The Hard Land-Part 14
A story of love and survival
“Mama, when is Christina going to come?” Charlotte asked for the fifth time.
“Seven-thirty.” Anna kept her voice even despite the irritation she felt.
“What time is it now?”
“You know how to tell time.” Anna pointed to the clock hanging above the stove. “Now, finish your breakfast so you’ll be ready.”
Charlotte smoothed the new dress that Anna had sewn for her and stared out the window at the road, not even touching her bowl of oatmeal.
“You’ll be hungry before you even get to school if you don’t eat,” Anna said.
Charlotte picked up her spoon and took a small bite. “It needs milk.”
“Then pour yourself some, but you better hurry.” Anna’s voice rose ever so slightly.
Charlotte poured milk into her bowl and took a few bites of the oatmeal before she set her spoon down and stared out the window again.
“I see Christina!” Charlotte shouted. She pushed away from the table and darted out the door.
Anna followed Charlotte along the path to the road.
Christina Hanson sat in the seat of a buckboard holding the reins of a pair of black horses. She waved at Anna.
“Thank you for agreeing to take Charlotte to school,” Anna said when she caught up to Charlotte.
“It’s right on our way,” Christina said with a smile, “and I have to take Knute and Marla anyway. Neils and Rune won’t be starting school until after the fall work is done.”
“I still do appreciate it.” Anna had gotten to know Christina while preparing meals during the harvest season. Anna found her to be a serious and trustworthy young woman, so she had approached the Hansons about Christina taking Charlotte to school.
At sixteen, Christina was not only the oldest Hanson child but also the oldest student at the tiny school. Her parents were well-educated and insisted she stay in school for as long as possible. Girls her age were often needed at home to help with younger family members and other household chores. Boys worked on the farms, and since school started before the fall farm work was done, very few teenage boys attended school until later in the fall.
Anna kissed Charlotte and helped her into the wagon. As Charlotte scurried to sit beside Marla, Anna reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a handkerchief. Dabbing at the corner of her eyes, she watched the wagon pull away.
Charlotte and Marla were already chatting away. Just before the wagon went out of sight beyond the boxelder tree, Charlotte looked back toward Anna, and with a big grin, waved to her mother.
Anna turned toward the house and walked back along the path, tears streaming down her face. She stepped onto the porch and pushed the door open.
“Why are you crying?” Henry asked as Anna entered the house.
Anna hiccupped. “Because Charlotte is going to school.”
Henry tilted his head. “She’s coming back, isn’t she?”
Anna wiped the tears with her handkerchief. “Of course, she is.”
“Then I don’t know why you’re crying. You didn’t cry when Uncle Thomas left and he’s not coming back.”
Anna sniffled and tried to smile. “Me either.”
“Will you cry when I go to school?” Henry asked.
“Probably.” She tousled her son’s hair. “Now sit down and eat your breakfast so you can go help Pa.”
Anna spent her day rushing from task to task, but at four in the afternoon, she stood at the window twisting her handkerchief in her hands waiting for the Hanson’s wagon to appear along the road by the old box elder tree. Two minutes later, she let out a sigh of relief when the buckboard rounded the corner and stopped.
Charlotte jumped down and dashed toward the house. The bow in her hair was no longer crisply tied and wisps of brown curls clung to her face.
Charlotte crashed through the front door and called, “Mama, are you here?”
Anna stepped toward her daughter. “How was school?”
“It was great,” Charlotte said. “Miss Anderson is the best teacher in the whole world. She let me read to the class. At recess, we jumped rope, and Miss Anderson turned the rope. Then in the afternoon, we had art, and I drew this.” Charlotte held up a pencil drawing of the house. “I didn’t have time to draw Uncle Earl and Aunt Elizabeth’s cabin.”
“That’s a very nice drawing,” Anna said. “Tell me more about Miss Anderson.”
“She’s pretty and fun,” Charlotte said.
Realizing she was not going to get a lot of vital information about the teacher from an eight-year-old, she resolved to query the other women about the teacher.
“What’s the school like?”
“We all meet in one big room.” Charlotte swung her arms out wide. “Christina sat in the back and the little kids sat up front closest to Miss Anderson.”
“Where did you sit?”
“On the second row with Marla. Knute and his friend Richard sat right behind us.” Charlotte lowered her voice. “Richard doesn’t read very well. The other kids laughed at him when it was his turn to read.”
“I hope you didn’t laugh.”
“Oh, no, Mama. Richard would’ve pulled my pigtails if I’d laughed.”
Anna pulled Charlotte close and hugged her. “I’m glad you like school, now change out of your school clothes so you can help me gather the laundry from the line.”
Thomas ripped open the letter, the third one he’d received from Amanda since his return to Ogden two weeks ago. He had only sent her one, a brief note, telling her that he had arrived, but now he had news to share.
He sat at his father’s desk and pulled a sheet of stationery from the drawer. He dipped the fountain pen into the bottle of ink and began to write.
“My Dearest Amanda.”
Thomas reread the salutation. Was he being too bold? He crumpled the paper and tossed it into the waste bin. Pulling out a fresh sheet. He started again.
Dear Amanda,
I am sorry that I have not written more. I have three letters from you and am sorely embarrassed that I have been so slow in responding to your most welcome correspondence.
The day after I arrived home, I received a letter of acceptance from the University of Utah. I at once began to set my affairs in order so I might go to Salt Lake City and arrange housing. While this has taken much of my time, it is no excuse for neglecting to answer your letters in a timely manner.
Suffice it to say that you have been constantly on my mind, and I think fondly on the time we spent together at your father’s party and am pleased to know that you think likewise as I have derived from reading your letters.
I will move to Salt Lake City, and room with five other young men who are also matriculating at the university. School will begin the first week of January, as it is too late for starting this fall. For now, I will continue my studies at the Weber Stake Academy here in Ogden.
My mind often goes back to that last evening before my departure, and I hope I am not being too bold when I say I shall never forget your brief kiss. The lightness of the kiss before you ran up the stairs and into your house lingers upon my lips. I think of you often and miss your bright smile.
I hope all is well with you and yours.
Please continue writing often. I do enjoy reading your fluid prose.
With affection,
Thomas
Thomas folded the letter and slipped it into an envelope. He jumped from the chair and raced to the post office, not wanting to wait for the mail carrier to pick up the letter from his parents’ house.
Earl was already awake and peering out the window, when he heard Elizabeth struggling out of bed. He turned to see her cross the room from the bed. Her waistline had expanded quite a bit over the last few months and made it more difficult for her to move.
She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.
He turned to face her and pressed up against the bump that was their baby. He gave her a lingering kiss.
Elizabeth leaned back. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Earl leaned next to her ear and whispered. “It snowed last night.”
Elizabeth broke the embrace, her eyes shifting toward the window. She stepped to the window and pulled the curtains aside. “There’s less than an inch. We had more snow than that in April.”
Earl laughed as he came to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her stomach. “We did at that.” He sobered as he continued. “I’ve been thinking, though. Maybe your mother’s right, and we should go to Ogden for the winter. The baby is going to come in January, and it will be difficult for the doctor to get here from Preston.”
Elizabeth placed her hands on his. “I’ve been thinking the same thing. It would be best to travel before I get much bigger and before we need to make the trip by sleigh.”
“That’s another thing,” Earl said. “The snow may be deep enough here to need the sleigh, but the valley may not have enough snow.”
“Have you talked to Frank about it?”
Earl scratched the back of his neck. “Not yet. I’ve tried not to think about it, but this snowfall reminded me. It is not even the middle of October yet. Who knows how much snow we will have by January?”
“The real burden will be on Frank.” Elizabeth reminded him. “He and Anna should be part of the decision.”
“I know.” Earl grabbed his coat from the nail in the wall and shrugged into it. Lifting the latch on the cabin door, he pulled it open and stepped out into the storm. He turned the collar up on his coat and strode to the barn and pushed open the door.
Frank was sitting on a one-legged stool milking the cow with Henry standing beside him.
“Is it your day to milk?” Earl asked as he stepped into the barn.
“I believe it is,” Frank said.
Earl fidgeted. He needed to talk with Frank about his and Elizabeth’s plan, but he was not sure how to begin. He drew in a deep breath, but the words he had planned didn’t come. Instead, he asked, “Could we come down to your house after supper?”
Frank twisted slightly on the stool and looked at Earl. “You’re always welcome at our house. Why don’t you come for supper? I’m sure Elizabeth would like to have a rest from cooking.”
“Thanks, I’m sure she would.”
“Okay. We’ll see you at six.”
Earl was still unsettled when he left the barn and went out to the corrals to feed the heifers. As he looked them over, he remembered that they’d be having their calves about the end of January or early February. That was another burden Frank would have to bear.
Elizabeth and Earl knocked on the back door of the house a couple of minutes before six. When Anna opened the door, Elizabeth held out a basket of rolls that she had baked that afternoon.
“These smell so good, but you didn’t need to do that,” Anna said as she took the basket from Elizabeth’s outstretched hands.
“It was the least I could do,” Elizabeth said as they stepped into the warm house.
Anna placed the basket of rolls on the table alongside fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
When everyone was seated, Frank said, “Charlotte, I think it is your turn to bless the food.”
The family folded their arms and bowed their heads. Charlotte offered a brief but sincere blessing on the food and asked the Lord to bless Aunt Elizabeth and the baby.
“Thank you, Charlotte,” Elizabeth said, after Charlotte said amen. “That means so much to me.”
Charlotte smiled and dipped her head.
Frank scooped a helping of potatoes onto his plate. “Eat up.”
After supper, Anna sent Charlotte and Henry to their rooms to get ready for bed, and the adults sat around the table engaged in small talk.
Elizabeth nudged Earl.
Earl cleared his throat then plunged ahead. “The snow this morning got us thinking. You know how hard it might be for the doctor to get here when the baby comes.” Earl paused and looked at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth smiled and patted his hand.
“Well,” Earl went on, “Elizabeth’s mother wrote and suggested that Elizabeth and I go to Ogden for the winter. We think it is a good idea, but we don’t want to put all the extra burden of the farm on you. I know it is asking a lot, so we thought we ought to talk to you about it before we decide.”
“How soon would you go?” Anna asked.
“That depends on the weather,” Earl said, “but I think we should go while we can still travel by wagon to Cache Junction.”
Frank ran his fingers through his hair. “That would probably be pretty soon. We could get heavy snow anytime now. Sam says there’s almost always snow on the ground long before Thanksgiving.”
“That’s what I have been told, too,” Earl said. “The cattle are all in from the pasture, but the calves will be coming about the first of February. I guess I could come back once the baby’s born, but I don’t think Elizabeth will be coming back before spring.”
Frank stroked his beard. “I think we can handle everything here. Don’t you agree, Anna?”
“I’m sure we can. The Benson’s are close by and can help if we need something extra. I know you will get better medical care in Ogden. I hear they’re even building a hospital, but I am sure you will not need that,” Anna was quick to add.
“The children will miss you,” Frank said. “We probably should tell them.”
“Charlotte, Henry, come in here,” Anna said.
The children soon appeared in the kitchen, wearing their pajamas.
“Earl and Elizabeth have something to tell you.”
The children gazed at Elizabeth as she explained that she and Uncle Earl were going to go away until after the baby was born.
“You’ll come back, won’t you?” Charlotte asked with tears forming in her eyes.
“Yes, we will be back in the spring, and we will bring your cousin to meet you.”
“What’s a cousin?” Henry asked.
“Our children are your cousins, and you are cousins to our children,” Earl explained. Henry nodded, but still looked unsure.
“Can you tuck me in, Aunt Elizabeth?” Charlotte asked.
Elizabeth slowly stood. “I’d be glad to.” She took Charlotte by the hand and led her to the bedroom.
“She’s sure going to miss Elizabeth,” Anna said.
“We better head home,” Earl said when Elizabeth returned.
After saying goodnight, Elizabeth and Earl slowly walked hand in hand across the yard toward their cabin.
Elizabeth was the first to speak. “That went well.”
“It did.” Earl gripped Elizabeth’s hand tighter. “I’m still worried about Frank and Anna taking on all the chores for the entire winter.”
Elizabeth squeezed back. “They’re strong, and, like they said, they can get help from the neighbors if they need it.”
“If I know Frank, he’ll be the one helping the neighbors. Your mother and Anna are right, though. You can get a lot better medical care and it will be good for the baby to have a nice warm house for the first couple of months of his life.”
Elizabeth gave a playful tug on Earl’s arm. “His life? What if it’s a girl?”
“You know what I mean. His, as a generic term.”
“I know. I was just teasing.”
They stepped onto the porch, and Earl looked back toward Frank and Anna’s house before he opened the door and led Elizabeth inside.
Elizabeth slipped out of her coat and hung in on the nail. “I guess we better start planning.”
Earl yawned and stretched. “Not tonight. Let’s get some sleep and we can figure all this out tomorrow.”
