Page 14 of Mail Order Moonlight

“Perfect.”

He finished the last of his eggs and potatoes and stood up. “I’ll see you this evening. Don’t go all demon horde on me and get into trouble while I’m gone.” He dropped a kiss on her lips, and he was gone.

Alice looked around thinking of how little she had to do and deciding she’d spend a little more time with her sister than she’d planned. After doing the dishes and sweeping up a little, there would be nothing else to do until it was time for her to cook supper. Being a housewife seemed to be very lonely work, something she’d never really realized before.

After she’d made quick work of the chores, she unpacked the clothes that were still clean after her trip and put all her sewing into one carpet bag. It wasn’t ideal to carry things around that way, but it was better then just walking to her sister’s house with a needle, thread, fabric, and a pair of scissors. There was lots of shopping that needed to be done and it wasn’t all for food.

On her way to Susan’s house, she studied the land around her, wondering how far they were from the ocean. One of her favorite things about living in Beckham had been their proximity to the ocean. She knew Texas was on the Gulf Coast, but she had no idea how far from that coast she was. Texas was the very biggest state after all.

She knocked on Susan’s door, and Mrs. H opened it for her. “You don’t need to knock,” Mrs. H told Alice. “You’re family. Come in! Come in!”

Alice stepped inside. “Is my sister around?”

Mrs. H nodded. “She’s in the parlor working on her sewing.”

“I’ll join her there.”

“Good, good. Susan needs a sister to spend her time with.” Mrs. H walked in the other direction, and Alice couldn’t help but wonder where she was headed. It seemed like she was someone who spent her days in the kitchen, but Alice knew she did other things around the house as well.

Stepping into the parlor, she saw her sister on the sofa, painstakingly ripping out a seam. “I hate sewing,” Susan said softly.

“I don’t remember that.”

“You were little. I didn’t mind it when I was making pretty dresses for myself, but constantly sewing for my children becomes tedious very quickly.” Susan held up the garment in her hands. “The twins can’t seem to keep from tearing their clothes. I’ve found it easier if I just remove the entire seam and restitch it. Mrs. H would do it, but I feel like she already does too much for my children.”

“Isn’t that what you pay her for?” Alice asked. She didn’t quite understand her sister’s reasoning.

Susan smiled. “When I first came here, Mrs. H was a nurse for the children, and she cooked the meals. That’s all she was expected to do. Over the years, she’s had to do more and more. We work together, and we enjoy each other’s company, but I really don’t think I should ask her to do more than she already does.”

“She seems very happy to be here,” Alice said, taking the pieces of the pattern her mother had cut out for her out of her bag. “I only have three dresses, and I have a feeling those won’t be enough here. I need to make at least three more, and I purchased fabric for all three, but now the real work begins. I enjoy sewing, but I hate cutting out the pieces. I always think my scissors will slip, and I’ll make a huge mess that I won’t be able to fix.”

Susan smiled. “I feel the same way. Always have. I’ve messed up a few dresses as well. I need to mend this dress for the twins, and then I need to make a new dress for Anabelle. Hers is getting so short on her, it’s indecent.”

Alice laughed. “She’s a little girl. Nothing is indecent on her.”

“You’d think. But the other women at church keep telling me she needs longer dresses, so I’m making her longer dresses. I don’t want people talking about my little girl or my parenting skills or lack thereof. You’d be surprised at how many gossips we have in our church.”

Alice groaned. “Sounds like the church back in Beckham. Someone was always telling Ma that she was an unfit mother.”

“And Ma was always ignoring them!” Susan smiled. “I was one of those telling her it was time to take a switch to her younger children, but she never listened to me or anyone else for that matter.”

Alice shrugged. “We all turned out all right, even without regular switching.”

Susan nodded. “That you have.”

Chapter Six

For supper that night, Alice made a simple stew she’d cooked for her family more times than she could count. There would need to be a trip to the mercantile very soon, but for the time being, she had few things she could make from the selection of foods in the house. She knew she could always borrow from her sister—or eat with them if it came to that—but she preferred to prove to her sister and herself that she could feed her new husband.

Shortly before Albert was due to arrive home from his day of work, Alice mixed up dough for biscuits, and she popped them into the oven, knowing they would help stretch her stew, and make it tastier.

When Albert came into the house shortly before eight, he sniffed deeply. “This house has never smelled so good,” he called out, hanging up his hat and coat on the hooks by the front door.

“I’m glad it smells good. I hope it tastes good too!” She knew it did because she’d had a tiny bowl of stew and a biscuit while she waited for him. She hated that she couldn’t serve the biscuits hot because of his tardiness, but there was no point in saying anything.

He washed his hands and sat at the table, waiting for her to put the food on and serve him, just as her father always had. As soon as they each had a bowl of stew and a biscuit, he lowered his head to pray. She could tell he’d been trained particularly well in prayer, and she understood why. Her sister was very active in their church from what she’d said that afternoon.

He took a bite of the stew and smiled. “It’s pretty good.”

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