Anita sat at the worn arm chair set in the corner of her bedroom and flipped through her old journals, some that were dated back to when she was roughly Evelyn's age. At the moment she was fondly reading over the parts that included the summer when she first met Inman; how they met, the time the spent together, how he left, and then returned. Her pleasant memories were soon interrupted though by a sudden knock at the door.
"Come in." Anita breathed, a bit irritated at whoever was behind the door. She saw the doorknob turn sharply and Bethany appeared. Her face was completely caked in mud, and although Anita couldn't really see it, an unhappy expression inhabiting her face.
"Does it make you feel any better if I tell you I'm sorry?" Anita asked.
"I need a holiday." The woman stated bluntly. "Since that child was born I have shown complete and utter patience, and may I be frank, restraint from wringing her little neck! But now after ten years, almost every day after day with her I can sincerely say that if I don't get some time to myself I fear for my sanity-!"
Anita chuckled a bit and held up her hand, telling Bethany to stop. She looked up at Bethany with kind eyes that completely understood where she was coming from.
"Take some time off. Enjoy some time with Ian and the boys, whom you've had to put second for so long-which by the way we're very grateful for." Anita added with a nervous laugh. "Take as much time as you need."
"Thank-you" Bethany's lips mouthed under the multiple layers of mud, and with that she left the room as silently as she had entered. She pulled out a handkerchief out of her bodice and began to wipe the mud away from her face. If she hadn't heard her tromping up the stairs Bethany wouldn't have realized that Callie was walking right by her. She looked down and saw Callie sporting similar mud smears on her face and sleeves. If this was an ordinary day Bethany would have thrown a fit and ordered her immediately into the tub. However this was not an ordinary day. This allowed Bethany to instead laugh heartily at her, continue her happy stroll out of the Caldwell home, and leave Callie behind with nothing but a blank idea of what was so funny.
As if on cue, Inman came up the stairs towards his bedroom. He tapped at the door a few times; out of politeness for his wife.
"Anita?" He asked through the door before reaching for the doorknob. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his daughter.
"I saw the side of the house Callie." Irritation was evident in his voice. "If I were you I'd wash up before I'm forced to spray down two muddy things on this property." He advised her before entering the room.
Anita had tried to return to reading her journals when her husband's deep voice sounded behind the door. He entered quickly and looked at her with a tired gaze.
"I passed Bethany at the front door. You gave her some time off, did you?" Anita nodded.
"She told you, I take it?"
"No but she did skip past me singing 'no Callie for three weeks, no Callie for three weeks.' " Inman did his best at a shrill impression of Bethany. "Naturally I put two and two together." He sat down on the bed across from her chair and placed a hand gently on her knee.
"I do love your kindness, my dear, but sometimes I fear you are too kind." Anita looked up to see him staring sincerely at her.
"Inman she hasn't taken a real holiday in four years. You can't argue that she doesn't deserve it." Anita said, her tone scolding Inman for his previous comment.
"No argument there, but I do wish you would have told her to wait until we had found a temporary replacement. That itself takes at least a week to find!"
Anita's knowing smile was immediately lost at the realization.
"Well, I guess we should get looking. My name book is on the shelf over there, could you get it please?" She asked her husband. He retrieved it quickly and handed it to her.
"Hmmm, let's see now…" Anita flipped through the pages before firmly placing her fore-finger on a name.
"Alice Banner?" She proposed. Inman groaned loudly.
"That woman gives me a bad feeling in the put of my pocket."
"What do you mean?" Anita finally looked up at him from the book.
"She costs more than a pretty penny, that's all I'm saying."
"She wasn't that unreasonable…" Anita argued.
"But you forget she lives in Charleston. How much do you think she's going to ask for, for her to come down, and on short notice none the less?" Inman pointed out.
"Alright, fair enough, not her." Anita flipped through more pages. Inman took a seat on the armrest as he looked over her shoulder at the names. Once she hit the right page he reached over her shoulder and pointed at a name.
"That's more like it. Marianne Monroe. She lives in town, she's great with Callie, she's of a reasonable rate-"
"We're not getting Marianne." Anita snapped, looking at Inman over her shoulder.
"Why not?" Inman asked.
"What kind of a woman lets a child eat thirty-seven sugar cubes for supper? I was one hyperactive scream away from using your belt to strap her into bed that night!" Anita interjected.
"I liked her!" They heard a muffled voice from outside their room. Inman got up from his seat and walked to the opposite wall of their room.
"Callie, just because you can hear us through the walls sometimes doesn't mean you should purposely eavesdrop." Inman scolded at the wall.
"I'm just saying!" A muffled voice stated before going silent again.
"Alright, so not Mrs. Monroe." Inman turned back to Anita.
The contemplated all the possibilities for a replacement of Bethany, and by the end of the day had written and sent out three urgent messages. One to Mrs. Jane Wilkins, one to Mrs. Anne Snow; who both lived in Charleston, and one to Mrs. Pearl Adamson; who lived in town. The next day they received a response from Mrs. Adamson who had stated that she would be happy to help them in their time of need however their pig had fallen deathly ill and needed all of her time and attention. It would have been a perfectly fine excuse save that the Adamson's haven't raised any pigs since their last son was married eight years ago.
Then impressively the day after that, they received a response from Mrs. Wilkins, who unfortunately was unable to take the job because she had a champion stallion that had fallen deathly ill and needed all of her time and attention. A response from Mrs. Snow was never received.
"She could have at least written back with a hack excuse like the others." Inman stated.
What they didn't expect was that just three days after they had sent the letters, an unexpected visitor came to their doorstep. Will was visiting that morning, it was Easter Sunday and the Caldwell family was hosting a big breakfast. In good nature they invited Will and his uncles to join them. While Uncle Tim and Gavin felt no need to join in, they allowed Will to do so since they were keeping no special plans.
Lucy was with her family, of course, while Callie, Ray, and Will enjoyed the festivities at Callie's house. Moreover, Ray and Will waited around on the porch and in the house; doing odd tasks to help everyone out with the breakfast while Callie was "being a pest" as Stephen; the cook, would have put it. She occupied her time with sneaking around the kitchen, snatching whatever little bits of the meal she could get.
A polite knock came at the door, while Ray and Will were taking silverware and napkins to put onto the table outside. They looked at each other, not knowing whether they should answer it or not. Usually that was Bethany's job; however since she was away it was an every man for himself job. Seeing as though it was rude to make someone wait too long outside the door, the two boys quickly placed the items in their arms on a nearby table and made their way to the door. Since Ray shared the same last name, he did the honors of actually opening the Caldwell's door, and as if they were struck by lightening they both stared up in awe at the woman standing before them. The light shining behind her was real, but the two boys were pretty sure that the doves flying and the fireworks blowing up all around was just a figment of their imagination.
The woman smiled down at them, and what a glorious smile it was they thought to themselves. She laughed lightly and bent down as to look them in the eye.
"Would you two gentlemen be so kind as to inform Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell that Sandra Snow has arrived?"
A/N: Sorry! I'm doing it again, the next half of this chapter should be up pretty soon. I just kept writing and before I realized it I was five pages in and hadn't gotten to the meaty part of the chapter. My bad, but hope you all enjoy anyway!