Second Chance

LHOP inspired fiction by Cheryl C. Malandrinos

Part 11

The next morning Charles and Caroline struggled to get out of bed. Between the train ride and the excitement of seeing Mary, neither one of them slept much. And Charles spent part of the night wondering how he was going to support his family now that nearly every business in Walnut Grove had closed its doors.

After breakfast, they took a coach to the Burton School for the Blind. Charles opened the door and let Caroline walk in first. As she entered the foyer she saw Mary in the waiting room to her right.

"Mary!" Caroline exclaimed.

"Ma!" Mary screamed in delight as she got up from the loveseat. "I didn't know you were coming." Mary walked over to hug her mother.

Caroline held onto her tightly. Tears of joy streamed down Caroline's face as she continued to embrace the daughter she hadn't seen for months. She stepped back to place a small kiss on Mary's cheek and then pulled her close again.

"Well didn't you miss me?" Charles teased.

"Oh, Pa!" Mary walked over to him and they hugged for a few moments.

Mary stepped back from Charles and said, "Ma, Pa I want you to meet my teacher, Adam Kendall."

"Mr. Kendall," Caroline said.

"It's good to meet you Mrs. Ingalls," Adam said as he shook her hand. "Please, call me Adam." He walked over to Charles and shook his hand as well. "Mr. Ingalls."

"Ma, Pa let me show you around. You better stay close, you could get lost in here."

Charles reached for Caroline and they went hand in hand behind Mary. Adam tagged along in case they had any questions about the school. They spent the day together watching over classes, touring the school and finally sitting down to dinner. After his meal was finished, Adam got up from the table.

"You'll have to excuse me, I have a class. I'll talk to you later Mary."

"Alright Adam."

Mary thought this would be the perfect time to talk to her parents. She dished out a piece of apple pie to each of them and then sat down at the head of the table.

"Ma, Pa do you remember in my letter I mentioned that I wanted to speak to you about something?"

"Yes," Caroline answered.

"First of all, I want to thank you for sending me here. If I hadn't come, I would probably still be sitting in the dark feeling sorry for myself."

Charles and Caroline smiled at each other. Charles reached over to rest one of his hands on top of hers.

"I was hoping you didn't hate me for it," said Charles.

"I was angry at first; but with Adam's help I got beyond my anger and fear. I know I can face the world as a blind person just as well as I faced it before."

"We're so proud of you Mary."

"Well I wouldn't feel that way if it weren't for Adam."

"You talked a lot about him in your letters. He must be very special," said Caroline.

Charles glanced over at his wife with a knowing look. Caroline was prying. He shook his head.

"Yes, he is. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, Adam is leaving to open a new blind school in Winoka, in Dakota Territory. He's asked me to go there and help him teach. I could help other blind children, the way Adam helped me."

"Do you want to go?" asked Caroline.

"When he asked, I wanted to say yes right away. But that means I would go home, visit with everyone and then leave right away. I don't know when I would be free to come see all of you again."

"And what about John? Does he know you're thinking of leaving Walnut Grove?" asked Caroline.

"I wrote to John and told him I was coming home. I also said I wanted to see him. I was so angry with him the last time we visited. I want to tell him how sorry I am."

"Do you love him Mary?"

"I've been asking myself that very same thing for the past few weeks…and I haven't come up with an answer. I'm in love with what we used to have – the promise of a new life together, the chance to have a family and a place to call home so that we can grow old together. I used to think that John and I were soul mates. We had so much in common back then and we wanted the same things. But after John went to Chicago, he changed. I don't think we have as much in common anymore."

"Just because you don't have a lot in common doesn't mean you don't love him," Caroline explained.

"I know. But Adam and I do have a lot in common… and I'm not talking only about being blind. Adam understands me in a way John never did."

"I think part of that is because you're older now. It wasn't important to you back then," stated Charles.

"But just because Adam understands you, doesn't mean you're meant to be together," Caroline interjected.

"I can't really explain it. I just know that I like the person that I am even better when I'm with Adam. He pushes me to do things I never thought I could do now that I'm blind. Like sewing; I thought that was lost to me forever, yet because Adam kept encouraging me, I learned to sew again."

"Mary it's his job to encourage you to do things for yourself. You shouldn't misinterpret that to mean he has feelings for you," Caroline said with worry in her voice.

"Ma, we do have feelings for one another. That's one of the reasons Adam asked me to go to Dakota with him. I'm not even sure when it happened. We just started seeing one another in a different light. And Ma, this would give me a chance to be a teacher…something you and I have always dreamed about. I could never do that in Walnut Grove."

"But would you go all the way to Dakota to teach if you didn't have feelings for Adam?"

"Yes, but I want to go because Adam will be there too."

"Has Adam proposed to you?" Charles asked, wondering about Adam's intentions.

"Pa, we aren't going there to get married; we're going to teach."

"Winoka's a big city; it's nothing like Walnut Grove."

"Pa, if I wasn't blind would you still be as worried about me going to a big city?"

"Yes, blind or not a big city like Winoka isn't the place for a young woman to be alone."

"I won't be alone; I'll have Adam with me."

"But he's blind too," Charles replied.

"Didn't you just send me here so that I could learn to take care of myself? What do you expect me to do, go home to Walnut Grove and sit inside the house the rest of my life so nothing bad ever happens to me? What makes you think I can't handle living in Winoka?"

"Mary, it's not that we think you can't handle it. Your Pa and I worry with you being so far away, in a place that you don't know and that isn't safe."

"Ma, there were times while I was here that I was so homesick I didn't think I would survive…but I knew I would see all of you one day. When Adam told me he was leaving to go to Dakota, I realized that I might never see him again. And whether or not we get married some day, I just don't want to be apart from him. I don't even want to think about my life without Adam in it."

Mary had given Caroline her answer. She knew that Mary was in love with Adam. She remembered feeling the same way about Charles so long ago. Caroline never wanted to be the wife of a pioneer. She wanted to stay in one place, make a home, have a family and live out her life. But when love called to her, she knew she had no choice but to follow Charles Ingalls, even if it meant going to the ends of the earth…and she expected that Mary would follow Adam there too.