Mail Order Millie (6 page)

Patience set the table for her, and she served the family. She served the some of the bread along with fresh butter. Everyone ate their share, and there was enough left over for lunch the following day. She smiled to herself. She was getting good at this cooking thing.

After the dishes were done, and the children tucked into their beds, Millie sat down at the table for her Bible reading with George.

“What did you think of the sermon today?” he asked.

She smiled. “I enjoyed it. I learned a lot,” she fibbed. She had listened to part of it, but not all, of course. It was just so long and Pastor Jenkins was so boring.

“What did you think of Pastor Jenkins’s points about how a man should always listen to his wife’s needs as well as the wife obeying her husband?”

Millie’s eyes widened. She hadn’t heard that part of it. “I think he’s right. I think women should have their feelings taken into account, but the final decision about what should happen with the family should always come from the husband. And the wife needs to make sure she complies with whatever the husband decides.”

He nodded slowly. “Pastor Jenkins didn’t talk about a man listening to his wife’s needs. You seemed to be in your own world during the sermon. Did you pay attention?”

She sighed and looked down at her hands. “I tried. I really did. But he’s so boring! His voice never changes. He could be talking about the most exciting thing in the world and it would put me to sleep.” She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his. “I’m sorry.”

“Thank you for admitting the truth about it. I’ll be honest, I have a hard time listening to him, too, but he’s the only pastor we have around here, so we need to do our best.” He paused for a moment, studying his young wife. “I wish we had a younger pastor who was more interesting to listen to, but it’s not possible here. We need to appreciate what we have.”

“I really did try.”

“I understand. Just don’t try to pretend you listened well when you didn’t. That’s being dishonest.”

“I’ll try to do better,” she whispered. Was she ever going to be good enough?

He reached out and took her hand in his, something he’d never done before. “I’m not condemning you, Millie. You’re a hard worker. The kids already love you, and I think we’ll have a good marriage someday. I would just like to see you try to get over some of your bad habits before they rub off on the children. Lying is one thing I just can’t abide.”

She clenched his hand with tears in her eyes. “I’m really sorry.”

He smiled. “I think you are, and I appreciate that. We’ll work together at doing better.” He paused for a moment. “When you first got here, I was sure you would fail miserably at what I needed from you just based on your age. You’ve already proven me wrong there. I think with a little more understanding of what the Lord expects from us, you will make a fine wife and mother.”

She smiled at his praise. “Thank you.”

Millie worked extra hard the following day, trying to get everything ahead, so she’d be able to sit down with Bess and have a nice visit, rather than having to do chores while her new friend was there. She did the weekly wash and baked bread for the next few days. Now that she was caught up, doing wash one day per week would be easy.

She’d finished the major cleaning, and now it was just a matter of keeping things up. The worst of the catching up was finally done. The one thing that bothered her was the girls’ dresses, but while she was washing the lunch dishes on Monday, the solution came to her.

She’d bought several yards of fabric to make some new dresses for herself but hadn’t had time to sew them. Now that she was here, and saw how simple life was, she knew she didn’t need more than two dresses for church and two for work and she already had those. She could use the fabric she had to make six new dresses for her girls, and they’d have two for play and one for good each. She smiled to herself. That’s exactly what she’d do.

Once the two little ones were down for their afternoon nap, she brought out the pretty calico fabric she’d bought and spread it on the table. Thankfully, Patience knew where Martha had kept her dress patterns and brought them to Millie, practically dancing at the idea of new dresses.

“Do you want to help me?” Millie asked.

Patience nodded. “Oh, yes, please!”

Millie smiled. “Well, the first thing we need to do is measure you and make sure we make the right size.” She took a piece of string and wrapped it around Patience’s waist, and carefully held the string over the yardstick, writing down the measurement. As she took the measurements and wrote them down, she showed Patience what she was doing, so she would learn to be able to do the same.

By the time the little ones woke from their nap, she’d cut out all three dresses for Patience, and had carefully folded the rest of the fabric. The first seams had been sewn and some of the preliminary basting had been done. She would continue to work on the dresses as much as she could, and hopefully by Sunday, both her girls would have a pretty new dress to wear to church.

She tucked away the dresses in time to cook dinner for her family all but dancing through the chore. She was so happy to have a plan for the girls’ dresses and she had a friend coming over tomorrow to just chat. Her new life was much better than she’d imagined.

After the children were in bed, she pulled out the pieces of Patience’s dress and worked on sewing in tiny little stitches. George didn’t pay attention to what she was doing as he pulled down the family Bible and continued their reading of Matthew. She found she looked forward to her time listening to George read, while she worked on whatever mending or sewing needed to be done. It was a good way to end a busy day.

That night, George read from Matthew chapter six. She listened carefully, enjoying the words. She liked the idea of not having to worry about anything as long as she put God first in her life. After George was finished reading, she asked, “Do you think that’s really true?”

George raised an eyebrow. “Do I think what’s true?”

“That we really don’t need to worry about anything as long as we put God first in our lives.” Millie had never heard those verses and liked what they meant. Not having to worry about anything would make her life so much better. Could she really trust God to provide her with what she needed?

He sighed. “I do think it’s true. I don’t think it means we won’t have hardship. My losing Martha goes to show we’ll all have hardship. But God promises that he won’t put more on us than we can bear.”

She tilted her head to the side thinking about it. “So we shouldn’t worry about where our next meal will come from as long as we worship God? So why do we even have to work? Or cook? Won’t God provide?”

He grinned at her simplistic view of the scripture. “He will provide. Haven’t you heard that ‘God helps those who help themselves’? We can’t sit around and wait for him to provide, though. We need to be hard workers. God expects husbands to provide for their families. That means I need to work to provide for you all. Just like you need to do your share by keeping our home clean and fixing the food I provide for our table.”

She nodded. She’d always heard that’s how it should be, but the new verses in Matthew had given her something new to think about as well.

“What are you working on there?” he asked, noticing for the first time she was busily sewing away at something and not mending.

“I’m making dresses for the girls.” She smiled as she held up the pieces of fabric on her lap. “This one is for Patience.” She was proud of how much work she’d already gotten done on the dresses. She hoped he’d be pleased with them.

An angry look passed over George’s face, and he took a deep breath. “Millie, I told you we didn’t have money for fabric for clothes for the girls right now. Did you put it on an account at the store?” His voice was mild, but she could see how angry he was.

“No.” She shook her head emphatically. “I brought fabric with me to make some dresses for myself. Now that I’m here, I can see I don’t need more dresses than what I already have, so I decided to use the fabric to make dresses for the girls.” She was hurt that he thought she’d deliberately disobeyed him like that.

“I’m sorry. I just automatically assumed the worst and I shouldn’t have. Thank you for being willing to use something you’d earmarked for yourself for my girls.”

“It’s for our girls, and I don’t mind using the fabric for them. They need the clothes a lot more than I do.”

He reached across the table and put the dress pieces she was still clutching onto the table and took both of her hands in his. “Will you forgive me for assuming the worst about you?”

She nodded smiling. “Of course, I do. How could you trust me when I came out here under false pretenses?” She was happy he was holding her hands for the first time. Did that mean he was starting to love her as she loved him? Her eyes widened. Did she love him? She hadn’t realized it, but she did. She loved this gruff, godly man who put his children above everything else in life. How could she not?

“I’ve forgiven you for that. I need to stop dwelling on it.”

“You have?” He hadn’t told her he’d forgiven her. Hearing him say so sent a small thrill through her. Their marriage was getting closer to working out every day.

“Of course, I have. How could I trust you with my children otherwise?”

“Thank you for giving me the chance to prove to you I can be a good mother to them.” She promised herself then the children would never want for anything she could provide. If it meant giving them the food she was about to eat, she would do it.

He smiled. “I’m glad you’re here, Millie. You’re making my life a lot easier with your presence.” He still missed Martha, and felt like he was betraying her by letting another woman come into her home and take her place, though. But he didn’t have a choice. Their children needed a mother, and Martha would see things the same way he did. He needed to remember to thank Agnes for her meddling at church on Sunday morning.

Millie carefully followed the instructions for sugar cookies the next morning while George was in the field with the boys. She kept smiling to herself, feeling that she and George had a real breakthrough in their relationship the night before.

Patience helped mix the dough, while Grace ate small pieces of it, giggling the whole time. By the time the cookies were finished, Grace’s face and bib were covered with dough. Millie laughed as she took a cloth and wiped off her face and hands.

Millie thought Patience was looking forward to having a guest as much as she was. Patience told her Martha had never wanted anyone to come over and visit. The only time she’d ever seen outsiders before her mother died was when they went to town for church.

Millie knew she was as different from Martha as night and day. She liked to have other people around, although not too many at once. Once the lunch dishes were done, Millie brought the fresh milk up from the cellar and set it on the table. She put out a plate of the cookies and some small plates for serving.

Both of the little ones were down for a nap, so she sat at the table working on the dress for Patience while she waited for Bess to arrive. She’d given Patience two pieces to sew together, showing her how to take the small stitches necessary for a pretty garment.

Millie had the door standing open as they worked. There was no sound of an approaching horse, just suddenly a head popping in the door. “Hello?”

Millie jumped up. “Come in! We’ve been expecting you.” She indicated the chair at the head of the table. “Have a seat. I hope you don’t mind if I keep sewing while we chat. I’m trying to get new dresses made for the girls before Sunday morning.”

“Oh! New spring dresses. That’s a beautiful pattern,” she said pointing to the fabric. It was a pale pink with small flowers of different colors woven in. Millie had fallen in love with it as soon as she saw it. She’d cut into it first, so she wouldn’t be tempted to keep it for herself. The girls needed new dresses more than she did.

“They do look like good spring and summer dresses, don’t they?” She smiled down at the dress taking shape in her hands. She would be proud of her girls wearing these to church on Sundays. They were going to be beautiful. “Would you like some milk and cookies? I baked the cookies fresh this morning.”

“I’d love some.” Bess’s eyes lit up as she responded. She was such a sweet, friendly girl that Millie found herself drawn to her more and more.

“Are you from around here, or did you move here after you married?” Millie asked her. She poured them milk and served cookies, making sure to include Patience by serving her some as well.

Patience set down the pieces of dress she was working on basting together and picked up a cookie, taking a tiny bite off of one side. All her attention was focused on Bess and Millie and the conversation they were having.

Bess sighed. “I grew up here. I met John at church, and we courted for a while. I’ve lived in this same little town my whole life.”

Millie smiled. “I think it’s a beautiful little town. Where I lived, in Boston, it was dirty. No one really seemed to care about anyone else. The crowds in the city were terrible. I’m so glad to be here where it’s so fresh and clean all the time.”

Bess tilted her head to the side as if considering her new friend’s words. “I never thought of it that way. I guess it would be fun to see a place like that, but I don’t know if I’d want to live there.” She took a bite of the cookie. “Was it fun being a mail order bride? I don’t think I could agree to marry someone sight unseen like that. I’d be too scared.”

“I was fortunate. I ended up with a good man who treats me well and four wonderful children.” She paused taking a sip of the milk in front of her. “I don’t think I’d have done it if I hadn’t had to, though. I was raised in an orphanage and they require you to leave when you turn eighteen. I really didn’t have a choice.”

Bess’s eyes widened. “Do you know of any other girls who will forced to leave soon?”

“I do! My closest friend there, Charlotte, will be eighteen in a few months. I need to write her, but I haven’t sat down without work to do for long enough to write anyone.”

Bess looked at her speculatively. “John’s younger brother comes to my house for dinner every night. He’s twenty-two, but there really aren’t any eligible girls. We should fix them up. He can’t afford to pay a broker, but he could pay for her fare out here and give her a small clothing allowance.”

Millie smiled. “That’s a fabulous idea! I’ll write to her as soon as I get a chance.”

They spent the afternoon chatting, munching on cookies, and Millie kept sewing as fast as she could make her needle go. She wanted to finish the dresses up as fast as she could. As she sat and talked with her new friend, she realized that she much preferred the life she was living to the one she’d daydreamed about on the way to Minnesota. The only thing missing for her was the love of her husband. Hopefully that would come in time.

After a couple of hours, Bess stood. “I need to get home to put supper on the table. John gets cranky when he comes in from the fields and his meal isn’t waiting for him.” She paused for a moment with a grin. “So does his brother James.”

Millie’s eyes widened. “So does George! I’ve only done it once, but it wasn’t pretty.”

Bess laughed. “It won’t be the last time. Sometimes I get so carried away with what I’m doing, I just plain forget about dinner.”

“That’s how it happened with me, too. I guess I’m not the worst wife alive.”

Bess shook her head, her brown eyes sparkling. “No more than I am. We’ll get better with time, I’m sure.”

Millie stood and walked with Bess to the edge of the clearing, hugging her tightly. “Thank you for coming over. Please drop by anytime.”

Bess smiled. “You’ll get sick of me soon. I promise!” She pointed in the direction of her house. “You can’t see it from here, but I live about a mile that way. You and the children are welcome to visit anytime.”

Millie smiled. “If I ever get caught up on all my chores, I’ll do that.”

She went back into the house and fixed dinner for her family, grateful she’d come out here to live with a good man and was making some new friends. God was surely watching out for her.

As soon as she thought those words, she was surprised. She’d never before thought about God being a person who was actively interested in her life. To her, he’d always been some far off, distant figure who didn’t care about her one way or the other. Maybe that was why George didn’t think she was a Christian. Maybe Christians thought of God as an active force in their lives as she was beginning to do.

She contemplated God and her growing relationship with him as she cooked and all through dinner. She’d never had an active prayer life, but now found herself thinking maybe she needed a more solid relationship with her Father. Should she ask George about it? Or should her relationship with Him be a private thing just between them?

For now, she decided to keep it to herself. She would continue to pray when she felt the urge, and maybe she’d develop the kind of Father/daughter relationship with God that she’d seen so many others enjoy. She saw clearly now that simply going to church did not make her a Christian.

After the dishes were done, and the children in bed, she sat down with the almost finished dress she was making for Patience. She bowed her head for George’s prayer for their Bible study, and this time she silently added a few words of her own. “Father, help me to make this information my own. Help me to be a good Christian wife, and to understand what you require of your people. I want to worship you the right way.”

When she raised her head, she saw George looking at her speculatively. She smiled and nodded toward the Bible, ready to listen to God’s words for her.

When he was finished reading the chapter, George closed the Bible and took her hand in his once again. “You’re becoming a better wife and mother every day, Millie. I’m really proud of how far you’ve come in such a short time.”

Millie blushed at his praise. “Thank you. I’m doing my very best.”

“I’ll never ask you for anything more than that.”