Mail Order Millie by Katie Crabapple Read Free Book Online Page B

her own hair and Millie helped her brush it dry while George set up the tub for her. Once Patience had gone off to bed, Millie looked at George, waiting to see if he was planning on going somewhere, or if he was just going to sit at the table reading his Bible while she bathed.
    Finally he stood. “I guess I’ll go out to the barn. Don’t take too long. I need my bath yet tonight, too.” He stifled a loud yawn as he walked out into the dark toward the barn.
    Once he was gone, Millie quickly stripped down and sank into the hot water. Her tired achy muscles all but sang with joy as she quickly washed her hair and her body. She would have loved to spend an hour in there, but didn’t want to risk George coming back before she was finished.
    Just as she finished buttoning her nightgown, he came back into the cabin. He stared at her for a moment, his eyes travelling up and down her. Her nightgown covered her from the top of her neck down to her ankles. It was as modest as nightwear could be. This was the first time he’d seen her in her nightgown, though. She’d always changed in the girls’ room, and before she came out, she was wearing her stockings and shoes and everything.
    “I..umm…I’ll just go to bed now,” she mumbled. Her face was bright red from embarrassment. It wasn’t as if he’d never seen a woman in her nightgown before, she scolded herself.
    He nodded. “It makes sense to skip our Bible study on bath night.” His fingers went to his shirt buttons, and she ran from the room. Climbing into bed with Patience, she rubbed her hands across her red cheeks. She had no idea she could get so embarrassed.
    She lay awake a long time that night thinking about the look in George’s eyes when he’d come in from the barn. Maybe, when he finally forgave her for lying to him, they might be able to have a real marriage. She was still mad at him for the way he’d talked to her, but through the anger, she could see that she wanted a real marriage with George. She would love to have some more babies of her own.
     

Chapter Five

 
    When Millie woke on Sunday morning, she seriously considered feigning illness. She had no desire to go and be stared at by a bunch of people she didn’t know. The wedding was bad enough, but she didn’t want to have to meet them all at once like this. It wasn’t that she was shy, she wasn’t. She just didn’t like big groups of people surrounding her, and she knew that’s how it would be at church.
    She rolled out of bed, putting on one of her work dresses and her apron. She’d wait to put on her church dress until after breakfast.
    She went out to the hen house and gathered eggs as she did every morning, yawning as she went. She’d decided to make pancakes this morning, and hurried as she went about her work, knowing she wanted everything ready before the others woke up.
    She slipped into the house and put her big griddle into the center of the stove with a spoonful of the butter. She pulled the large mixing bowl off the shelf, mixing up the ingredients quickly.
    Before Millie dropped the pancakes, she knocked on George’s door. “Breakfast in twenty minutes!” she called through the closed door.
    She went back into the kitchen and poured the first of the pancakes onto the griddle. George yawned as he stepped into the kitchen. “I’ll go milk the cow,” he told her sleepily, pulling his suspenders up over his shoulders as he walked through the kitchen.
    “What time is church?” she asked.
    “Nine.” He glanced at the clock. It was six-thirty. “We need to leave around eight, so we have plenty of time.” He left and went out to the barn.
    She nodded, flipping the pancakes expertly. She’d made pancakes several times, so this was easy for her. Once she had the first twelve done, she woke Patience and told her to bring Grace to the table in her nightgown. She didn’t want them to get food on their church clothes. She called up to the boys to have them come down.
    She