To Be a Virtuous Wife, According to the Manual novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: My Own Margin
Easter came on the twenty-ninth of March, with a pale sun and crocuses along the fence.
In church that morning Gertrude Strub had nodded to me from two pews ahead.
It was a very small nod. I accepted it.
By one o'clock my mother had the ham on the table, glazed with cloves and pineapple.
Marlene had set out a lemon pie, and Hal had polished every spoon in the house.
I sat down in the dining room in a loose dress, with my hands folded in my lap.
My mother sat at one end and Hal at the other.
Marlene sat across from me in her Easter hat, with a face as pink as the ham.
"Harold," said my mother. "You will say grace."
Hal bowed his head.
"For this food," he said, "and this table, and everybody at it. And for what's coming. Amen."
"Amen," said my mother, and her voice cracked slightly in the middle.
Nobody mentioned it.
We ate.
Marlene told us that her husband had asked for the local run, Findlay to Toledo and back.
He would be home every night.
"He says he wants to be near the book," she said, and turned the color of a plum.
"Marlene," said my mother.
"Yes, Mildred?"
"What page?"
"Seven," said Marlene. "And a bit of eleven."
My mother lifted her water glass and drank.
"Very good," she said, and set it down. "You will find it improves."
Hal dropped his fork.
I put my napkin over my mouth. Across the table, Marlene was shaking.
When we had finished the pie, my mother took her pocketbook from the back of her chair and laid it on the cloth.
She took out the little green book with the cracked spine.
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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