"You still haven't told him yet, Frances?" Her mother asked, who had stopped by at her daughter's place for a little visit a few weeks later.
"No Ma..." Frances stated. "I...I just don't know if I'm ready to tell him!...I'm scared."
"Don't be afraid, sweetheart. You can tell him...You have too! He's your husband and he needs to know this."
"And he's leaving with John for that delivery job next month..." Frances sighed.
Franziska chuckled. "Plus, you won't be able to hide your pregnancy from him any longer...You're coming up on your fourth month soon...I think you're already starting to show." She smiled at her daughter.
Frances looked down at her belly...Sure enough, she was...just a little. "Well, it isn't so hard for me, Ma...As thin as I am...Well...was." She laughed, looking down at her small belly and placed a gentle hand there...
"To think you're only going to get bigger..." Franziska laughed.
"Oh Ma...I don't want to think about that now!" Frances giggled, and both of them laughed together. They heard the back door open and in walked Fred. "Hey sweetheart..." He said, leaning down and giving her a kiss on the lips.
"You ready for lunch, yet?" Frances asked, getting up and setting plates down on the table. "I made smoked fish..."
"Hickory-smoked fish?" Fred asked, with a smile.
"Of course! Do you know me to prepare or eat fish any other way?...I love hickory-smoked fish, you know that!" She laughed. "You can stay and eat with us Ma, I made plenty!..."
"I believe I will..." Franziska smiled. "Are you going to tell him now?" She mouthed, when Fred had his back turned as he was going through Frances' sewing/sitting room and went through the room to go upstairs to their bedroom.
"Later...After we eat..." Frances mouthed back. Fred came back downstairs, wearing a different set of clothes this time. Brown trousers, and an olive green long-sleeved shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows... He took a seat at the table next to his mother-in-law as Frances was still getting things ready. She sat down at the table herself and all three of them bowed their heads as Fred prayed over the meal...
All three of them started on their hickory-smoked fish and Frances' homemade potato wedges with a homemade German honey-mustard sauce she made. She let them choose whether to put it on the fish, or dip the potato wedges in the honey-mustard sauce. Frances did both. Fred stared at her as she finished her second piece of fish and put a third one on her plate.
"What?" She asked, smiling.
"I've never seen you eat so much...You finally getting an appetite?...You usually eat like a bird!" He chuckled.
"There's a reason for that..." Franziska spoke up.
"Mother!" Frances glared at her.
There was a moment of silence as Fred watched Frances eat her next piece of fish and started to finish off her potato wedges...
"Are you going to tell me the reason...for your...unusual eating habits?..." Fred asked.
"They're not unusual...I'm just eating! I need food too, you know." She laughed. Frances glared at her mother so she wouldn't say anything. Frances dipped a potato wedge into the sauce, and took a bite of it.
"So what's the reason, honey?..." Fred asked.
"Please don't be mad at me..." Frances looked at him across the table.
"Why would I be mad?...Plus I won't know my reaction unless you tell me!" He laughed.
Frances took a breath and let it out..."I'm...pregnant...Fred." She said, almost unable to get the words out, for fear he might blow up at her...
"Pregnant..." Fred stated...
"Yes...Are you mad at me?" She said and felt a tear slide down her cheek. "I mean, I did the one thing I determined not to do...I..." She began, but Fred stood up and made his way over to her...
"You're pregnant..." He said again...but with a smile on his face.
"Yes." Frances stated again...
"Why in Heaven's name would I be mad about this?...Honey, you're pregnant!" Fred smiled widely.
Frances' eyebrows furrowed..."Ummm...I think we've established that fact already, sweetheart..."
"Frances! You're pregnant!...This is wonderful, honey!" Fred said, kneeling down in front of her and placed his hand on her small belly. Frances placed hers over his hand. "How far along are you?"
"Three months...Going on four..." She smiled, and tears started to fall. Happy tears this time...She was relieved she finally told him...and that he was happy. Fred covered her in dozens of slow kisses and she ran her fingers through his hair.
"A baby...You're going to have a baby!" Fred smiled and kissed her again. "We're going to be parents!...Gosh, I just can't believe it!" He said. Frances smiled at him.
"And why aren't you more excited "Grandma"?" Fred asked his mother-in-law.
Franziska smiled..."I knew already...Took her to Dr. Walker's two weeks ago. I knew something was up."
"And so that explains, months ago, you wanting tomatoes covered in salt...and now the fish!" Fred chuckled. "And the potato wedges!"
"My daughter?...Wanting TOMATOES? You hated them with a passion before! Now I KNOW you're pregnant!" Franziska laughed.
"Yes! I couldn't get enough of them! And they absolutely HAD to have salt on them!...I guess I can't get enough salty foods, hmmmm." Frances laughed.
"You need to watch that!" Franziska spoke up..."I don't want you over-indulging! Too much salt isn't good!"
"I will, Ma. I'll be careful, I promise...But I can't help it!...I just need it!"
"You need it...or you WANT it...There's a difference..." Franziska looked at her.
"Either her...or the baby does!" Fred joked, and kissed her cheek. Frances smiled up at him and he placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Well, I can't leave for three months now!...I want to be with you! I don't want to miss three months of your first pregnancy!"
"Fred, how else besides the crops, of course, would we have money coming in?...We need the money even more now...Plus, John needs help...He can't do it all himself...And I'll be fine alone for awhile..." Frances smiled.
"And she really won't be alone, my wonderful son-in-law...She has her mother to help her thorugh..." Franziska smiled.
"Things are all falling into place, Fred!...What a wonderful blessing from the Lord!...For Him to work this out for us..." Frances smiled.
"Amen to that." Franziska said.
"You sure you'll be alright?" Fred asked, refraining his embrace from his four months pregnant, 18 year old wife.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me...You worry about yourself." Her arms still wrapped around his neck, and Frances started tearing up. "Heaven forbid...but you never know if something bad could happen..."
Fred kissed her and cupped her face with his hand. "I won't let it happen...John and I'll be careful." He said, getting into the buckboard with his brother-in-law.
"You better!" She smiled and called out to him. "Have fun...and be safe!"
"You bet your pretty face!" Fred called to her. "I'll be back in September!"
"I love you!" She yelled as the buckboard was rolling away and into the distance...
"I LOVE YOU TOO!" Frances heard him holler back.
Frances turned and walked back into the house...knowing she would be by herself for the next three months...
She was laying in bed all alone as usual later that month...She had been feeling much better...physically...and of course she was feeling better about the pregnancy. Yet, she couldn't get to sleep! Her heart rate had sped up...and since she was awake, all she could do was think about Fred...Where he was...What he was doing...If he was safe... She FINALLY tried to get to sleep, but she still couldn't. She still felt a funny sensation...like butterflies in her stomach. She knew she was just feeling the baby's movements already...Like her mother had told her...Frances knew she had nothing to worry about, it just felt funny and unusual to her...
"So our next stop is Burton, eh?" Fred asked, looking at the package they were to deliver. "Mr. Adam Kendall...Attorney at Law." Fred said, reading to whom the package was adressed to.
"Yep. He and his wife teach at a blind school and he also set up his practice as a lawyer there..." John said.
"Blind school?"
"Yeah...I guess she's blind. He was too, but got his sight back...I've delivered packages and boxes to them before...Really nice people...Mary's the prettiest thing you ever did see...Blond hair...blue eyes...To bad she's married though..."
"John!..." Fred laughed.
"What?...I can't resist a beautiful woman! So sue me!"
Fred laughed..."Good thing this Adam Kendall guy's a lawyer!"
"Smart ass..." John chuckled at his brother-in-law.
"Oh, what language, Johnny boy!" He laughed.
"Shut up...I'm only three years younger than you are..." John smirked.
They arrived at the blind school and knocked on the door...
"Hello?...Who is it?" A young blond woman opened the door.
"John Gruber...I'm sure you remember me, ma'am,...there's a package for your husband."
"Oh thank you, John...I'll take it." Mary said, inviting them in...
"No you won't, ma'am. Can't stand to see a woman carry heavy things...Just the way I am..."
"Oh...I didn't realize anyone else was with you, John..."
"My brother-in-law, Mrs. Kendall..." John said, adressing to her that that was who was along with him...Mary thought the man's voice sounded vaguely familiar...
"And your name?" She smiled, and looked at him through sightless eyes...
"Fred J. Lay...Please to meet you Mrs. Kendall..."
"Fred Lay!...It's got to be him...I'd know that voice anywhere..." Mary smiled. "Do you remember me, Fred?"
"Ummmm...No...I don't believe we've met, except for today, of course...I'm sorry."
"Fred John Lay...Its me, Mary Ingalls..."
"Mary Ingalls...Well, I'll be!" Fred smiled widely and hugged her... "Is it really you?"
"Sure is...Well, I'm Mary Ingalls Kendall now..." She smiled and then chuckled..."And I don't think your wife would like it if she knew you just hugged me, Fred..."
"Oh my wife!" He smiled..."No she wouldn't!" They both laughed. "I'd sure be in some deep hot water with her!"
"Tell me about her...about everything please, you stopped writing me when you got settled in New Jersey. Thought I could get back in touch with you...but never did."
"I'm sorry...Life just caught up with me...Oh Frances is just wonderful, Mary!...She's beautiful! Auburn hair...and the look of those twinlking brown eyes of hers just make me fall in love with her even more every day!...She's got a fiesty, stubborn side...but I sure love it...Makes life interesting." Fred smiled..."She told me in June she's expecting our first baby in December..."
"Congratulations!...You're excited, I'm sure..." Mary smiled.
"Tremendously..."
A month had passed and it was August. Frances, while being five months pregnant at the time, was working hard to get her garden watered on this hot summer day...She had a yoke with a water bucket on each end. Frances was watering her garden and about the third trip to the well, she set the buckets down and leaned on the well to rest awhile...Her small pink blouse with tiny burgundy- colored roses on it was almost soaked because she was sweating so much...
"My word...Its boiling out here!" She panted, wiping her forehead with her handkercheif, dabbed at her neck and the rest of her face..."Good thing I stopped by the well..." Frances was talking to herself as she took a ladel and dipped it into the water and took a a few long drinks of cold water, and she also dabbed water on her face and neck...She rested there awhile and then gazed out at the fields...
Frances sighed..."Well...they won't plow themselves. Will they?" She went out to the barn and hitched up the work horses to the plow and still dressed in her rose print blouse and long, full, burgundy skirt...She set out to work...
George Jr. and Joe Gruber, along with Joe's fiance, Nona Schmidt...were walking up the road to Frances' place.
Joe stopped dead in his tracks and gazed out into the fields..."George...Look!"
"Oh my God...It's Frances! What the Hell does she think she's doing?...Working at all on a hot day like this!"
"She's five months pregnant and she's WORKING as a hard as you or I, George!...My God, she's stubborn."
"Both you and I figured out how stubborn she is YEARS ago!...But this is damn ridiculous!"
"Why are we just STANDING here?...Joe, we need to get over there...I don't think she's looking so good!" Nona said, touching his arm. They saw Frances almost stumble and she stopped and leaned against the plow, breathing hard...and still sweating.
George Jr., Joe and Nona ran over there as fast as they possibly could...
"Frances Katherine Gruber Lay...What the Hell do you thinking you're doing!" George Jr. bellered. He was furious with his little sister.
"What does it LOOK like I'm doing? I'm working!...Plowing my and my husband's land!"
"You shouldn't be out working like this!"
"Shut up, George!...Its my responsiblity! Fred isn't here!...How else will we get the crops in?"
"Have you not noticed that its the middle of summer...and you're five months pregnant and you're out working in this heat?" He yelled..."You can't be doing this, Frances! You've got that baby to think of!"
"Gosh, no I didn't!" Frances said sarcastically. "Thanks for reminding me!...Of course I noticed, stupid!" She began to move the plow again.
"Stop!...You can't be out working like this! You could harm the baby, Frances." Joe stopped her..."We'll take over now..."
"No you won't! I was doing...just fine...by...myself!" She panted...
"Nona...Get her in the house...Now." George demanded and took the plow from his sister.
Joe and Nona grabbed her by each arm and guided her back to the house...Frances didn't put up a fight, for exhaustion was now setting in...They walked her through the kitchen and into her sewing/sitting room and let her sit down in her rocking chair by the open window.
"Nona! Go get her some water!" Joe told her and Nona sprinted outside to the well and darted back into the house with a glass of cold water.
"Your brother's are right, Frances...Working out there like you were...You could really harm that baby!"
"If anyone else tells me that one more time, I will hurt them!" Frances growled.
"You need to be more careful...Rest now...and let George and I take care of the work..."
Frances glared at him...
"Frances...Let us help you...We're men and we can handle it...And I'm not having my little sister harm herself OR her unborn child!"
"Fine..." She said through clenched teeth, and was still glaring at him.
Joe laughed..."There are sometimes I still can't get over your fiestyness! You're so stubborn and bull-headed! I don't know how Fred can stand it!"
"He won't like it if he knows you were out there working like that." Nona said.
"Ma and Pa, too..." Joe said..."They'll have a fit!"
"Well, you better not tell them!...And I'm not the only fiesty woman in this family! Ma is too!...I inherited it all from her..."
"Yeah, and your temperment matches your hair color!" Joe laughed, mentioning the fact of Frances' wavy reddish-brown locks.
"Never make a redhead mad at you, Joe..." Nona said, jokingly.
"Or in this case, a semi-redhead!" Joe laughed.
"Oh shut up, you two..." Frances grumbled, but then all three of them started laughing...
"There she is right there..." George said, coming into the room with an older man.
"George! I'm fine!...You didn't need to bring Dr. Walker in for a house call!"
"Nonsense!...I'm not taking a risk! I want to make sure my little sister and that baby is okay!...Dr. Walker...She's all yours..." George said and walked out of the room...Joe followed him. Nona Schmidt stayed in the room with Frances and the doctor.
"Dr. Walker, you didn't need to come...My oldest brother's a worry wart!" Frances said, loud enough so she hoped he would hear.
"Now you just calm your fiesty self down!" He said, getting out his stethoscpe..."You're in due time for a check-up I think, young lady..." He placed the medical instrument on her pregnant belly, moving it around, he listened to see if he could hear the baby's heartbeat still...He could...It was like nothing had happened at all..."The baby's just fine..." He smiled. "Now for the Ma-to-be..." He took out several medical instruments and examined her...Her blood pressure had spiked a bit, but other than that, she was fine..."You just need to calm down...Rest...Don't work too hard!...Let your brothers do you a favor. Have them do the work for you...Like they want to..."
Frances glared and crossed her arms..."I still say I can do it myself...I can rest every now and again..."
"Doctor's orders, young lady...No strenuous activity."
"Yes sir, Dr. Walker..." She said at last, but not liking it one bit.
"I shall see you again for another checkup in a few months or so, Mrs. Lay." He said, and turned to leave...
"Wait, what do I owe you, Dr. Walker?"
"Nothing...Your brothers George and Joe already paid for it..." Dr. Walker said and walked out the door...
