The Hard Land Part 27
A story of love and survival
After completing his morning chores and having breakfast, Earl went to the barn and saddled his horse.
“I missed you.” He greeted the mare with affection before mounting and heading toward the hills.
As he rode, the mare lifted her legs high to step through the snow on the ground. Earl steered her toward the fence on the south side of the property. While inspecting the fence, he noticed that the drifting snow had broken off three posts. He made a mental note of the locations and planned to repair them as soon as the snow melted.
Earl followed the fence until he could see the grove of trees that indicated the location of a spring a few hundred yards away. The snow was still two feet deep, and the mare struggled to get through it. Earl dismounted once he reached the trees and tied the reins to a branch. He made his way through the trees and emerged on the other side of the grove, where the land was flat. Although the snow covered the stakes he had placed last fall, he knew where they were. This was his secret spot. Not even Elizabeth knew this was where he planned to build their home.
After surveying the site of his future house, Earl remounted and turned the mare back toward the fence. When the snow melted, he would come back and lay out the plan for a road to access the house. The mare walked easier through the snow now a trail had broken, and Earl was back to the barn within two hours of when he left. He hurried to the house and arrived in time to help Anna and Elizabeth prepare the noon-day meal.
Frank opened the back door of the house. “Do my eyes deceive me, or is that my brother cooking the meal?”
Earl grinned. “We had a cook at the Walker’s, so I didn’t even get to help fix a sandwich.”
The four adults and Hank sat down to eat. “When does Charlotte get home from school?” Elizabeth asked.
“Around four,” Anna said. “Christina and Knute Hanson drop her off on their way home. Knute has become a pretty good teamster, driving the wagon and the sleigh to school.”
“There are few broken posts along the south fence,” Earl said. “I’ll get them fixed as soon as the snow melts. That will only be a couple of weeks if the warm weather holds.”
“You can’t out-guess the weather around here,” Frank said. “We’ve had both warm and cold spells this winter.”
“I’ll keep watching and get the fence repaired as soon as I can.”
Spring planting took up most of Frank’s time while Earl fixed fences and drove the cattle out to the pasture. Anna and Elizabeth settled into a routine, but it was not with the ease that the brothers divided their labor. Neither woman was used to another opinion about how the house was to be run, and there were a few squabbles before they figured things out.
After one of their disagreements, Elizabeth begged Earl to get the work done on the cabin so they could move back in, so the next day, he climbed the ladder to the roof only to discover more serious damage. It was another three weeks before they were able to get the repairs completed. In the meantime, Anna and Elizabeth had finally arrived at a workable solution and so it was with a little sadness that Anna and Elizabeth separated their households in early June.
Elizabeth often walked down to the house to check on Anna, but now that school was out for the summer, Charlotte was helping her mother with the day-to-day things around the house. One afternoon while Charlotte was sweeping the floor, Elizabeth pulled Anna down beside her. “Have you thought about going into town so you can be closer to the doctor when the baby comes?”
“No. I just assumed that I would have the baby here. I had the other two at home.”
“I know, but I was a lot more confident having my baby with the doctor and nurse close at hand.”
“Matilda Benson is a good midwife, and she is close by. She’s delivered more babies than the doctor in town has.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” Elizabeth patted Anna’s hand. “I better get back to the cabin. Earl will be in for supper before you know it.” She walked past Charlotte and patted her on the head.
That night, as Anna and Frank lay in bed, Anna asked Frank, “Have you ever thought about having the doctor deliver the baby instead of Matilda?”
“Can’t say I even thought about it. What’s the matter?” He held her hand under the blankets.
“Just something Elizabeth said today. She felt a lot more confident about having a doctor and a nurse available.”
“But you won’t have that here. Even if you have the doctor, you won’t have a nurse and the doctor would have a long trip.”
“What if I went to stay in town when the baby is due?”
Frank thought about that before he said, “Then Matilda wouldn’t be available.”
“That’s true, I was thinking she would be the nurse, but as a midwife, she needs to stay here. Maria Hanson is due about the same time as me.”
“When you go into labor, I can ride in and get the doctor if you want. Frank kissed Anna and she lay back down.
Anna stared into the dark. She had delivered the other two children with no problems. She was not sure why she was concerned this time around. Maybe it was because she was older, and it had been six years since she had given birth to Hank.
