Tyler stepped outside of the barn and looked towards the house. He hoped Katie would come out so he could see her, but she didn’t. He sighed and stepped back inside the barn. Old Betsy mooed in her stall. She was getting impatient with him. He climbed up into the loft and tossed down a bale of hay. They only kept a few cattle, just enough to give the family fresh milk each day and provide beef for the year but it was still a lot of work.
He tossed the hay to the old cow and spread it around with the rake, then headed back outside. Katie was walking out towards the clothesline now, carrying a large basket of clothes. She could barely carry it over her growing belly, but she did it anyways. She was a hard worker, for sure and there was no convincing her to stop. Still, he worried about her doing so much in her condition.
He ran to her, and tried to grab the basket from her hands. She tried to stop him. “Tyler, I’ve got it. Leave me alone.” She tugged on the basket, pulling it closer to her and away from him.
He tried to grab it from her again. “Come on Katie, girl, you shouldn’t be carrying this in your condition.”
“I’m perfectly capable of handling it myself.” She yanked the basket out of his reach and headed towards the clothesline.
He ran after her. When he had almost reached her, she swung the basket out of his reach again, but tripped over a tree root in the ground. The basket of clothes went flying, sending the clean clothes all over the ground. She fell on her hands and knees, then stood up, grabbing at her stomach. “Now look what you’ve done!”
He could tell she was hurting, but she ignored the pain and attempted to pick the clothes up. He grabbed her arm and told her to stop. She ignored him and kept trying to grab clothes. He bent down at her level, and grabbed the clothes from her. “Stop, it Katie girl. You’re gonna hurt yourself.”
“I’m fine.” She reached for more clothes on the ground then cried out in pain and grabbed her stomach again.
“Stop.” He grabbed ahold of her hands and pulled the clothes into his arms. “If you don’t hurt yourself, you’ll hurt the baby for sure. Now go rest. You’re gonna kill yourself working so hard, and if you don’t do that, you’ll kill our baby for sure.”
She glared at him, but then stood to her feet and headed for the house. He could sense her anger towards him and he hated feeling as though his own wife hated him, but he wasn’t about to put her or their child in danger if he didn’t have to. She was stubborn, even more stubborn than his own mother had been and he wasn’t sure how to deal with that. They had only been married eight months, and he hadn’t expected to have children so soon, but here they were about to have their first baby. If only his wife actually cared about him. He thought of her as much more than just help around the farm, but it seemed impossible to convince her of that.
My A-muse-ing Life 