Amethyst

by Lauraine Snelling

  Jeremiah pulled on his clothes and sat down to lace up his boots. No telling how long they had to get the stock watered and fed. He couldn’t see the northern sky from his window, and the dark clouds wouldn’t show until daylight anyway if they were brooding.

  Both Miss O’Shaunasy and Mrs. Hegland wore full aprons over their clothes and were dipping hot water out of the reservoir to pour over snow in buckets, boilers, and washtubs. Every container that could melt snow covered the stove.

  “Good morning, Mr. McHenry. I hope our banging around didn’t wake you.”

  “No, the silence did sometime during the night.” He shook his head. “Who’d think silence would wake one.”

  Miss O’Shaunasy glanced over her shoulder. “Strange, wasn’t it?”

  He nodded and smiled, hoping he could bring her to smile back. She had a lovely smile when playing with Carly, but so far she’d kept it from him. “If you have buckets of hot water ready to go, I’ll take two out.”

  “Good, take those.” Pearl pointed at two. “When the sun comes up, Carl will try to thaw out the pump, but in the meantime we can get all the animals a drink this way.”

  Jeremiah shrugged into his coat and wrapped the muffler around his neck.

  “Take that other hat of Carl’s. It will keep you warmer than yours.”

  He did as she suggested. Flat-brimmed hats were great for protection from the sun and rain but did nothing for cold such as this. After both men had made three trips, they sat down at the table set for breakfast.

  “I know what I’m building next,” Carl said after saying grace.

  “What?”

  “A house for the pump. I wanted to do it last summer but never had time.” Carl passed the platters of ham and eggs around the table.

  “I’m hoping to build a house. Will you be for hire?”

  “You get the logs together, and we’ll all come out and put it up in a day, just like a barn raising.”

  “Do you know where you plan to build?” Pearl asked.

  “Out on Pinewood Creek. That’s one bend upriver from Rand’s place. The bottom there isn’t as large as where he is, but I’m not planning on putting up a lot of buildings. Just a house, barn, and corral. Perhaps a smokehouse.” He glanced up to see Miss O’Shaunasy watching him. He smiled when he caught her eye, and she ducked her chin, but not before a slight smile teased the corners of her mouth.

  The jingling of harness bells caught their attention. Carl pushed back his chair and went to the front door. But when he pulled it in to open it, snow covered the opening chest high. “Morning, Charlie, come on around to the back door,” he hollered over the top of it. “Haven’t had time to shovel here.”

  “Will do.”

  Carl slammed the door before the snow wall fell in on him. “First time that’s happened.”

  “I’ll clear it off after breakfast,” McHenry said. “Then I think I’ll ride out and see how Rand and his family are doing.”

  “You might do better if you skied. You know how?”

  “Never learned. Though Opal did. I remember how that girl can do about anything she sets her mind to.”

  “She’s becoming a young woman now, as you saw when she came to visit in her sapphire gown. When she was sent back to New York last summer after the drifter tried to attack her, she returned with two trunks of gowns for all occasions, along with all the shoes and hats one could dream of.” Pearl smiled. “I love watching her grow up.”

  “Drifter? What happened?” Jeremiah asked.

  Carl turned to Jeremiah. “Long story, but she and Atticus beat him off.”

  Pearl shook her head. “Ended in the tragedy of Ward Robinson being killed. Just awful, the whole thing.”

  After a knock on the back door, Charlie was inside and stamping snow off his boots. “Near to blind you out there, the sun off that snow.”

  “Come and have a cup of coffee with us. There’s more ham and eggs if you’d like.”

  “No, thanks, I already had breakfast. Just checking to see that everyone is all right.”

  “You going on out to Harrisons’?” McHenry asked.

  “Plannin’ on it. You want to come?”

  “Sit down and have a cup of coffee while I finish here.”

  Amethyst rose and fetched another cup and saucer. “You sure you won’t take a piece of this ham?”

  “You twisted my arm.” Charlie hung his coat on the peg and took the chair offered him.

  “How are things at your house?” Carl nodded his thanks at the refill Amethyst poured into his cup.

  “All right now that I got water and feed to the stock. Won’t nobody be getting much milk after the cows went without water for two days.”

  “Yeah, we lost some of the chickens in the last one. Should have let them out of the chicken house, loose in the barn. You’d have thought enough snow seeped in to give them enough to drink. Everyone’s healthy though?”

  “Other than baby Thomas—he has a runny nose. Daisy spends most of her waking hours wiping it.” He nodded his thanks when Amethyst set a plate with cookies in front of him. “Ingermeir’s soddy got buried under the snow. He might have to put an extension on his stovepipe to keep his fire burnin’. You could drive a sleigh right over the top of his house if you didn’t see the stovepipe. Helped him dig out some.”

  While the men discussed the weather, Amethyst took the baby so that Pearl could eat. She sat the squirming little boy on her lap and patted his back until a solid burp made Carly smile.

  “Baby.”

  “He sure did burp. You want to help me change him?”

  Carly nodded and, after a glance at her mother, slid from her chair.

  “Wipe your hands and face.”

  Carly looked from her hands to her mother, then licked the jam off one finger. “Done.”

  “The washcloth is on the bar on the reservoir. Use it.”

  Amethyst laid the baby on the padded flannel quilt on the low chest. The stack of folded diapers on the shelf above it was diminishing rapidly. Time to wash diapers, baby soakers, and gowns.

  She heard the men prepare to leave as she pulled the woolen knit soakers back up. Instead of knitting socks for her father, perhaps she should make more soakers for this little one. Had she known she would be staying, she would have packed differently, that was for sure. Although she had brought so few clothes, that wasn’t the issue. And she didn’t need household things, since there were plenty here. But she would have brought her sewing things: needles, thread, scissors, a darning egg, pins.

  “Me hold him?” Carly looked up at Amethyst, her eyes pleading.

  Oh dear. Amethyst kept a smile in place while she thought. “I know, let’s go sit in the rocker and you can climb up on my lap to hold the baby.”

  “Good.” The little girl ran to the rocker, her eyes dancing. “Me rock baby.”

  Holding the child on her hip, Amethyst sat down carefully, then gave Carly a hand to scramble into her lap. With the little girl settled, she positioned the thin arms and sat Joseph on Carly’s lap. “Now hold him but don’t squeeze him.”

  Carly gazed at the face of her baby brother. “Sleepy.”

  “Babies sleep a lot so they can grow faster.”

  “Me bigger.”

  “Yes, you are growing like a weed.” Pearl knelt in front of the rocker and smoothed her daughter’s hair back. “Looks like we need to braid your hair.”

  Carly shook her head.

  “Yes, after we put Joseph to bed.” Pearl reached for the infant. “I’ll put him in his bed now.”

  Another nod from Carly. “So grow big, huh?” She slid to the floor as soon as her mother took the baby. “Cookie?”

  Amethyst stood. “I’ll get you a cookie.”

  After handing Carly her cookie, she tested the water in the boiler. “Do you need this, Mr. Hegland, or can I use it for washing diapers?”

  “You go ahead. I’ll bring in more snow to melt.”

  Amethyst took the bar of soap an
d scraped curls off it with a knife into the steaming water. After adding the diapers, she put the cover back on the boiler and moved it closer to the heat to set it boiling. After scraping soap into the dishpan, she finished clearing the table. Pearl reentered the kitchen and headed for the dishes.

  “No, you sit there and enjoy your coffee, Pearl. I’m taking care of this.”

  “You’ll spoil me.”

  “I doubt it. I don’t know how you’ve managed with all this by yourself.”

  “We haven’t had many guests here since the summer, when we could have had men sleeping in the barn since so many needed rooms. Some slept in tents and then ate supper here every night. Opal has been a big help, but until the weather lets up, she’ll be staying home.”

  “What are you planning on for dinner?” Amethyst asked.

  “The goose carcasses from Christmas are in the window box in the pantry. I was thinking of making soup from them. Then for supper we’ll bake that venison haunch, and we can make hash or stew from the remainders. At least this cold weather guarantees we’ll have no worries about anything going bad.”

  After Mr. Hegland headed out with buckets of hot water to thaw out the pump—he would add snow to cool it down so as not to crack the metal pump—Pearl joined Amethyst doing the dishes. “Thank you for taking over for me like that. Carl and I never have time to talk during the day.”

  “You are welcome.”

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  “Yes?”

  “Mr. McHenry really is a fine gentleman, isn’t he?”

  “Seems so.”

  “I would imagine he will be looking for a wife now that he is building a home.”

  Amethyst shrugged. Not after the way he barked at her, sounding just like her Pa. Of course, any man would be frustrated at stumbling on the stairs like that.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  If I don’t get outside pretty soon, I am going to go stir crazy, Opal thought.

  “Opa.” Per raised his arms to be picked up again. No matter how sick he felt, he wanted Opal to carry him.

  Just go to sleep, and maybe you’ll feel better. But Opal picked him up and held him on her hip as she stared out the small space where she’d scraped the ice off the inside of the window. The sun glinted off the snow so brightly that even the window frost looked to have rainbows frozen in it.

  “Look, Per, see how pretty.” She pointed to the colors in the frost.

  “No.” He scrubbed his face across her shoulder, smearing snot and tears on her shirt. But when she tried to wipe his nose, he reared back, nearly pitching himself from her arms. “N-o-o! No mo. Ma?” His cries set him to coughing again, a deep cough that sounded like he was coughing up his lungs. He coughed until he gagged and threw up.

  If Opal had thought the snot on her shirt bad, this even smelled sick. “Per. Ugh.” She set him down in the rocking chair and patted his back. “Let me get cleaned up.”

  “What happened?” Ruby returned from changing the baby.

  “This.” Opal pointed to the mess on her shirt.

  “Well, wash it off.”

  “I will, and then I’m going to the soddy to see how Little Squirrel is feeling.” And to check on Bay and the other horses and to slide down a drift or two. Anything to get out of this house and away from a sick and screaming child.

  “Good. Although Linc said she is much better.”

  “With all these socks I can hardly get my boots on.” She slammed her heel against the wood floor. “I can’t wait until spring.”

  “Opa! Go, pease.” Per raised his arms and flipped himself over to dismount from the chair.

  “No. You’re sick. You have to stay inside.” She knew she sounded snappy, and the look on his face made her feel like she’d kicked a puppy.

  “Opal, you could be kinder than that.”

  I’ve been about as kind as I can be. “You know he’s too sick to go outside in this cold.”

  “Of course, but…” Ruby picked up her son and kissed his cheek. “You stay here with Ma and Mary.” The look she sent Opal conveyed her disgust.

  “N-o-o. Go with Opa!” He scrunched up his face and cried the most pitiful cry, which led to more coughing and made Opal feel one inch high.

  “I’ll be back soon, Per.” She pulled a knitted hat down over her ears and wrapped a muffler around her neck. “Takes so long to get ready that it’ll be time for dinner before I get out the door.” She pulled on knit mittens and then a pair of sheepskin ones with the wool inside. “I feel like a walking clothespress.”

  “Take this to Little Squirrel.” Ruby handed her a basket with a loaf of bread, a jar of jam, butter, and cheese. She screwed down the lid on a jar of soup and tucked that in the middle. “Tell her I hope she can make it here for breakfast tomorrow but only if the weather holds.”

  “Linc isn’t going out to stay at the line shack, is he?”

  “Not until she is all better. The others will just have to make do. And Rand didn’t want Mrs. Robertson left without a man around, so Mr. Chandler won’t be going out either.”

  “Leave it to Rand.” While Opal had volunteered to go man or, in her case, woman one of the line shacks, Rand had let her know in no uncertain terms that it was man’s work and no woman would be out there on his behalf. If Ruby hadn’t had a new baby, he most likely would have taken a turn by now too.

  Opal stepped out the door and slitted her eyes against the piercing bright white. Her nose immediately began to run, and when she took in a breath of air, it felt like knives slicing inside her chest.

  As she approached the soddy, Opal called, “Little Squirrel, I’ve come to visit.”

  The door creaked opened, and Little Squirrel beckoned her inside. “Come now.”

  “You sure look better than the last time I saw you.” Opal handed her the basket and shut the door behind herself. After the brightness of the outside, the only thing she could see was the red fire in the fireplace. She blinked and let her eyes adjust. Even so, the soddy was so dim she could hardly see. “Don’t you have a kerosene lamp?”

  Little Squirrel nodded. “Save for night.”

  “Oh.” Opal studied the Indian woman. She looked to be all belly hung on a post. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better. How Ruby and baby?”

  “Good. Per is sick, but he must be getting better. He hollered, which made him cough, when I was leaving. He wanted to come along.”

  “Per always want to go.”

  “I know. Ruby told me to ask if you have enough food in case another blizzard hits. The way they’ve been coming, we can expect more.”

  “Enough. Meat and beans good.”

  “Wish I could go hunting.”

  “None left.”

  “What do you mean?” Opal let her long scarf hang free.

  “Snow hard on cattle, deer. Rabbit die too.”

  “How do you know?”

  “One time, when girl, in winter like this many die.”

  Opal shivered. Please, Lord, keep everyone safe. Here she’d been grumbling about being stuck in the house, while people might be dying. What if they had run out of wood, or food?

  “Listen, bells.” Little Squirrel went to the window and pulled back the skin that they’d draped there to help keep out the cold. “Charlie.”

  “I better go see what’s been going on. Do you think you’ll be to the house for supper tonight?”

  Little Squirrel shook her head. “Better here.” She rubbed the shelf that her rounded belly made. “Baby come soon.”

  “Tonight?”

  “No, but soon.”

  “You’ll send Linc for Ruby?”

  Little Squirrel shrugged. “We see.” She patted Opal’s shoulder. “We good. No worry.”

  “Yeah, well, you said that before, and then you got really sick. I was so afraid you were going to die.”

  “Not my time. Great Spirit give strength.”

  Opal never knew if Little Squirrel was referring to the Great Spirit of her
people or to the Holy Ghost part of the God she knew. God was God, was He not? She gave Little Squirrel a hug and headed back outside, covering her face with the muffler as she stepped into the sun. For a moment she closed her eyes and raised her face to the golden light. Even though there was no warmth to speak of, the light kissing her face reminded her of one of the promises she’d read in the family Bible the night before. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And they had called, and He had kept them all safe.

  She waved at Charlie as he knotted his team’s tie rope over the hitching rail that was nearly buried under the snow. “Hey, Charlie, you checking on everyone?”

  “Sure enough. And so far so good.”

  She paused as another tree cracked from the cold. Between lightning in the summer and the cold this winter, there would be plenty of dead trees for firewood.

  “Rand around?”

  “No. He and Linc went out with supplies to the line shacks.”

  Ruby let Ghost out, and she ran up to Charlie, yipping her delight at a visitor. “Good morning,” Ruby called. “Come on in. The coffee will be hot in a few minutes.”

  “Be right there.”

  Sound carried in the stillness, unlike anything Opal had experienced before. If she could pucker up enough to whistle without freezing her lips, she figured the Robertsons would know it was her. And their house was over a mile away with two hills in between.

  She filled the woodbox before brushing the woodchips off her coat. They’d sure made a dent in the wood stacked on the porch. Perhaps she should dig out the toboggan and haul a few loads from the stacks lining the springhouse. After Charlie leaves, I’ll do that.

  “Hey there, you can come do the same at our house if you like.” Charlie nodded toward the woodbox. “Good thing I listened to Rand and split that extra cord. Can’t believe how much wood we’ve gone through.”

  “We closed off the back of the house and lived here in the kitchen for a couple of days.” Ruby set a plate of gingerbread on the table. “Would you like applesauce on that?”

  “Of course.”

  “Our cream is frozen, so I can’t offer you that.”