“I’ve got a few more things down in the cellar we could sell. If there are any takers.”
He stiffened and frowned, turning to Mable. “Those things were Mama’s favorites. I can’t--I won’t...”
“I just don’t see any other way, Mr. Anthony.”
He turned to Mable, his eyes misting. “I can’t, Mable. It won’t help, anyway. This will just have to be the year that the tradition ends.”
Chapter 21
Michelle lay in her warm bed as the frost in the room bit at her nose, thinking about what Anthony had said last night. Was he really unwilling to carry on the tradition? How could he be so unkind?
She gazed up at the chandelier over her head, and what looked like a crystal bowl on the table beside her bed. Certainly someone with so much money would be eager to help others in need.
She threw the covers back and sat up, walking as quickly as she could to her wardrobe. Pulling out what she thought would be her warmest dress, she dressed as quickly as she could.
As she sat at the vanity and began to brush her hair, she paused for a moment, looking down at her dress. Maybe Anthony had wanted her to have nice dresses because he had been worried that she might turn up and embarrass him. He did seem concerned about his social standing in town.
He was awfully upset that she’d given the rest of the money to the young lady. And she’d had children! How could he not want her to have food?
She squinted at herself in the mirror as she remembered their quick wedding and their supper afterward--at the drugstore. He’d passed right by the fancy restaurant where his friends were and they’d had their wedding supper at the drugstore.
Apparently, he wasn’t the man she thought he was after all. Her mother’s years of darning and taking repaired clothes to the needy flashed through her memory, and her heart sank. She’d thought that she’d died and gone to heaven, married to a handsome man who made her blood thrum in her veins. She lived in a beautiful house, wore lovely clothes and had charming children to help raise.
But it was all empty if it was with a man with a cold heart. She’d hoped maybe they could learn to love each other, and have a real family and a wonderful life. But she knew that she could never love a man who turned his back on others in need. It just wasn’t possible.
She sighed as she went out into the hall, hoping that Anthony had already left for work. She wasn’t sure what she could--or should--say to him, and preferred that they just kept their distance now that she knew the truth.
“Pssst.”
She jumped as she heard a little voice behind her. She turned to see Mattie peeking out the door of the girl’s bedroom, crooking her finger.
She smiled, grateful for a reason to stop thinking about Anthony as she walked down the hallway and into the girls’ room.
Michelle had slipped Mrs. Clementine into Missy’s arms before she’d gone to her room, and now Missy beamed with delight as she held her up.
“You made her beautiful again, Michelle. Thank you.” She ran over and threw her arms around Michelle.
“You’re very welcome,” Michelle said. “I just wish I had more things to fix and maybe we could help the other children.”
Mattie’s eyes sparkled. “Uncle Anthony came in before he left and told us that we couldn’t do it this year.”
“Yes, but look what we have,” Missy said with a triumphant smile. Mattie lifted open the lid of a steamer trunk, and Michelle clapped her hand over her mouth at the sight of dozens and dozens of dolls and stuffed animals, the trunk full almost to overflowing. “We’d been saving all year before Mama and Papa died, and some of them just need to be fixed. And you know how to fix them.”
She reached into the trunk and pulled out a stuffed monkey, its button eye hanging by a thread.
“How--does Anthony--” she stammered. Had the girls kept this treasure chest secret?
“We didn’t tell anybody. We just said it was a special trunk and we’d open it later. And now Christmas is almost here, so it’s time now,” Missy said as she climbed up on the bed and sat.
Michelle sat down slowly on the chair beside the bed. “But your uncle said we wouldn’t be able to do your mother’s tradition this year. He was adamant.”
Missy smiled and shook her head slowly. “He doesn’t understand how important it is, and he didn’t know we had lots of toys already. He won’t mind.”
Michelle raised her eyebrows, not certain at all that he wouldn’t mind, but her heart tugged at the thought of the young lady’s boys. The toddler would surely love the monkey she held in her hand.
Her heart lifted and she knew she had to help somehow. “You girls learned to sew and are very good at it. Do you think if we hurried, we could get these all ship-shape in time to give away Christmas eve?”
The girls’ eyes lit up and they exchanged glances. “We were hoping you’d say that.”
Chapter 22
Michelle and the girls had been sewing every day, non-stop, and had finally gotten to the bottom of the steamer trunk. They’d taken it downstairs and, with Mable’s help and broad smile, they’d placed it in a corner of the parlor, out of the way so Anthony wouldn’t see it.
They’d spent over a week taking one toy out at a time and sewing the buttons on the eyes of stuffed animals and tears in dolls’ dresses, talking about everything under the sun as they passed the time.
Michelle had gotten to know the girls quite well in the past week and she was incredibly touched by their commitment to helping others, marveling at such big hearts in girls so young. Adelaide must have been quite a woman to have raised girls with such loving generosity.
Over the course of the week, she’d also wondered how Anthony’s heart had become so cold. In a family like theirs, with a twin sister like Adelaide, they must have been like oil and water, and she sighed, sorry that he hadn’t been a kinder soul, like them. Then, maybe they would have had a chance to be a real family.
She shook her head as she reached for her coat, knowing that that could never happen now. Her scarf wrapped around her neck, she called for the girls, hoping they were ready to walk to the park. She peered out the window as she waited, glad for the sunny day after almost a week of cold and stormy weather.
“We’re ready,” Mattie said as she raced from the kitchen, her scarf wrapped around her and her mittens already on.
Missy followed close behind, buttoning her coat. “I’m glad we get to go outside today. We’ve been inside for so long that it’ll be fun to go out.”
They cheerfully walked the short distance, keeping their pace brisk as even though it was sunny, it was definitely chilly. When they got to the park, they walked around it, the wind rustling the bare branches of the trees.
“Let’s go see Uncle Anthony,” Missy said as they neared the end of the park and the drug store where she and Anthony had had their sodas on their wedding day.
Michelle’s heart flipped. She’d been successfully avoiding talking to Anthony for some time now, and he seemed so preoccupied that she doubted he’d even noticed that she’d not said much. He certainly hadn’t sought her out.
She couldn’t resist the girls’ pleading eyes. She didn’t want to do anything that would keep them from their Uncle. They loved him very much, and while she couldn’t respect his lack of charity, she wouldn’t keep them apart.
Sighing, she said, “All right. We can pop in for a minute,” and she took each girls’ hand and crossed the street.
“Oh, aren’t you Mrs. Chandler,” a female voice said from behind her just as they’d passed the restaurant.
She turned, and looked into the smirk of the lady she’d met in the drugstore on her wedding day.
“Michelle, can we go into the drugstore and wait for you? We like to look at the candy in the big jars,” Missy said as Michelle stopped.
“That’s fine. But I don’t have any money to give you to buy anything,” she said as she patted the girls on the head, smiling as they ran off.
She
turned back to the woman, startled to see her smug expression. “Of course you don’t have any money.”
Michelle frowned and she shoved her hands in her pockets. “No, we left quickly and I didn’t ask for any.”
The girl threw her head back and laughed, and Michelle thought it sounded more like fingernails scratching one of the girls’ primer chalkboards.
“Of course, you wouldn’t have gotten any had you asked,” she said, her smug smile returning as she raised her eyebrows and stared at Michelle. “I’m so relieved that I didn’t marry him when I had the chance.”
It was Michelle’s turn to raise her eyebrows. Anthony had never told her that he had courted Miss Davis, but she was curious why she was glad she hadn’t chosen him.
“Oh? Why do you say that?” she asked as she looked behind her toward the drug store. She really should get in there with the girls.
“Darling,” Miss Davis said condescendingly as she placed her hand on Michelle’s shoulder. “You don’t know, do you?”
Michelle stiffened and took a step backward. There was something about this woman that she didn’t like, and she was starting to believe that she wasn’t a true friend to Anthony, either.
Miss Davis leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “He’s flat broke. Doesn’t have a dime, and is about to lose his store, too.”
Michelle’s head spun. “I...I...”
Miss Davis laughed and patted her shoulder before she turned. “Maybe you should get out while you still have a chance,” she said over her shoulder. “Oh, you can’t. You’re already married.”
Michelle stood frozen in place while the woman flounced away, laughing to herself. She blinked as she disappeared around the corner, and turned toward the drug store. She looked in the window and saw the girls chatting happily with the man behind the counter.
She leaned her head against the cool glass and sighed. Could this be true? It didn’t seem possible--the beautiful, big house, the lovely china, the silver tea service. How could one have so much and be broke?
“We saw you through the window. Are you all right? You look pale,” Mattie said as she frowned at Michelle.
Michelle tightened her scarf and took a deep breath. She looked down the street toward Anthony’s shop. Whatever the situation was, she didn’t want the children to be involved.
She crouched down in front of them. “I’m fine, just a little cold. Would you mind if we headed home? Rather than visit your uncle?”
Pleased when the girls nodded and took her hands to cross the street, she breathed deeply. She needed time to think before she talked to her husband.
Chapter 23
It was all Anthony could do to sit through dinner and not say anything to Michelle about the tradition--or anything else for that matter. It had been almost a week since he’d given them all the bad news, and he’d not felt right since.
He glanced at Michelle out of the corner of his eye, her beautiful, red ringlets falling forward as she sipped her soup--the same soup they’d been having for several nights in a row.
He sighed as he looked at the girls. He could only imagine what they thought of him, forbidding them to do something they held dear. And something they’d wanted to do to honor their mother.
He sat back in his chair and looked back to Michelle. She’d barely said a word to him all week and he missed her. Missed talking to her, missed her smile, sorry that he wasn’t hearing long, happy babbling about what they’d done all day.
Surprised at how quickly he’d become so fond of her, his heart pinched at how quickly he’d lost her, too. In the blink of an eye--what must she think of him?
He owed her the truth. He should just tell her that he had no money. For better or worse, wasn’t what the pastor had said? His stomach flipped at the thought that she might decide to leave once she found out, but he needed to tell her. And soon. He certainly couldn’t continue like this with her avoiding him.
Either way, no matter what she decided, he had to take the risk. She deserved that. He’d never met a kinder, more generous soul--he chuckled at the thought that she might even be kinder than Adelaide, if that was possible. But he admired her generosity of spirit--to any person she met, but especially to him and the twins. She’d been nothing but kind, honest and giving.
He finished his soup and biscuits as quickly as he could. He knew that Michelle had asked Mable to give the girls a bath, and it would be the perfect time for him to tell her the truth.
“You girls ready?” Mable said as she cleared some of the dishes from the table. “Let’s get the kitchen cleaned up while the water boils and then we’ll head upstairs.”
Mattie and Missy picked up their plates and pushed their chairs back, smiling at Michelle as they left the room. He couldn’t help but notice that they hadn’t smiled at him.
He resolved again to tell her the truth and hope that she would change her mind about him, as it was clear that the three of them now thought him a callous, selfish lout.
Pushing back from the table, he stood and squared his shoulders. It was time, and he took in a deep breath as he held out his arm to his wife, hoping she’d take it for the first time in a week.
His stomach fluttered as she smiled up at him and stood, looping her arm through his. This was certainly different, and his heart warmed with hope that he might be able to explain--and that she might accept his apology.
He shook the thought away as he realized that he’d have to tell her the whole truth. That he had no idea how long they’d be able to stay in this house and that the business had only another month or so before he’d be forced to close, with no idea how they’d support themselves after that. But he had to tell her. She had every right to know what she’d gotten herself into.
She stood beside him as he stoked the fire, almost as if she knew he wanted to tell her something but couldn’t find the words. He turned quickly at her voice while he was still trying to decide what to say.
“Anthony, I need to ask you something. Something important.”
He set the iron poker back in its stand, wishing he’d started first. He really needed to get this over with.
“Of course. Anything. You are my wife, after all,” he said, cringing as he said it. She might only be his wife for a short time longer, and the thought made him feel empty inside.
He stiffened as she walked closer to her, her scent curling around him. Magnolia? Vanilla? It still intoxicated him as it had the first day they’d met.
Her red hair seemed to be flecked with gold as the light of the fire flickered. She smiled and reached for his hand and he looked down at it, her warm touch flooding all the way through him.
“I...I ran into Miss Davis today in front of the drug store.”
His eyebrows rose along with his curiosity. “Oh?” He had plenty of time to tell her what he needed to, and now he wanted to know what Miss Davis had said. She’d always been a terrible gossip and he’d never liked her at all.
“Yes. She told me something, and I need to ask you to be honest with me. I need to know if it’s the truth or not.”
He looked into her eyes as she gazed up at him. They were as deep as he’d learned her heart to be, and he felt he could become lost in them, if she’d let him.
Michelle cleared her throat, looking away awkwardly before she turned back to him, meeting his gaze once more. “I don’t quite know how to say this, and I’m sure you would have told me if it were the case. But she said that you had no money. That you--your family--are penniless.”
The air whooshed out of him and he felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach. She already knew. He supposed that was a good thing, as now he would find out what she was going to do--and he sincerely hoped she’d stay.
He nodded slightly, heat creeping from is collar. “I’m afraid it is true, Michelle.”
She released his hand and took a step back, and he winced at the hurt in her eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, the light of the flames glinting
from the tears brimming.
“Michelle, I wanted to tell you. I really did. I’ve been working very hard to resolve the issue, and was hoping that it would happen more quickly than it has. And then all would be well. And I wouldn’t have to tell you.”
He frowned when she recoiled at his words as if he’d struck her. He knew she came from poverty, and probably was terrified at the thought of returning to it. It was understandable--most women would feel that way. He steeled himself for her words, ready for her to tell him that he would lose the woman he deeply cared about--before he’d had a chance to even tell her.
They both looked up at the kitchen door as Mable ushered the girls through, a pail of water in each of her hands. “Don’t mind us, we’re heading upstairs,” she said, smiling at them.
Michelle swiped at her cheek and looked at Anthony. “Here, let me help you with that,” she said as she turned and took a pail from Mable, following them up the stairs without a backward glance.
Chapter 24
“What’s wrong, Mrs. Michelle?” Mable asked as she closed the girls’ door behind them.
She poured the water in the tub and looked at the girls and then back up to Mable.
“You girls brush your hair and get ready for your bath. I’ll be right back,” Mable said before she opened the door, grabbed Michelle’s hand and pulled her down into her own bedroom.
“You best tell me what’s happening. I know you and Mr. Anthony haven’t spoken to each other for a whole week. The girls have noticed, too, and asked me what they should do.”
Michelle climbed up and sat on her bed, her face in her hands. “He lied to me, Mable. He has no money and he lied to me.”
Mable’s eyebrows rose and she leaned against the wardrobe. “Did he, now?”
“Yes, he did,” Michelle said as she looked up and squinted at Mable. “You knew too, didn’t you?”
Michelle: Bride of Mississippi (American Mail-Order Bride 20) Page 9