Mind Games

“No such thing. Why, Adalaide, that’s the prettiest dress I ever saw.”

“Mama made it.”

“It’s sure pretty. Let me see this little man. My, my, he’s growing, isn’t he? Curtis Lee, what’s that thumb doing in your mouth?”

“I just can’t get him to stop, Miss Lucy.”

“Because it tastes so good. But look here, Thea’s got something for you tastes even better. You sit down, Nadine, have some sweet tea.”

“We shouldn’t stay, Miss Lucy.” Nadine tucked a stray wisp of strawberry blond hair behind her ear. “I was hoping I could get some of that balm you brought up last time, and some oatmeal soap. I got the money.”

“You put your money away.”

“We can’t take the charity.”

“Adalaide, this is Braydon. He lives just down the road, in what was Miss Leona’s house. Bray, you take Adalaide over and tell her the names of all the chickens you can remember.”

“Okay. Can I have a cookie, too?”

Thea handed him one.

“This is Bunk,” he told the little girl. “He’s the biggest dog in the world. We play fetch.”

When the girl walked off with Bray, Lucy nodded. “You let those two children get acquainted, and that’s payment. That boy’s an honorary grandchild to me, and he needs playmates. Thea, take Curtis Lee. Nadine, you come inside. I’ll make a cold poultice for that eye, and I want a look at your hip.”

Tears rolled. “He didn’t mean it, Miss Lucy. Jed didn’t mean it. It’s just he’d worked all day, and I hadn’t finished the chores and the kids were acting up. I was feeling a little poorly and I didn’t have supper ready either.”

“And you think that’s cause for your husband to use his fist on you?”

“He was sorry after. He didn’t mean it.”

Lucy handed the baby to Thea. “Come inside. You’re carrying again, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know for sure. Maybe. Am I?”

Thea heard Lucy sigh again as she led Nadine into the kitchen.

Thea jiggled the baby, then carried him over to the coop with the other children to give Nadine and her grandmother privacy.

An hour later, Nadine walked toward home with a basket holding the balm, the soap, some fresh vegetables, some ginger tea for morning sickness, some biscuits and slices of roast chicken to feed her family supper.

“I had to take her money.”

Thea rubbed Lucy’s shoulder as Bray stood out in the yard waving and calling bye.

“You gave her more than she paid for, and let her keep her pride.”

“She’ll have another mouth to feed come spring.”

“She won’t leave him.”

“She loves him. He never raises a hand to the children, she says, and I saw that for truth. What he needs is a good talking-to.”

“Don’t, Grammie.”

“No, I know better. Only make it worse for her. I need some brightening. Braydon Brennan! Do you know where carrots come from?”

“Grocery store.”