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butter for lunch.
    While they worked, she asked Gertie, “Why were you and Robert so excited to have eggs for breakfast?”
    Gertie sighed heavily.  “Papa can’t cook.  Anything.  We went to town once a week to buy bread, and we had bread and jam for every single meal.  I love jam, but not for every meal!”
    Clara bit her lip to keep from snickering.  The man had needed a wife a great deal more than he’d let on.  She promised herself that she’d cook good meals for her new family, if only to make up for all the jam sandwiches they’d had in the past few months.  “What’s your favorite dessert?” she asked.
    Gertie thought about that for a moment.  “I really like gingerbread. 
Do you know how to make gingerbread?”  Her face was hopeful as she looked at her new step-mother.
    Clara smiled.  “I’ll look and see if we have the ingredients, and if we do, I’ll make a big pan of gingerbread and some whipped cream for dessert tonight.  Would you like that?”
    “Oh yes!”
    Natalie rolled her eyes.  “I like pie, Mama.”  She made it clear that her needs still needed to be met as well.
    Clara sighed, looking at her daughter.  “You had pie on the train, Natalie.  How long has it been since you’ve had gingerbread, Gertie?”
    “Since before Christmas.”
    Natalie groaned.  “I guess we’re having gingerbread, aren’t we?”
    “You like gingerbread, Natalie.  What’s the problem?”
    Natalie just shrugged her shoulders and continued to churn the butter.  She didn’t say anything else, but Clara could see something was bothering her.  She’d have to talk to her about it when they were alone.
    The three of them spent the day doing chores.  They scrubbed walls, windows, and floors.  They baked bread, and cooked the beans.  Clara found the ingredients for gingerbread and carefully showed both girls how to make it, happy that she had another girl to teach.  Clara had always wanted a houseful of children, and there just hadn’t been any more after Clarence.  She was happy to get two more from her new marriage.
    She tried not to let herself think about Albert and his rejection of her the previous night.  She didn’t really want to sleep with her new husband yet anyway.  She barely knew him, and the mere idea of having relations with another man felt as if she were betraying Nathan.  She’d loved her husband with everything inside her, and she couldn’t imagine letting another man take his place in her bed…or in her heart.
    When Clarence and Albert came home for lunch, they seemed like they’d become closer during the day.  Albert put his hand on Clarence’s shoulder and told him what a good job he’d done that morning.  After their prayer, she asked, “Was Clarence a good help?”
    Albert nodded.  “He held the wire in place so I could nail it in.  It’s been a hard job to do by myself all these years, and I’m glad to have another man around who can help me.”
    Clara smiled at her son, letting him know without words how proud she was of him.  “Will he be going out with you again this afternoon?”
    “He’ll be going with me every afternoon.  I need his help.”
    Clarence all but glowed with the pride the words filled him with.  He ate more than she’d ever seen him eat in a single sitting, but he’d done a man’s work, so that made sense to her.
    “What’s your favorite dessert?” she asked Albert as she ate her own food.
    He eyed her for a moment, before finally answering, “Pie, but I don’t need you to go out of your way to make it for me.”  He didn’t really want her to do nice things like that for him.  He wanted to be able to keep her at arms-length, and he couldn’t really do that if she was constantly going out of her way to do nice things for him.
    She grinned at Natalie.  “That’s Natalie’s favorite as well.  If I make it, both of you will enjoy it.”  She looked at Robert, who had played quietly all morning.  “What’s