Free Like Gold Refined by Janette Oke Page B

and prayers. The happy bedlam of everyone seeking last-minute hugs and giving last-minute advice gave way to the train departing eastward, billowy plumes of smoke wafting a long tail behind as it curved its way out of town. The Simpsons stood and watched until it disappeared; then they turned slowly away, each one with private thoughts centering on the long time that stretched ahead until they welcomed the young couple home again.
    Virginia slipped up next to her mother and placed her hand into the hand she had held since she was a tiny infant. Only now she was the comforter, not the comforted. She said nothing. Didn’t need to.
    “Well … I guess it’s back to the ordinary again,” Drew commented as they left the station.
    “The ordinary,” echoed Belinda. “I guess it is.”
    “For me, that begins with a long motor trip,” said Rodney. “I’m not looking forward to that.”
    Belinda seemed to shake herself from her reverie. “I wish you didn’t have to go. So soon.”
    He looked at her fondly. “I wish I didn’t, too, Mama, but it was pushing things a bit to get the five days off. We’re awfully busy right now.”
    Virginia felt her mother’s fingers tighten over her own. “I’m glad you made the effort to come,” Belinda said to her older son. “We all would have been so disappointed. Certainly Danny.”
    There didn’t seem to be much more to say.
    Olivia begged to be carried, and since Jonathan already had his arms full with James, Virginia released her mother’s hand and reached for her little daughter. She walked along, in step with Rodney, who carried his youngest. “When do you leave?”
    “First thing in the morning. It’s a full day’s trip.”
    “How did the children manage the drive?”
    “They did very well—considering. I hope it goes just as well going home.”
    “I’d hate to travel with our babies. It’s bad enough just driving into town.”
    “They sleep. At least for part of the time, and Grace is terrific about keeping them entertained.”
    “Please be careful,” whispered Virginia, not wanting her mother to overhear her admonition. “There are more and more motorcars on the roads. I don’t trust some of those drivers.”

    Fall was approaching before Belinda found another person interested in staying with her parents. A widow lady from a small town nearby was looking for something to fill her lonely hours. It sounded like a good prospect, and Belinda could hardly wait to have a visit with the woman.
    Drew took a day off and drove her for the interview. She was well satisfied with the results, and the woman agreed to come look over the situation for herself within the next week.
    Virginia wasn’t sure if she wanted to be involved this time. Besides her uncertainties about the whole arrangement, she was busy with fall canning and a small James, who had decided it was time to learn how to walk. Virginia felt she had to watch him every waking moment. Her baby girls had been active and inquisitive, but James was a living cyclone. And he climbed. Continually. He seemed to have an uncanny gift for being in two or three places at the same time. She would just remove his hands from the butter crock when he would be emptying out the sugar bowl. No sooner had she cleaned up that mess than he would be dumping over the washbasin.
    So this time Virginia remained at home, busily engaged, while her mother took the widow out to the farm home. Again, Clark and Marty were busy with a visit elsewhere. Belinda reported the outcome later over the telephone.
    “She wasn’t so shocked that there was no indoor plumbing.”
    That was a plus.
    “She wasn’t so quick to define what she wasn’t going to do, either.”
    “You mean she actually plans to work for her pay.”
    “It seems that way.”
    “Does she have a Cleopatra?”
    Belinda chuckled. “No Cleo.”
    “Was she friendly?”
    “Oh, yes. Very warm.”
    Virginia was puzzled. Her mother didn’t sound as excited as she had