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She glanced over at the train as it pulled into the station. She never bothered checking her well-trained horses as she unloaded flats of eggs and jars of honey from her wagon. She took large loads up the steps of the store across from the train platform and deposited them at the end of the counter that Mr. Schmidt had indicated. Mrs. Schmidt smiled at the richness and purity of the golden honey.
Cass found it much more convenient to come into town to trade. It was closer to her farm in Merrill, but she did occasionally make the longer trip to Wausau. The traders there were always thrilled to trade her cash money or goods for her rich honey and perfect eggs. Her flats contained normal hen eggs but also, she had duck eggs and huge goose eggs. Some of the shoppers who were lucky enough to obtain these delicacies would be delighted since they made for a richer and more delicious batter when baking or cooking. The goose eggs alone would be worth their price since one goose egg was the size of two hen eggs. This trip Cass also had pelts from fox, muskrat, mink, deer, and rabbit to trade. She left the store richer than she had entered it but also with a bushel bag of flour, one of sugar, a smaller bag of salt, and a few other staples that were cheaper here in the larger town. She packed all this neatly in her wagon behind the seat. She noticed a woman sitting with two small children who must have gotten off the train and was now trying to keep the toddler and older child entertained. They were on the bench before the depot door, obviously waiting for someone.
She got up behind her two horses on the wagon seat and having never set the brake, just spoke to them to get them going. Their ears twitched at her voice and their feet started walking as she expertly turned them around in the wide street before the depot. She backed her wagon up to the loading dock and speaking to the horses again, she wrapped the lines around the unused brake and hopped down. She saw the woman and her children still waiting, but now the older of the two children was crouching down and peering into the crates stacked neatly on the edge of the platform. She smiled indulgently; she could imagine his fascination at what the crates contained. They were why she was here. She went into the depot office nodding with a smile at the woman who watched her son as he delightedly and gently poked his fingers through the slats of the crates.
“I’m Cass Shiemer, I believe those crates outside are mine?” she greeted the depot clerk, her thumb pointing backwards at the stack outside.
“Yes ma’am, I have your paperwork here if you’ll just step up and sign. Do you have your letter from the company?”
Cass produced her paperwork showing she was to receive these crates, and their business was soon concluded. She signed for her delivery.
“Can I help you load them, ma’am?” the clerk asked helpfully.
“I’d appreciate it,” Cass answered, knowing that she didn’t need the help, but one never knew and refusing it would only create a problem.
As she walked out, she was surprised to see one of the railroad men about to kick in the side of one of her crates. The little boy who had been admiring the pups was now cowering against his equally frightened mother on the bench.
“Hold on there, what are you doing?” she asked, alarmed at seeing him intent on harming the crate containing her hard-earned pups.
“That little begger in there bit me!” he said angrily. “I’ll teach it some manners.” He drew his leg back again.
Cass was faster and ran to pull the leg up. The man lost balance and fell heavily. Everyone heard and felt the crash on the platform. The other crates sent up a squawking and the puppies’ startled yipes
“What the hell?” the man yelled outraged.
“Those are my animals, and you hurt them. I’m going to hurt you,” Cass said angrily.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” he said ominously as he got up off his backside.
Cass didn’t back down as he expected although he towered over her. Instead, she took a step closer and got right into his face looking up belligerently and saying, “I’m Cass Scheimer, and these are my animals you were intent on damaging. Who the heck do you think you are?”
The man raised his hand as though to strike her, and she faintly heard the clerk yelling, “Now, now, she’s a lady!”
He looked down at her dressed in men’s pants and a flannel shirt covered in a man’s dusty coat and matching dilapidated hat. He laughed at the word “lady” and proceeded to raise his hand. It never fell. Quicker than he could blink Cass had a knife pressed to the train officer suit he was wearing. To make her point, she neatly sliced off a button. It bounced and rolled onto the platform.
“Touch me and I’ll gut you like a fish,” she said pleasantly, never taking her eyes off his as she used her peripheral vision to watch his hands.
Looking deeply into her eyes, he tried to intimidate her but knew with a sickening feeling she was deadly serious. He knew that as a woman, in a court of trial, she would be acquitted on any wrong and he would be found guilty. He reluctantly backed down. Letting out a snort of disgust he said, “A lady,” and turned away, shaking his head as he got back into the baggage car of the train.
Cass watched him until he was inside the car and put her knife back in the sheath along her belt. She could see the woman and children cowering out of the corner of her eye.
“Let me help you with those crates Miss Scheimer?” the clerk began warily.
“Who was that?” she asked him, nodding her head towards the empty door of the baggage car. They picked up the crates and placed them gently into the back of her wagon.
“He’s new on this line. I don’t know where he came from, but he’s nothing but trouble,” the clerk whispered as they struggled with the awkward crates one by one.
Cass paused after her second load and reached in her pocket for a slip of paper and a pencil. “What’s his name?”
The clerk reluctantly gave it to her and saw as she wrote both his and the offensive man’s name on the paper. He wondered if he was going to lose his job over this incident. The last crate containing puppies she effortlessly put in the back of the wagon before putting up the tailgate and carefully latching it on both ends. She thanked the clerk for his help and saw the boy watching her again and looking longingly at the crate containing her pups. She grinned knowing how much children loved puppies.
“Cute puppies, aren’t they?” she asked him, and he nodded as he took another step towards her wagon to get a better view. His hair had a rooster tail, and it waved energetically in his enthusiasm.
“He was gonna hurt them,” he said, glancing at the doorway of the train car the man had disappeared into.
Cass nodded, wondering what the boy was thinking. His mother came to stand behind him, and Cass saw that she was obviously pregnant.
“I wish I could have puppies, someday,” he said wistfully. Cass smiled, knowing every little boy’s wish.
“Someday, Timmy, someday. Perhaps Mr. Lancaster will let you have one,” the woman said softly.
Cass looked up at the name and asked, “Vince Lancaster?”
The woman nodded and smiled. It changed her whole face and made it nearly beautiful. She was small, blonde, and the pregnancy was making her very round. Cass expertly guessed her to be about in her fifth month.
“Do you know Mr. Lancaster?” she asked eagerly.
Cass nodded, wondering what in the world this woman wanted with Vince. “Yeah, I know Vince.” Her tone betrayed nothing of how she felt towards the man.
“Have you seen him?” the woman asked tiredly. “He was to meet the train, but business must have held him up.”
“Business?” Cass repeated.
“Yes, he must have been held up. I’m sorry, how rude of me. I’m Stephanie Evans, Mr. Lancaster’s fiancée.” She held out her hand for Cass to shake.
Cass shook it. “You’re engaged to Vince Lancaster?”
Stephanie’s mouth tightened at the incredulous note in Cass’s voice. “Yes, Mr. Lancaster and I’ve corresponded for some time. In fact, he generously sent the tickets for us to come here to live with him. We were to be married today.”
“He know you’re pregnant?” Cass asked bluntly.
Stephanie flushed. It was a word that polite company did not use. Most people would have said “in the family way,” but not this woman who wore men’s clothes and used a knife against a man twice her size. She nodded, “Of course Mr. Lancaster knows I’m with child. I wrote him and told him.”
“He get a sight of you?” Cass asked.
“I sent a picture if that’s what you’re asking.” The smaller woman was getting annoyed at this line of questioning.
“Ma’am, I hate to be the one to tell you, but I don’t think Vince Lancaster is the marrying kind.”
“Why? What do you mean? His letters were most gentlemanly and gallant. He knew of my situation after my husband’s demise and offered his comfort, support, and home to my family and me. I sold my home to come here and be his wife,” she said almost desperately.
Cass’s heart went out to petite, blonde Stephanie, but she knew of Vince Lancaster, even up in Merrill. His reputation was repulsive. If he had been writing this woman, and she was surprised to hear he could write, it was for no good reason.
“You knew Vince before your husband’s death?”
Stephanie shook her head, and her embarrassment made her cheeks turn an unflattering shade of pink. “I answered an ad that Mr. Lancaster placed in the paper looking for a wife. When he heard of my situation, we began a correspondence.”
Cass didn’t know what to do. Most likely Vince had gotten someone else to write those letters, laughing at the unknowing woman who had answered the ad. How he had come up with the funds to have her travel here, she didn’t know. He never had enough money to drink, much less extra to send train fare.
“Ma’am,” she began, and then gulped and began again. “Mrs. Evans, let me take you to where I think Vince might be, and you can make up your mind then.”
Stephanie considered for a moment. She couldn’t just sit here indefinitely. Timmy and the baby were exhausted, and she realized how tired she also felt. She had to do something. She didn’t have a lot of money left after everything had been sold and their bills all paid, but what she did have was precious. She had grasped at the idea of becoming another man’s wife, even if that other man was a stranger. Vince Lancaster’s letters had been a godsend when she found herself pregnant after Howard’s death. A heart attack at 42 was not unheard of, but she never imagined it would happen to her husband. When it did, she was alone, with no one to take care of her. Vince’s letters had offered her hope and assured her he would take good care of her and her children. In exchange, she would take care of him and his home.
She agreed to Cass’s offer to take her to Vince. If nothing else, it would get her closer to him and get the children settled.
Cass effortlessly lifted her trunk into the back of the wagon, proving that she hadn’t needed the clerks help with the crates after all.
“We going with her, Mommy?” Timmy looked up at the blonde woman.
She nodded and Cass smiled. “You can sit next to the puppies and keep them quiet,” Cass told him. She saw his face light up at the thought. She settled him in the back by the crate with the two puppies inside. She noted their water dish was empty, but the food dish still held some kibbles.
Cass looked at the baby on Stephanie’s hip, expertly held by his mother. “Can he be trusted to ride with his brother?” she asked Stephanie. Stephanie looked at the toddler who gazed intently at the puppies with the same rapt fascination as his brother.
“I think Tommy will be fine with his brother,” she smiled as he nodded insistently, understanding fully what they were saying.
Cass swung him to sit next to the other little boy and said, “Now I want you two to pet these puppies and keep them calm. This is their first wagon ride, and they are probably a little scared. Think you can do that?” she asked them gently.
Stephanie smiled at how nice Cass was being to her two little boys. They both nodded solemnly. Cass picked up their carryon bags and put them behind the boys for them to lean on. She helped Stephanie up over the wheel before climbing into the front of the wagon to settle herself on the seat.
“Could you hand me that canteen?” Cass asked Stephanie, pointing under the seat. Stephanie moved awkwardly with her girth but managed to reach between her legs and under her skirt for the container.
Stephanie handed Cass the canteen before Cass, in turn, handed it to Timmy and said, “Could you make sure each of the bowls has a little water in it? Don’t fill it full because the wagon will spill it, but each of the crates needs a little.” She smiled as he nearly nodded his head off in his eagerness to help. “If you’re thirsty, you and your brother have a little too, okay?
Cass climbed up effortlessly onto the wagon seat and commanded, “Walk Stanley, walk Stella.” Cass turned her attention to her two horses, whose ears twitched, and listening to Cass, began to walk down the street.
Stephanie watched in fascination. The horses hadn’t needed the lines that Cass now unwound, and she hadn’t even set the brake. The horses had immediately begun upon Cass’s command. They drove for several blocks along tree lined streets before Cass spoke again, “Left Stanley, left Stella,” and amazingly, the horses turned left at the next street. The streets were decorated with nice houses and a few businesses on the corners, or on alternate streets. They were soon in a part of town not nearly as nice, and Cass pulled up in front of a dilapidated tavern before saying, “Whoa,” and the horses stood quietly. She jumped off the seat and went inside, never looking back at Stephanie or saying anything.
Stephanie stared in amazement at the tavern as though unsure of why someone like Cass would go in such a place. She told the boys to stay in the wagon. They never looked up from the puppies they were petting, their hands shoved between the slats of the crate. She awkwardly climbed out of the wagon and followed Cass. The sight inside wasn’t much better with slovenly men with their shirts open, their sleeves pushed up to their elbows and their arms exposed, sitting around stools and tables. They gawked at her attire, her Sunday best. Her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room and she saw a long bar along one wall and men standing around slurping beer and hard liquor. The smell in the place wasn’t much better than its appearance. She set her face as she saw Cass talking earnestly to a tall dark mustached man. He looked like the picture she had of Vince Lancaster. Two other men were listening to Cass unashamedly, and the room quieted as Stephanie came further into it. Every eye went from her to the tall handsome man.
“I told you, I ain’t gonna marry her,” he was saying and with the silence in the room his voice carried.
Cass noted the silence and looked around in time to see the hurt cross Stephanie’s face. The man saw her too at the same moment. His friends smirked and one snickered. Stephanie turned and walked out the door. Cass whirled around and took Vince by the lapels and twisted them in one hand.
“You wrote her. You made promises. Why’d you send her the train tickets if you weren’t gonna marry her as you promised?” she hissed angrily. Every ear in the room was listening.
The man tried to get her to release his shirt. It was choking him, and he looked alarmed. “You saw her: she’s as big as cow. She didn’t tell me...” he began.
“You’re a liar,” Cass hissed. She pulled out her knife quick as a flash and held it to still his hands from releasing her hold on his shirt. The room was even more silent at that moment. His two friends stopped laughing and looked serious. “You promised to marry her, children and all; you sent her the tickets and made other promises. You’re a liar Vince Lancaster, and everyone knows it. You made promises to that woman out there, and she traveled here because of them. For what? A bit of a laugh, for fun? That’s fraud. I’m sure the sheriff would like to hear about it.” Then she had a thought. “How much money you got on you Vince?” she asked.
He was startled at the change of conversation. The knife unnerved him and he stammered, “A few dollars.” he began, but she gave his shirt a twist. “I have fifty dollars,” he said. His friends sucked in their breath. That was a lot of money. No one had known Vince Lancaster to have that kind of money, ever.
“You’re going to pay the lady for her time and the effort of getting here,” Cass told him.
“I already paid for her ticket,” he began and then immediately regretted giving himself away with that statement.
“And now you’re going to pay for the promises you made her. Pull out your wallet,” she held the knife but not in what could be called a threatening manner.
Vince looked around at his friends and drinking buddies, but none of them were going to interfere. At the amount of money he had stated, they had all turned on him. He had borrowed, caged free drinks, and generally free-loaded for far too long on too many for them to be sympathetic. He gingerly reached into his pocket for his wallet and thought momentarily of reaching for the gun, but something in Cass’s eyes and the sharpness of the knife told him he would never make it. He opened the wallet and took out five tens; Cass saw there was more in there and said, “All of it!” He handed her the entire sixty dollars as she let go of his lapels but still held the knife. She stuffed the money in her shirt and watched him carefully.
“I’m Cass Scheimer from Merrill if the Sheriff wants to make something of this, but keep in mind Vince, you committed fraud against that woman and I don’t think it would go too kindly in your favor if you try anything. She has the evidence of your letters, and they are signed in your name whether you wrote them or not. Furthermore, everyone here heard you, and I don’t think too many here would call themselves your friend. I suggest you don’t try that scam again.” She glared at him for a moment and using her peripheral vision she glanced around the room to ascertain if she could leave it without trouble. Her knife and her manner seemed to guarantee it. Sixty dollars though was a powerful enticement to any of these men. She had shock on her side and made her way outside without being stopped. She put the knife away once she was outside.
Cass didn’t say a word to Stephanie as she climbed into the wagon and said, “Trot Stanley, trot Stella,” and the horses after a few steps broke into a trot as Cass gathered up the reins. Neither horse was bothered as a horseless carriage went noisily by them going the opposite way on the street. As they turned a corner and began making their way north, Stephanie began to sob.
Cass handed her a handkerchief she fished from her pocket as she let her get it all out of her system. They passed over the train tracks as they headed out of Wausau. A second and a third set of tracks passed before Stephanie got herself under control.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said quietly as she looked around wondering what she could do. Everything they owned had been sold, and while it was a small sum of money, she certainly didn’t have enough to live on with two small children and another on the way.
Cass reached into her shirt and pulled out the money she had gotten from Vince. “Vince wanted you to have this. It isn’t much, but it’s a start,” she said by way of explanation. “As to what you’re going to do, I have a farm north of here near Merrill, and I need a housekeeper,” she said not expecting a reply.
“I can’t let you...” Stephanie began, but Cass stopped her.
“Look, I really do need a housekeeper. I live practically alone, and I work outside all the time. My mom passed away a few years ago, and the house is going to seed. You need a place to live, and I’ve got plenty of room for the four of you,” she grinned as she glanced down at the belly Stephanie was unconsciously holding protectively.
Stephanie absorbed this information slowly. She was stunned to find that Vince Lancaster wasn’t the man he appeared to be in his picture or wonderful letters. She had a good idea how Cass had probably gotten the money from him. She was so grateful for the offer of a place to live that she sighed in relief. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around the surprised woman and gave Cass a hug.
“Thank you. I’ll accept,” she said quietly as she released her. Cass gave her a lopsided grin and returned the hug gently before letting her go. They both glanced back at the boys who had settled down with their hands in the crate and leaning against the baggage Cass had placed behind them. They and the puppies were both dozing off after their hard day.
“They look tired,” Cass observed.
Stephanie grinned; she too was exhausted after their four-day train ride, changing several times, and the frightening events since they had arrived. “They are good boys, but this has been a long trip.”
“You want to settle down on the sacks?” Cass indicated the flour, sugar, and salt.
Stephanie looked at them longingly and nodded. “Do we have a long drive?” she asked.
“’Bout seventeen miles. We will be lucky to get home before dark,” Cass answered. It was a long way, which was why she didn’t drive it too often. However, she hadn’t wanted the animals to stay one day on the train more than necessary, and the little side train that would have brought the crates to Merrill from Wausau would have taken an extra two days for the freight. Two days could sometimes mean life or death with animals and poultry; she hadn’t wanted to take the chance. She had waited too long already to get them. The extra money she got on her trade goods, and the money she had saved on her purchases, made the whole trip worthwhile.
Stephanie packed the money in her reticule and carefully climbed around the seat to the wagon proper to settle herself onto the sacks. Closing her eyes, she was surprised when Cass threw a blanket over her. She smiled up at the strange woman who had been her lifesaver today and saw something funny on her face. It was there for only a moment, and then it was gone. She settled in under the blanket, feeling its warmth over the weight of her jacket. She wondered if the boys were warm enough, but they had their coats and were out in the sun.
Cass drove along not really seeing where they were going. She trusted her horses, and they had taken this trip a couple of times in their lifetime. The woods closed in on both sides of the rocky road interspersed here and there with meadows. Occasionally a track, a drive, or even another road intersected theirs. Cass could see where farmers were carving out farms just like her own from the wilderness. Her own farm had been in their family since the time of her grandparents. They had settled in the Merrill area in huge deep woods so that Grandpa could hunt and trap while he cut down trees and carved out a farm that existed to this day. Her own father had enlarged the farm and added a small mill to cut the trees for their own use. He had used water from the nearby creek to turn the wheel that turned the saw. His only disappointment in the farm was that his own son didn’t take pride in it. Cal had turned wild, and his only release was in the trapping and hunting he did practically all year long. Cass’s father had left the farm to Cass solely, but she shared whenever Cal was around. Cal had understood their father’s decision and accepted it. Even he had to admit it would be foolish to leave him something he didn’t want and would never use. The death of their mother a few years ago had saddened them both, as it was the last link with a time where neither had any responsibilities. Cass had grown up working on the farm, as naturally as most boys, and her father, at least, had been proud of her accomplishments. Her mother and father had been pleased with her natural abilities around the farm where Cal showed no interest.
Cass had started raising poultry, and even now, in the back of her wagon were new kinds to add to her flocks. She now raised chickens, ducks, and geese, mostly for egg and meat production, but these new and different breeds would enhance her flocks. She wanted to raise turkeys, but everyone said it was too cold this far north in the big woods of Wisconsin. She wanted to prove them wrong but would wait until next year. She had enough on her plate with the plowing, seeding, weeding, cultivating, and harvesting. She did it all, and she did it alone. Now, she had Stephanie Evans and her children. She didn’t know why fate had put them in her path, but she hadn’t lied about needing a housekeeper. She didn’t need the added mouths of Stephanie and her children, but she had an affinity for children and enjoyed them. Maybe God had put them in her path for a reason. She would wait and see. Deep down a momentary thought crossed her mind, but she quickly dismissed it and thought about other things.
The miles passed, and it gave her a lot of time to think. The horses were very strong and the wagon no effort for them to pull. They were also expertly trained by Cass, so she didn’t worry that her hands weren’t tight on the reins. She watched Stella a little more closely than Stanley, since she was due next month to foal. She had considered leaving her home but didn’t want to drive Stanley single. Besides, she knew that Stella might hurt herself if left behind since she had been teamed with Stanley since they were both foals. Stanley, too, was a mare, but Cass had called her Stanley since the name seemed to fit. She didn’t know why Stanley wasn’t also with foal since she had bred both of them to a Belgian stud over at Dahlmer’s in Brokaw. It had killed her to pay a whole fifty cents for each of them to be bred, only to find that Stanley hadn’t taken. Well, she couldn’t afford to have her own Belgian stud, so she had to pay to have her horses bred. She knew that Dahlmer’s would let her breed Stanley again for free since the first time hadn’t taken, but Stanley hadn’t come into season again. She would have to wait.
The added poultry to her flocks wouldn’t require much more work, but she wondered about putting in more feed for her stock, as well as for her new housemates. Kids didn’t eat much, but then, they were always growing, so who knew? They wouldn’t take up much room, and she had plenty. Grandpa had built the house himself, and it had three bedrooms upstairs: a large long one that had always been referred to as the boy’s room, as it stretched out the length of the kitchen; a smaller one over the living room for the girls; and a third over the den that had been her parents’ bedroom and before them her grandparents, a fair-sized room with a queen-sized bed and matching furniture. Grandpa had bought this set for her parents when they married. Cass had turned a fourth and smaller room into an indoor bathroom with modern plumbing. It even had running water! She enjoyed a good soak in the tub, and it was heaven after a hard day’s work to sit and ponder. She liked it more in winter, when she no longer had to make the long trip to the privy out back. The pipes now led to empty into the large lime-lined pit that had once had a shack over it. She had a second and smaller “powder room,” as her mother had called it, downstairs behind the kitchen by the basement door. It contained no tub but a toilet and a sink, and it was convenient for washing up. Her mother had welcomed both of these additions, as she had hated warming water on the stove for years. Cass had further modernized the house after her father’s death by putting in a modern washing machine in the basement, so that Mom could hang their clean clothes on the line, or in bad weather, on the lines inside strung along the ceiling. No more heating the water and wringing it; the machine did all that for her. Hanging the clothes to dry was a joy after the machine took care of the hard work.
Cass stopped along a creek so the horses could drink long and hard for the remainder of their trip. She climbed along the wagon to fetch the canteen and fill it upstream from the horses. She made sure her poultry and pups had water and checked that the children were still sleeping. The trip had obviously exhausted all of them, and they probably had not gotten much sleep on the train. She made sure a tarp covered the crates. The sun, although it was early spring, was still hot and the trip strenuous for her new stock. The puppies were flat out and sleeping soundly inside their crate, just like the boys sprawled out beside them. She smiled thinking about her plans for those pups. She started the horses up again, and they were on their way as she wondered if these pups would live to grow up. She had a problem with foxes, bears, an occasional coyote, and even wolves. Although Cal had trapped most of them out in their area, they still were occasional menaces as new ones moved in. She had lost her large male shepherd dog last year to a marauding bear, and it had taken her a year to save enough to buy these two from a breeder. She had chosen a male and a female from different litters although she still had her female shepherd. She hoped this male puppy would live to breed with both her females, and she could sell the pups herself. A real Noah’s ark she had on her farm. The dogs would sound the alarm and perhaps help her with her stock. She had trained Shia and her dead mate, Shem, herself. The bear had caught him with a swipe that had opened his skull and bashed him against the stone of the barn, but the bear’s own life had ended with her shotgun. It was too late for Shem, but she had used the bear pelt towards paying for these two puppies. The bear meat had been welcome, as well. Nothing was wasted on her remote farm.
The sun was beginning to set, and she was tired herself as they began to drive down the long drive that ended at her farm. She woke Stephanie, noting that both boys were already awake and looking about them with interest.
“We’re here?” Stephanie asked sleepily as she stretched.
“Almost, it’s up there,” Cass indicated with her chin.
“Where are we?” the larger of the two boys asked. He sounded frightened, waking up with large trees towering over them.
“We’re at Cass’s farm,” his mother told him reassuredly.
The boys stood up to see their new surroundings, holding onto the crate for balance. They were traveling along a very long line of trees. They lined a large fenced field that had been planted in corn the previous year. The cut off stalks were all over the field. A cow and a yearling calf grazed and watched as they passed. A lone horse was farther out in the field and neighed in welcome when it saw them. The cows began to walk along with them, realizing that it was almost time for milking and feeding. The drive ended in the farmyard, turning in towards the house, which had been hidden behind a large hedge of cherry bushes. Two large trees in the front yard provided the house with shade. They passed a small screen house as they came around it to the backyard in front of the barn. Cass pointed out that the trees were apple and pear.
“They say pear can’t be grown this far north, but my Grandpa proved them wrong. He said with enough protection from the cold winter winds, they would do fine.” A large white barn dominated the farmyard. Beyond it was a silo and beyond that, a well house. A garage was across the yard with doors on both sides. One could drive through these doors to the other side of the barn, so that she could unhitch the horses out of the weather, and the buggy or wagon could be left inside. Paddocks lined two sides of the barn. The third side was taken up by poultry pens divided into long swathes and covered in wire over the sides and top to keep out hawks, owls, falcons, and the occasional eagle. The cow and the yearling calf, as well as a chestnut mare, were already waiting at one of the paddocks that led out to the field they had been grazing in. Snow lined the edges of the fields near trees that shaded it from the sun. Each paddock was lined with trees around the edges, and Stephanie could see where large woods once stood in the fields. The woods came right up to the barnyard behind the garage. A large woodpile of full sized logs and trees lay next to the garage and another beyond the well house.
“Why don’t you go in the house with your bags and make yourself at home,” Cass told Stephanie who nodded. Cass hopped down and helped Stephanie over the edge of the wagon. “Easy there,” Cass cautioned as the pregnant woman made her way down. They both went to the end of the wagon and helped the boys clamber over the edge. Cass handed Stephanie her bags and then took the gate down to put the crate of pups to the side. “Could you boys watch the pups while I put these others in the barn?” she asked them.
Both boys nodded solemnly. Timmy, because he realized what an important job he had just been given, and Tommy, because he imitated everything Timmy did. Stephanie smiled indulgently; Cass had a real way with the boys. She realized Cass had kept the boys out from under her feet while she got settled and looked into the house. It was a typical farmhouse and painted a nice white. It had been painted in the last year or so; the color was bright and fresh.
Stephanie carried the two travel bags in with her. A large screened in porch, which now had storm windows up on the outside, was where she entered the house. Long, low shelves lined it under the windows where a person could sit and take off their muddy boots or milk cans could be placed or stored in a cool place before bringing them into the house. The house door was thick and heavy, and she heaved to get it open. It opened into the kitchen, and what a kitchen! She knew immediately she would like this house, just based on this kitchen. The kitchen was decorated in warm rust colors, and there was a fireplace at one end of the large room. A family style table dominated near the door with seating for six. Its top gleamed with a shiny finish. There were windows lining the side wall next to the screened-in porch, letting in plenty of light and continuing on behind the table next to the fireplace and then again on the opposite side. A doorway led to a walk-in pantry abounding with supplies and lit by a couple of windows. A large stove stood against this wall, and it was electric! Next to it was an old-fashioned wood stove, as well, with its chimney leaning to the side and out towards the chimney of the fireplace. There was plenty of counter space to the right of the doorway and a large set of kitchen sinks. Stephanie had grown up around farmers and realized this kitchen was set up to feed large crews if necessary.
A hallway went behind the kitchen sinks and cabinets. A doorway led to a living room and immediately to the left, a set of stairs led to the upper floor. Beyond that was a dining room with leaded glass display cabinets, displaying trinkets that Stephanie looked forward to examining later. She sighed; this was a home, so much more than the one she had just sold and left. There had never been money for anything, trinkets or otherwise, and with two boys to raise, never extras. Her own mother and father had been just as poor.
Another door was across the living room, and she peeked through it to find a warm and sunny den with the front door and a porch. It was the front of the house, with an extra wide front foyer, but it was obvious it wasn’t used. Most farmers used their back doors. She closed this door again and looked around the comfortable living room. Rocking and easy chairs and a couch lined the walls, and there was a large wood heater in one corner. Windows seemed to abound in this house, and the curtains had been handmade, possibly by Cass’s mother. A table held a large radio! She was excited as she had heard one once but never been in a house where someone actually owned one.
Stephanie returned to the kitchen and noticed a small closet in the hallway that led back to a small powder room. She took off her coat and hung it up inside. Rich woods lined each and every doorway. They were so beautiful they made her ache. They needed dusting, and perhaps polishing, and she vowed to be a good housekeeper to this generous woman who had saved them...who had saved her today.
Another door across from the powder room led downstairs. She closed this after discovering its secrets. Rolling up her sleeves from her traveling dress, she decided to get started. A meal was in order, and she could certainly cook. She found what she needed in the pantry. She noticed there was no icebox and then realized there was one out on the porch, where the melt would not get all over. She found fresh meat, which looked like beef, and cut off a few thick slices for their dinner. She cut up and fried potatoes and opened a canned jar of beans, as she pan-fried the beef. She wondered if Cass canned all this herself, as the shelves were well stocked for this time of the year. Even when most stocked up, the packed shelves surpassed them all.