3. A GIFT

After Abby had done all her morning chores and taken the kids to school, she anxiously waited for Jeffrey at the door so when the knock came she opened it a little too quickly.

"Oh, hi." Jeffrey was surprised that the door opened before he had even finished knocking.

Abby blushed. "Hi. Are you ready to go?"

"Yup."

Abby closed the door behind her and the two began walking down the path that led away from her house. Abby was flushed with nervousness.

"So, you moved to Salem to help out your sister?" Jeffrey tried to get a conversation going.

"Yes. It was my father's idea but I'm glad I'm here." It was the truth. "So, how do you like working at your parent's shop?"

"It's fine. It'll be mine someday. It's the family business." He seemed proud.

Abby nodded. "Is there ever anything that you want to do that your parents don't tell you to do?"

He looked at her confused.

"I mean, do you ever want to be more than a shop keeper?" Abby wasn't trying to be rude but she often wanted more for herself than what her parents planned.

"Why would I want that? I have everything laid out in front of me. It will be a simple life but I think it will be a happy one." Jeffrey didn't seem like much of a dreamer.

"And you'd have all the buttons you could ever want!" Abby said sarcastically.

It took a moment as Jeffrey got the joke, but when he did he let out an awful laugh. It was almost a high pitched hissing girly laughter. It was so terrible that Abby started laughing to, although Jeffrey didn't realize it was at his expense. It was right then and there that Abby knew this could not go any further. She could never spend her life with a man who had such a horrible laugh.

When he walked her back to her home, he asked "Can we do this again sometime?"

Abby was hesitant. "We'll see." She didn't want to hurt his feelings but she couldn't lead him on any further either. Jeffrey nodded disappointedly, he understood. After he left, she had never felt more relieved. It was such an awkward time, she was just glad it was over. She picked up Jane and Alec from school again and was just about to start getting dinner ready when there was another knock at the door.

She had no idea who it could be and was hesitant to answer since Sarah wasn't due to come home for another hour. Before she could react, Jane ran to the door and opened it. There stood Cotton Bishop with a big smile on his face.

"Hello Darling!" He greeted Jane. "May I come in?"

Jane looked at Abby and once she got the nod of approval she allowed him to enter.

"Hi Abby!" He greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Cotton. I'm sorry, Sarah isn't home yet."

"Oh I know that! She works for me, remember?" He chuckled nervously.

Then why are you here? Abby wondered. "What can I do for you?"

"Well I wanted to drop off a gift. Now, it's the latest craze in Paris! It's an indoor bath tub with hot water!" He seemed very proud of himself.

Abby looked around their small home asked "Where could we possibly put it?"

"Oh, I've got my boys out back putting together a makeshift bathhouse. It'll just be a few boards hammered together for right now but we can always make it nicer if Miss Sarah likes it." He seemed very hopeful.

"She doesn't know about this?" Abby asked.

His smile faded just slightly. "Well, I wanted it to be a surprise. She doesn't seem to accept gifts if she knows about them beforehand." He cleared his throat. "Would you like to come out and see it?"

"I would!" shouted Jane. "Come on Alec, let's go see the bathhouse!" The twins went running out the door and Abby and Cotton followed after them. It really wasn't very big and some men were just adding a door with hinges to their makeshift shack. They all squeezed into the tiny room around the tub. It was made of beautiful porcelain and the feet of the tub were golden claws clutching to glass balls. The tub itself was more exquisite than anything Abby had ever seen before. It looked out of place in such a shabby hut.

"Now look at this." Cotton instructed Abby. "You just fill this pot here with water and then you start a small fire under it in this compartment." He showed her the little metal cubby that somewhat resembled their indoor stove. "Give it a few minutes to heat up the water and then pour it into the tub with the cool water from the river and it will balance out to nice warm temperature. Think you can handle it?"

Abby smiled and nodded. Suddenly the idea of a warm bath was very enticing.

"Aunt Abby, can I have a bath right now?" Jane asked impatiently. Her small hands clutched to the side of the tub with excitement.

"Let's wait till your mom gets home and ask her, okay?" Abby gently offered.

"Okay." Jane seemed disappointed. "Do you want to have a bath too, Alec?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I guess." Apparently this was more of a 'girl' thing.

Abby turned to face Cotton. "Thank you. This was really nice of you. I think Sarah will love it."

"I hope so." He smiled down at her through his thick beard.

They emptied out of the tiny shack and went back to the house. To be polite, Abby invited Cotton to stay for dinner. He agreed and sent his other men home. Abby was at the stove getting ready to pull out a roasted chicken when Sarah came through the door.

The twins ran up to hug her as they always did but the surprise on her face at Cotton's presence was obvious.

"Hey Cotton, what are you doing here?" Sarah asked.

"Mommy, Cotton brought us a tub! Hurry, come see!" Jane tugged on Sarah's arm. Sarah's eyes widened in disbelief at Cotton but before she could say anything, Jane yanked her out the door. After a few minutes they came back.

"Cotton, can I speak to you outside for a moment?" Sarah asked. Her face did not have the reaction that Cotton had been hoping for. The two went outside and Abby could hear them arguing. She finished setting the table and put the food on it. Jane and Alec took their seats and they waited for their mother to come back in. When she did, Cotton was not with her.

She sat down at the table. "Let's eat."

"What about Cotton?" Abby asked.

"What about him?" Sarah snapped back. She took a moment to pause and then said "I'm sorry. It's just… He just doesn't get it. He says he doesn't expect anything in return but I know better." Sarah noticed her twins staring at her. "Let's not talk about it right now."

"But mommy, can I have a bath tonight?" Jane asked.

"No Jane." Sarah said sternly. "We didn't earn that tub so Mr. Bishop will have to come to pick it up tomorrow."

Jane pouted and crossed her arms. She was not happy about this. They ate the rest of their dinner in silence and afterwards the children were sent to bed. Sarah looked exhausted.

"I'm sorry about tonight, Abby. I just feel like Cotton is trying to buy my affections and I can't do it. I am still so in love with Patrick. I can't even think about another man right now." Sarah's eyes began to fill with tears.

Abby wrapped her arms around her sister and tried to comfort her. Sarah had a good cry and finally let out all the things she had kept inside for so long. Finally, she could let Abby be the strong one.

Sarah laughed. "I'm sorry I'm being such a baby!" She wiped the tears from her eyes. "You should go enjoy that bath before Cotton takes it back."

Abby got excited at the thought. "Really? You wouldn't mind?"

"No, go ahead. Heck, I might even sneak in a bath before it goes." Sarah smiled.

"If you do that then you might never give it back!" Abby teased.

Sarah laughed along with her. "I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed. Have fun in your bath!"

Abby smiled. She grabbed her night gown and a fresh linen to dry herself off. On her way out she picked up the oil lamp to guide her way. The night air was chilly so Abby hurried to the makeshift bathhouse. The new door opened silently and effortlessly and she closed it behind her. She opened the matchbox and lit the kindling in the proper compartment. Cotton already had the tub filled half way with the cold water and the large pot was filled to the brim with water as well just waiting to be heated up.

Cotton had also installed a very nice mirror that matched the elegance of the tub. Abby looked at herself in it. She pulled her hair out of the bun that it had been in and let the blond curls fall over her shoulders. She pulled the black jeweled chain out of her hair and set it a chair. The fire started to warm up the small room so Abby began to undress. She pulled off her dress and folded it and set it on the chair. Then she let her under slip slide off her shoulders and to the ground. Again, she picked it up and folded it over the chair.

She looked at her reflection again and smiled. She was becoming quite the woman. Her body was developing its curves in all the right places. She wondered when a man would be able to appreciate it.

Abby laughed aloud at the thought. There were no prospects that she had met so far so she decided to let it go. She went over to the pot and took it by the handles and poured the boiling water into the tub. The tub let up a huge steam as the two temperatures mixed together. She set the pot on the back burner and decided to let the fire burn out on its own. Then she touched her fingers to the warm water. The temperature was perfect.

She climbed into the tub and carefully lowered herself down into the warm waters. It felt so good and this was Abby's first time experiencing a warm bath. They would normally fill a large bucket with cold river water and scrub themselves with it to get clean. This was much more enjoyable.

Abby laid her head against the back of the tub and breathed in the steam. She could feel her muscles relaxing and all her cares slipping away. She closed her eyes and trailed her fingers along the surface of the water. She began humming to herself. It was the most relaxed that Abby had ever felt.

She was almost drifting asleep when she heard just a tiny, subtle sound and realized that she was not alone. No, someone was, in fact, in the room with her.