Her Own Place by Dori Sanders

applauded. He’s a fine young man, and he’s going to be a good teacher and father, she thought as she settled back into her seat.

Part
 III

: 8 :
    In the months and years that followed Annie Ruth’s wedding and Taylor’s return from the war, Mae Lee all but stopped working in the fields. If she wasn’t planning weddings or helping with newborn grandchildren, she was being called upon for some other thing. It seemed that Annie Ruth’s marriage opened up the floodgate for weddings. Dallace was the next. Her wedding set the stage for Nellie Grace. As soon as she got back to New York from attending Dallace’s wedding, Nell called home. “I’m in love, Mama, and I want to get married. Please say it’s all right,” she said. Mae Lee gave her permission and she was married the next day. It all reminded Mae Lee of the time she’d asked her mama’s permission to get married. Nellie Grace was a computer specialist, and off on her own, yet she’d asked, though what she might have done if Mae Lee had objected was another matter. In a way, it was all kind of nice for Mae Lee. She enjoyed the fuss her new sons-in-law made over her.
    Finally there came a year when Mae Lee and Ellabelle had nothing to make plans and get ready for. And though they openly expressed their relief, inwardly they felt a little deprived. And then, as always, there was the bitter surfacing along with the sweet. The happiness over one event was dampened by the sadness of another. Mae Lee hadn’t been spared. After a very short marriage, Nellie Grace was getting a divorce.
    Lost in thought, Mae Lee leaned back in her rocking chair. Ellabelle sat quietly nearby; her grown children had always lived away from Rising Ridge. The two widows had come a long way. Both lives had often been a long hard row to hoe. Mae Lee’s children were all grown and away. Dallace and Nellie Grace were still in New York, Amberlee just across some river in New Jersey. Mae Lee didn’t think she’d have to worry about a wedding for Amberlee anytime soon. They all had good jobs, Mae Lee thought, and for the time being, two of them had good husbands. Annie Ruth, bless her heart, quit her job to stay home with her children. Taylor had decided to accept a teaching job in his wife’s hometown, Overrun, just outside Concord, North Carolina, a little more than an hour away. With Annie Ruth in Greensboro, North Carolina, at least she had two children reasonably close by.
    The women were quiet for a long time. Finally, Ellabelle spoke. “For right now my children are all doing well, really well. I think we should be very content and happy, but I’m not. Wonder why?”
    Mae Lee swallowed hard. “Maybe, because like me, you’relonely.” Mae Lee quickly brightened, though. “I won’t be lonely long,” she said. “My little grandson Tread is coming this summer.” Her thoughts shifted to the farming season just ahead, and she asked her friend if she’d be available to carry her a few places to take care of some business the first of the week.
    On Monday morning, Mae Lee woke early and called Ella-belle on the telephone. “You didn’t forget me, did you? I know it’s early but you know how long it takes to get waited on down at the Farmers Center this time of year.”
    â€œI’m still in my bed, but I guess I’ll be there by the time you’re ready,” Ellabelle said.
    Later that morning she stopped Hooker Jones from his plowing to tell him that the fertilizer and soybeans were ready for him to pick up from the Farmers Service Center. “It’s all paid for,” she said.
    Mae Lee’s days were filled with happiness during the summer her grandson spent with her.
    â€œI want to be a doctor, grandmama, a medical doctor,” he announced one day, clear out of the blue. She was getting ready to shell peas and he was playing in the sand.
    It had