A Headstrong Woman(25)

“It’s depressing to see one’s life reduced to a series of piles,” Janice sighed as she sank to the edge of the bed.

“There was much more to his life than these things,” Alexandria reminded the woman.

“Thank you for reminding me,” the woman blinked back tears.

“I think that’s it. I’ll strip the bed for laundry day and have Clay pick up these things for charity later,” Carolyn mused as she eyed the room.

“I want to go ahead and carry this photo to Lilly’s room,” Alexandria stood and reached for the photo of Elijah and Martha on their wedding day. She entered the room and smiled as she watched Lilly “feed” her baby doll.

“I’m feeding my baby,” she announced.

“I see that,” Alexandria nodded and moved across the room to put the picture on the nightstand.

“What’s that?” Lilly abandoned her doll and clambered onto the bed.

“It’s a picture of your first mommy and your daddy on their wedding day,” Alexandria explained. Lilly, her small face crumpled in a frown, reached out and touched the glass over the photo. She then climbed into Alexandria’s lap and clung to her.

“I love you, Lilly,” Alexandria stroked the child’s back as she laid her head against Lilly’s.

“I love you too, Mama.”

“I can’t thank you enough for how wonderful you’ve been with Lilly,” Janice spoke from the doorway; Alexandria startled.

“I think I fell in love with her the very day she was born,” Alexandria admitted. “Mama was worried about Martha; she knew how sick she had been and stopped into deliver some soup and check in on everyone. Martha had Elijah bring us up to see Lilly.

“She was so small and delicate; her little eyelashes nearly disappeared against her creamy cheeks. I lost my heart right then. I looked for excuses to come and visit.”

“I wish I could have been here the day she was born,” Janice’s face was wistful.

“Was I real little?” Lilly leaned back to look at Alexandria with interest.

“You were tiny and your hair was so downy you almost couldn’t see it, like the finest spun silk. Your mama was so proud of you, she was as puffed up as old Mr. Peacock at Grandma and Grandpa’s farm when he goes to strutting around all full of himself.”

Her description made Lilly giggle.

“I growed.”

“Grew,” Alexandria corrected, “and, yes, you did. You thought you were quite big after you learned to walk; you decided you had to start climbing everything. I thought your poor mama was going to pull her hair out.”

“I’m so glad you were such good friends with Martha, Alexandria, it would break my heart if no one could remember her babyhood. I’m afraid that the general store kept us from more than a handful of visits. Most of my information is from letters,” Janice’s smile was sad.

“Martha was one of the kindest people I ever knew and Mama probably knows even more stories than I do. It is sad that some of those will be lost.”

“Or maybe not,” Carolyn spoke as she entered the room. “This was in the bottom of the chest of drawers. I decided to double check that they were empty and found this in the back.”

She handed Alexandria a book and she opened the pages. “It’s Martha’s diary! This should be kept for Lilly.”

“Definitely,” Janice nodded.

“I wonder if there were more.” Alexandria mused.

“Maybe, we can look around and see.”

“Can I play now, Mama?” Lilly was growing impatient with the new topic of conversation.

“Of course,” Alexandria kissed the top of her head and set her on her feet. She stood and the three women moved downstairs to have a cup of coffee.

“It looks warm but it is chilly!” Anna announced as she entered the back door with Michael.

“We took care of the necessary chores at home,” Michael assured his mother.

“Thank you, Son.”

“Welcome; I’m gonna go find the men,” he kissed his mom’s cheek before slipping back out the door.

“What have you all been doing?” Anna asked as they all seated themselves around the table.

“Going through Eli’s things,” Alexandria informed her.

Anna grimaced.

“Now that that’s done I’m not sure what comes next,” Janice admitted. The women hadn’t much more than started sipping their coffee than the men came spilling into the hall shedding coats and hats as they came.