Chapter Seven

Fishing at the Hatchery continues to be efficient and profitable. I'm still amazed by the fish they have there, even swordfish!

Tommy is older now and a very distinguished little gentleman.

Aha! Now I won't need to borrow my granddad's shotgun and go hunting. I was finally able to save up enough money to have a fence installed around the garden. A very wise investment.

But just when we'd spent all our money on the fence, we learned that Elaine was pregnant again even though we both agreed Thomas would be our last. It wasn't planned at all and with Elaine getting older we were sure she wouldn't be able to have any more children, but life has a way of proving you wrong.

With our family getting even larger, it was time to expand the house as much as we could. Through several opportunities that arose to sell our produce to local business owners, we were able to afford a second floor, although it isn't finished for now.

Elaine still helps out in the garden. She says the fresh air is refreshing and good for the baby. I worry that she exerts herself too much, but she doesn't seem worried.

With the basic plants I have doing so well, I thought it would be a good idea to try and find more exotic species of plants. So I've been hunting around town looking for seeds. Riverview is so picturesque. I'm really glad I picked Riverview when looking for a place to live all those years ago.

Rudy, Elaine's half-brother, the son of her father and his much younger girlfriend, is now a teenager. Elaine is nearly an elder, and her half-brother is still in high school! I've nothing against him personally though. It's not his fault, and he seems like a decent young man.

Elaine enjoys spending time with him when she can, which isn't often. She's always been so family-oriented, and that includes her family of origin, half-brothers included.

James' birthday was coming up, but he had a special ceremony right before. He was so proud to receive several shiny new scouting badges. I can't say I was any less proud.

Jamie is a serious young man, but he still retains his kind heart. I fear he is a bit over-sensitive sometimes though and will take things to heart a little too much. I just hope some young lady doesn't end up breaking his heart one day.

We're about to have two teenagers, a child, and now a baby in the house! Elaine is worried that our youngest child won't be close to his older siblings because of the age gap. I know Betty at least will be very attentive to her baby brother.

And yes, it is a boy! Three sons, a father couldn't be any prouder. We decided to name our youngest Samuel. I get the feeling he is going to be a bit of a handful. Elaine thinks I'm nuts, but sometimes a parent just has an intuition...
 

Chapter Six

 

Elaine does a great job with teaching the children their skills and helping Betty with her homework. I wish I had more time to spend with the kids, but the garden is a huge time sink.

Still, I find time where I can. I try to instill the importance of being independent and living off the land to my eldest son, but I'm not sure he gets it.

"Our garden allows us to live independently," I tell him one day while he is doing his homework. "With the garden I grow our food and then your mother cooks it."

"My friends' families just go to the store, Dad," James rolls his eyes. "It's way easier."

Love Day ended up being very rainy, but that didn't stop us from visiting the festival. Betty spent her time hunting down eggs. We all got a bit wet, but we didn't care.

James got his face painted, and it was strangely disturbing to me. Perhaps I have a fear of clowns.

Betty took a spin on the rollerskating rink, reminding me of the time I took her mother there long before she was even born.

Betty grew up into a pretty teenage girl. Her eyesight is a bit poor though so she needed to get glasses. There's another expense on top of everything else, but it's necessary of course.

Some damn deer have been getting into the garden and munching on my plants that I've put my blood, sweat, and tears into! If I weren't a peaceful man...well, let's just say we'd be having venison for dinner. It made me realize though that I need to use some of our meager funds to install a fence around the garden.

Betty has come a long way from getting angry at her younger brothers for always waking her up. She is such a great big sister to little Tommy. 

James enjoys spending time with his brother playing blocks and showing him how to assemble different houses and things, but Tommy would rather just put the blocks in his mouth.

You'll never guess who turned out to be a huge fan of fishing! That's right, Betty is an angler like myself. I couldn't be more proud, and now I have a fishing partner so my time spent out on the river isn't so lonely anymore.

Of course we still visit the Hatchery too. It's very convenient having the stocked ponds all in one place. You wouldn't believe the types of fish they have there.

They even have jellyfish! Sometimes they sting you if you're not careful, as I learned the hard way.

You'll never believe what else I saw at the Hatchery one night. A real live unicorn! And yes I'm sure it wasn't just a horse with a horn stuck to its head. It did spend time with an actual horse though.

Of course I had to try and pet it. It didn't like that though, but it did sniff my hand for a while. I wonder if I'll ever see it again. 

With all the time spent gardening and taking care of the children, there hasn't been much time for Elaine and I to have to ourselves. We try to make time when we can, like in the garden. Time seems to be going by so fast. Before we know it we'll be elders, and it will be time for James to take over the household and the garden. I just hope he will understand how important it is.

Chapter Five

 

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Elaine is such a good mother. Betty had also grown up into quite a cute little girl. She doesn't like having to share a room with her little brother though, and I don't blame her. 

One day we received the sad news that Elaine's father had passed away. Elaine was devastated, even though she had grown less close to her father after his dalliance with a much younger woman. We were both heartbroken that he had never gotten the chance to meet his grandchildren. Now it was too late.

I tried to cheer my wife up with a little playful snowman building, but it only took her mind off things for a short while. I'd often find her crying softly to herself. I knew she just needed time. 

 

Time also provided a distraction in the form of our third child, another boy, whom we decided to name Thomas or Tommy as we call him. 

Betty was less than pleased. "Now there are two noisy babies in my room!" she complained.

"I know sweetie, but it won't be forever. Papa's working on adding an extra room to the house."

"Do it faster!"

"Dad, why are we so poor?"

I was shocked by the question. "Sweet pea, what do you mean?"

"Kids at school seem to have a lot more. They have their own bedrooms and their houses are much bigger than ours."

"That may be true, but the size of the house isn't what matters, baby. It's the family inside it that counts and whether that family is full of love."

Betty seemed to digest this for a bit, but she finally smiled at me.

NO. WHY? WHAT HAVE I DONE TO OFFEND GOD AND COUNTRY?

Ahem, but yes, we were robbed again. And the police were no use. Again. I was almost out of my mind with anger and frustration. You'll notice they took our gramophone. I bought another one, a THIRD one, to replace it. 

It wasn't long before our youngest son Thomas was growing up into a cute little guy with gingerish hair.

James, my eldest son, soon grew into his childhood years. He is a quiet sort but always very helpful around the house and kind to his siblings. He also seems very concerned about nature and the environment. I like to think that's his old dad rubbing off on him.

I was glad to see that our children got along well. Betty had grown more used to having younger siblings, especially now that only one of them was a toddler. She seemed especially close with James.

Did you know that it's almost impossible to get children to sit still for a photograph? Well, it is! This is the best we could do and photographs aren't exactly cheap you know. Elaine was feeling too ill at the time unfortunately. Maybe we'll be able to get a better photograph of the entire Hart family together soon.

Chapter Four

Elaine has been teaching Betty how to walk. I've been handling teaching her how to talk. We started with words like fish and farm and vegetable. She can almost say fish, but vegetable is a little too advanced for her right now.

Speaking of fishing, I've been improving my skills slowly but surely. The Riverview Fish Hatchery truly is a blessing. They have such a large variety of fish stocked there. 

Elaine is such a good mother to our little Betty. She spends a lot of time with her teaching her skills even though I know she is tired from her second pregnancy. I try to spend as much time with Betty as I can, but it's difficult with trying to keep up the garden and fishing for fertilizer.

"This meal is delicious, love."

"Thank you. It's ratatouille, my favorite!" said Elaine.

"Rata-what? I may not be able to pronounce it, but it sure is delicious," I joked. 

We were both happy with our life, despite money being tight all the time. I knew one day we would be more comfortable.

One night Elaine convinced me to dance with her. It's something we do when we both need to let off some steam. I was a bit concerned this time though because she was reaching her due date. Sure enough...

She went into labor right there and then after dancing. This time I wasn't as anxious; we were old pros at this by now I thought.

I got my wish for a son. Meet James Hart, my eldest son and heir.

Little Jamie, as we took to calling him, was such a sweet baby. He hardly ever cried. 

With money being so tight, we made the difficult decision to have Elaine take a part-time job at the grocery store. It made sense. We were selling our produce to the store anyway; Elaine would work as a sort of middleman and help us get the best prices for our products and her helping stock the store and check out customers would earn us a bit of extra money, which we desperately needed.

Two children under five plus a full garden plus fishing really takes a lot out of a person. I found myself taking naps quite frequently. Elaine and I take turns getting up with the children in the night so sometimes I would just be so exhausted.

When winter rolled around, I got a bit of a break finally as the plants went dormant for the season. Now I could concentrate more fully on my fishing and spending time with my children and wife.

You may think I'm crazy but fishing in the snow is actually rather nice. The snow is so beautiful, and yes it does get chilly, but I can still manage to squeeze a few hours in before I get too cold.

It felt like time was passing quickly. Maybe having two young children does that. Anyway, Elaine became a mature adult, with maybe a few more fine lines, but I wasn't complaining. She was still just as beautiful to me as ever.

"Henry, this is the last time," she told me as she discovered she was pregnant with our third child. "We just don't have the money."

I reluctantly agreed even though I'd always dreamed of a really big family.

Speaking of time flying by, our little James was a toddler now. Somehow he has blonde hair! Elaine told me that her grandmother had blonde hair so maybe that's where it came from. Even still we were both pretty surprised, but he sure is a cute little man.

Our house was beginning to feel quite small, and it would soon feel even smaller when the third baby arrived. I was determined to make enough money so that the children wouldn't all have to share the same room for their entire childhoods.

I know every parent says so, but I think my children are definitely the cutest. :) For our third baby, both Elaine and I don't mind the gender, because we have our boy and girl now. I think Elaine might slightly wish for another girl just so she doesn't feel too outnumbered by us fellas though. Well, time will tell shortly!