To Be a Virtuous Wife, According to the Manual novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: Four Days Late
I counted until Thursday.
On Monday I was one day late, and I told myself the snow had unsettled the calendar.
On Tuesday I was two days late, and I told myself the new job had.
On Wednesday I sat in the bookkeeping office at the telephone company with a column of figures that would not add.
I was thinking of a different figure.
I am regular as a clock. I have been since I was fourteen.
By Thursday, I was four days late, and I had stopped telling myself anything.
I came home at six, and the house was quiet, and Hal's boots were not on the mat.
He was working the late shop that night. He would be back at seven.
I put on a clean apron and took the green book down from the shelf.
I opened it to the chapter on motherhood.
The Guide has a short chapter on it. It is all about keeping the baby quiet so the husband can rest.
I closed it on my finger and sat down at the kitchen table to wait.
At five past seven, I heard his key.
"Evening," Hal said, and hung up his cap.
He came in on a gust of cold air.
"I'm starved. How was the first week? Did they give you your old desk?"
"Sit down," I said.
He stopped in the doorway.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of To Be a Virtuous Wife, According to the Manual are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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