North Road {HS}

3. Adelaide

Joshua bored me to no end.

Just my luck too that the snow had picked up when he got here. He had only stopped talking long enough to notice and and then comment on the fact that he was stuck here for now with that dumb grin on his face.

My head ached and I wished for once he would just stop talking. I wish my sister would stop banging on the piano in the other room. I wish it wasn't so unreasonably cold in this big house.

As if on cue with my thought a figure entered the parlor Joshua and I were seated in, his arms laden with wood. I recognized him as one of the men Kitty had agreed to let stay when I was gone on New Year's. They had been here a week much to Kitty's frustration and she had not hesitated to put them to work for a moment. I hadn't had much of a chance to interact with them yet as I was busy in the New Year and they seemed content doing their own thing.

"Sorry to interrupt, Miss," he said emptying the contents of his arms into the basket on the hearth,

"Miss Kitty says we oughtta start fires in some of the big rooms so that we don't freeze."

"No problem at all," I answered smiling.

I watched him prepare the fire as Joshua droned on as if he had never entered. He was handsome, with a boyish face and a lanky figured that still looked as if it could benefit from a few of Hilde's home cooked meals. He had changed into new clothes or at leased cleaned his old ones. After finishing he ran a hand through his neat hair and turned toward where we were seated.

"There you go," he said winking.

Did he just wink at me? A strange feeling fluttered in the pit of my stomach.

"Wait!" I called out as he headed out the door. He turned to look at me expectantly.

"Y-you're welcome to join us," I stuttered, "I mean after you went through all that effort to make the room warm. Right Joshua?"

I turned to Joshua and tried to ignore his put-off expression.

"Oh- oh yes," Joshua muttered.

"Alright," he shrugged in response.

"Mr. Schultz, right?" I asked.

"Yes," he smiled plopping himself into one of the wicker chairs, "but you can call Pierce, Miss Adelaide."

"Alright, Pierce," I smiled at him awkwardly.

A nervous silence settled over the room as I searched frantically for something to say, but suddenly Pierce spoke up as if sensing my frustration.

"Awful nice of your family to let us stay here," he said.

"Oh, yes, of course," I smiled even though I had nothing to do with it.

"What are you and your friend doing in Tacoma anyway? Are you from here?" I asked, curious.

"No," he shook his head, "I'm from a place in the Alberta plains."

I looked at him confused.

"Canada," he explained, "but after hearing all about this place from Art during the war I figured this place was as good as any to settle"

"You don't want to go back home?" I asked, surprised.

"Just because you're from somewhere doesn't make it home," he answered.

"That doesn't make much sense," muttered Joshua.

"It does to me," said Pierce matter-of-factly.

"So you fought in France?" I asked.

"Yes," he nodded shoving his hands in his pockets, "I joined up the day I heard I could. I was seventeen."

"You were in Europe for four years?" I asked, surprised.

"Spent four years in the trenches. Bloody lucky though," he muttered with a far away look in his eye.
I watched him in interest as he stared at the fire, a distracted look masking his face. Suddenly he stood up with a large grin on his face as if he hadn't just been quiet and contemplative.

"Well," he chuckled, "I should go before Miss Kitty finds me missing or she'll string me up."

"She might string me up as well for not being more of a help," I laughed along.

Stopping at the door he turned and looked at me with a look of excitement in his eye.

"I'll be seeing you around Miss Adelaide."

✵ ✷ ✷

"Any news, Marj?" I asked sitting down to join Marjorie and Kitty in peeling potatoes.

"No," shrugged Marjorie, "but Dianne Peterson hasn't heard anything from her Eddie either so I'm assuming that word's sparse for everyone."

"I'm sure he'll be home soon," I offered trying to be a comfort as I watched Hattie and Roy playing together on the floor at their mother's feet wishing for their sake that their father would be back with them soon.

"How's your mother?" Marjorie asked.

"The same," I sighed.

"She's getting worse," Kitty corrected.

"When was the last time she managed to come downstairs?" asked Marjorie.

I thought back to when the last time our mother had been strong enough to leave her bedroom upstairs.

"Beau and Dad carried her down for Christmas," I answered.

"That poor woman," Marjorie tutted as she rocked the crib next to her where the twins slept, "She must miss being in the thick of things."

"She doesn't miss the chores," laughed Kitty, "That's what having seven children is for."

We sat in the dim kitchen light peeling potatoes and cutting vegetables, laughing and gossiping in hopes of making the world feel a little less dark right now than it felt for us.
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Good stuff is coming! 😏