George didn’t take Agnes’s words seriously at all.
As far as he was concerned, she was still angry about what had just happened, and the more she thought about it, the more suspicious everything seemed.
“All right, stop overthinking it.”
He kept his head lowered and continued twisting the straw rope in his hands.
After a while, he added, “Elena hasn’t had an easy life either.
We were already talking about asking Mrs.
Howard to make inquiries about marriage for her.”
His hands paused for a moment.
“But Thomas has made his position clear now.”
“Elena is still our granddaughter.
She’s called us Grandfather and Grandmother all these years.”
“You’re the elder here.
Stop arguing with a child over every little thing.”
Then he lowered his head again.
“Get back to work.
It’s getting late, and they’re still waiting for these ropes in the fields.”
“You just keep taking her side!”
Agnes turned away in a huff, grabbed a handful of dried wheat stalks, and started twisting rope as well.
…
The Miller family didn’t finish the day’s harvest until the sky had completely darkened.
After dinner, George called the grown members of the family into the main farmhouse to settle Thomas’s situation properly.
Martha, however, first returned to the old orchard cottage.
Elena was in her room when her mother came in to straighten the bedding.
“Elena, don’t come over to the main farmhouse tonight.
Stay here and get some rest, all right?”
Elena stood beside the bed.
Truthfully, she wanted very much to go and listen.
After all, tonight’s discussion would decide whether Thomas and Martha could finally separate their household finances from Miller Farm and begin supporting their own family independently.
But the moment she thought of Agnes’s dark expression, she changed her mind.
Thomas and Martha had already made up their minds to settle the matter tonight.
If Elena went along, Agnes might focus on her again and make the whole discussion even more difficult.
After thinking it over, Elena nodded.
“All right.
I won’t go.”
Then she caught Martha’s hand.
“But you have to promise me something, Mom.”
“What?”
“When you’re done talking, come back and tell me what happened.”
Martha looked at the obvious curiosity on her daughter’s face and sighed helplessly.
“You really want to know about everything now, don’t you?”
Elena smiled but didn’t deny it.
Just then, the voice of Laura came from outside the cottage.
“Third Sister-in-law, are you still in Elena’s room?
Father and Mother sent me to get you.
Everyone’s already at the main farmhouse.
You’re the only one missing.”
“Coming!”
Martha quickly answered.
She reminded Elena once more to rest early, then hurried out with Laura.
After the cottage door closed, the room soon fell quiet.
Elena had nothing else to do, so she lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
She could not hear what was happening at the main farmhouse from here.
The old orchard cottage stood on the western side of Miller Farm, far enough from the main house that even if the adults started arguing, their words would not carry clearly through the night.
All Elena could do was wait.
She imagined George refusing.
She imagined Agnes becoming angry.
She imagined Daniel speaking up for Thomas again.
Most of all, she wondered what would happen if George and Agnes refused to let Thomas’s family become fully independent.
Thomas and Martha had never been people who liked to argue.
They were honest, quiet, and used to giving way when trouble came.
But people like that could sometimes be the hardest to persuade once they truly made up their minds.
Since Thomas had already decided that their household could no longer continue depending on Miller Farm in the same way, Elena doubted he would change his mind easily.
Time passed slowly.
After that, everything became quiet again.
Elena lay in bed imagining what their lives might be like once their food, money, and work were truly their own.
Little by little, her eyelids grew heavy.
Her thoughts became hazy.
In the end, she didn’t even know when she fell asleep.
And she had no idea what result the meeting at the main farmhouse had finally reached.
The next morning, the moment Elena opened her eyes, the first thing that came to mind was the discussion from the night before.
She was wide awake at once.
Without even bothering to fix her hair, she climbed out of bed, slipped on her shoes, and hurried out of the old orchard cottage.
The morning air was cold enough to make her pull her clothes tighter around herself.
She followed the familiar path across Miller Farm toward the spare room beside the main farmhouse where Thomas was still recovering.
Martha wasn’t there.
At this hour, she was probably already back at the old orchard cottage preparing breakfast for Elena, Ethan, and Noah, or taking care of one of the countless morning chores waiting for her.
Thomas was leaning against the headboard with an old coat draped over his shoulders.
His eyes were bloodshot.
He clearly hadn’t slept well.
His gaze was fixed on several old pieces of clothing folded at the foot of the bed, and he seemed lost in thought.
Elena had only seen him the night before, yet somehow he already looked more worn down.
His complexion had already been poor from his injuries.
Now a layer of dark stubble had appeared along his jaw, making him look several years older than he really was.
Elena walked to the bedside and called softly,
“Dad.”
Thomas’s eyes moved.
Only then did he slowly come back to himself.
“Elena…”
When he saw his daughter standing there, a faint smile finally appeared on his tired face.
Elena couldn’t help asking, “Are you thirsty?
I can get you some water.”
“No need.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Your mother gave me some earlier.”
His voice was still hoarse.
Then he raised one hand and lightly patted the edge of the bed.
“Come sit.”
Elena sat down beside him.
Thomas looked at her in silence for a moment before finally speaking.
“Elena, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Okay.”
Elena immediately sat a little straighter.
She knew it had to be about last night.
Thomas took a deep breath, as though trying to gather his thoughts.
After a moment, he said, “Once we finish bringing in the harvest over the next few days, our household will officially separate from the farm’s shared income and supplies.”
“From then on, we’ll support ourselves.”
Elena’s eyes lit up.
It worked?
George and Agnes had actually agreed?
Joy rose in her chest.
Her hands tightened unconsciously on her knees, and she couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from lifting.
Thomas noticed her reaction and paused for a moment.
Then he gave a helpless sigh.
Unlike Elena, he didn’t look relieved.
If anything, there was guilt in his expression.
It wasn’t until breakfast, after Elena returned to the old orchard cottage, that she finally learned the full story from Martha.
At first, George and Agnes had refused outright.
They insisted on their original plan.
They still wanted to arrange Elena’s marriage and hoped that a marriage settlement from a suitable family might help cover part of Thomas’s treatment.
In the end, Thomas had forced the matter to a conclusion.
If curing his legs meant sacrificing his own daughter, then he would rather leave his legs untreated.
Only after he said that did George and Agnes finally stop being so firm.
But Agnes and Harold quickly raised another condition.
If Thomas’s family of five wanted to become fully independent, they could.
But once the separation was settled, they could no longer continue taking grain, firewood, livestock products, and other supplies from Miller Farm as though nothing had changed.
Thomas and Martha hesitated. This story is hosted at g.com.
Then, in the end, they agreed.
Daniel was the one who finally couldn’t stand it anymore.
He spoke up for them several times, and only then did George soften a little.
After an entire night of arguing, the matter was finally settled.
Thomas’s household would receive four pieces of land to work independently.
Two were small plots with relatively decent soil, suitable for grain and ordinary crops.
The other two were poorer, drier pieces of ground farther from the center of the farm, closer to the foothills and woodland.
They were not especially good fields, but they were still land Thomas and Martha could work for their own household once Thomas recovered enough to help.
As for the old orchard cottage, George agreed that Thomas, Martha, Elena, Ethan, and Noah could continue living there.
The cottage stood on the western side of Miller Farm and had already been their home for years.
From then on, however, the household would be responsible for its own food, firewood, clothing, and daily expenses.
They could no longer expect Agnes to provide grain, flour, butter, eggs, or other supplies from the farm stores whenever they needed them.
The details involving livestock, tools, and the coming winter would still need to be discussed.
But the most important part had already been decided.
Thomas’s family would have their own land.
They would keep living in the old orchard cottage.
And from then on, what they earned and harvested would belong to their own household.
Elena silently calculated everything in her head.
Four small pieces of farmland had to support a family of five.
That was already difficult enough.
And crop yields in this world were nowhere near what she had known in her previous life.
There were no modern machines.
No modern fertilizers.
Most work still depended on people, horses, and simple farm tools.
Then, after each harvest, there were taxes and other unavoidable expenses.
What remained for the family to actually eat and sell might not be much at all.
If they encountered a poor harvest, feeding five people would become a serious problem.
When she looked at it that way, what they had received wasn’t generous.
But it was not nothing either.
At least they had a roof over their heads and land they could work.
That was far better than having to leave Miller Farm immediately and start with nothing but the few coins Thomas and Martha had managed to save.
“Elena…”
Martha’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
Elena looked up.
Martha had lowered her head and was wiping away tears again.
“Our days are probably going to be very difficult from now on.”
The more she thought about Thomas’s injuries, the less confidence she had.
“It’s because your father and I aren’t capable enough.”
“In the end, you, Ethan, and Noah will have to suffer along with us…”
Deep down, Martha didn’t oppose becoming independent.
If Thomas were still the same man he had been before—healthy and able to work the fields—she would have been willing to work twice as hard.
As long as the three children could eat their fill and stay warm through winter, she would have thought it worthwhile.
But Thomas’s legs were injured now.
No one knew when he would be able to stand again.
A household that should have been supported by both husband and wife now rested mostly on her shoulders.
Martha wasn’t afraid of hard work.
She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hold the family together.
More than anything, she was afraid the three children would go hungry.
Elena looked at the worry and guilt on her mother’s face and pushed aside her own thoughts.
She reached over and gently took Martha’s rough hands in hers.
“Mom, don’t worry.”
Martha looked up.
Elena smiled at her.
“My mind is clear now.
I can help you too.”
“We’ll take care of Dad together, and we’ll raise Ethan and Noah properly.”
At the mention of her two younger brothers, Elena suddenly remembered something.
“Right, Mom.”
She looked at Martha curiously.
“Didn’t Ethan and Noah go to stay with Grandpa and Grandma?”
“When are they coming back?”