Chapter 10
Joe joined the
family for dinner too. He was given Lillian’s usual seat beside Danielle and
Paul. Cassandra chattered the entire meal while Belle stayed silent. Joe talked
with everyone and fit in nicely. After supper was finished, Danielle took
Lillian’s supper to her while Cassandra and the twins went to do the
dishes. Hannah and Jinger were working on making dresses for Lynn, Megan,
and Nadia’s dolls and the little girls were playing checkers in the parlor
while Paul went over his bills. Joe called goodbye and left the
room.
“I’ll see you
off,” Belle said. She didn’t dare look at Cassandra, who was probably
gloating.
“Alright,” Joe
nodded opening the door for her.
The two stepped
into the cool night air and walked slowly to the barn where Joe had left his
donkey.
“I need to speak
with you,” Belle said once they reached the barn.
“Okay,” Joe leaned
against the side of the barn. “Go ahead.”
“Caleb Carter is
courting me.”
A puzzled look
swept over Joe’s face. “Uh…okay…”
“I wanted you to
know.”
“Um…sure.” Joe’s
voice was slow and confused.
“Are
you okay with that?”
“Why do I
matter?”
Belle bit her
tongue. “Well…Danielle and Cassandra said you liked me!” Belle said
finally.
“What? I never
said any such thing!”
“Danielle and
Cassandra never lie to me.”
“I told Danielle I
liked one of her sisters. I never named one!”
Belle opened her
mouth to spit back another sentence but stopped. “You don’t like me?”
Joe turned
bashful. “I think you’re nice and all…but I don’t feel anything…like that for
you.”
“Oh.” Belle
sighed with relief.
“Cassandra’s the one I like.”
“Really?”
“Yeah…does she
like anyone?” Joe shuffled his feet nervously.
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Joe’s
face fell.
Belle smiled at Joe. “She
likes you.”
“Oh!” Joe said
with a grin. He felt a happy spirit come over him like a warm
blanket. “I think I’ll see if Mr. O’Neal will let me court her.”
Belle smiled. She
had been so nervous all day and it turned out Joe likes Cassandra. Joe was a
very sensitive boy and asked a few more questions about Cassandra—the things
she liked, the things she did, and a couple other things. Joe mounted
his little, gray donkey and rode down the road.
~~~
Belle returned to
the house and was pounced on by Cassandra. “So, what did he say?”
Belle smiled
playfully. “He said a lot of things.”
“About…?”
“You!” Belle said
pointing a finger at Cassandra.
“Me?” Cassandra
squeaked.
“Yes and he wants
to court you.”
Cassandra gawked
in surprise. “But-but Danielle said h-he l-l-liked y-you,” she stammered.
“Danielle,” Belle
called.
Danielle walked
over from the parlor. “Yes?”
“Did Joe name who
he liked?”
Danielle frowned.
“Well…I don’t think he did. But he said that the sister he liked was ‘pretty
and nice and smart and gentle.’ I figured it was Belle!”
Cassandra slapped
Danielle on the arm. “I’m those things too!”
“That’s what you
think,” Danielle replied smartly. She carefully dodged another
slap.
“Danielle,” Belle
said sternly.
“Sorry.”
Cassandra smiled
brightly and went back to scrubbing the dishes. Belle grabbed the broom and
began sweeping. Danielle went to work on her homework. Even though Lillian was
sick, it didn’t keep Danielle from her studies. The evening came to a
close and the girls said goodnight to each other and climbed into their
beds.
~~~
The long week for
Lillian finally came to an end. Thursday morning dawned and Belle
went to help Lillian out of bed and find a nice dress to wear. Danielle and
Cassandra were busy making pancakes in the kitchen and Elsie and Faith were
helping Paul outside. Hannah and Jinger were braiding Lynn and Megan’s hair
while Nadia set the table. Paul and the twins opened the door and came walking
in.
“The winter
is comin’,” Paul boomed whipping of his hat.
“All the trees are
bare,” Elsie added walking into the kitchen.
“I can’t wait for
the snow!” Nadia cheered.
“Me either!” Megan
echoed.
“We can make
snowmen and snow-angels and snowballs!” Lynn smiled.
Cassandra began
moving the breakfast onto the table. “Breakfast in two minutes!”
Everyone scrambled
to the table. Paul hurried to his bedroom. Belle had just exited the room with
Oakley.
Danielle slid into
her seat. “Hurry up! I’m starving.”
“Calm down,” Belle
said placing Oakley in his chair.
The last of the
food was set on the table and the sisters gathered around. A laugh made the
girls turn around to the parlor. Paul departed from the bedroom with Lillian,
laughing and smiling, in his arms. He brought her over to her chair and placed
her down gently. Lillian thanked him and looked at the food before her.
“Belle…Cassandra…Danielle…oh
girls, you did so much. Thank-you!” Lillian smiled tenderly at each girl. Paul
sat at the head of the table and waited for each girl to find their place.
Danielle sat beside Lillian—on the right side of Paul—, Cassandra sat beside
Danielle, then Faith, Elsie, Jinger—at the other end of the table—,
Hannah, Megan, Nadia, and Lynn. Paul prayed over the food and everyone
began eating.
“Hey!
My pancakes aren’t burnt!” Megan cried out happily.
Everyone laughed
as Cassandra and Danielle shot angry looks at the young girl.
“Well, Cassandra
made them,” Danielle shrugged.
“Danielle!”
Cassandra said. “You helped make them too.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Lillian,” Paul
said with a wave of his hands. “Didn’t you miss all of this?”
Though everyone
giggled at his joke, Lillian kept a serious face. “I did miss everyone. It was
a long week.”
“And we’re glad to
have you back,” Faith said for everyone.
~~~
Lillian recovered
steadily. The week of complete rest helped a great deal. By the end of her
second week, Lillian was cooking, cleaning, and ordering the girls
around.
“It was more
fun when you were sick, Lillian,” Danielle grumbled as she followed Lillian
outside with an empty basket.
“Of course it was
more fun!” Lillian said beginning to take down the clothing from the clothes
line. “You didn’t do anything.”
“We did stuff,”
Danielle said pushing back her braids.
“Like what?”
“Fun stuff,”
Danielle grinned.
Lillian shook her
head; lush, strawberry blonde tendrils of hair falling down from the
neat bun on her neck. She proceeded to fold each piece of clothing.
Paul and Joe walked
towards the house. Lillian and Danielle looked up and waved. The two men picked
up their pace and stopped by the women. Paul greeted Lillian with a
kiss.
“Paul!” Danielle
moaned as she and Joe turned away.
“What? I have a
right to kiss my wife,” Paul said. “If you don’t want to watch, that’s fine
with me.”
He put his arms
around Lillian and leaned down for another long kiss. Lillian blushed in
delight while Paul grinned and trekked off to the barn with Joe
following.
“That was
disgusting,” Danielle said once the men were out of earshot.
“You’ll enjoy it
someday,” Lillian replied with a smile. At sixteen, Lillian was surprised
Danielle wasn’t interested in having a beau. Belle and Cassandra both had
regular beaus now. Lillian knew Danielle would eventually find
someone.
“I don’t mind that
you and Paul do it but do you have to do it front of me?”
“I don’t know when
Paul is going to kiss me and when he isn’t,” Lillian laughed.
Danielle didn’t
respond after that statement. Together they and finished the
laundry and headed back inside. Belle and Cassandra were inside
cooking dinner. Elsie and Faith were busy sweeping the parlor and Hannah and
Jinger were dusting. Lynn and Megan were finishing some Christmas break
homework and Nadia was setting the table.
Cassandra walked
out of the kitchen. “Are Paul and Joe back?”
“Yes, they’re in
the barn,” Lillian said going into her bedroom to see if Oakley was
awake.
“Good!” Cassandra
exclaimed hurrying to her room in the loft.
“What is she so
happy about?” Elsie asked.
“She and Joe are
going to town tonight,” Jinger replied.
“Really?” Faith
said looking up.
“Yeah, he asked
her last night,” Hannah supplied.
“She’s been
thinking about it all day,” Belle said rolling her eyes.
“You have no
authority to say that Mrs. Caleb Carter,” Danielle teased.
Belle flushed and
returned to the stove.
Lillian and Oakley
emerged from the bedroom. She asked Elsie to watch him while she went to
the kitchen to help Belle. Elsie eagerly accepted and played with the little
boy. Paul and Joe entered the house. Joe was dressed in a freshly cleaned
white shirt and navy blue slacks. A matching bow-tie rounded his
neck. While he waited patiently for Cassandra, Joe chatted with the
younger girls.
Cassandra hurried
down the stairway leading from the loft to the parlor. Her chocolate hair was
pulled up in a barrette with some strands hanging down past her shoulders. She
was wearing her best white dress with the black sash around her waist.
Cassandra was glowing with excitement as she walked over to Joe.
“We’ll be back at
eight,” Joe promised as he escorted Cassandra outside.
“Have a good
time,” Paul called.
The rest of the
family sat down to eat their meal and an hour later, the girls were working on
the last of their homework. Paul was looking over mail and bills in his chair
and Lillian pulled out a skirt she was working on and Belle pulled out a shirt.
Danielle flopped down on the couch like she usually did; trying to get out
of helping the women sew.
“Danielle,”
Lillian called motioning Danielle over.
Danielle
reluctantly dragged her body over beside Lillian’s chair. Lillian, Belle, and
Cassandra were doing their very best to turn Danielle into a successful woman.
It was working, but slowly.
“Yes?” Danielle
sighed.
“See this here,”
Lillian pointing to a place on the fabric.
“Yeah.”
“Can you sew this
together?”
“I can but I don’t
really want to,” Danielle responded slyly.
“Danielle!” Belle
groaned from her place on the couch.
“What? Paul
and Lillian expect us to tell them the truth.”
“Danielle, sew the
skirt,” Lillian said firmly. She handed Danielle the skirt.
Danielle took the
skirt, a needle, and some thread and headed back to the couch. The women worked
steadily for a half hour. Carriage wheels rolled up the road noisily at exactly
eight.
Cassandra came
inside all aglow.
Belle looked
up. “So, how’d it go?”
Cassandra
smiled, “It was a lot of fun and we got to discuss some things.”
“What kind of
things?” Belle asked.
“Our standards,”
Cassandra explained. “We discussed our limitations and things.” Cassandra
looked around the room.
“That confirms that
he is the good man I thought he was,” Paul said standing up.
“I talked with
Lillian and Belle about it and we determined some standards and I want my
wedding to be the first time anything spectacular happens!” Cassandra spread
out her hands and sighed before heading upstairs.
“And Cupid strikes
again,” Danielle muttered from the couch.
“Oh, Danielle, don’t
be such a grouch,” Belle said cleaning up her sewing utensils.
“Go ahead and go to
bed,” Lillian told her daughters.
Danielle and Belle
finished up their projects and tossed them back into the basket.
“Goodnight, Paul,”
Danielle said.
“Night,” Paul
called.
“Goodnight,
Lillian.”
“Sleep well,”
Lillian replied.
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