Larkspur in Eden
- Thread starter Kathy in FL
- Start date
stjwelding
Veteran Member
Thanks Kathy great chapter.
Wayne
Wayne
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
LOLOLOLOLOLOL that is so funny (and so true)
naturallysweet
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I love Kathy's stories, but they are a special brand of punishment. I HATE putting down a book and not being able to read it when I want. So I end up going to tb2k every couple of hours to see if I can get a new chapter. Yes, I'm a addict.
Chapter Thirty
There was a crash and a shriek and Gid and I jumped from our bed. I tried to follow him out but he pushed me back in but only until we heard Lolly screamed, “Yulee!! Hurry!!!”
I rushed up the stairs, banging my shin when I missed a riser. When I got to the landing I had to push children of all ages out of the way until I could get to the room. Vaniece was having convulsions.
Lolly was trying to hold her still with little success. I rushed over and grabbed the spoon we’d been using to get liquids down Vaniece. I did what I could to keep her from swallowing or biting her tongue. Jace just stood at the foot of the bed in stunned disbelief. I snapped at anyone who would listen and said, “Get him out of here. Now.”
I heard a scuffle and angry words but Jace was gone. The convulsion ended at last leaving Vaniece in a state that left me no doubt another one too soon would kill her. “Lolly, fetch my bag.”
She didn’t need to ask what bag and ran down the stairs to get my yarbs. Lurna was only slightly less shocked than Jace had been but finally found her voice and asked, “What … what can I do?”
“Heat a pot of water. I’ve got to … to …” I took a calming breath. Lolly ran in with my yarb bag followed by Gid with an armload of wood. “Thank you,” I told him. “I need the fire built back up so that we can make a valerian tea. It is the only thing I know that might work. The large lantern from the Great Room would also be helpful.”
The rest of the night was a blur. I sent an exhausted Lolly off but she refused to go far. Lurna refused to leave - almost daring me to make it an order - except when she stepped out to check on Jace and to impress on the other children how important it was for them to be quiet. Ned went down stairs and sat with Jace who seemed to be having a painful epiphany.
For over an hour Vaniece struggled to find a rhythm her heart and breathing could fall into. Eventually however she seemed to relax and fall into a deep, true rest.
“How is she?” Lurna asked quietly after I finished counting heart beats yet again.
“Stronger … at least in some ways. I can’t say about others.”
“Was … was it the fever?”
I sighed. “Possibly but that explanation does not sound completely true. Perhaps it is part of it. I believe the other part is that Vaniece is simply slipping away. She seems to be fighting more to leave this world than stay in it.”
Lurna gave a little shiver. “She can’t do this.”
I looked at Lurna then shook my head. “It is a little late to be saying such. And saying it to me does no good at all. It was Vaniece those words should have been spoken to, and some time ago at that.”
“I didn’t know.”
A hand opened the door then a young woman stepped in and said, “Yes you did, and so did Jace. Yulee and I both told you. Plenty of times we told you. You just didn’t want to know.”
“Lolly!” her mother gasped.
“It’s true Mother. I didn’t want to know it at first either but at last I used my eyes instead of my hurt feelings to find the truth. At least I won’t have to live with that.”
Her mother gasped again and I could see that Lolly was angry. Carefully I stood up to go to her. “Lolly, remember what I said?”
She sighed and looked away. “I know. I know they don’t mean to … to …” She shook her head unable to find the words for what she meant to say. “But they were and now Vaniece … will she die Yulee?”
I shook my head. “I’m not God Lolly. My knowing is not that deep.”
“But … but there’s hope?”
“There’s always hope.”
-----------------------------
Over the coming weeks Vaniece improved … at least physically. She was still frail but she no longer looked ready for a shroud. But the Vaniece that sat in the rocker by the fire or stared out the window was not the same Vaniece that lived in her body before she became ill. For one she lost her balance easily; on the even floors of the cabin she could walk unaided, but on the stairs or outside she wobbled and tripped far too easily to go without someone at her elbow at all times. She also wobbled in her thoughts. She rarely spoke and when she did she would sometimes be unable to complete a thought and would go back to staring at nothing. And she never smiled. It wasn’t that she seemed unhappy but more that she was so disconnected that she seemed to feel nothing. She reacted to very little. Not even to Jace whether he was trying to coax her or rail at her.
After a difficult morning I finally said, “Jace, go. Losing patience with her is not going to help.”
“I’m … I’m not losing patience. She can do this, I know she can.”
“No Jace, she cannot. She is better than she was but she has a long way to go. And you had best set you mind to the fact she may never be completely the girl she once was.”
He looked like I’d slapped him. “You said there’s always hope.”
“And there is. Always. But is what you are hoping for your gain or for hers?”
He stomped from the room barely missing trampling Gid in his rush to get out.
Reaching my side Gid said, “You’re being hard on him again.”
“The truth isn’t always an easy thing to hear but it is what he needs to hear.” I draped a quilt across Vaniece’s lap and turned to walk out with Gid. Suddenly she grabbed my wrist in a surprisingly strong grip. She’d done the same thing after another confrontation with Jace the day before. I patted her shoulder and said, “He’ll be back. He just needs some air.”
She slowly relaxed and let go so that Gid and I could go have some alone time. I had intended to pay some attention to Gid by massaging his shoulders. It had been far too long since I’d done it for him. Instead he sat me on the stool and did it for me.
“Oh Gid … I should be the one …”
“Hush woman and mind me. It’s my pleasure to take care of you as I will and it has been far too long since I’ve had you in my hands to do it.” I shuddered at how pleasuring his hands felt. “Better?” he asked.
“Hmmmmmmmm.”
Gid chuckled. “You sound like the furball when she’s getting her rump scratched.”
“Hmphf.” I tried to stand up and tie by top shut but he was having none of it.
“Don’t be so sensitive woman. I’m rather fond of the sound if you must know so the more you do it the more I like it.”
Relaxing once again I told him, “Silly.”
“Maybe, but we deserve a bit of silliness now that you’re able to leave Vaniece for more than a moment at a time. Ned said at breakfast that he would like to copy out what you’ve done so he can take it back for the library in Riverside. And stop your blushing, we all know without your learning Vaniece would have never survived.”
I shook my head and said, “I merely did as I was taught … and I’m missing the higher learning I would have gotten from the Sisters, or Old Annie if she had lived. But I have her book.”
“The one you carry that has the odd hide for a cover?”
“The same. That’s ostrich or so said Old Annie.”
“It’s what?”
I rubbed his arm with my cheek. “Ostrich. It’s a large bird that cannot fly. The bumps in the leather are from the quills of its feathers.”
He snorted, “I know what an ostrich is. Ned had pictures of them once upon a time. Strange looking animals.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s been so long I almost didn’t remember what an ostrich was. Seems a strange thing to have the leather from one as a book cover.”
I nodded, happy to get beyond my know-it-all-ness. “Old Annie said the book has been passed down in her family for generations, from not too long before the Great War; doctoring was hard to come by and expensive even back then so people had to learn the best ways to care for their own. Her parents migrated to our village from a territory called Arkaneessee. Her parents told her that they once raised ostriches and another large flightless bird called an emu. They bred them for meat, feathers, and leather. When the Mississippi moved the last time their farm was destroyed and raiders moved into the area out of the East so they fled with what little they could carry and this book was one of them. Old Annie’s mother taught her the yarbing way the same as her mother had taught her. Old Annie’s husband and infant son died of a plague and her sister’s daughters all died in infancy as well. She was my mother’s nursemaid for a time while my grandmother recovered from the same plague and they became like sisters, sharing my mother between them.”
“Your mother was a yarb woman?”
“No though she learned plenty from Old Annie, her skill was in stitching and cutting. It was me they picked out to carry the yarbing on when I showed some aptitude for it so early. And Old Annie was stubborn enough that she refused to even let Aunt Giselle keep her from passing on all she knew.” Quietly I ended, “Only death stopped her.”
I grew quiet and Gid said, “None of that.”
“None of what?” I asked.
“The sad thoughts that put a pucker between your brows. It makes me feel like I’m not … distracting you properly.”
I grinned and said, “If you distract me any better I’ll be fit for nothing for the remainder of the day.”
“Good.”
There was a crash and a shriek and Gid and I jumped from our bed. I tried to follow him out but he pushed me back in but only until we heard Lolly screamed, “Yulee!! Hurry!!!”
I rushed up the stairs, banging my shin when I missed a riser. When I got to the landing I had to push children of all ages out of the way until I could get to the room. Vaniece was having convulsions.
Lolly was trying to hold her still with little success. I rushed over and grabbed the spoon we’d been using to get liquids down Vaniece. I did what I could to keep her from swallowing or biting her tongue. Jace just stood at the foot of the bed in stunned disbelief. I snapped at anyone who would listen and said, “Get him out of here. Now.”
I heard a scuffle and angry words but Jace was gone. The convulsion ended at last leaving Vaniece in a state that left me no doubt another one too soon would kill her. “Lolly, fetch my bag.”
She didn’t need to ask what bag and ran down the stairs to get my yarbs. Lurna was only slightly less shocked than Jace had been but finally found her voice and asked, “What … what can I do?”
“Heat a pot of water. I’ve got to … to …” I took a calming breath. Lolly ran in with my yarb bag followed by Gid with an armload of wood. “Thank you,” I told him. “I need the fire built back up so that we can make a valerian tea. It is the only thing I know that might work. The large lantern from the Great Room would also be helpful.”
The rest of the night was a blur. I sent an exhausted Lolly off but she refused to go far. Lurna refused to leave - almost daring me to make it an order - except when she stepped out to check on Jace and to impress on the other children how important it was for them to be quiet. Ned went down stairs and sat with Jace who seemed to be having a painful epiphany.
For over an hour Vaniece struggled to find a rhythm her heart and breathing could fall into. Eventually however she seemed to relax and fall into a deep, true rest.
“How is she?” Lurna asked quietly after I finished counting heart beats yet again.
“Stronger … at least in some ways. I can’t say about others.”
“Was … was it the fever?”
I sighed. “Possibly but that explanation does not sound completely true. Perhaps it is part of it. I believe the other part is that Vaniece is simply slipping away. She seems to be fighting more to leave this world than stay in it.”
Lurna gave a little shiver. “She can’t do this.”
I looked at Lurna then shook my head. “It is a little late to be saying such. And saying it to me does no good at all. It was Vaniece those words should have been spoken to, and some time ago at that.”
“I didn’t know.”
A hand opened the door then a young woman stepped in and said, “Yes you did, and so did Jace. Yulee and I both told you. Plenty of times we told you. You just didn’t want to know.”
“Lolly!” her mother gasped.
“It’s true Mother. I didn’t want to know it at first either but at last I used my eyes instead of my hurt feelings to find the truth. At least I won’t have to live with that.”
Her mother gasped again and I could see that Lolly was angry. Carefully I stood up to go to her. “Lolly, remember what I said?”
She sighed and looked away. “I know. I know they don’t mean to … to …” She shook her head unable to find the words for what she meant to say. “But they were and now Vaniece … will she die Yulee?”
I shook my head. “I’m not God Lolly. My knowing is not that deep.”
“But … but there’s hope?”
“There’s always hope.”
-----------------------------
Over the coming weeks Vaniece improved … at least physically. She was still frail but she no longer looked ready for a shroud. But the Vaniece that sat in the rocker by the fire or stared out the window was not the same Vaniece that lived in her body before she became ill. For one she lost her balance easily; on the even floors of the cabin she could walk unaided, but on the stairs or outside she wobbled and tripped far too easily to go without someone at her elbow at all times. She also wobbled in her thoughts. She rarely spoke and when she did she would sometimes be unable to complete a thought and would go back to staring at nothing. And she never smiled. It wasn’t that she seemed unhappy but more that she was so disconnected that she seemed to feel nothing. She reacted to very little. Not even to Jace whether he was trying to coax her or rail at her.
After a difficult morning I finally said, “Jace, go. Losing patience with her is not going to help.”
“I’m … I’m not losing patience. She can do this, I know she can.”
“No Jace, she cannot. She is better than she was but she has a long way to go. And you had best set you mind to the fact she may never be completely the girl she once was.”
He looked like I’d slapped him. “You said there’s always hope.”
“And there is. Always. But is what you are hoping for your gain or for hers?”
He stomped from the room barely missing trampling Gid in his rush to get out.
Reaching my side Gid said, “You’re being hard on him again.”
“The truth isn’t always an easy thing to hear but it is what he needs to hear.” I draped a quilt across Vaniece’s lap and turned to walk out with Gid. Suddenly she grabbed my wrist in a surprisingly strong grip. She’d done the same thing after another confrontation with Jace the day before. I patted her shoulder and said, “He’ll be back. He just needs some air.”
She slowly relaxed and let go so that Gid and I could go have some alone time. I had intended to pay some attention to Gid by massaging his shoulders. It had been far too long since I’d done it for him. Instead he sat me on the stool and did it for me.
“Oh Gid … I should be the one …”
“Hush woman and mind me. It’s my pleasure to take care of you as I will and it has been far too long since I’ve had you in my hands to do it.” I shuddered at how pleasuring his hands felt. “Better?” he asked.
“Hmmmmmmmm.”
Gid chuckled. “You sound like the furball when she’s getting her rump scratched.”
“Hmphf.” I tried to stand up and tie by top shut but he was having none of it.
“Don’t be so sensitive woman. I’m rather fond of the sound if you must know so the more you do it the more I like it.”
Relaxing once again I told him, “Silly.”
“Maybe, but we deserve a bit of silliness now that you’re able to leave Vaniece for more than a moment at a time. Ned said at breakfast that he would like to copy out what you’ve done so he can take it back for the library in Riverside. And stop your blushing, we all know without your learning Vaniece would have never survived.”
I shook my head and said, “I merely did as I was taught … and I’m missing the higher learning I would have gotten from the Sisters, or Old Annie if she had lived. But I have her book.”
“The one you carry that has the odd hide for a cover?”
“The same. That’s ostrich or so said Old Annie.”
“It’s what?”
I rubbed his arm with my cheek. “Ostrich. It’s a large bird that cannot fly. The bumps in the leather are from the quills of its feathers.”
He snorted, “I know what an ostrich is. Ned had pictures of them once upon a time. Strange looking animals.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s been so long I almost didn’t remember what an ostrich was. Seems a strange thing to have the leather from one as a book cover.”
I nodded, happy to get beyond my know-it-all-ness. “Old Annie said the book has been passed down in her family for generations, from not too long before the Great War; doctoring was hard to come by and expensive even back then so people had to learn the best ways to care for their own. Her parents migrated to our village from a territory called Arkaneessee. Her parents told her that they once raised ostriches and another large flightless bird called an emu. They bred them for meat, feathers, and leather. When the Mississippi moved the last time their farm was destroyed and raiders moved into the area out of the East so they fled with what little they could carry and this book was one of them. Old Annie’s mother taught her the yarbing way the same as her mother had taught her. Old Annie’s husband and infant son died of a plague and her sister’s daughters all died in infancy as well. She was my mother’s nursemaid for a time while my grandmother recovered from the same plague and they became like sisters, sharing my mother between them.”
“Your mother was a yarb woman?”
“No though she learned plenty from Old Annie, her skill was in stitching and cutting. It was me they picked out to carry the yarbing on when I showed some aptitude for it so early. And Old Annie was stubborn enough that she refused to even let Aunt Giselle keep her from passing on all she knew.” Quietly I ended, “Only death stopped her.”
I grew quiet and Gid said, “None of that.”
“None of what?” I asked.
“The sad thoughts that put a pucker between your brows. It makes me feel like I’m not … distracting you properly.”
I grinned and said, “If you distract me any better I’ll be fit for nothing for the remainder of the day.”
“Good.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“Does Spring never come in these parts?” Ern complained.
I heard Gid answer, “It comes but only when it’s ready to. You can’t rush it.”
Ern snorted. “I would have thought by now that you’d be eager for it to get here so that you could have your place back to yourself.”
“I admit it’s been a bit tight but you’d be worse back in town. And I’ll say as well that having the extra hands to build the new barn and fix a few other things around here has been appreciated too. What’s wrong?” Gid had a snicker in his voice when he asked, “Farm life don’t suit you?”
“Aw, it’s not that I don’t appreciate it here but months and months of it …” I heard him shuffle his feet. “I miss townlife. I was always happy to get home from a barter run. Sure we worked but then when work was done there were places to go … different people to see. The only girls out here are either taken or m’ sister … and don’t you laugh either.”
“I’m not laughing Ern,” Gid said. He wasn’t laughing … but you could still here the smile in his voice. “You looking to settle down already? Have some wild jackthumpers of your own?”
“Do I look crazy?! I just wanna have a little fun before I’m too old to enjoy it.”
“Better not let Lurna hear about that fun you’re wanting. That time she found out about Tad and I going over to …”
Ern chuckled then groaned. “S’not fair that you’ve had your fun … and now have Yulee on top of it.”
“Yulee isn’t like those girls Ern and I better never …”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa Gid. I didn’t say she was. I might have wondered in the beginning but I got smart pretty fast. ‘Sides … you wanted her and that was good enough for me. It was only Tad that had a burr in his tail and he’s done gotten over that completely.” Both were quiet before Ern said, “Wish Jace coulda got what you have. Doesn’t seem … I don’t know … right somehow. He’s the oldest and Father fit him for the part.”
Gid was silent except for the sound that his knife made where he was running it over the sharpening stone. Then he stopped and said, “I’ve tried to keep my nose out of it and you know why.”
“The Vaniece stuff.”
“Yeah. And the … the distance that’s gotten between me and Lurna. Jace was always more like Father than any of us but in this instance it hasn’t helped him any. He always had good luck with woman Father did … even when he and Mother decided to set each other aside it wasn’t nasty and I can just remember her bringing me to Father’s wedding party when he married Lurna and her wishing them many happies and even dancing with Father for old time sake to show there was no hard feelings. When I got older Father told me a lot of people never understood that but I think it was her way of trying to … trying to say thanks for what they did have and no hard feelings for what they didn’t wind up getting.”
“Could you do that for Yulee?”
“I swear by the all I know that I’ll kill the man that tries to take her from me. That answer your question?”
“Sure does … but you can turn them death eyes off me. I’d never do you like that. Besides, Yulee scares me. She knows too many ways to kill a body, bring it back, and kill it again. She’s too deep. No thankee. When it comes time all I want is a nice simple girl that knows how to make a good brew and cook well enough she don’t poison me.”
“Brew more important than food?”
“I’d rather eat burnt food at every meal than have to drink a single mug of bad brew.”
Gid chuckled because anyone listening knew that was the absolute truth. Ern would live on brew if he could get away with doing it.
Ern sighed again.
“What are you sighing for this time? Not a thing you can do to make the snow stop falling or clear the roads.”
“I know it. Just …”
“Just what?”
“If we get back to Riverside you think Jace is going to set Vaniece aside?”
“How should I know?”
“Well … what do you think is going to happen?”
“One, it isn’t our business and two, I doubt Verna would sign off on the papers once she hears what happened. And you know Vaniece’s father is going to want to know if for no other reason than to push off any guilt he might feel for not taking her back when she wanted to go back to his hearth.”
Both men started sharpening knives again but eventually Ern said, “Do you think he would if he could?”
“What do you keep asking me for? Why don’t you go ask Jace?”
“’Cause he already feels so bad, I don’t want to make it worse. But …”
“But me no buts. I swear this family is always in each other’s business. Just leave it alone and give it some time.”
“But … you know … Jace is a man and if … well … if Vaniece ain’t able to be a wife …”
I heard something tossed in the general direction that Ern’s voice had come from. “What did you do that for?” he yelped.
“To shut you up. Look, Yulee said that Vaniece might not be as gone as she sometimes seems.”
“You mean she might be fooling?!”
“No. She thinks that Vaniece needs time to heal. She may not be exactly who she was before but you can see that with Yulee making her practice walking and doing stuff with her hands that she isn’t as clumsy as she was even a week ago.”
“She don’t talk much.”
“Yulee didn’t talk much at first either. Remember? She still don’t talk as much as you lot. When you do leave I’m afraid the cabin is going to fall because there’s not all your hot air keeping it up.”
“Aw … we ain’t that bad.”
“Tell that to my ears. I swear if that herd of wild jackthumpers upstairs don’t tone it down a bit I’m gonna be deaf as an old man come Spring.”
Ern chuckled. “You won’t know what to do when we leave.”
Disgruntled Gid muttered, “Oh yes I will. I’ll chase Yulee from the attic to the armory and not have to worry about little eyes peeking at what we’re doing that’s what.”
Ern laughed again and then they were off on the subject of all of the furs and hides Gid had gathered and if there would be a market for them in the Spring while everyone was recovering from the raiders or if he’d have to hold onto them until the Fall barter run.
I shouldn’t have stood listening as long as I did but I’d been desperate for some respite from the “wild jackthumpers” myself and had hidden in the room with all the baskets of dishes. Gid and Ern finally finished and left and I returned above stairs by going up the other staircase.
I’d just come out of using the privy closet to discover Vaniece had been looking for me. “Yooo-lee.”
“Yes Vaniece?”
“Cannn … we talk? N … n … not h … here.”
It was an unusual request and curiosity if nothing else had me putting off what I had intended on doing. “Of course.”
She led me up to her bedroom. It was slow but she insisted on walking on her own. When we got to her room she pointed to two chairs and we both sat.
“H … h … how mmmm … much … better?”
“How much better what?”
“Me. Getting b … better.”
“You’ve gotten a great deal better than you were.”
“No,” she said impatiently. “Me, how m … m … much b b better to g g get?”
“Oh,” I said finally understanding. Cautiously I answered, “Vaniece … I don’t know. You’re a lot better than I expected you to get at first. But … I can’t honestly tell you how much better you will get.”
The sound she made wasn’t quite a whimper or cry but it was one of distress. I leaned over and put my arm around her. “If you push yourself too hard that’s not good either. Slow and steady.”
“T … t … too s s s slow. Jjjjjjj-ace n … n … n … needs a real wo – wo- woman.”
Concerned I asked, “Did he say something?”
She shook her head. “W w want him.”
“Want him. What him to what?”
“No. I … w wa want him. M mmmm mine. Bbbbbbb …” She stopped and bunched her fists. In frustration she picked up a small pillow that she had been sewing to strengthen her hand/eye coordination and threw it across the room.
“Hey now!” Jace snapped stepping into the room. “Stop pushing her so hard. Can’t you see she’s had enough?!”
Vaniece slapped her hand down on the arm of the chair. “No! Nnnnot ha-ard enough. F ff faster. Y ooooo deserve b … b … better faster. Bbb … better wife. Not m … m … me.”
I stood up and backed away. I looked at Jace. “Don’t mess this up.” Then I left the room to go look for Gid.
“Does Spring never come in these parts?” Ern complained.
I heard Gid answer, “It comes but only when it’s ready to. You can’t rush it.”
Ern snorted. “I would have thought by now that you’d be eager for it to get here so that you could have your place back to yourself.”
“I admit it’s been a bit tight but you’d be worse back in town. And I’ll say as well that having the extra hands to build the new barn and fix a few other things around here has been appreciated too. What’s wrong?” Gid had a snicker in his voice when he asked, “Farm life don’t suit you?”
“Aw, it’s not that I don’t appreciate it here but months and months of it …” I heard him shuffle his feet. “I miss townlife. I was always happy to get home from a barter run. Sure we worked but then when work was done there were places to go … different people to see. The only girls out here are either taken or m’ sister … and don’t you laugh either.”
“I’m not laughing Ern,” Gid said. He wasn’t laughing … but you could still here the smile in his voice. “You looking to settle down already? Have some wild jackthumpers of your own?”
“Do I look crazy?! I just wanna have a little fun before I’m too old to enjoy it.”
“Better not let Lurna hear about that fun you’re wanting. That time she found out about Tad and I going over to …”
Ern chuckled then groaned. “S’not fair that you’ve had your fun … and now have Yulee on top of it.”
“Yulee isn’t like those girls Ern and I better never …”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa Gid. I didn’t say she was. I might have wondered in the beginning but I got smart pretty fast. ‘Sides … you wanted her and that was good enough for me. It was only Tad that had a burr in his tail and he’s done gotten over that completely.” Both were quiet before Ern said, “Wish Jace coulda got what you have. Doesn’t seem … I don’t know … right somehow. He’s the oldest and Father fit him for the part.”
Gid was silent except for the sound that his knife made where he was running it over the sharpening stone. Then he stopped and said, “I’ve tried to keep my nose out of it and you know why.”
“The Vaniece stuff.”
“Yeah. And the … the distance that’s gotten between me and Lurna. Jace was always more like Father than any of us but in this instance it hasn’t helped him any. He always had good luck with woman Father did … even when he and Mother decided to set each other aside it wasn’t nasty and I can just remember her bringing me to Father’s wedding party when he married Lurna and her wishing them many happies and even dancing with Father for old time sake to show there was no hard feelings. When I got older Father told me a lot of people never understood that but I think it was her way of trying to … trying to say thanks for what they did have and no hard feelings for what they didn’t wind up getting.”
“Could you do that for Yulee?”
“I swear by the all I know that I’ll kill the man that tries to take her from me. That answer your question?”
“Sure does … but you can turn them death eyes off me. I’d never do you like that. Besides, Yulee scares me. She knows too many ways to kill a body, bring it back, and kill it again. She’s too deep. No thankee. When it comes time all I want is a nice simple girl that knows how to make a good brew and cook well enough she don’t poison me.”
“Brew more important than food?”
“I’d rather eat burnt food at every meal than have to drink a single mug of bad brew.”
Gid chuckled because anyone listening knew that was the absolute truth. Ern would live on brew if he could get away with doing it.
Ern sighed again.
“What are you sighing for this time? Not a thing you can do to make the snow stop falling or clear the roads.”
“I know it. Just …”
“Just what?”
“If we get back to Riverside you think Jace is going to set Vaniece aside?”
“How should I know?”
“Well … what do you think is going to happen?”
“One, it isn’t our business and two, I doubt Verna would sign off on the papers once she hears what happened. And you know Vaniece’s father is going to want to know if for no other reason than to push off any guilt he might feel for not taking her back when she wanted to go back to his hearth.”
Both men started sharpening knives again but eventually Ern said, “Do you think he would if he could?”
“What do you keep asking me for? Why don’t you go ask Jace?”
“’Cause he already feels so bad, I don’t want to make it worse. But …”
“But me no buts. I swear this family is always in each other’s business. Just leave it alone and give it some time.”
“But … you know … Jace is a man and if … well … if Vaniece ain’t able to be a wife …”
I heard something tossed in the general direction that Ern’s voice had come from. “What did you do that for?” he yelped.
“To shut you up. Look, Yulee said that Vaniece might not be as gone as she sometimes seems.”
“You mean she might be fooling?!”
“No. She thinks that Vaniece needs time to heal. She may not be exactly who she was before but you can see that with Yulee making her practice walking and doing stuff with her hands that she isn’t as clumsy as she was even a week ago.”
“She don’t talk much.”
“Yulee didn’t talk much at first either. Remember? She still don’t talk as much as you lot. When you do leave I’m afraid the cabin is going to fall because there’s not all your hot air keeping it up.”
“Aw … we ain’t that bad.”
“Tell that to my ears. I swear if that herd of wild jackthumpers upstairs don’t tone it down a bit I’m gonna be deaf as an old man come Spring.”
Ern chuckled. “You won’t know what to do when we leave.”
Disgruntled Gid muttered, “Oh yes I will. I’ll chase Yulee from the attic to the armory and not have to worry about little eyes peeking at what we’re doing that’s what.”
Ern laughed again and then they were off on the subject of all of the furs and hides Gid had gathered and if there would be a market for them in the Spring while everyone was recovering from the raiders or if he’d have to hold onto them until the Fall barter run.
I shouldn’t have stood listening as long as I did but I’d been desperate for some respite from the “wild jackthumpers” myself and had hidden in the room with all the baskets of dishes. Gid and Ern finally finished and left and I returned above stairs by going up the other staircase.
I’d just come out of using the privy closet to discover Vaniece had been looking for me. “Yooo-lee.”
“Yes Vaniece?”
“Cannn … we talk? N … n … not h … here.”
It was an unusual request and curiosity if nothing else had me putting off what I had intended on doing. “Of course.”
She led me up to her bedroom. It was slow but she insisted on walking on her own. When we got to her room she pointed to two chairs and we both sat.
“H … h … how mmmm … much … better?”
“How much better what?”
“Me. Getting b … better.”
“You’ve gotten a great deal better than you were.”
“No,” she said impatiently. “Me, how m … m … much b b better to g g get?”
“Oh,” I said finally understanding. Cautiously I answered, “Vaniece … I don’t know. You’re a lot better than I expected you to get at first. But … I can’t honestly tell you how much better you will get.”
The sound she made wasn’t quite a whimper or cry but it was one of distress. I leaned over and put my arm around her. “If you push yourself too hard that’s not good either. Slow and steady.”
“T … t … too s s s slow. Jjjjjjj-ace n … n … n … needs a real wo – wo- woman.”
Concerned I asked, “Did he say something?”
She shook her head. “W w want him.”
“Want him. What him to what?”
“No. I … w wa want him. M mmmm mine. Bbbbbbb …” She stopped and bunched her fists. In frustration she picked up a small pillow that she had been sewing to strengthen her hand/eye coordination and threw it across the room.
“Hey now!” Jace snapped stepping into the room. “Stop pushing her so hard. Can’t you see she’s had enough?!”
Vaniece slapped her hand down on the arm of the chair. “No! Nnnnot ha-ard enough. F ff faster. Y ooooo deserve b … b … better faster. Bbb … better wife. Not m … m … me.”
I stood up and backed away. I looked at Jace. “Don’t mess this up.” Then I left the room to go look for Gid.
Chapter 32
I found Gid taking his turn chopping wood. He looked at me and said, “When we start having our own jackthumpers I hope the first few are boys. We’ll put ‘em to bed in fertilizer every night so they’ll grow up fast enough to help chop wood.”
He was so serious I had to hide a smile. He looked at me and said, “That’s better. You came out here looking spooked. The kids getting too much for you?”
I sighed and started separating the wood by size and type. “No. Ned has them building something in the Great Room. It is keeping them so interested I’m almost afraid to find out what it is.”
“Can’t be any worse than the cannon they built last week. When they set the thing off I thought there was going to be an avalanche on the high road … a snowslide at the very least.”
I shuddered and shook my head because I had worried about much the same thing.
“Then what is it? You’ve come out here for some comfort for some reason.”
“I … I didn’t mean to Gid but … but I overheard you and Ern talking.” He looked confused so I added. “You were below stairs sharpening knives.”
“Oh. Welllll … that was all before I met you Yulee. You don’t think I’d go looking for the kind of fun that Ern is wanting do you?”
I took a pinch of snow and tossed it at him. “Of course not … not that part. The part about Vaniece.”
He sighed with some resignation. “I already told Ern and now I’ll tell you … let it alone. Time will either fix it or it won’t and getting in the middle of it won’t make it fix any faster.”
I shook my head. “I’m not looking to get in the middle; I’m looking to stay out of it. But Vaniece seems to think she can …” I winced. “She counts on me to listen Gid. Listen to her talk about things no one else even knows she thinks about.”
“Such as? Or is it woman speak?”
I shrugged. “She’s not nearly as unknowing in the head as she used to be, certainly a great deal less than what most of you credit her to be. I imagine it is about like for her like it was for me when everyone thought I was dim. It got … tiring … after a while. Frustrating.”
Gid stopped chopping and leaned on the axe and said, “Well if she isn’t brain scrambled that’s a good thing.”
“If everyone will just see it.”
Gid gave me a sharp look and said, “By everyone you mean Jace.”
“Mostly Jace but the others as well. She’s up there with him now.”
“Who? Vaniece and Jace?” I just looked at him and the light dawned. “Oh ho … you mean Vaniece is wanting some attention from Jace.”
I nodded. “More than that. She finally said out loud what I sensed has been bothering her. She is frustrated at her progress and that Jace … well she said Jace deserves better … a better wife to be exact. I have a feeling that … that if they can’t come to some kind of understanding …”
“Hold on … you’re straying into that area that isn’t any of our business again.” He came over and sat us down on a stump of wood. “Now look Yulee, it doesn’t sound like you had a big family, and of what you did have you lost. It also sounds like your village … well maybe they weren’t prudes but you certainly had a different upbringing than what I did. So let me give you some advice if you’ll take it. Sometimes the only way to survive a big family, especially one that is living on top of one another, is to make sure everyone has their space whether they want it or not. It may not be a big space … it might not even be a real space like a room or whatever … but it is something that is all their own and everyone is supposed to respect it.”
“OK,” I said though his words only confused me.
Seeing I didn’t see it he said, “Boundaries. It’s why the jackthumpers get to me some times. They don’t respect boundaries. I need my privacy when I want it … but I swear …”
I had to hide my face because I knew it had to be as red as Jace’s forge can get. Gid and I had been … cuddling … when we spotted some eyes at the edge of the bed. Gid nearly broke the downstairs windows out yelling about that and then got even more outraged when the ones that did it had the nerve to ask how they were supposed to learn how if no one let them watch. I tell you I nearly let him put them in the soup pot that time.
Gid seeing my face nodded. “Exactly. Well I won’t watch Jace and Vaniece have them some cuddles and no more should we be watching them try and figure this out that’s between them. It’s a private thing. It’s just as … as …”
“Voyeur.”
“Huh?”
“One of my grandmother’s Frenchy words. It means … watching what you shouldn’t be watching.”
“Yeah. Voyeur huh? I’ll have to remember that one.” He stood up and went back to the stack of wood he had to cut. “So the answer, assuming you were asking a question, is the way to stay out of trouble is to stay out of their business … even if one or the other of them try to drag you into it. I know you women need to talk about such and so to one another but just remember, there’s no yarb that is going to fix this. Jace and Vaniece are going to have to do it … and for themselves. ‘Cause if they don’t likely it won’t stay fixed. Now you think you could get me a mug of that spiced brew you make? My hands are gonna be frozen before I can get this all chopped and it feels like we’ve got another big of cold coming out way.”
I found Gid taking his turn chopping wood. He looked at me and said, “When we start having our own jackthumpers I hope the first few are boys. We’ll put ‘em to bed in fertilizer every night so they’ll grow up fast enough to help chop wood.”
He was so serious I had to hide a smile. He looked at me and said, “That’s better. You came out here looking spooked. The kids getting too much for you?”
I sighed and started separating the wood by size and type. “No. Ned has them building something in the Great Room. It is keeping them so interested I’m almost afraid to find out what it is.”
“Can’t be any worse than the cannon they built last week. When they set the thing off I thought there was going to be an avalanche on the high road … a snowslide at the very least.”
I shuddered and shook my head because I had worried about much the same thing.
“Then what is it? You’ve come out here for some comfort for some reason.”
“I … I didn’t mean to Gid but … but I overheard you and Ern talking.” He looked confused so I added. “You were below stairs sharpening knives.”
“Oh. Welllll … that was all before I met you Yulee. You don’t think I’d go looking for the kind of fun that Ern is wanting do you?”
I took a pinch of snow and tossed it at him. “Of course not … not that part. The part about Vaniece.”
He sighed with some resignation. “I already told Ern and now I’ll tell you … let it alone. Time will either fix it or it won’t and getting in the middle of it won’t make it fix any faster.”
I shook my head. “I’m not looking to get in the middle; I’m looking to stay out of it. But Vaniece seems to think she can …” I winced. “She counts on me to listen Gid. Listen to her talk about things no one else even knows she thinks about.”
“Such as? Or is it woman speak?”
I shrugged. “She’s not nearly as unknowing in the head as she used to be, certainly a great deal less than what most of you credit her to be. I imagine it is about like for her like it was for me when everyone thought I was dim. It got … tiring … after a while. Frustrating.”
Gid stopped chopping and leaned on the axe and said, “Well if she isn’t brain scrambled that’s a good thing.”
“If everyone will just see it.”
Gid gave me a sharp look and said, “By everyone you mean Jace.”
“Mostly Jace but the others as well. She’s up there with him now.”
“Who? Vaniece and Jace?” I just looked at him and the light dawned. “Oh ho … you mean Vaniece is wanting some attention from Jace.”
I nodded. “More than that. She finally said out loud what I sensed has been bothering her. She is frustrated at her progress and that Jace … well she said Jace deserves better … a better wife to be exact. I have a feeling that … that if they can’t come to some kind of understanding …”
“Hold on … you’re straying into that area that isn’t any of our business again.” He came over and sat us down on a stump of wood. “Now look Yulee, it doesn’t sound like you had a big family, and of what you did have you lost. It also sounds like your village … well maybe they weren’t prudes but you certainly had a different upbringing than what I did. So let me give you some advice if you’ll take it. Sometimes the only way to survive a big family, especially one that is living on top of one another, is to make sure everyone has their space whether they want it or not. It may not be a big space … it might not even be a real space like a room or whatever … but it is something that is all their own and everyone is supposed to respect it.”
“OK,” I said though his words only confused me.
Seeing I didn’t see it he said, “Boundaries. It’s why the jackthumpers get to me some times. They don’t respect boundaries. I need my privacy when I want it … but I swear …”
I had to hide my face because I knew it had to be as red as Jace’s forge can get. Gid and I had been … cuddling … when we spotted some eyes at the edge of the bed. Gid nearly broke the downstairs windows out yelling about that and then got even more outraged when the ones that did it had the nerve to ask how they were supposed to learn how if no one let them watch. I tell you I nearly let him put them in the soup pot that time.
Gid seeing my face nodded. “Exactly. Well I won’t watch Jace and Vaniece have them some cuddles and no more should we be watching them try and figure this out that’s between them. It’s a private thing. It’s just as … as …”
“Voyeur.”
“Huh?”
“One of my grandmother’s Frenchy words. It means … watching what you shouldn’t be watching.”
“Yeah. Voyeur huh? I’ll have to remember that one.” He stood up and went back to the stack of wood he had to cut. “So the answer, assuming you were asking a question, is the way to stay out of trouble is to stay out of their business … even if one or the other of them try to drag you into it. I know you women need to talk about such and so to one another but just remember, there’s no yarb that is going to fix this. Jace and Vaniece are going to have to do it … and for themselves. ‘Cause if they don’t likely it won’t stay fixed. Now you think you could get me a mug of that spiced brew you make? My hands are gonna be frozen before I can get this all chopped and it feels like we’ve got another big of cold coming out way.”
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
I have been waiting for this allllllll day, thank you.
DustMusher
Deceased
Ahhhh, story. Thank you Kathy. Seems your timing is perfectly in tune with what I need right now. Yesterday's story came just when I needed a break from the explosion up the road, and tonight, as a bedtime story.
How well I understand space and boundaries - the house has 8 people and two generations living together. Luckily I have my own space when I want it or need it. As this story progresses the more I relate to Yulee. Even I am the grandmother, I am the yube and the outsider (not grandmother by blood, but taken in as a stray ::wink:: ) I am in a position where I am a safe source for everyone to talk to and I have to keep my mouth shut on what I am told. Talking to other familyy members is where one get to interfering.
Good night and thanks,
DM
How well I understand space and boundaries - the house has 8 people and two generations living together. Luckily I have my own space when I want it or need it. As this story progresses the more I relate to Yulee. Even I am the grandmother, I am the yube and the outsider (not grandmother by blood, but taken in as a stray ::wink:: ) I am in a position where I am a safe source for everyone to talk to and I have to keep my mouth shut on what I am told. Talking to other familyy members is where one get to interfering.
Good night and thanks,
DM
stjwelding
Veteran Member
Thanks Kathy the story just keeps getting better and better, I hope this is the beginning of Vanice's recovery and the mending of her and Jace's relationship.
Wayne
Wayne
Last edited:
Chapter Thirty-Three
“We need more taps.”
“Tell me something I don’t know Tad,” Gid growled in irritation. “How I let you talk me into this …”
“So you could build up some coin and you know it. It was what you planned anyway … just more of it. Uncle Gerry said there’re merchants trading real gold for any kind of sweetening whether it is in bulk or small quantities. The drought has been so bad that tree syrups are getting low in stock.”
Gid muttered, “Wouldn’t trade for gold, too hard to trade for what I need. Silvers and coppers only and you better make sure he understands that.”
Tad snorted. “Oh trust me, he understands. Ain’t happy but he understands. He doesn’t want to be left with only gold for trading either.”
I walked the rest of the way into the clearing. “Brew anyone?”
I was nearly bowled over and would have wound up wearing what I carried if Gid and the rest of his brothers hadn’t wanted what was in the pot so badly. “Mmmmm.”
They said very little that was sensible before their mugs were mostly empty and then when they saw that I had also brought out some fruited cake I was almost afraid they were going to take my hands as well. As it was I nearly lost my mittens three times.
Gid was the last to leave my side and he asked, “Are you feeling better?”
I bit my lip and turned my head away. “The … the Sisters and Old Annie … they’d all tell me it happens more than most women realize.”
“Don’t care what they might’ve said then. I’m asking how you’re feeling now.”
I shook my head. “I’ll live … so long as you aren’t disappointed in me.”
“Disappointed?!” He fought to keep his voice low. “It’s not you I’m disappointed in, it’s me. I knew you needed more time before catching. I … I should have been more careful of you. What if … what if you’d been further along? I …” He stopped and shook his head.
I was sure that I was carrying. But then I woke in the night with cramps and … and then I wasn’t. I wasn’t even far enough along to have said anything to anyone and I wished Gid had just let me suffer alone and keep it between us but he’s a man and had been shocked at the blood. He’d fetched Lurna and then Vaniece and Lolly found out and then everyone knew. Lurna said she lost two early on with her first husband and that you had to grieve to go on but all I feel is that I have another small hole in my heart that lies beside the ones for Papa and Mam and Jubal and Old Annie and the rest of them that have gone away with the angels. At least I’ve gotten to the point that it doesn’t hurt to breathe.
I know I did naught wrong … nor Gid either though it is taking me some time to convince him of it. I know God has a reason for this somewhere in His plan. I just have to have faith … though in the dark of the night after Gid has fallen asleep my courage and faith sometimes fail me. For now I try and not let anyone see how deep the cut is, especially not Vaniece or Jace. Jace is already nearly sick with worry.
Strange that it is Vaniece that is the strong one between them now. In her slow way – some better than it was but likely she’ll always have some speaking problems as she’s gotten no better in a while – she tells me that she had to have everything stripped away so that she could learn to appreciate what she once had, and then take double care to be grateful for what she has now. She’s still Vaniece – but it is a Vaniece that has had the shiny and new knocked off; and beneath the surface it seems there is a fine polished stone that has more beauty to it than what she once had to claim.
Lurna sometimes looks between them and doesn’t know whether to crow that she was right in putting them together or wrong and they’ve survived despite what all she did to try and order their lives. She still holds herself back from Gid and I but I don’t think it is intentional so much as it is a reaction to her confusion over how we could choose our own way over hers. Gid says not to mind it and I try not to but I know he’d rather the distance wasn’t there if she’d just stop trying to pick his path for him. She yet compares town life to what we’ve been leading these many months. Gid ignores her. He’s made up his mind and I’ve vowed to follow him whether it be staying here or town or even traveling the land from ocean to ocean. I didn’t tell him that she keeps saying that there are midwifes in town that might have been able to help me. Lurna means well; she just doesn’t always sound well-meaning.
Gid assures me he has all he wants right here but he’s also begun to wonder if perhaps the next time I catch we shouldn’t go find the woman Justine just to be sure that all is right. It makes me wonder if someone hasn’t said something to him too. Personally I feel no pull to search any other doctoring out but perhaps that will change if this happens another time.
“You’re wooling again. You’d best go back to the cabin and sit in front of the fire a bit. I’ll send one of the boys if we need something.”
I sighed and shook my head. “I was just thinking but they weren’t bad thoughts. And I needed the air. I’d forgotten how hard it was to be watched all the time, waiting for me to do something I shouldn’t.”
“They mean no harm … and it isn’t wrong they’re watching for but need. Even knowing how strong you are they worry same as me. You scared me worse than you did that time with the ants and I didn’t think that was possible.”
I looked at him from beneath my lashes and said, “Then perhaps when I do catch and it sticks I should just send you off to hunt when I suspect my time has come. It might be better if you are just presented with a little jackthumper rather than be around for the birthing.”
He grimaced. “You’ll tell me or else and I mean it Yulee. Maybe I’ll feel like passing out but I won’t leave you alone. Father always passed out but he had the decency to wait until after he’d been presented with the latest addition, named them, and then gave them back for bathing and such. There’s more than a few dents in their bedroom floor in the block house to prove it.”
I managed a small smile remembering the stories that Lurna had begun telling. Then my smile slipped when I remembered they’d stop their stories when I walked into the room. “Tell them there’s no need Gid.”
“No need for what?”
“No need to treat me like I’m a piece of pre-Great War glass. I’m not going to shatter just because someone else has something I don’t.”
His thickly gloved hand brushed a holly leaf from my hair where it had caught as I’d come down the path. “I’ll tell them but for now, go sit and warm a spell. You’ve grown pale again. Listen to Ned lesson the children; you always enjoy that.”
I tried to bring another smile to my lips but felt it falter and tried to turn before he could see it.
“If I could make this better I would Yulee.”
I patted his arm. “It’s just what Old Annie called the womanlies going back the way they are supposed to be. I’ll be fine but perhaps … perhaps if you’ve no objection … I’ll lay down a bit.”
“You do that. I’ll send one of the boys to light the brazier.”
“No … no I …”
“You’ll let me do this woman. I can’t fix your sorry … I share it but can’t fix it. But I can and will do what I’m able to see to your comfort. Wish I could do it myself but I can’t leave or they’ll scorch the syrup and ruin the work.”
I patted his arm again. “I know. Just don’t stay so late your fingertips start going numb again.”
“Nay, we’ve learned our lesson on that one.”
“Good,” I told him before drifting back towards the cabin and to some time to read the Good Book. That and Gid holding me seem to be the only two things that really comfort me and even those two boons sometimes still leave me untouched and miserable.
“We need more taps.”
“Tell me something I don’t know Tad,” Gid growled in irritation. “How I let you talk me into this …”
“So you could build up some coin and you know it. It was what you planned anyway … just more of it. Uncle Gerry said there’re merchants trading real gold for any kind of sweetening whether it is in bulk or small quantities. The drought has been so bad that tree syrups are getting low in stock.”
Gid muttered, “Wouldn’t trade for gold, too hard to trade for what I need. Silvers and coppers only and you better make sure he understands that.”
Tad snorted. “Oh trust me, he understands. Ain’t happy but he understands. He doesn’t want to be left with only gold for trading either.”
I walked the rest of the way into the clearing. “Brew anyone?”
I was nearly bowled over and would have wound up wearing what I carried if Gid and the rest of his brothers hadn’t wanted what was in the pot so badly. “Mmmmm.”
They said very little that was sensible before their mugs were mostly empty and then when they saw that I had also brought out some fruited cake I was almost afraid they were going to take my hands as well. As it was I nearly lost my mittens three times.
Gid was the last to leave my side and he asked, “Are you feeling better?”
I bit my lip and turned my head away. “The … the Sisters and Old Annie … they’d all tell me it happens more than most women realize.”
“Don’t care what they might’ve said then. I’m asking how you’re feeling now.”
I shook my head. “I’ll live … so long as you aren’t disappointed in me.”
“Disappointed?!” He fought to keep his voice low. “It’s not you I’m disappointed in, it’s me. I knew you needed more time before catching. I … I should have been more careful of you. What if … what if you’d been further along? I …” He stopped and shook his head.
I was sure that I was carrying. But then I woke in the night with cramps and … and then I wasn’t. I wasn’t even far enough along to have said anything to anyone and I wished Gid had just let me suffer alone and keep it between us but he’s a man and had been shocked at the blood. He’d fetched Lurna and then Vaniece and Lolly found out and then everyone knew. Lurna said she lost two early on with her first husband and that you had to grieve to go on but all I feel is that I have another small hole in my heart that lies beside the ones for Papa and Mam and Jubal and Old Annie and the rest of them that have gone away with the angels. At least I’ve gotten to the point that it doesn’t hurt to breathe.
I know I did naught wrong … nor Gid either though it is taking me some time to convince him of it. I know God has a reason for this somewhere in His plan. I just have to have faith … though in the dark of the night after Gid has fallen asleep my courage and faith sometimes fail me. For now I try and not let anyone see how deep the cut is, especially not Vaniece or Jace. Jace is already nearly sick with worry.
Strange that it is Vaniece that is the strong one between them now. In her slow way – some better than it was but likely she’ll always have some speaking problems as she’s gotten no better in a while – she tells me that she had to have everything stripped away so that she could learn to appreciate what she once had, and then take double care to be grateful for what she has now. She’s still Vaniece – but it is a Vaniece that has had the shiny and new knocked off; and beneath the surface it seems there is a fine polished stone that has more beauty to it than what she once had to claim.
Lurna sometimes looks between them and doesn’t know whether to crow that she was right in putting them together or wrong and they’ve survived despite what all she did to try and order their lives. She still holds herself back from Gid and I but I don’t think it is intentional so much as it is a reaction to her confusion over how we could choose our own way over hers. Gid says not to mind it and I try not to but I know he’d rather the distance wasn’t there if she’d just stop trying to pick his path for him. She yet compares town life to what we’ve been leading these many months. Gid ignores her. He’s made up his mind and I’ve vowed to follow him whether it be staying here or town or even traveling the land from ocean to ocean. I didn’t tell him that she keeps saying that there are midwifes in town that might have been able to help me. Lurna means well; she just doesn’t always sound well-meaning.
Gid assures me he has all he wants right here but he’s also begun to wonder if perhaps the next time I catch we shouldn’t go find the woman Justine just to be sure that all is right. It makes me wonder if someone hasn’t said something to him too. Personally I feel no pull to search any other doctoring out but perhaps that will change if this happens another time.
“You’re wooling again. You’d best go back to the cabin and sit in front of the fire a bit. I’ll send one of the boys if we need something.”
I sighed and shook my head. “I was just thinking but they weren’t bad thoughts. And I needed the air. I’d forgotten how hard it was to be watched all the time, waiting for me to do something I shouldn’t.”
“They mean no harm … and it isn’t wrong they’re watching for but need. Even knowing how strong you are they worry same as me. You scared me worse than you did that time with the ants and I didn’t think that was possible.”
I looked at him from beneath my lashes and said, “Then perhaps when I do catch and it sticks I should just send you off to hunt when I suspect my time has come. It might be better if you are just presented with a little jackthumper rather than be around for the birthing.”
He grimaced. “You’ll tell me or else and I mean it Yulee. Maybe I’ll feel like passing out but I won’t leave you alone. Father always passed out but he had the decency to wait until after he’d been presented with the latest addition, named them, and then gave them back for bathing and such. There’s more than a few dents in their bedroom floor in the block house to prove it.”
I managed a small smile remembering the stories that Lurna had begun telling. Then my smile slipped when I remembered they’d stop their stories when I walked into the room. “Tell them there’s no need Gid.”
“No need for what?”
“No need to treat me like I’m a piece of pre-Great War glass. I’m not going to shatter just because someone else has something I don’t.”
His thickly gloved hand brushed a holly leaf from my hair where it had caught as I’d come down the path. “I’ll tell them but for now, go sit and warm a spell. You’ve grown pale again. Listen to Ned lesson the children; you always enjoy that.”
I tried to bring another smile to my lips but felt it falter and tried to turn before he could see it.
“If I could make this better I would Yulee.”
I patted his arm. “It’s just what Old Annie called the womanlies going back the way they are supposed to be. I’ll be fine but perhaps … perhaps if you’ve no objection … I’ll lay down a bit.”
“You do that. I’ll send one of the boys to light the brazier.”
“No … no I …”
“You’ll let me do this woman. I can’t fix your sorry … I share it but can’t fix it. But I can and will do what I’m able to see to your comfort. Wish I could do it myself but I can’t leave or they’ll scorch the syrup and ruin the work.”
I patted his arm again. “I know. Just don’t stay so late your fingertips start going numb again.”
“Nay, we’ve learned our lesson on that one.”
“Good,” I told him before drifting back towards the cabin and to some time to read the Good Book. That and Gid holding me seem to be the only two things that really comfort me and even those two boons sometimes still leave me untouched and miserable.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Are you sure Yulee? I could try and talk Mother around.”
I shook my head at Lolly. “I keep telling you there’s no need. Besides, you’re the only one Vaniece seems to want at times. And Jace listens to you more than Lurna. Not to mention you’ll need to be there to make sure Verna gets the truth and not some mish mash of the truth.”
“But …”
“As Gid would say, but me no buts. I’ve turned the corner. Truly,” I added when she gave me a suspicious look. “I think my blood was just low. I should have thought but … well that’s the way that leads you some times. It wasn’t until Vaniece insisted that I share the liver with her that night that I realized perhaps I’d lost more than I’d realized when … when …”
She gave me a hug and my moment of weakness passed. “You’re really sure?”
I gave a smile … a real one I didn’t have to work at. “I’m sure. And besides, I don’t need both you and Gid watching me like a hawk. One is more than plenty.”
She gurgled a laugh and hugged me again before climbing into the wagon and taking her place. She was the last of the good-byes to make and soon enough Gid and I were no longer able to see them after they’d turned the corner on their way to meet Tad’s Uncle Gerry who’d sent an outrider the day before to say it was time to return to Riverside if they wished his escort.
“Whew … don’t know if I should dance and jig and sing at their leaving,” Gid said with a sorrowful look on his face that quickly turned into a wicked wink. “Maybe I’ll give it another few minutes so they don’t hear me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ll miss them.”
“I’ll miss the help with the work, but not the extra work that the help made.” He put his arm around me and we walked back to the now very empty house. “What of you. Did you get used to having someone to do the women speak with?”
I shrugged. “I’ll miss Lolly … and Jasmine and Gladys … and even Vaniece. I’ll miss Ned and Tad and Ern … but …”
“But?”
“But I think we … we need to go back to it being just the two of us … for a bit. They were so anxious to get back to Riverside and to set things back to right that it made it seem they couldn’t wait to be rid of us. It got to be … be …”
Gid nodded in understanding. “Aye, it did. But ask me if I care. Let ‘em go back to the town and rebuild it, the place serves its purpose so I suppose it is only right that there are those that like living there. My only hope is that they can keep the children from going back to being as bad as they were.”
“I don’t think Jace will let that happen. He’s gotten nearly as strict as you when they start to get out of line.”
Gid too carefully pulled me into his arms and said, “’Bout time someone besides me gets called a meany.”
I sighed realizing that regardless of what he said that sometimes he grew weary of always being considered the sour old man. “As they get older, and if they are blessed with any offspring, they’ll appreciate you all the more because you cared enough to do the necessary and were consistent about it.”
“Will they?” he asked walking us back inside since the morning was still full of chill despite the snow all melted and the mud dried. “I know I have the right of it but still …”
“Still?” I asked when he trailed off.
“Sometimes I wonder if they were mine for true instead of just my father’s younger children could I bring myself to do it.”
I put my arm around his waist as we walked back to the kitchen that was finally clean enough to serve as its title. “You’d probably be pulled to do it even more. When God gives us a responsibility it isn’t to make us look a better person but to be a better person. For whatever reason Jace is finally seeing what you’ve always seen.”
“And that is?”
“It isn’t about being liked, it is about doing what’s right.”
“Seemed more like he just finally got as tired of all their noise as I have when it is for no good purpose. My ears are going to take some time to recover.”
I smiled and then had a thought. I poked him lightly in a place I knew him to be ticklish.
“What? Did I trod on your foot?” Gid asked concerned.
I rolled my eyes and poked him again but said nothing. “Did I say something?” Gid asked still perplexed and wondering what I meant.
Finally I sighed, poked him one more time and stepped out of his reach. “I’m just a naughty sprat that needs lessoning.”
“Huh? You haven’t done a thing …”
I took two steps backwards, caught his eye and grinned and then ran up to the first landing.
“Yulee! That’s not bright. You’ve barely been yourself and there’s no need to run up the stairs. What if you trip or fall or …”
I put my hands on my hips and stomped my foot in a fair imitation of what I’d seen some of the youngest girls do when they got frustrated. “Stop treating me like going to fall aparr …. ! Ahhhh!!!”
Gid had caught on and taken a running leap up the stairs and I squealed and had to take off in a hurry least I be caught too quickly. He caught me at the attic door. “Ok, fun’s over. No more running up and down the stairs. You want some attention I’ll give it to you but …”
I sighed in disappointment. “Gid …”
“Don’t Gid me woman. You’re still not …”
“Am too.” I poked him again and he squawk but was unable to hold on to me.
Down the stairs I ran but he refused to follow me and play. I stood there and stood there at the bottom of the stairs but he never came down. I felt like crying and all the sun seemed to go out of the day. I turned and to go to the kitchen to get my cloak and a basket so I could go gather some fresh greens. I stepped into the room and was grabbed from behind but I could tell by the smell that it wasn’t Gid.
“Are you sure Yulee? I could try and talk Mother around.”
I shook my head at Lolly. “I keep telling you there’s no need. Besides, you’re the only one Vaniece seems to want at times. And Jace listens to you more than Lurna. Not to mention you’ll need to be there to make sure Verna gets the truth and not some mish mash of the truth.”
“But …”
“As Gid would say, but me no buts. I’ve turned the corner. Truly,” I added when she gave me a suspicious look. “I think my blood was just low. I should have thought but … well that’s the way that leads you some times. It wasn’t until Vaniece insisted that I share the liver with her that night that I realized perhaps I’d lost more than I’d realized when … when …”
She gave me a hug and my moment of weakness passed. “You’re really sure?”
I gave a smile … a real one I didn’t have to work at. “I’m sure. And besides, I don’t need both you and Gid watching me like a hawk. One is more than plenty.”
She gurgled a laugh and hugged me again before climbing into the wagon and taking her place. She was the last of the good-byes to make and soon enough Gid and I were no longer able to see them after they’d turned the corner on their way to meet Tad’s Uncle Gerry who’d sent an outrider the day before to say it was time to return to Riverside if they wished his escort.
“Whew … don’t know if I should dance and jig and sing at their leaving,” Gid said with a sorrowful look on his face that quickly turned into a wicked wink. “Maybe I’ll give it another few minutes so they don’t hear me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ll miss them.”
“I’ll miss the help with the work, but not the extra work that the help made.” He put his arm around me and we walked back to the now very empty house. “What of you. Did you get used to having someone to do the women speak with?”
I shrugged. “I’ll miss Lolly … and Jasmine and Gladys … and even Vaniece. I’ll miss Ned and Tad and Ern … but …”
“But?”
“But I think we … we need to go back to it being just the two of us … for a bit. They were so anxious to get back to Riverside and to set things back to right that it made it seem they couldn’t wait to be rid of us. It got to be … be …”
Gid nodded in understanding. “Aye, it did. But ask me if I care. Let ‘em go back to the town and rebuild it, the place serves its purpose so I suppose it is only right that there are those that like living there. My only hope is that they can keep the children from going back to being as bad as they were.”
“I don’t think Jace will let that happen. He’s gotten nearly as strict as you when they start to get out of line.”
Gid too carefully pulled me into his arms and said, “’Bout time someone besides me gets called a meany.”
I sighed realizing that regardless of what he said that sometimes he grew weary of always being considered the sour old man. “As they get older, and if they are blessed with any offspring, they’ll appreciate you all the more because you cared enough to do the necessary and were consistent about it.”
“Will they?” he asked walking us back inside since the morning was still full of chill despite the snow all melted and the mud dried. “I know I have the right of it but still …”
“Still?” I asked when he trailed off.
“Sometimes I wonder if they were mine for true instead of just my father’s younger children could I bring myself to do it.”
I put my arm around his waist as we walked back to the kitchen that was finally clean enough to serve as its title. “You’d probably be pulled to do it even more. When God gives us a responsibility it isn’t to make us look a better person but to be a better person. For whatever reason Jace is finally seeing what you’ve always seen.”
“And that is?”
“It isn’t about being liked, it is about doing what’s right.”
“Seemed more like he just finally got as tired of all their noise as I have when it is for no good purpose. My ears are going to take some time to recover.”
I smiled and then had a thought. I poked him lightly in a place I knew him to be ticklish.
“What? Did I trod on your foot?” Gid asked concerned.
I rolled my eyes and poked him again but said nothing. “Did I say something?” Gid asked still perplexed and wondering what I meant.
Finally I sighed, poked him one more time and stepped out of his reach. “I’m just a naughty sprat that needs lessoning.”
“Huh? You haven’t done a thing …”
I took two steps backwards, caught his eye and grinned and then ran up to the first landing.
“Yulee! That’s not bright. You’ve barely been yourself and there’s no need to run up the stairs. What if you trip or fall or …”
I put my hands on my hips and stomped my foot in a fair imitation of what I’d seen some of the youngest girls do when they got frustrated. “Stop treating me like going to fall aparr …. ! Ahhhh!!!”
Gid had caught on and taken a running leap up the stairs and I squealed and had to take off in a hurry least I be caught too quickly. He caught me at the attic door. “Ok, fun’s over. No more running up and down the stairs. You want some attention I’ll give it to you but …”
I sighed in disappointment. “Gid …”
“Don’t Gid me woman. You’re still not …”
“Am too.” I poked him again and he squawk but was unable to hold on to me.
Down the stairs I ran but he refused to follow me and play. I stood there and stood there at the bottom of the stairs but he never came down. I felt like crying and all the sun seemed to go out of the day. I turned and to go to the kitchen to get my cloak and a basket so I could go gather some fresh greens. I stepped into the room and was grabbed from behind but I could tell by the smell that it wasn’t Gid.
ForgeCorvus
Member
Arrggh..... Its Clif !!
)
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
OH noo cant leave us there lol.
Oh carp.
Exactly
naturallysweet
Has No Life - Lives on TB
With a cliff like that, something new is going to be introduced to the story.
I predict one of three possibilities.
One, someone evil, possibly from her past, who wants to kidnap her and do horrible things.
Or someone not evil, but from her past, who wants to rescue her from Gid.
Or, Kathy has decided to merge stories and she was grabbed by a zombie.
I predict one of three possibilities.
One, someone evil, possibly from her past, who wants to kidnap her and do horrible things.
Or someone not evil, but from her past, who wants to rescue her from Gid.
Or, Kathy has decided to merge stories and she was grabbed by a zombie.
naturallysweet
Has No Life - Lives on TB
oops, double post
naturallysweet
Has No Life - Lives on TB
double oops, triple post
It has to be that! You must have noticed the hint as well..."could tell by the smell that it wasn’t Gid." It's a pus head! And she's going to have to :sb:
