Mrs. Mike (A Mrs. Mike Novel Book 1) by Benedict Freedman & Nancy Freedman

Author:Benedict Freedman & Nancy Freedman [Freedman, Benedict & Freedman, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Story Merchant Books
Published: 2013-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Mike wanted me to take a girl from the Mission to help with the house and the baby. I had completely forgotten my pleurisy, but every now and then I would catch Mike watching me with a worried eye. I still didn’t stand straight enough or breathe deep enough to suit him.

“You don’t have to take too much on you, Kathy,” he said. “You can have one of the young girls at the Mission give you a hand with the housework.”

“How young?” I said.

Mike laughed. “Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,” he said. “At what age do you get jealous?”

I gave him a push. “Who’s jealous of you? You think you’re such a dashing figure of a man in your red coat and all!” I looked him over and I had to admit, “Well, you are.”

“Now look, Kathy,” Mike said seriously, “you think I don’t know about your sneaking down to the cage, taking Baldy Red things to eat, and squeezing in through those saplings to fix up his shed. If you want to do it, that’s okay. But pampering Baldy Red with hot meals and clean sheets adds to your work.”

I was mad that he had found out about it. I lashed out. “It’s disgraceful! That filthy place, and the horrible things he cooks for himself!”

Mike didn’t answer me, so I gave in a little. “If I have a girl to help me, can I go on fixing up Baldy’s cell?”

“As long as I don’t know about it officially,” Mike said.

So we decided to get a girl, but somehow I didn’t get around to it, and then Baldy was released, and it wasn’t until he had been clapped back into the coop right after Hallowe’en that I finally went to the Mission.

I knocked at the door. It was opened by a cheerful-looking, red-faced Sister.

“I’m Mrs. Flannigan,” I said.

“Don’t stand there in this chill weather, child. Come inside.”

She wouldn’t let me talk in the hall, either, but took me to an inside room. Tea was served by an Indian girl of twelve or thirteen, primly dressed in long black stockings and a gingham pinafore. It was not until Sister Teresa had poured me a second cup that she felt she could ask my errand.

“I want to bring a girl home with me. I have a baby, and my husband says I should have a girl to help me in the house. I’ll take good care of her, and we have an extra bedroom.”

“I see,” the Sister said. “Would you want her to do the cooking?”

“Well, I don’t really care. It would be nice if she could do a little of everything, cook and keep house and look after babies. And then we could trade off doing things, take turns at it.”

The Sister nodded. “You’d want one of our older girls, then. Well, the best thing to do is to let you meet them.” She rose, and I followed her into the hall. “We’ve eighty children here at the present time. All ages. We’ve classes every morning.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.