"Oh, don't let that fool you." Lucinda turned partway around from the sink and showed one of her dimples again as she smiled. "I was never nearly as distinguished as my parents would have preferred me to be."
"I'm from Pennsylvania, too. I lived in Harrisburg until I married. And no, I don't have any children." She turned back toward the sink to hide the way her face fell. Maybe she just wasn't meant to be a mother. But surely there had to be a less painful way for God to break the news to her than letting her lose three children. Why hadn't He kept her from getting married in the first place?
She scrubbed at some potato starch stuck on a plate and listened as Clara transitioned into talking about her recent marriage.
"Emeline told me you'd been recently married. Has your marriage been all sunshine and roses so far?" She glanced back with a knowing gleam in her eye. "Or have you two hit some bumps in the road already?"
The blissful stage of marriage lasted longer for some couples than others, and poor Clara and Jacob probably had had their blissful period cut short simply because of the way things worked out here. There was never really any time to just enjoy life out here. You always had to be thinking about survival.
Well given her self-deprecating response about distinguished, leastwise the woman was not one of those arrogant sorts. Clara smiled, just a little, at her crack. Turned out she had lived in Pennsylvania too, interesting! She was married in Harrisburg but no children. Ohh, Clara wondered if it was by choice or if God had not blessed the couple with a child.
"Oh I see, well, nice to talk with a fellow Pennsylvanian," Clara stuck to saying something on the safe side.
"Emeline told me you'd been recently married. Has your marriage been all sunshine and roses so far?" She glanced back with a knowing gleam in her eye. "Or have you two hit some bumps in the road already?"
Clara thought that a strange remark and indeed question too. It begged the question whether Lucinda's marriage had been a less than good one?
"Well, neither of us expected all sunshine and roses, we are both realists. But we have gotten along well. We had a few arguments of a sort but settled and made up right after. I am deeply in love with Jacob. And determined to be the best wife and mother I can be," Clara answered her.
Lucinda set a clean dish to the side and picked up a new one as she listened to Clara. The girl was very wise for her age. Many girls got married as young as she did, but not all of them seemed to be as mature as Clara was. "That's good." She smiled. "I don't know if anyone's told you this, but arguing and making up after an argument is better than not arguing at all."
She'd been simultaneously excited and frightened when Francis decided to go west, and they had argued. They had argued on the arduous journey, too. But they had always made up, and their marriage had been stronger for it. Which was why she felt so lonely now.
"Do you and Jacob live close to your father?" She couldn't remember whether Clara knew that she'd met Aurelian already, so she didn't want to pry too much. Her question was a reasonable one: it would be good for a young couple like Clara and Jacob to be close to their families.
"That's good." Lucinda smiled. "I don't know if anyone's told you this, but arguing and making up after an argument is better than not arguing at all."
"No one specifically but I do believe it to be simply common sense. But thank you for verifying it," Clara nodded, "My parents argued on occasion but mother always won. As it should be."
She smiled a little, it was her attempt at humor, she was often told she was far too serious about everything and was trying on occasion to lighten up.
The woman now had a question, "Do you and Jacob live close to your father?"
"No, not really. I mean father lives on the farm, it's a few miles outside of town...to the west. And I...I mean Jacob and I live here in town, in fact right upstairs. Emeline lived there until recently but her new husband has a ranch almost finished outside of town and she is going to live there then. She kindly allowed us to use the upstairs then. It is the generous sort of person she is. "
Lucinda tilted her head back and laughed at Clara's humor. The girl was more witty than she seemed at first glance. "Yes, Clara, that's how it should be. Oh, gracious." She put a hand to her cheek, leaving a smear of soap suds which she then had to wipe away with her sleeve.
"That must be quite nice to live where you're working. Do you miss living with your parents? When I moved out here with Francis, I knew I'd probably never see my parents again. I cried myself to sleep the first night that we stayed on our land."
Her eyes lost their sparkle for a moment as she remembered how utterly lonely those first few nights had been, even though she'd had her husband beside her. But she blinked a few times and then smiled bravely at Clara.
"But you can visit your father if you want, so there's no need to fret." She washed the last dish and grabbed a towel to start drying them off. As she did, she was struck with a lightning bolt idea. If Clara did hire her on a more permanent basis, and she did go to visit her father at some point, she might be able to accompany the younger woman...and visit with Aurelian.
The woman's past was quite a different one than hers, it seemed she never saw her folks again and yes, that would be very sad. She and her father were close, plus there was her little brother. For all their squabbling, they were faithful siblings.
"Ah, that had to be rough on you indeed," Clara commiserated.
"But indeed I can visit the farm and he actually often stops by the diner too just to check on me and chat..........not that I would describe my father as the 'chatty' sort," she shrugged at that thought.
"In fact, if he does not show up today, I would imagine he will on the morrow. I will make it a point to introduce you two then," she suddenly thought that would be splendid idea.
"That's very nice," Lucinda began absentmindedly, still drying dishes. She almost dropped a dish when Clara mentioned that Aurelian visited the diner to check on his daughter, and that he might come today or tomorrow!
"You mean he might come today?" she stammered, quickly setting the dish down. She wasn't sure that she was ready to see Aurelian again. What if she made a fool of herself again and ogled him the whole time he was trying to talk to Clara?
"I mean...we've already met, so there's no need to introduce us," she said quickly, flashing an unconvincing smile at Clara. "We met at church." Why had she gotten so flustered? She had already been thinking about Aurelian, but thinking about him coming to the diner was different somehow.
The other woman seemed a bit taken aback, "You mean he might come today?"
"Yes, it is certainly within the realm of possibility," Clara nodded, she thought she had made it clear in her first statement.
"I mean...we've already met, so there's no need to introduce us," Lucinda said quickly, flashing an unconvincing smile at Clara.
"Oh, very well," Clara wondered where they had run into each other but that thought was answered without her even needing to ask.
"We met at church."
Of course, that made sense. Though Clara attended those same services and her and Jacob sat right behind her father and little brother. Maybe she and Jacob had left right after services one time and the meeting had occurred back then? No big deal.
"I see. Let me guess, I would hazard that he was not all that much of a conversationalist. He is like that. My mother was far more the talker in the family," Clara ventured a theory.
"Well...." she closed her eyes, trying to think back to the conversation in the church. She'd replayed it so many times in her head that she should have been able to answer immediately. But it was still a minute or two before she could.
"No, actually, it was a pleasant conversation. It didn't feel...stilted. I did talk too much, I'm sure, but I was...a little flustered." Her cheeks heated up, and she flapped the towel uselessly in front of her face.
She glanced at Clara and then decided to forge ahead. "I thought he was my husband at first," she said in a rush. It was still very embarrassing, but Clara seemed like a discreet young woman, and one who might sympathize with her rather than laugh at her.
"No, actually, it was a pleasant conversation. It didn't feel...stilted. I did talk too much, I'm sure, but I was...a little flustered."
Clara shook her head, "Oh gosh, do not be flustered over my father. He is nothing to be flustered about. Well, I do not mean that in a negative way. My father is very easy to get along with especially if the topic is farming."
The other woman glanced at Clara and then decided to forge ahead. "I thought he was my husband at first," she said in a rush.
"Indeed? Does he bear a resemblance to your late husband?" Clara now inquired.