Her Heart's Desire (21 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Sally’s stomach was tied into a bunch
of knots as she looked over the meal she’d prepared for Rick’s
parents. She took off her apron and hung it on the hook by the
kitchen door. How she wished she was better at cooking, but the
best she could hope for was that the food wouldn’t taste too bland.
Rick hadn’t complained about it, but then he was so nice, she
doubted he would complain even if it tasted horrible.

The front door opened, and she hurried
to it. Rick shut the front door and then turned to hang up his hat.
She ran over to him so she could kiss him to welcome him home. He
wrapped her in his arms and returned her kiss. She melted in his
arms. How lovely it would be if they could remain like this
forever.

When the kiss ended, she smiled. “How
was your day?”

“
Good. How was
yours?”

“
So far, so good. I made
pot roast because you said that’s your father’s favorite dish, and
I made apple dumplings because you said that’s your mother’s
favorite.”

He brushed her hair from her face and
gave her another kiss. “You’re wonderful, Sally.”

Pleased, she hugged him. “I hope your
parents think so, too.”

He released her. “They should be here
in about ten minutes. I need to get ready for them. I’ll be back
downstairs in a couple minutes.”

She nodded and waited for him to go
upstairs before she returned to the kitchen. She collected the
plates and set them on the dining room table, trying to make sure
they were positioned just right. She spent even more time setting
out the utensils because she couldn’t remember if it was the
smaller or larger fork that went on the outside. Her parents didn’t
have forks that were smaller than the others. When she and Rick
picked out the utensils, she didn’t think anything of the
differences in sizes between the forks and spoons, but now she
wished she’d asked Rick why that difference existed. But would he
know? He was, after all, a man. She didn’t think men took note of
such things.

Not sure what else to do, she placed
the small fork on one side and the large one on the other. If
nothing else, it made them seem less different from each other, and
that being the case, maybe his parents wouldn’t notice. Content,
she went to the kitchen and retrieved the cups and set the coffee
pot in the middle of the table. After that, she set out the rest
the food so everyone could take the portions they
wanted.

By the time she was placing the neatly
folded napkins beside each plate, Rick returned. She glanced up at
him. “What do you think? Is this alright?”

“
It’s perfect,
Sally.”

“
I don’t want your parents
to be disappointed.”

“
I wouldn’t worry about
that. Just be yourself.”

She wondered about his choice of
words, but a knock at the door stopped her from asking him any
questions. She quickly turned back to placing out the rest of the
napkins. When she was done, she inspected the table, wondering if
everything was in order. She adjusted one of the cups and nodded.
Much better.

From the front door, she could hear
Rick welcoming his parents into the house. She took a deep breath
and wiped her sweaty hands on her skirt. Well, here went nothing.
She put on a smile and hurried to the entryway where his father was
asking Rick how his day went.

“
Good,” Rick replied as his
parents hung up their hats. “It was a productive day in
court.”

“
Was it?” Sally asked,
standing beside her husband.

“
Yes, but I’m not at
liberty to say anything except the witness came through with a
crucial piece of information that might decide the
case.”

“
How exciting!” Sally
clasped her hands and turned to his parents. “You must be proud of
him. He’s only been here for a short time, but people are already
talking about what a wonderful judge he is.”

Smiling, he motioned to her. “Ma, Pa,
this is Sally.”

“
How do you do?” she asked
them.

His mother glanced at his father.
“We’re fine.”

Sally couldn’t be sure, but she
thought she detected a stiff tone in his mother’s voice.

Rick cleared his throat and asked
them, “Did you find a house yet?”

“
Not yet,” his father said.
“I’m sure we’ll be settled in soon enough. Omaha is a booming
place.”

“
It is,” Rick agreed.
“There are plenty of new houses to choose from.”

“
You’ll like it here,”
Sally told them. “My family came out here because of the Homestead
Act, and they’re happy here.”

“
Oh?” his mother
asked.

“
Yes. My father felt too
confined in New York.”

“
If that was the case, then
why didn’t he go further out west? Doesn’t he realize this area
will continue to expand?”

Unsure of how to answer her, she
offered a weak smile. “It’s not crowded on the farm.”

Rick put his hand on the small of
Sally’s back and told his parents, “Sally has made your favorite
dishes for supper tonight.”

“
Yes,” Sally added. “I hope
you don’t mind. Rick told me what you like to eat.”

“
That’s very thoughtful of
you,” his father said.

Sally relaxed. “Thank you.
Everything’s ready if you want to eat now.”

“
We should go to the dining
room before everything gets cold.” Rick took her by the arm and
motioned down the hallway. “The dining room is the last door on the
right.”

His father nodded and urged his mother
forward. His mother scanned Sally up and down until her gaze
settled on where Rick’s hand was on her elbow. Then his mother
joined his father and headed down the hall. Sally’s eyebrows
furrowed. She glanced at Rick to see what he thought of his
mother’s odd behavior, but he just kissed her on the cheek and
urged her to follow his parents.

When they reached the dining room,
Sally told them where she’d designated for them to sit and sat
across from Rick. They passed the serving dishes around until their
plates were full. Noting that they put their napkins in their laps,
she did as well, not wishing to stand out. It already seemed as if
they weren’t pleased with her, though she had no idea
why.

As they began their meal, his mother
motioned to the shorter fork and looked at her. “Is there a reason
why this is on the wrong side of the plate?”

Sally shrugged and offered an
apologetic smile. “I wasn’t sure where to put it.”

“
You weren’t sure where to
put it?”

Heat rose in her cheeks at the
scolding tone underlying his mother’s voice. “Uh…” How was she
supposed to respond to that?

Rick cleared his throat. “Mother,
that’s not fair. A small fork isn’t necessary for a
meal.”

“
Then why have it out?” his
mother asked, motioning to it.

“
Sally did that in case you
wanted to use it. I haven’t eaten with a small fork since I moved
out here. People out west have more important things to worry about
than what size fork they’re eating with. A lot of them spend all
day working in the fields to provide us with the food we’re
enjoying during this meal.”

“
He’s right,” his father
agreed. “Sally, you said your family came here because of the
Homestead Act?”

Surprised their attention turned to
her, Sally straightened in her chair and nodded. She glanced at
Rick who picked up his long fork and started eating the salad. She
realized he did that for her benefit and appreciated it. Forcing
her gaze back to his father, she thought of how she was going to
answer his question about the Homestead Act without rambling.
“Yes,” she slowly began. “My pa got tired of living in New York and
decided to try his hand at farming.”

“
What did he do in New
York?”

“
He worked at a
factory.”

“
Really? What
kind?”

Aware that his mother was watching
her, she said, “Slaughtering and meatpacking.”

As she feared, his mother grimaced.
She lowered her gaze to the food and sighed. It was going to be a
long night. Despite her lack of appetite, she poked the fork into
the pot roast and forced a portion of it into her mouth. She didn’t
taste it, and swallowing it proved to be a daunting
task.

His father finished the pot roast on
his plate. “Delicious pot roast, Sally,” he said.

Glad he gave her the compliment, she
smiled. “Thank you.”

“
Yes, I suppose it’s
adequate, given the lack of proper seasoning in it and the fact
that it’s slightly burnt,” his mother added.

“
Mother,” Rick admonished,
placing his fork down and glaring at her. “That’s
enough.”

“
I’m sorry, Rick. You’re
right.” She looked at Sally. “Forgive me. I must remember you’re
still young. You cook very well.”

“
Yes, she does,” Rick said,
glancing over at Sally and offering what she thought was a
sympathetic smile. “You do a wonderful job, Sally.”

Sally forced a smile in
return.

His mother turned back to the food,
and since everyone followed her lead, Sally made herself eat, aware
that every bite was more painful than the one before. She tried to
figure out what she might have said or done to upset his mother.
There had to have been something she did wrong without realizing
it.

Rick’s father cleared his throat. “So
Rick, how is Judge Townsend doing? I’ve been meaning to pay him a
visit but haven’t had time yet.”

“
He’s doing good,” Rick
replied, seeming to be relieved for the change in topic. “It was
nice of him to put in a good word for me so I got the job here. He
didn’t have to do that.” With another glance in her direction, he
added, “I’m glad he did.”

Heat rose in her cheeks from his
compliment, but her pleasure diminished when she saw the thin line
of disapproval on his mother’s lips. Turning her attention back to
the plate, she continued eating, though for the life of her she
couldn’t tell anyone what she was eating or how it
tasted.

“
Then the judge is doing
well?” his father asked.

Rick cleared his throat and leaned
forward. “Yes, he is. Oh, and his nephew, Samuel Dixon, has come to
Omaha for a visit before he heads out to California.”

“
You don’t say. We’ll have
to see Samuel before he leaves then. Do you know how long he’ll be
here?”

“
He had planned to leave
yesterday, but I think he’s staying longer because of Ethel Mae. I
suspect he’ll ask her to marry him.”

At that announcement, Sally looked up
from her plate. “I didn’t know he was supposed to leave
yesterday.”

“
Well, no one does except
for Judge Townsend and Samuel. Townsend was telling me that
Samuel’s sweet on Ethel Mae and doesn’t want to leave until he
knows whether or not she’d go to California with him.”

Sally wanted to ask Rick when Samuel
would propose, but she didn’t dare, not when his parents—especially
his mother—was in the room. She didn’t want to say anything else as
long as that woman was there. Nothing she had said so far had
pleased her.

“
Samuel is courting Ethel
Mae?” Rick’s mother asked in surprise.

“
Yes,” Rick said.
“Everything worked out exactly as it should.”

Eyebrows furrowed, Sally’s gaze darted
to Rick, wondering if he was, as she suspected, sending his mother
a secret message.

His mother shrugged and ate the rest
of the food Sally had slaved over in order to please her. His
mother didn’t like her, and his father seemed indifferent to her,
at best. She just wished she knew why they felt the way they did.
If she knew, then maybe she could figure out how to work things
out.

Rick spent the rest of the meal
talking about his job, which seemed safe enough, and afterwards, he
told Sally he’d walk his parents home. She sensed that he wanted to
talk to them, and though she wanted to ask him what he’d tell them,
she resisted the urge to press him about it. Instead, she nodded
and turned her attention to cleaning the dishes. The good-byes were
awkward, polite but lacking warmth.

She wondered if this was how it was
going to be between her and her in-laws. She wasn’t used to tension
in a family. Sure, she had her share of arguments with her
brothers, but it was never like this. After they left, she
collected the dishes, noting how hollow the task was. This was her
home, and yet, she suddenly felt as if she didn’t belong here.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she turned her attention to washing
the dishes.

***

Rick waited until his house was out of
sight before he spoke up as he walked his parents to the hotel they
were staying in. “Can’t you be nicer to Sally?”

His mother sighed. “We’re trying,
Rick, but it’s hard to when we see how she’s manipulating
you.”

“
Manipulating
me?”

“
All those things you were
saying during supper. One would think she didn’t go through that
dreadful plan in order to have you for herself when you wanted to
be with Ethel Mae.”