Instant Prairie Family

Will felt the stirring of annoyance, then something akin to anger. If Miss Stewart wasn’t on the train, she had just made off with five dollars’ worth of his hard-earned cash. He had sent her a ticket and asked her to let him know if there were any obstacles that would keep her from arriving on this train. There was plenty of time for her to have sent a letter or a wire. He knew that she hadn’t because he’d checked both at the post office and at the mercantile for any messages before coming to the train depot.

“Thank you for your time.” He barely remembered to be civil as embarrassment and frustration warred within him. What kind of fool must the conductor think he was?

“Let’s go get something to eat.” Will forced a pleasant tone even though he was simmering inside.

“But shouldn’t we wait for Auntie House?” Tommy questioned innocently.

“She didn’t come. She’s just like all the rest of the women. They won’t live out here in the wilderness and let the Injuns scalp them. She won’t come to live out here. Even our own mother didn’t want to stay with us here.” Willy shouted the last part and darted off, not paying attention to the wagons or horses on the dirt street.

“Willy! Wait, son! You can’t go running—”

He caught up to Willy two blocks away. The boy was hunched over, hiding in an alleyway with his face in his hands. Just before Will reached him, he let out a sob.

“Willy.” Will set Tommy down and pulled Willy into his arms, holding him tight. “I don’t know why Miss Stewart didn’t arrive when we expected her, but it’s all going to work out. Maybe she wasn’t the one God wanted taking care of you and Tommy. Or maybe she is, and she’ll come on the next train.”

Even as Will said the words, he realized he was too far behind with the farm chores to make the trip again in a week. He would have to leave some kind of message at the train station just in case. And if there was a next time, he certainly would not be bringing the boys with to have their expectations dashed to the ground.

“No one wants to live out here. Auntie Shelia said it and so did Ma. It’s a savage land with savages running around with no clothes on, killing people. I’m glad she didn’t come. She would have been mean just like Auntie Shelia. Women are just trouble. I’m glad we don’t have any at the house.” The boy straightened his shoulders and pulled away from his father.

Will wasn’t sure exactly what he should do. Willy’s speech just showed him how much he had failed his boys. His own mother was wonderful... It was a crying shame the boys hadn’t had a chance yet to know a woman like her—kind, generous and loving. But how could he possibly convince his sons of that if the only women they had lived with were women who had made life miserable at home? Was it time to think of sending the boys back to Philadelphia to be raised where they could get an education and where his mother could instill some appreciation for women into them?

“I know it’s hard to believe, but there are some women who are good and gentle. Like your grandma and my sisters, your aunts and then there’s Mrs. Scotts. You like her….” The boys did like Mrs. Scotts, and the other women who attended their small church. But with the busy lives these farmers’ wives led, there wasn’t much time for visiting with neighbors. They only saw them for a little while at church the one Sunday a month they had services. And that short amount of time wasn’t enough to really know anyone. Even Caroline had been pleasant enough to their neighbors for a few short hours at church each month. It was when they were home that her mood had changed.

He stood and took Tommy’s hand in his right and Willy’s in his left. “What d’ya say we go get something to eat now? We need to head back in an hour or so if we’re going to get to the river before nightfall. Maybe we can bag that stag we saw last night.”

Tommy happily started chattering about their trip back and what animal he wanted to hunt as they headed back down the main street to the hotel. Willy swiped at his face with his hands and then his nose with his sleeve before Will could produce a handkerchief.

“Where’s your kerchief?” he asked.

“I forgot, Pa.” Willy blew his nose soundly.

“I ain’t got no kerchief, Pa,” Tommy reminded him. “You were gonna give me one and then you forgot.”

“Sorry, son. We’ll get you a few at the house.” At least he hoped that there were still some hankies somewhere in the house.

A few minutes later, Will and the boys sat at a table in the dining area of the hotel, perusing the menu. “Pa, what are you going to eat?” Tommy’s questions never stopped. Without letting his father answer him, he launched into his own opinion of the food, what he wanted, and ended with another question. “Why don’t you cook like this, Pa?”

“Well, son,” Will hedged. “I guess some things I just haven’t learned yet.”

“Maybe our auntie House...I mean our Miss Auntie could do it better,” Tommy reassured him.

“Don’t you understand anything!” Willy yelled at his brother. “She’s not coming!”

“But I want her to,” Tommy whined. “I want someone to cook better than Pa and fix my clothes so we could go to the meeting with nice clothes like Jill.”

“Boys!” Will exclaimed, glaring at his offspring. He gave a short lecture on the right way to behave in public. Even as he was speaking, he remembered his father saying something very similar when he was young. When both boys calmed down, he nodded approval.

The waitress came and took their order, smiling and teasing the boys before she left. Comfortably plump, the woman looked to be about Will’s mother’s age. “Maybe we can ask her if she wants to be our auntie... How do you call it again?” Tommy quizzed his brother when the waitress left.

Before Will could stop the conversation, Tommy turned his attention to the door. Standing up in his chair, he grinned, pointing and then waving at someone who had entered. “There she is, Pa. That lady that you caught at the train. Maybe she’ll be our—”

“Tomas, sit down and put your arm down!” Will was about to pick both boys up and take them to the wagon. It was downright embarrassing that he had come all this way for nothing, and now the boys were making a ruckus here.

“But she’s here, Pa. She looks really nice,” Tommy whispered this time, dropping back into his seat but still staring at someone behind Will.

“I’m sorry, miss,” he could hear the waitress answering the woman. “We don’t have any jobs here. There are hardly any customers except on the days the train comes through. Why don’t you come in and have a bite to eat and maybe by then the lady you’re waiting for will come by?”

Since his back was to the two women, Will wasn’t able to see what happened next, but the expression on Tommy’s face brightened. Before he could stop his son, the boy shot off his chair toward the stranger.

“Come sit with us, lady. You look nice. We need someone to teach us how to eat nice and not like a bunch of wild hogs.”

Will turned in his chair and caught the surprised look on the woman’s face. She quickly disguised it with a smile. “Well, hello to you, too, little man.” She crouched down and looked into Tommy’s eyes while she spoke.

Will was taken by her soft, sincere voice. She sounded as though she actually enjoyed talking to the little boy. Will opened his mouth to call Tommy back to the table, but the words died before reaching his lips when he saw the rapture on his son’s face.

“I’m not a little man, I’m just a boy. My brother says I haf’ta be more’n eleven to be a man. He’s gonna be a man soon ’cuz he’s already nine,” Tommy informed her, holding out eight fingers until she helped him lift one more.

“That’s nine.” She smiled, ruffling his hair.

“I just got my hair—”

“Tomas.” Will didn’t know what to do with his son. He seemed bound and determined to get the whole town laughing at his antics. “Leave the lady in peace and come back to the table.”

“But, Pa, she don’t have nobody to sit with and we could learn how to be gent’men if she were at the table,” Tommy argued, taking hold of the woman’s hand.

“Tomas, you need to heed your father, dear.” Her melodic voice soothed some of Will’s embarrassment, and her eyes sparkled with delight. She straightened back up and led Tommy to the table without withdrawing her hand from his.

Reluctantly, Tommy sat down and let her go, but as she turned to leave, she suddenly turned back to look closer at Will. “Oh, my! You’re the one who—”

“Yeah,” Tommy answered for his father, “he caught you at the train. You were gonna fall on your face.”

“Yes, I was. I don’t think I had a chance to thank you, sir.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt,” Will mumbled uncomfortably. It had been years since he was in polite company.

“Can she eat with us, Pa? Please.” Tommy pushed the issue.

“She probably wants some peace and quiet after her train ride, Tommy.”

“Yeah, you talk too much,” Willy whispered to his brother. Tommy’s face fell and he bit his lower lip.

“I’d love to eat with you, young man. You’re the most handsome gentleman who’s ever invited me to sup with him. I’d be honored, but your pa might want to have you boys all to himself.”

“It would be our pleasure to have your presence at our table,” Will responded, belatedly standing in the presence of the lady as his mother had taught him. “Please, have a seat, if you’d like.” Even as he stepped around to hold out the chair between Tommy and Willy and opposite his, he wondered what he was thinking. The young woman had just given him the perfect out and instead of taking it, he asked her to join them and endure his sons’ antics. Maybe it was just the idea of talking to another adult or maybe it was the worried look she was trying hard to hide from the boys.

“Thank you again,” she murmured. The waitress set a menu in front of her and soon returned with a glass of water for everyone.

“Well, my young friend.” She smiled down at Tommy. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. My name—”

“I’m Tommy,” he interrupted, “and I’m six years old.” He held out his hands and this time he had managed to get six digits to stand in the air.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Master Tommy.” She grinned and shook his hand as if he were a grown man.

“And you would be...?” She turned her attention on Willy.

Will did all he could not to stare at the young lady. Her eyes were a mix of green and blue and she smiled genuinely at his son. Her blond hair had been pulled back into some sort of braids and then wrapped into a bun. With the jostling about of the train and the wind, little spirals had escaped, bouncing close to her diminutive ears.

She couldn’t be more than eighteen. What person had sent her out on the train by herself? Didn’t they know that the prairie was full of single men? Many hadn’t had an opportunity to socialize with a lovely lady for months or even years. Where was her father or brother? What was she to do now that no one had shown up to the station? And who was so irresponsible to have a young lady like her come halfway across the continent and then not meet her train?

“He’s my big brother. He always tells me what to do. He’s sweet on Jill. So, what are you going to eat? Pa likes the chicken ’cuz we mostly eat venison and rabbit on the farm. I’m gett’n’ the same thing ’cuz it’s got potatoes in it. I think I like potatoes.”

“That’s very nice, Tommy, but you didn’t tell me you brother’s name.”

“I told ya you talk too much,” Willy muttered.

“I do not!” Tommy answered his brother with a glare.

“Do, too!”

“Do not!”

“Do, too!”

“Boys!” Barely keeping his voice low, Will intervened and frowned when he saw the young lady biting her lower lip. Was she trying not to laugh at the boys or trying not to show her discomfort? He had had almost all the humiliation that he could take for one day. “Behave yourselves.”

His warning was understood and both boys lowered their eyes. “Forgive us, miss. We don’t get to town very often and it seems we’ve left what few manners we have back home.”

“Don’t think another thing about it, sir. My nieces and nephews were always saying things without thinking them through first. I find your boys refreshing.” She smiled reassuringly at both boys.

“Well, I should try to start the introductions again,” Will stated, wondering why her smile made his stomach flutter just a bit. It must have been the hunger for his supper sending ripples though his middle. “I’m Will Hopkins and this is Willy.” He pointed to his older son.

“It’s a pleasure—” The young lady had turned to Willy, extending her hand to shake his, when she froze and turned stunned eyes back to Will. Willy stared at her strangely, his hand in the air.

“I... What did you say your surname was?” she asked in a choked voice.

“Hopkins, but around here we usually are very...” Her face had gone deathly white and she looked as if she was going to faint.

She looked too stunned for words, barely gathering herself together enough to speak. “I... Where is Mrs. Hopkins? Where is Francis?” she stuttered.

He hadn’t heard anyone call him that in years—in fact, other than his mother, no one called him that at all. He could feel himself flush, and tried to talk over it. “I’m, um... My father was... I’m Francis, Francis William Hopkins. I go by Will most of the time.”

“But you’re not a widow!”

A widow? Why would anyone think he was—

“I thought... My mother’s best friend was Frannie, Francis...and if you...if you’re... Why didn’t you tell me who you were at the station? You just walked past me and left me there!” The confusion on her pretty face gave way to obvious anger.

“How’d you know my given name? What are you talking about?” Will asked, curious and accusing at the same time.

“Your ad.”

“What ad?”

“The ad that you placed in the ladies’ Christian monthly pamphlet,” she explained. “I subscribe to it and in April of last year, there was an ad...” She pulled her satchel up onto her lap and started sorting through her things. Finally she pulled out a paper and handed it to him.

He only read the first few lines before he glanced back up to study the young woman again. It was the ad his mother had created to find him a housekeeper. The ad Miss Stewart had answered. But that meant... No, it couldn’t be. This girl didn’t look a day over twenty, and the letter he’d received had clearly stated that his new employee was in her fifties. The woman in front of him, who looked as if she might give in to tears at any moment, couldn’t be Abigail Stewart.

“What’s wrong, miss?” Tommy asked her, having come to stand next to her, his small hand on hers.

Will watched as some of the anger and frustration melted out of her expression as she looked down at his son. “I’m not quite sure of that myself, honey,” she answered, pressing his hand with hers. “It’s been a long trip and I have had a very taxing day. I was looking forward to meeting my new employer and her...his family. But this hasn’t gone at all like I thought it would.” She looked up from Tommy to glare at Will. “Especially the part where I was left alone on the train platform while your father walked away.”

“You’re...you’re Miss Stewart?” Will said incredulously.

She straightened her back and tilted her chin up to look him straight in the eye. “Yes, I’m Abigail Stewart.”

Any answer Will might have given was interrupted by Tommy’s response. Throwing his arms around the woman’s waist, he squeezed tight while yelling out, “You’re our auntie House!”

Chapter Two

“Housekeeper, not Auntie anything,” Willy hissed at his brother.

Abby didn’t know how to respond to that, so she addressed their father. “I came all the way from Ohio just to be part of Mrs. Francis Hopkins’s household. Now what am I going to do?” she asked out loud, not expecting an answer from him.

“But you’re not old!” Willy burst out. Abby tried to focus on the boy, but her head felt clouded.

“That’s right. You wrote you were fifty-eight.” Will eyed her suspiciously.

“I did no such thing. I’m twenty-six, as I told you in my letter.” How could he say something so strange? She had been a little uncomfortable when Mrs....er...Mr. Hopkins had asked her age, knowing that the posting had specifically requested a “mature” Christian woman, but she decided to be honest, deciding that if her honesty somehow lost her the opportunity to work for the family, it was because God was closing that door. When there had been no further mention of her age in the letters, she had assumed her new employer had decided that it wasn’t important.

“Here, I’ll show you.” Mr. Hopkins reached into his worn denim shirt pocket and pulled out a pile of letters that even from a distance Abby recognized. Her heart sank. There was no doubt about it. She had been corresponding with Mr., not Mrs. Hopkins.

He shuffled the papers and then scanned one, holding it out to her, his strong, calloused finger pointing to a paragraph. As she took it, she noticed that the page was watermarked and that the ink had run. Even Abby had to admit that the number she had written out did look like a fifty-eight.

“I’m sorry. It must have gotten wet. I did write that I’m twenty-six. I never intended to be dishonest or misleading.”

“I believe you,” he replied gruffly. “But I’m afraid that doesn’t resolve the problem. I’m sorry if there was a miscommunication, Miss Stewart, but I was specifically looking for a, um...” He looked uncomfortable as he searched for the right wording. “A more mature woman. Someone closer to the age of my mother.”

“Well, I’m not the age of your mother, but I can cook, clean and teach as well as anyone twice my age.” Suddenly, staying here and keeping the job was important to her. If Mr. Hopkins withdrew his offer, where else could she go? She couldn’t go back to Ohio. Emma and Palmer would never welcome her back, and if she went anywhere close by, they would make life impossible for her and anyone who was daring enough to help her. No. She had to find a way to stay out here in Nebraska. And since jobs for women in the area seemed to be scarce, her best chance was to convince Mr. Hopkins that she could be his housekeeper after all.

“I don’t doubt your capacity, miss. It’s just that on the farm it’s just me, the boys and my nephew, Jake. It wouldn’t be proper or right for us to have you out there with us, a single woman of your age. I’ll take care of paying your passage back to Ohio and then you can be with your sister again.” His words were meant to be reassuring but elicited the opposite effect.

“I can’t go back,” she whispered to herself. This was worse than not being picked up at the station. Before, she had wondered if something had interfered with Mrs. Hopkins’s arrival, but now she knew she had been judged unwanted again.

“Why not? Did something happen to your sister?”

“My brother-in-law...” She almost spilled out everything but then remembered the boys listening. Straightening her back, she lifted her chin. “I can’t. I’ll have to look for work around here.”

“I doubt there will be very much in the way of work for a decent woman.” He studied her for a moment more and then shook his head. “Why did you even apply to come out on the frontier at your age? You should be looking to settle down and marry. Have a bunch of kids of your own.”

He had no idea how she’d longed for that—a husband and children, a home of her own. But there had been no chance of that. No man in Ohio had any interest in a girl who wore her sister’s old castoffs and was too busy minding her nieces and nephews and looking after the housekeeping to go to any social events. This was the only way for her to leave her sister’s house—to find a job somewhere else. What would she do if that chance was taken away?

“I’m sure that once you get back to Ohio, some young man will be real glad to see that you’ve come back where you belong. And no doubt your family will be glad to have you home, too.”

“I wish it were that simple,” she answered. “I have lived with my sister and brother-in-law since my parents died when I was thirteen. My brother-in-law is very powerful... I can’t go back now that I left against their wishes.”

“So you disobeyed your sister and brother-in-law to come out here?”

“Yes. I came because...” She glanced at the boys and bit her lip. “I had to get away from Palmer—my brother-in-law. I didn’t feel quite...safe living with him anymore,” she finally finished, hoping he would understand what she had left unsaid. “But my sister, Emma, felt that I had a responsibility to stay and continue to take care of the house and the children. The day your last letter came to the house, Emma found it and I had to snatch it from her or I would never even have gotten the money or ticket. I ran all the way to my pastor’s house, and he and his wife helped me get away. I even have a letter from Pastor Gibbons for you...or at least it was to be given to Mrs. Hopkins.”

She reached down and once again sifted through the different letters until she found what she was looking for and handed it over to Mr. Hopkins. As she watched him unfold it, she felt dizzy. What if he still decided to send her back? What was she going to do?

“Have you made your choice?” The poor waitress was back, pad of paper in hand.

“Um...”

“Why don’t you try the chicken like me?” Tommy prompted.

“Or she could try the steak that I’m gonna get,” Willy suggested.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. She didn’t really feel like eating anything and was afraid that food wouldn’t stay in her churning stomach even if she could swallow past the huge lump of fear wedged in the middle of her throat. She took a sip of her water and willed it to stay down. “I guess I’m not really that hungry right now. It does all sound so good, but—”

“Don’t worry about the money,” Mr. Hopkins interrupted with a deep frown on his face, his eyes not even lifting for the first page of the letter. “I’ll cover it. It’s my fault, after all, that you’ve come all this way for nothing.”

Suddenly Abby knew that she had to get outside and breathe some fresh air. Her stomach threatened revolt. Even with the letter from Pastor Gibbons in his hand, the man was going to refuse to hire her.

Without explaining anything to anyone, she bolted from the room, out the door and around the side of the building. She was almost to the back of the clapboard restaurant when she couldn’t keep her stomach from emptying any longer. For the first time in her life, she wished she had died with her parents. What was to become of her? She was truly alone in this world—and in this strange and unfamiliar town. Back home, the sky had been high and the hills had surrounded her, but she had not known the immenseness of God’s creation until she sat hour after hour and watched prairie grass wave to an endless clear sky. She was a small speck on a wide-open prairie and only God cared she even existed. No wonder King David had asked, What was man that God was mindful of him? She was as insignificant as a stalk of the prairie grass.

“Oh, God, What am I going to do now?” she cried. The sobs that racked her body were almost as painful as the retching. She leaned her forearms against the clapboard wall and hung her head between her elbows. She didn’t even feel the coarseness of the building scratching her arms. Closing her eyes she prayed for a home. Somewhere to go where she could rest—where she could feel safe. She had traveled more than a thousand miles thinking she found a new home only to find it was the biggest mistake of her life.

* * *

Will sat staring at the spot the girl...Miss Stewart, had just vacated. He almost hoped that this was just a bad dream and he’d wake up any minute now to find that he was still camping down by the river on his way into Twin Oaks to pick up his new housekeeper. But Tommy’s little hand pushing on his shoulder, trying to get him to pay attention to yet another barrage of questions, made him aware this was all too real. The new housekeeper was a young, beautiful girl who looked as if a stiff wind could carry her off. She wouldn’t last a week on the frontier.