Love's unfolding dream (Love Comes Softly Series #6) (7 page)

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SIX

Planning

During the next three weeks, even the thrill of accompanying Luke on his calls took second place in Belinda's mind. All she could think about was Melissa's coming. What would she be like? Would they like each other? What about Amy Jo? How would things work out with three of them to get along instead of just two?

Belinda wasn't the only one holding her breath and wondering about the future. She knew Amy Jo wondered--and at times even shed a few tears. Amy Joe said she was sure the two girls, sharing a room up in the big house, would forget all about her. When Belinda attempted to remonstrate with her, Amy Jo had interrupted with, "Well, I don't care." She tossed her head and flounced off. But Belinda knew Amy Jo did care, and she was troubled.

Marty and Belinda were working together over pie crusts in the big farm kitchen.

"Excited 'bout Melissa comin'?" Marty asked.

"Oh yes!" admitted Belinda. "I can hardly wait."

"Been thinkin'--it might be a bit hard fer Amy Jo." Belinda did not argue.

"We need to be extry careful not to let her feel left out," went

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on Marty, and Belinda nodded, knowing her mother was really meaning "you" when she said "we."

"Have ya thought on any way we might do thet?" asked Marty

Belinda hesitated. "No," she said slowly. "Not really . . . but I . . . I've been thinkin' on somethin' I'd sure like to do fer Amy Jo."

"What's thet?" asked Marty.

"Ya know Amy Jo's room?" ventured Belinda.

Marty nodded.

"Well, it's pale green an' white. It's been those colors--well, since she was born, I think."

Marty nodded again.

"Amy Jo doesn't like those colors," Belinda dared to say. "She doesn't?"

"No. She's sick, sick, sick of green an' white. She wants somethin' bright, or somethin'--somethin' darin', I think."

Marty nodded once more.

"Ma, do ya think Clare an' Kate would let Amy Jo have new colors?"

"I dunno," she said slowly. "Does this mean a lot to Amy Jo?"

"I think so," answered Belinda. "She feels kinda sad 'bout Melissa." Belinda wondered if her mother might misunderstand and was quick to add, "Oh, she's excited 'bout it--same as me. But--she's sad, too, 'cause she won't have Melissa livin' at her house an'--"

"I think I understand," said her mother.

Belinda stole a glance at her mother's face to see if she did understand. After studying it, she felt sure that Marty really did understand what she was trying to say.

"I'll have a chat with Kate," said Marty. "Maybe iffen yer pa an' me offer to help with the wallpaper an' the material, they'll

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let Amy Jo do her own choosin'. She's got a birthday comin'. We could do it fer her birthday."

Belinda wanted to hug her mother, but her hands were all covered with flour. She smiled happily instead.

"Thanks, Mama," she said appreciatively.

But it was really Marty who felt the best about the conversation. She was pleased to know that Belinda cared enough to be thinking about Amy Jo, and was concerned that Belinda might consider only her own excitement about Melissa's arrival.

Marty decided she would tell Clark all about it when they had some time alone to talk. She was sure he would be pleased as well as she was with the maturity of their daughter. She did hope that Clare and Kate would see the offer of a new room for Amy Jo as a show of love rather than any kind of interference.

Marty thought about the colors and prints Amy Jo was likely to pick, and she was secretly glad they would not be decorating a room in her home.

You've made us all different, Lord,
she prayed quietly,
and bless this lively and beloved granddaughter of ours. . . .

Over coffee at Kate's the next morning, Marty discussed the idea of redoing Amy Jo's room as her birthday gift. Kate was thrilled.

"I should have thought to let her do her own choosin' before," said Kate.

"I saw firsthand some of Amy Jo's choices," Marty informed Kate with a chuckle. "Ya better be preparin' yerself is all I can say. I hope ya like yer rooms colorful an' bright."

Kate laughed. "I've seen a few of her choices. They are a bit shockin', aren't they? Well, I guess
we
will jest learn to live with

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'em. I'm realizin' more an' more it's like you an' Pa have often said, they grow up awful fast, an' soon they won't be with us at all." Kate poured more coffee, then went on reflectively, "Besides feedin' an' clothin' and trainin' our children, Clare an' I need to be listenin' to 'em an' learnin' to know 'em as people on their own whilst we've still got the chance."

Marty nodded, thinking of her own scattered family.

"Ya know how Amy Jo has always liked to be drawin' an' colorin'?" Kate continued.

Marty smiled in acknowledgment, remembering Amy Jo drawing and coloring pictures even before she started off to school. They often laughed about her color choices, but Amy Jo had loved the brightness and insisted on using the most colorful watercolors she had.

"I've been tallcin' to Clare," went on Kate. "I've been thinkin' on gettin' Amy Jo some things for drawin' an' paintin' fer her birthday. Let her show her love fer color in her own way. What d'ya think?"

Marty quickly agreed. "Maybe we shoulda done thet ages ago," she mused aloud. "Why didn't we think of it?"

"Guess we've been too busy thinkin' shoes an' vittles," Kate responded.

Marty nodded. It did seem to take all a parent's time just thinking of the physical needs of the family. "I think she'd love it," Marty went on after giving Kate's suggestion some thought. "She's always loved bright an' colorful things."

"Maybe Clare could make a little table for her room so she could work with a bit of privacy" Kate went on as though to herself. "Wouldn't she love thet, though?"

"When shall we tell her?" asked Marty, anticipating her granddaughter's surprise and joy.

"Let's leave it fer her birthday surprise. It's only two months away. By then the excitement of Melissa's comin' will sort'ave

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died down. Then she can do her own pickin' and have her room the way she likes it by Christmastime."

Marty agreed, but here was something else she would have to wait for, along with Melissa's arrival.

When Marty shared the secret plans with Belinda, she was almost as excited as they expected Amy Jo to be. If Marty thought, however, her own waiting was difficult, it paled compared to Belinda's eagerness to tell her beloved niece and friend.

Marty helped to fill the days before Melissa arrived by thinking of things they could do that the girl might enjoy when she joined the family--a picnic before the weather turned cold, a visit to Ma Graham, dropping by the schoolhouse where she'd be attending. . . . Marty's thoughts were kept as busy as her hands with the rugs for the floor.

Belinda was not so fortunate. Every day seemed to drag by slower than the one before. Amy Jo accused Belinda of forgetting all about her now that Melissa was coming. She hinted that Belinda would disregard their friendship from past years and like Melissa better. On more than one occasion, Belinda nearly told her about the coming birthday surprise, but she always managed to hold her tongue.

Belinda was especially glad when Luke dropped by to pick her up on the way to make a house call. It did help to distract her from the tedium of the wait.

Then a telegram arrived. They crowded together to read it at the same time.

"Melissa to arrive on 25th by stage. Stop." Clark carefully read. "We love you all. Stop. Willie and Missie."

August twenty-fifth! That was only two days away. Belinda thought she'd never be able to bear it. She turned to run to tell Amy Jo and then checked herself. Maybe that wouldn't be so

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wise. Amy Jo might misunderstand her excitement. Instead she decided to do one last thorough cleaning of her room--the room Melissa would be sharing with Belinda until her own was ready.

She crowded her things together in the tiny closet so Melissa might have room to hang her clothes, then emptied half of the drawers in the tall dresser. She pulled out a wooden box her father had made years ago for her doll things and carefully folded her extra clothing into it. Then she carried the box to the empty room that had been shared by Arnie and Luke. She was glad her mother hadn't suggested Melissa use this room until the room that had been Ellie's was ready for her.
Funny,
Belinda thought.
Mother still thinks of the front bedroom as the "boys' room."
She hadn't even thought of putting Melissa in there.

Well, Belinda didn't mind. Her niece! Just think! She would soon be meeting her niece for the first time! And her niece was almost nine months older than she!

Belinda's heart pounded with excitement and her stomach churned with just a bit of concern. What would it really be like? Well, she would soon learn. It wouldn't be long now.

Marty's heart was also racing. She could not count the number of times when she had ached to hold and to know her granddaughter--their Missie's "baby girl." Melissa Joy was no longer the baby in age or birth sequence she had a younger sister, Julia, whom Marty had never seen, either. But Melissa had been "on the way" when Clark and Marty had spent their difficult winter at the ranch of Willie and Missie. She had been the little one they had hoped to hold before they left again for the East. But Melissa had kept her appointed time for delivery and had not put in her appearance until after the grandparents had gone back home. So Melissa seemed special to Marty somehow. And now. . . now she was a young lady. A girl on the verge of womanhood . . . and Marty had never seen her.

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Melissa's coming was an aching reminder to Marty of just how much she missed Missie and Ellie. She longed to see for herself how they were keeping, to hold their children in her arms.

Marty recalled all the fun she and Clark had shared with Melissa's brothers, Nathan and Josiah.
My, how they would have grown by now,
she marveled. They were well into their teens--almost men. Marty reminded herself that they would not be wanting to sit on Grandpa's lap for a story or cuddle close with Grandma for a bedtime lullaby. Those days were over--never to be reclaimed. She thanked God for the time they had been able to have with the growing boys.

And Julia. Julia was now a little girl of ten. Would Marty have the same privilege of one day welcoming Julia into their home? Would Julia also wish to be a schoolteacher? Marty decided it did no harm for her to hope so.

Ellie, too, was a mother now. Their daughter, Brenda, was almost seven, and twin sons, William and Willis, were busy fouryear-olds. Tears wet her eyes as Marty yearned to see them, to get to know them as more than just names of their faraway offspring.

But Melissa--Melissa was like an earnest, a promise of things to come, a little part of those Marty loved from out west. Was she like Missie? Like Willie? Marty had not even seen a tintype of the young girl.

Oh, how she wished her "western family" could all come for a family reunion. But at least Melissa could catch them up on all the news--that is, if Melissa was the kind of person who would talk freely to them. Would she be shy? After all, she didn't know them--not any of them. Marty felt her stomach tighten again, and, as many times over the past few days, she bowed her head.
Lord, please bring Melissa safely here, and help us to get to know each other quick,
she prayed earnestly,
and help her not to be fearin'. . . .

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SEVEN

Melissa Joy

The whole household was in a frenzy of excitement and activity. Marty had checked and rechecked the supper preparations. Belinda had dusted, straightened, and fussed over her bedroom that they would share. Amy Jo had made any number of trips to the big house to see if it was time to leave. Even Clark paced around restlessly, caught up in the anticipation. Only the horses, already hitched to the buggy, waited patiently.