Sweet Annie (33 page)

Annie's
father had grown still. He studied his wife and daughter with a pained
expression.

“Well,
I think you could still try it for fun,'' Annie said.

"Not
everyone's life revolves around fun," Mildred countered, her words
obviously hurting Annie. "Some of us take our responsibilities
seriously."

Annie's
once gay smile had already faded. She turned luminous eyes to her father, who
looked away, and then toward Luke.

"What's
really special," he said, "is when your responsibilities seem like
fun because you're doing what you want to do." He gave Annie an
encouraging smile.

"I'm
very impressed with your sewing skills," Charmaine added.

Annie gave her a
halfhearted smile.

"There
are more gifts to open," Luke said, trying to sound cheerful, and wishing
instead he could stuff a wool sock in Mildred Sweetwater's mouth and give her a
good shake. "Annie hasn't opened hers."

Annie
opened gloves and perfume and a tea set and books. Luke received a pipe and
tobacco from the Renlows, a belt and handkerchiefs from Diana and Burdell.
Eldon had purchased them an oval Florentine design gold-framed mirror. Burdell
and Diana got one just like it.

Charmaine
gave Luke and Annie an unusual dinner-plate-size round picture of two horse
heads in a circular ebony frame. "I thought you'd like something for your
mantel, and the horses made me think of you."

"That's
very thoughtful," Luke told her. "It will look perfect on the
mantel." Annie hugged her cousin.

"And
it's a reminder," he heard Charmaine tell her softly, "that the next
too-good-to-be-true man is mine."

Eldon
made a big production over Annie's pies next, as though he wanted to make up
for her mother's cold responses.

They
sat about with full stomachs, the scents of coffee and cinnamon and evergreen
in the air, and Luke brought up the subject he and Annie had agreed to share
this day. Might as well get it out and deal with it. "Annie and I have
something exciting to tell you," he said.

Heads turned their way.

"Do
you want to?" he asked her. She was seated on the upholstered footstool in
front of him.

Her
eyes let him know she was still uncertain. She seemed to think a moment before
she nodded and reached back for his hand.

He
tried to reassure her with a firm, but gentle grasp.

Without
preamble, she spoke the words. "We're going to have a baby."

Poignant silence prevailed.

"We're
incredibly happy, and we want this more than anything," she rushed on.
"I've been to the doctor and he says there's nothing to prevent me from
having a healthy child."

Mildred's hand came up to
cover her mouth.

"What
doctor did you see?" her father asked, finally speaking out.

"Dr. Martin in
town."

"Perhaps
you should see a doctor back East—" he began.

"Dr.
Martin has always been perfectly capable of caring for me," Diana spoke
up. "He delivered Will and he's going to deliver this baby." She
placed a hand on her slightly protruding belly.

"Your babies have
always been normal," Mildred interrupted. "This is Annie's
baby!"

Annie's whole body jerked.
"My baby is normal, too!" she cried, sitting up straight and facing
her mother. "Don't you say such a cruel thing! Don't you dare spoil this,
too!"

Luke leaned forward and
placed his arm around Annie's shoulder. She trembled with obvious hurt and
anger. "It's all right, Annie, my sweet," he said softly against her
hair to calm her.

"Mildred, there's no
cause for upsetting Annie," Eldon said logically.

Will, having heard the
voices, came to stand at his father's knee. "Nanny cry?" he asked,
his brown eyes wide with concern.

"Nannie's just
fine," Burdell told his son and pulled him onto his lap. "Nannie's
going to give you a cousin to play with."

Annie's head turned toward
her brother, and Luke felt the tension ease from her body. Burdell's gaze went
from Annie's to Luke's and Luke silently thanked him for this change of heart
and support.

Diana touched her husband's
arm as though he'd justified her belief in him.

Mildred stood, kicking
aside the paint box, straightened her silk skirts and her spine and left the
room with her chin high.

The tension seemed to leave
with her, especially now that Burdell had become an ally of sorts. Luke
wouldn't bet money that the man would spit on him if he caught fire, but at
least he'd shown some mercy toward his sister's feelings, and for that Luke was
grateful.

Charmaine
moved over to Annie and Luke released her so that the two could embrace. Annie
surely needed comfort and assurance from the women in her family now more than
ever. He was her husband and he would do everything he could to make her happy
and protect her, but she needed her family, too.

Charmaine
touched Annie's cheek and gave her a watery smile, amazing Luke at the
tenderness and love the two shared. He'd never seen a similar display of
affection, and had to wonder how Annie's mother could hold herself apart from
people who had so much love to give. Since he didn't have much family, he was
thankful now that the Renlows would be a good example for his child.

After
several minutes, Charmaine got up and helped Diana clear away wrapping and
dishes. Burdell knelt in front of Annie. Luke kept his face hidden behind
Annie's shoulder, so as not to interfere.

"Your
baby is just fine, Annie. We all know that," he said to his sister, his
voice softer than Luke had ever heard it. "You will be a wonderful mother.
Remember, this is all new, and sometimes new things take some getting used to.
I'm seeing a whole different person than the Annie I knew."

"It's
still me, Burdy," she said. "Still the same Annie. But I've been able
to grow up and live—really live for the first time. Why can't Mother accept
that?"

"I
don't know. Maybe she thinks you don't need her any more. Maybe she's jealous
of your new life without her. You were her whole life for a lot of years."

"Maybe,"
she said. "But why can't she see that I don't want a life without her?
She's the one closing me out."

"I
don't know," he said again, and Luke understood his inadequacy to come up
with an answer for Annie when she asked those questions that ripped into a
man's heart. Annie was still the apple of this family's eye.

Burdell
got up, meeting Luke's eyes in a brief exchange, then left the room.

Eldon
and Mort had taken seats at the checkerboard, and Will napped on the divan.

"I
want to go now," Annie said, turning to face Luke.

He
gave her his most encouraging smile. "You okay?"

She nodded. "I just
want to go home."

"I'll
go get the buggy. I'll need to feed and water the horses, so it will take me a
while. You'll be all right?"

"I'll
watch their game until you come back. They never call a draw."

Mildred
had gone to her room without returning, so Annie hugged and kissed and thanked
the rest of her family. Her father put on his coat and carried her out to the
buggy and Luke, understanding his need to take care of his daughter once in a
while, trudged behind.

"Thank
you for the shirt, Annie," he told her, waving from the curb.

"Thank you for the
mirror, Daddy!" she called.

Luke prodded the horse
forward.

She
snuggled against his side, and he wrapped his arm around her for warmth and
security. "You sure impressed them with your sewing," he said.

"Yeah.
I did, didn't I?"

"Their
little Annie can make shirts and pies...and a baby. No wonder they need some
time to get used to things."

She chuckled. "Let's
stop by your Uncle Gil's. I hope his shirt fits him."

Gil's ranch house was
obviously a man's domain, furnished for practicality alone. Annie had saved a
pie for him, and he thanked her. His astonishment over the shirt she'd made him
was a pleasure, and he congratulated them on the news about the baby.

"I don't have any
children, so some little Carpenters are mighty welcome around here," he
told Annie.

Annie was glad they'd
stopped, but eager to get home, so she was grateful when Luke made their
goodbyes and helped her into the buggy.

He carried her into the
house, brought in all their new gifts and took the rig to the barn. When he returned,
Annie had started a fire and placed the round horse picture on the mantel
beside the satin box her jewelry had come in. Luke hung his coat and hat and
glanced at the plain tree sadly lacking glass balls or candles or beads,
thinking again of the material things he hadn't been able to supply.

Annie sat in her chair
watching the firelight dance on the tree. "Isn't it beautiful?" she
asked.

"It's just a tree," he said. "Your
family's is nicer."

"Fancier, maybe, but
not nicer," she disagreed. "Glenda probably decorated it as part of
the household chores. But nobody
loved
it.
Not like we love this one."

He couldn't help but be
amazed by her joy in simple things, her pleasure in doing routine tasks and owning
the barest minimum of possessions. Annie made all things new and lovely by her
pure childlike enjoyment of life and its simple pleasures.

And
now with a baby on the way, life would only get better. They had withstood the
tests of her family thus far, weathered their disapproval by showing them that
their love was greater than the obstacles. Gradually her family was being won
over by Annie's enthusiasm and obvious joy. Eldon had softened, and today even
Burdell had shown his support.

Nothing
could get in the way of their happiness now.

Chapter Sixteen

Luke had lost weight over
the winter, she noticed, though she fed him well. He was always working— always
cutting wood or shoeing horses or breaking ice from the stock tanks—between the
livery and the house he barely rested. Part of his labors was to make things
easier for her, and she worried that she was a burden. He grew leaner and more
muscled and Annie grew fatter and lazier.

Sometimes
she was so tired, she would try to sew and wake up an hour later, the fabric
wrinkled in her lap. Other times she'd make up her mind to complete a task and
end up beneath her quilt in front of the fire. Luke had made her a thick pallet
and instructed her to rest whenever she felt the least bit weary. And that was always.
Or so it seemed for most of the winter months.

Spring
arrived, and with it a new burst of energy and a renewed vitality. In April,
the snow melted and rushed down the mountains, spilling over the creek beds and
the riverbanks and turning grass and trees green. Mares foaled and Luke seemed
to always be with the horses.

Annie
had sewn an entire wardrobe of tiny gowns, hats, blankets and flannels for
their baby, lovingly pressed each item and packed all between dried rose petals
in a trunk.

Luke bought a cradle and
brought it home to her one evening. She sat down in her chair and cried.

"What's wrong?"
he asked, concern etching his lean features. He knelt in front of her.

"You're so
tired," she said, touching his face. "And I'm so—fat."

He chuckled. "You're not fat. You're carrying
a baby, there's a difference."

"But I'm clumsier than ever. You must see
that."

"No, I don't," he denied. "You're
beautiful."

She smiled at him through
her nonsensical tears. "It's been a hard winter, hasn't it?"

He shrugged. "We've
paid our bank notes each month. We haven't lost an animal, and we're going to
have stock to sell this summer. I knew it wouldn't be easy at first. We both
did."