PART 6
As Jo and Nick pulled into Plumbfield, an unusual thing greeted them: silence. Meg, Amy and Laurie had all offered to take the children on a daylong hike/picnic in the woods in case Nick's telegram was the bearer of bad news, so he could have some time alone if needed. Hearing the clip clop of the horse's trotting hooves, Asia came out of the house to greet the now threesome, while wiping her flour covered hands on her apron.
"Well, how did it go?" she asked eagerly, but carefully in case that this might be a sensitive subject.
"Well, we got a permanent student here at Plumbfield, though under not so happy circumstances " Nick replied with a downcast face.
"What?" Asia asked, almost afraid to hear the bad news.
"Last year my brother Ben got married shortly after he visited us here at Plumbfield. Married a lady by the name of Mary Sosa. Within a few months Ben was killed at a bar in a fight."
"Oh, Nick. I'm so sorry." Asia interrupted.
"Well, shortly after that his wife died, too."
"How?"
"In childbirth." Asia was shocked. She had a feeling what Nick was about to say next, though.
"And the child.." Asia prompted.
"Is here at Plumbfield." Nick replied, handing the basket and Mary over to Asia. Asia's eyes widened as her predicaments came true.
Looking down at Mary, Asia asked, "Well, does she have a name?" Asia questioned.
"As a matter of fact, today she got a name. Mary, after her mother." Nick replied.
"What a pretty little baby! Look at that dress she has on! She'll catch her death of a cold! First thing tomorrow we're got to go to Gerson's to buy some material to make this poor thing some clothes. Besides, I heard Gerson's niece is working there now. Be interesting to meet her.
"You women are all alike." Nick said with a gentle chuckle and a twinkle in his baby blue eyes.
"And how's that Nick Riley?" Asia asked. Jo pulled out the material she had recently bought and said, "Consider the task down. And we also meet Mr. Gerson's new niece. It was quite an…interesting meeting, I guess you could say." She said with a glance back to Nick.
"Well, let's go home, Marty!" Nick said with a flick of the reins, leaving the two women alone.
"So, Jo, what exactly happened out there?" Asia asked with a demanding face.
"Well, first the conductor at the railroad thought I was Mrs. Riley. Then at the store Gerson's niece said how Mary's eyes looked just like my 'husband's'. She also said something about someone saying wbl….about Nick and I being a couple. I just hope the rumors won't start again after all we went through last year with the lawsuit." Jo replied as she started walking towards the house with Mary in hand, trying desperately not to blush. Asia noticed this, but kept her observation to herself.
"Sounds like quite an interesting day. Oh, Laurie said that they would drop the crew off late tonight. They're going to be doing something special, though what specifically I'm not sure." Asia replied
"Oh, just as well. I'll have to tell them about Mary tomorrow morning, as they won't able to get to sleep if they know about her tonight. Well, I better go prepare the guest room since Nick will be staying in there with Mary until she gets old enough to stay on her own." Said Jo.
As promised, Laurie dropped the sleepy children off late and left too quickly for Jo to tell him what had happened that day. Not wanting them to miss out of any of their "beauty rest", Jo quietly carried Rob and guided the rest of the children up to their rooms, trying not to wake up Mary, who had finally fallen asleep in the guest room.
After successfully completing the task, Jo went down to the kitchen to find Nick rummaging around in the pile of Rob's old baby "supplies".
Asia had left them out earlier in the day, and Nick had finally got a chance to sit down and take inventory.
"So, what was it like in the first day of fatherhood?" Jo asked Nick, with a teasing grin on her face. Nick jumped when he heard Jo's voice: he had been so deep in thought he had not heard her come in.
"Aw, I don't know. A lot different than I had expected. Of course you and Asia did all the 'dirty' work for me" Nick replied back, his blue eyes laughing.
"Don't worry. First thing tomorrow you get to learn how to change dirty diapers. You're not getting off that easy." Jo replied. Nick just grinned and looked down to his hands where he held a bottle that he was trying to figure how to put together with no success. Seeing he was getting no where, Jo leaned over and placed her delicate hands on top of Nick's rough worn hands to help him put the bottle together.
"See, it goes just like that." Jo replied as she screwed the lid on. Jo dropped her hands away, suddenly aware of the nearness of Nick. Something made her glance up, making her stare right into Nick's eyes. For a couple of moments the two just stood like that, eyes locked, frozen. Not realizing what she was doing, Jo reached up and tucked a lock of stray hair behind Nick's ear. As her hand dropped, Nick leaned down slowly to place a gentle kiss on Jo's lips. Jo closed her eyes, allowing Nick to kiss her. After the kiss, Nick was slowly pulling his head up as he heard a tiny voice cry out "Mother!"
PART 7
COMING SOON!
