Read Online A New Mam for the Girls by Joannie Kay - Free Book Online Page A

say.  I guess I could ask Mrs. Trimbull to teach you both to sew…?”  He pondered the idea, but was pretty sure that asking the minister’s wife for help of that sort would be the same as inviting another lecture from the good man on taking another wife to be a mother to his girls.  Seth wasn’t interested.
    “Papa, we just want to go to town.  We’re lonely for women’s company,” Susie insisted.
    “Wait a minute, little girl…!  Just what are you two up to?” Seth demanded suspiciously.  “Susie?  Sally?”
    “We’re not up to anything, Papa.  We’re just tired of staying home all the time.  What would it hurt to go to town just one day?  We could have lunch at Miss Carolyn’s, and…”
    “No,” Seth firmly refused.  “I have work to do, and you two need to clean up this kitchen and then weed the garden.”  They started to argue, only to stop when Seth looked down at them and said, “Not another word unless you both want a dusting to start off the day.”  As Seth figured, that put an end to the arguing, and he headed outside to tend to the work he planned to do.
    “You and your bright ideas, Susie Masterson!  Papa almost spanked us!”
    “But, he didn’t, did he?” Susie reminded her older sister.
    “He’s going to,” Sally glumly predicted.
    “He probably won’t find out, as long as you keep your big mouth shut,” Susie admonished.
    “Oh, you can be sure I am not going to say one thing, Miss Susan Masterson!”
    “Oh, you wash the dishes while I sweep up the floor, Miss Bossy!”
    “You’re the one who’s bein’ bossy, sister!”
    The girls fussed their way through cleaning up the dishes, and they even took the time to start a pot of stew for their noon meal.  It was Sally’s idea to do something nice so that their Papa would be in a good mood with them.
    Every so often Seth glanced toward the garden to see if the girls were completing the task he gave them, and he was more than a little pleased that they were spending so much time tending to the garden.  He shared the produce with neighbors, and in turn, they did all the canning and shared with him and the girls.  The situation worked for now, at least until the girls got bigger and could do the canning for all of them. 
    “This was real good, girls,” Seth complimented his daughters when he went inside to fry up some ham and make sandwiches for their noon meal and found some stew simmering on the stove.
    “We would like to know more about cooking, Papa,” Susie told him.  “Then we could cook for you more often.”
    “Susie, what is this all about?” he asked, looking at her.  “You and Sally have been making all sorts of comments today, but I don’t get the point.”
    “We’re growing up, Papa, and we can’t do anything.  Melissa already bakes bread, and we’re lucky if our cornbread is not burned.”
    He nodded, and tried to swallow his stew over the lump in his throat.  He didn’t think that losing their Ma would be such a big deal until the girls were a lot older, but there were all sorts of things he couldn’t teach the girls.  What the hell did he know about baking bread or sewing dresses?  He bought bread when they went to town, and a couple times a year he tried to buy the girls a new dress each.  Up ‘til now it seemed to be enough.
    The rest of the noon meal was eaten in silence, with the girls looking at each other every so often.  They both seemed to realize that it wasn’t the time to question their Papa, so they ate quietly.  “I’m going back out to work on that new corral, girls.  Please clean up in here, and when it’s almost time for supper, peel some potatoes.  I’ll make us a real good supper tonight, I promise.”
    “Do you want us to bake some cookies, Papa?” Sally offered.
    “Sure, if you have everything you need.  I’d love some cookies.”  He was grateful to Melissa’s Ma for teaching Sally how to bake sugar cookies.  She didn’t know how to do