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“Makes me wish I was still in my demon horde days,” Alice muttered.
Susan shook her head. “You will not play any kind of prank on her. Do you hear me?”
Alice sighed. “I won’t. I want to, but I won’t.”
“Next time I’ll invite someone who doesn’t act like that.”
Beverly smiled. “She was raised with a silver spoon in her mouth. No wonder she’s so difficult to be around.” She looked at Alice. “Don’t you worry about Albert. He doesn’t love her. He doesn’t even really know her.”
Wilma looked up from her sewing for just a moment. “Shame on Felicity for raising that girl to be so selfish. I ought to give her a piece of my mind!”
Susan laughed. “But you won’t, and we both know it.”
Wilma laughed as well. “No, I won’t. But I should.” She turned to Alice. “Susan told us about the demon horde. Tell me, what was your favorite prank?” It was obviously a ruse to get Alice to take her mind off what Sarah had said, but Alice was thrilled to think about something else.
Alice had to think about it for a moment as Susan resettled herself and picked up her sewing. “I think it’s the day we caught six frogs and set them free in different parts of the church. Ma didn’t make us sit with her, so one of us sat in the front row on the right, another on the left. And then two in the back, and two of us right in the middle. The first time the pastor said, ‘Turn to your Bible,’ we all let them go. Some of the women were standing on their pews screeching.”
Susan groaned. “How did Ma react to that?”
“She told us there were appropriate times for pranks and inappropriate times, and we needed to learn the difference.” Alice shrugged. “So, the next week, we released snakes.”
Laughter filled the room. “It sounds like you were perfectly awful,” Beverly said. “You’ve outgrown pranks?”
“Well, I did let Lewis and Albert talk me into one when I arrived here. No one had told Susan her sister was coming, so I didn’t tell her either. I was just an Alice from Beckham. It took David telling her that I looked just like she had at my age for her to realize.”
Wilma giggled. “That’s terrible of you. But funny.”
“That was my thought. Susan and I have moved past it. I’m just glad I can get to know my sister. She left when I was only about five.”
Beverly looked thoughtful. “I knew she had much younger siblings, but it never occurred to me that you wouldn’t really know her. I’m glad you have the chance to get to know her as well. She’s a special woman.”
Alice looked at her big sister with a smile. “I agree.”
Chapter Nine
As she cooked supper that evening, Alice couldn’t stop thinking about what Sarah had said. She wasn’t going to stay married—billy goat stabbing or not—and she had her eye on Albert.
There were no true feelings between her and Albert as they’d been strangers when they married, but she felt like they’d already built up a good rapport, and she was rapidly developing feelings for her husband. She wasn’t about to step out of the way and let Sarah have him.
She made chicken and dumplings, which Susan had told her was his favorite meal, and she made fresh bread to go with it. She timed the rolls coming out of the oven at exactly seven-forty-five, which was when he tended to get home from work, though he said he’d be there earlier.
It was half past nine when he walked in the door, covered in mud and looking exhausted. “What happened to you?” she asked, feeling very perturbed with her husband. Not only had he been late coming home, but he’d done it on a day when she was feeling particularly vulnerable in her marriage thanks to all the things Sarah had said to her.
He sighed. “I was out riding looking for one of our lost heifers who had crossed the stream to give birth. I tried to jump the stream, but my horse and I fell right smack into it. Thankfully it wasn’t high, but I got a little wet and muddy. Then I helped the heifer calve and got her and the calf back to the herd, where she should have stayed to begin with. Do you mind if I get cleaned up before supper?”
“Do I mind?” she asked. “I insist on it.”
He left a trail of muddy water on her clean floor as he headed toward the bathroom. She followed along behind him with her mop, cleaning up the floor as she went. She should have met him at the door with a clean towel and insisted he strip right there, so he wouldn’t make a big mess all through the house. Next time. She’d do just that next time.
She went into the kitchen and popped the rolls back in the oven for just a minute so they’d be hot when he was ready to eat, and then she served two bowls of the chicken and dumplings.
When he came back into the dining room, he’d cleaned up and even combed his hair. “Chicken and dumplings?” he asked. “If I’d known I’d have been here hours ago!”
The fact that he admitted he could have come earlier irked Alice. Why didn’t he come on time? “Do you want me to start having supper ready at nine thirty?” she asked.
He sighed, shaking his head. “No. I’m sorry I’m late. I really did need to find this heifer.”
After their prayer, they both dug into the food. Alice found she was hungrier than she’d realized. She wasn’t used to eating supper after nine at night.
