Mail Order Bride- Illinois

Chapter 10

The past several months flew by in a flurry of activity on the ranch. The ranch had ten hands. Jonathan and six hands worked hard to put up the foundation of the new house. Jon worked hard on the house every day. So hard in fact that Abby rarely saw him, outside of meals. Jonathan was working before she got up, and he still working by the time she went to sleep. It made for a lonely existence. However, it was something that Abby was used to. On the farm in Illinois the only company she had was her parents.

Abby walked back to the sink to do the dishes one cold December morning, in walked Henry with an arm full of dirty dishes. She filled the sink with water Jonathan had brought in from the well. Her stage in pregnancy the doctor doesn’t want her lifting heavy objects.

"Thank you," she said not looking up from her big stack and started in. In the past months since she found Henry had been working here Abby had not interacted much with him. To be honest it was not at all. While it hasn't been so much that she was ignoring him, it seemed that he was ignoring her. Why? She could not say, nor did she have the desire to do so. Abby wanted to say it was because she respected her husband. However, Abby didn’t know Henry any longer.

Henry stood there shuffling back and forth, a nervous habit he had since he was about seven years old.

"Is there something you wanted?" she asked not looking up from her dishes.

"Yeah, I couldn't help but wonder about my folks?" Abby scoffed, the nerve of this man he took off what eight years ago and hadn't been in contact with anyone since. Henry had the decency to cringe at her response to his inquiry.

"For all I know the address is the same, send them a letter."

"What do you mean for all you know?" He asked, She did not half time for this. Why did he decide to approach her right now, she had so much to do and the baby made her tire out so quickly.

"All the farms in the area were going under, which is why my parents decided to make me a mail order bride, I was unaware until the day before I got married. My parents sold their farm and moved in with my sister and her husband. I don't know about your parents I didn't keep in contact with them much other than seeing them every Sunday for Church." Henry seemed to absorb all the information she laid out for him.

"Okay, Thank you." Henry said simply before he turned around and walked out.

Abby let out a sigh and continued to work on the dishes. She didn’t need to think about anything but this baby and her two sons. That is how she viewed Jonathan’s children, she had come to view them as her own, she loved them as her own sons.

It was December, that meant it was Christmas season, she had been working on presents for a month now. Abby had bought yarn for all the ranch hands to make them a scarf and mittens. She knew it wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. She honestly wanted to buy them all a book, but she took one look at the outrageous price of books and knew they couldn’t afford it. Abby was going to have to find something else to give the hands for a gift. Abby needed to talk her husband about the situation. He would know what to do

Abby couldn’t even afford to get new books for the children for school purposes, she hoped they would be getting a school soon. Abby had talked to the ladies of the town the last time she came in and asked about the status of the school. Mrs. Kline told her they were hoping for the spring, but there was no one to put in for the teacher position.

Abby placed a hand on her stomach as she felt the baby kick within her stomach. She let out a soft smile. Her smile quickly turned into a frown as she remembered the last time the baby kicked. The baby had kicked in bed and she had wanted Jonathan to feel it. So Abby took her hand and put it on her stomach, she asked him if he could feel the baby kicking. He simply said no and rolled over and went to sleep.

Abby didn’t know why but she felt extremely hurt by what he did. Abby remembered the way her sisters husband and other couples she saw as she grew up acted when they were pregnant. The husband would often caress the moms stomach in an idle manner, as if not even aware they were doing it. When they were alone the husband would kiss the mom’s belly.

Jonathan did none of this, since the day she told him she was pregnant it was as if he forgot. I mean the baby did sit high in her stomach and she didn’t look that pregnant, just fatter. Jonathan knew Abby was pregnant, he made sure she went to the doctor and was healthy. She didn’t know what was going on in his head, and frankly she was too afraid to ask him. She didn’t want to hear that he regretted getting her pregnant.

Abby heard stomping feet and looked up to see Cullen, Devlin running into the house with zip behind them.

“Slow down no running in the house.” The boys had slowed down, and continued on up the stairs to their room with zip following close behind them.

“We have school lessons soon so get ready,” she hollered up at the boys.

“Yes ma’am,” the two boys echoed back at her.

They finally moved into the new house back in November. It was a beautiful Victorian style house with a beautiful big wrap around porch. Well the porch was currently being erected, but it was a work in progress. The house has a sitting room, dining room, and a kitchen down stairs. The upstairs contained four bedrooms. The boys still shared a room at the moment as the finishing touches on the other two rooms were still being made.

The old house was currently being used by the ranch hands, with plans to make it even bigger to accommodate the more men Jonathan has been hiring. However, that will have to wait until next spring when we send the cattle in for s*******r or sale.

“Come on down for today’s lesson boys,” Abby said as she finished up the dishes. Abby went to the dining room table as she heard the boys come down the stairs. She loved these boys but dreaded the school lessons she gave them, especially since she was heavily pregnant. Abby’s feet were really starting to swell up.

Devlin was super intelligent like his father, but he still hated her guts. Abby was trying her best not to get frustrated with him and be understanding about his grieve but he has been pushing her limits. Abby didn’t know what to do at this point, and Jonathan wasn’t any help.

Cullen was a sweet little boy, but he had a very hard time with learning. It wasn’t the end of the world, a lot of children weren’t destined for the classroom, but Jonathan was adamant that his children read, write and know their numbers. So who did that fall to? Abby of course. She just wished she knew more than the basics of teaching . She wished it wasn’t so hard for him.

“I don’t want to do this any more!” Devlin threw out while tossing down the slate and chalk.

“That is not how we talk about things, go in the corner.” She told him adamantly. Devlin shot out of his seat and threw himself into the corner.

“Devlin!” She reprimanded.

She continued trying to teach Cullen when she heard a knock at the door. Abby got up from the table and opened the door. The door let in a cold wintery breeze and revealed a tall man. The man was unknown to her but familiar. The eyes, she’d recognize those silver eyes anywhere.

This tall rugged, apparently freezing man from the looks of him was Jonathan’s brother.