Chapter Three

The Big Announcement

The buggy turned into the lane, and the Cooper children had their first glimpse of their new home. Silently they looked at the large two-story house surrounded by trees. A wide porch wrapped around three sides, and the bright afternoon sun was reflected in the big windows.

Inside, the table was laden with more food than Ethan and the others could take in as they were hurried through the dining room to the kitchen.

“Are we going to eat out here?” Simon asked, and Ethan tried to hush him.

“Mercy, no,” the woman in the kitchen answered. “I’m Polly. You just need to wash up after that trip. Here, let me help.”

She wet the end of a towel in the washbasin and began working on Will’s face and hands. The others gathered around and wiped the grime off, careful not to splash water on the shiny linoleum floor. Polly brushed hair and straightened clothes, then pronounced each child ready to return to the dining room.

Mr. Rush was seated at one end of the table, with Frances beside him. At the other end sat Mrs. Rush.

She spoke for the first time as she directed the children to their seats. “Now. Tell me your names.”

“I’m Ethan, ma’am, and—”

Manda interrupted. “They are all old enough to answer for themselves.”

One by one the Coopers announced their names, with Will adding, “I’m four. Are you my mama and papa?”

Instead of responding to the question, Mr. Rush bowed his head to ask the blessing.

When their plates were filled, Mrs. Rush spoke again. “You may have all you want to eat. No one has ever gone hungry in this house. Anyone who is six years or older will have work to do. We won’t have a lazy child on the place.” She looked at Ethan. “Tomorrow morning you and Alice will be assigned your chores. This afternoon, Polly will show you where you’ll be sleeping, and you may unpack your things and get settled.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

This seemed to be all that Mrs. Rush had to say, and the meal continued in silence.

Polly didn’t miss a thing as she served the food and cleared the table, nor did she fail to repeat it to Luke and Henry as soon as she had the chance.

It was with great difficulty that she restrained her excitement until the men were served their breakfast early the next morning. At last she declared, “You should’ve stayed in the house and waited till they got back. You missed the biggest news we’ve had around here for a while.”

“They decided not to keep the children?” Henry guessed.

Polly shook her head. “You’re not even close. They plan to keep ’em all right. Seem like nice young ’uns, but they never had a chance to speak at lunch. Manda took things in hand right away, like always. But she didn’t hold the reins for very long.”

The men tilted their heads toward Polly and waited for her to continue.

“Just as I was bringing in the pie, Chad spoke up. ‘Might as well tell you all now,’ he says. ‘Come next spring, we’ll be moving to South Dakota.’”

Luke stopped with a forkful of potatoes halfway to his mouth. “Move?”

Polly nodded. “Yep. Says he has a new claim on the edge of an Indian reservation. He’ll have to work it for a year and build a house. And that ain’t the end of it. He’s countin’ on all of us going with him! I guess that means the young ’uns, too.”

Luke and Henry stared at each other.

Finally Henry managed to choke out, “What did Manda say about that?”

Polly grinned. “Not a word. She was struck speechless. I’ll wager she said plenty when she got him alone, but I didn’t hear none of it. She just sent Frances to her room and told me to take the children to bed.” Polly jumped to her feet. “Mercy! It’s almost daylight. I got to fix breakfast for the family. Anyway, that’ll give you somethin’ to chew on while you work this morning.”

Manda paced the floor of the big living room, stopping occasionally to straighten an antimacassar on the back of a chair or move a picture an inch to the left or right. She had only picked at her breakfast and noted that Polly’s sharp eyes had lingered on her.

Again, there had been no conversation around the table, and when Chad left the house, he took Ethan with him. Alice was turned over to Polly, and the younger boys were sent out to explore the farm on their own. Manda was so distraught that she didn’t even warn Simon to keep an eye on Will.

Homestead in South Dakota! All the previous land Chad had acquired adjoined what he already owned and hadn’t changed Manda’s routine. But this new claim would do away with life as she knew it, and Manda was having trouble grasping the magnitude of it.

Suddenly overcome with exhaustion, she dropped into the nearest chair. Closing her eyes did nothing to dispel the vision of what lay before her. She knew there wasn’t a possibility of changing Chad’s mind, for she had tried. She’d said plenty when she got him alone last night.

“Chad, whatever do you mean that we’re moving to South Dakota? You know we can’t do that! What will we do with all the children? What about school, and music lessons for Frances?”

“Frances will finish eighth grade this school year,” Chad had replied in a calm voice. “I reckon she can teach the others while we’re there. We have to live on the land, or I’ll lose it.”

“But a house!” Manda wailed. “What are we going to live in?”

“Henry and I will go up before the move and get a place ready. We can dig a soddy in a couple of weeks.”

Manda’s mouth had opened, but no sound came out. Five children and five adults in a soddy! There was no possible way she could live like that.

“We’ll build a bunkhouse for the men,” Chad went on. “Ethan can stay with them. You’ll have all winter to do your packing.”

Chad seemed to think that he had taken care of all the problems, Manda reflected. He had no idea what it took to run a household. Food, clothing, laundry, and cleaning weren’t his responsibilities. Besides, they hadn’t even begun to get acquainted with these new children. How could Chad do such a thing?

Manda’s head pounded so hard that it was several moments before she realized someone was knocking on the front door. She opened it to Lydia Archer.

“Manda! You look awful! Did those children keep you up all night? Where are they?”

“Good morning, Lydia. Come in and sit down.” Manda led the way into the parlor. “I’ll have Polly bring us some coffee.”

“All right, Manda. You don’t have to be formal with me. You know why I’m here. I want to know what you’re going to do with four children. How old are they? We knew one was coming, but four? Whose idea was it?”

Manda burst into tears and covered her face with her hands.

“Land sakes!” Lydia said. “You can always send ’em back if you can’t handle it. I heard tell that Edith Watkins wanted one. And Rilla Swartz sent Ed in for one. It’s not like there’s no getting out of it.”

Manda shook her head and continued to sob.

Lydia Archer watched, unsure whether to take her leave or stay and try to comfort her friend.

“I’ll go get the coffee,” she decided at last and bustled off toward the kitchen.

When Lydia returned, Manda had regained her composure and was dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

“You might as well know.” Manda sighed. “Everybody is going to find out anyway, now that Chad has decided to tell his family.”

Lydia listened in stunned silence as Manda outlined what lay ahead of them.

“He’ll get a place ready for us, and then we’ll have the winter to get things ready to move next spring. His brother, George, will run this place while we’re gone. Chad has been thinking on this for a long time without letting me know. If I’d had any idea this was coming, we wouldn’t have taken the children. But since we did, we’ll keep them.”

“The Lord has a reason for everything He brings into our lives. He also intends it for our good—although I can’t see the good in this … at least right now,” Lydia admitted. “Seems like a mistake to me. Chad has more land now than he can cover in a day. You’d think he’d be satisfied.”

Manda nodded.

There seemed to be nothing left to say, so Lydia rose and started for the door. “Actually, I came to see the children, but I’ll do that another time.” She patted Manda’s hand and stepped out on the porch. “My, oh my, this is a pretty kettle of fish.”

Manda couldn’t have agreed more. And she was uncomfortably aware that it was her kettle of fish. There was no time to sit and mull it over. She picked up the coffee cups, straightened her shoulders, and marched toward the kitchen to endure Polly’s thoughts on the subject.

Frances had arisen later than the rest of the family and was eating her breakfast when Manda appeared. She seemed not to notice that her mother was there. Polly continued with her work, clearly ignoring the fact that anyone else was in her kitchen.

Manda sat at the table. “I suppose everyone thinks this is all my fault,” she said finally.

Frances looked up. “I thought it was my fault. I’m the one who wanted you and Papa to get the children from Briarlane.”

“Ain’t no one’s fault,” Polly put in. “Chad didn’t just make up his mind yesterday to pick up and move. He could have said he had other plans if he’d had a mind to. This is one of them things in life that God knows about, and He’ll work it out for the best.”

“That’s what Lydia said,” Manda admitted. “But for the life of me, I don’t see how.”

“Don’t have to,” Polly declared. “All we have to do is keep workin’. If we’re gonna live out in the wilds of nowhere in a dirt cellar, we’d better get ready for it. You ever been in a soddy?”

“I have not, and I’d like to keep it that way.” Manda sniffed. “Not that anyone asked me, of course. Frances, you go find Will and Simon and keep them busy. I’ve got to sort out my thinking and make plans.”

“Never seen Manda when she wasn’t in charge,” Polly reported to Luke and Henry at noon. “She ain’t never moved all her belongings across the country before. She’s plumb baffled.”

“She’ll come around,” Luke predicted. “That’s one lady you won’t keep down for long. She’ll be runnin’ the show before the week’s out.”

Luke was right. In the days that followed, life settled into a routine.