Free Gertie's Choice by Carol Colbert

and Ophelia, including a
full sized one in her beautiful bright red dress and heels. Gertie
also learned some simple dishes to prepare for meals and told Janet
and the others everything she had learned about the other side of
the mountain and how they lived.
    There were many laughs and
many tears as Gertie prepared to take her and her daughter Ophelia
to begin a new life with John. On the day they were leaving, Janet
pressed the ruby red ring into Gertie’s hands. “Take this and know
that you can come back to Enchanted any time you wish. Be safe and
be careful and if you ever feel in danger or scared or need
anything, you know how to reach us.”
    Gertie felt afraid to leave
her family, but she could not imagine living even one more day
without being with John.
     

Chapter 13
     
     
    John was all smiles as they
drove up to the house which they would share their lives in. Gertie
too was smiling, Ophelia – not so much.
    A nice looking middle aged
lady met them on the porch. “Mrs. Davis, this is my new bride –
Gertie, and her daughter Ophelia. Gertie – this is Mrs. Davis and
in her arms is my son, Donald.” John said, taking the baby from
Mrs. Davis’s arms.
    Gertie inwardly winced at
the term ‘bride’, but it was much easier for people to think that
they had wed. She said hello to Mrs. Davis and the three of them
made small talk. Mrs. Davis mentioned that her son, Ted, had
recently got a job with an insurance company and told Gertie how
important it was to have the right kind of insurance. Gertie
understood none of what she was saying, so she stood there with the
same unchanging smile.
    Donald was a strange
looking child. His head was not quite shaped as it should be and he
did not smile or reach for his father. Gertie wanted to make this
work with John, but she was afraid she would fall short as far as
doing everything that would be required of her to make this
arrangement viable.
    John handed Donald to
Gertie and then went to the car to get their suitcases. Mrs. Davis
opened the front door and motioned Gertie and Ophelia into the
house.
    The house was as John
described. It was not very large, but it was very clean and
everything in the kitchen looked almost new. Mrs. Davis had
prepared them a meal and set the table with flowers. Gertie was
grateful and actually hated to see Mrs. Davis leave when she
did.
    Gertie started to do the
dishes after they had eaten and John asked her why she didn’t use
the dishwasher. Gertie’s response was “Oh, great, is she here?” She
covered her shame when John laughed. Gertie’s face felt warm and
she was afraid she had made her first mistake in this house after
only an hour.
    John did finally notice
that he was the only one laughing and he put his arm around Gertie.
“I meant, we have a machine that washes the dishes for us. Do you
want me to show you how to use it?”
    “Yes, please,”
    John showed Gertie how to
load the dishwasher and how and where to put the soap in and
explained the different knobs on the machine. It would be the first
of many lessons that Gertie would learn over the course of time she
and John lived together. John was patient and kind and Gertie fell
more in love with him every day.
    It was harder on Ophelia.
She and Donald did not get a long at all. He was not a mean child,
but he just did not seem to care about anything. Gertie would read
him stories and try to play games with him, but nothing she did
seemed to make him feel loved.
    When it was late that first
night and both Donald and Ophelia were asleep, John asked Gertie if
she was ready to call it a day and retire to the bedroom. Again,
Gertie felt that panic come over her. As much as she loved John,
the only experience she had with being with a man had been being
abused by the Great Evil. She was afraid and did not know what to
do or say.
    “I am not tired, you go
ahead and go to bed, John.” She said, looking at John and hoping he
would not take that the wrong way. In answer to the