friendly and we can’t take them all up to the house to be pets…much to Lissa’s disappointment and now yours.”
Adele turned back to the cow and didn’t disappoint the felines. She squirted the first few pulls of the teat onto the ground and into a few of the cat’s faces.
She laughed as the ones she squirted sat and rubbed their paws over their faces and then licked their paws to get all the milk. They weren’t about to leave any of the treat to waste. When she was satisfied the milk was now clean, she began to pull and squeeze, pull and squeeze the teats as quickly as she could. She developed a nice rhythm and half the bucket was full in no time. Stopping to rest her hands for a moment, she looked up at her husband and smiled.
Edward leaned against a brace behind the cow with his arms crossed over his chest. “You do that well.”
Adele shrugged. “As I started milking Elsie, I just remembered how to do it. Milking was one of my chores when I was about thirteen and worked as a scullery maid for a rich family in New York City. Having a cow was very unusual in New York, but the wife grew up on a farm and insisted on the freshest milk and so they bought a cow and kept it in the stables with the horses.”
He gestured toward the cow. “Do you want me to finish for you?”
She shook her head. “No, that’s all right, but thank you for offering.”
He pushed away from the brace. “Then I’ll go ahead and do my chores. The animals need to be fed and watered. I’ll gather the eggs for you before I come in.”
She cocked her head. “That task is something you’ll have to teach me tomorrow so I can get it done before I start breakfast. But, as long as you’re offering to do the job this morning, I’ll let you. What do you normally have for breakfast, and how many should I cook for?”
“There are the three of us, Mrs. Underhill, who will help you on the days she’s here, and ten men who work for me. Cookie will help you today.”
“Ten men? I’m actually surprised that with a ranch this size you don’t need more. That explains why the table in the dining room is so big. The house I worked in, had a dining room table that sat twenty and even if only the master and missus were dining, they still sat at the ends of the table.” She chuckled. “I don’t think they liked each other much.”
Edward laughed. “That will never happen here. On Saturday nights the men go to town and let off steam. They don’t eat with us before they go, so there will just be the two of us.”
“Two? What about Mrs. Underhill and Lissa?” Adele continued milking as they talked.
“They usually take supper early and then sit in the living room where Ruama, that’s Mrs. Underhill, teaches her how to knit, sew, crochet and embroider. Things she says every young girl should know.”
Adele nodded. Getting close to Lissa will be harder now. I won’t be able to teach her what I wanted to since she’s already learning but maybe we can do those skills together. “She’s right. No matter how bad things get, a girl can always take in sewing, laundry, ironing…those kinds of things to keep food in her mouth.”
Edward lifted his chin. “She’ll never have to do any of those jobs as long as I’m alive.”
Adele stopped milking and put a hand on her hip. “Well, that’s the crux of the problem. You will die, whether tomorrow or one hundred years from now, you will die. In the event that Lissa is not married yet when that happens, she might need to rely on her own skills. My mother took in laundry and sewing and my father delivered milk and worked on the docks, but we were still very poor. I went to work in the big house when I was twelve. Luckily, Lissa will never have to do that.”
“That’s right.” He moved to behind Elsie. “I have you to ensure she will always have someone to care for her and be there for her until she gets married. In return for that guidance, should I die sooner than expected, you’ll inherit one-half of this ranch with the other half put into a trust for when Lissa marries.”
Adele went back to milking Elsie. “We