1895 | 1897

1896 (Fall)

Birthdays came and went with very little fanfare in the Tangles household, and Abraham and Florence both grew up as the new year came and went. Abraham had lost a bit of his easy to get along with outgoing side with the passing of his parents, and had apparently discovered a love of books. Stefan regularly found him slacking on his household chores with one novel or another.

Florence started school and seemed to enjoy it, usually coming straight home to do her homework. Stefan was proud of his little girl, and he tried to be done in the fields early enough so that he was available to help her if she needed it.

Then, one morning at breakfast, Abraham cornered Stefan after Juliet had left the room to care for the younger children, and started stumbling over asking something. Nonplussed, Stefan looked at him blankly, waiting for the boy to start making sense.

"Mr Tangle, sir.. I really appreciate all you and Juliet have done for me, and all, but I don't want to be a farmer when I grow up."

"Whyever not? It's a noble profession. It's what your father did."

"Well, no, sir, he had a farm, yes, but mostly he was the town's teacher. Still, though, I'd like to make something of myself. I want to go to school." Abraham stumbled over his words a bit, but his voice remained steady, determined.

Comprehension finally dawned on Stefan's face, and he felt his head start pounding. How could his wife's brother even contemplate schooling instead of helping out on the farm? He HAD to know how expensive school was. There was no way Stefan could justify paying 1000 simoleons on high school for the boy. He had never expected to have to take care of him, anyway, and the cost of an extra mouth to feed was already worrying enough. Winter was coming again, after all, and if the Almanac and last year were any guide at all - it was going to be another long one.

Stefan felt his temper rise another notch or two, and tried to keep his voice down so he wouldn't upset the rest of the household as he answered the boy. "Oh, that's right. It doesn't change anything, though. The answer to your questions is: absolutely not. Do you think money grows on trees? I assure you, it does not! I'm not paying for a pretentious orphan to better himself to make his pig-headed, deceased father proud, instead of sticking with the lot he was given in life. THIS family is all about farming, and that's what's in store for you. There's plenty to keep you busy around the house, we can't afford to have you wasting time with book-learning!"

Stefan pretended not to notice Abraham's cringe, and directed the boy to do some woodworking on the bench outside. Perhaps that would keep him out of trouble for a while.

Feeling pretty proud of himself for handling that well, Stefan dropped the matter from his mind, finished his breakfast, and headed outside to care for his fields. The leaves were already beginning to change colors, after all, and a chill was in the air. He dreaded the plants going dormant for Winter, but there was nothing he could do about it. All he could do was make as much money as possible so that they would make it through the cold season.

Stefan pointedly ignored the boy working diligently at the workbench and hurried past him to take care of the plants and gather produce for the market that evening, missing the dirty look that Abraham shot him behind his back.

With all the housework Juliet had to do, Stefan had taken over care of the beehive. It went better on some days than others. This was apparently not going to be a good day. He applied the mite treatment, collected the bounty of honey and beeswax for Juliet's candles, and left the bees alone to (hopefully) calm down.

Luckily, the trip to the market was profitable, and the next morning, Stefan paid the bills and the loan with confidence. This farm had been a wise purchase, and, though the first winter had been rough on the bank account, Stefan was pretty sure this one would be less stressful. Whistling happily, he headed back inside to check on Juliet and the children.

Juliet adored all of her children, but for some reason, she felt particularly close to Florence, her first born. Perhaps it was because she was older now, and her curiosity about the world was finally really blossoming.

Juliet was making breakfast one morning and Florence came down with an imaginative story of making friends with a monster under her bed. Juliet shook her head silently in bemusement, and tried to encourage Florence's creativity - especially when that creativity saved Florence from having to wake up her tired parents.

After breakfast, she shuffled Florence off to school, and sat down to do some knitting while watching the three toddlers. She kept an ear out for Charlie waking up upstairs, but, now that he was a bit older, for the most part, he seemed to be a very easy baby to care for. His fussiness when he was a newborn seemed to have been replaced with a patient calm that was a welcome change. Nellie had become as precocious as her older sister had been, and keeping her from getting bored and making messes could be a challenge. The twins, on the other hand, still had plenty to learn, and seemed to do the best at that learning when both could be in the same room together while doing it.

Stefan was still in the fields by the time Florence got home from school, but Abraham had finally come in, complaining about splinters and hitting his hand with a hammer. Juliet found some housework for him to do, and tried to ignore the slight temper tantrum he had when Florence wasn't given similar chores. Instead, Juliet encouraged her eldest to do her homework, and spend some time practicing on the piano.

Stefan still hadn't come back in for dinner, so Juliet made sure to save him some in the icebox. She wondered what was taking him so long, but didn't really want to leave the children to check on him. Perhaps he had gone straight to market without dinner for once? If so, he was likely to be grumpy when he came home, so she was careful to get everything as tidy as possible so as to not set off his temper.

While Juliet was rocking little Charlie to sleep, Stefan came in, mumbled something about it taking extra long to sell things at the market, then stumbled straight into bed. Juliet finished her tasks as quietly as she could and, finally, joined him.

As the season went by, Nellie continued to grow and learn. She was trying to be just like her elder sister, and wanted to help out by playing with the twins whenever she could. Juliet often found her curiously watching her baby brother, Charlie, as well, as if wondering when he would be big enough to play with, too.

One evening, as Juliet was making some Forager's Stew for dinner, Abraham approached her. He related Stefan's dictates about school, and begged for Juliet to speak to Stefan in his favor. Juliet told Abraham she would think about it, and try to find an appropriate time to do so. As she finished dinner, she wondered why Stefan had been so adamant at saying "no" when he, himself had been denied school as a teen, and had seemed to regret it ever since. Perhaps the farm wasn't doing as well as Stefan had seemed to say it was. Maybe they just couldn't afford to send Abraham to school?

Juliet stayed quiet all through dinner, and the time that it took to get all the children settled into bed, but her mind was whirling.

"Stefan, dear, I must talk to you." she began while Stefan was cooing to his newest son in the privacy of their bedroom. Stefan sighed and turned towards her, waiting for her to continue.

"Why can't we send Abraham to school? Do we not have the money? I thought the farm was doing alright for funds!?"

Juliet watched a flash of anger go across his face, and he seemed to pause before replying, "Of course we can afford it. The farm is doing very well. Don't you worry about that."

"Well, then.. why..?" Juliet began, only to have Stefan interrupt.

"The boy has his own inheritance from your Mother and Step Father, as well. I have been given control of it until such time as he moves out on his own. There was no provision made in it for his schooling, however, and no mention of you or your children in the wills. Which would mean any funds for schooling would come from us, not his blessed inheritance. I felt it was more important to save the money for our three boys."

"So we can't afford schooling for all of them?" Juliet was confused, and knew it showed on her face.

Stefan sighed, "No, I have enough for all of them. And for the winter. - Even after the additions we just put onto the house. I just didn't think an orphan like him needed to go to school. I thought you would want him at home to help with chores. The girls will, obviously, be staying home to learn to care for a family, and I thought Abraham should learn how to farm so he could be ready to take care of his own family."

"Well, yes, he should learn that, too. But as you know, school would afford him more opportunities in town, and with his interest in books, I think that would be good for him. He works hard around here, and going to school in the mornings shouldn't affect his chores too much. I would think you would want him to make the most of himself, especially since you were denied the same opportunity." Juliet watched guilt, and, strangely, anger, go through Stefan's face as he thought about it before answering.

When he didn't answer, Juliet added a plaintive, "What about just letting him go to school for me? I swore when Mother died I would do the best for my brother, no wonder what I personally thought of him. He deserves to go to school if he wishes it. Plus, it was probably my father's dying wish. He always wanted Abraham to be a teacher like him." To herself, she remembered how bitter she had been about that fact.. and yet, now she was lobbying for just what she had hated a few years ago. Times certainly did change a person.

"Alright. Fine." Stefan said, and started to say something else, but Juliet was already squealing with joy and jumping into his arms. "He can go to school. I will tell him in the morning. But- this won't absolve him from working around the home!" Stefan pushed Juliet away a bit and held her shoulders as he emphasized his last sentence carefully, "He can't keep his nose in the books all the time!"

"Of course not!" Juliet replied. "Thank you, Stefan! I knew you would come around!"

She was overjoyed, and quickly turned to finish preparing for bed.

Stefan couldn't believe he had let himself get talked into this. Apparently Juliet could talk him into anything. Next thing you know, she would be trying to get him to pay for the girls to go to school, too. Utterly ridiculous. Why did Abraham even need schooling?! His father had owned a farm, why was Abraham so focused on following him into the teacher profession? Rolling his eyes (after making sure Juliet wasn't still watching him, of course), Stefan turned back the covers on his side of the bed and crawled into bed. It's not like the man had seemed to be all that successful at being a teacher, he had died penniless and the farm he owned had been repossessed by the bank. All he really could remember of the man was his vitriol towards himself, his family, and his beloved Juliet. It just didn't seem right.

Getting to sleep was harder than usual for him that night, and he watched Juliet sleeping peacefully beside him. He was torn between feelings of guilt for trying to deny Abraham school, and the inexplicable anger over letting him go when there were so many chores he could be doing at home, instead. Abraham should have been grateful for what he had, instead of asking for more. The orphanage certainly wouldn't have let him go to school... why should things be so much different for the boy here? Then there was the fact that Abraham's father had been so horrible to Juliet and Stefan's family. That certainly didn't make him any more willing to spend good money on the man's only son. Stefan argued back and forth with himself for most of the night, and it was quite late when he finally got to sleep.

Because of this, breakfast was well underway before Stefan came downstairs. Florence was talking about some art project they were supposed to be starting in school today, and seemed to be dominating most of the morning conversation. After getting his food, Stefan loudly cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"After talking with Juliet last night, Abraham, you will start going to school today. I will make sure the fee is paid for you."

"Hooray!!" Abraham yelled, pumping his fist into the air.

Stefan was quick to interrupt to say, "This doesn't mean your chores around the house will lessen - you will still have to earn your keep."

Abraham's smile faded for a moment, and he nodded dutifully at Stefan, then turned and shared a smile with Florence and Juliet.

Just as Stefan had feared, the morning without Abraham's help was hectic, and forced Stefan out of the fields to help Juliet out. The fireplaces all had to be stocked and lit for the season, because it was starting to get cold in the house, and every time they turned around one toddler or another was missing, and one of them would have to go chase them down. Finally, Juliet shooed him outside again, saying she could handle things.

Juliet breathed an expressive sigh of relief when school let out for the day, but she wasn't going to complain out loud about the two eldest not being home, for fear that Stefan would change his mind. Somehow, she would persevere. She had to.

She rushed Abraham to do his homework before Stefan came in, so he wouldn't complain about "wasted time".

Florence wanted to work on her aspiration, since she had almost finished it - and she promised to finish her homework as soon as she was done. Juliet agreed, and went back to gathering up the laundry for the next load of washing.

Abraham was as good as his word: he finished up with his homework and immediately stepped in to help with the toddlers. He cleaned up and set the dinner table as well, which was a big help. Juliet fought exhaustion, and made it through most the evening, getting everyone in bed just in time.

Picking herself up off the floor wryly, Juliet took a deep breath, and trudged off to bed. She would make it. She had to.

1895 | 1897