first husband was a Frenchman, you know. Jock come over here from Paris,France—as a young man. For to make his fortune. And a sweet talker, oh my, with that accent. Like a dove cooing. I do like a man with a foreign accent so long as he’s got a good deep voice, like your—”
She broke off because Curiosity stood at the door.
Lily jumped up from the table, her surprise and pleasure banishing the last of her mood. “You are out very early.”
“Child, half the morning is gone,” she said. “Couldn’t wait no longer to see your sweet face again. With all the trouble yesterday I hardly got a chance to look at you.”
“Is Ma coming too?”
“She be by soon enough,” Curiosity said. “Went down to the village with your daddy, see what help they could be. Let me set, my joints aching this morning something fierce. Here now, that will be Hannah and Birdie at the door.”
Lily went to let her sisters in, and was enveloped immediately in Birdie’s strong hug. It seemed as though the youngest of them would take after Da in terms of her height, because she was almost as tall as Lily at just ten years old.
Hannah had her Simon tied to her chest in a large square of linen folded into a sling. The baby peeked out like a very comfortable and satisfied owl as Hannah leaned forward to kiss Lily on the cheek.
Birdie was breathless with excitement. “I wanted to come an hour ago but Hannah said to wait, you needed to catch up on your sleep. The nieces and nephews wanted to come too, but they can’t, not yet.” Said with considerable satisfaction.
Birdie continued, “The boys had a plan to sneak out of the house to go down to the village, but Ben saw right through that, and he took them all off with him to check his lines. If he’s got any left.”
Hannah didn’t reply to this, which was sound practice; it seemed to Lily that her little sister was looking for something to worry about.
“Will you take your nephew?” Hannah asked, and then passed him over to Lily without waiting for an answer. The large, warm, squiggling lump of boy regarded her for a long moment and then broke into a very wide smile.
“He’s got a tooth.” Lily leaned forward to examine the crest of white peaking out of the gum line.
“Believe me, I’m aware of that.” Hannah made a face at her son and he burbled back at her.
Curiosity said, “You won’t break the child, Lily. He so fat that if you did drop him he’d bounce.”
And so they sat together as if it were the most normal thing, as if they did this every morning and always would. The baby played with Lily’s buttons and Birdie called out commentary from one room and then another. Curiosity picked up a sketchbook and began to look through it while Mrs. Thicke went about her business, contributing now and then to a conversation which ranged from the treacherous weather and flood damage to the quality of the most recent batch of flour from the mill, to Friend Lincoln Matthews’s propensity for doing arithmetic in his head, and had they heard about young Billy Crispin, carrying a goat almost as big as himself away from the flood?
Finally Curiosity stood up. “Mrs. Thicke, I am going to ask Lily to show Hannah and me around this pretty little house.”
Mrs. Thicke’s small, round face wrinkled in thought, as though Curiosity had spoken to her in a language she didn’t know, but needed to understand. Then her expression cleared as the underlying request revealed itself to her.
“Oh, sure. I’m just finished here. I’ll go across and see if my sister needs any help; she’s baking this morning. If that’s agreeable?”
Lily nodded, because there was a knot in her throat. For such a long time she had wished for these women to talk to, and time to talk, and privacy. But first she would show them the house, which she assumed they knew better than she did. She had been so tired the night before that she had gone to bed without taking in anything at all.
It was a very
She broke off because Curiosity stood at the door.
Lily jumped up from the table, her surprise and pleasure banishing the last of her mood. “You are out very early.”
“Child, half the morning is gone,” she said. “Couldn’t wait no longer to see your sweet face again. With all the trouble yesterday I hardly got a chance to look at you.”
“Is Ma coming too?”
“She be by soon enough,” Curiosity said. “Went down to the village with your daddy, see what help they could be. Let me set, my joints aching this morning something fierce. Here now, that will be Hannah and Birdie at the door.”
Lily went to let her sisters in, and was enveloped immediately in Birdie’s strong hug. It seemed as though the youngest of them would take after Da in terms of her height, because she was almost as tall as Lily at just ten years old.
Hannah had her Simon tied to her chest in a large square of linen folded into a sling. The baby peeked out like a very comfortable and satisfied owl as Hannah leaned forward to kiss Lily on the cheek.
Birdie was breathless with excitement. “I wanted to come an hour ago but Hannah said to wait, you needed to catch up on your sleep. The nieces and nephews wanted to come too, but they can’t, not yet.” Said with considerable satisfaction.
Birdie continued, “The boys had a plan to sneak out of the house to go down to the village, but Ben saw right through that, and he took them all off with him to check his lines. If he’s got any left.”
Hannah didn’t reply to this, which was sound practice; it seemed to Lily that her little sister was looking for something to worry about.
“Will you take your nephew?” Hannah asked, and then passed him over to Lily without waiting for an answer. The large, warm, squiggling lump of boy regarded her for a long moment and then broke into a very wide smile.
“He’s got a tooth.” Lily leaned forward to examine the crest of white peaking out of the gum line.
“Believe me, I’m aware of that.” Hannah made a face at her son and he burbled back at her.
Curiosity said, “You won’t break the child, Lily. He so fat that if you did drop him he’d bounce.”
And so they sat together as if it were the most normal thing, as if they did this every morning and always would. The baby played with Lily’s buttons and Birdie called out commentary from one room and then another. Curiosity picked up a sketchbook and began to look through it while Mrs. Thicke went about her business, contributing now and then to a conversation which ranged from the treacherous weather and flood damage to the quality of the most recent batch of flour from the mill, to Friend Lincoln Matthews’s propensity for doing arithmetic in his head, and had they heard about young Billy Crispin, carrying a goat almost as big as himself away from the flood?
Finally Curiosity stood up. “Mrs. Thicke, I am going to ask Lily to show Hannah and me around this pretty little house.”
Mrs. Thicke’s small, round face wrinkled in thought, as though Curiosity had spoken to her in a language she didn’t know, but needed to understand. Then her expression cleared as the underlying request revealed itself to her.
“Oh, sure. I’m just finished here. I’ll go across and see if my sister needs any help; she’s baking this morning. If that’s agreeable?”
Lily nodded, because there was a knot in her throat. For such a long time she had wished for these women to talk to, and time to talk, and privacy. But first she would show them the house, which she assumed they knew better than she did. She had been so tired the night before that she had gone to bed without taking in anything at all.
It was a very
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