Changing Traditions, A Christmas Novella (4 page)

Bethany smiled, “Very
well. I’ll see you later?”

“
You can count on
it.”

With a smile on her face,
Bethany hurried to her wagon to see if she could catch up to Laura
and manage to convince her sister to ride with her.

It
didn’t take long for Bethany to catch up with Laura, because even
though Laura walked fast, Bethany had horse power on her side.
Pulling up beside her, Bethany decided her best course of action
wasn’t to talk about Christmas. “Please, Laura, it’s supposed to
snow and I wouldn’t want to you get caught in the storm. Besides,
you have yet to tell me about the new doctor.”

That got Laura to pause.
“I’d rather not talk about that right now.”

“
But you promised, Laura,
remember. I told you about Jeremy.”

Laura burst out laughing,
“Fine, but just remember, Jeremy told me, not you.” Bethany moved
over as Laura climbed up. When neither spoke right away, Bethany
found she had to prompt Laura into talking about the new
doctor.

Laura sighed, “I just
can’t believe Dr. Luke would do something like that to me. I’m sure
I told him that I wanted to be a doctor, or at least Katie did. I
love Katie and admire her as a nurse. Really, she was the one who
inspired me. But Bethy, being a doctor is like proving to myself
that a girl can do anything a man can do. Why do guys and girls
have to have different occupations?”

“
I can’t say that I know
for sure what you are getting at, but I have heard it
before.”

“
Well, I couldn’t be a
farmer because I was a girl and now that I found something that I
love doing, I can’t do it because a man will do a better job! But
what irks me most is that Dr. Luke would think of me as less than I
can be.”

“
Now, now, Laura. Perhaps
he doesn’t think that at all. Maybe he is planning on training both
of you or perhaps he thinks you need some more time until you take
over a doctor role.”

“
I would get schooling,
but the school where Katie got her training as a nurse only does
nurse training. Girls can’t be doctors, plain and
simple.”

Bethany thought about what
Laura had said and it did seem to be unfair that Laura couldn’t
pursue what she wanted to do. Bethany never thought of those things
simply because she never had a desire to go out and work. All she
would ever think about is when she began keeping her own house with
Albert—or now, she supposed it would most likely be
Jeremy.

But did she really side as
Laura did for women’s equality? The topic never seemed a big deal
before, but Laura was always the independent one. No doubt she’d be
joining in suffrages and go fight her way into a man’s college just
so that she could become a doctor. Laura had that way about
her.

Turning to study her
sister, Bethany had another thought of why Laura would be so
concerned about this new doctor. “You have yet to tell me, Laura.
This new doctor, is he young?”

Laura’s eyes narrowed, “I
suppose so, though I have trouble determining people’s
ages.”

“
Young as in, your
age?”

“
Does it
matter?”

“
Yes, I think it does. I
believe you are so out to get this doctor, what’s his
name?”

Laura sighed, “Isaac
Bradley.”

“
I believe you are so set
against Isaac Bradley because you think perhaps with time, you may
come to care for him and then you will not go off to college, but
instead will be happy with your nurse title. Am I
right?”

“
Of course
not!”

Her defensive manner told
Bethany otherwise, “Come, Laura, I know when you are lying.
Besides, I can see right through you.”

“
Oh very well! Yes, he is
rather good looking in that respect. And well, I suppose he did ask
me to dine with him at the hotel restaurant.”

Bethany stopped the wagon,
“He what? Oh Laura…”

“
I told him no of course.
I said I had no interest in keeping company with any man and that I
was content with my life as it was.”

“
You didn’t!”

“
Of course I did. Dr. Luke
and Katie heard the entire thing too, so if you don’t believe me,
go ask them. I will not have any man stand in the way of me
following my dreams. I will go off to college and I will be a woman
doctor, just you wait and see, Bethany Woodsmall.”

Bethany gave a slight
laugh, “I believe you will, Laura. I’m sure God has a great many
plans for your life. I suppose this is where you get all your
independent ideas for Christmas this year.”

Instead of getting angry,
Laura turned to Bethany, “Please, Bethy, take my side. Doing
something new isn’t bad. Perhaps we can start new
traditions?”

“
I see where you are
coming from, but I think we all need more time. Why is this so
important to you?”

Laura seemed to look off
somewhere and Bethany almost thought she wouldn’t answer her. “Do
you remember when we were home and all the guys were away at war?
We were trying to move forward as well as possible. We didn’t want
to do any of our Christmas traditions because it just wouldn’t be
the same without them. And now with Henry gone, it still won’t be
the same. Don’t you think that changing up our traditions might
help us forget the horrors of war?”

When she put it like that,
Bethany knew that Laura was right. Celebrating Christmas like they
always had would bring with it memories of those who were missing.
Henry, Cousin Luke, and even Albert. Nothing was the same as it
used to be. “But Laura, this is almost like what happened when
Momma died. We didn’t stop celebrating, we did it to help us
remember what the times were like.”

“
Please, Bethy, say you’ll
try to convince Carolyn, Heather, and Momma? You may not think I
suffered during the war, but I did! I had to watch you all mourn
and wait for letters. I waited too for all of you. I need to move
forward not backward. Remembering is fine, but not now. Please, not
at Christmas.”

Bethany hardly knew how to
respond to Laura. Never before had she heard Laura’s struggles for
she usually kept it bottled inside. Instead she could only manage
to grasp Laura’s hand. “Very well. I will see what I can
do.”

Laura didn’t cry, but as
she looked out across the prairie, Bethany thought she could see
unshed tears glistening in Laura’s eyes. And Laura never
cried.

The
sister meeting never did occur then. By the time Bethany and Laura
returned from town, Carolyn had gone home feeling sick and Heather
was tending to Adam who was screaming after being chased in the
yard by a chicken. To Bethany, it was somewhat of a relief because
she was not sure how she was going to get through that meeting.
Laura’s revelation had Bethany’s mind whirling and she wasn’t sure
what to suggest. Now though, she was out in the woods with Jeremy
collecting pine branches for St. Lucia’s day. Apparently Carolyn
went on planning St. Lucia’s day without Laura realizing it.
Bethany knew this wouldn’t end well, but she really didn’t want to
bring it up with Laura.

“
Exactly how many branches
are we collecting, Beth? I think you have enough to cover the
house.” Jeremy motioned to the pile they had already collected and
Bethany found that it was beginning to get rather
chilly.

“
Is this really so boring,
Jeremy? We are making wreaths to decorate the house for St. Lucia’s
day. Plus, we must gather some for Carolyn and Heather’s
houses.”

“
I think you have enough
for all the houses in town if you wanted.”

Bethany laughed, “Have you
never made a wreath? I see I shall have to instruct you in that.
And you’re right, we may have an excess, but that is because
Carolyn can be ever so picky about her pine branches.”

“
Picky? Is that what you
would call it?”

“
Is excessively
opinionated better?”

“
Much,” Jeremy pulled a
branch out and added it to the pile. “And as I mentioned, let’s
call it quits. I’m not sure we will even be able to bring these all
back in one trip.”

Bethany regarded the pile
as well, “You may be right. I should have thought to bring Jesse’s
cart.”

“
You know I’m always
right, especially about you. But indeed, this cart sounds
marvelous. Is it at Jesse’s place?”

“
No, it’s at mine. We only
call it Jesse’s because he had it made when he was courting
Heather. It’s a small little cart and we always called it that
because he would use it and sneak out so we never knew where he was
going.”

Jeremy came over and
pulled Bethany’s shawl around her shoulder, “I suppose I’ll have to
try out this cart with my girl since it seems like a Woodsmall
novelty item.”

“
Indeed it is, though you
may want to wait and take your girl in the spring or you might get
her stuck in the snow drifts.”

“
So we should have brought
the sleigh out today, not the cart.”

Laughter bubbled from
Bethany, “Right again! For sleigh rides and wreath making are just
two Woodsmall traditions!” Even as she said it, she began to feel a
pang of sadness knowing that Laura didn’t seem to want any of these
traditions now.

Deciding to carry what
they could, Jeremy and Bethany made their way back to Carolyn’s
place where Carolyn and Heather were all ready to begin assembling
the wreaths together.

Carolyn rushed to greet
them at the door, “There you two are! I was beginning to wonder
what kept you. Jesse and Scott were in here just minutes ago but
they were antsy.”

Bethany deposited her load
by the fire place, “There are still more branches left, but even
with piling Jeremy’s arms full we couldn’t carry them
back.”

Heather’s eyes grew wide,
“There’s more?”

Carolyn shooed Heather’s
remark away, “Why of course, you never know if a branch will have a
flaw. Best to have lots to choose from.”

Bethany raised her eyes at
Jeremy as if to say ‘I told you so’ and Jeremy seemed to be doing
his best at keeping the laughter inside. Jeremy squeezed Bethany’s
arm, “You stay here, Beth. I’ll go grab Scott and see if he’ll get
the rest of them with me.”

Bethany nodded her consent
as Carolyn exclaimed, “Oh! Do send Jesse in when you see him. I
need him to begin smoothing the branches.”

Jeremy chanced a glance at
Bethany before looking back at Carolyn, “Smoothing?”

“
Why of course. Pine
branches can be quite rough in some areas and must be smoothed
down. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Jeremy smiled, “If you say
so, I’ll agree.” Then he hurried out before Carolyn grabbed him for
any other tasks.

<> <> <>
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Bethany loved the cozy
atmosphere that wreath making and Christmas decorations brought.
Here she was with her brother, sister, and her guy drinking spiced
cider, sitting by the fire. Jesse, Scott, and Jeremy seemed to get
along so well which confirmed in Bethany’s mind that she had made
the right decision. The jokes those guys made brought laughter to
the group throughout the afternoon. Momma was watching Adam so he
wouldn’t be in all the branches while they were busy.

The door flew open and
Laura was there, bringing a blast of chilly wind in that threatened
their fire. “So I see you just decided to go behind my back for
your traditions. I should have known you wouldn’t talk them over
with me.”

Bethany wasn’t sure what
to say to that remark and her first instinct was to go and wrap her
arms around her sister. Only she knew what was really going on with
Laura. Jesse chimed in first though, “Laura, do come in and shut
the door. Of course you are welcome, but you were in
town.”

Not budging, Laura crossed
her arms, “Well I couldn’t do much since I was in town and it’s not
like I wanted to be included in your wreath making. I just wanted
to make some suggestions on what we were doing this year. I thought
we were going to do that.”

Getting too cold for
comfort, Bethany went and pulled Laura out of the doorway and
proceeded to shut the door, barring the cold outside. Then she
wrapped her arms around her sister, “I’m sorry, dear. But wreaths
can be used anytime for any tradition. We’ve always used them to
decorate the house.”

“
Except that they are St.
Lucia wreaths. Carolyn wouldn’t make any other.” Laura humphed,
“Besides, I thought there wasn’t going to be a St. Lucia this
year.”

Carolyn almost laughed,
“Oh there is, my dear Laura, I think you should come to terms with
at least that tradition. There is no way we are spoiling it for
Rosie and Adam. Think how disappointed they would be.”

“
This isn’t Rosie and
Adam’s problem, it’s yours, Carolyn! Can’t you just take that
responsibility instead of passing it on to your siblings for
once?”

“
Laura!” Jesse rose then,
grabbing his crutch for support, and made his way over to where
Laura was standing. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he said,
“Come now, this isn’t like you. You are being childish and far too
stubborn.”