To Everything There Is A Season

~A Report~

Nathan nudged Silas' foot to wake him up. North sat up and looked around as Silas opened his eyes. All three men looked exhausted and were moving like their muscles ached. The rest of the room looked equally tired. They all hoped that the meeting wouldn't take long as sleep sounded like a good idea even though it was only 9:30 in the evening.

Mr. Blackbourne cleared his throat, "Now that miss Sang has headed up to bed, I think we need to have a family meeting. We talked briefly at lunch about helping her for a few days and then moving on. Now that miss Sang has offered us a place to stay for the next while we need to start organizing how we can add as little stress to her life as possible. She is already handling more responsibility than most people. This is a large house that she is maintaining alone while also keeping up with all the work she needs to get done so that she can eat over the winter. Tomorrow Mr. Lee I want you to start cataloguing all food stores and see if you can find out from miss Sang what still needs to be done food wise. Mr. Coleman you had many complaints about the quality of the soap she is using, discuss that with her and see if you can improve it with what she has available. Misters Korba and Taylor junior, see what repairs are needed around here, I doubt they have been a priority. Mr. Griffin, I want you on perimeter sweeps intermittently during the day and then I want you to see if she has access to fire arms. If so, I want you to inventory what is on hand. Mr. Taylor senior and Mr. Morgan, you are kitchen help tomorrow. Dr. Green said she made a passing comment about baking and yogurt making you will both assist with those tasks. Dr. Green I noticed she has quite the extensive herb garden, find out from her what she is growing and if it is entirely food related or if some is for herbal remedies. I will ask about what still needs to be done in the fields. Any questions or comments?"

Dr. Green stood up and drew their attention, "I have a few comments. Do not let her lift heavy objects. She is too small for that and may hurt herself. She has made a number of comments to me about what she has and has not been allowed to do so do not be surprised if she flinches or goes quiet. She is waiting for a reprimand for bad behaviour. We saw an example of her response to yelling earlier today I do not want to see it again so moderate your tones." He sat back down with a pensive look on his ace.

"She also seems to doubt her own abilities. She asked me if I played piano as I have such long fingers. I told her I did and asked her if she played. To which she responded that her ability was adequate for home but not company. That may be true but given her response to any type of praise I would speculate that she plays better than adequately." Victor spoke quietly from the piano bench.

"If there is nothing else, I would suggest we all head to bed, morning will come much sooner than we will want. The rooms are at the top of the stairs be quiet heading up. Dr. Green and I will rotate who has the nursery bed otherwise you men are free to choose your rooms. Find your bags and head to bed."

The men all stood most of them groaning from the unfamiliar abuse their muscles took during the day. The younger seven headed towards the stairs but Dr. Green remained standing beside Mr. Blackbourne.

"Owen, we have an unexpected complication. Miss Sang is about five months pregnant. Her worthless spouse left her on her own to handle everything and to not be "even more lazy while he was gone"." Sean quietly seethed. "She is the hardest working person I have ever seen, and we have only been here a half day. The boys are dead on their feet and while she is no doubt asleep now there is no question that she would still be working if we weren't here."

"We will deal with each problem as it arises. I doubt she wants anyone to know that she is expecting so we will not tell the boys until she does. Keep an eye on her and we will try to take over as much of the heavy work as we can." Owen responded his face going tight. "I cannot imagine the thought process that went through her spouse's head that leaving her alone was a good idea. If she was mine, I would treasure her as the jewel she is. I have a few concerns about us staying here. I can already see how our brothers are responding to her. North is ready to worship her for getting Luke to eat vegetables without complaint. Gabriel is fascinated by the idea that she not only makes her own clothes but the cloth that she makes them from. Luke wants to protect her. Kota may well want to open her head and see how she works. Nathan respects her work ethic. Silas wants to put her in his pocket and not let the world hurt her, and poor Victor is lost, he likes her quiet gentleness and wants to build her confidence up when he himself is struggling to fit in this new world. I can see you want her for your own and I find myself wanting to know her better." His admission startled his best friend.

"We'll treat her as she is meant to be treated Owen. She will learn what it means to be good enough. It is all we can do at this point until she knows us better and trusts we won't hurt her." Sean turned away and headed for the stairs, "get the candles would you Owen. I have a feeling she made those too and her work should not be wasted."