Teaching Patience (Homespun) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and ate a cracker.
    “No, I just didn’t want him to be subject ed to the gossip.”  He took another bite of the soup, blowing on it carefully.
    She turned to him fully, continuing to eat, but listening carefully.  “Why would he be subject ed to gossip?”
    He lowered his voice and spoke voluntarily about his wife for the first time in years.  “My wife didn’t die.  She left me and got a divorce.  She’s married to a banker in New York City.”  He looked down at his food as he told her, too embarrassed to meet her eyes.
    Patience’s eyes widened.  “A divorce?”  She wasn’t sure what to say.  She’d never known anyone who had been divorced before.   No wonder he’d bristled when she’d asked him about Charlie’s mother.
    “Yeah.  A divorce.  I haven’t told anyone here about it.  It’s easier to let people assume my wife died.”   The fact that he didn’t want her to talk to people about it remained unspoken, but it was there as if he’d shouted the words.
    “I can understand that.  How long ago did she leave?”  Her eyes found Charlie as she watched him play with the others.  She felt badly for him.  Every child deserved a mother. 
    “Charlie was four.  We’ve been on our own ever since.”  He took another bite of his soup.  “Our old church was understanding about it, but they were also always looking for a new wife for me.  They kept saying Charlie couldn’t be raised by just a man.  I wasn’t ready to remarry.  I needed to sort out how I felt about my first marriage, so I decided to keep Charlie home.  We moved out here to get away from the well-meaning people back east.”   He waited for censure from her, but it never came.  She acted as if one of her students coming from a broken home was the most normal thing she’d ever heard.
    “When my mother died, I was six.  My papa had to keep working to support us, so he left me with my younger siblings while he went to the fields.  He was always afraid to work so far from the house he couldn’t hear me yell.”  She nodded to Grace.  “My sister Grace was still in diapers.  It was a hard time.”
    “When did your father remarry?”
    She laughed softly.  “Right before I turned seven the ladies from church decided they’d had enough of Papa being a single father.  They were bringing meals to us every night, and we were living in filth.  It was my job to keep the house clean and take care of my three younger siblings.  It was too much for a six year old.”  Her eyes twinkled at him as she continued.  “So they held a bake sale to raise enough money for a mail order bride.  Papa wanted nothing to do with a new wife, but he couldn’t do everything we needed done, because there were four of us, and he had a farm to tend.”
    Hugh smiled at the picture she painted with her words.  “Sounds like anyone coming into that situation would be destined to fail.”  In his mind he could see her pretty mother, and he knew she hadn’t failed.  She was well respected and considered one of the best mothers in the area.  He’d heard nothing but good about her.
    Patience nodded.  “You’d think.  But not my mama.  She was young, younger than I am now when she got here.  Papa made it clear he didn’t want a wife.  He only wanted someone to cook, clean and take care of us kids.  She did it all, and she did it with a smile.  I’ve never seen a woman work so hard in my life.  It didn’t take Papa long to realize he’d been fortunate enough to get a very special woman.”  She paused for a moment looking off into space.  “You know, she stills works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen.  She just never stops.  Even if she’s sitting visiting with friends, she’s doing it with sewing in her hands.”
    “Sounds like all of you are fortunate to have found one another.”   He’d never have guessed Patience wasn’t Millie’s daughter.  He’d seen the two women together, and the love between