Still House Pond (2 page)

Lilly tucked her chin. “Yes, ma'am, but I couldn't resist.”

“Take it off and I'll pick sticker weeds while you burp Jumbo here.”

Lilly laughed as she pulled her dress over her head. “He's too skinny to be a Jumbo.”

Mama put the baby in Lilly's arms with his head on Lilly's shoulder. She made a patting motion on the baby's back.

Lilly patted. “Is this too hard?”

A funny sound came from the baby. His rounded chin bounced on Lilly's shoulder.

Mazy and Molly giggled. “Brrrurp,” they said in unison.

“Sounds just right.” Mama bent over the skirt of the weed-covered dress. “Forevermore, Lilly, where did you go, anyway?”

Uh-oh, Mama was getting curious. “Why is Jack outside all by his lonesome?” she asked.

“Jack?” Mama swiveled toward the window. She raised the sash. “Son, what are you doing out there?”

Jack flung himself around and around, twisting the swing's ropes ever tighter. The ropes released, twirling Jack like a tornado.

“He's going to fall off and crack like an egg,” Lilly said.

“Like Hunky Dunky?” Mazy asked.

“Yes,” Lilly said, “just like Humpty Dumpty.”

“I need to remind your daddy to lengthen the ropes,” Mama said. “That swing's too high for Jack.”

“The swing's not too high.” Lilly thumped the baby's back. “Jack's too short.”

“Don't be telling him that. For a four-year-old he's got a big attitude.” Mama shook the dress out the open window. “There, good as new. Stick out your feet.”

Mama pulled at least a million stickers from Lilly's hose.

“Why do you imagine God made sticktights?” Lilly asked.

“Probably to remind girls of places they have no business being. You'd best pull your hose off and wash your feet and legs. You'll itch to death if these nettles scraped your skin.”

“Bath?” Mazy jumped up and down, her silky blonde hair flying. “We go swimming?”

Jack climbed over the windowsill and tumbled headfirst to the floor. “I'm drunk.”

“John William Pelfrey,” Mama said in her sternest voice, “do you want me to wash your mouth out with soap?”

“Soap?” Molly said. “Blow bubbles?”

Mama laid Lilly's pretty dress across the bed, shut the window, uprighted Jack, and took Jumbo from Lilly. “Forevermore,” she said.

It was like a party at the supper table. Manda had cooked Lilly's favorite chicken and dumplings. Plus, Reverend Jasper and his wife and family had stopped by, as well as three of the Sheltons. Mama insisted they all stay for the meal. Daddy brought in chairs from the porch. That made fifteen, but the little kids didn't need chairs. They could sit on laps and eat off other people's plates. She probably shouldn't count Aunt Remy either because she kept leaving the table to check on Mrs. Sizemore and Jumbo.

The last time Aunt Remy jumped up, Manda covered her plate with a tea towel. Mama would have reprimanded Lilly if she had left the table without being excused, but nobody ever fussed at Aunt Remy. Besides, she was an adult even if she was child-size. Lilly would be glad when she was a grown-up and could do as she pleased.

After supper, all the kids played Mother, may I? in the front yard while the adults settled on the porch to talk. Jay Shelton got to be mother because he was company, and company came first. He drew broom straws with Kate Jasper and won. Lilly could tell Kate was miffed, but she was always upset over something. Lilly thought it was because Kate was the baby of the family.

It would have been more fun if Manda played with them, but she was sharing a bench with Gurney Jasper. Funny, Manda had nearly scooted over the side of the bench. Maybe she didn't like Gurney being so close. So it was Lilly, Kate, Jay and his little brother, Wilton, and Jack who were playing, and Molly and Mazy who were getting in the way. That's why she needed Manda.

“Take two giant steps,” Jay called. “Take five baby steps.” Finally he sang, “Take ten scissor steps.” Lilly's favorite.

“Mother, may I?” she sang back.

“Yes, you may,” Jay said.

Lilly maneuvered a quick cross-step but got tangled up with Mazy.

Kate, who was Lilly's age and her best friend, easily passed everyone else.

“Go back,” Jay demanded. “You forgot to say ‘Mother, may I?'”

Kate stomped back to where they'd started while Lilly happily crossed the finish line. Now she got to be mother and call out the orders. She did her call outs all in baby steps so the little ones would have a chance. “Yay for Jack,” she yelled when he was first. He had a big grin on his face.

Over Jack's head, she saw Aunt Remy open the door and motion for Mama. She hurried into the house followed closely by Brother Jasper, who thumbed through the pages of his big black Bible as he went. Mrs. Jasper knelt beside her chair and folded her hands in prayer.

Manda came out in the yard to get Jack and the twins. “It's time to wash your feet for bed,” she told them in her I-mean-business voice.

Lilly went to sit on the porch steps with Kate, Jay, and Wilton.

“What's wrong?” Kate whispered.

Lilly thought she knew, but she didn't answer. She didn't want to talk about it.

2

Copper Pelfrey paced the porch floor. It was five o'clock in the morning. The rooster wasn't even awake yet.

Remy handed her a cup of strong black coffee.

“I've never come that close to losing a patient.”

Remy poured some of her own coffee into a saucer and blew across the top. “It was right scary, I'll warrant.”

“It makes me sad that Tillie had no family with her.”

“I reckon she needed you and me worse than she needed anybody else last night.”

Copper wrapped both hands around her cup. The warmth seeped through the ironstone mug, warming her hands. “Still, a woman needs her husband at a time like that.”

“And what good would Abe Sizemore have been, shiftless thing that he is?”

Setting her cup on the porch rail, Copper stretched backward, working the kink out of the small of her back. “Why don't you go get some rest?”

“I'll catch me a nap on the cot in the sickroom after while,” Remy said. “I'm going to the shed first to see about Foxy.”

The rooster heralded the break of dawn as Copper watched her friend's halting progress until the fog that hung across the yard in thick gray curtains swallowed Remy up. Copper's thoughts turned to a simpler time when she was young and Remy was whole. They had been the best of friends when Copper lived with her daddy and stepmother up Troublesome Creek.

Remy was a wild thing, out on her own at twelve, while Copper at fifteen was cosseted in the arms of her family. They'd met in a cave of all places, and Copper had been determined to save Remy from her lonesome state. But Remy refused to be saved.

Copper retrieved her coffee and took a sip. It was nearly cold; she'd let it sit too long. Remy was her first lesson in what it meant to be truly independent. A lesson Copper sorely needed when her first husband, Lilly's father, died and she was left alone to try to make a go of the farm passed down from her daddy. Now Remy lived close as kin on Copper and John's property, free to come and go as she pleased. Thankfully, she chose to be near Copper and her family most of the time.
Good thing,
Copper thought.
What would I do without Remy?

She dashed the bitter coffee dregs out into the yard. She'd have a hot cup with breakfast, but for now she needed to get to the barn. Bertha waited.

Before she could step off the porch, strong arms encircled her from behind. John nuzzled her neck. “Why don't I do the milking this morning?” he asked.

Leaning back into his warmth, she felt the tension of the night drain away. He was her rock. “Let's just stay here instead. Bertha can wait a minute.” She turned in his arms and stood on tiptoe for a morning kiss.

“Don't tempt me,” he said.

She laughed. “No chance of that. You know the twins will be up with the rooster.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “And you're itching to get to the barn. I think you love that cow more than me.”

“You're a very close second,” she teased. “Besides, Bertha's easier to get along with.”

John sat on the step and pulled on his boots. “What should a man expect but disrespect from a woman who'd name her twin daughters after cows?”

She made her way around him and down the steps. “Speaking of which, I'd better get a wiggle on. The girls will want warm milk with their breakfast. Where are you off to this morning?”

He looked up from lacing his boots. “Nowhere right now. I'm waiting to watch the wiggle.”

“John Pelfrey, anybody could be listening.”

He gave her his slow, easy smile, the one that crinkled his green eyes at the corners, the one that was hers alone. “Let them listen.”

“You're not leaving before you eat, are you?”

“I thought I'd go get Abe Sizemore early on before he has a chance to shirk his responsibility another day.” His bootlace snapped midlace. Patiently he pulled it out and rethreaded it, tying a knot instead of a bow. “Fool man needs to see his wife and baby.”

Copper pushed curling tendrils of thick red hair under her work bonnet. “That's true enough, but shouldn't you wait until Abe's ready to come?”

“When do you reckon that might be? His head's as empty as a Simlon gourd. If I don't go fetch him, he's likely to forget he has a wife.” John examined the short piece of leather string, then stuck it in his pocket. “Waste not, want not.”

He joined her on the walk to the stable. “Seriously though, Tillie Sizemore could have died last night.”

Copper shuddered. “Don't remind me.”

“I always thought once a woman made it through childbirth, you didn't have to worry anymore,” John said. “What went wrong last night?”

“She started flooding. You know how sickly she is. That's why I brought her here instead of delivering her at home. Something told me she needed close watching.”

“Will she be all right?” he asked while opening the stable door and standing aside for Copper to enter first.

“Well, she'll be eating beef liver for a while, but I think she'll be fine.”

“What's that do?”

“Puts some iron back in her blood. Don't you remember how anemic I got with the twins? I ate so much liver and onions, I didn't think I would ever eat them again.”

He paused just inside the door as she scooped feed from a wooden bin into a bucket. “I remember how scared I was for you. It makes me think Molly and Mazy should be our last.”

The grain hit the bucket with a pleasant whoosh. It smelled sweet and summery. Copper loved the ritual of feeding and milking Bertha every morning and evening. It was good to have an animal to tend to. “You don't mean that, I hope. I want a dozen babies or thirteen like your mother. Remember how happy she always was and how welcoming?”

“I do,” he replied. “Still, it was hard on her.”

Bertha bawled impatiently.

Copper kissed John on the cheek. “You fret too much. Go fetch Abe. He can have breakfast with us.”

It was a good thing Manda had fried extra bacon and eggs because Abe Sizemore ate like a man coming off a fast.

After breakfast, Copper took him to the invalid room. His grin spread ear to ear when he saw his baby son for the first time. “Ah, Tillie, you done good.”

Sweet Tillie beamed and lifted her wan hand to her husband's whiskered cheek. “How are you making out without me?”

“It is hard being on my lonesome. I've near starved without your cooking.” Standing, he turned to Copper. “Can I carry them home now? I brought the wagon.”

Copper had seen many men like Abe Sizemore in her years of baby catching. He was good as gold but lazy as lead. “I was going to ask you about that. What do you think about Tillie staying here a couple more days?” She chose her words carefully. With men like Abe it was best to let them think they came up with their own answers.

“Well, I thank ye kindly, but we couldn't put you out no more'n we've already done.”

Tillie flinched like she'd been struck, but she reached for the dress that was neatly folded on a chair beside the bed. The baby fretted in his cradle.

“Tillie,” Copper said, “why don't you nurse the baby first? Abe and I will take a little walk.”

“Now, Abe,” she said as he followed her outdoors like a puppy at her heels, “I know I can trust you to do what's best for Tillie.”

“Sure thing,” he said as they paused beneath the apple tree in the side yard.

“All right then. First make sure she doesn't do anything but feed the baby for two weeks. Okay? No cooking, washing, cleaning, ironing, or anything that might tire her in the least. Have you ever changed a nappy? I must show you that before you go. Oh, and you'll want to freshen the bed linens every day.”

Abe nodded, but he was beginning to look as pale as his wife.

“You'll get the hang of it easy enough,” Copper said. “Just soak the linens in cold water overnight. That will take any stains out.” Starting back, she stopped midstride as if she had forgotten something. “Make sure you cook nutritious foods.”

“I ain't sure what that means,” he replied.

“Food that is good for your wife and son,” she said kindly. The man was trying. “Tillie is still eating for two.”

“Are you certain Tillie's ready to come home?” he asked. “Seemed like she looked a little peaked.”

“I trust your judgment on that. I can see where you'd want to get them home. But if you'd like, she can stay a few more days.” Copper made a puzzled face. “You could come by for visits—maybe around suppertime? Tillie will be upset if she doesn't see you every day. We don't want that, do we?”