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If you were a war bride, the author would appreciate it if you would answer her QUESTIONNAIRE---QUESTIONNAIRE (auto. format).

"Mary Rose O'Donnell"
Love Under Fire, The War Brides
by

Alice Bateman

CHAPTER ELEVEN

In rural Canada, Jenny sits alone at the kitchen table, chin in hand, missing Johnnie. That seems to be all she does these days, miss Johnnie. They were childhood sweethearts, played together every day, and the deep affection between them had turned to love as they’d blossomed together to maturity.

She’d let him touch her and kiss and cuddle her when they were dating, but she’d saved her virginity until her wedding night. The wedding that took place two short weeks before War was declared, and Johnnie was suddenly gone! Jenny hadn’t been able to believe it at first, but finally had to stop pretending that he’d come walking down the lane of their farm any minute.

The time they’d spent together as man and wife began to seem like a distant dream, but she still wakes up every day in their own house, not her parent's, so she knows it must have been real.

He’d been gone for eight and a half months by now, and the child growing inside Jenny is getting very close to making his appearance. Jenny is convinced it will be a boy, a darling baby to give her someone to hold onto while Johnnie is gone.

Johnnie has to come back! Jenny won’t won’t won’t think of of him dying, of herself getting one of those dreadfully horrible letters! Her sweetheart, brown wavy hair, freckles, big green eyes; just a big dumb farm boy, but she loves him with her whole heart and soul. If anything were to happen to him, she knows she’d die.

The waiting is so hard. Too many weeks had just gone by without even a letter. And then finally one that said, "I was wounded, Honey, but I’m OK now." No word about what kind of wound! Jenny didn’t know if he’d gotten a scratch or lost a limb. But of course, if he’d done that, they would have sent him home. She already had one friend who’d come home missing an arm. And George, chubby, lovable George, who’d always had a crush on her, was dead.

The screen door slammed and Jenny’s fourteen-year-old brother came in, making straight for the jug of cool apple cider on the counter. Pouring a glass, Zach turned to his sister and said, "Aw, come on, Jenny! You mopin’ again?"

Zach had moved over to Jenny’s place a couple of months ago, when the baby began to make it difficult for Jenny to keep up with all the chores around the small farm, and still get enough rest. He doesn’t mind helping her out in the least, or staying here away from the teasing of his two older brothers, and the noise of the three little kids. It’s nice and peaceful here at Jenny’s, and she doesn’t nag him.

Shortly after he'd moved over here, Zach and Jenny had sat down, made a list of the chores to be done, and divided them up. The schedule allows Zach plenty of time to pursue his own interests, now that the gardens are mostly harvested.

Zach is so envious of Johnnie! Why did this war have to happen while he’s too young to go and fight? It just isn’t fair! And probably by the time he’s old enough, it will be over! His frustration spills over into an impatience with Jenny.

"Jenny, come on, all you ever do anymore is sit around and cry! Knock it off! You used to be so much fun, you know? Now you just drive me nuts, and I’m getting pretty darned tired of hanging around here if all you’re gonna do is whine!"

Immediately, the increased volume of Jenny’s distress makes Zach feel like a monster. He really does love Jenny, and is happy to be here to take care of her, but he just doesn’t know what to do for her! He feels helpless in the face of her emotions.

Zach puts down his glass to go over to Jenny and began to awkwardly pat her back. "Come on, Jenn, come on, please quiet down and relax. You’re gonna scare that little baby inside you."

"Oh, Zach, I’m just scared!" Jenny wails.

"What are you scared of, Jenn? Johnnie’s going to be just fine, I know it!"

"And what about me and this little baby? What are we supposed to do with no husband, no daddy for this little one?"

"Well, you’ve got me here to take care of things for you, Jenny. I’ll love the little guy, and I’ll be his uncle, ain’t that close enough for now?"

"Oh, it’s just not the same!" Jenny continues wailing, not in the mood to be consoled at the moment.

"Oh, for God’s sakes Jenn! Whine and wail if you want to, then, I’m goin’ back outside! Call me if there’s anything I can do for you, or if you decide to get some supper made."

Jenny just doesn’t know what to do with herself. A baby coming in two weeks or so, so much she wanted to get done first, and absolutely no ambition to do anything but sit around and miss Johnnie. She sniffles and raises her head, looking around at the bright yellow walls of the big farm kitchen. She’d painted most of the rooms in the first month after Johnnie was gone, and put up pretty wallpaper with pink roses on one wall in the sitting room. She loves her house, and thanks God every day that she and Johnnie had seen it and arranged to buy it when it came on the market six months before their marriage. Johnnie had used an inheritance from his grandfather and bought it outright, moved in before they’d gotten married to fix up the place a bit before bringing his bride home.

The house itself is large and rambling, weathered red brick, with a deep porch around three sides of the house. Jenny had loved that porch on sight, the columns rising to hold the roof that covered it, ivy twining up some of the front columns. Morning glories climb up trellises on the south side of the house, and there is a huge shade maple about thirty feet from the north wall. Jenny has always pictured putting up a swing there, and will just as soon as she’s recovered from delivering this baby. As long as the weather holds nice. If it turns too quick to winter, that’s something that can wait until the spring.

The discomfort of the baby and her sadness over missing Johnnie hadn’t stopped Jenny from doing all the fall preserving, and Jenny likes having all the bins in the basement filled with potatoes, carrots and turnips. No need to worry about going hungry. The basement shelves are filled with row upon row of shiny mason jars, containing everything from yellow mustard pickles to strawberry jam. The only things still in the gardens are the squash and pumpkins, spreading out in all their glory now that they have the whole garden to themselves.

Jenny’s Mom and Dad had slaughtered a cow and a pig for meat for the winter, and given Jenny a generous portion of both. They keep telling her to eat better. She really hasn’t had a very good appetite since Johnnie left, but she does try to eat three good meals a day, and drink lots of the fresh milk Zach brings into the house. Jenny did the milking herself for months, but her belly had been getting in the way for the last several weeks, so she had turned that task over to Zach. She could still bend over to collect the eggs the chickens insisted on hiding around the yard, but even that is getting more difficult by the day.

Sniffling, Jenny pulls her embroidered handkerchief from the pocket of her pale blue cardigan. Sitting here feeling sorry for herself isn’t getting supper on the table, and the baby she’s carrying and Zach are always hungry.

Standing up heavily, Jenny tries to push her dreadful longing for Johnnie to the back of her mind. Much easier said than done! Almost every time she looks in the icebox to decide what to cook, she wonders what Johnnie might like tonight.

For five years, until their families had considered them old enough to marry, Jenny had loved her beau, wanting so desperately to be with him every day, to cook his meals, to take care of him. She’d come over to their farm twice a week to cook his supper before they’d gotten married, on the condition that she be back at her parent’s house by nine, which she always was. Johnnie respected her wish to wait for their wedding night, and although they’d come very close to giving in to temptation a few times when they’d been alone in this house before marriage, they’d both been strong and waited. Judging from the fact that she’d gotten pregnant right away, it was a good thing they had.