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Walter was working on hitching up a simple wagon. “I assume we’re shopping, so I’m taking the wagon with the most storage.”
“Well, I thank you for that. We are getting a few things, so the extra space will be nice.” Sydney had a mind to shop for some new fabric in town. She had her old clothes that she’d worn when she volunteered at the orphanage and she had her nice clothes. There was nothing for her to wear as a new wife. She did have a wedding gown already made, but that was because her mother wanted her married off before she could complain.
Walter handed her up into the wagon before sliding the doors out of the way, so they could head out. “What are we shopping for?”
“Well, initially I was just going to get peanut butter, but I think I’m going to buy some calico for a couple of dresses as well.”
“If you plan to marry Lewis, you may want fabric for curtains and a tablecloth and nice things ladies want around.” Walter watched straight ahead, obviously comfortable driving to town. “What’s peanut butter?”
“Oh, it’s this wonderful thing you spread on bread for sandwiches. I’ve been known to even eat it with a spoon.”
“I may need to try some of that,” he said.
“I hope you don’t mind sitting for a few minutes while I shop,” she said.
“’Course not. This is your errand not mine. I’m happy enough getting away from work for a few hours.”
Sydney smiled. “At least you’re honest.”
“Always!” Walter grinned as he continued driving, turning on a street into town.
He pulled over in front of a store in a part of town she hadn’t been in yet, and she hoped that meant she was far from Hell’s Half Acre.
Before he could offer to help her down, she’d jumped and hurried inside the door. She quickly walked around until she found the most important thing she’d come for, the peanut butter. She purchased six jars, simply because she was certain Susan was going to love it as much as she did.
And then she walked to the fabrics to do the fun part of her shopping. She chose a soft green flower pattern for her first dress, and a plain yellow for the second. For her third and fourth dresses, she bought white with lavender polka dots, and then a plain pink.
Then she looked at fabric for curtains and a tablecloth. She tended to favor different shades of purple, so she bought fifteen yards of a lilac. Taking all to the front of the store, she paid with some of the cash she had in her reticule and was happy when a young man offered to carry her purchases out to her wagon.
The young man and Walter chatted while they loaded the wagon, and Sydney sat waiting patiently on the wagon seat.
It was less than an hour and a half since she’d left the house when Walter stopped the wagon in front of it. “Thank you so much for driving me, Walter.”
“Happy to do it. I’ll get everything inside, if you want to go and have some of the lemonade, I’m sure Ma made while we were out. She thinks we’re all going to die of the heat when we leave, and her lemonade is the only thing that will save us.”
Sydney laughed softly. “Thank you again, and I think I will take you up on some of your mother’s lemonade.” She went into the house and went straight to the kitchen and the ice box that was sitting in the corner. It was the largest ice box she’d ever seen, and when she looked, she realized there were three. Well, that made sense with the amount of people who ate in that house.
She found the pitcher, just as Susan walked into the kitchen. “Did you get the peanut butter?” Susan asked.
“I did. I got a lot. And I got some fabric for some everyday dresses and some for making curtains and pillows and tablecloths. I’m excited to make them all. Mother never let me sew, but I learned how at the orphanage.”
“You’ve made a dress though?” Susan asked.
“I have. Several in fact.”
“Have you used a sewing machine? I have one in the parlor, and I find it to be one of the best purchases we ever made. You’ll learn to use it quickly, even if you’ve never touched one.”
Sydney’s eyes widened. “I haven’t used one! Mrs. Anderson at the orphanage was always talking about how it would be such a joy to use one and save her fingers, but she never did get one.”
“That’s sad. If I sent her the money for a sewing machine, and told her that’s what it was for, would she buy the machine, or simply use it for food for the children?”
“She’d buy the machine. The orphans grow a great deal of the food they need in their own garden, and there are cows to milk, and eggs are there in the henhouse. They buy little food. And the sewing machine would be used daily for sewing, mending, and maybe even for stitching the kids up after they’ve fallen out of trees onto each other.” Sydney could just picture Mrs. Anderson’s face if she received a donation for a sewing machine. “I tried to get my mother to buy her a machine, and she told me that with as much time as I spent at the orphanage, they could buy the machine from the labor costs they’d saved.”
Susan frowned. “Knowing that, I’ll send money for a machine, and for the cost of fabric for several dresses.”
Sydney clapped her hands and hugged Susan. “I’m so glad I found you. Just think where I could be if I hadn’t, and now you’re helping my orphans as well? I couldn’t ask for a better friend.”
Walter brought the jars into the kitchen. “Do you want me to put the fabric in the parlor, Ma?”
