How It All Goes Down
- Rachel has been putting off some housework for a while—by the time she gets home from work and looks after Jacob, she's tired.
- Today she's finally going to tackle her chores, though. On the to do list? Chop some wood, repair the chimney, do all the things.
- She works hard all day doing them, only stopping to feed Jacob lunch (but not eating some herself).
- Rachel plans to buy a cow soon with the money she's been saving in a jar in the pantry, adding spare coins from her job as she can.
- Around supper, Widow Jenkins brings Rachel some dinner to eat. She's seen Rachel work hard all day and thought she should eat up.
- They sit and chat over the work before talk turns to Joel. Widow Jenkins has noticed how much he fancies her, always asking about Rachel when she's not around.
- Hmm… Rachel thinks she's unlucky in love, just like her dad.
- Widow Jenkins says this is nonsense, though. He wasn't unlucky in love—he loved Rachel's mom very much.
- Rachel's never realized before that she doesn't know much about her mom. When she was little, she'd ask her dad, but he wouldn't tell her anything.
- She asks the old lady, who tells her that her mom wanted to take Rachel when she left, but her dad wouldn't let him.
- Of course some people thought he was just trying to spite the woman, but it's clear that he really loved Rachel. She should never doubt that.