The Mountain Man Started Buying Baby Clothes — But Everyone Knew He Lived Alone
Chapter 7
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On Tuesday, the 25th, Lucy came out before it was light. There was a pine tree in the corner, which Thad had cut and set in a bucket three days before without comment. Under it were three packages in brown paper:For Lucy, there was a carved horse the size of her hand, with a mane cut in a hundred tiny grooves, and a ribbon in every color the store had sold.For Hannah, there was a shawl of gray wool, soft as smoke. He said he had bought it at the depot from a woman who sold them. It was a fib: he had gone down in November through snow to the mule's chest to buy it from Clara, who said it was the one she would have chosen herself.And for Thad, there was a long scarf of dark green wool, a little uneven at one end. He held it a good while."Mama made it," said Lucy. "She said you would not like it if she made a fuss. I did the end that is crooked.""It is the best end," said Thad, and put it on, and did not take it off until March.There was one more gift, which was not in paper. Thad brought it down from the loft and pulled off the canvas: the cradle, sanded to a shine, with a quilt folded in the bottom.Hannah stood in the half-light in her gray shawl and did not speak for a very long time."The sides slope a little," said Thad uncomfortably. "It is not very good.""It is the finest thing anyone has ever made for my child," said Hannah. She put out her hand and rocked it, and it rocked true.A few days after Christmas, he came in from the stable and found his old coat on the back of his chair: the torn lining had been mended and the elbow patched in neat, dark stitches. He had not asked; he had not known she had noticed.He stood with it in his hands. "Obliged," he said."Do not say obliged," said Hannah from the stove. "Say whether you like it."He looked at the stitches. Nobody had mended anything of his in 20 years; nobody had thought of him at all between one day and the next."I like it," said Thad."Good," said Hannah, and went on stirring with her back to him and her ears pink.In the first week of January, Hannah went down to Alder Gap: she needed thread and flannel and the sight of another woman's face. Thad took her and Lucy in the sledge. It was a full day down, and they stayed the night at the depot boarding house, and Clara greeted them at the store on Saturday, the 5th, like old friends.While Thad went to see about the mule's shoes, she looked at Lucy's coat."Who put in that lining?""I did," said Hannah.Clara turned the hem over in her fingers and said, "Hmm"—so like Thad that Hannah blinked.She was still looking at the stitches when two women came in from the street and did not lower their voices quite enough: