The Seventh Mother (10 page)

I
didn’t go home the next morning. I was so mad at Daddy that I didn’t want to see him. And I didn’t want to hear Emma tell me that I must be wrong about the job.

Lashaundra knew the truth and I knew the truth. We’d both cried before we went to sleep the night before. But we couldn’t even talk about it, because I didn’t want to get her in trouble for telling me. So we just pretended everything was okay. Every once in a while, I could see Mrs. Johnson watching us, her forehead wrinkled. I knew she was worried. And I wished for the millionth time that she was my mother, that I had a mother.

Finally, not too long after we ate lunch, I had to go home. Mr. Johnson worked the same schedule as my dad, four nights on and three off. He had the day off so he got up early, and they were all going into town. I almost asked if I could go with them, but I knew I had to go home.

I opened the door to the trailer, and Emma was standing there in front of me, a big grin on her face.

“We’re staying!” she said. Then she scooped me into a hug so tight I almost couldn’t breathe.

“What?” I pulled away and looked up at her. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes sparkled.

“Your dad is going to talk to Mr. Parker today, to take the job. We’re going to stay here in Campbellsville with the Johnsons. And you can go to school!”

I stared at her in disbelief, willing myself to believe her but not really accepting what she said.

“But Daddy . . .”

“We talked last night.” Emma pulled my coat off and hung it on a hook. “And it’s all settled. Your dad is taking the job and we’ll stay here and look for an apartment, or maybe even a house to rent. Wouldn’t that be great, a house with a yard and everything?”

I couldn’t say anything at first. I felt numb. And then I started shaking, first my hands and then my whole self.

“Seriously?” It was all I could croak out.

She nodded, smiling like her face might just split in two.

I leaned into her arms and hugged her. Could it really be true? Were we finally going to stay in one place, not live in the trailer anymore? Was I finally going to have a friend I didn’t have to leave? Was I really going to school?

“Hey, pumpkin!”

I looked around Emma to see Daddy standing in the doorway to the bedroom. He was smiling, too.

“Are we really staying?”

“We really are.” Daddy knelt down and opened his arms and I ran into them. He rested his chin on top of my head and held me for a long minute while I tried hard not to cry.

“Are you sure?” I had to ask, even though it felt mean. I had to be sure.

“Well,” he said, standing up and pulling on his jacket, “as long as the offer’s still good. I’m heading over to talk to Parker now.”

“But what if it’s not?” I stammered, suddenly sure the job offer was gone.

“It will be,” he said, smiling again. “Trust me, Jenny. He wants me. I just have to say yes.”

He kissed Emma and left, the metal door slamming behind him.

I stood a minute, just taking it all in. We were staying in Kentucky. We would live in an apartment instead of the trailer, or maybe even a house. I would see Lashaundra every day, not just for the next week but for forever.

Then I turned to look at Emma. She was sitting at the table, her hands curled around a coffee cup, watching me.

“So . . .” she said, just before I ran and threw myself at her. She hugged me and held me while I cried and laughed and shook all over.

“You’re magic!” I finally said. “How did you make him do that?”

She laughed. “Oh, Jenny, I’m not magic at all. Your dad just loves you. He wants you to be happy. He just had to realize that staying was what’s best for you.”

I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. Because I knew what she didn’t. Daddy had gotten job offers before. He didn’t think I knew, but I did. He just never took them. I wasn’t sure why, but he never wanted to stay in one place.

T
wo days later, on a cold but sunny January morning, we stood in the courthouse waiting to see the justice of the peace. I wore my only dress, a pale blue one with a slightly scooped neckline. The locket Brannon gave me for Christmas hung around my neck. Brannon wore jeans, a white shirt, and a dark jacket. Jenny danced around us, her dark hair tied in a red ribbon that matched her dress.

“Brannon Bohner?” An older, heavy woman appeared in the doorway, frowning and holding a clipboard in her hands.

“That’s me.” Brannon shook her hand and we all followed her into a small room.

“Do you have your license?” the woman asked.

Brannon gave it to her and clasped my hand.

“Justice Benson will be right in.” The woman took the license to another desk and sat down. We all stood, waiting for a long minute until a short, round man waddled into the room. He smiled at me over his wire-rimmed glasses.

“So, you’re here to get married?”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded and squeezed Brannon’s hand.

“The license?” He looked at the woman sitting at the desk. She nodded and held it out to him.

“Well then,” he said, scanning the paper quickly, “everything looks in order. Let’s get started.”

It was over in less than ten minutes. I was no longer Emma Kingston, illegal fifth wife of Micah. I was now Emma Bohner, the legal and only wife of Brannon and official stepmother of Jenny. We stepped out of the courtroom into a brilliant, sunny, bitterly cold day. I held Brannon’s hand tightly, still in disbelief that we were really married.

“Let’s get some lunch,” he said, smiling at me.

“Pizza!” Jenny cried.

“No,” Brannon said, taking her hand. “Not pizza. Pizza is not a good wedding lunch.”

“Nothing fancy,” I said, laughing. “I’m happy with pizza, if you-all want that.”

“Let’s go to the diner,” he said, winking at Jenny as we walked.

He held the door open for me and I stepped inside and stopped short, staring around me.

The restaurant was full of people, all of them applauding and smiling. Candles flickered on every table. A banner hung across the back wall, proclaiming, C
ONGRATULATIONS
, B
RANNON AND
E
MMA!

Resa stepped forward to hug me. “Congratulations, honey! We’re so happy for ya’ll.”

I turned to see Brannon grinning widely. Jenny was watching us both, smiling hugely.

“Come on in,” Resa said, pulling me by the hand. “Your table is ready.”

She led us to a booth, where a huge bouquet of red roses dominated the table.

“Now you just relax,” she said. “Your lunch will be ready soon.”

“Did you do this?” I asked, staring at Brannon as he sat down across from me.

He laughed and shook his head. “This is all Resa and Jenny.”

“It’s your wedding reception!” Jenny slid into the booth beside me. “And look, there are presents and everything!”

She pointed to a table by the counter, while held a stack of beautifully wrapped packages.

Tears filled my eyes as I hugged her.

“Thank you, Jenny,” I whispered. “You’re the best.”

Resa returned with plates and set them grandly on the table before us. I stared at the steaks, baked potatoes, French-cut green beans, and warm rolls. This was not the usual fare at Happy Days.

“Harlan made it special,” Resa said.

I looked back toward the kitchen and saw Harlan standing in the doorway, watching us.

“Thank you!” I called. He winked and disappeared into the kitchen.

“And this is from me and Merilee.” Resa placed a bottle of red wine on the table, and Merilee appeared with two wineglasses.

“Not for Emma,” Brannon said, pushing a glass back toward her.

“It’s okay, Brannon,” I said, my cheeks reddening. “One glass won’t hurt.”

He frowned and shook his head. “Emma will have some milk.”

Resa’s eyebrows arched and she took my wineglass away, returning with two large glasses of milk, one for me and one for Jenny.

As we ate, people came by the table to say congratulations and give us good wishes.

“I can’t believe all these people know you,” Brannon said in a low voice. “We’ve only been here a few weeks.”

“I think everyone in Campbellsville knows everyone,” I said. “Especially here at the diner.”

“Attention! Attention! . . . Okay, ya’ll, listen up!” Resa hollered, waving a red-checked napkin over her head. “It’s time for the first dance. Brannon, Emma, come on out here.”

I blushed as we walked to the small space cleared in the center of the restaurant. People clapped and shouted encouragement. Then Resa put money in the jukebox, and music filled the room.

We swayed to the strains of “Love Me Tender,” my head resting on Brannon’s shoulder, his arms firm around my waist. I thought I might burst from sheer joy.

After the dance, we opened presents—a cast-iron skillet from Merilee, embroidered dish towels from Resa, pretty frames and a set of pans and a quilt and so many other beautiful things. I hugged more people than even I could remember, and then we sat back down in the booth at Resa’s direction. Then, with much applause and whistling, Harlan rolled in a cart with a three-tiered wedding cake frosted in white, a tiny plastic couple on top.

“Oh my God,” I breathed, staring from him to Resa to Merilee to Brannon to Jenny. “It’s beautiful!”

“Mama made it!” I looked up to see Lashaundra grinning at us. “And I put the people on top.”

I rose to hug her and then went to hug Angel. She and Michael sat with Malcolm, all of them smiling.

“Thank you,” I said. “It’s perfect.”

“Be happy,” she said, with a small catch in her voice. “Just be happy.”

“You didn’t bake that cake in your trailer,” I said.

“Harlan let me use the kitchen.” She smiled. “In fact, Ms. Jensen from the bakery just offered me a job, decorating cakes.”

I hugged her again, my eyes filling.

“That’s great,” I said. “That’s so great.”

After we’d eaten cake and made another sweep of the restaurant hugging people, it was time to go.

“Thank you,” I said again and again, hugging Merilee and Resa. “This was just perfect.”

“Jenny, you’d better put that coat on,” Brannon said. “It’s cold out.”

“I’m going home with Lashaundra,” she said. She smiled shyly at us, then looked at the floor.

“Oh.” Brannon smiled and kissed her on the forehead. “Well, then, I guess we’ll see you tomorrow.”

He turned and shook Michael’s hand. “Thanks, man,” he said.

“No problem.” Michael grinned. “We thought you-all might like a little time to yourselves.”

I put on my coat, picked up my purse, and turned to see Harlan standing directly in front of me. He held out a white envelope.

“I’m not much for presents,” he said. “But I thought ya’ll could use this to help you get settled.”

Before I could even say thank you, he turned and strode back to the kitchen.

In the car with Brannon, I opened the envelope and gasped.

“What is it?” Brannon asked.

His eyes widened as I pulled four one-hundred-dollar bills from the envelope.

“Wow!” He took the bills and laid them out on the seat between us. “That will be a good start on our rent.”

I could only nod, my eyes filled with tears yet again. So many people in Campbellsville were so good to us. It felt like we’d lived there forever.

When we got home, Brannon took a beer from the fridge and sat down, patting the seat beside him.

“So, Mrs. Bohner,” he said, “did you like your wedding reception?”

“My gracious,” I said. “It was perfect. I can’t believe Jenny and Resa did all that. And Merilee and Harlan and Angel . . . we have so many good friends here.”

He put his arm around me and kissed my cheek.

“Everyone loves you,” he said. “But nobody loves you as much as I do.”

I rose and held out my hand to him.

“How about we get undressed and you show me just how much you love me?”

He smiled but didn’t rise.

“Not until you see the doctor,” he said. “I want to make sure everything is okay with the baby.”

He picked up the remote and flipped on the television and took a long drink of beer.

I stood a minute, feeling deflated and a little bit foolish. Then I put on the teakettle and made some chamomile tea and we watched the evening news.

So much for a romantic wedding night.

Still, I was happy. I had a good job with good friends, a wonderful stepdaughter, a husband I loved, and a baby on the way. Pretty much, life that day was perfect.

“I
love this one!”

The little green rental house had a porch with a swing and a small yard.

“It’s nice,” Emma agreed.

“Let’s wait till we see inside,” Daddy said.

Mr. Marshall unlocked the front door and we went inside. The pale yellow living room, filled with sunlight, opened into a small dining room. Behind it, the kitchen was tiled in turquoise and white.

“Do the appliances come with it?” Daddy asked.

“Yep.” Mr. Marshall opened the refrigerator and then the oven. “Everything here stays.”

“That’s better than the last place,” Emma said.

We walked through three bedrooms and a bathroom with a red claw-foot tub. Then Mr. Marshall unlocked the back door and we stepped onto a screened porch overlooking a fenced backyard. Behind the fence a garage opened onto a wide alley.

“Not much storage space,” Daddy said.

I stared at him. It was so much more space than we had in the trailer.

“Well, there’s the basement,” Mr. Marshall said. “The washer and dryer are down there. And then there’s storage in the attic.”

We went back inside and peeked into the dark basement. It smelled damp. Then Mr. Marshall walked into the hallway, opened a trap door in the ceiling, and pulled on a cord that hung down. A ladder unfolded through the door and extended into the hallway. Daddy climbed up and looked into the attic. When he came back down, I climbed the ladder and looked into the room. Light from a small window showed a dusty, warm space with sloping walls. I could just stand in the center of the room.

I could read up here,
I thought. I’d put some pillows on the floor under the window and maybe a lamp. It would be my own private hideaway.

When we’d seen the entire house, Mr. Marshall walked back to his car to let Daddy and Emma talk on the porch.

“What do you think?” Daddy asked.

“I love it,” Emma said. “It’s definitely got more room than anything else we’ve seen. And I love the yard. We could put in a garden, grow our own vegetables. Then Jenny and I can do some canning. That’ll save money in the long run.”

“How about you, kiddo?” Daddy looked over to where I was sitting on the swing.

“I love it,” I echoed Emma. “I really love it.”

“Okay then,” Daddy said, his arm around Emma. “It looks like we’ve got a winner.”

We moved in two days later. There really wasn’t a lot to move, just our clothes and linens and kitchen stuff. We didn’t even have any furniture yet. So for the first week we slept in the trailer, which Daddy had parked in the alley behind the house.

Over the next few days, Emma and I went to all of the thrift shops in town. We bought a table with four chairs for the dining room, an old couch and a chair for the living room, and a futon to put on the floor in my room until we could buy a bed for me. We made shelves out of cinderblocks and boards and a desk from two sawhorses and an old door. Emma hand-sewed curtains for all the windows. Then Daddy and Emma went to Sam’s Club and bought a box spring and mattress for their room, with a dresser and a bedside table. Soon the house began to feel like a real home.

“We need to get Jenny enrolled at school,” Emma said one night at dinner. “Angel enrolled Lashaundra last week, and she says it’s a good school.”

“I don’t know,” Brannon said. “Starting in the middle of the school year might be kind of tough. Maybe we should wait until fall.”

“She’ll be fine,” Emma said. “She’ll make friends.”

“What do you think, Jenny?” Daddy turned to me.

“Can I be in the same class as Lashaundra?”

“I don’t know,” Daddy said. “I guess we can ask.”

I thought a long minute. I’d always wanted to go to school. But now that it was real, I was a little bit scared.

“If I can be in Lashaundra’s class, then I want to go, I guess.”

The next Monday morning, Emma and I walked into Campbellsville Middle School. Kids ran past us, shouting to one another and laughing. My stomach felt like a giant twisted knot. I really wanted to hold Emma’s hand, but I didn’t want to look like a baby, so I just clutched my notebook to my chest and tried hard not to look too scared.

We walked to the front desk, where a woman was talking to a boy who looked much older than me.

“Jasper, I have told you before you cannot wear your pants like that.”

I looked down and saw his jeans sagging almost off his hips.

“They’re my pants,” the boy said. “I can wear them any way I want to.”

“Maybe at home, but not at school,” the woman said firmly.

She rose from her chair and walked around the desk, a stapler in her hand.

“What are you doing?” the boy shouted.

She said nothing, just began stapling the waist of his pants to his shirt.

“You’re gonna ruin my shirt!” The boy tried to step away from her, but she simply held his arm in one hand and continued stapling with the other.

“My dad is gonna be pissed!” the boy shouted. “You just wait and see. He’ll get you fired for this.”

The woman walked back around the desk and sat down.

“Your father can come talk to me any time,” she said calmly.

“Now go on to class, or you’ll be late.”

The boy stalked off, still shouting. “My dad’s gonna get you fired, you old bag. You just wait and see.”

The woman looked up at us and smiled.

“Good morning,” she said. “Can I help you?”

“We’ve come to enroll my daughter,” Emma said. “We just moved here.”

“That’s fine,” the woman said. “My name is Mrs. Murphy. Do you have her birth certificate and proof of residence?”

Emma handed her a stack of papers. Mrs. Murphy scanned them, then smiled at me.

“Well, Jenny, welcome to Campbellsville Middle School. What grade are you in?”

I stared at her in silence. I didn’t even know what grade I was in.

“She’s been homeschooled,” Emma said, her hand on my shoulder. “We’ve traveled around a lot. Here are her transcripts.”

She handed Mrs. Murphy another stack of papers. Mrs. Murphy scanned the pages and her eyes widened.

“You’re eleven?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Well, you’re working well above your grade level. These are very impressive scores.”

“She’s a smart girl,” Emma said, smiling at me.

“So, we have two options,” Mrs. Murphy said. “According to her age, she should be in the sixth grade. But with these test scores, she could easily go into the seventh grade.”

“I want to be in the same class as Lashaundra,” I said.

“Lashaundra Johnson?”

I nodded.

“She enrolled last week. She’s in the sixth grade.”

“Then I want to be in the sixth grade.”

Mrs. Murphy looked at Emma. Emma smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

“Lashaundra is her best friend,” she said. “It would be nice if they could be in the same class.”

Mrs. Murphy nodded. “I can certainly put her on the same team, so they’ll have some classes together. But I can’t guarantee they’ll be in all the same classes.”

Emma filled out some papers while Mrs. Murphy wrote out a schedule. Then she rose and shook Emma’s hand.

“Thank you, Mrs. Bohner,” she said. “I’m sure Jenny will have a good experience here.”

Emma hesitated, then kissed my forehead.

“Okay, Jenny. You go with Mrs. Murphy and she’ll show you what to do. I’ll be here to pick you up at three.”

I watched her walk away, my stomach churning.

“Come on, Jenny.” Mrs. Murphy put her arm around my shoulders. “Let’s get you a locker and then I’ll walk you to your first class.”

Everyone in the room looked up when Mrs. Murphy pushed the door open. I followed her into a classroom filled with kids. I’d never been around so many kids before. I felt like I might throw up. And then I saw Lashaundra. She grinned and waved at me.

“This is Jenny Bohner,” Mrs. Murphy said to the man standing at the chalkboard. “She just moved to Campbellsville.”

“Welcome, Jenny. I’m Mr. Thomas.”

He extended his hand and I shook it.

“Why don’t you take a seat,” he said. “We’re just doing some review on the U.S. Constitution.”

I walked to the back of the room and sat down at a desk beside Lashaundra.

I opened my notebook, pulled out a pen, and stared around me. Finally, I was in a real school.

The morning passed in a blur. I got lost twice moving from classroom to classroom amid a sea of faces I didn’t know. Thankfully, I had two classes with Lashaundra, and when I got to the lunchroom, I found her waiting for me. We stood in a long line to get our food. The noise in the room was unbelievable. Finally, we filled our trays and found seats together at a crowded table.

“How do you like it so far?” Lashaundra opened her little carton of chocolate milk and took a long drink.

“It’s okay.” I stared at the food on my plate—a slice of turkey, mashed potatoes with brown gravy, and some canned fruit. It looked disgusting.

“It’s a lot better than the last school I was at,” she said, spreading potatoes over her turkey slice.

“Where was that?” I took a tentative bite of potatoes.

“Alabama,” she said. “That place was terrible. Everything was old and dirty. The kids were mean. I hated it.”

“How many schools have you been to?”

She paused a moment, chewing, then said, “This is the fourth. How about you?”

“This is my first.”

She stared at me. “Really? You never went to school before?”

I shook my head. “I just did my lessons at home.”

She nodded. “I did that, too, sometimes. But when we stayed anywhere for more than a couple months, Mama always sent me to school. This one is pretty nice.”

“It’s so loud,” I said.

“Yeah, but you’ll get used to it.”

“I’m really glad you’re here.” I couldn’t even imagine what I would do if she wasn’t there.

“Me too,” she said. “It’s nice to know someone.”

Another blur of classes passed and I walked outside to see Emma waiting for me, her arms wrapped around her stomach. It was bitterly cold out. But I didn’t care. I had made it through my first day of school.

“How was it?” she asked.

“It was okay. Pretty loud.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Did you see Lashaundra?”

“She’s in four of my classes, and we have lunch together.”

“Good,” she said. “Was everybody nice to you?”

I shrugged. Mostly I had been ignored.

“One girl in my English class shared her book with me.”

“That’s nice. Didn’t you get your own book?”

“They had to order it.”

We got in the car and drove toward home.

“So do you think you’ll like it?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I think I will.”