The Farmer and Mrs. Lombardi (NOVEL) (E-BOOK)

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Wednesday, June 20, 1877


Like a proud mother hen, Ornella Lombardi gathered her four children around the long oaken table. The tantalizing aroma of Italian spaghetti sauce filled the ample kitchen of the old colonial clapboard house situated on a small farm on the outskirts of Cape May, New Jersey. The farm she and her husband Francesco had purchased shortly after their arrival in America seventeen years before. 


Chairs scraped against the worn plank floor as the children took their places at the table. Ranging in age from eight to fourteen, they were the light of Ornella’s life. The jewels in her crown. The perfect fulfillment of her lifelong dream to be a mother.


As she leaned over Marco, her youngest, the gold cross necklace, a gift from her maternal grandmother on her eighteenth birthday, dangled from Ornella’s neck. Nonna’s words still rang in her ears: In times of trouble, always remember the Cross. 


Ornella dismissed the small shiver that skittered across her skin like a bad omen. Times of trouble seemed farther away than her beloved homeland of Italy. She was in America now. The land of promise. Of dreams come true and hopes fulfilled. The land where she could pursue her passion for art without condemnation or criticism.


An anomaly in her native land, she’d never taken well to its centuries-old patriarchal system that allowed men to pursue their professional passions while relegating women to the home and the hearth only to cook, clean, and raise children. Not that she didn’t admire and appreciate men. But she, like they, had dreams that extended beyond the homefront. Why should she not be permitted to pursue them simply because she was a woman? 


And that is exactly what she planned to do now that her youngest child was in school all day. The prospect of soon being able to paint again and to open the first art gallery in Cape May launched fireworks in her heart.
In leaving her homeland, she’d left societal bias against female artists behind, buried in the soil of her native Abruzzo.

Here, in this land of the free, she could control her own life. She could make plans and bring them to fruition. She could pursue her passion. 
And nothing would stop her.


Ornella tousled Marco’s curly hair and smiled. “Make sure everyone has a napkin, son. The pasta is almost ready.”


Eight-year-old Marco returned the smile. “Yes, Mama.”


Ornella cleared space on the table for the large spaghetti bowl and then returned to the stove. After dipping a fork into the boiling water to retrieve a strand of spaghetti, she tasted it. Almost done. It would need about another minute of cooking time before it reached the perfect al dente texture she preferred.

She smiled in satisfaction. What more could a forty-eight-year-old woman want? Her family was healthy, her marriage was solid, and soon she would make her artistic dream a reality. To her delight, her life was going just as she’d planned.


While waiting for the pasta to finish cooking, Ornella stirred the spaghetti sauce in the big, cast iron pot one last time. She then drained the pasta and placed it in a large, brown ceramic bowl. She poured the rich, thick sauce over it and tossed it to mix. All that remained was a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese and the meal would be ready to serve.


“I want to sit next to Mama.” Marco pushed aside his ten-year-old sister Caterina as she approached the coveted chair next to Ornella’s. 


Caterina returned the push. “It’s my turn to sit next to Mama. You sat next to her yesterday.”


Ornella carried the bowl of spaghetti to the table. “Children! Children! Please stop the bickering. Can we not go one day without any arguing among you?”


Just then her husband Francesco entered the room. “What’s going on here?” His face was stern and his voice, booming. At fifty-two years of age, he’d been constrained to cultivate the demeanor of a strict disciplinarian despite his naturally jovial disposition. 


“It’s my turn to sit next to Mama.” Marco whined, his chin jutting forward like a mournful promontory extending beyond the coastline of his mouth.


Caterina folded her arms across her chest. “No, it’s not, Papa. It’s my turn. Marco sat next to Mama yesterday.”


Francesco narrowed his eyes behind the black-rimmed spectacles that rested on his large, Roman nose. “I have an idea. How about you both go to your rooms without dinner, and I will sit next to Mama?” A mischievous smile tickled his lips under a salt-and-pepper mustache.


Ornella chuckled. Her precious Francesco had a special way of diffusing tension with humor, a trait that had endeared him to her from the very start.


Pouts sinking their faces into the abyss of resignation, Marco and Caterina immediately sat down in their usual seats and remained silent.


Francesco took his place at the head of the table, while Ornella took hers at the opposite end.


“Where’s Nonna?” Teresa asked about her grandmother, who had come from Italy with her parents. 


“She’s not feeling well enough to join us at the table.” Ornella removed her apron and sat down. “I will take her a plate of pasta after we eat.”


“Let’s join hands to pray.” Francesco led the family in a prayer of thanksgiving and ended it with a resounding Amen! 


“Amen.” The family echoed in unison.


Ornella rose and began filling the plates one by one, starting with Francesco’s. As head of an Italian family, honor was due him first as provider and protector. To him went the first serving and the largest portion. 


Next, she filled her children’s plates. Her heart swelled at the sight of her four beautiful children sitting around the table. Like olive plants, the Bible described them. Teresa, the eldest at fourteen and fair-skinned, resembled her father and had inherited his hazel eyes. Giovanni, the second-born at age twelve, favored Ornella’s side of the family, with his dark hair and large, dark brown eyes. Caterina and Marco were a beautiful blend of both parental lines, favoring neither one side nor the other, yet definitely the fruit of both lineages. 


Having served everyone, Ornella placed a portion of food on her own plate and sat down again. Her heart warmed as her gaze flew to Francesco. Catching his approving eye, she smiled. God had been good to her. He’d given her the desires of her heart. The man of her dreams. Four children. Two boys. Two girls. The perfect family. All beautiful and healthy. 
And soon the Lord would fulfill the desire of her heart to open her own art gallery in Cape May and begin selling her paintings. She released a contented sigh. Life was perfect. 


And she would do everything in her power to keep it that way.


“So, there’s talk of a railroad strike coming our way.” Francesco’s voice broke into Ornella’s happy thoughts.


Her muscles tensed. “A strike?”
“Yes. In fact, there are rumblings that it has already begun.”


“What’s a strike, Papa?” Marco spoke through a mouthful of spaghetti.


Papa raised a warning eyebrow. “Don’t talk with food in your mouth, Marco. You could choke.” 


Marco quickly finished chewing and swallowed his pasta. “I’m sorry, Papa.”


Francesco acknowledged his apology and continued. “To answer your question, Marco, a strike is an act of protest by employees against the owners of their company. The employees stop working for a while because of an argument over pay or working conditions.”


Caterina held her fork in mid-air. “Why are the railroad workers on strike, Papa?” 


Francesco shifted his gaze to Caterina. “Their salaries were reduced by ten percent. The workers claim that the company heads are taking too large a share of the profits and leaving the dregs to them. And they’re none too happy about it. They are, after all, the ones who do all the hard work.”


“I’m going to own the railroad when I grow up,” twelve-year-old Giovanni announced, “and I will pay every worker a lot of money.”


Francesco nodded his approval. “That’s a good goal, my son. Workers should always be treated honestly and with respect. And that includes paying them well.”


“I will be the best boss ever, Papa.” Giovanni beamed.


Caterina snickered. “I’m sure you will. You’ve had lots of practice bossing us around.”


Giovanni narrowed his eyes. “I don’t boss you around.”


“Yes, you do.” Marco cast an accusatory look toward Giovanni.


“Children.” Papa intervened. “It does not please the Lord when we criticize one another.”


Ornella leaned forward. “But if there’s a strike, how will we get our crops to market?”


Francesco wiped his mouth with his napkin. “That’s my main concern. A strike will seriously affect the delivery of our produce to markets between here and Philadelphia. We could use wagons, but the voyage is long, and the crops will likely be destroyed by the heat.” 


A knot formed in Ornella’s stomach. “So what do you think will happen?”


“Well, the strike has already begun, and riots have erupted among the workers of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Martinsburg, West Virginia. And unrest is brewing in Baltimore. If a strike indeed takes place there as well, it could spread to the Pennsylvania Railroad and would mean bad news for us farmers here in southern New Jersey.”


“But what if the strike doesn’t happen, Papa?” Giovanni looked up from his meal, his eyes riveted on his father.


Francesco put down his napkin. “I hope it doesn’t, son. But I’m afraid that won’t be the case. The workers are quite angry and determined to strike. We farmers can’t do much about that. We’re dependent on the railroad for our livelihood.” 


Ornella winced. They were, indeed, dependent on the railroad for their livelihood. Without the railroad, they would not be able to get their produce to Philadelphia and the many small towns along the way. Their income would drop drastically. Perhaps she should open her gallery sooner rather than later. 


“You’re the best farmer in the whole world, Papa.” Marco made a valiant attempt to return to his father’s good graces. “I want to be just like you when I grow up.”


Francesco laughed. “Thank you, Marco. But you are my son, and you are prejudiced.”


“I’m not prejudiced, Papa.” Marco spoke with firm conviction and then wrinkled his nose. “What does prejudiced mean, Papa?”


“It means leaning toward one opinion over another.”


“Then I’m leaning toward you, Papa.” He gave a sheepish smile. “And I’m telling the truth.”


“As well you should. You should always stand for truth regardless of where it comes from.”


The conversation about the strike had stolen Ornella’s appetite. What would they do if the money stopped coming in? How would they pay the hired hands? And how long would the strike last? 


Teresa interrupted Ornella’s rambling thoughts. “Mama, may I have more pasta?” Teresa held up her dish, a sweet smile on her face.


Hoping she’d be able to feed her children as long as the strike lasted, Ornella gave her daughter another generous serving of spaghetti. “After dinner, Teresa, I would like you and Caterina to wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen while I take Nonna her dinner. ” 


“Why do we girls always have to clean up the kitchen?” Caterina whined. “Why can’t Marco and Giovanni help us once in a while?”


Fourteen-year-old Teresa vehemently supported her younger sister’s argument. “Yes, Mama. Why do we girls always have to do the cleaning?”


Ornella hesitated. Her daughters were right. Why did housework always fall to the women in the family? Had she unintentionally set the precedent? Was she unwittingly passing on the traditions of her ancestors without thinking them through?

“I agree with you, Teresa. From now on, I will require that Marco and Giovanni take a turn at cleaning the kitchen.”


Giovanni grunted. “Then you have to make Teresa and Caterina take a turn at taking out the trash.”


Teresa pre-empted her mother’s response. “It’s a deal.” She gave her brothers a triumphant smirk that was followed only by their loud protests. 


“Now go on, children,” Ornella prodded. “I need to check in on Nonna and bring her some pasta.”