her eyes, feeling bad for Mary with her lonely existence.  “I will.  I don’t know if Samuel would let me keep them, but if not, I’ll make sure they get good homes.  I promise.”

Mary reached over and clutched Kristen’s hand, and for the first time in years, Kristen didn’t worry about what the other woman had touched before touching her hand.  She simply squeezed the other woman’s hand in return.  “Nothing’s going to happen to you, though.”

“Maybe not, but it’s always best to be prepared.”  Mary sighed heavily.  “I have to interview for a job as a maid for the rooming house tomorrow.  I need to be there at ten in the morning, and then I need to get a few things from the
mercantile.  Would you watch the girls for me?”

Kristen nodded eagerly.  She was so glad Mary trusted her so quickly with her girls.  She would love to take care of them for her. 
“Absolutely.  You’ll bring them at what?  Half past nine?”

Mary nodded.  “Around the
n.  Thank you.  I’m not sure how long I’ll be.  Would it be a problem if you had them at lunch time?”

“Not at all.  I can keep them all day if I need to.” 

Mary stood then and called to the girls who were playing on the lawn.  “It’s time to go home, but Mrs. Benner said she’d watch you both while I go to my job interview tomorrow.  Would you like that?”

Both girls clapped happily.  It was obvious that they liked Kristen.

*****

As she climbed into bed that evening, Kristen told Samuel about her promise to Mary.  “And I’m watching the girls tomorrow while she goes on a job interview.”

Samuel had nodded.  “That’s fine.  They’re sweet and well-behaved.  I can’t complain about you watching them.”  His hand stroked down her arm.  “I feel bad that I didn’t realize there was so much of a need there, and nothing was done for her and the girls.”

Kristen blew out the lamp beside the bed.  “I don’t think that’s the sort of thing a man would notice.”  She propped herself up on her elbow looking at Samuel.  “I’m glad we think alike about things like that.  We both want to help her, because we want to help her, not because we’re supposed to.”

“You’re right.  It is good to be well-matched with my wife.  Even if she is trying to bury me alive in dresses.”  He kissed her before she could protest.

Chapter
Seven

Kristen was thrilled to have the girls with her the next day.  They helped her bake bread and fix lunch.  Mary still hadn’t come at lunch time, but she’d warned Kristen that could happen, so
Kristen wasn’t worried.

After the dishes were done, she put the girls down for a nap in her bed.  She could always wake them later if need be.  She went into the sitting area with Samuel and curled up beside him on the couch.  She liked the idea of him only working half a day of Fridays. 

“I’ve never really seen you with children before,” he told her.  “You’re really good with them.”

She smiled her head on his shoulder.  She had never enjoyed touching anyone before, so she found that anytime she and Samuel were alon
e she was touching him somehow.  “I love children.”

“They love you as well.”  He sighed.  “Mary looks so unhappy.  I know she just lost her husband, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look
that
unhappy.  I really feel like I wasn’t doing my job right, because I never noticed.”

Kristen shook her head.  “No one noticed from what I could tell.  She had devoted her life to her husband and children, so she had no close friends.  When her husband died, her life was over.  At least that’s the way she saw it, and because she’d never reached out and made friends with anyone, she didn’t feel like she had the right to ask anyone for anything.”  She sighed.  “And now she’s alone with those two sweet little girls, and has no idea how she’s going to provide for them.”

Samuel kissed the top of her head, his hand stroking up and down her arm.  What had he thought the negatives to marrying her were?  Somehow, he couldn’t think of any anymore.  She was the wife God had chosen just for him, and he couldn’t be happier with her.  “We’ll help her.  You don’t have any friends here yet, so you can be her friend.  Watch her girls when she needs it even watch them while she works if she needs you to.  I don’t mind at all.  She’ll have it hard enough as it is; she needs a good friend like you at her side.”

They talked of all the ways she could help Mary and decided she would start a rotation at church for meals to be taken to the family once Mary started working.  She wouldn’t have time to cook as much as she had been. 

The girls woke from their nap, and she sat straight startled.  It was already three in the afternoon, and Mary hadn’t returned.  She hadn’t been sure when she’d be, though, so Kristen decided to just keep on as if nothing was wrong.  Maybe the interview had gone so well, they’d asked her to start immediately.

She helped the girls make the bed after their nap and took them into the kitchen to help her with supper.  “If your mama is okay with it, then you can just have dinner with us again tonight.  Would you like that?”  She cut up strips of bacon to add to the huge pot of beans she was making.  She’d fix some corn bread to go with it.  It wasn’t fancy, but it was a good filling meal.

When it was time to sit down for supper, and Mary still wasn’t there, Kristen began to worry a bit.  Samuel’s eyes met hers as she settled the girls at the table.  He whispered, “Are you worried?”

She nodded slightly.  “Maybe you could go to the rooming house after supper and see what time she left there?  Or maybe she’s still working there?”

He nodded before moving around to his chair and sitting down, bowing his head to pray for the meal.  The girls kept up a constant stream of chatter while they ate, obviously content.  “Are you girls going to help me with the dishes after supper?” she asked.  “Pastor Benner is going to help a friend for a few minutes.”

The girls nodded eagerly.  Edwina smiled happily.  “I love helping you with dishes.  You never yell at us like Mama does!”

Kristen looked at the young girl for a moment.  “I’m sure your mama doesn’t mean to yell at you.  She’s having a hard time now that your Papa died.”  She paused, searching for just the right words.  “Your papa was her best friend in the whole world, and when he died, she felt like her life was over too.”

Edwina nodded.  “She never laughs or smiles anymore.  And she doesn’t hug us either.  She just cries a lot.”

Beatrice sat beside her older sister, nodding her head, her pale blond curls bouncing up and down with her head motions. 

Kristen’s eyes met Samuel’s and there were tears shining in hers.  Samuel nodded slightly as if to say he understood exactly what she was thinking.  She sighed. 

When they were finished, Samuel kissed her cheek and hurried out the door, going to check on Mary.  “I’ll be back soon.”

Kristen made a game out of doing the dishes.  Edwina dried them for her, while Beatrice brought the dirty dishes from the table and then swept under it.  Kristen knew she’d have to sweep it all over again once the girls were gone, but she didn’t mind.  They wouldn’t learn unless they practiced.

After the dishes, Kristen looked at the clock again.  Samuel had been gone for a half hour.  It shouldn’t be taking him so long.  She sat on the couch, and took down a book of Bible stories that she’d had since she was a little girl.  “Which Bible story do you want to hear first?” she asked, her voice filled with excitement to cover the fear she was feeling.

“Noah!” Edwina suggested.

“Jonah!” Beatrice insisted.

Kristen smiled.  “How about this…We’ll start with Jonah because Beatrice is the youngest, and if we have time, I’ll read both!  If we don’t have time, I’ll read Noah the next time you come over.”

Edwina nodded reluctantly.  “That would be okay, since she’s the
baby
.”  Edwina emphasized the last word to make it clear that her sisters was much too young to have much expected of her.

Kristen opened the book and sat between the two girls on the sofa, reading to them softly.  She was almost finished with Noah’s story when Samuel finally came in the door, his eyes sad and tired. 
She read the last two paragraphs before standing up.  “Why don’t you girls look at the pictures while I talk to Pastor Benner?  I’ll be right back.”

Kristen was
frightened by the time they were on the front porch with the door closed so the girls couldn’t hear them.  “What happened?”

Samuel was shaking, his eyes wide with sorrow.  “She never went to her interview this morning.”  He took deep gulping breaths.  “She put her husband’s revolver in her mouth and pulled the trigger.”
  He didn’t add that he’d found her body, but it was there in his body language.

Kristen’s hand covered her mouth and she sagged against the door.  “What?  No!  What about the girls?”

“I think she was just waiting until she found someone she could trust with them before killing herself.”  He pulled a note from his pocket.  There was a small spot of blood on it, and Kristen recoiled from it.  “Your name was on this.  The sheriff and I both read it, but it’s for you.”

Kristen took the paper from him, tears streaming down her cheeks.  How were they going to tell the precious little girls waiting for them in the house their mother was dead?  She unfolded it carefully and read the words, “Dear Kristen, If you’re reading this, then it means I’m dead.  I couldn’t keep going without my John.  The responsibility of the girls was too much for me.  They’ll be much better off with two parents.  I know you’ll keep your promise to me and take care of my girls.  Thank you for befriending me when no one else would.  Yours, Mary Thatcher.”

She was sobbing, her breath coming in short spurts as she finished reading it and handed him back the note.  “What are we going to do?  How can we tell them?”

Samuel pulled her into his arms and held her close.  “I don’t know.  I really don’t know what to do.”  His hands stroked her back and carefully smoothed her hair. 

Kristen stood leaning against them, trying to get hold of herself.  She barely knew Mary, but her little girls had been left orphans.  She wanted to scream at how selfish the other woman was, but never having been in her position, she didn’t know that she wouldn’t have done the same.

Finally, after several minutes of just holding onto one another, Kristen pulled back, lifting the apron she was still wearing to wipe the tears from her face.  “We either need to keep the girls or find them a home.  I promised.  I don’t think she’d have done this without my promise.”

Samuel sighed and shook his head.  “You can’t blame yourself for this.  It’s not your fault.”  He was too busy blaming himself for not seeing that she needed help to let his wife blame herself.

She shrugged.  “Can you honestly say this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t agreed to keep the girls?”

He shrugged.  “I don’t have any way of knowing that.  I do know that she was in a terrible state of mind for this to have happened.”

“What are we going to do about the girls?”
  She didn’t know if it was too soon to bring them up, but she knew they needed to be cared for.

Samuel studied her for a minute.  “You want to keep them, don’t you?”

Kristen nodded.  “I do.  They have no family, no close friends.  They know us and they’re comfortable with us.  What else can we do?”

“We just got married last week, Kristen.  Are either of us really ready to be instant parents to small children?”  Samuel wasn’t opposed to the idea, but everything was happening so suddenly.  He really wasn’t sure what he felt at this point. 

“I don’t know.  I do know that everything happens for a reason.  She asked me to make her that promise, so that must have been God’s hand guiding the children to us.  He wants us to keep them.  There’s no other explanation.”  She sniffled indelicately, wishing she had a handkerchief handy.

Samuel watched her for a moment before nodding.  “You’re right.  Let’s go talk to them and let them know that we’re keeping them.”

Kristen stared at him for a moment, almost not believing that he was agreeing.  When she comprehended what he was saying, she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly.  “Thank you!  Oh, I love you!”  She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the living room, only realizing what she’d said once they were inside.  She didn’t look over at him again.  She hadn’t even realized she felt that way until the words had come out of her mouth, and now she realized she’d felt it since the very beginning.  Well, maybe not that first night when he’d been tired, hungry, rude, and dirty, but certainly the next day when he’d been so sweet to her.

She walked to her spot between the girls on the couch.  They were each holding a corner of the book as if they were waiting for her to return.  She sat between them once they’d moved the book and looked back and forth between the two of them.  “I have something I need to tell you,” she said, prefacing the conversation the best way she knew how.

Beatrice and Edwina both gave her their undivided attention while Samuel sat in a chair opposite them, his forearms braced on his knees as he leaned forward to be a part of their conversation.  “What?” Edwina asked her blue eyes round and innocent.

“Well, let me ask this first.  How would you girls like to live with Pastor Benner and me?  I know our house is small, but we’d like you to stay with us and be our daughters.”
  Kristen all but held her breath as she waited for the little girls to respond.

Edwina looked confused but nodded.  “Mama said that we were staying forever when she dropped us off this morning.”

Kristen looked at Edwina, startled by the girl’s words.  “She did?”  Kristen looked up at Samuel to see if he’d heard, and he had the same perplexed look on his face that she was certain she wore.

Edwina nodded.  “Yes, and she put our clothes in the bushes in the backyard where no one would find them, so we wouldn’t have to go home for them.  She said she was saving you the work.”

Kristen sat back, shocked by what she was hearing.  “So you knew this morning that you were going to live with us?”

Beatrice nodded.  “Mama’s going away, and she said she couldn’t take us.”  The tiny girl shrugged.  “You’re happier than Mama.”

Kristen blinked a few times, wondering if she should tell the girls their mother was dead.  Her eyes met Samuel’s, hoping he would have an answer.  Surely they’d trained him for this at the seminary, how she didn’t know, but he had to be better prepared for it than she was. 

Samuel shook his head slightly as if he had no idea what was going on.  “She said she was going away?”
he asked.

Edwina nodded with a smile.  “She said she wouldn’t see us again on earth, but we would see her in heaven.”  She shrugged.  “We’re not ready to go to heaven yet.”

Kristen hugged both girls.  “Of course, you’re not.  So you don’t mind living with us?”

Edwina smiled, her blue eyes lighting
up with happiness.  “We’re happy to live with you.  Mama said you’d be good parents to us and love us like we were your own children.”

“We will,” Kristen answered.  “We will love you always.”  She stood and went to get some fresh linens.  She was glad Samuel had his own things before they married, because she would need them now.  She made up a small bed for them on the floor in the sitting area.  “There.  This will be where you sleep until we can add on.”  She had plans for adding on, but the church had to okay it. 

The girls took turns going out back to use the outhouse before settling into their makeshift bed on the floor.  Kristen kissed each girl on the forehead and watched as Samuel did the same.  “We’ll see you in the morning,” she said quietly, leaving the room and going to the bedroom she shared with Samuel.  Her eyes were wide as she looked at her husband.  “Can you believe she told the girls they’d be living here?  What if we’d decided to find homes for them with other people?”