Juliet looked out the window at their farm and mused over the last year. So far, the farm had been bringing in valuable produce to sell, and she had even been able to sell some of her knitting and candles to help out. Yes, taking care of the whole house was a lot of work, but it was rewarding work that she loved doing. The Willow Creek community had welcomed them with open arms, and she didn't miss Brindleton Bay at all.
And then there was baby Florence. Yes, she cried at all hours of the day and night, but she was so adorable. Juliet had written to her mother of the joyous news, and hoped that she would be happy for her, but it was hard to tell with Mother. She had yet to get a return letter from her, so she would just have to wait and see.
Putting the baby back in her crib for another nap, Juliet sighed and headed downstairs to make breakfast. Stefan had been out in the field since daybreak as usual, and would be coming in soon, hungry.
Stefan hadn't felt well for the last couple of days, and had been doing his best to hide it. He simply didn't want Juliet to worry about him. First it was a fever, then dizziness.
And now it was a horrible headache. Never let it be said he shirked on his work, though, and the field was still in great shape. Even if he wasn't.
In fact, the farm was doing so well that he had managed to pay not only the normal property taxes and fees, but also the loan payment due for the week. With plenty left over. He had considered paying extra on the loan - but with a new baby in the house, perhaps keeping a healthy bank account was a better idea. One never knew what might happen.
Juliet was turning out to be quite a wife. She kept the house clean, the baby tended, the laundry done.. and now she was even helping out with the bills by selling rugs and other things that she knitted. He wasn't about to tell her that there really was no reason for her to worry about the money at this point, however, so he thanked her for the funds and put it in the bank account whenever he was in town.
Stefan finished up in the fields and cleaned up, then went to talk with Juliet for a while. It appeared that the baby was sleeping now, so they kept their voices down - even though the sound of soft conversation was unlikely to carry all the way up the stairs.
After a while, his wife excused herself to go make dinner, and Stefan gave in to the headache and went to hide for a while in the darkness of the spare room.
Dinner was another salad - and while he was getting slightly tired of them, he did admit that using the produce from their own land certainly kept expenses down. Juliet was apparently chatty today, however, which certainly wasn't helping his head. He tried to follow the conversation at least enough to reply, but he wasn't sure he'd managed it.
The next morning, the headache was mostly gone, but he felt slightly dizzy again. Standing up slowly, he tiptoed downstairs so as not to wake up Juliet or the baby, and went to find some breakfast.
There was a puddle growing around the base of the icebox, however, so he quickly mopped it up, and went to get his tools to repair the leak. By the time it was finished, he'd lost most of the morning and he could hear little Florence fussing upstairs. Bypassing breakfast altogether, he went outside to get to work for the day.
Juliet hummed a little tune as she cooked dinner for Stefan. She had noticed that he had been giving the nightly salads a slightly sad look and had decided to add bread and cheese to their daily grocery order.
Some grilled cheese should cheer him right up. When he came in from the fields for dinner, she was gratified to see a surprised, but happy, look on his face. Beaming, she served both of them, and sat down to a pleasant meal, hoping to make it all the way through before Florence woke up wanting her feeding and diaper changing again.
Later that night - much later - she hurried to the outhouse in the darkness, and found out that a thunderstorm had moved in while they were sleeping. The yard was a quagmire of muddy puddles, and she slipped, falling right on her backside. Biting back curses she wasn't even supposed to know, she stood up gingerly, did her business at the bathroom, and miserably dodged the raindrops to get back inside. She tried to keep from tracking the mud inside, but it was a hopeless venture, and she headed up to the washroom to clean up, dreading the clean-up job she would have downstairs before she could go back to bed.
The storms of the past couple days had kept the fields watered, but also prevented him from going out to harvest or take care of the plants. The enforced holiday had helped cure his sickness, however, and he was feeling much better. Stefan was glad the storms had finally moved on, though, and he was able to get out there to harvest the produce, delivering it to the farmer's market that afternoon.
Once again, the Farmer's Almanac had been right, however, and in the storms' wake, a heatwave had moved in, and made working outside miserable for the next few days. He would be glad when summer was over, that was for sure.
Juliet wiped a damp brow and went back to her knitting. This heat was horribly oppressive, and both her and the baby were miserable. She tried keeping the windows open to let in a breeze, but there was precious little of that to be had. She could only imagine how torturous working in the fields must be - and she tried to remember to take Stefan some lemonade every hour or two to help keep him refreshed.
She tried not to think on the dire news her Mother's most recent letter had contained. Her step-sister, Mary, had still not improved, and was completely bed-ridden. The doctors had cited consumption, and had not had encouraging news for the family. Juliet may have not gotten along with Mary - but she'd really never wished and illness of this sort upon her. She wondered how long Mary would last, and whether her Mother would finally acknowledge Florence's birth once she was gone. Florence was turning one in the next few days, and Juliet's Mother still had yet to say anything about her in her letters.
Pushing aside these melancholy thoughts, Juliet cuddled her little girl, rejoicing that in a few short months she would finally be up and toddling around the house. Sure, it would pose a completely new set of challenges for her as a parent - but at least there would be room in the cradle for a new baby.
For, indeed, her hunch had been correct - she was expecting again. She hadn't told Stefan yet because she had wanted to be completely sure first, but she knew he would be overjoyed. She dearly hoped this one would be a boy, however, so as to not disappoint him again. Juliet planned to tell him this evening, and she watched Florence crawl around the bedroom, working on her knitting and waiting impatiently for Stefan to be done outside.
There is a lot of work to be done, but they seem to be handling it all very well. So nice. 🙂