Her Heart's Desire (29 page)

“
Oh you!” She playfully
swatted her arm before handing the mirror back to her. “I don’t
know where my hat went. It flew off my head after I fell. Besides
the thunderstorms, Nebraska has some powerful winds.”

“
Yes, it does. It’s one of
the things that surprised us when we came here. The prairie is
nothing like New York.”

“
Or Vermont.”

Sally tucked the mirror into her bag
and pulled out a bonnet. “You can use this if you want.”

With a sly grin, she winked. “I think
I’ll go without the hat. I’d like my husband to see me looking
beautiful. The way you fixed my hair does make me look
beautiful.”

“
Well, it helps to have a
face to go with it. You’re a very attractive woman.” As Sally
slipped the bonnet into her bag, she asked, “Do we need anything
else?”

“
Yes, I think we do. Sally,
I really am sorry. Rick’s always had good judgment. I should have
known he wouldn’t have picked you if you weren’t going to be good
to him. And…”

Curious, Sally turned from her bag and
studied her. “And what, Mrs. Johnson?”

“
You’ll think I’m wicked
when I tell you this, but while Rick was telling me how you two
met, I remembered something I did to help get things going with his
father.”

Intrigued, she leaned forward.
“Oh?”

Though her cheeks grew pink, she
continued, “Yes. You see, I asked one of his friends to introduce
me to him under the pretense that my brother had questions about
opening a bank account for me. Not only did I lie about wanting a
bank account, but I didn’t even have a brother. I convinced my
cousin’s friend to act like he was my brother, and as part of my
agreement, I made tarts for him to eat for a whole three
months.”

“
Why, Mrs. Johnson, that
was a wicked thing to do!” Sally playfully admonished with a
twinkle in her eye. “Did your husband ever find out?”

“
He said he knew right away
that I lying because I kept fiddling my thumbs. I’m afraid I do
that when I lie.”

“
You should have put your
hands in your pockets or behind your back. Then he wouldn’t have
noticed.”

Rick’s mother laughed. “It’s a shame I
didn’t know you back then to give me that tip.”

“
But it worked out. He
married you anyway.”

“
Yes. Later he said he was
flattered someone went through all that trouble to meet him.”
Smiling, she shrugged. “Rick said the same thing about you. That’s
when I remembered what I had done and realized we actually have
something in common.”

“
Our good taste in
men?”

“
I was thinking more along
the lines of being smart, but yes, that too,” Rick’s mother
replied.

The sound of a horse neighing drew
Sally’s attention to the road. Not too far from them, she saw the
doctor coming their way with a wagon. “The doctor’s here, Mrs.
Johnson.” Sally stood up and waved to the doctor. He returned the
gesture, so she knelt by Rick’s mother. “We’ll get that ankle of
yours in good shape again.”

Once the doctor reached them, he
tended to her ankle, and even though Sally knew it had to hurt, she
was relieved that Rick’s mother hadn’t suffered more serious
injuries. And even better, it seemed that she and his mother had
just turned over a new leaf and might possibly become
friends.

After the doctor finished his task,
Sally helped him lift Rick’s mother and put her on the wagon where
the doctor placed a blanket over her, ensuring that her ankle was
cushioned from the jerky movements the wagon would make on their
way to town. Sally sat next to her in case she needed anything, and
the doctor led the way back. When they passed her mother who was
heading to the farm, Sally called out a greeting which her mother
returned.

“
I hope you and your
husband will have supper with my parents again,” Sally told Rick’s
mother.

“
We’d be delighted,” his
mother replied. “And we’ll have to invite them over, once we get
settled into a house.”

“
Oh, that reminds me. I
talked to Richard, and he knows of two houses that might suit your
needs.”

As Sally continued to describe the
houses in detail, a ray of sunlight peaked through a break in the
clouds, a gentle reminder that everything was going to be alright
from that moment forward.

Chapter Twenty-One

November 1870 (three years
later)

On Thanksgiving Day, Sally carried a
tray of refreshments into her parents’ parlor. Rick’s mother
bounced her very happy grandson on her knee and looked up at Sally
as she placed apple cider on the table. Sally glanced around the
crowded room and contemplated opening the window. Even if there was
snow outside, the group of people coming in and out of the room and
the young children made everything feel warmer than it actually
was.

Glad for a reprieve from helping her
mother in the kitchen, Sally sat next to Rick’s mother and smiled
at her son who giggled. “I think I’ve been replaced,” Sally said,
and though she made a show of pouting, she couldn’t hold back her
laughter.

“
No one ever takes a
mother’s place, my dear,” Rick’s mother replied.

His mother handed Greg to her, so
Sally took her son in her arms and sighed when he tried to squirm
back to his grandmother’s lap. “You think I can’t be replaced? I
think Greg loves his grandmothers more than me.”

“
To be fair, I do get the
joy of spoiling him. You have to do the difficult job of
disciplining him. Though, I can’t imagine what he’d ever do
wrong.”

“
My ma thinks he does no
wrong, too,” Sally mused. “It must be something grandmothers are
born with: the ability to only see the good in their
grandchildren.” She gave her 11-month-old son a kiss on the
forehead before handing him back to Rick’s mother. “I should make
sure no one else needs anything to drink.”

She stood up from the couch and set a
glass of apple cider by the small table next to Rick’s mother. She
turned back to the tray of glasses just in time to stop
four-year-old Mark from knocking them over. Relieved, she let go of
his hand and shook her head. “Now, Mark, you know better than to do
that. You can have some cider, but you need to take one of the cups
from the kitchen.”

His eyes grew wide. “Aunt Sally, I’m
Anthony.”

She studied him. “Are you
sure?”

“
Yes, I’m sure. I know my
name.”

She caught the mole under his chin and
nodded. “I’m sorry. You really are Anthony. I tell you, you and
your brother look exactly alike. It’s uncanny.” She glanced at
Amanda who was holding her one-year-old daughter in her lap. “It’s
a good thing you didn’t have twins last year.”

Amanda grinned. “Sometimes I get the
boys mixed up, too, so it’s not just you.”

Sally’s gaze went back to the little
girl who was drifting off to sleep. “I’d like to know how my niece
can sleep when it’s so loud in here.”

“
She’s used to a lot of
noise,” Amanda said, nodding to Mark who tapped Anthony on the
shoulder and yelled that there were cookies waiting for them in the
kitchen. The two boys cried with glee and ran out of the parlor,
making Amanda giggle. “See what I mean? This happens all the time.
Spending Thanksgiving here just means they get to eat before
supper.”

“
Ma is horrible when it
comes to saying no to her grandchildren,” Sally said. “I’ll be
surprised if they have an appetite by the time we carve the
turkey.”

“
Even if they don’t, the
men will eat enough for them,” Rick’s mother spoke up.

Joel ran into the room with a hand
full of cookies and plopped right next to Rick’s mother. “Want
some?” He held out a cookie to her, which Greg tried to
take.

Sally groaned. “Joel, you need to
bring a plate and a napkin out here when you have food.”

Rick’s mother nodded, and in a kind
voice, added, “You don’t want your poor ma to have to pick crumbs
off the floor in here, do you?”

“
No,” Joel grudgingly
replied as he got ready to stand up.

Jenny hurried into the parlor with a
plate and a cloth napkin. “For goodness’ sakes, Joel. I can barely
keep up with you.” She shoved the plate and napkin in his
face.

“
I forgot to get them.”
Joel placed the cookies on the plate and set the napkin on his lap.
“There. Happy? Hey Sally! You missed the excitement yesterday.
Clyde Jenkins came over, and I caught him kissing Jenny on the
cheek.”

Jenny gasped and grabbed the plate of
cookies from him.

“
What are you doing?” he
protested, reaching for the plate.

“
I can’t believe you were
spying on me!” She held the plate behind her back. “You listen to
me, Joel Larson, if you do that again, I’ll slip something nasty
into your food.”

Surprised, Sally’s eyes widened.
“Jenny, where were you and Clyde?”

Jenny turned to her, her cheeks red
from embarrassment. “He was showing me how to shoe a
horse.”

“
Was someone else around so
you could make sure Clyde didn’t try something he shouldn’t?” Sally
asked.

“
I’ve already heard it from
Ma. I don’t need to hear it from you, too.” Jenny glared at Joel
and plopped the plate on his lap. “Snitch.”

Joel shook his head as she stormed out
of the room. “That’s gratitude for you. I only came down from the
loft because Clyde was wrong when he was explaining how to shoe a
horse. He doesn’t know anything about it.” He looked at Rick’s
mother. “He’s a dolt. I’m surprised he can tie his
shoes.”

“
That’s not a nice thing to
say about someone,” Sally muttered, though she didn’t care much for
Clyde. She hoped her sister wasn’t going to marry him.

“
Can he have a cookie?” he
asked Rick’s mother, pointing to Greg whose gaze hadn’t left the
plate ever since the cookies went on it.

Rick’s mother nodded. “We need to
break it up into small pieces.”

After Joel hurried to do that, Jenny
came back into the room and called out, “Ma says you can’t eat in
here. You can eat on the porch, in the kitchen or in the
barn.”

Joel grunted. “I’m not that
messy.”

“
Ma!” Jenny
yelled.

“
I’m going, I’m going,” he
grumbled and sulked out of the room.

Satisfied, Jenny hurried after him,
passing Tom’s wife, Jessica, who came into the parlor, holding her
baby.

Sally held out a glass of cider to
Jessica and then another one to Amanda. Turning back to Jessica,
she asked, “Did all the noise wake Nelly up?”

Jessica set her daughter on the floor
so she could crawl. “I think Nelly’s having a hard time sleeping
with all the noise.”

Sally laughed and looked at Amanda’s
sleeping daughter. “Annabelle’s used to it,” Sally told Jessica.
“But I am wondering, are you used to being Tom’s wife?”

Jessica sipped her drink and laughed.
“I don’t know if there was anything to get used to. He’s always
been sweet.”

“
Oh, I know that, but he
never seemed to stay put. Before I got married and left this house,
he was hard to pin down. He’d be running all over the place after
Joel. It was annoying.”

“
Well, Joel isn’t out there
to bother him,” Jessica replied and reached down to stop Nelly from
pulling on Amanda’s dress.

“
I don’t mind, Jessica,”
Amanda told her. “Besides, it’s nice to see my niece. “I married
Richard when Tom was fifteen, and even when I see Tom now, I still
think of him as the clumsy fifteen-year-old who almost knocked me
over on my wedding day. It doesn’t seem real to me that he has a
child.”

“
Tom is still clumsy,”
Sally commented with a wry grin. “So it doesn’t seem like much has
changed.”

“
Sometimes he isn’t
clumsy,” Jessica argued. “He’s very good when it comes to
farming.”

“
That’s a good thing, too,”
Sally added. “But I’m sure he misses Joel. I hear Joel doesn’t know
what to do now. David won’t go after him, no matter what Joel’s
done to get his attention. I hear Joel even hid his good boots.
David just put on his old pair and went right out to the barn as if
nothing happened.”

“
Did he ever get his boots
back?” Rick’s mother asked.

Sally nodded. “The same
afternoon.”

Rick’s mother smiled. “Then it sounds
to me like David knows how to handle Joel better than Tom
did.”

“
I think so, but you know,
I think Tom enjoyed it, even though he protested,” Sally said
before she collected Jenny’s and Rick’s mother’s empty glasses.
“Are you done, Amanda?” she asked, noting that she’d barely touched
her drink.

“
For now, yes.” Amanda
handed her the glass. Holding onto Nelly’s hand, she helped the
baby stand. “It won’t be too much longer and she’ll be walking all
over the place. That’s when the real fun begins.”

Sally put the glass on the fireplace
mantle. “Your drink is here whenever you want it.”