I've had the idea for this chapter for a while, but it turned out so silly that I almost didn't post it. But I do think that something like this probably would've happened at some point. I hope you enjoy, and thanks again to everyone who's reviewed!
One spring evening, there was a thunderstorm with winds too strong for the girls and boys to gather on the front porch after dinner like usual. So while the boys sheltered the animals and themselves in the barn, Millie and the girls spent their evening in the parlor. They missed being able to talk to the boys, but it was nice to have time with just each other, too. The fire crackled merrily while they sewed and chatted about the new animals being born on the farm and their plans for the spring garden that they were planting together. Over the long, hard winter, the six girls had transformed from helpless kidnapping victims into capable farm women, and they now felt as at-home with each other in the Pontipee cabin as they had with their families back in town.
Ruth was the first to notice that Martha was quieter than usual this evening, and during a lull in the chatter, she asked her friend if anything was wrong. "Anythin' botherin' you, Martha? You seem awful quiet."
"Say, did you and Daniel have a fight?" Dorcas asked, when Martha didn't answer right away.
"Oh, no, it weren't nothin' like that," Martha answered quickly, shaking her head. "I was just thinkin' 'bout... well, somethin' sorta happened to me this mornin', see. It's been botherin' me all day." The five other girls and Millie were all listening now, but Martha ducked her head, unable to meet their eyes as she went on. "I-I happened to go back behind the barn this mornin', real early, and one of the boys was back there, and he was..." She paused and swallowed hard. "He was... well, you know, he was... and I-I saw his..."
Martha was too embarrassed to say anything more, but she didn't have to. It was easy enough to guess that the boy she'd seen behind the barn early that morning – whichever brother he was – had been relieving himself, and that Martha had happened to see his...
"His reason for bein' a man?" Sarah asked, after a suspenseful beat of silence, and Martha looked away, pursed her lips, and nodded.
The other five girls, shocked and a little jealous, gasped and shrieked and laughed so loudly that the boys might've heard them from the barn. Martha blushed so furiously that she threw her apron over her head to hide her face.
"Now, now, that's enough, girls," Millie said, raising her voice to be heard above the noise. She clapped her hands until they fell silent, and once she had their attention, she went on. "Really, it ain't nothin' to go makin' such a fuss over, and you, Martha..." She paused and tugged her friend's apron down from over her face. "...you ain't got a thing to be embarrassed about. Somethin' like this was bound to happen sooner or later, with all of us livin' on this farm together."
Millie's tone was not quite scolding, but her matter-of-fact attitude was enough to make the girls feel silly and childish for carrying on like they had. They fell silent for a moment, trying to muffle their laughter and regain their composure. If Millie could act so cool and mature about this, then so could they.
"Why don't you tell us just what happened, Martha?" Millie went on kindly. She was sitting in the rocking-chair near the fire, which was still her favorite spot, though she was so pregnant now that she needed help to get in and out of the chair. "I'm sure it can't be as bad as you think."
Martha's story came out of her in slow, embarrassed stops and starts. She had gone out early that morning, before all the other girls were up, to look for new baby chicks that might've hatched overnight. She fed the hens, and then something – she wasn't sure what – had startled one of them, and the animal bolted.
"It was that brown hen with black tailfeathers," she told the others.
"I know that one," Alice put in. "She's a good layer."
"Right," Martha nodded in agreement, almost grateful. "I remember I thought, we can't lose that one, she's a good layer, and I took off after her. She ran behind the barn, so I ran after her, and when I turned the corner, that's when I saw..."
But Martha stopped short again, too embarrassed to continue. Millie and the girls waited, but then Liza's curiosity got the best of her, and she burst out with the one question that all of them were burning to know.
"Well, don't leave us in suspense, Martha!" Liza exclaimed. "At least tell which brother it was!"
"Was it Ben you saw? Was it?" Dorcas asked in an excited gasp, almost at the same time.
"That's the worst part!" Martha exclaimed. "I don't even know which one of 'em it was! I didn't really see his face, just his..." But then a few of the other girls started to giggle again, and realizing that she'd come back to the most embarrassing part of the story, Martha rushed on. "It just all happened so fast. I was too shocked to even think straight, but I panicked and yelled out, I gotta catch that chicken, or somethin' like it. And just then the hen flew up so's I had feathers in my face, and he, whoever he was, he took off runnin' back inside the barn."
Ruth let out a stream of giggles that almost erupted into a full laugh, but then she caught Millie's reproachful look and fell silent.
Millie rearranged herself in her rocking-chair a bit, then asked calmly, "Well, you see now, Martha? Ain't nothin' to be embarrassed about, like I said." But she could tell that her friend was still embarrassed by it, so she decided to share a story that would make her feel better. She went on in the same calm voice, "You know, girls, when I first married Adam and came out to this farm, they didn't even bother to go behind the barn."
Dorcas, Ruth, Liza, Sarah, and Alice had still been staring at Martha, hoping to hear more details about what she'd seen, but at this, their heads all swiveled around in unison to stare at Millie.
"What do you mean, Millie?" Alice asked slowly. "You don't mean..."
"Oh, sure," Millie said, waving one hand. "They'd do it wherever they was standin', practically. They just didn't think anythin' of it. I probably seen all of 'em doin' it at one time or another."
Dorcas and Sarah gasped at this, Alice's jaw dropped, and Ruth had to press her hand over her mouth to keep from giggling again. "Really, Millie?" Liza asked, dumbstruck, and they were all more impressed than ever at how matter-of-fact Millie was.
"Mm-hm, it took a little doin' on his part, but Adam finally got 'em to stop. He explained to 'em how now that there was a woman on the farm, they had to keep it behind the barn or in the outhouse like civilized folks."
"Civilized folks," Martha repeated, with weak little chuckle. She fanned her still-red face with her hand. It was a relief to know that she wasn't the only one who'd had such an awkward encounter. She looked around at the other girls, smiled a bit, and admitted, "I-I guess it is sorta funny when you think about it."
"I just wish you knew for sure which brother you saw," Ruth said, resting her chin in one hand, and Dorcas and Liza both nodded in agreement. "Do you reckon it was Daniel?"
Martha shook her head. "No, it weren't Daniel," she said quietly. "That much I do know."
Millie's head turned sharply at this. She raised one eyebrow suspiciously but kept her voice calm as she asked, "Oh? And how do you know that?"
"Oh, I saw him in the garden today. He helped me hoe and water, and we talked, and he didn't act any different. If it'd been him, he woulda been... well, different, you know? Shy or embarrassed or somethin'."
"Well, whichever one of 'em it was," Millie said after a pause, "he probably kept it to himself. Men don't share so much with each other like women do."
A few of the girls nodded in agreement at this. The Pontipee brothers weren't a very talkative bunch, even with each other.
Alice sat up a little to look out through the parlor window, and she tried to make out the barn through the curtain of rain. What were the boys doing right now? Their main hobbies were whittling, cleaning their boots, and playing horseshoes, but she suspected that this evening, they might be working on some sort of surprise for girls. She didn't know any details about it, but she had heard Caleb start to mention it to Gideon yesterday, before he realized that she was there. "Say, Gid, 'bout that you-know-what we've been workin' on for the girls, I think – " he'd said in a low voice, but then Gideon had cleared his throat loudly and pointed to Alice, and Caleb fell silent. Alice could be patient, but she hoped that they would find out what the surprise was soon.
Re: that final paragraph, I do have something specific in mind for the boys' surprise for the girls... but curious readers might have to be patient, too.