(A/N: I made these guys from the very beginning, and tailored their outfits carefully to be as close to the times as possible.)
(A/N: This house was not built by me, but I did a considerable amount of redecorating so it was completely appropriate. (originally built by irrelephant7) This is what it looks like from Day 1 of the challenge. Don't go into "wood overload" with all the wooden things. LOL. Also: house was worth 47,976 on day one. With loan and starter funds, they had 52,500 before buying the house - so they started with 4,524 in the bank. Every Monday, Stefan has a loan repayment of 1,520 to pay to the bank until the loan of 30,000 with 10% interest is paid off. (Should be paid off by the time he hits elder.))
Juliet wandered aimlessly around her new home, marveling at the fact that it was hers. Stefan had gone to the local market to buy some seeds for the farm, and she had been left alone to explore the house. She was utterly amazed at the size of the house, and had to wonder if Stefan was more well-off than she had initially assumed. She knew his father was rich and powerful, but she also knew of the rift between them. Everyone in Brindleton Bay had known about that. It hadn't exactly been a secret, despite the fact she'd never heard Stefan talk about it directly. It had to be hard, knowing that your father was so disappointed in you that he told everyone in town. No wonder he'd wanted to move so far away.
Pushing the unpleasant thoughts of home.. well, her old home... away, Juliet settled in the spare room's rocking chair and pulled out her knitting. She knew enough about it to get started, but little more. Her mother had often tried to teach her, but she'd had little time to waste on knitting when the house was always a disaster. Things were different now. She was going to have a family of her own - and being able to make warm clothes was nothing but a benefit now.
Looking out the window, Juliet realized Stefan had come home from the market, and was outside, planting his new seeds. Putting away her knitting, Juliet changed into something a little warmer and went out to help.
It would be her responsibility to care for the bees, so she spent some time bonding with them, then turned to help with the planting.
Getting all the planting in was a monumental task, but with her help, Stefan managed to get most everything done by dark, and Juliet left him watering the new plantings and went to make them some dinner.
Dinner was a pleasant affair, and Juliet marveled that it seemed Stefan had thought of everything. They were to have daily deliveries of milk and ice for the icebox, and he had fully stocked said icebox with groceries for her to make meals out of. There were even fresh stacks of firewood by the fireplaces, ready to burn to keep their new home warm.
Before bed, Juliet got some more knitting time in, and Stefan spent some time at his new woodworking bench, honing his handiness skill.
The Farmer's Almanac reported that it was to be a rainy spring. Stefan still had plenty to do in the field, though, and he dutifully headed outside to weed and keep the garden pests under control.
By dinner time, he was soaked, but happy. There was a certain satisfaction to running one's own farm, he found, and coming in to a clean and orderly house and a smiling wife made working in the rain so much better.
The home he had purchased was everything the broker had said, and more. The local family that had gotten the house ready for them had been grateful for the income, and had luckily thought of everything. Juliet seemed grateful, and there was no need to tell her how much it had truly cost them.
Stefan did some exploring of their area over the next few days, and found a community garden not far from their home that supplied him with some plants he was missing on his farm.
Juliet seemed to be quite capable of keeping herself busy, and her beehive was already producing enough wax for her to keep their stock of candles up. It seemed he had chosen well when he picked his wife.
The farm was a huge undertaking, but it also seemed to be a profitable one, and it was already producing some harvests that were padding their meager bank account. Some of his worry that he wouldn't be able to pay the bank back started to evaporate, and the local farmer's market seemed to be more than willing to purchase whatever he could grow.
Juliet found there was always something to be done - rain or shine. There were dishes to clean, laundry to be done, bees to be cared for, the icebox to fill. There was little time to even consider that her new life was much harder than she had expected, and she might not have even thought of it had she not gotten some unexpected news.
She was already expecting! It seemed that nursery upstairs would be filled sooner than she had planned, and she dearly hoped it would be a boy. It seemed Stefan already assumed it was, and was constantly bragging to their new neighbors about having new "help" for the farm.
Mornings were the worst time, and her breakfast often didn't stay down due to her morning sickness, but she insisted on eating with her husband every morning, anyway.
Evenings were her favorite time, though, because by then the baby seemed to have calmed down, and she and Stefan could spend a quiet evening by the fire.
On Valentine's Day, Stefan surprised her with flowers from the garden, and they spent an evening out at the park behind the Willow Creek church. There were other couples who had apparently had the same idea, and several women approached her to thank her for the donations she had made of her knitting to the local orphanage.
As her pregnancy progressed, Juliet found doing her daily chores to be more and more difficult, but she was determined. The laundry was always fresh, the homestead clean and cared for, and dinner ready when Stefan came in from the fields.
Longing desperately for the pregnancy to be over, she tried to hide how miserable the pregnancy was making her. She only reported the cheery news to her family back home, despite the fact that her mother's notes always seemed so dreadful. Clearly, her step-sister, Mary, was not doing well, and it seemed the illness that had taken her late husband had now taken a hold of her. They had been forced to hire a servant to care for the house, because Mary wasn't able to get out of bed most days. Her mother seemed to blame all of it on her leaving so abruptly, and Juliet was immensely glad she was no longer there to bear the tirades.
Stefan and she had become very much a part of the local church community, and she had joined the choir. They attended church every Sunday, and when Easter rolled around, they faithfully attended the holiday ceremony.
He often surprised her with flowers, and was ever the attentive husband. Juliet saw no evidence of the temper he had been rumored to have, or of his "lazy" disposition.
Much to the contrary, he seemed a romantic and hard working soul, and their farm was flourishing because of it.
Then, at the very end of the year, Juliet was awakened in the middle of the night with horrible pains. Immediately, she knew what it was, and awakened Stefan. He tried to insist on fetching the doctor, but Juliet was sure everything would be fine.
And it was. By morning, she had a beautiful baby girl that they named Florence. Stefan tried to hide his disappointment that it wasn't a boy, but he wasn't completely successful. Perhaps he would be luckier next time. Juliet wasn't sorry, however, because a little girl is just what she had secretly hoped for. She envisioned all the things she could teach Florence, and could hardly wait until she grew up. One day at a time, she told herself.. and settled the baby into her cradle before she, too, curled up, fast asleep.
Awww, they seem like a lovely, hardworking family. It makes a big difference when you are doing it for yourself. 😀