“That’s a good tradition to start. Molly, we should start doing that for the boys this year,” Tobin said, apparently listening in on their conversation.
“They better not be glass because between the kids and pets, the ornaments wouldn’t last five minutes before they’d be shattered to pieces,” Molly said, and everyone laughed, knowing the full house Molly took care of.
“Maybe we can make some paper stars for their first year,” Tobin agreed.
“They’ll want to make shapes like dogs, cats, and mules,” Squires added to the conversation, and everyone laughed knowing the affection the twins had with Bella and Bertha, the mule team Tobin boarded in the livery.
“We should have our own holiday party next weekend, for the original six couples the Peashooters matched up. I’ll host it in our apartment,” Maisie suggested.
“Can I bring my beef stew, Maisie?” Tobin asked. “That would remind us of one of our first meals together.”
“That’s fine with me. I’ll check in with everyone to see what they want to bring.”
Would he and Nadine be attending the party as two single friends, or could they be engaged by then? Their private conversation tonight might decide their fate.
Chapter 13
“Nadine, we need to talk.”
Nadine wasn’t surprised when Wesley stood beside his open apartment door when she stepped onto the third-floor landing. She’d helped the kitchen staff clean up after the large meal the hotel hosted, trying to put off the inevitable conversation Wesley and she would have about her interference in his life.
She nodded as he waved his hand to indicate she should walk into his apartment. Nadine moved into the living room and sat down on the settee, not knowing if Wesley would give her a lecture about meddling in his life or thank her for doing so.
Nadine just couldn’t let him not meet his sister when she was living only half a state away.
“How did you find out about Mr. Smith’s letter?” Wesley asked as he sat down in a chair beside the settee.
“Phoebe was cleaning out the office trash. She saw you had thrown away the envelopes you hadn’t used for your sister’s search and pulled them out so she could cut them up for another use. She saw the letter addressed to you, and being ten years old and curious, she pulled the letter out of the trash and read it.”
“Phoebe shouldn’t have done that,” Wesley shook his head.
“But then…” Nadine couldn’t help reminding him.
“I wouldn’t have met my sister and her family,” Wesley finished. “I assume Phoebe gave the letter to you. Why didn’t you tell me about it instead of going off on your own to find them?”
“Remember, I’m a headstrong Paulson daughter,” Nadine smiled and shrugged her shoulder. “I know you’ve longed for family, and I hoped my traveling to Kansas City would give it to you. Sometimes a visit by a woman will get more information than if a man tries to do it.”
“And if it hadn’t been Lucy, would you have told me about your search?”
“Yes, I’d have told you about my trip to Kansas City. You needed to know if she wasn’t your sister.”
Wesley moved from the chair to sit beside her on the settee, setting his arm around her shoulders. “Thank you so much for finding Lucy. I couldn’t believe it when Chet walked in with his family, and Lucy was his sister,” Wesley said as he leaned back against the settee.
“I’ve known her brother for years. And I never would have connected Chet with the Mr. Smith I had written to. Smith is such a common name.”
“Mama said Lucy was going to stay awhile, even though her family was going home tomorrow. That’s nice you’ll have time to get to know each other,” Nadine said.
“And the Smiths talked about coming back for Christmas too. They have no other family, and Tobin invited them to come back the next holiday.”
“I hope Tobin didn’t invite them to stay in their full house. I can’t quite see Mrs. Smith handling Molly’s boys and menagerie,” Nadine shook her head. It was fun to visit the family but also nice to leave and go home to their quiet apartment.
Wesley laughed at her comment. “I wouldn’t mind having a family like that…minus Lucas, two dogs, and three of the four cats.”
“That would get you down to two very mischievous boys and one cat.”
“I’d prefer two girls and specify it was Lucas’ quiet lap cat,” Wesley said as he absentmindedly rubbed Nadine’s shoulder.
“I missed you when you were gone this week. And your little sisters didn’t pester me either,” Wesley said as his hand moved to stroke the back of her neck.
“But you had my family and Elise here,” Nadine said, and then chided herself for saying that since Wesley moved his hands to his lap.
“Can we ever get past these hurdles of hurts and insecurities?” Wesley turned to ask Nadine. “You hurt me by pulling away. I wasn’t flirting with Elise, and you should have known that.”
“Yes, I should have, but I didn’t feel as mature and pretty as her,” Nadine confessed.
“Well, I’ll agree you definitely acted immaturely, but you’re a beautiful woman, Nadine. You should be proud of yourself and not compare yourself to others.”
“Yes, Mama has drilled that into us since we were little. We can do what we want because we’re capable of doing anything,” Nadine said, and she knew it was true. And it was time to prove it, to herself and Wesley.
“Now that you found out that the Smiths own a hotel in Kansas City, will you go work for them?” Nadine asked to change the subject but get information too.
“Chet joked he and I could change places to work in the other’s hotel. I think Chet likes you,” Wesley said with a hint of irritation, Nadine thought smugly.
“Would you want to do that? Work with the Smiths?”
“Mrs. Smith already asked me to move in with them. She is a sweet woman, and I’m glad Lucy had her and Arthur as parents,” Wesley told Nadine, but he didn’t add if he would be moving to Kansas City.
“You better add them to your Christmas gift list, because I bet they come back at Christmas time with a load of gifts for you,” Nadine said to keep the conversation light.
Wesley’s smile widened at the thought. “Yeah, I have a family to buy gifts for this year. Wow. That feels good to say.”
Nadine bit her lip, waiting for Wesley to talk about their future, but he’d gone silent, just staring at the living room rug.
“I missed our time in the closet, Wesley. I liked kissing and spending time with you,” Nadine confessed quietly.
“I’ve missed it too. But if you can’t dream of a future with me…” Wesley let his words trail away.
“But I can, Wesley. That’s all I thought about on my train ride to Kansas City and back. Be it living with you in Clear Creek, Kansas City, York, Pennsylvania, or somewhere in between, I’d love to be by your side,” Nadine laid her feelings out for him to accept or decline.
But time went by, and Wesley didn’t pull her into his arms and kiss her passionately as she’d hoped. Had she ruined her chance with him with her immature, petty jealousy of Elise?
Nadine rose when Wesley didn’t say anything else.
“I’m glad you and Lucy have finally connected, and her whole family could be here for Thanksgiving,” Nadine said, keeping her “hotel manners” smile in place.
“Yes, you gave me a wonderful gift, Nadine. I’ll never forget that,” Wesley said as he stood, walked Nadine to the door and opened it for her to leave.
“Goodnight, Wesley,” Nadine said, praying her voice didn’t crack and show her pain.
“Goodnight, Nadine. I’m taking tomorrow off work to show the Smiths around the area. I’ll see you back at work this weekend.”
“Enjoy your outing with them. I hope the weather cooperates for you,” Nadine said as she backed out the door. But as soon as she started walking to her family’s apartment, tears were trickling down her cheeks.
Nadine stopped to wipe her chee
ks when she was inside her home and heard voices in their kitchen. Could she sneak past them to get to her room? Not likely, so she fanned her face with her hands to dry her tears and get her color back to normal.
“But what’s best for Nadine?” Nadine heard Iva Mae ask someone.
Who all was in the kitchen, probably drinking tea after their big meal and talking about her?
“Whatever her heart desires is what’s best for Nadine,” her mother said. “She can continue working at the family hotel, or work in another hotel or…take up horseshoeing if she wants too. With or without Wes. Actually, it might be good for her to go elsewhere.”
“No!” Phoebe whined. “We want them both to stay here with us.”
“It’s their choice, to be together or not, to live in Clear Creek or move to…Australia or wherever, girls,” Avalee said to her sisters.
Nadine straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath, and walked into the kitchen.
Not only were all seven of her sisters and mother around the table, so was Elise.
“Hello, everyone. Do you have any more hot water for tea?” Nadine asked as she walked to the stove to lift the tea kettle to check.
“I just refilled it, Nadine. Give it a minute to heat up,” her mother said.
Nadine sat down in the remaining chair at the table. Not counting the extra leaves, the table sat ten people for her whole family.
And of course, she was now sitting across from Elise.
“Elise, I’d like to formally apologize for my being jealous of you. It was petty and rude, and I hope you accept my apology,” Nadine said as she held her head high.
“I accept, Nadine, but you never had any cause for being jealous in the first place. I like Wesley, but not in that way you do,” Elise said as she stared across the table at Nadine.
Oh, this was so embarrassing, but it was her own fault.
“I was stupid not to believe Wesley when he told me that too. And now, the Smiths have asked him to move to Kansas City,” Nadine confessed.
“Is he going to go?” Cecilia asked.
“He didn’t say, but it would be a great opportunity to make up for lost time with his sister and her wonderful family. They act as if Wesley’s their lost son.”
“And does that bother you?” Iva Mae asked.
“It’s an opportunity I think he should take,” Nadine said, then rose when the tea kettle started to whistle, indicating the water was hot. Avalee brought the teapot from the table to the stove and took off the lid so Nadine could pour in hot water.
After Nadine put the kettle on the back burner of the stove, she reached for a teacup in the cupboard and sat back down again.
Avalee poured tea into Nadine’s cup and sat back in her seat.
The silence around Nadine continued as she took a sip of her too-hot tea and burned her tongue. They had been talking about her before she arrived, and now they seemed to be without a topic.
“Hmm, we had a nice crowd for the Thanksgiving dinner, don’t you think?” Nadine asked, before lifting the cup to her lips again.
“Yes, and thanks to all of you for your part in hosting the event. You did an excellent job, daughters, and Elise,” her mother said as she smiled around the room.
“Well, what are you going to do about Wesley?” Phoebe blurted out, apparently still the topic on her brain.
“At the moment, I’m not sure, Phoebe. I’m tired of wishing I would have done things differently and just can’t…think what to do,” Nadine confessed as she felt tears well up in her eyes again.
Iva Mae carefully tapped her spoon against her cup to get their attention.
“I call a Paulson sisters’ meeting to order. We don’t need to do roll call because we can see we’re all around the table,” Iva Mae said for Phoebe’s benefit when their little sister raised her hand in protest.
“But Mama and Elise are here too,” Phoebe whispered loudly across the table to her oldest sister.
“That’s even better because ten females thinking together is better than eight.”
“I’ve missed our sister meetings. Who’s our agenda?” Maridell played along.
“Nadine!” Several sisters said and pointed to her at the same time, and then everyone started laughing.
“All right, we agree, sister number five is the topic of this meeting,” Iva Mae stated.
“She was the reason for our last meeting,” Daphne sighed.
“What? When?” Nadine demanded.
“Um, a few weeks ago?” Phoebe reluctantly answered.
“And what was the meeting about?”
“Helping you and Wesley get together, so you’ll marry,” Daphne answered for Phoebe.
“Oh, well, thank you for trying. I appreciate it,” Nadine said, feeling deflated that it hadn’t worked due to her own fault.
“Let’s recap what we’ve done so far,“ Iva Mae said.
“They’ve spent time in the closet on numerous occasions,” their mother whispered, and the sisters laughed.
“Mama!” Nadine felt herself blush, both for the fact that her mother knew she was kissing Wesley in the closet and thinking about those kisses.
“Yes, we’ve pushed you and Wesley together numerous times. And Kaitlyn and Millie thought of some ways to help too with you and Wesley singing together and planning Beth’s party.”
Well, Nadine thought, working the party together was ruined by her own pettiness. But hopefully, she made up for that fiasco by finding Lucy for him.
“But that hasn’t been enough for him to ask me to marry him tonight. I just came from his apartment,” Nadine said sadly.
“You’ve pushed him away several times, Nadine. We’ve had umpteen couple meals together, played cards, gone to socials, and you’ve always been a little...aloof, I’d say,” Avalee spoke the truth. “He’s getting tired of your mixed signals.”
“What you do mean by that?”
“You kiss him, but then get mad at him. I see a pattern here, and the poor man is tired of it,” Avalee said, and it was true.
“I can’t seem to trust him. I’m afraid he’ll leave.”
“So, you push him away first.”
The rest of her family stayed quiet as she and Avalee talked because Avalee had been through the six couples courting time.
“Yes.”
“Let’s talk about what marriage is, girls, and I’ll start. It’s about working and living together under good and sometimes bad times. Ida Mae, can you start the vows and say something about them?”
“All right. For better, for worse. Oh, I could talk hours about that. Marriage is about loving each other, and then he passes gas, smelling up the bedroom, but you still talk for a long time afterward about your hopes and dreams. Smelly socks, which he just can’t seem to throw into the dirty clothes basket, but you still pick them up and wash them anyway. Seeing his tears of tender joy as he holds his newborn son after you’ve been laboring for hours to get the baby out of your body. It’s about sharing your mind, soul, and body with the most important person in your world,” Iva Mae choked up with her last words and stopped talking.
“For richer, for poorer,” Maridell said as she muses over the phrase. “I moved to Wilson, away from all of you for the man I fell in love with. That makes me richer for his love, but poorer because I don’t see you as often. The boarding house is our income, and we’ve had good and lean times depending on how many people stay with us, and who pays their rent on time. Marriage is acknowledging you’ll have times you’ll need to tighten your belts when—and not if—you have unexpected financial burdens. Like when the hailstorm last summer broke the glass out of all the west windows. Frank and I worked together to clean the rooms of the broken glass and shredded curtains and rain-soaked rugs and bedding. We’re still paying the expenses for that storm. In other words, save your money for the unexpected hardships you’re bound to have, and don’t spend it on something else! Okay, I’ll quit before I tell you how Frank blew money on a necklace for me, and
I got mad at him instead of being touched by his thoughtfulness.”
The married sisters laughed at Maridell’s comment on her new jewelry she proudly wore today.
“My turn,” Avalee said as she raised her hand. “In sickness and in health is perfect for me to describe because I’ve seen both while working with Doctor Pansy. Injuries that could make a person an invalid for life and the spouse must care for that person’s mobility and bodily functions, plus figure out how to bring in income to feed their family. Joys of a new baby, or the utter grief when the baby or mother, dies,” Avalee trailed off and looked down at her hands.
“I’m glad I have the phrase to love and to cherish,” Luella stated. “I’ve loved Tate for years, and we have so much fun together. I love being married to him and can’t imagine life without him. And, he worries about my club foot after standing in the classroom and rubs it every night, like you used to do, Mama. Again, I love being married!”
“No dirty socks or passing gas?” Iva Mae teases Luella.
“Oh, there are a lot of things about my husband I don’t cherish. Coming home after scraping a fresh cowhide to be tanned into leather? You can imagine the smell that walks in the door!”
Luella scrunches up her nose and shudders. “And then I have to wash those smelly clothes!”
Nadine laughed with the rest of her sisters, understanding better what marriage is about.
“And I’ll end with the hardest part of the wedding vows,” her mother quietly states. “Until we are parted by death.”
Everyone is quiet now, thinking of their fathers—their mother’s husbands—she’d lost over the years.
“I love Ethan with all of my heart, but I still tear up thinking about the men in my life, both good and bad, who I knew before him. Life will throw things at you like you can never imagine, and I sometimes think I’ve had more than my share of grief and sadness.”
Iva Mae reached for their mother’s hand, and they all joined hands around the table, even though they were starting to tear up and needing a hand to reach for our hankies.
Nadine Trades Her Partner Page 8