In My Mother's Time (6 page)

house enjoying each other’s
company. When we clearly heard his
bellowing.

“Good god papa”
my
mom said,
“Go and get him, before he calls every
thug for miles to our part of
land.”

Father went upstairs to the attic
and we
all
followed.
He
looked
through
the window and then turned the
telescope toward what he
saw.

“SHIT!” he
bellowed

“What is it papa?” mother
asked.

“It’s a man and woman, and she
is hugely pregnant.” He said
darting down the stairs. Mom swooped
down the stairs straight toward the back
door headed for the
barn.

He grabbed his riffle as
my
mother ran around the house  with one of 
the

horses, it had already been saddled
for him to go check on the
cows.

He jumped on the horse and hauled
it to the two drifters. Mama ran back
up to the attic to look through
the
telescope. She watched in horror
as two thugs appeared in the distance
on motor bikes. Instead of trying to
out run them and pick up the strangers
my dad stopped his horse and steadied
his riffle with two shots he killed
both men. The motor bikes rolled
furiously toward the man and woman just
barely missing
them.

“They’re safe” my mother sighed
with relief.

We waited for father to bring the
two back to the house. Father had
saddled the woman on his horse and
walked reigns in hand next to the man with
his rifle over his shoulder. My mother
and

I followed by Theodore and
Amelia ran
out
the
door
to
the
gate
to
meet
him. Mama hugged daddy and kissed
him.

“I love you” she said her head
cocked to one side, “the ends justify
the means.”

“I love you too.” He said nodding
his head and
grinning.

My dad helped the woman off
the
horse like some bushy
faced gentlemen. My mother hugged
the woman and held her hands in her
own just the way mothers do stepping
back to have a good look at
her.

“First I am going to feed you, then
you can
have
a
long
warm
bath.
Then
when you are ready we will talk, or you
can go to sleep.” My mother said
lovingly. The woman meekly
smiled.

My mother led her into our
house looking back at my father with
pursed lips, and raised brows. I knew she
was telling him to have a stern man to
man with
the
woman’s
companion
about
the dangers of stupidity. My dad took
the
man around the house to the
stables and all through the house
his monstrous bellowing rang true
and steady like a firm hammer
clanging against a brass nautical bell in
stormy weather. This is what we
heard:

“What kind of idiot calls that
much attention to himself in the middle of
an open field with no cover and
no weapon to protect his
pregnant woman?” he
bellowed.

“You caused me to murder two
men tonight” He
screamed.

“What would you have done “the
man squeaked, “she is about to give
birth.”

“I would have taken her to a safe
place and left her there with a weapon
to protect herself until I found
suitable people to help me.” He shouted
back

“How could anyone find this place
it’s so well covered with thick trees
and brush” the man started to
cry.

“You could have been killed and
you could have gotten me killed too”
my
father started,
“My
wife would be
ok without me, but I don’t know
about yours, and if anything happened to
me my wife would kill you.” He
laughed loudly, “You’d be twice dead
my
friend.”

The man’s face reddened, “Well I
got you attention didn’t I?” he
said pointing
his
finger
at
my
father’s
chest.

“Yeah, you did” he said, “don’t
ever point your finger at me again
unless you are ready to defend yourself.”
He finished.

The man shifted his weight trying
to find
a
place
to
put
his
hands
almost crossing his chest then settling on
his hips and then pouting with his head down toward the
floor.

“Put your chin up and be a man”
my
father grunted
disapprovingly.

We
giggled
loudly
from
the
window
as the two of them walked toward
the back door and my mother shooed
us away moving the curtain to see
what was
happening.

There was a feast on the table as
my father
brought
the
man
into
the
kitchen. Steaming roast rump surrounded
by brown gravy thick and
creamy. Potatoes, carrots soft and
delicious, were waiting to be devoured.
There was
a
pecan
pie
cooling
in
the
window. Mother was taking bread out of
the oven
to
slice,
and
I
put
the
butter
by
my
dad’s
plate.

My mom always put the
condiments by
my
father’s plate. In the
beginning of their relationship when I was
little she would cry every time he
poured salt and pepper all over his food,
but now she came to realize he had run
out of taste buds from smoking and
he would
never
not
use
so
much.
It
was
no longer taken as an insult against
her cooking
skills.

Sitting at the table it was quiet.
Lots of chewing and starring on our
part. We
kids
were
so
curious
as
to
what they were doing running
around outside with no home, and no
friends. My
mother
gave
us
the
look
and
we went back to
eating.

“What are your names?” I
asked.

Mommy
looked
at
the
woman
and
then daddy.

“My              name             
is             
Nicholas             
and             
this             
is Grace.” The man said
quietly.

He
was
obviously
nervous
sitting
next to
my
father.
Mother
could
tell
too.
She handed him the bread basket and
the butter. He smiled and took the
basket knocking his wine onto his lap.
My father
rolled
his
eyes
and
handed
him
a towel from the buffet behind
him.

“Thanks!” Nicholas said
cheerfully.

My father grunted at him
leaning back in his chair on two legs.
Mama swatted him with her towel and
Papa shrugged sitting his chair up
right again, and continued eating.
Mama cleared her throat and daddy looked
up at her. He grunted and cleared
his throat.

“Dinner
is
delicious”
he
said
smiling
at my
mother.

“Thank you papa” she said
smiling back.

“Yes, dinner is very good we
haven’t eaten this good in years.” The
woman said, “We haven’t eaten in a
couple days
actually.”

“You mean this idiot can’t even
feed you” he said sternly one hand on
his knee turning his body to look
Nicholas in the
face.

“Joseph James”
my
mother
said, “that’s
enough!”

“Grace, do you know how far
along you are?” Mama asked her
politely.

“No it has been almost three
months since I got round” Grace
said.

“Well
then
I
would
say
you
are
full term.” My mother said, “You are
not going anywhere until this baby
is born.” She said to Grace
gently.

“Don’t worry grace, my wife is
an expert on giving birth she has done
it twice without medication,
you’ve come to the right place to give
birth.”

Grace weakly
smiled.

“We will build you a home far
enough away that you’ll have birthing
privacy but close enough to walk here in
case of emergency.” Mother
announced.

“You
are
too
kind”
Grace
said
sweetly.

“No, we are just kind enough for
the times” Mother
replied.

The feeling in the room was
almost somber there were no jokes
no whimsical conversations. We ate
our food and then had pie and the three
of us went to
bed.

Mother took Grace to the attic
and fixed the extra queen sized bed for
her. She
went
to
the
barn
and
had
daddy pull out a tote of maternity clothes
she had squirreled
away.

My mom laid out a pretty
flowing white
nightgown
and
a
comfy
robe
and slippers. Mother put water and
saltine crackers on the night stand and left
the room quietly. She then went
down stairs to give Nicholas the good
news.

“Nicholas it’s nothing against you,
but
until you gain mine and
my
husband’s trust you’ll sleep in the loft above
the stalls” she said pointing to the
horse stables behind the
house.

He did not seem happy at
all.

“Why can’t I sleep with
my
wife?”
he asked.

“She needs some good quiet rest
alone for the baby’s sake and to
build strength for the birth you can’t fit
in bed with her right now.” Mother
said again pointing to the
stables.