by Heather Gray
****
Grady's surprise knew no bounds when he walked into the front door of the house and smelled bacon and flapjacks cooking. The eggs were plentiful, and there was fresh milk to drink, too. Not sure what to think after the obviously sparse meal he'd seen yesterday, he hoped his presence and Mary's pride didn't end up costing the family more than they could afford.
Everyone began eating without ceremony, but Grady took the time to bow his head and asked a silent blessing on the meal and day ahead. When he lifted his head, two pairs of eyes were watching him. Mary regarded him with pity. Bobby's blue gaze was filled with curiosity.
Grady had decided he couldn't push his faith on these folks, so he said nothing but began to eat a breakfast far more hearty than he'd expected. He hoped Bobby would voice his questions eventually, but Grady wasn't going to force the subject. He wanted to make sure this family knew he cared about them and wasn't some do-gooder here to preach.
****
When he was done eating, Grady stood and carried his plate and utensils to the kitchen sink. Everyone else stared at him. "Did I do something wrong?"
Much to his surprise, Lizzie spoke up, "You're being polite." Clearly, polite was not something this family had come to expect from people, or at least from men.
With a wink at Lizzie, Grady said to the group, "I'm going to go get started. Anyone who wants to come help me is welcome." He held up his hand to quiet the girls' excited chatter and added, "As soon as Mary says it's okay. If she has things she needs you to do, you need to take care of those responsibilities before you find me." Before anyone could protest, Grady headed out the door. Within minutes, they could hear him tearing up boards on the porch, hopefully limiting himself to the rotted ones.
"Mary?" asked Bobby. "Can we trust him?"
Having promised herself long ago she would lie to her brothers and sisters only if she thought it necessary to protect them from harm, she answered, "I don't know Bobby. I hope so, but I don't know."
Once the table was cleared, Mary sent the girls out to help Grady. As soon as they were out of earshot, she told the boys to head upstairs to their room. She needed to have a talk with them, and she didn't want to risk Grady overhearing through the front door. Right behind them on the stairs, she shooed them up as quickly as she could. None of the rooms upstairs had doors on them, but they were all used to the lack of privacy. Doors were a luxury not all families could afford.
"All right, guys, I need your help," she started. "The deputy hasn't been by yet, so I figure he'll come today and tell us Pa's coming home tomorrow. He said he'd give us a day's notice and that they couldn't keep Pa more than three days." When the boys nodded, she continued, "That means all of you are back to school tomorrow. Pa can't know you stayed home, plowed, any of that. No telling how he'll react. We also need to act like nothing's different around here."
"How you gonna hide the food we got now?" asked Bobby.
"I don't know yet," Mary answered. "I'll try to figure that out today. I'm open to suggestions if'n you got any." In the past, they had sometimes hidden canned goods out at their secret animal pen, but if a jar got knocked over, it drew all kinds of critters, so they had to be careful and limit themselves to putting tins out there. Everything they had right now was from the crate Sarah brought yesterday and the baking goods Grady brought today, and not much of it was in tins.
When neither boy had a suggestion to offer, Mary continued, "I need you both to shadow Grady and make sure he don't stumble across anything he shouldn't." The boys seemed to know what she meant, but she wanted to make it clear so there weren't any mistakes. "He can't find the cow, hen, or any of our hiding places. We got to keep our secrets secret. I want to trust him, but I don't know if we can. What I do know is we can't take chances."
Both boys nodded their understanding and headed back down the stairs. Clive stopped long enough to say, "I don't like him being here. Ain't nothing but trouble, but when the trouble comes, he won't be around for it. He's gonna make a mess, and we're gonna suffer for it, mark my words."
Mary couldn't argue with Clive. She was afraid he might be right. Something about Grady, however, made her want to trust him. It had been a long time since she'd felt the urge to believe in anyone, and she didn't understand why she was even considering it now.
After Ma died and things got bad with Pa, Mary had trusted people. She had trusted the wrong people, asking for help three times from different people. Each time those people had gone to Pa and told him of their concern for how he was raising his family. Her father's wrath had no limits when he'd thought she was betraying him by talking to others about their private family business. It had been a painful lesson to learn, but Mary now knew no one could be trusted to help, let alone protect, them. It all fell to her.
She tried to keep her mind off the work going on outside. The boys would do their job. She didn't care a whit whether or not they were any help to Grady. Their job, as far as she was concerned, was to keep him away from their hiding places. Blowing the loose tendrils of wispy brown hair out of her eyes, she hoped for an uneventful day.
Thinking back to some of the events that had led them to such secrecy, Mary had a sinking feeling. Looking back on those first months after Ma's death was always hard. When they first realized Pa wasn't going to help them, they started doing whatever they could to survive. The boys did odd jobs for people and earned a little money. They hid the cow and hens. Every time they managed to squirrel some money away, though, Pa would find their stash and Mary would see their prospects vanish like smoke into the sky.
Clive eventually had the idea to start hiding their money in different places, splitting it up. That way, if Pa stumbled across part of it, he would get whatever he found and think he had it all. If it worked, the rest of their money would be safe.
Over time they fine-tuned their system. When they realized Pa was never going to give up looking for money, they decided to pick an easy-to-find place to "hide" some of their money so he'd always be able to locate it. If they put enough there to keep him satisfied, then they had a chance of keeping the rest of the money hidden. They put two to three pennies at a time in "Pa's Place" as they ultimately called it. The rest of their funds were hidden in different spots around the farm.
Bobby once spied Pa putting some of his own money, winnings from gambling no doubt, into that selfsame spot. Since he never seemed to question why he always found money there, they eventually decided he must figure it was money he'd put there but didn't remember. With all the drinking he did, it seemed to make sense. Nobody ever questioned him about it, and he never said anything to them.
Secrets had become a way of life for them as natural as breathing. Mary sometimes wondered, though, whether those secrets actually helped keep them safe or if they only provided the illusion of it.
Chapter Five
For the most part, Mary stayed in the house. She came out to check on Grady and the kids a couple times and offered her help on occasion. Grady kept shooing her away, though, telling her they were getting along fine. It also happened to be true.
As he watched Clive, Bobby, Lizzie, and Gigi pull together to get things done, he was amazed. Rarely did anyone raise their voice. The boys took care of their sisters, and the girls did their best to help their brothers. Seeing the strong family ties Mary had managed to foster among her brothers and sisters in the midst of their many hardships was a humbling experience for Grady.
It didn't take them long to get the front porch repaired so all the boards were stable and solid. No longer would anyone run the risk of falling through rotted boards on that porch.
Next they moved on to the barn. The barn as a whole was too big a project for one day, but they did manage to strengthen the pens for the mule and goat as well as for Mr. Fitzgerald's horse. They also repaired the trough and a couple other daily necessities.
While they were working on the trough, Lizzie approached shyly from Grady's right, held out two well-worn buckets, and asked
if he could fix the handles on them. Grady figured this must be how they hauled the milk to the boardinghouse in town each day. It would be a hassle for the whole family if the buckets had no handles. He didn't ask where the buckets came from or what they were used for. Instead, he told Lizzie to rinse them out with fresh water and set them by the trough so he could see to them a bit later. Buckets could be tricky, but thankfully these two needed nothing more than minor repairs, and he would be able to take care of those with the tools he'd brought.
They moved on to the backyard where the laundry was done. Taking a look around, Grady could see the clothesline was about to fall over. He and the kids worked to get it shored up so it wouldn't give Mary any grief.
Next, they considered the washtubs and the wringer used for doing the laundry. The girls told Grady that Mary had to wring everything out by hand because the crank wringer didn't work anymore. Looking it over, he was pretty sure he could fix it but also knew it would mean dismantling the whole thing, a time consuming prospect too tedious for his young helpers. He instructed the boys to load it into the back of his wagon, which they did without complaint.
Grady was contemplating what to do about dinner when Mary came out of the house to let them know their midday meal was ready. They all headed over to the trough and water pump to clean up before going inside. The trough was over by the barn across the yard from the house. It wasn't at all a long walk. Grady hadn't taken more than a couple steps away from the trough when he felt the presence of someone next to him.
He glanced down to see Lizzie standing there. She didn't say a word and kept her gaze focused straight ahead the entire time, but she stayed right there by his side. Grady reached out a hand, and she placed hers, small and timid, into his large work-roughened one.
Gigi and the boys had already raced ahead. By the time Lizzie and Grady made it to the front door, everyone else was seated and waiting for them. Holding the door open for Lizzie, he gently squeezed her hand. He felt the lightest return pressure before she let go of him and went to her seat. His heart constricted. Maybe he'd imagined the whole thing. Smiling to himself, he decided she couldn't have squeezed his hand. She'd been too busy reaching right inside his chest to squeeze his heart.
Dinner was a plentiful affair. Grady could tell by everyone's reactions Mary had gone above and beyond the norm. He hoped the work he was getting done around the farm would be worth the extra food she was using today. Sighing and shaking his head at his own stubborn tendency to worry, he offered up a silent prayer.
I trust you, Lord. I'm simply being me again.
It took Grady a moment to realize five pairs of eyes were watching him and not a single mouth was chewing. The expressions ranged from curiosity among the children to resignation on Mary's face. When he watched her in question, she said without an ounce of enthusiasm, "You may say the blessing if you'd like." Grady got the distinct impression she was giving in to pressure from the kids on this topic, that she had no interest in hearing him pray.
Thankful for such an opportunity, Grady prayed, "Lord, thank you for this meal you've provided today. Thank you for the work Mary put into preparing it, and thank you for everyone's hard work this morning and for all the great things we've been able to get accomplished because of it. We've all worked up a mighty fine appetite. Please bless the food to our bodies, Lord, and see us through the days to come. Amen."
When he lifted his head and looked around the table, all five Fitzgeralds were still staring at him. He wondered if they knew anything about normal prayer etiquette. Pleased they'd invited him to pray at all, he had no intention of lecturing on the topic. Taking a bite, he nodded and smiled. It wouldn't do for the family to think his interest in helping them was due to some sense of religious obligation. They needed to know he cared.
****
Everyone was finishing up their meal when the sound of a horse approaching caused everyone at the table to tense. Clive was the first to speak, "It's not Pa's horse." Grady was amazed the boy could, by sound, recognize it wasn't their father. It would have to wait for now, but Grady filed that information away, determined to later ask Clive how he'd known.
Mary, looking stiff and uncomfortable, got up from the table and went to the front window. "It's the deputy," she said, relief evident in her voice. She then stepped out onto the front porch and closed the door behind her.
Grady stared at the door, almost wishing he were ungentlemanly enough to eavesdrop. As he sat there, warring with himself over what he ought, or ought not, to do, he exclaimed, "You have no lock!" The youngest of the children peered at him as if he were daft. Pointing to the door, he said, "You have no lock on your door, no latch, nothing. How does the door even stay closed? Don't critters get in during the night?"
"Silly," Gigi said, as if this were the most normal thing in the world, "we slide a chair in front of it so it can't blow open."
"What keeps it from blowing open the other way?" asked Grady, wondering if they also blocked the door from the outside.
Gigi giggled, "That only happens sometimes. You sure do ask funny questions. Don't they have doors where you come from?"
Knowing he needed to be careful how he answered, Grady spoke directly to Gigi, again aware that everyone else was listening to him. "Of course we have doors, Gigi. In the home where I grew up, the doors had latches, though, so they couldn't blow open and so critters couldn't get in. I never realized before your door didn't have a latch."
"What's a latch?" she asked innocently.
"Well," Grady said slowly, hoping for inspiration on how to explain a latch to a nine-year-old who'd likely never seen one before, "a latch has a piece that mounts to the door…"
"With nails?" Gigi asked, eyes wide and sparkling. When she accompanied the words with an enthusiastic nod, Grady bit back a laugh.
"Yes, a latch has a piece that mounts to the door with nails. Another piece mounts to the doorframe or wall." Anticipating Gigi's next question, he added, "Also with nails." Smiling at her excited bounce, he continued, "Then there's a thing you connect to the piece on the door and the part on the wall so the door can't accidentally open."
"We used to have a latch," Lizzie said faintly. All eyes turned to her. Her brothers appeared none too pleased with her. "Well, it's true!" she said defiantly.
"Did we really?" Gigi asked in awe. "Where'd it go?"
Suddenly looking frightened, Lizzie regarded her hands, where they twisted together in her lap. Back to her softer-than-air voice, she said, "Pa was out one night and Mary forgot. She latched the door, and he couldn't get in when he got home. He busted the door down and got right mad. That's when Mary's arm got hurt real bad, and she had to wear a sling. Clive made a new door for us but didn't put no latch on it so Mary wouldn't get in trouble again."
Gigi didn't look like she remembered the event at all. Bobby seemed uncomfortable. Clive's face became ruddy and his brown eyes darkened. He looked like he was ready to put his fist through a wall. Grady swallowed the bile that rose in his throat and tried to mask his reaction so the girls wouldn't be upset. Deciding the best way to rescue them all was to break the sudden tension at the table, he stood up and said, "Come on, gang. Get the dishes over to the sink so Mary doesn't have to later." Nodding encouragingly to them, he added, "Then we'll go take a look at the field you've been working on and see what else needs to be done to get it ready for planting."
"Ooh, we're going on an outing!" said Gigi with enthusiasm. "Will this be like a picnic? I read about a picnic once in school."
Patting her on the head, Grady said, "Exactly like a picnic. But without the food, blanket, or relaxation."
"Yippee!" yelled Gigi as she jumped up and quickly ran her dishes to the sink. Grady was amazed at how swiftly Gigi had come out of her reserved shell. He feared what would happen to her cheerfulness when her pa came back home.
Mary stepped back in through the front door as they were all getting ready to step out. "Everything okay?" Grady asked. Appearing troubled, Mar
y nodded. "We're going to head over to the field the boys have been plowing and see what else needs to be done." When Mary said nothing, he added, "Unless you need us to do something here first?"
"No, no, that's fine. Go ahead." Grady saw the way Mary was forcefully gripping her skirt. She seemed to do that whenever she was scared or angry. Contemplating Mary's tightly fisted hands, Grady decided the wise thing to do after today would be to steer clear of this family and their troubles. Even so, he was becoming certain it was definitely not the right thing to do.
Not wanting Mary to be left alone at the house to stew about whatever message the deputy had delivered, he said, "Would you like to join us?"
Mary rubbed her hands up and down her arms as if warding off a sudden chill. The boys had already gone out the door, but Lizzie and Gigi were still there. Cajoling, Grady said, "Come on Mary, the dishes'll still be here later. Join us. It's sunny out." With Gigi tugging one of her hands and Lizzie pulling on the other, Mary had little choice but to concede victory.
Once they were out in the sunshine, the girls took off running to Grady's wagon to collect their gloves and spades so they could help at the field. The boys had brought the mule out of the barn. Grady figured the plow was probably still out at the field. Hopefully it was at least protected against the weather.
Grady and Mary walked at a more leisurely pace. "Is your pa getting out?" he asked when he noticed the way she was strangling her skirt again.
"Tomorrow."
"Anything I can do to help?"
"No."
"Mary, I plan to keep coming by even after your pa gets home. You might as well know that now." Grady bolstered himself for her reaction.
"That won't be necessary."
Disheartened by the lack of energy in her response, Grady tried again to get her engaged in conversation. "How much longer 'til school's out?"