Serendipity (33 page)

“Collard greens are sweetest in winter. Everyone likes corn pone.” To her irritation, he tried to snuggle her close. “But no one eats skunk.”

Giving him a scathing look, she pushed one arm away and said, “I have. Twice!” She jabbed her elbow between his ribs and slid free.

Quick as a whip, Todd was on his feet behind her. He grabbed her hand so they both stroked Adam together . . . whether she wanted to or not. “Adam deserves reassurance and praise.”

“Then go ahead and give it to him. You’ve won
his
obedience and devotion.”

“Margaret, Margaret.” His whisper rumbled against her temple. “You are a better woman than that. Come.” He lifted the rope tied across Adam’s stall and ducked beneath it. With his arm around her waist, she found herself dragged over to a barrel. “Sit here. We need to talk.”

“To my reckoning, there’s been more than enough talk.”

“What happened. It was wrong – ”

“You already told me that. I’ve never seen anyone kick up such a ruckus over anything this piddly. Then again, there are other things I’d never seen before – like folks saying two prayers over the same meal. Or a woman bein’ dead set on what day another does the laundry. Sure and certain as I live and breathe, no one’s ever eaten my food only to turn and revile it.”

She couldn’t sit still any longer. Hopping to her feet, hands fisted, she nearly got a crick in her neck, looking up at the man she’d pledged to love. If only it were just a crick in her neck and not in her heart, too. “Up till then, what all got said hurt, but sometimes problems gotta get aired. Aye, that’s the way it is, and I accept that.”

“So.” He managed a lopsided smile and reached for her hands. “I knew you would see it thus. It was a misunderstanding.”

“There’s a misunderstanding, all right.” She wouldn’t let him touch her. “Uncle Bo told me that love means seeing someone through God’s eyes – not trying to mold them to suit our wants.”

“That is very wise.”

“And I’ve been incredibly foolish because I’ve confused respect and acceptance. When you proposed, you claimed to respect me. As it turns out, you respect my ability to work, but unless I learn your ways and fix your foods and change into your idea of what a wife is, I’m not acceptable. You’re ashamed of me. Well, the joke is on you, because you’re stuck with me as your wife.” She turned away. They didn’t have a milking stool yet, but her dress was ruined anyway. Maggie snatched up a pail, dashed over to the cow, and squatted down. But the steady
shhhh-shhh-shhhh
of milk streaming into the bucket and the repetitive action failed to calm her. Even that simple pleasure was gone.

Todd crowded by her, down on one knee as if he were proposing all over again. Only he gently tugged her back and seated her on his thigh. “If the result of a joke is having you as my wife, then I’ll be a very happy man.”

“No, you won’t. You’re going to eat groundhog every day for the rest of your sorry life.”

“I hope you know a lot of ways to cook it.” He heaved a sigh. “Enough of the nonsense. These problems must be solved. Mountain ways are different than German ways. The issues themselves are small.”

“Groundhogs aren’t all that small. I – ”

His fingers pressed against her mouth for just an instant. “I’ll gladly eat it again. Surprises sometimes are shocking. And the differences come as a surprise, thus we were shocked. Just as you were about Monday laundry. But our home will be richer for having more knowledge and ways. In the first months, things are bound to come up. We will pray before and after we eat the groundhog, and our family will be happy.”

“Ma’s never happy.”

“I have spoken to her.” His voice took on a harsh edge. “As I said, what happened was wrong.”

Ohhh. He wasn’t saying it was my fault.

“That was one issue, but there is another. I am proud to have you as my wife. I told you, there is no other woman I ever considered to be the mother of my children. But we talk differently. It makes for misunderstandings. For me to say the Stauffers had good manners, you took that to mean I consider you rude. It is not so. I think highly of you. To say that I am grateful or that you are beautiful . . . these things are facts – yet I give them no voice. It makes them no less true.

“The week in the holler, I heard more praise given from one person to another than in all my life, combined. Among you, the words were of encouragement. In my culture it is assumed that all will do their best, and to praise is to make them haughty.”

His voice rang with sincerity, and his words held true. But it saddened her to think there had been such a lack of everyday, ordinary appreciation. It sweetened life.

“Two ways of life. They have caused a misunderstanding in how we see the situation, not in how we see one another. My nature is to talk of the weather and crops and animals. Consider this a measure of my regard for you: Twice, now, we have had long, important conversations. And they were not about weather and crops.”

She couldn’t give in. Not yet. “It was about animals. Groundhogs.”

“See? Even trying, I fell short.”

“I am far different from your horses – you cannot speak soft words and stroke my back a few moments and win my trust.” He said to withhold a truth was the same as lying. In the holler, she’d have let the conversation end now. But this wasn’t the holler, and the time for stark truths ticked with the same measure as her aching heartbeat. Maggie struggled to find the words and failed, so she blurted out, “I don’t like you right now. Not one bit. You’d best know that my heart, mind, and soul aren’t always in accord. My soul tells me to forgive, but my heart aches, and my mind will always remember.”

“For you to forgive is all I ask. It’s enough.”

“Enough for you. You are absolved, and yet I – ” Scooting off his leg and kneeling in the hay, she leaned into the cow. Tears poured down and robbed her of the ability to say anything more.

He remained so close, Maggie knew when he breathed. After a long stretch, when she finished the milking, he set aside the milk pail and helped her up.
I’m an idiot. Why did I take his hand?
She tried to separate, but he didn’t turn loose.

“Margaret, I’m sorry.” He used his free hand to wipe her cheeks. “My heart aches to see you thus. I will always remember this day, too. Guilt does that – not just that what I did was wrong, but even more, that you are the one who will bear the wounds.”

He and Ma sat down to sauerkraut and ham for supper. Maggie fried up the groundhog, but the only pieces on the table were on her plate. It smelled great. Savory steam wended up from it. Todd knew exactly how it would taste, too. After he prayed, he asked, “Where’s mine?”

“Your supper is fine,” Ma said.

“It is fine. But that is excellent. Margaret, you fried up more than two measly pieces.”

She scooped up a bit of leftover succotash. “You only use Margaret when you’re mad or want something. Which is it this time? Or is it both?”

“He’s not mad at you anymore.” Ma set down her fork. “Maggie, could I trouble you for a little honey, please?” As soon as Maggie’s back was turned, Ma whispered hotly, “Don’t be stupid. Eat what she put in front of you.”

“Too bad we didn’t follow that advice yesterday.” Suddenly, an idea struck. Todd cut into his ham. “This is good ham, Margaret.”

She let out a small, disdainful huff.

As Maggie returned from the shelf where she kept the honey, Todd made a show of lifting half of his ham and putting it on her plate. Fast as lightning, he grabbed one of the fried pieces from her plate. She smacked his hand. He had trouble trying to look innocent and hurt. The look on her face was priceless.

“What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine, Wife.”

Maggie made a show of sitting down and picking up the ham. Dropping it on his plate, she said, “You got it wrong.”

“I did not!”

“Sure and certain, you did.” Calm as could be, she speared the other half and plopped it on her plate.
“That
half was by sauerkraut. You took the bigger piece off my plate. A fair trade is for me to get the better half of the ham.”

“You did.”

A funny sound bubbled out of Ma. “He’s right. Sauerkraut is – ”

Holding up a hand, Maggie silenced her. “Excuse me, Ma, but Todd and I are having our first fight, and I aim to win it.”

“First?” Had he heard her right?

She arched a brow. “First. It’s a new beginning. But I’m taking a stand here and now: Keep your sauerkraut to yourself.”

Borrowing the word he’d seen her use at the end of her bargains, he felt joy clear down to his toes. “Deal!”

A new beginning. They’d cleared the air, and he’d made sure to straighten out Ma’s attitude.

Over the next few days, Maggie’s smile wobbled a little now and then, but now that Ma decided to be her better self, things would be far better. To top it all off, he could now drive Adam and Eve.

At breakfast Saturday, Maggie mentioned, “I brought some of Mee-Maw Jehosheba’s tomato seeds with me, and I promised to share with Hope and Annie. Remind me to take them tomorrow.”

“There are better reasons to go to church.” Ma scooped up a bite.

“Yes, ma’am. Like the beautiful music and the prayers and listening to Parson Bradle read the Word of God and expound upon it. I’d saddle up a jackrabbit and ride it to get to church – even if we hadn’t gotten an invite to Sunday supper.”

Unexpectedly, Hope’s giggle came through the open door. “I’d sit alongside the road to watch!”

“You wouldn’t just watch. You’d cheer for me.” Maggie embraced her friend, who had come to switch her Dominiques for other hens that laid white eggs instead of brown. “How are you feeling? Have you been drinking enough milk? If you’re craving something, I’ll get it for you.”

Maggie’s heart and arms stretched wide open to gather and hold her woman friends. They all took a shine to her, too. Linette stopped by every morning on her way to work and again on the way home. Leena Patterson dropped by on Thursday, wanting a particular feed sack so she could sew something. Maggie hadn’t yet located one, but Todd felt positive she’d come up with one – maybe even two.

With the farm hanging by a thread, he couldn’t ignore that some of her bartering was advantageous. But in truth, he needed those stalls. Adam and Eve deserved more space, and before long, the colts would need stalls of their own. A barn was for animals – not an array of oddities and essentials. Certainly not for providing a woman with space to conduct a business of her own – especially when she obtained the necessities her husband ought to provide. Running horses or bartering – the barn was large enough for only one enterprise.

“Todd?” Maggie gave him a quizzical look.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you’re still hungry. Normally, you’re hotfooting your way to the barn.”

He took one last swig of coffee. “Never ask if I’m still hungry. I have a hollow leg.”

Her features dimmed. “Paw-Paw jokes about that.”

Intentionally misunderstanding her, he nodded. “Paw-Paw did tease me about it. He asked if my head was hollow, too.” Heading toward the door, he told Ma, “
Donnerwetter
. Stay inside.”

“Thunder weather? It’s going to rain?” Maggie rushed back to the door. She frowned. “It’s too far away.”

“Wouldn’t matter. It’s a dry storm. Clouds are wrong.” Todd set to his chores, wishing he’d been wrong. Nothing would make him happier than a good soaking rain.