While Luke was damning his luck, Hannah found herself in a position that wasn’t much better. When she’d told her senior staff she was pregnant and said they could pass the information on, she somehow thought she’d receive the same care and support she’d received when she was pregnant with Stevie. It soon became apparent that was not going to be the case.
The initial surprise came when Dave stopped in to see her first
thing one morning soon after the news got out. She’d just sent Stevie to his room to dress when Dave
knocked. She called for him to enter and poured him a cup of coffee without
asking.
“Thanks,” Dave said and continued, “We got us a problem now the
news about your new bun in the oven is out. I mean, really, Hannah, how could
you have possibly been so careless? Once can be forgiven, especially since most
of us knew Luke and knew the two of you were in love, but a second time? Plus,
none of us have any idea who the father might be. It’s got the men around here
looking at each other with raised eyebrows.”
“Dave, I’m so sorry. As I said yesterday, this came as a complete
surprise. And, yes, I know how it happens, but it was one time and I guess you
could call it more of a date rape. I wasn’t prepared, barely participated and
it was over almost before it began. It certainly wasn’t an act of love. I was just
so lonely, all the compliments and hugs and flirting totally put me off guard.”
“Well, some of the staff have decided to quit. First among them is
Jamey. You know he idolized you, tried his best to get you to be interested in
him even though you didn’t give him the least bit of encouragement. I’m afraid
his opinion of you has gone right down the toilet.”
“I’ll talk to him. I’ll make him understand….”
Dave interrupted, “Nope, that’s not gonna happen. Jamey packed up
all his stuff this morning and took off. He wasn’t even willing to wait for his
final check. Told me I could bring it to him in town one day this week. Said he’s
too disgusted to hang around here for another second.”
Hannah felt her face turning red and tears brimming. “I’ll take
him his check. I know he’ll understand if I can only explain….”
Again, Dave interrupted. “That’s not going to happen either. Jamey
feels terrible. He’s just found out his idol has feet of clay. He was almost in
tears when he talked to me last night. I don’t think he’d let you even get near
him. And, it’s not just Jamey. I talked to Joe, Anita and Dale this morning
before I came here. I’m not going to be the only one informing you of staff
that’s quitting. You might get out your checkbook and be prepared to pay them
off as they leave.”
Dave finished his coffee, got up and put his cup in the dishwasher
before he stopped and laid his hand on Hannah’s back. “Sorry girl. I, and most
of us older staff know you aren’t a slut, that you didn’t go out whoring
around, but a number of the younger folk, or their parents, are appalled at
your latest news.”
When the door closed behind Dave, Hannah wanted to put her head on
the table and howl, but that wasn’t possible. Stevie was calling her from his
room and she went to give him a hand getting dressed. Ready for the day, they
went to the barn to do their chores. Hannah missed seeing Jamey’s smiling face,
especially when she realized she’d have to take care of his chores too until
she could assign someone else to take over. It was going to be a long day.
It was almost lunch time when she finished in the barn. Stevie had
been ready to go to the dining hall for quite some time, but Hannah had had to
make sure he stayed with her. She didn’t know who would and wouldn’t be in there,
so it was best she not let Stevie just go.
When they entered the dining hall and proceeded to her office, she
saw envelopes addressed to her on the desk. Once they removed
their outerwear, Hannah took Stevie to the buffet and prepared his lunch. She didn’t
feel very hungry. A block of something the consistency of cement had taken up residence in her belly. She
wasn’t looking forward to opening those envelopes. She put a few things on her
plate and filled a glass with water.
As she sat with Stevie, she was very aware of the glances staff
were throwing her way. She was also aware of who was and wasn’t there.
Thankfully, Emily was still on duty because Hannah was going to need someone
with whom she could leave Stevie as she read the resignations and dealt with
whatever else was waiting in her office after lunch.
She got up and went to Emily. Rather than greeting her with a smile,
Emily looked at her with raised eyebrows and said, “Yes, you want something?”
“Emily, I’m so glad you haven’t resigned and I’m so sorry for what’s
happened to me, but I can’t change it now. I’m also hoping you plan to stay. As
for right now, I’d like you to take Stevie to the house for his nap if you
could. There are a number of messages waiting for me and I’ve a feeling Jo,
Dale and Anita will be dropping by my office as well. Could you? Would you,
please?”
“Of course. There’s no way I’d be difficult about Stevie. This isn’t
his fault in the least little bit. If anything, once he understands he’s going
to have a sibling, he may need even more support from those of us who love him.
Just send him over when he’s ready to go.” Emily responded and turned away
without the hint of a smile.
The afternoon was more of what had come from Dave that morning.
All the envelopes contained staff resignations. Some of them were noncommittal while
others did everything except call her a slut or a whore. There was even one
from the parent of the youngest day-worker. Hannah knew the family, knew they
were very religious and not exactly surprised, but the message was hurtful.
“Ms. Wakefield. I had second thoughts about letting my son work at
WFR, but you pay good and he needed the money for school. I was shocked to
learn you were pregnant again. Wasn’t once without a daddy enough? You are a
woman without any morals or religious upbringing whatsoever. I don’t want my
son around your kind. He won’t be coming back. Sincerely,”
Most of the resignations were from younger staff and several more talked
about how their parents didn’t want them working at a, “…den of iniquity.” By
the time Hannah had read all of them, she’d come to the conclusion she was
going to need to find another 10-12 staff and that the townsfolk weren’t going
to provide the kind of support she’d had with Stevie. She put her head on the
desk and gave in to her tears.
Fortunately, she’d sat up and scrubbed her face with Kleenex before
Joe, Dale and Anita descended. Dave wandered in as well saying, “Know we talked
this morning, but figured you might want us all if we’re going to make plans about
how many staff we need to replace or where we’re gonna get them. Good thing it
isn’t the high season or we’d be up shit-crick without a paddle.”
Each one had a tale of woe about staff who’d left or staff that were
still here but highly disappointed in their fearless leader. Each supervisor
had managed to talk a few staff out of resigning, but if things didn’t go well,
their minds could change. Most of the permanent staff were remaining with the
exception of two. They and their families were very devout and didn’t want
their little children around someone like Hannah.
When Hannah heard about the two families, she was shocked. “I can’t
believe they’re packing up and leaving. WFR provides them with a place to live
that includes benefits and a good wage. Where are they going to go the very end
November that would include all that?
Joe responded, “They said their church would put them up and help
them find new jobs. Said they just couldn’t stay and work at WFR with someone
like you in charge. Sorry Hannah, but that’s what they said.”
The five of them discussed what to do and how to go about it. It
was decided Hannah would try to replace the full-time staff that had left, so
they only needed seven new hires. The day-workers could be delayed for a bit,
or at least until it was closer to the season. Maybe by then, the town folk
would have forgotten or at least decided Hannah wasn’t quite the pariah they
now thought she was. Hannah wasn’t any happier than she’d been when the meeting
started, but at least they’d come up with a plan and some ideas.
The next day, Hannah decided she’d go into town and see what kind
of welcome she got there. She decided to leave Stevie with Emily again in case
people decided to be really rude and say things he didn’t need to hear.
Word had apparently gotten around like wildfire. Most people on
the street pretended not to see her. At the grocery store, only the old owner was
friendly. The checkers more or less looked right though Hannah instead of
talking and joking with her. At the feed store, it was pretty much the same
thing, although the employee who’d carried the feed out to her truck said, “Hey
Hannah. If’n I’d known you needed a bit a lovin’, I coulda volunteered. Guess
you wanted some stranger tho. Too bad. Let me know the next time.” As he walked
off, he smacked her butt, leered and winked.
Hannah clenched her teeth and managed to stop herself from
screaming or running after him and boxing his ears. So, this is the way it’s going
to be she thought and turned her truck toward Miz. Lionel’s.
By the time Hannah parked and walked to knock on the door, tears
were streaming down her face. Miz. Lionel let her in, took her coat, handed her
a box of Kleenex and said, “That’s it, get it all out honey. You’ll feel
better.”
Hannah eventually stopped crying and blew her nose. “Guess you
know why I’m here Miz. Lionel?”
While she’d been crying her heart out, Miz. Lionel had prepared
tea and put it and a plate of cookies on the table. She sat down and said, “Yep,
surely do. The phone wires and backyard fence phones have been workin’
overtime. Know you lost some of yur staff, includin’ those two religious
families. You must be thankful it’s not yur busy season.”
“I just don’t understand. Most everyone was supportive and
understanding with Stevie, but this time, I’ve become a slut and a whore. It’s
not like I planned this or went out looking for a good time. Why can’t they
understand about how lonely I was, how wonderful it felt to have someone
compliment me and flirt with me. Did they all forget I had Stevie at 19, and
that I’m barely 21 now? Don’t they know I didn’t and wouldn’t do this on
purpose.”
“Well, Hannah, people are just people. There’ve been a lot of
folks who developed green eyes as WFR became more successful each year. There’s
others who think your success isn’t good or deserved. The ones who weren’t
happy with your first pregnancy are using this one to really make noise about
what a bad person you are.”
“What am I going to do Miz. Lionel? What am I going to do? I don’t
want Stevie to be hurt by all this. I don’t want this baby to be hurt either
because it didn’t choose to be. I sure which Gramps was here or even Grandma.”
“Wishin’ ain’t gonna make things better, not better atall. Yur
jest gonna have to hang in there, hold yur head up and make the best of
whatever comes yur way. What about Luke. Where’s he in all this mess?”
Hannah snorted and had to take a few deep breaths to keep from
crying. “I don’t know where that jerk is. He was the first person I told, after
you, that I was pregnant and he flipped out. The way he acted; you would have
thought I was in town having sex with anything that moved. He took off and when
he finally showed up again, I’d locked the gate and wouldn’t let him in.”
The tears began to fall again, “And, Stevie was heartbroken and
almost impossible for a few days when Luke first didn’t show up. He’s better
now, but I don’t want to let Luke back and have Stevie be disappointed again.”
“Well, Hannah, maybe you need to rethink this. Maybe you need to let Luke come back, that’s
if’n you still love him.”
“Oh, I do, I do." Hannah responded, wiping the tears away again. "He’s the only man I’ve ever loved, and I told him
that. I also told him he’d have to accept this baby as he’s accepted Luke and the
idea of loving another man’s child just made him so angry. I don’t know if us
being together will ever be possible.”
“Set some ground rules. Let Luke come back. Have him live at WFR,
but not with you. Let or make him participate in this pregnancy. Tell him it’s
his chance to experience what he missed with Stevie. Maybe that’ll work. Maybe
you’ll get together and Luke will be daddy to both. You could get married and
then everyone will forgive what they see as a bad sin right now.”
Hannah left Miz. Lionel’s feeling better and very grateful the old
woman hadn’t censured her when she’d first confessed or this time either. Back
at WFR, she got out of her truck and opened the gate wide. She’d leave it this
way and tell staff if Luke showed up, that his being there would be just fine.
She also knew she’d have to walk a fine line or they’d all be talking about how
she was just trying to trap him into marriage so she could have a daddy for
both Stevie and the newest bastard.