“It was incredible how quickly everyone was able to come together to help with our celebration. And the amount of food? That was surprising. I doubt I would have seen as large a gathering had I married someone from back home.”
Benjamin stood up and wiped the dirt off his knees where he’d knelt for a moment. “Why didn’t you find someone back home to marry?”
Amelia looked down at her hands and adjusted the apron to try to keep herself busy while she thought of what to say.
Benjamin must have seen her concern because he continued. “I mean, you are a lovely and kind woman. I’m surprised you hadn’t found a husband back home.”
Amelia looked up at him, once again surprised at his compliment. “I never had the opportunity to find someone suitable.”
Benjamin didn’t ask more, but she could tell he wanted her to continue on.
“My parents started to struggle with their health. Something was off with my father. He had begun to forget things and it made life very difficult for my mother. I spent a lot of time working to help them. He eventually got to the point he couldn’t work. He’d taught me a lot about writing and book keeping so I was able to help him with that until it was obvious to his employer he could no longer do the work. Then we basically stayed home and cared for him while also taking care of the house and the garden. Mother brought in money by doing some sewing and laundry. I helped out by cooking for some families nearby that had need of a cook.”
“I’m sorry about your father,” Benjamin said. “I didn’t know he had lost his ability to work. You were surely a blessing to your parents.”
“Thank you,” Amelia said.
“My grandfather only mentioned you’d lost them to the influenza.”
“Yes,” Amelia said. “Father went first. Mother was so worn down from all the hard work and caring for him as well as everything else. I sometimes wonder if she was relieved to go.” She wiped her eye with the back of her hand and gave Benjamin a weak smile.
“Did you fall ill?” Benjamin asked softly.
“I did.” Amelia nodded and looked away from him. “I hate to admit that I wished for death as well. When I recovered, it was hard to even know what to do. I was so grateful to your grandparents for their help.”
“I’m glad you had them to rely on.” Benjamin had somehow moved to the side of her without her even knowing how he’d gotten there. “It would be an incredibly difficult thing to do alone.”
Amelia met his eyes. The warmth and compassion in them did her heart good and she was glad she had someone she could talk to now about her life and her heartache. “They were so good to me when I needed them.”
Whether he just naturally knew she needed his strength of if the break in her voice gave him a clue, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a gentle embrace. Her own hand was still in between them, still holding her apron and the vegetables, but she took her other arm and placed it on his back to return the hug. She placed her cheek on his chest and felt the soft thump of his steady heart and for a moment was certain it was the most wonderful sound in the world.
Benjamin placed a soft kiss on her head and stepped back. “I truly am sorry for your loss. I hope here, you can find peace and healing to your heart.”
“Thank you,” Amelia said. “I believe it will help. And like you said, the garden is a wonderful place to be.”
“Well,” Benjamin said. “It is where He placed Adam and Eve. So a garden definitely has that going for it.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Benjamin sat at his kitchen table that afternoon and looked across the once empty space to meet the lovely eyes of his new wife. He’d been terrified to think he’d have to marry the woman when she’d arrived and informed him of his grandparents’ promise to her. At first, he’d been ready to just find someone else to take care of Amelia. Some other man who actually wanted a wife.
Now, sitting down to a meal that he hadn’t made himself or even been offered by one of the families in Birch Creek as a service to their preacher, he thought married life wasn’t all that bad.
She was kind and caring and would be an asset to him in his work for sure.
“I will be going to visit with a widow named Elizabeth Crane and her family today. Would you like to come with me?”
“Sure,” Amelia said. “Would it be all right if I brought a loaf of bread with us?”
“That would be a great idea. She and her children live with her widowed mother and I’m sure they would love the bread.” Benjamin shook his head after a moment. “Well, maybe bread isn’t as needed. She has been showing some interest in the baker whose shop is right next to the new doctor’s office where Mrs. Crane has been helping. I know he’s sent her home with the bread at the end of the day.”
Amelia pursed her lips together. “What else might we take?” She looked around the kitchen. “We were just given a lot of wonderful things.”
Benjamin studied Amelia for a moment. She had just been given things for her wedding gifts and already she was willing to part with them for the benefit of another. She really would make for a great companion in his ministry.
“I have taken fresh vegetables from the garden to many of the families that I have visited before. We could take some of the tomatoes.”
As Amelia talked of the different things they might take to share with Mrs. Crane, Benjamin found his gaze drawn to the movement of his wife’s mouth. The way she said certain words was slightly different from what he heard here in town, but still so familiar to him. Then the more he watched her lips, the more he began to think of the simple kiss they’d shared when they were wed.
He didn’t mean to get distracted, but when she repeated his name he blinked in surprise.
“I’m sorry,” Benjamin said. “I got lost in thought.”
“I will gather up a few items and get them ready to take over. When will you be going?”
“Later this afternoon. I need to do a bit more writing.”
“That works great. I wanted to wash some of the clothes. Do you have anything you needed washed?”
“I do. I’ll grab them once we’re done eating.” Benjamin had despised that part of caring for himself. The offer for someone to take care of it was wonderful. He would help her get the water boiling for the process and take it out for her, but to not have to do it all himself was great.
“It will probably take me a while. And then tomorrow morning, I’ll do the bedding. I believe I saw a clothes line to hang things on. It should be long enough I could do the sheets.”
She continued to lay out her plans for the rest of the day and Benjamin was once again impressed with her work ethic. She would put him to shame for sure. How had he ever managed to keep a house on his own. He’d never really thought much about the upkeep of things. With her taking care of his house and cleaning, he would be freer to help others.
Perhaps it would finally be time for him to work with the others in town who wanted to establish a library. And Mrs. Clark, who still had some money she’d inherited, had mentioned she wanted to find someone willing to bring a printing press out to Birch Creek so they could start their own newspaper for the area.
He would be able to get some of his writings in print if that happened.
The excitement of the written word raced through him. He couldn’t wait to get back into his study to work more on his notes. He’d wanted to write a history of the town, as well as some smaller pamphlets that shared important verses from the Bible to pass out to people who might need something to take with them. He wanted to make literacy more accessible to everyone in town, and what better way than to have a printing press brought to town?
When Amelia offered him seconds, he shook his head. “I’m pleasantly full. Thank you. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to hurry into my study to continue my work. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to go visit Mrs. Crane and her mother.”
He took his plate to the wash basin and gave her a parting smile before he slipped out of
the kitchen and into his study where he closed the door.
He felt safe here. Back to his normal self. What did that say about him that he couldn’t manage to spend time with his own wife because of the way she confused him?
***
Amelia cleaned up the remains of lunch, then started a pot of boiling water so she could get ready to do some wash. She gathered the clothing from her own items, and since Benjamin had forgotten to show her what he needed washed, she just grabbed his shirts and the trousers that were in the room. Hopefully that would be all right. She didn’t want to do anything to upset him, but if he didn’t let her know what he needed, she’d just do her best.
The wash tub and the scrub board were easy to find and thanks to the good folks in Birch Creek, she had a brand-new cake of soap. She took the items outside and found the perfect spot to wash the clothes. She put the large metal basin down, then brought out the second bucket. She couldn’t find a third like she’d hoped so she could get a really good rinse on the clothes. That would be something she’d have to check the mercantile for. Today, she’d make do with just the one. It didn’t look like he had anything to squeeze the water out with, so that would be by hand as well. He lived simply, and she was used to having a few more tools for the work. It would take some time to adjust to life here with him, but she was determined to do her best. She needed him to see she would be a good wife.
The water was boiling by the time she finished setting up her work station and she carried the pot out to the water basin and poured it over the top of the clothes that she’d left in the bottom of it. She shaved a small part of the soap off to dissolve in the water while she went in to get more water heating.
Once the water was back on the stove, she rolled her sleeves up past her elbows and tested the water with her finger. She poured just a little of the cool water into the wash tub and once she could stand to put her hands in the water, she began scrubbing the different pieces against the ridged wash board.
Up and down, then she’d scrub the bar of soap against the clothes when she found a particularly dirty spot then up and down again, turning the pieces over to get a good wash. She made it through all the shirts and did her best to squeeze out the excess soapy water before placing them in the bucket of cool water next to her. She placed the trousers into the soapy water next to let them soak before she went into the house to get the hot water.
She poured most of it into the rinse water then poured the remaining into the soapy water to help get the trousers clean. Once again, she filled the pot then placed it back on the stove for heating. She looked toward the room Benjamin was working in. Part of her wished she could go talk with him, check on him, remind him that she was there and find out what he needed from her as a wife. If only she knew how to find a way to make him appreciate her enough to eventually love her.
Amelia sighed. There was no way to force love. She would just have to earn his acceptance, build trust and understanding, and then eventually, love would come. It had to.
She turned around, checked the stove and thought she’d like to set up a fire pit or even get an outside stove eventually so she could keep the house from getting too hot with all this work. Knowing she couldn’t put it off much longer, she returned to the rinse water and got back to work.
Though she was able to get most of the water out, she knew it would need another rinse so she placed the shirts on any surface she could find to let them drip for a few minutes while she scrubbed the trousers in the wash basin. A quick rinse of them in the now dirty rinse water led to them resting on the edges of the pots and bucket and rock and fence and tree branches as well as the line to dry while she got fresh water for rinsing.
She poured out the rinse water near the garden so it could go down the rows and got some fresh cool water, rinsed out the clothes, poured the water out again and refilled it with cool water then returned to the house to get the heated water for the last time.
When she got inside the kitchen, she was surprised to see Benjamin in there.
“Are you finished with your work?” she asked.
“Mostly.” He looked her over from top to bottom, probably taking in all her disarray and the wet front of her skirt and shirt. He shook his head. “I’m sorry I didn’t help you with the water. Do you need help? Let me take the pot out for you.”
Amelia stepped back. She wouldn’t argue about carrying out the water, but why did he suddenly seem so eager to help? She wouldn’t complain at all. At least he was aware of her presence now. She turned around and walked back down the single step that led to the back yard and over to her wash area.
“Pour it into that bucket. I need to do a second rinsing of the clothes.”
“You rinse it twice?” Benjamin asked.
“Yes,” Amelia said. “I don’t like the feel of it if there is soap remaining.”
Benjamin nodded. “Makes sense.”
Amelia watched as he poured the water, appreciating the way he looked as he helped. She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to ask for too much right after they had married.
“Benjamin?” Amelia said. “I wondered if it might be possible to get a second barrel. It would make the rinsing easier if I didn’t have to refill this same bucket twice. Do you have anything that might work? Or would you mind if I picked up something from the mercantile?”
“Of course not. I’m just so glad you’re here to do the laundry and I don’t have to worry about it. I obviously did it poorly anyway. So if you need a second bucket, that works fine for me.”
Amelia smiled, loving that he was considerate enough to agree to her request. “Thank you.”
“How can I help now?” Benjamin asked.
“I’ll be all right. It won’t be long now.”
“I’d like to help. You did all this by yourself while I was in there working on easy things. Tell me what to do.”
Amelia studied him for a moment, then once she was sure he was genuine in his desire to help she plunged her hands into the water. “I’ll rinse these, then wring them out and if you could hang them, that would be wonderful.”
“Will do. Oh, do you have the pins to keep them on the wire?”
Amelia shook her head. “I didn’t know where you kept them.”
“I’ll be right back.” Benjamin turned and hurried into the house, and by the time she’d wrung out the first shirt, he was back with a small box holding some wooden pegs with a split down the middle to push over the cloth and the wire.
She handed over the shirt and watched him with a smile as he shook it out and placed it on the wire with the pins then turned around with a pleased smile at his results and held out his hand for the next one.
***
Benjamin was still surprised at how fast she’d gotten all the clothes washed. She worked much quicker than he did, and she got them a lot cleaner than he ever had.
Working out in the garden this morning with her, and now again assisting with the laundry brought a different kind of pleasure at accomplishing things than he’d felt before.
It was nice to share the load with someone. He’d always thought he would do just fine on his own. He had all the people in Birch Creek to keep him company. He’d never really thought all that much about getting married to have a family and someone to work with all the time.
He’d only been with her for a day and already he was beginning to realize how lonely things had been before. She didn’t interfere with his way of life like he’d feared a wife would. In fact, she was highly competent and could do all this on her own. She didn’t really need him to do the work for her. He would largely be able to just go about his normal routines without any major interruptions. With her there to feed him and do a lot of the work of maintaining the house and garden, he’d have a lot more time to pursue his dreams.
Marriage would actually be quite nice.
As long as he could afford all the things she’d want to buy. He didn’t earn much as a preacher here since the folks didn’t have a lot of m
oney to pay for his services. A lot of the work he did was in trade for other things people would share with him. He had done some carving for fun and had sold some of his figures to the mercantile for them to sell to the local families for the children in the area. That had led to him doing a few more things and trading with the mercantile as well as building a few shelves and cabinets since he had made his own to hold his books.
Maybe with Amelia here, he could spend more time building the shelves and cabinets to sell or barter with. Yes, having a wife was actually turning out to be all right.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Amelia looked over the clothes that were neatly hung to dry and then down at her shirt and skirt. They weren’t quite soaking, but she’d definitely need to change if she was going to go out with Benjamin to visit any of the people in town.
“I’ll go change into some dry clothes, then we can go visit Elizabeth and her family.”
She hurried to change and when she came out of the room, Benjamin was standing near the front door holding the little cloth she’d wrapped the tomatoes in. He smiled at her and opened the door, then waited for her to exit before he followed behind. The closeness of his body to hers as she passed him gave her a thrill to know they were completely within their rights to be so close without anyone else around.
Simple words of acceptance and the blessing of God made it possible for her life to be joined to his. Together, they could make wonderful things happen. They walked down the path to the front fence and Amelia looked around to see what kind of work she might need to do here tonight or tomorrow.
If she could gather some flower seeds it would be nice to add a little color to the corner. But overall, it looked nice. The large shade trees helped make the place feel welcoming.
The Preacher's Bride: A Golden Valley Story (Brides of Birch Creek Book 6) Page 7