The Unlikely Wife

Rebecca resisted a sigh of relief. If she had heard Brooks she wouldn’t be so concerned about her behavior toward Forrester. From experience she knew the best tactic with Aunt Belle. “I’m sorry,” she said, letting her head hang slightly. “I forgot myself. I’ll try to act with more decorum in the future.”

“Good,” stated Belle, evidently willing to accept her vow at face value. “Now, I’m ready to get out of these awful clothes. We’ve only an hour to make ourselves presentable.”

Approximately an hour later the ambulance rolled to a stop in front of Kolchek’s station. Rebecca got her first glimpse of the long low building when Brooks came behind to help them out of the wagon. Aunt Belle had forbidden either her or Alicia to part the canvas for so much as a peek for fear their dresses would get dusty. “It’s hard enough dressing in such a confining space without dust billowing in as well,” she had said.

The house was built of rough-hewn wood and completely devoid of paint. The roof didn’t even seem to be level. Alicia stepped up beside Rebecca as she studied the building. “That’s ghastly,” she whispered.

“Rustic,” Rebecca corrected.

Aunt Belle made an audible gasp as she climbed from the wagon. “My,” she said, joining the girls. The wagon clattered out of the yard, and Belle looked after it with something akin to panic.

A large woman emerged from one of the three doors that ran along the front of the house. Shading her eyes with one hand she waved with the other. “Come on in out of the sun and have a cool drink. Dinner’ll be ready in no time.”

“It’s bound to be cooler inside,” Belle said, stepping forward. Rebecca and Alicia followed her onto the porch.

After they had all introduced themselves, Mrs. Kolchek expressed a need to get back to the kitchen. “You folks just make yourselves at home.”

“I’d like to walk around a little,” Rebecca said. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

Alicia touched her mother’s arm. “I’ll go with Rebecca and see that she doesn’t take too long.”

“Good idea.” Belle followed the woman into the station.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Alicia said. “I wanted to apologize for letting Mother overhear your conversation with your lieutenant. I parted the canvas to see why we had stopped. It muffles sound quite effectively the rest of the time.”