Josh didn’t talk to Carrie in the way he usually talked to women. He talked to her as though he hated her. But, for some reason, Tem wasn’t sure that his father did actually hate Carrie. First of all, how could he? Tem was sure that, next to his mother, Carrie was the prettiest woman on earth. And second, she was funny and she was exciting and she made people smile. How could anyone hate Carrie?
And, also, there was the way his father acted when he got too close to Carrie. Three times this morning Tem was sure he’d seen his father’s face turn red when she leaned over him or walked close to him. And every time Josh’s face turned red, he said something mean to Carrie. He even said bad things about her little dog.
And there was the way his father watched Carrie. Whenever she had her back to him, Josh was watching her. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. And this morning Josh had gone into the bedroom to get a clean shirt from out of the bureau Carrie had bought, and Tem had seen his father look inside one of the drawers and just stand there staring. Then Josh had put his hand in the drawer to touch whatever was in there. He had the very strangest look on his face, like that time he’d hurt his foot and he’d said that it didn’t hurt but it actually did. After his father had left the room, Tem had sneaked in and looked in the drawer. Carrie’s nightgown was in there, the one she’d worn the night before when Josh had combed her hair and she’d kissed his hand.
All and all, it was very confusing to Tem. His father seemed to hate Carrie, but then he didn’t seem to hate her. He seemed to like to look at her and to listen to her stories at night, and he seemed to like to stand real close to her, so Tem couldn’t understand why his father said such mean things to Carrie.
As for Carrie, Tem didn’t understand her either. She said things to Josh that were just as bad as he said to her, but then he saw her pick up his father’s shirt and sort of hug it to her. Tem thought maybe he saw tears in Carrie’s eyes while she was holding it, but he wasn’t sure about that.
“What shall we do today?” Carrie asked. “Would you like to go fishing?”
Tem looked about the kitchen. There was a three-foot-tall stack of dirty dishes on the cabinet and the floor had mud on it and there were dirty clothes and the animals needed to be fed. He wasn’t sure, but he thought that Carrie was supposed to clean things during the day. Aunt Alice was somebody’s wife, and she always seemed to be cleaning things and she talked a great deal about a woman having pride in her house.
Tem cleared his throat. “I can show you how to wash dishes,” he said.
Carrie smiled. “I’m sure that I could figure it out if I needed to, but I really have no desire to learn how to do dishes. Don’t look so worried, Tem. They’ll get cleaned. I have a woman coming from town to do them.”
Tem tried again. “But aren’t you supposed to wash the dishes?”
“I’m sure your father thinks so. But then I’m also sure that I could spend the entire week scrubbing, and he’d still find something wrong with me. If a person’s determined to dislike you, he will. Besides, if I have only a few days with the two of you, I’d rather go fishing.” Carrie watched as Tem contemplated this. “Tem, it’s up to you. If you want to stay here and scrub, that’s what we’ll do. But if you’d rather fish, then we’ll do that.”
“Tem,” Dallas said in a whine, begging her brother to let them have a day of fun.
Tem knew that he should choose scrubbing, since it’s what his father seemed to want in a wife, what he seemed to think was the most important thing a wife could do, but then he asked himself if Carrie was right. Would Josh be happy if he came back to a clean house? Last night he had come back to a house that was filled with light and walls with roses on them, yet all Josh had done was grumble, so Tem thought that maybe a clean floor wouldn’t make him smile. “Fishing,” Tem said at last, and Dallas started jumping up and down in happiness, Choo-choo jumping with her.
Tem tried to forget the problems between his father and Carrie, but as the day wore on, he seemed to think of them more. Maybe Carrie couldn’t cook, but she sure could do other things. She took the children into the barn—that’s what Papa called the shed, and calling it that had made Uncle Hiram laugh—and showed them her trunks.
When she started opening them, it was like Aladdin’s treasure trove, and it took her over an hour to find the fishing poles—handmade in England she told the children. They didn’t have to ask to know that her brothers had given her the poles.
Carrie shut the trunks, and they started off toward the stream. Tem was impressed at how well Carrie could fish. She seemed to sense where the trout were hiding, and she wasn’t the least bit afraid of baiting her hook with worms. As they fished, she told the children stories of fishing in the sea and about catching lobsters and
other strange creatures.
“Mother fed us lobster,” Dallas said, then yelled at Tem when he hit her arm.
“Are you not supposed to talk about your mother?” Carrie asked.
Dallas shook her head, while Tem glared at her in warning.
“Does the mention of your mother make your father sad?” Carrie asked.
“Not sad,” Dallas began, but said no more after catching a look at Tem.
Tem covered for his big-mouth sister. “Very sad. Maybe that’s why he says such mean things to you.”
Carrie nodded at that. Maybe it was true that Josh didn’t think anyone could replace his children’s mother.
“Look at the time,” Carrie said. “It’s past time for lunch.”
“Papa didn’t take any food,” Dallas said. “He’ll be hungry.”
“Then we shall see what Mrs. Emmerling has made for us to eat, and you can take something to your father.”
When they got back to the house, they found it was as dirty as they’d left it. The woman Carrie had hired from town hadn’t come yet, and Tem wondered if she would come. If their father came home to all the dirt, he’d be angry, and he’d be hungry and there’d be no supper either.
“Tem,” Carrie said, smiling, “don’t look so sad. It’s not a tragedy. I can make luncheon for your father. I’ll make him a fried egg sandwich.”
Tem had to put his hand over his sister’s mouth to keep her from groaning out loud. “He’ll like that,” Tem said, and when Carrie turned back around, both children were smiling angelically at her.