"Now, if all of you will excuse me...I need to go get Fred." Frances said, walking out of the kitchen.
"Was wondering where that rascal was! What did he do, get lost up there?...OWWW!" Joe replied, as he received a swift kick in the leg from his wife.
"Joseph!...Hush!" Nona whispered.
"Well, you didn't have to kick me!" He whispered back.
"Yes I did!...Because you don't know when to keep that mouth of yours shut!"
"Oh shut up, you didn't have to kick me!"
"This is not the time to be trying to lighten the mood! So YOU shut up!"
"My word, if you two weren't married I would have to say to you two, "You fight like you're married!" but since you are married..." Franziska began.
"They fight because they are married!" George Sr. said, with a chuckle.
"Honeymoon's over folks!" George Jr. added.
Franziska gave them both a look. "Hush, you two...I was going to say they fight like two little children!"
Frances had climbed the stairs, passed through the large open room that was considered the attic, and walked to their bedroom in the back. She saw the door was closed. She rapped on the wooden door twice and waited a minute or two.
She knocked on the door once again. "Fred...Honey, can I come in, please?" Frances asked quietly. Suddenly, the door opened, slowly. There stood Fred in front of her, his blueish gray eyes were dry now.
"I'm sorry..." She choked out. "About the fight, and all the yelling...I'm sorry. I was being inconsiderate and unsypathetic about what happened to you." Frances said, and felt the tears start falling. "I'm so sorry, honey!" She said, falling into his arms and started crying on his shoulder. Fred held her in his arms and was crying himself. For quite awhile, they just stood there, holding each other.
"Cry for awhile...Sometimes its good." Fred whispered.
"It does a good job of relieving stress." Frances choked out. "And boy, am I in a lot of stress right now!" She was crying and buried her face in his shoulder, and she felt his arms still on her back.
"Calm down..." He soothed her. "You know that's not good for the baby, or you. The stress I mean...I don't want to see you like this."
"I know! I just can't help it, Fred!" She looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Is it because of me? Our fight?"
"Yes,...No...I don't know!" She buried her face in his chest this time, as she cried some more. "It didn't help that my little argument with Ma downstairs made matters worse!"
"Argument?" Fred questioned. "What happened?"
"I told her about how I'm trying to discipline Freddy. I don't know what her problem was, but she was accusing me of not wanting to spank him or something like that. I went off on her..."
"I just don't like the hitting that's involved in spanking. That's all." Fred told her.
"I know you don't..." Frances was choked up again, but somehow managed to not lose herself in a sea of tears again..."To be honest with you, I don't like it either, but...Look, we need to talk about this later, when we're really alone."
"That's fine with me."
"Me too...Right now, we've got our little boy's first birthday to celebrate." Frances smiled at him, sniffled a little, and wiped the tears that stained her cheeks and that were welling up in her eyes again.
"Let's go then." Fred smiled, and with his arm around her, they walked the floorspace of that open attic room, to the stairwell, and Fred went down first so he could help her down each step. "Pretty soon you won't be able to climb these stairs all the time! You'll be too big." He chuckled.
"Oh, shut up before I slap you one!" Frances laughed.
"Aww...we can make a room for you downstairs."
"Nonsense! I climbed up and down the stairs when I was pregnant with Freddy, I can with this one!"
"Frances." Fred gave her a little look, as he was in the doorway to the stairway, and she stepped off the last step. "You almost fell that one time. I'm not letting that happen with this pregnancy...You scared me. You really did, honey."
"Dr. Walker said we were both fine. And Freddy's normal today!" She laughed.
Fred chuckled. "That laughing makes me wonder!" They both laughed a little bit, but then Fred got solemn. "Seriously, I think we should make you a room downstairs...This one'll do...right by the stairway, so if you need me, I can be right down."
"There's no arguing with you, Fred Lay, is there?" Frances giggled, wondering if he remembered what she said to him in their very first real conversation. It was something to that effect.
"Nope." He smiled, and then chuckled. He did remember!
"What took you two so long up there?" Franziska asked Fred and Frances as they walked into the kitchen.
"Don't you dare say it, Joe!" Nona whispered, her grip tightening on his hand and she was glaring at him. Joe raised his eyebrows at her as if to say, "Okay!...Quit treating me like a little boy!"
"That's what I want to know!...That cake has been tempting me ever since I got here!...Will you feed your poor Pa or are you gonna let him waste away to nothing?"
"George Michael!" Franziska exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm just teasin'! Frances knows that!"
"Well, lets pray and sing Happy Birthday and we all can have some cake...so Pa won't have a cow!" Frances laughed. A prayer was said, and they sang to Mary Jane and she blew out the 12 candles on the cake with the buttercream frosting.
"Now, we sing to Freddy!" Mary Jane smiled, and began, with everyone joining in.
"Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday, Dear Freddy! Happy Birthday to You!" Frances gave her son a little kiss on the cheek. They already had a little piece of the cake out for him, and Fred and Frances were trying to teach him to blow out the candle, but it wasn't quite working, so Frances blew it out for him.
"When he gets older he can blow out his own candle." Fred chuckled. "Won'tcha buddy?...Won'tcha, won'tcha, won'tcha?" Fred got in his son's face and was playing around with him, making him giggle and squeal. "Won'tcha Fritz?" Freddy was still laughing and grabbing his daddy's blond hair and his hands slid down on his face, and Fred pretended to nibble on his little fingers. It made Freddy laugh even more.
"Enough with playing with the baby!" Frances laughed. "Let him eat his birthday cake!"
"I'd like some of the cake too, you know."
"George Michael! If you keep going on about that cake like you are, I'll make sure you won't get any!" Franziska said.
"Somebody's moody." George Sr. muttered.
"Oh, shut up!...I heard that!" Franziska glared at her husband.
"You're not the only one who's moody, Ma." Frances laughed. "I've done nothing but cry these past few days."
"Yes, but I'm not the one who's pregnant." Franziska glanced over at her husband, as if to say, "Don't even say it, George!"
"Very true...C'mon, lets cut the cake already!" Frances laughed, and cut the cake with the buttercream frosting, since the chocolate one was already, and served everyone.
Frances took a seat next to her son's high-chair to see if he needed a little help with eating his cake...He didn't! He got right into it! Literally! There were little cake crumbs ALL over him and chocolate frosting on his hands and face, it was even in his hair!
"Now THAT is what I call adorable!" Melania laughed. "I remember my friends and I in California had a little get together for when Mary Jane turned a year old. Frosting was on every square inch of her, it seemed!"
"I did that too?" Mary Jane questioned.
"Oh, yes you did! I think you were much worse though!" She laughed.
"What's with that? They always manage to get it all over them!" Joe said. "I hate kids!"
Frances laughed, because it seemed like he was joking. "How can you say that Joe?...Oh, come on, you do not! You know you don't!"
"What are you going do when Nona says that you two are expecting?" Melania asked.
Joe shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I hate kids." Again, it seemed like he was just joking.
"Just for that I hope you two have a whole house full of 'em!" Frances said.
"Can we please stop talking about this?" Nona asked, a little embarrassed.
"Sure...we're sorry Nona." Frances said, laying a hand on her shoulder.
"Its all right...I myself wouldn't mind kids...Its just, all this talk about it is kind of embarrassing."
"That's totally understood." Franziska said. "So no more wise-cracks saying you hate kids, Joseph Leo!"
"Yes Ma..." He said, a bit annoyed with his mother.
The birthday party, as well as the day had ended, so Joe and Nona, Ma, Pa, George Jr. and John, and Melania and Mary Jane all went home. Till the time they got there and until they went to bed, Mary Jane couldn't stop talking about the little dictionary that her mother and aunt had pitched in to get her! She loved it! And she knew very well she could use it for school, and that made her happy!
"Thank you so much for the dictionary, Ma!" Mary Jane smiled at her mother as they said good night and then the 11, ALMOST 12 year old would go to her room and go to bed. Melaina and Mary Jane had their own place now. About 10 miles or so from where she worked at the H & W Company.
"You're welcome, sweetie...and I sure hope you told your Aunt Frances, thank you."
"Oh, I did! About a million times!"
"Good, I'm glad...It was her idea to buy the dictionary for you! We both want you to use it as much as you can. Learn all you can, it'll help you someday."
"Well, good night Ma. I'm going to bed." She said, giving her mother a hug and a kiss goodnight.
"Good night." Melania smiled and then sat down in her chair to finish mending a pinafore of her daughter's. The girl was so rough, always playing with the boys, that Melania wasn't quite sure how she kept up with all the rips and tears! She heard a knock on the front door and she went and opened it.
"Hello Urban! What a surprise! Come in, won't you?"
"Oh...um...No thanks, Melania...I uh...just wanted to tell you about the New Years Eve Party for the company. We all want to bring in the New Year together." He smiled, a little nervously.
"Thank you for telling me, Urban. But my daughter's birthday is that day...I would like to spend the day with her, you know." She smiled. "But I can ask her."
"If she'll let you off for one evening?" Urban joked. He took a deep breath and let it out, because he was so nervous!
Melania laughed. "Right..."
"Well,...uh...Um, I guess I better get going. We'll see ya, Melania." He smiled crookedly. "Oh, and tell Mary Jane, Happy Birthday for me!"
"All right I will, G'Night Urban." She smiled and closed the door after him. Melania laughed to herself. "Makes me wonder why he was so nervous...No, it couldn't be that. He's my boss and I'm his employee!...Plus,...I don't really think I want a man in my life right now. Not again."
"Fred...do you want to talk about it now?...Freddy's asleep." Frances whispered, as she got into their bed and Fred was just sitting up, reading some sort of book.
"All right." He said, placing the book on the little end table, and he leaned over and blew out their little candle.
"Again..." Frances sighed, laying next to her husband, trying to get comfortable. "I'm sorry about our fight. It was all my fault, and I'm sorry..." She said, laying her head on his shoulder.
Fred looked over and saw her pretty face in the moonlight, dressed in her winter nightgown, barely an inch of skin, except for her neck, wrists and hands, showed. He gave her a little smirk..."You've said sorry already...Twice or more even!" He chuckled.
"I just want you to know I'm sorry for everything...My attitude." Frances whispered, starting to get choked up again.
Fred leaned in and kissed her. "You have...and don't be sorry about your attitude."
"Why not? I just can't help this fiesty aggressiveness!" She said, laying her head back on the pillow. "Uggghhh!"
"Well, I like it...So don't be sorry." He smiled and then started laughing.
"What?" Frances asked and started to chuckle herself.
"Hm!" Fred laughed. "I think part of your problem is those darn pregnancy hormones getting to ya again!"
Frances gave him a look but then her lips cracked a smile. "Well, that I can't help either...I'd like to see you be pregnant and see how you handle it!" She laughed. "So stop teasing me or you'll making me start crying again!"
Fred tilted his head back and laughed. "All right!"
Their laughter soon died down and they were quiet for awhile...and Frances thought it would be the right time to bring up the subject again.
"Honey, I know you don't like the spanking thing...but I intend to spank our children."
"It seems so much like hitting to me, that's what I don't like."
"I know." Frances said quietly.
"You said you didn't like it either."
"I don't!...Do you think I ENJOY talking sternly to our son, giving him a little slap on the hand? Making him cry? Making it seem like I'm a bad parent!"
"You're not a bad parent..." Fred said, scooting closer to her and lacing his hand around hers, and rubbed it, comfortingly.
"Its how I feel sometimes!" She started crying again. "When I saw him there in his high chair today...tears streaming down his cute little face...it...it broke my heart, Fred!" She turned over on her side, and layed her head, and a hand on his chest...and just cried for awhile. Fred wrapped his strong arms around her and held her and let her cry.
"Its all right..." He whipsered, rubbing her back gently. "You're a wonderful mother...don't doubt yourself...and don't let anyone tell you different."
"And if they do?" She asked, a little out of breath from crying so hard.
"Then, I'll give 'em what for!"
Frances laughed a little. "I know you would...but being violent isn't always the answer."
"It sure works well! If I've learned ANYTHING from Charles Ingalls!" Fred laughed.
"I wonder how they're doing? They wanted us to go up there to Minnesota and visit. I'd like to since I've never met them...but you know...with me being pregnant right now, travelling isn't such a good idea!" She laughed.
"Maybe sometime after the baby's born...We can go up and visit them. We can visit my sister too, see how she's doing." Fred said.
They were quiet again, and so Frances went back to their previous conversation. "Honey, I said I don't like spanking either...and I don't...but...it has to be done!"
"Why?"
"Because you love them!...Look, I understand your situation!...Honey, what Leah did to you, wasn't right...That's the WRONG way to spank a child!...In fact, its not spanking at all! She BEAT you! That's abuse!"
"Don't you think I know that?" He said quietly, turning his head away from her.
"I'm sorry I brought that up just now..." She replied, and buried her face in his chest again. "But what I'm trying to do...isn't abusive...I'm just trying to discipline! There's a difference...I know you don't understand...but you have to trust me on this! Please..."
"How is there a difference? You're still hitting him."
"This difference is WHERE. If its just on the rear end, its fine...anywhere else is child abuse."
"Okay...I understand that...but the hitting. I just don't like the hitting involved."
"I know you don't! Honey, I know you don't!" Frances started to tear up again. "But THAT has its difference too...its how hard, and what you do it with. If you're doing it hard enough to leave a mark or a bruise, THAT is child abuse! You just need it to sting a little...that doesn't leave marks."
"You said its what you spank them with too...Correct?"
"Correct...You don't spank them with your hand! Hands are for LOVING! Not discipline!...The Bible says to use the rod..." She began.
"Yes...I know. PLEASE don't quote the verse!" Fred said, sharply.
"Its not what you're thinking of!" Frances told him. "It means a branch or a switch...a wooden spoon. Something small that stings! Not inflicts serious bodily harm!...Again, its all how you carry it out! If its anywhere but on the behind...and you're spanking hard enough to leave a mark, its abusive and not how spanking should be!"
"I still don't understand it...I still don't really agree with it, even when you've pointed it out to me..."
"But will you trust me?" Frances said, a little unsure of his answer, she figured it would be a no.
"I'll try..."
"All right..." Frances smiled. His answer was better than nothing! Much better.
"Anything more you need to say about it?" Fred asked.
"Yes...but let's take things one at a time...and for right now, let's get some sleep!" Frances laughed a little, but she felt so exhausted from the day's events and how stressed she had been!
"Fine by me." He smiled, and kissed her goodnight.
