Mail Order Millie (2 page)

Millie nodded. She couldn’t agree with Mrs. Sims’s assessment more; she needed to bathe soon as it could possibly be arranged. “I was hoping to bathe before I met him. I held a small child on the train yesterday, and he vomited on me more than once.”

Agnes smiled. “Well, come along then. You have your wedding dress?”

“Yes, ma’am. It’s in my bag.” She gripped her bag tighter. It held everything she owned in it. Four dresses, counting her wedding dress, and some fabric to make a few more.

Agnes sighed. “I’ll get the wrinkles out while you bathe.” It was obvious to Millie that Agnes thought she’d come unprepared.

Agnes led her to a pretty two-story wood home. She immediately barked out orders. “Get water heating for a bath, and do it quickly!”

Her daughters jumped to work. Her son went to drag the tin tub into the kitchen. He went outside to get more water from their well. “We’ll have you clean in no time,” Agnes told her.

As soon as the tub was filled, they left the room and allowed her to undress and get into the tub. She immediately sank back and washed her hair with the soap Agnes had so kindly provided. She knew she had to be quick or be late for her own wedding.

Just as she wrapped herself in a drying cloth, Agnes returned with her freshly ironed dress. Millie quickly pulled her undergarments on and stepped into the dress. Agnes buttoned it up the back for her. “Sit and I’ll fix your hair for you.”

Millie sat quietly while Agnes fussed with her long brown hair. “I brought my veil from my own wedding for you to borrow,” Agnes told her. “You look awfully young to be marrying and taking on four kids, but I guess you know what you’re in for.” Agnes talked nonstop, finally pinning the veil in place. She walked around in front of Millie. “There. You look perfect. I left it long, because your hair is so beautiful. There’s plenty of time to pin it up when you start working on that house of yours.” Her eyes went to the clock on the wall. “Just in time, too. Wedding starts in five minutes. It’s a good thing it’s just a short walk.”

She grabbed Millie’s hand and started pulling her toward the door. “Girls, get on over to the church. James, carry Millie’s bag. We’ve got a wedding to go to.”

The church was full when they arrived. Millie had expected a quiet affair with only George and the children, but obviously everything had been arranged. The entire town must have been invited. A man stood at the back and offered her his arm. “Don’t run down the aisle, Howard. This is good practice for when our girls get married,” Agnes ordered.

Ah, thought Millie. This must be Mr. Sims. She wondered when he’d show up. Agnes seemed to have everyone jumping whenever she said a word, and Mr. Sims was obviously no different from the rest of them.

Slowly they marched up the aisle of the church to slow music. She swallowed hard, nervous about seeing her husband-to-be for the first time. He hadn’t turned around to watch for her like everyone else in the church had done. It was as if he really didn’t care what she looked like.

His hair was brown and he was wearing a pair of work pants and suspenders. He wore a full beard, which was something she was unaccustomed to in the city. His blue work shirt had the sleeves rolled up. He hadn’t even taken the time to dress up for his own wedding? Millie’s heart fell. He’d advertised for a bride. Why wasn’t he excited now that she was here? Why, she could see the dirt on the back of his shirt. He must have come straight here from the fields.

She reached the front of the church and he turned to her for the first time. His green eyes were warm, but sad-looking. His hair was brown, and his beard was trimmed short. She smiled up at him through the veil covering her face. Would he see it?

The preacher started the ceremony then. She repeated her vows as expected and listened as he repeated his. When he was told he could kiss his bride, he lifted her veil and brushed a quick kiss across her lips, dropping the veil back in place. He didn’t even want to see what she looked like.

After the quick wedding, they were hurried out of the church. His four youngsters followed behind them. She looked at them, trying to guess their ages. The oldest was a girl and looked to be around seven. She was holding the hand of the youngest, who couldn’t have been more than two. The youngest was also a girl. The two in the middle were boys.

She smiled at them, and realizing they couldn’t see it, she pulled her veil off her face. She’d have to remember to return the veil to Agnes the next time she was in town. “Hello,” she said to the children. The only words she’d exchanged with her new husband had been part of the wedding ceremony. She certainly hoped he usually talked more, because she could go crazy pretty quickly with only small children to talk to.

He took her hand and helped her into the wagon. The children all climbed into the back with the oldest helping the youngest up. “What are your names?” she asked.

The oldest smiled at her uncertainly. How long had their mother been dead? Had he mentioned that in his letter? She tried to remember his exact words. Six months she thought he’d said. Even accounting for the time they’d corresponded, she couldn’t have been dead for over eight months. Were the children even ready for a new mother?

“I’m Patience,” the eldest said. She pointed to the next in line. “That’s Michael and that’s Jacob,” she said pointing to the younger boy. She clutched the baby sitting on her lap tighter. “The baby is Grace.”

George had started driving during the introductions. She knew she should be paying attention to her new husband and where they were going, but she was more concerned with the children. “How old are you, Patience?”

“I just turned seven last month,” she replied softly.

“You’re going to be a big help, then, aren’t you?” Millie wanted this little girl to know she’d do her best to be a good mother to her. Including her seemed to be the way to do that.

Patience nodded. “Papa says after you learn how we do things, you’ll start teaching me. I can’t wait to learn to read.” She paused. “Mama just started to teach me before she died. I learned how to write all my letters, but didn’t get to learn to read yet.”

“We’ll do it together. I appreciate you being willing to help out for a couple of weeks more, though. It’ll be nice to learn the ropes from someone who knows what she’s doing so well.”

Patience sat up a little straighter as she smiled. “I’m happy to do it,” she said.

The drive to the farm took longer than Millie had expected. They were much further from town than she’d hoped. “How far is it to the farm?” she asked George.

“It’s four miles,” he answered shortly.

Her husband obviously was a man of few words. She stared straight ahead, wondering what she could say that would interest him. “I’m surprised the weather is so pretty with it being April and all. I thought it would be colder here.” Weather was always a safe topic, wasn’t it?

He shrugged. “Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn’t. We could still get another blizzard or two, but it’s not likely.”

She looked at him in surprise. “Do you get blizzards often here?” She hadn’t thought much about what the climate would be like in Minnesota. She was sure she’d studied about it in school, but she couldn’t remember a thing. Minnesota was one of the newest states.

“Some. We make it through.”

She sighed. Hopefully he was just shy and they’d talk more as they got to know one another.

He stopped the buggy in front of a small farmhouse the boards a dull gray from the wind and rain. Millie stared in surprise. Why had she pictured a large two story house, painted white, with flowers planted all around it? This house was nothing like that. Judging by the size, it couldn’t have been more than two or three rooms.

She waited for him to come around and help her down from the wagon, but he immediately went around and unhitched the horses instead. She hadn’t expected an instant romance, but she felt like she was being frozen out for some reason.

She got down from the wagon and went around to the back to take the baby from Patience. “Let’s go inside and you can all show me around,” she said enthusiastically.

The three older children climbed down from the wagon watching her. Finally Patience held out her hand. “I’ll show you.” Michael and Jacob trailed along behind them while Millie carried Hope. “There isn’t much to see.” They stepped into the house and Millie felt her heart catch in her throat. Filthy was too clean a word for what she saw. She would have thought they’d make an effort to clean for her arrival.

“This is the kitchen,” Patience said. Millie looked around. There was a nice stove, covered completely in dishes. “We have a well just outside the back door.”

There was a large basin for washing dishes. She’d have to see to them as soon as she’d changed. She turned to Michael and Jacob. “Would you boys start bringing in some water from the well? Looks like I need to start off by washing some dishes and scrubbing up the kitchen.”

There was a work bench with shelves under it for storing dishes. She could see some nails had been driven into the wall to hang the pans. Two large wooden shelves stood to the right of the work bench with tin containers for flour, sugar and other essentials. She was happy to see there were some spices as well. The set-up would work well for her as soon as she got it clean enough to be able to work in.

There was no sitting area, just a kitchen and a table and chairs. Patience led her to the first door opening off the main room. “This is Papa’s room.” The bed was unmade and the wood floor looked like it hadn’t been scrubbed in the months since his wife died. There was a thick quilt jumbled up at the bottom of the bed. It, too, was filthy.

Patience led to the next room. “This is my room. Papa said we’ll be sharing it for a while.” She smiled at Millie as she said that. “I like the idea of sharing a room with you and Gracie.”

Millie’s eyebrows drew together. He was planning on her sleeping with the girls? He didn’t want a wife. He wanted someone to clean and look after his children. She stiffened her spine.

Patience led her to the stairs leading up to the loft. “The boys sleep up there.” She didn’t climb the stairs to the loft, and neither did Millie. There was no point, when there was so much more needing to be done first.

That was all there was. A kitchen and eating area, two bedrooms and a loft. She swallowed hard. Why had she pictured herself living in the lap of luxury? She couldn’t have been more wrong. Still, this was her new home and it would look as good as she could make it look.

“I’ll go get my things from the wagon, so I can change and get to work. Would you mind watching the baby while I get the kitchen cleaned up enough so I can fix supper?” she asked.

“Of course not. Papa said I need to help you.”

Millie handed the baby to Patience and walked out the door to the wagon. Her bag was still in the back where she’d put it. She looked around for George, but there was no sign of him. Apparently, he’d gone back to work and expected her to start working as well. This was some wedding day.

She swiped at the tears pricking her eyes. Sure, she’d known she wasn’t marrying for love, but she’d at least expected him to talk to her.

She carried her bag into the room she’d be sharing with Patience and Grace and changed into a work dress, slipping a new apron over her head. She quickly pinned up her hair into a bun so she could work without it getting in the way. She left the bedroom and went into the kitchen. There were two large pots full of water and another bucket full on the dirty wooden floor next to the stove.

Rolling up her sleeves, she removed the dishes from the stove, so she could heat the two pots of water. As soon as they were started, she pulled the dishes out of the basin and put them on the table with the dirty dishes from the stove. There was a bar of lye soap on the workbench, so she scraped off a bit of it and put it in the empty basin.

“Do you want me to dry them?” Patience offered. “I put Gracie down for her nap.”

Millie turned to the girl with a smile. “I’d love that. We can talk and get to know each other while we work.”

Millie saw the water was boiling and emptied the first of the heavy pots of water into the basin, pushing the other to the middle of the stove so it would heat faster. “You have a lot of dishes and pots. I’ve never seen so many!”

Grace shrugged. “Most of them aren’t ours. They need to go back to the church ladies who have been bringing our suppers.”

“I see,” Millie said with a sigh. “Why don’t you put the ones that need to go back to town in a separate stack, and we’ll take them tomorrow morning.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

As they worked, Millie began to understand her new family through Patience’s words. She was obviously shy, but warmed up quickly and answered Millie’s questions. It seemed the spark had completely left her father when his wife died. The house and the smaller children were left to Patience who was not equipped to deal with them. She had helped her mother with the cooking and cleaning, but had no idea how to do it on her own.

It had been everything she could do just to keep the kids in line. She’d done her best by the younger ones, but had really accomplished nothing around the house. Millie smiled and told her it was all okay. “We’ll do it all together now, and it won’t seem like such a hard task.”

It took over an hour and all the water to get the dishes cleaned. She put them next to the door to load in the morning and take back to town. “Where can I find food to cook for dinner?” she asked. Hopefully there would be something easy to fix, because she hadn’t done a lot of cooking. She was so thankful for the lessons the cook at the orphanage had provided as soon as she’d announced her upcoming marriage to a man with four children.

Patience got a lantern and led her outside to the root cellar. After going down the stairs, she looked around and sighed. There were numerous jars of meat, fruit and vegetables. There were even potatoes and carrots kept in a bin. She could do something with all of this.

Carefully choosing which vegetables and meat, she decided to make a stew for supper. It was simple, and she could probably do it without messing up. She had several recipes she’d received from the cook in the orphanage, but for the most part, would be experimenting on her own. Hopefully she could manage the simple meal.

She filled her arms with the jars she’d use and carried them up the steep wooden stairs. Patience led her with the lantern. Once they were inside, she took the second largest pot of the ones owned by the Stevens family and set it in the middle of the stove. She’d reserve the largest for heating water, of course. She opened the jar that was labeled pork, and dumped it into the pot. She drained the jar of green beans, and peeled the potatoes and carrots, cutting them into cubes.

She added water and threw everything together in the huge pot. Glancing at the dusty clock on the mantle, she saw that it was four in the afternoon. Hopefully she would be able to have everything ready by half past five or so. She didn’t know what time George would be in from the fields, so she had to assume that would work for supper-time.

She went into her bedroom and found the stack of recipes she’d written out with the guidance of the cook from the orphanage. Thumbing through them, she found one for biscuits and carried it into the kitchen. She read through the ingredients and checked to see if she had them. She was in luck. There wasn’t much flour left, but what she had should be enough to fix this one meal. She could buy more flour when she went to town the following day.

The boys played outside, and Patience played with little Grace, while Millie struggled through making biscuits for the first time. The measurements on the recipe were difficult to manage. The cook didn’t use regular measurements for anything. Two handfuls of flour. The cook’s hands had been bigger than hers. She used three handfuls. A pinch of salt. What kind of measurement was a pinch?

She threw everything together and mixed it well, putting the biscuits into the stove and hoping they’d come out right. She peeked at them every few minutes to be sure they didn’t burn. Stirring the stew, she realized it was way too soupy, so she mixed a little flour with water, the way she’d seen Cook do, and mixed it into the stew. Stirring it again, she realized it was about the right consistency. She continued to cook it, off to the corner of the stove where it wouldn’t be as hot.

Removing the biscuits from the oven, she poked one. It didn’t seem to be rock hard. Maybe it would be okay.

She got a rag and scrubbed off the table, making it shine. The wood was pretty when it was clean, she thought. She set the table carefully. There were enough dishes so that each of them had one plate, one bowl, and one tin cup. There were spoons and forks enough for all, and one butter knife they could share. That should be good.

She found Patience playing on the floor with Grace in their bedroom. “Is there milk I can put out for supper, or should we just drink water?”

Patience smiled in anticipation of a good meal. “Michael will go milk the cow. It’s time anyway. Then we can have milk.”

Millie went to the door to call the boys. “I need you to milk the cow, Michael. Jacob, come in and wash up for supper.”

Both boys scurried to do what they were told. Millie smiled. It was a relief to have the children obey her immediately. She would have hated to have to punish them her first day there.