Interview for a Wife by Ruth Ann Nordin
Chapter Sixteen
Deanne woke early the next morning. She was still tucked up next to Bill, and the blanket was wrapped around them both. She couldn’t recall a time when she’d been more comfortable, or content. She had no idea marriage could be so wonderful.
Terry had taken her to bed many times throughout their years of marriage, but he’d never made love to her. She wouldn’t have thought it possible that a woman could get such pleasure from the act. With Terry, it had been something done in hopes of conceiving a child. When she realized she wasn’t able to have children, it turned into something she was obligated to do in order to fulfill her marriage vows. She’d secretly been grateful when he started to seek out another woman’s bed because it meant he finally left her alone.
There had been no love in that marriage. At first, there had been a sense of companionship, but the longer she went without conceiving a child, the less inclined he was to be pleasant when he was around her.
With Bill, it was so different. Even knowing she’d never give him more children, he wanted to be with her.
She lifted her head and looked at Bill. The sunlight was starting to filter in through the window, and it gave her a perfect view of him. He was a very handsome man.
She would have spent more time watching him as he slept, but more pressing needs prompted her to get out of bed and get ready for the day. It wasn’t until she was brushing her hair that Bill stirred from sleep. Her heartbeat picked up, and she hurried to put the last pin in her hair. She swept her hair over her shoulders then went over to him.
His eyes grew wide. “How late is it?”
She offered him a reassuring smile and leaned down to kiss him. “It’s still early. You have plenty of time to get ready for the day. I couldn’t sleep, so I got up.”
“I’ll make the coffee stronger this morning to help you stay awake.”
“I don’t mind being tired. There are worse things I could go through.”
She was ready to straighten up, but he put his arms around her and urged her to kiss him again. She sighed in contentment and gave into the heady experience of being with him.
“I just wanted to enjoy this moment before the children wake up,” he whispered when the kiss ended. “Once they’re up, it’s impossible to get any time alone.”
As if to prove his point, they heard the pitter-patter of feet coming down the hall.
He chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders. “Alright, I’m ready to get out of bed.”
She helped him into the wheelchair then gave him the chamber pot.
“What do you want for breakfast?” she asked.
“How about morning pie?”
She groaned. “I wish I never told Vernon that pancakes were like pie. No one is going to let me forget it.”
“I happen to like them. They’re my favorite breakfast item.”
She heard someone leave the house and figured that had to be Vernon. She had to make sure he was going to use the outhouse instead of the front yard. “I’ll be back to see if you need anything.”
He waved for her to go, and she slipped out of the room, shutting the door behind her so that he had his privacy.
She hurried to the front door and stepped outside to see if Vernon had gone in this direction. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t see him in the front yard.
Feeling the weight of someone’s gaze on her, she scanned the other houses and saw that the crotchety woman who’d complained about Vernon was watching her from her porch. The woman didn’t smile or wave. She just stared at her. Hiding her annoyance, Deanne went back into the house. It was a shame one couldn’t pick their neighbors.
She ran to the back door and was relieved to see Vernon coming out of the outhouse. While she could understand people not wanting to see a little boy relieve his bladder, she didn’t know why they had to be so mean about it. He was just a child, after all. She was quickly learning that a lot of things children did were done out of innocence. They didn’t understand concepts like modesty. It was something they had to be taught.
She waited for Vernon to come into the house before she closed the door. “Pa said he’d like morning pie this morning. What do you think?”
Before she had time to blink, he was running for the kitchen and calling out, “Morning pie! Morning pie!”
She followed him and was surprised to see his shoulders slump in despair. “What is it?”
“There’s no pie.”
“I haven’t made it yet.” Hadn’t he noticed that she hadn’t been cooking when he went outside? The kitchen was right on the way to the back door.
Apparently, he hadn’t noticed since he asked, “Why not?”
She laughed. “Because I have to make the batter first. It’s not even six thirty. Seven is when we eat breakfast.”
The answer didn’t seem to satisfy him, for he let out a heavy sigh.
“Let’s go to your bedroom so your sister can help you get dressed. By then, I should be making morning pie. They cook fast.”
“Alright.”
She tried to recall if she’d been impatient as a child, but that part of her life seemed so long ago that it was hard to recall. Either children were naturally impatient or it was a part of his personality. With a shake of her head, she followed Vernon to his bedroom to wake up Amber so the children could get ready for the day.
***
“Of course, I don’t make it a habit of talking about other people,” Velma was saying as Deanne added up the total of her bill. “I’m just not sure if Benny is the right choice for Myrtle. He might be two years older than her, but he acts like he’s much younger.” In a lower voice she added, “The other day, I caught him playing on the train tracks right before a train was due to arrive. Now, tell me, do you think someone like that is ready for marriage?”
To avoid answering the question, and therefore getting wrapped up in something that wasn’t her business, Deanne smiled at the eighteen-year-old and said, “I’m sure Myrtle will choose a suitable man for marriage.” She lifted the piece of paper that would serve as Velma’s receipt. “The total will be $4.65. Do you want me to put it on your father’s account?”
“Oh, no. Pa gave me the money.” Velma proceeded to open her drawstring purse and take out the money.
While she counted out the money, Deanne put the items into two crates. She was done by the time Velma had put everything on the counter.
“I reported it to the person working at the train station,” Velma said.
“Reported it?” Deanne asked.
“What Benny was doing.”
Oh! The train tracks. Deanne had already forgotten that Velma had said he’d been playing on them.
“The station manager said he’d talk with Benny’s parents,” Velma continued.
Deanne’s eyebrows furrowed. “His parents? But isn’t he twenty-three?” She bit her tongue. It really wasn’t her place to get involved in this.
Velma gave her a pointed look. “He might be twenty-three, but he acts like he’s ten.”
Deanne took the money, counted it, and then put it in the leather pouch. “I’ll carry the second crate for you.” Deanne took the crate in her arms. With a glance at the woman behind Velma, she said, “I’ll be back in a moment.”
Iola nodded and put the sack of flour and basket of eggs on the counter. Deanne hurried to take the crate out to the buggy. After thanking Velma for stopping by, she went back into the store.
“Thank you for your patience,” Deanne told Iola and totaled up her bill.
“You know she only picks on Benny because she’s upset he prefers Myrtle to her,” Iola said. “She’s been chasing after him for years, but he has no interest in her. When they were in school, she used to hide his things, and she’d tell the teacher every little thing he did that was wrong. It wore the poor teacher out. I know because he used to tell my husband about it. My husband is the head of the schoolboard.”
Oh dear. Deanne hadn’t expected to learn even more about the people in town than she wanted to know. She’d forgotten what small towns were like after living in Omaha. Her hometown was just like this. If these people were talking about Benny so much, she could only imagine what they were saying about her.
Deanne cleared her throat. “That’ll be $0.23.”
Iola blinked as if she had forgotten about the flour and eggs.
Deanne smiled. “I apologize if I seem rude. It’s just that I need to work on the inventory list with my husband. We need to get it to Mr. Samuel before the end of the day.”
Iola chuckled. “If that’s your excuse for spending time in the back room with your husband, I’ll pretend to believe it.” She put $0.23 on the counter and winked. “I noticed how long this store was closed yesterday afternoon.” She collected the flour and eggs then headed out of the store.
Deanne was glad there were no other customers in the place or they might have noticed how red her face was. Exactly what did Iola, and possibly others, think she and Bill had been doing in the back room?
Forget what they were thinking. It’s what they were saying that really mattered.
Trying to push the conversation with Iola aside, she put the money into the leather pouch. Usually, she would take the lull in activity to ask Bill if there was anything he needed, but she wasn’t sure if she should do that right now. She might be better off staying out here where people could see her from the windows. At least then, no one would give her knowing winks.
Bill emerged from the back room with the inventory list on a clipboard on his lap. “Is everyone gone?” he asked as he scanned the store.
“Yes, the last customer just left.”
“In that case, do you want to take a break and join me in the back room?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Her face flushed even more. “We can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” She glanced out the windows to make sure no one was coming toward the store then walked over to him. In a whisper, she said, “Iola was just in here, and she let me know that she is aware of what we were doing in the back room yesterday.”
“How can she know? She wasn’t with us.”
“She noticed how long the store was temporarily closed.”
“The store can be closed for any reason.”
“I realize that, but she figured out what we were doing.”
“She told you she knows we were kissing?”
“She might as well have with the way she winked at me.”
He chuckled. “So what if she assumes we were kissing? We’re married. Married people are allowed to kiss.”
“It’s just awkward to know that she knows.”
“It shouldn’t be.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “Think of it like this: she knows you have a husband who finds you desirable. The worst that can happen is that she’ll tell everyone how much I adore you.”
“I suppose it’s not so bad that Iola knows we were kissing.”
“It’s not.” He nodded to the back room. “Since no one’s here, let’s enjoy our time alone.”
“I can’t do that anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Because now that I know people know what we’re doing back there, it’s different. I feel like they’re watching us.”
She could tell he was looking for a way to assure her that people weren’t really going to think anything was going on in the back room, but in the end, he let out a disappointed sigh and released her hand. “It’s just my luck that Iola had to say something. That woman’s never been able to keep her thoughts to herself.”
“We can still kiss at home.”
“I realize that, but it’s fun to kiss you while we’re at work. What’s the point in having your wife work with you if you can’t kiss her during the day?”
“You didn’t marry me so you could kiss me. You married me to help you with the customers. You didn’t want to keep pestering Archie to do this job for you.”
“Yes, but then you turned out to be much better than I expected. What am I supposed to do?” He gave her an imploring look. “I’m only human.”
She was beginning to feel sorry for him when she felt something caress her behind. She gasped and swatted his hand away. “Bill, you’re awful!” She giggled. “You can’t do that here. I don’t care how tempted you are. Someone could walk in here at any moment.” She glanced at the door, and thankfully, no one was there. “We’ll have plenty of time at home for this kind of thing.”
“We won’t be home for another five hours. You expect me to go that long without kissing you after what we did yesterday? That’s not fair, Deanne. It’s like you put a fancy meal in front of me, let me have a bite of it, and then tell me I can’t have any more.”
“One doesn’t eat a fancy dinner in a store.”
“No, but one can sample a piece of candy.”
She groaned, but it wasn’t from exasperation. He was being so sweet that she wanted to run off to the back room and kiss him like she had yesterday. Maybe it was easy for him to not worry about what other people were thinking, but it wasn’t like that for her. “I don’t like it when people know what I’m doing. I’d rather keep things private.”
“Alright, I’ll be good while we’re here.” He squeezed her hand. “I’ll get started on the inventory list.”
He released her hand and began to wheel himself over to one of the shelves.
A twinge of guilt came over her, so she followed him. “Wait.” When he stopped and turned his head in her direction, she kissed him. She intended for the kiss to be short, but the truth was, she liked it so much that she let her lips linger on his for a while. “I suppose a sample now and then won’t hurt.”
Then, before she would be tempted to keep kissing him, and risk being caught by someone who could come into the store at any moment, she hastened to get back to work.