Once a week Helen went into town to the market to procure the supplies she needed for the household for the week. She had taken to bringing Erin and Samantha along with her after the two of them begged their mother to let them go along. The market felt different and exciting to them and they liked to watch Helen haggle with the vendors over the price of food. Often they would wander around and explore while Helen negotiated, never straying too far from her. The stalls of the market were a labyrinth they had not yet learned to navigate and they knew Helen would punish them if they got lost.
This is why despite the smell they hadn’t ventured away from the fish stall Helen was currently at. The stall was in its own little corner away from many of the other stalls and they knew that venturing out into the main body of the market would mean they would more than likely forget how to get back. So they fidgeted in place and tried to think of something to do to amuse themselves.
As they were brainstorming Erin stopped and looked over to the stall. The fishmonger’s son had come out to help him. He looked perhaps a year or two older than the girls though not much taller. His hair was dark and curly and his face soft and kind. Erin reached a hand up to her face and found that it was warm. Samantha nudged her and gave her a quizzical look which caused her to realize that she had been staring. Quickly she looked down and her face became even hotter, this time with embarrassment. Samantha tried to catch her attention, but she just continued to look down at her shoes until they were done at the fish stall.
For the rest of the week the face of the fishmonger’s son lingered in Erin’s thoughts. She thought of him when her mind drifted during the day and he appeared in her dreams at night. When it was time to go to the market the next week Erin was the first one ready to go, even before Helen. The entire carriage ride to the market she watched out the window while her foot bounced up and down in nervous excitement.
It seemed to her like they would never get to the market much less the fish stall. Helen went from stall to stall like normal, haggling and buying on her own time. This was not good enough for Erin however whose patience was wearing thin. Samantha kept trying to ask her why she was acting so weird, but she would just stammer and blush every time. At each stall they would stop and she would bounce up and down on her toes until they began to move again. After a while of this Helen began to walk back towards the carriage without having gone to the fish stall. Erin almost dropped the bags she was helping carry running up to the maid.
“Don’t we still need to go to the fish stall?” said Erin.
“The menu’s all drawn up already and fish ain’t on it this week” Helen replied.
“Can’t we add fish to it? That fish you made last week was so good.”
“I thought you didn’t even like fish” Helen said suspiciously.
“That was when I was younger” Erin replied with her fingers crossed behind her back. Technically the last time she had said she didn’t fish she had been younger.
“Alright” Helen said after a while. “We’ll go get some fish, but only a little.”
She turned and beckoned for the girls to follow her. Samantha nudged Erin as if to ask what was going on, but Erin still said nothing. She was quiet until they got to the fish stall where the fishmonger’s son was already out and about moving things around. When they approached he stopped for a moment to look over at them and his eyes met Erin’s. She squeaked in surprise and looked away, blushing all over. He seemed a little confused for a moment, but brushed it off and got back to work. Helen noticed none of this as she was already busy talking with the fishmonger, but Samantha was grinning ear to ear.
“Why didn’t you tell me that this was the reason you were acting so strange” Samantha teased. “Maybe I could have gotten Helen to go to the fish stall sooner so you could see your beau.”
“Stop it” said Erin, going impossibly more red. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”
“You should go talk to him”
“I said stop” she hissed.
“Fine” said Samantha, but Erin knew she hadn’t dropped it.
Helen finished her purchase fairly quickly and ushered the girls along back to the carriage not even bothering to ask what childishness they had gotten up to. She had learned that sometimes it was better not to ask. This time the girls spent the ride home still and quiet, occasionally glaring at each other.
Erin’s annoyance at her sister had done nothing but simmered on the way home, failing to cool down. Her parents who she felt never noticed when something was bothering her actually seemed to notice the unrest between her and Samantha. They waited until supper to say anything though by which time perhaps the situation might have blown over and maybe she was starting to get over it, but their asking only made things worse.
“How was it at market today?” her mother asked.
“It was fine” Erin said stabbing at a piece of food on her plate and glaring at Samantha.
“It was more than fine wasn’t it Erin?” Samantha said with a wide grin.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do” she said, her smile growing even bigger.
“What is going on with you two?” asked Mother.
“Erin has a crush” Samantha singsonged.
“No I don’t!”
“He’s the fishmonger’s son and he’s pretty cute” she continued.
“Samantha please stop” Erin begged. Her face was flushed yet again.
“Samantha stop teasing your sister” said their mother.
“But it’s true, she does have a crush on the fishmonger’s son” she protested,
“It doesn’t matter if it’s true, it’s still rude to tease her about it.”
The rest of dinner was fairly quiet. No one really wanted to talk much after that. Afterwards they all went into the living room Erin sat and embroidered while Samantha practiced the piano. Even then there was little talking and when the girls went to bed for the evening it was in silence. Their parents however stayed up in the living room and broke the silence.
“I believe we have a new problem on our hands” said Joseph, walking over to the mantle and pouring himself a glass of brandy from the decanter there. “I can’t say I anticipated this problem in the least.”
“I put some thought to it” Martha admitted. “However I assumed that like most men Erin would be attracted to women and finding that society looks down on women who want to be together she would resign herself to unmarried life. This I did not expect.”
“Perhaps we have made her into too much of a woman and she now believes that like most girls she should fawn over boys” Joseph suggested before taking a sip of his brandy.
“Or maybe she would have taken a liking to men regardless of how we raised her.” She snatched the glass from her husband’s hand and took a drink. “Regardless I don’t think this is something we can just make go away.”
“No, I agree with you. Love is too complicated for that, but what shall we do?”
“We should definitely supervise her, make sure we know what kind of man has caught her fancy. We cannot stop her from falling in love, but perhaps we can discourage her from acting on her feelings or even try to discourage the man.”
“And if she finds a man who cannot be discouraged and that she cannot be discouraged from and who, on the surface, can find no reason why he shouldn’t marry her?” Joseph postulated.
“Then we’re going to have to make sure that person is a very specific sort of man” she replied.
Comments (0)
See all