Thomas is 12. Daniel is 10. Lucas eight, and Samuel is six." He recited them the way someone recites a list they've had memorized for years, not thinking about it, just moving through them in order. "That's quite a family," Clara said.
"Yes, ma'am." Another silence. "Your father," she said carefully. "What should I know about him?" James was quiet for a moment longer than the question required.
He kept his eyes on the road. He's a fair man, he said finally. He doesn't say much. He works hard. He expects the same from everybody else.
A pause. He hasn't been easy since Ma died, but he's fair. How long ago did your mother pass? Three years, James said. February of '81.
He said it without flinching, but she noticed his hands tighten slightly on the reins. I'm sorry, Clara said. For Yes, ma'am, he said. And then after a moment, Mabel's been running the house. She won't She might be He stopped, started again.
Mabel's been running the house a long time. She might take some getting used to. Clara understood what he was not saying. I'm not here to push anyone aside, she said quietly. I'm here to help.
That's all. James looked at her then, a quick sideways look, the kind that is assessing and uncertain at the same time. Yes, ma'am, he said again, but something in his voice had shifted just slightly. The ranch appeared in the distance. As the road curved, she saw the barn first, tall and weathered gray, and then the house behind it, two stories, wide porch running across the front.
The kind of house that had been built to last and had been doing exactly that for some years without any particular assistance from paint or repairs. It was not beautiful, but it was solid. She appreciated solid. As the wagon pulled into the yard, she became aware of being watched. They appeared one at a time.
A boy of about 10 materialized beside the barn door. Then another, slightly younger one, beside the fence post. Then a small, dark-haired child of perhaps six came running from somewhere around the side of the house and stopped abruptly 20 feet away, staring at her with enormous brown eyes and his hands clasped behind his back like he was trying to look very serious about the whole thing. That was Samuel. She didn't know his name yet, but she would think later remembering this first moment that she had felt something the instant she saw him.
Something she couldn't name then and wouldn't try to name later. Just a recognition, the way you sometimes know a piece of music before it finishes its first measure. James helped her down from the wagon. The boy with the enormous brown eyes took one very careful step forward. "Are you the lady who's going to be our ma?"