Ozark Nurse by Fern Shepard Page A

comfortable and happy. She deserved happiness in return.
    He would, he said, do anything in the world to make her happy. If that was beyond his powers, then he would like to bash in the head of any idiot who caused her a moment's unhappiness.
    Nora laughed. She said that she was a fair hand at fighting her own battles, but it was very kind of him to offer to fight one for her.
    Ten minutes later she was undressed, in bed and ready to pull up the covers and turn off the light when Caroline came in.
    She sat on the bed and took Nora's hand. It had been a long time since Nora had seen her mother look so deeply troubled over her.
    "I am disturbed about what happened downstairs," her mother began. When Nora said quickly: "Forget it," Caroline shook her head, frowning.
    No. There were things which had to be said.
    She had never given much thought to the way they all imposed on Nora, which of course, was no excuse. She
should
have thought about it.
    "We've all depended on you too much for things we should have done for ourselves."
    Her small hands, pretty hands, plucked and twisted nervously at the sheet as she spoke of how it had been ever since Nora and the others were children. She seemed ashamed.
    "I've known that Jerry and Carol come to you for small loans. It started when you were children. They would spend their allowance money the minute they got their hands on it. Then they'd sneak to you for extra money for the movies, for some toy or trinket. You gave away more of your allowance to them than you spent for yourself. I always knew. I should have stopped it. But I didn't."
    "It was only right that I share with them," Nora said in a small voice. "After all, I was only an adopted child."
    "Don't say that!" Caroline's usually mild eyes flamed. "Don't ever say that again! I never thought of you as adopted. I took you when you were a tiny baby. You were
my
baby, in every sense except the physical sense, and that has little to do with maternal love."
    Nora stared at her wonderingly and was pervaded by a deep, comforting warmth. Never before had Caroline opened her heart to show the measure of her feelings.
    "No." Her voice quieted. "That had nothing to do with anything, Nora honey. The whole trouble has been that you're the strong one."
    "Strong? Me?"
    Caroline nodded.
    She supposed there was someone like Nora in almost every family; someone who was able and willing to shoulder responsibility.
    "The rest of us," she smiled a small, bitter smile, "are clinging vines. I'm one. When John was alive, I let him do the worrying and the deciding. About all I ever did was complain because he didn't make enough money to suit me."
    "He loved you dearly, Mother."
    "Yes. That he did. Which isn't to say that I deserved all his loving and pampering." She shook her head sadly. "Maybe I'd have been a better wife if he hadn't spoiled me the way he did."
    Most certainly Jerry and Carol would be better off if she had not spoiled them.
    She grabbed a tissue to dry her eyes, which had filled with tears. "I worry about them all the time, Nora. That's the reason I'm sharp and short-tempered with you. We all want a whipping boy, I guess. Oh, Nora, what's going to happen to those two? Howie is a good husband; he does all he can to please Carol. But one of these days his patience will give out. And as for Jerry—"
    "Things will work out, Mother. Just give them time." Nora didn't believe that herself, but it was a comforting thing to say.
    "No." Caroline was crying again. "The way things are going, from bad to worse, how can they work out?"
    Jerry should be working to support his wife and son. Instead, he seemed perfectly willing to settle down here at home, fritter his life away, let his mother supply the bed and Nora the food; and he had probably expected Ethel to go back to work as soon as Bobby was big enough.
    "Did you know Ethel is pregnant again?"
    Nora's eyes widened. "No!"
    "Yes! So what happens now? I haven't the strength to look after two babies,