The “girls” weren’t all girls, of course. Opal and Ida Jean were the youngest, giggly twins at seventeen but skilled and quick with their crochet hooks and knitting needles. Mrs. Caldwell and Miss Windsor, both steady workers in Irish lace, were in their forties. Old Mrs. Hathaway came from across town and her niece, Mrs. Hannah Jenson, from Travis Street, the next block over. Both Mrs. Hathaway and Mrs. Jenson were bobbin lace makers, good ones, too, and every bit as adept and as fast as Gramma Anne. Annie herself made both gros point lace and embroidered net, which was in great demand.
Adam’s wife, Delia, occasionally came from next door to join them in the workroom, but she wasn’t as skilled, nor as interested, as the others. Golden-haired, with a delicate, heart-shaped face, Delia reminded Annie of the petted and spoiled Amy March. She hadn’t the patience to pay attention to what her fingers were doing, so her crocheted laces were loose and clumsy. She was quick to criticize others’ work and replied sharply when anyone offered her suggestions for improving her own—which she had no need to sell, so she couldn’t be bothered to make it better. Annie couldn’t imagine why Delia joined them.
Although Annie’s conscience might prick her for her disturbing midnight imaginings about Delia’s husband, she knew she had given her neighbor no reason to be jealous. But she was finding it increasingly difficult to manage the envy that flared up like an unbanked fire whenever she was in Delia’s company. Her neighbor had everything any woman might want: a generous and attractive husband, a lovely child, a comfortable house, and a hired girl to cook the meals and do the housework. Delia’s little daughter, sweet six-year-old Caroline, sometimes came to Annie’s house to make lace. Annie, who believed that all children were by nature highly creative, was teaching her how to crochet, and her small fingers were already much more adept than her mother’s. She had made a crocheted cover for Delia’s pincushion and was working on a doily for her dressing table. Annie loved little Caroline and envied Delia the daily delights the child must bring.
But Delia seemed to care little for these blessings, and she often indulged in a litany of complaints. At the top of her list: the hired girl, Greta, who was insolent and had to be continually reprimanded (which Annie already knew, because she frequently heard Delia shrieking at the poor thing). Village life was boring and Delia wished Adam would buy a store in Austin, so they could move to the capital city. Or if not Austin, then to Galveston, where she had grown up and which she visited at every opportunity. She even complained about her husband, who (she said) rarely took her anywhere and was stingy when it came to new clothes and especially jewelry.
“Every girl likes a shiny bauble now and then,” Delia would say, and sigh that she had none—although almost every time Annie saw her, she had something new. Pink mitts, to match a new dress, or a new hat or a pretty broach.
Annie thought her pretty neighbor was one of the most fortunate women on earth and simply could not understand her complaints. This was especially true when Delia confided that Adam thought they ought to have a second child.
“But I never intended to have more than one,” she had added hastily. “Babies ruin your figure. And they take up so much of your time.”
As Delia spoke, Annie thought of Adam, so generous and strong and yet gentle, and a sudden bitter longing swept through her. How could Delia refuse him? If Adam were her husband, she would welcome his child, his children—as many as the Good Lord cared to send them.
But that thought took her to another thought, and to a dark place that she could enter only in her dreams. Annie pushed it away.
Chapter Three
Queen Anne’s lace or wild carrot (Daucus carota) is the foremother of those pretty deep-orange carrots (Daucus carota sativus) you’re planning to cook for supper tonight. The plant first emerged in what is now Afghanistan and Iran and has traveled around the globe. Its long, spindle-shaped root is ivory or yellowish. And edible, but only when young, because the inner core becomes fibrous and woody as the plant grows.
After the potato, the modern carrot is the second most popular vegetable in the world. And it’s not just orange! If you’re looking for a way to entice your kids to eat more veggies, surprise them with a helping of purple (or red, yellow, or white) carrots. Whatever the color, this special vegetable is loaded with nutritious beta-carotene and a wide variety of antioxidants and other health-supporting nutrients.
“Anne’s Flower”
China Bayles
Pecan Springs Enterprise
“Hey, Mom!” Caitie threw her backpack into the backseat of my old white Toyota and slid in beside me. She was wearing green shorts and a bright orange tee that said Kids Act Up!
Caitie’s casual greeting made my heart flip, as it always does. She has been a member of our family for three years now, but it was a long while before she could call me Mom. The word is still new and wonderful for me, too. As a young career woman with an all-consuming job, I’d put motherhood fairly far down on my agenda. And
