Free A Husband for Margaret by Ruth Ann Nordin Page A

Bob
said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes before he gulped down
some water.
    “ You did the same thing at
his age,” Joseph pointedly replied. “I remember the first time your
ma left me alone to feed you. I gave you oatmeal and a spoon. You
got food everywhere.”
    “ Oh no, not this story
again,” Bob muttered to her.
    She winked at him. “Thankfully, you’re
a big boy now.”
    “ It’s amazing we survived at
all under Pa’s care,” Doug added with a hint of amusement in his
eyes. “All we ate was oatmeal.”
    “ Oatmeal’s easy,” Joseph
said.
    Bob looked at her. “You see why we
needed a ma?”
    “ Now, your pa does a lot
too,” she argued. “Why, today he’s going to deliver things, and
then he’ll get paid. That’s how you can get food on your plate, you
know. Not everyone grows their own food. Some day you’ll be the
ones going out and making money to buy food at the mercantile.” Her
gaze turned to Joseph. “Will you be gone all day?”
    “ Only until three,” he
replied.
    “ Can we come?” Bob
asked.
    “ I’m afraid not. Work isn’t
a place for children.”
    “ You took us to the
newspaper office in Dayton.”
    Joseph cut into his pancakes. “Yes, but
that was only when your uncle and grandparents couldn’t watch you.
And there was no way I was going to let Miss Potter do
it.”
    That caught Margaret’s attention. She
handed Ben another piece of pancake. “What is it about her you
don’t like?”
    Joseph’s eyebrows furrowed, as if he
was trying to decide the best way to answer her. Fiddling with his
fork, he shrugged. “I’m not sure. I just knew she was never meant
to be my next wife, that’s all.”
    “ She’s mean, Pa,” Bob said.
“She’s nice to you, but she hates us.”
    “ Yep,” Doug agreed,
polishing off his plate. “She said we were meant to be seen and not
heard.” He turned his head in Margaret’s direction. “Can you
imagine that?”
    Joseph cleared his throat and looked at
her. “Hannah, Debra, and I grew up together, and I married
Hannah.”
    “ That’s our first ma,” Bob
unnecessarily said.
    Joseph didn’t need to add anymore.
Margaret got the picture. Debra had wanted to marry Joseph, but
Hannah did instead. Naturally, she thought it was her turn, and now
Margaret was the new Hannah.
    Even if Joseph didn’t seem to welcome
Debra’s attentions, Margaret thought it might be flattering, at the
very least, to have two women wishing to be with him at the same
time. Margaret knew that had been one of her childhood fantasies.
Two young men trying to woo her. She’d struggle to choose the right
one, but she figured she’d have a wonderful time making that
agonizing decision.
    Surely, Joseph must have enjoyed it to
a point? She thought to ask what it was like. Jessica said she
hated it because it meant she had to hurt someone’s feelings. She
wondered if Joseph thought the same before he married Hannah. No.
Probably not. He just knew he’d marry her. She still didn’t
understand how a man could possibly know something that important
early on in his life.
    Joseph finished his meal and stood up.
“I hate to rush, but I just noticed the time. I don’t want to be
late on my first day.”
    She blinked and turned her attention to
her plate. She glanced around and noticed that she was the only
person who wasn’t almost done. Standing up, she decided to finish
up her plate once everyone else was taken care of. She set her
plate and glass by the sink. “I hope you have a good
day.”
    “ It’ll be fine.” He placed
his dishes in the sink and looked at her. “You think you can
manage?” He directed his gaze to the four boys who finished their
food with amazing gusto.
    “ Sure. They’re well
behaved,” she replied.
    Even as she tried to sound confident,
she couldn’t deny the underlying sense of apprehension that crept
over her. But she wasn’t sure about the wedding night and that
turned out alright. She had no doubt that today would