by Danni Roan
Henry looked around the room and nodded. It was a comfortable space and unlike the parlor and the rest of the house was uncluttered. There was even room for his books. “That’s a good plan,” he said smiling at Helena, affection shimmering in his eyes. “What else can I do?”
“I’d like you to keep the boys occupied for me today if you can. Is there something you can do with them?”
Henry scratched his head in thought for a moment. “Maybe I could take them fishing,” he mused.
“That sounds like a wonderful plan. I’ll make up some bacon biscuits and send cookies along. Please try to keep them out of trouble if at all possible.”
Henry nodded heading back out to the kitchen and calling the children as he headed for the parlor. He would just pack a book along and hopefully the day would go well.
Chapter 16
Helena stepped into the room she now shared with Augusta and sighed. The space was at least as bad as the rest of the house, and it smelled of stale clothing and pine shavings.
Stepping up to the bed she stripped the covers shaking out the sawdust and chips that had irritated her throughout the night.
As she bundled the blankets and linens, a loud knocking on her door made her hurry down the stairs, her heart hammering in her chest. Who could be knocking so determinedly on the door? A million thoughts of disaster raced through her brain, and she realized that already she felt a great deal of affection for her new family.
“Hello,” Helena said opening the door to the widow Worthington and several of her friends.
“We came to help you put the place to rights,” Mrs. Jeffery said hefting the broom in her hand. “We know how bad it is out here and thought some extra hands wouldn’t go amiss.”
“Where are them horrid boys,” another woman called out. “I ain’t helping with them around unless I can use my broom as a weapon.”
Helena grinned her heart filling with delight at the kindness of the town’s women. “Please come in,” she said. “We’ll go to the kitchen and make a plan.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear,” Mrs. Worthington said ducking her head in embarrassment as she mumbled under her breath. “Sorry I didn’t warn ya before,” the old woman whispered. “but the men here abouts need taken in hand.”
Helena couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the woman’s words. Now she understood why her chaperone had so much she didn’t want to say.
As Helena followed the others into the kitchen a bright smile on her lips her hope for a bright future was renewed. “I’ll put on some coffee,” she said. “I also have a few cookies hidden that we can share.”
“Where’d you say the boys are?” Old Mrs. English asked again.
“My father has taken them fishing,” Helena said. “I hope it will give me the time I need to get this place put back together.”
“With our help, it will be ship-shape in no time at all,” Mrs. Jeffery agreed.
“Looks like you made a good start already though,” another woman spoke up.
Helena’s spirits were lifted as together she and the older women tackled the daunting task of cleaning the entire house.
As fast as she could strip the bedding, two of the women were washing it and hanging it on the line while two others swept dusted, scrubbed and sorted broken rubbish, papers, and various unidentified petrified things into piles.
“I’d burn the lot if I was you,” Old Mrs. Worthington said. “Start new if you can. Agi can afford it.”
Helena smiled at the woman’s outburst, but wasn’t inclined to throw out what was still useful, besides she wasn’t sure of her standing in the home enough to simply throw everything away.
By noon, the house was free of the mounds of trash and a new clothes line had been strung to accommodate the items that had been soaked, boiled, scrubbed, rinsed, and wrung.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Helena said as she prepared sandwiches from the bread and cold chicken the women had brought. “Once this place is caught up, I’m sure it will be a dream to keep it so.”
The other women shook their heads, but didn’t say anything as a knock on the door drew Helena away.
“Hello,” she said smiling brightly at a young man with a heavy box in his hand.
“I brought the order of groceries and such that Agi put in,” the man said hefting the box awkwardly.
“Thank you,” Helena enthused, “Please won’t you bring it into the kitchen.”
“At least he isn’t starving her,” Mrs. Worthington said to the other ladies with a nod at the crates and boxes that were carried into the house. Turning to Helena she continued “Now you get at and start your supper while we finish cleaning here,” she said. “This is your home now.”
Helena couldn’t believe the help the other women had been. It was like a fairytale story where your godmother waved her magic wand and everything came together at once.
It was already afternoon, but Helena quickly mixed up a batch of bread and started chicken and dumplings on the stove. Augusta would have to be pleased with the work that had been done.
As the sun began to lower in the western sky Helena bid good-bye to the women who had been so much help.
In the distance, she could hear her father and the boys returning, and she smiled as the widows hastened their retreat toward town.
“Helena,” her father called a cheery grin on his dripping face as he held up a string of trout. “We had good luck,” Henry beamed.
“It looks like you fell in the creek,” Helena said taking in their sodden appearance. “Didn’t one of you manage to stay dry?”
Henry chuckled. “The boys were showing me that they could swim,” Henry said. “Then they got into a bit of a contest, and Tim got to splashing them. I had to step in to keep him from falling in a hole.”
“Then he fell in too,” Ryan spoke up grinning at his brother. Helena was sure the boys had pushed her father, but he seemed happy and unhurt, so she wasn’t about to spoil the moment.
“I guess we’ll be adding trout to the menu,” Helena said taking the neatly cleaned fish from her father. “The lot of you can get washed up though, and I don’t just mean your hands.”
“What?” Ryan bulked, “We’ve been in the creek all day. We don’t need no bath.”
“You smell of fish,” Helena interrupted, “and boys who don’t wash properly on a Saturday night do not get cake for dessert.”
Ryan and Albert’s eyes went wide then together they bolted for the house. “I’ll get the tub,” Ryan shouted as they slammed open the door and raced inside.
“I think this little one’s about worn out,” Henry said, lifting Tim in his arms. “I’ll see that the others scrub behind their ears if you’ll take him.”
Helena reached up taking the four-year-old from her father. The boy was wet and chilled and she wanted to get him indoors as soon as possible. It looked like there would be more laundry to do on Monday.
Chapter 17
Supper was a rare treat of fresh trout, dredged in flour and fried in butter along with fresh bread, and cake for dessert.
“Boys, its time you go to bed now,” Helena called as she finished washing the dishes, looking out the window for any sign of their father.
“We aren’t tired,” Ryan said belligerently. “Pa says we’ll sleep when we’re tired anyway.”
“That may be true,” Helena said, “but right now your father isn’t here and I’m telling you to get ready for bed.”
Ryan and Albert continued playing with a set of blocks, building a tower higher and higher, but Timothy had settled on Henry’s knee while the old man read one of his precious books.
Again Helena looked out the window as the sun began to disappear below the horizon. She hoped nothing had happened to Augusta and worried that he might be having second thoughts about their situation.
Walking to her father, she took Tim from his lap. The boy had fallen asleep and she would carry him upstairs to bed.
She was half w
ay down the stairs when the front door opened as a sawdust covered Augusta stepped through the door.
“Don’t take another step,” Helena called, anger at the worry the man had caused making her voice sharp.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Agi asked looking around him.
“I didn’t get this house cleaned for you to track sawdust and wood shavings through it,” Helena said taking the last few steps and grabbing him by the arm pushing him out onto the front porch.
Agi spun pulling the door shut behind him as the night air washed over him once more.
Grabbing a broom by the door Helena began dusting the man from shoulders to trouser bottoms, reveling each moment that he flinched.
“What are you trying to do woman?” Agi finally bellowed grabbing the broom. “Brush me down or beat me to death?”
Helena lifted her chin, surprised at her own annoyance. She had always been a peaceable sort, but she was exhausted and tired of fighting with the boys.
It didn’t help that she had taken extra pains with supper only to have her husband of two days not show up.
“It’s time for the boys to go to bed,” Helena said instead of voicing all the thoughts in her heart.
“They’ll go to bed when they're tired,” Agi said. He’d been letting the boys put themselves to bed for years now.
“In case you have forgotten,” Helena began, “Tomorrow is the Sabbath, and unless you no longer honor that day the boys will need to get up early for services. They should be up doing chores anyway,” she added with peak.
Agi dropped his head, he hadn’t exactly been consistent about church recently. With Sunday his only day off he often found himself taking the day to rest and re-provision for the upcoming week.
Helena shook her head giving up and walked back into the house heading for the kitchen for a second piece of cake. At least something in her life was sweet.
Agi walked through the open door, breathing in the smell of a freshly cleaned home. Beneath his feet he found a well worn rug, and he wiped his feet gazing along the space between the parlor and the kitchen in shock.
Instead of piles of dirty clothes, broken toys, buckets, and just about anything else the boys had dropped along the way, the polished wood floors were clear and shining.
Agi scratched behind an ear feeling a dusting of sawdust flutter to the floor and he cringed. Had Helena done all of this in one day?
“Pa!” Ryan called catching a glimpse of his father and barreling into him, only to be joined by Albert.
“You have a good day at the mill?” Albert asked.
“Not the best,” Agi said, “but I’ll tell you more about that in the morning. For now get yourselves to bed, we have church in the morning.”
Both boys stepped back staring at their father in disbelief. “What do you mean we have to go to bed?” Albert asked.
“It’s late and you need your sleep,” Agi said. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
Ryan looked at Albert but together they headed up the stairs shedding clothing as they went.
Hearing a rattle of dishes in the kitchen Agi headed in that direction.
“Your supper’s getting cold,” Helena grumbled pouring herself a cup of tea then cutting two slices of cake and placing them on the table.
Agi poured a cup of coffee from the pot on the stove then took his seat in front of a hot dish of chicken and dumplings and looking across the table at the young woman.
“You did all this?” he asked not sure what else to say.
“I had help,” Helena admitted. “The widows from town came out and pitched in while my father took the boys fishing. We already ate the fish.”
Agi felt a grin tug at his lips as he lifted his fork and dug in to the hot plate of chicken and dumplings.
“I don’t like fish,” he said finally.
Helena could feel the laugh bubbling in her chest but refused to let it out, she was determined to stay annoyed with the man.
“You were very late this evening,” she finally said taking a bite of rich buttery cake.
“We had a problem with the blades today,” Agi admitted. “One of the younger men put a log on wrong and it took hours to fix it.”
Helena’s heart softened a little to the plight of the man. He was obviously devoted to his job and to providing for his family.
“Did you get the supplies from the store that I ordered?” Agi asked looking up suddenly as if only just remembering. He had almost forgotten to place the order that morning, but had remembered before the day was very old.
“I did. Thank you,” Helena said her voice gentling. “As a matter of fact you’re eating some of them right now.”
“Well it tastes mighty good,” Agi said. He still wasn’t sure how to address the woman across from him. She seemed full of surprises, and he couldn’t help but like her for it. “The place looks good,” he continued awkwardly.
“It was a blessing to have the widows from town come and help,” Helena admitted. It would have taken me days to get this place in order otherwise. Now we can start with a clean slate and go from there.”
Agi nodded surprised that the old ladies from town had been willing to darken his door even while noting the dusting of sawdust that fell from his hair. “I think I’d better wash up a bit before bed,” he said. “I’ll try not to track so much of my work home every night.”
“I would appreciate that,” Helena said pushing the second piece of cake toward him as he finished his meal. “I do think we need to discuss a few other things as well,” she continued.
“Like what?” Agi asked. Wasn’t it enough that the woman had completely turned his world upside down? He wasn’t even sure he would know where to find clean clothes at this point, though the basket full of fresh looking and neatly folded items on the chair by the stove might be a good place to start.
“I need you to back me up when I tell the boys to do something,” Helena said. “They are used to having their own way and not listening to anyone.”
Agi couldn’t argue the point. Much as he didn’t want to admit it, his boys were in trouble more often than not.
“I also need to know about their schooling?” Helena continued. “Ryan at least should be taking lessons, and I’m sure Albert is old enough to start primers by now.”
Agi rubbed a hand behind his neck once more feeling the bite of wood chips along his neck. “Ryan hasn’t been allowed to go back to school for a while now,” he finally confessed. “He got in trouble with the teacher.”
Helena’s eyes widened. “Then we’ll have to see that we get that sorted out,” she said thinking of both Violet and Cina, good teachers who she was sure would be able to help her get Ryan caught up on his lessons and back into school. It seemed that this task of taking on a new family was not what she thought it would be.
“You have to remember that boys will be boys,” Agi said almost defensively.
“Yes, that’s true,” Helena admitted, “but we also need to remember that one day those boys will be men, and I would hope that they would grow up to be good men, with big hearts, and a belief in God that will see them through hard times.”
Agi couldn’t argue, but he loved his boys and didn’t like when others criticized them. “I’ll try to help,” he finally said finishing his last bite of cake and draining his coffee cup.
Helena smiled her annoyance with the man gone for the moment. She needed this home for herself and her father as much as Augusta needed someone to tend his house and care for his boys, but suddenly she found herself wanting even more.
She knew that she already cared about the boys and deep in her heart she believed that she could also care for their father. Hadn’t her worry for him proven that?
Helena gathered up the last of the dishes taking them to the sink to wash them while Agi gathered clean clothes and headed outside to the watering trough to scrub. He wished he could figure out an easier way to scrub away the constant covering of wood dust and shavings he tracked home every
day.
Shivering he stripped down and plunged into the cold water scrubbing vigorously before jumping out and wrapping an old sheet around him.
It really wasn’t fair the way he’d deceived Miss Hebert, and a tinge of guilt squirmed in his middle. The least he could do was try to not track sawdust all through the house. He would even remind his boys to pick up after themselves.
Climbing into clean clothes that smelled of fresh soap and sunshine, Agi thought about his first wife. She had been a good wife, and had kept the home she loved spotless even with two small boys in tow. She’d had a temper his Ida had as well, and sometimes he liked to get her riled just to see it. Was it wrong that he was finding himself attracted to his new wife, even if he had married her under less than candid circumstances?