Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
“ I ’d like for you to go and get groceries this afternoon while the kids are sleeping,” Wilson said to Charity three days later after they spent the morning moving things from her house to his.
The next day, they were moving all of the kids’ beds and they would start staying at his place, even though there were still a few odds and ends to move out.
There were things that weren’t going to fit in his house, and she would either have to put them in storage or, more likely, sell them. Or just let them go with the house.
She hadn’t decided which. She didn’t want to pay for storage, couldn’t afford it, and while she wasn’t attached to very many things, there was an end table that had been her grandmother’s that she would like to keep.
“Okay,” she said, focusing on what he had just told her. He’d like groceries.
She didn’t have much money and had been waiting until someone had paid her for the holiday pies that she had made before she went.
Honestly, she hadn’t even considered that it would be more expensive to be eating with a man in the house.
He liked to have meat with every meal, and she was used to getting by with cheap, inexpensive foods or mostly carbs and vegetables.
She tried to hide the growing panic in her chest, the way she felt when she was going to throw up, and didn’t even notice that he had his wallet out until he waved it in front of her face.
“Take this. You can use any of the cards that are in there, and there is also cash. I’ll text you the pin, I know this is terrible, but it’s the same for every card.”
He had multiple cards? And cash? Enough to buy groceries? Did he know how expensive groceries were?
He was used to only buying groceries for one person, though that one person ate more than her five kids put together.
She tried to shut that voice off in her head and just focus on taking things one thing at a time. There was no point getting upset and worried about it.
She took the wallet from him, her fingers brushing his, and she tried not to jerk back.
He didn’t want her touching him, and he didn’t have the same reaction she did, and she needed to be okay with that as well.
It all felt overwhelming, but she forced herself to give an easy smile and say, “Thank you. Is there anything in particular you would like?” There, she sounded completely normal, even kind and friendly.
“I eat whatever. I’m not picky. You get what you are comfortable making for the kids, and you know I’ll eat along with you.
” He grinned, and she returned his smile.
But his words didn’t help her. She wanted to make things that he liked.
She wanted to get the groceries that he wanted.
Of course she knew what she would make for the kids, but she wanted to be considerate.
It was kind of hard to do that though when the man wouldn’t give her a hint of what that would be.
“You go on. I can put the kids down for their nap.”
“All right. I’ll text you when I’m leaving the store, and that way, you’ll be around to help carry the stuff in.”
“Sounds good,” he said, but he didn’t turn away. “I kind of wish I could go with you,” he said. Then he shook his head. “That’s weird, because I’ve always hated grocery shopping.”
“I don’t particularly like it either. I mean, I could spend all day in a candle shop, or clothing store, even a department store, but groceries? No, thank you.”
“Well, I guess there are shops I could spend all day in, but they wouldn’t have candles or clothes, except for maybe coveralls and work boots.”
She laughed. She wouldn’t mind going to that kind of store with him, just to see him interact with the things that he liked.
That was crazy. She was acting like a silly schoolgirl, who couldn’t get enough of her current crush.
Except, she was much older than a schoolgirl, and she didn’t have time for crushes. Not even if the object of her crush was her husband.
She walked out the door, feeling strangely tingly. Somehow, every interaction with him gave her a silly smile and made her heart feel warm and happy.
She wished it were the same for him and wondered for the millionth time if there was anything that she could do to get the man to fall in love with her, but she knew there really wasn’t.
People either felt that way about someone or they didn’t.
And those feelings were fleeting, she knew that, but…
she wanted him to look at her like she was the only woman in the world.
She had gotten into her car before she came up with a brilliant idea if she did say so herself. Dialing Wilson’s mother’s number, she held her breath until the woman answered.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Marjorie. I am about to go grocery shopping for the first time since I married your son, and he told me to get whatever, because he’s not picky.
I was wondering if you could give me a little bit of guidance on what he likes, because even though I know he’s not lying, he’ll eat whatever I cook, I’d like to make things that he enjoys. ”
“Well, I can help you out with that. In fact, why don’t you come on over, and I’ll give you the recipes for some of his favorite meals.”
She paused, then said, “Do you have time?”
“I sure do. I have time for any of my daughters, anytime they need me or I can give them a hand. Come on over.”
“I’ll be right there,” she said, hanging up and starting her car, her chest feeling a hundred times lighter. Marjorie was the best.
And she did not disappoint. She met Charity at the door and guided her into her kitchen.
“Here’s my recipe book, and if you want, to make it easy, you can just take pictures of his favorite meals, which I have marked with these Post-it notes. And you can go ahead and write them out later at your convenience or just keep them on your phone.”
“Wow. That will be really handy. I’m so glad you thought of it.”
“Well, I’m so glad you called. It’s so much fun to be needed, and I do happen to know what he really likes. All of my kids can cook, and he had meals that he asked to learn how to make, because he liked them so much.”
“Nice, so he can make these if he needs to.”
“Oh, he can cook anything. He’s a better cook than I am.
Wilson… You probably already know this, but pretty much everything he touches turns to gold.
We did call him the golden boy, because it seemed that way, but honestly, he’s just the kind of person who really wants to do right.
And I think that’s why things always went well for him. He just seems to have God’s favor.”
“I don’t know. I guess whatever he does, he does it well.
And there doesn’t seem to be anything he can’t do, from changing a diaper, to making pancakes for the kids in the morning, to running a farm, to starting a successful business.
I…sometimes feel a little outclassed.” She stopped for a minute. “A lot outclassed, actually.”
Marjorie’s matronly eyes seemed to see right into her soul, but there was no doubt that the woman understood what she was saying.
“I think a lot of people who’ve been around Wilson feel like that. He’s definitely one of a kind and just one of those people that other people have a hard time not liking, even if they’re jealous of him.”
“My kids even seem to like him, effortlessly. I’m not jealous that they sometimes prefer him over me, but… I’m surprised.”
“That’s Wilson. You’re a lucky woman. But Wilson’s more blessed than what he knows, I think.”
Charity shook her head. “That’s just the thing. I don’t have anything to offer him.”
“You’re here, aren’t you? You’re humble enough to ask for help.
You want to please him. Do you realize that most women wouldn’t?
They wouldn’t care what he wanted, or they would have said that he just needed to get used to whatever they do, or they would ask their own mother, but you want to step into his world and make him feel comfortable.
And that takes a certain amount of humility, and that’s priceless. ”
“Well, everything you said is true about what I want. But it just seems like the normal thing to do.”
“It might be, but not everyone does it.” Marjorie nodded her head and then tapped her finger on the recipe book. “Your effort means more than anything.”
The method Marjorie suggested worked perfectly, and Charity was able to sit in the car and make out a grocery list, and then go to the store and get the things she needed.
Before she had checked out, Wilson had sent her a text.
I didn’t realize until after you’re gone that it would make more sense for us to unload the groceries in my house. I’m sorry I didn’t think of that earlier. Will you let me know what time I can meet you there, and I’ll help you carry the stuff in? Mom is coming to stay with the kids.
I’m checking out now.
They arranged a time to meet, and for some reason, that made Charity nervous.
She had been in his house a few times carrying things in as they moved, but even though she was supposed to be making his house her home, it felt…
like she needed to ask before she touched anything.
Plus, there hadn’t been too many times where she and Wilson had been alone since they’d been married.
Usually there were kids around almost constantly.
At night, after she put the kids to bed, he always said good night to her at the top of the stairs and went back downstairs by himself.
She supposed she could say something along the lines of, “I wasn’t done downstairs, I’m coming back down with you,” but she hadn’t.
She hadn’t been lying when she said it felt good to be able to trust that someone else was downstairs taking care of things, locking up, making sure the house was secure, and she didn’t want him to think that she didn’t appreciate that.