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Mr. Engle looked carefully at their marriage certificate, the date on it, not realizing the fresh ink, and approved them. When they inquired about the Harris children, all the Harris children, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. They explained they didn’t want to separate the family, that they could offer them all a future. They knew it wouldn’t be easy, but with the grace of God, they were willing and able.
Erin was convinced it was the added by the grace of God line that did it for the administrator. He filled out the paperwork necessary for the state. They paid a ‘minimum’ maintenance ‘fee’ for the children, supposedly for filing the paperwork, and then they went to find Miss Jenkins and the children.
“Well, hello, Mr. and Mrs. Herriot,” she gasped, surprised. She had been sure they wouldn’t see this young couple again. “Are you here to look over the children again? Looking for a boy and girl?” she asked kindly.
“No, Miss Jenkins. The Herriots have adopted the entire Harris family, all five of the children,” Mr. Engle said enthusiastically, as though it were a feat worthy of announcing. “If you will round up the Harris children under your care and take them to gather their things, I’ll inform Miss Jacobs about the little one. We’ll have to send to the workhouse for the older one,” he looked out the window at the rapidly falling night. Night came so early in the winter.
“Why don’t we gather the children here and explain what is going on, and then we can go to the workhouse and gather the other one?” Erin asked, suddenly feeling the need to get out of this dismal place as she looked at the other children that wouldn’t be rescued that day. It was obvious the children knew what was going on. The return of a couple, who were looking for children meant someone might have been adopted. They were listening avidly.
Mr. Engle looked decidedly uncomfortable at that plan. “No, no,” he said heartily. “I’ll send someone for the boy.”
“Girl,” Miss Jenkins corrected automatically.
“It’s a girl?” he asked, sounding confused.
She nodded, and he looked surprised. “I thought the oldest child was a boy?”
“No, sir,” she corrected him, not betraying by voice or look how annoyed she was with his inattention to the children.
The two they had met, Tommy and Theresa, were recognizable and looked up eagerly at the couple who they were told had adopted them. The third child was a shy, eight-year-old boy, who didn’t want to leave the quiet corner he had found at first. He was rocking on his feet, showing signs of distress. He shook his head when Miss Jenkins tried to get him to come with her.
“Come now, Theodore, they are waiting. We have to gather your things, so they can be on their way,” she told him sternly, but he shook his head and pulled away when she went to grab his arm.
“Why, I’ll get him,” Mr. Engle began angrily.
“Why don’t you talk to...Miss Jacobs, was it...then, send someone for the girl at the workhouse?” Molly asked kindly, smiling at the man. “Let me handle this.”
He nodded, backing away, relieved that he didn’t have to deal with the child. Tommy and Theresa stood there watching, fearful of the adults and Theodore’s behavior. Maybe they would change their minds about adopting them if Theo didn’t behave.
“Hi there, Theodore. I’m Mrs. Herriot,” Molly began a little shyly. “This is my husband, Mr. Herriot,” she grinned, sharing a twinkle in her eye with Erin. They were relishing the idea of being Mr. and Mrs. Herriot. “We were hoping you and your sisters and brothers would like to come live with us. We are going to start a new farm, but first, we must travel to it. We have horses, cows, and a pig. We even have dogs and–”
Before she could finish, he piped up with, “Kitties?”
She nodded kindly. “Yes, a couple of cats refused to stay behind on the farm we sold. We don’t have any children of our own, and we met Tommy and Theresa. Miss Jenkins here told us of you and your other sister and brother. Would you like to come live with us?” She glanced at Miss Jenkins, wondering if her information earlier in the day had been a deliberate attempt to keep them from adopting or was really to help the children. It was a big decision for anyone, taking on five youngsters. It was also obvious that the Herriots were only in their twenties and just starting out in life. Still, women had children at sixteen, and even, in some cases, at fourteen. Only a couple of these children could be theirs, if they’d had them biologically.
“Can I have a kitty of my own?” he asked, looking worried.
“We’ll have to see if any take to you. We also have dogs, and the mama dog is going to have pups soon.”
“Puppies?” a new voice was heard. This time it was Tommy who suddenly looked eager.
“We also have piglets,” Erin put in, not to be left out and wanting to gauge the children’s reactions.
“Do you beat naughty little boys and girls?” Theodore asked Erin earnestly, looking brave for the first time.
Erin was startled, especially after the conversation she and Molly had had earlier. She could see the boy was worried and glanced at the other two before answering. “Well, do you promise to try to be a good little boy and obey your new ma and pa?” she indicated Molly and herself.
He nodded solemnly, and the other two mimicked him.
“Well, I promise not to beat you if you do your best to be a good boy. I know it’s hard. I wasn’t always good growing up either,” she said kindly, her heart going out to the boy. Her problem had been that she hadn’t acted like a girl, and her father hadn’t been happy about that at all.
“You weren’t?”
She shook her head, grinning at the boy, who slowly started to return the slight smile. Theodore could see that Mr. Herriot understood and nodded. He was surprised when Erin held out her hand. “How about we shake on it, man to man as it were?”
Slowly, almost fearfully, the boy stuck out his hand. He was ready to snatch it back in an instant if this was a trick to get him out of the corner. Much to his surprise and evident relief, the man, who didn’t look that scary anymore, took his hand gently and shook it solemnly.
“Now then, we are in agreement, aren’t we, Theodore?”
The boy nodded, swallowed, and looked at the three adults.
“Go with Miss Jenkins now, Theodore and help your siblings gather their things,” Molly said gently. The boy nodded again, gathering his little sister and brother’s hands and leading them in front of the woman. Miss Jenkins looked back at the couple in surprise, reassessing them. She was certain they’d either break up this family or not adopt them at all. She had never thought they’d take all of them. Still, wait until they met the oldest...at ten, she was a terror.
“Think we did right?” Molly murmured as the children left the room to get their things.
“Absolutely. Did you see how scared that boy was? Someone’s beaten him at some point.” She glanced around the orphanage, the few children in the room staring at them as though they were about to do something. The older girl they had met the previous day was there to keep the younger ones in line, and she too was staring at the couple. Erin couldn’t help but wonder if they had received beatings here or when they lived with their parents.
They waited only a little while before the three children returned with Miss Jenkins, each with a small roll of clothing. Miss Jenkins was carrying the two-year-old. “This is Tiny,” she introduced him to Molly.
Molly looked at the little boy in the small, white dress who stared back unabashedly at her. Smiling slightly, she hoped the sparkle in her eyes showed as she looked at the child. She held out her hands to see if the child would come to her and was surprised when he did, looking up at her, examining her face.
“Do the children have any winter clothes?” Erin asked, looking at the mismatched outfits they were wearing and knowing they wouldn’t keep any of them warm.
“We can see what came in the barrel and if we can find any that fit,” Miss Jenkins told them frostily.
“Why don’t we do that while we are waiting for the other child?”
“Is Tiny short for anything?” Molly asked, still carrying the young boy as they walked into another room. Miss Jenkins unlocked the door with a key that was tied to her waist.
“No, he was so tiny when they found him, and the children were calling him Tina. We changed it to Tiny. That’s what they put on the certificate,” she explained.
Molly held the little boy closer, wondering if she had enough love for these poor wayward waifs.
“I think Timmy was probably the name his parents proposed, and the children got it wrong,” Erin murmured softly to Molly, and the little boy looked up at her when she spoke, his big, round, brown eyes unblinking. Molly nodded once to acknowledge the truth of that. This little boy would never be called Tiny, not if she had anything to say about it, and she did. Holding out her hands, Erin was pleasantly surprised when the little boy came into her arms. She held him, examining his face just as closely as he examined hers.
The two women began to go through the clothing in the barrel, trying this and that on the children, who were delighted at the idea of new clothes, something they didn’t see very often. The few things they had arrived with had been stolen or confiscated for the greater good. Not understanding that it was community property had led to many misunderstandings. Still, they managed to find an outfit for each of the children to wear out in the cold, even if mismatched. Both Molly and Erin wondered what the children had worn out in the cold yard during their time outside that Mr. Engle had assured them every child needed.
They waited a long time for the last child to be brought to them. As it slowly got dark, Erin began to fidget, just like the children, who kept looking at their new parents. Timmy put his head down on Erin’s shoulder and went to sleep in her arms. He was a small boy, but the comfortable feel of him in her arms surprised her. She exchanged several looks with Molly.
Finally, a bedraggled girl was brought into the orphanage. She was struggling with a young man not much younger than Erin and Molly, who was practically dragging her. “C’mon, you been adopted,” he kept saying to her.
“No, no, no! I don’t want to go!” she kept saying over and over.
Mr. Engle came out of his office when he heard the commotion she was making. “Tabitha!” he said sternly over the noise.
Instantly, the young girl stood stock still, looking up once fearfully before looking down at her feet.
“We have a couple here who would like to adopt you and your siblings,” he said in a kinder voice, obviously aware that the Herriots were listening in and had been waiting a long time. He hoped they wouldn’t change their minds. Both Molly and Erin exchanged a look that said what a fake he was. They stood up as the young man brought Tabitha before them, still holding tightly to her arm.
“Tabitha!” the younger children cried when they saw her, running to put their arms around their older sister. “These people want to adopt us, Tabby. All of us. We’re gonna be adopted, Tab. They want all of us.” The voices all spoke at once, telling her the news. She looked at the couple suspiciously.
“Hello, Tabitha. I’m Molly Herriot, and this is my husband, Erin. We want to offer you and your brothers and sisters a home with us, if you’re willing.”
“What if I ain’t?”
“Tabitha!” Mr. Engle barely restrained the fury in his voice.
“Well, I’d be really sad about that. We like your brothers and sisters and don’t want to break up the family,” she answered, surprised at the belligerence she heard in the young girl’s voice.
“But you’d take ‘em, if’n I didn’t want to go?”
“Why don’t you want to go?” Erin asked, still holding Timmy, who slept on despite the noise his sister had made.
The girl looked surprised to be asked directly like that and studied the couple for a moment. She shrugged, but when the boy let go of her arm, she instinctively went to bolt. Mr. Engle stepped behind her to prevent such an occurrence and she shrugged in answer again.
“I’d really like it if you came to live with us,” Erin continued. “If you don’t want to though, we have already agreed to take your brothers and sisters.”
“Come on, Tabby. I even shook on it,” Theodore told her importantly, a pleading note in his voice. Tommy nodded. Theresa just looked at her older sister, her thumb finding its way to her mouth. Miss Jenkins swatted it away. The child flinched, and both Erin and Molly noticed.
“Shook on what?” she asked.
“He said,” Theodore pointed with his thumb back at Erin, “that he wouldn’t beat us, and I agreed to be a good little boy.”
“C’mon, Tabby. They have horses and cows and doggies and kitties and even piggies,” Tommy piped up importantly.
“You got kids of your own?” she asked the adults, still using the belligerent tone.
“Nope,” Molly answered. “We aren’t going to have any children but the ones we adopt. We had hoped to adopt two, but when Miss Jenkins told us there were five of you, we didn’t want to split up the family.”
Tabitha looked at them suspiciously for a moment, then a movement was heard behind her. Mr. Engle was becoming impatient.
“We’re moving,” Erin mentioned. “We sold our farm up near Stouten, and we’re moving on to another farm. We’re bringing our stock, and we told the other children about them. Would you like to come and help us start over?”
The girl looked surprised that Erin would divulge such information, much less ask her.
“Please, Tabby,” two of her siblings asked, the pleading obvious in their voices.
“Please,” another lisping voice was heard, Timmy having finally awoken.
Tabitha looked from her siblings to the earnest young couple willing to adopt them all and nodded shortly.
Erin turned to Miss Jenkins. “Is there something in that barrel that perhaps Tabitha could wear? We can’t have her catching a cold in that,” she indicated the thin dress the girl was wearing. It was filthy and ill-fitting and was obviously what she wore day in and day out. As Molly went to help Miss Jenkins look, Erin whispered, “Burn that dress.” Molly nodded, understanding.
Mr. Engle smiled kindly at Mr. Herriot as they waited in the hall, the children very quiet as they stood there. Erin wondered at that quiet. They were unusually well-behaved as they stood there. Was it the presence of the fake man or something else? She hoped nothing was wrong with these children. She saw Theresa edge farther away from Mr. Engle and closer to herself. Smiling down at her slightly as she held Timmy, she put her hand on the child’s shoulder to give her comfort.
Molly hurried to find something, anything, that the young girl could wear. It was obvious that Miss Jenkins didn’t want to part with some of the clothes that were coming out of the barrel, but Molly guilted her into giving Tabitha a newer dress and a warm, wool coat. They were unable to find shoes that would fit her better, and Tabitha continued to scrunch up her toes to keep the shoes from falling off her feet, causing her to clump when she walked. Finally, they found a pair that fit her feet. They weren’t perfect, but they were better than what she had been wearing.
“Did you want that?” Miss Jenkins asked after Tabitha changed out of the disreputable dress she had been wearing.
“No, my husband said to burn it, and I would suggest you do so,” Molly answered.
Miss Jenkins looked horrified at the thought.
They left the closet-sized room where they kept the barrel and other things locked up and away from the children. Tabitha looked decidedly better than when they had arrived. She needed a bath, her face and hands were still dirty, but otherwise, she looked presentable.
“Gosh, Tabby. You look fine, mighty fine,” Theodore told her, and the others nodded as they examined what their older sibling was wearing.
“Are we ready to go?” Erin asked, glancing at Mr. Engle as though he might have objections.
“I’ll mail to Independence then?” he confirmed as they made to go.
“That would be good,” Erin agreed, hoping there wouldn’t be any problems with the adoptions.
Escorting the children out into the early evening felt like they were herding them.
“Where are we going?” Tabitha asked for all of them as it was getting dark and they were walking away from town.
“We have our wagon at a farm a ways out of town. Can you all walk?” Erin asked, explaining at the same time.
“We’ll make it,” Tabitha asserted for all of them, eyeing her little brother and sister that Molly had taken hands with and glancing at Timmy, who the man was carrying.
“We’re going to have to knit you some mittens,” Molly was telling the two children. Miss Jenkins had unwillingly given up a few clothes, warmer ones, but no hats, mittens, or decent footwear.
“Where is your new farm?” Tabitha asked after a lengthy silence. The oncoming night was beginning to scare her as they walked along.
“We are going to meet up with a wagon train. We’ll be able to pick out a farm when we get to Oregon,” Erin explained, wondering why she should have to explain anything to a child but figuring it was best to be as honest as they could with these children. They were going to be together for the rest of their lives.
“I’m hungry,” Theresa whined plaintively. They’d left before their dinner with the other children.
“We’ll be at our camp in a little while. You’ll meet King and Queenie...” Molly tried to encourage her to keep going. It was very cold.
“Who are King and Queenie?” Tabitha immediately asked, sounding suspicious. She wondered if the young couple had lied after all.
“Those are our Tervurens,” Erin answered for Molly.
“What are Tervurens?” she asked, trying to get her mouth around the unfamiliar word.
“They are our dogs. We are breeding them.”
“Dogs?” she verified, unsure at the odd word.
“Yep, we have two of them. A matched pair.”
“They’re going to have puppies,” Theodore put in, sounding excited at the prospect.
Erin noticed for the first time that Tabitha had a slight smile on her brooding face. She wondered how bad life had been for this young girl.
As they approached the camp, the big wagon loomed up out of the darkness and the canvas covering frightened the younger children. They had to soothe away their fears and then, the Tervurens approached upon hearing them, their fierce looks scaring the children.
“Easy there. That’s Queenie and King. They won’t hurt you. They are just anxious to make your acquaintance,” Erin hastily explained, trying to soothe the alarmed children.
“They’re awfully big,” Tabitha said cautiously, eyeing the intense and alert looks on both dogs.
“King is what might be called a King Tervuren. I know there isn’t such a thing, but some people have taken to calling ‘em that. They are both Belgian Tervurens. They look like shaggy German Shepherds,” she explained the difference in the dogs. She wondered if the children had ever heard of the different breeds, many people had not or didn’t care.
“Some of the British or French call them Alsatians or wolf dogs,” Molly teased and then immediately regretted it as Tommy and Theresa looked on with fear.
“Stay,” Erin commanded the two dogs, who were only coming to greet the children. She signaled with one hand.
“Erin, why don’t you start the fire and I’ll talk to the children?” Molly asked.
Surprised at the command, Erin exchanged a look with her spouse and then handed Timmy off to her. He didn’t want to go at first, comfortable and warm on the taller woman’s shoulder, but he finally relented, sucking a thumb as he stared at the two dogs in the failing light.
“Do you know how to start a fire?” Erin asked Tabitha and included Theodore in the question. Both shook their heads, momentarily distracted from staring at the two alert dogs. Erin showed them a flint and steel and how to hold it. “You have to have dry tinder for this to work. We are going to be starting a lot of fires on this trip, and I want you both to become adept at this. I’ll do it tonight, but maybe tomorrow night I’ll let one of you learn how to do it.” Erin took off her mittens to take hold of the materials to start a fire.
“Does...” Tabitha hesitated, unsure how to address Molly, “Mrs. Herriot know how to make a fire like this?”
“Oh, sure she does. She’s a real good fire starter,” Erin assured her, glancing over at Molly, who was talking to the younger children and keeping them amused. She knew her wife heard her too as the corners of her mouth twitched at the joke. Erin showed how to strike the steel against the flint, and when a spark was emitted she showed them how to blow on the tinder, in this case a bit of dry grass. “It’s a good idea to keep some of that tinder dry in a pouch with your flint and steel, so it’s easier to start. You can’t always find a good piece of tinder.”
“What makes good tinder?” Theodore asked, enthralled with the process and the prospect of being allowed to do it. Erin quickly lit a fire and began to add shavings, twigs, and then, larger pieces of wood.
“Oh, anything...a bird’s nest or a hank of grass, but you always want to make sure it has no moisture,” she quickly saw that the boy had no comprehension of the word moisture and amended her comment to damp. “It can’t be wet at all, or it won’t burn.”
The boy nodded his understanding.
What neither the boy or the young girl realized was that Erin had signaled both dogs to lie down and begin crawling towards them. By the time they had the fire going, she sat back on a log she’d put there and began petting both dogs. By the time the children realized how close the dogs were, they were within arm’s reach. Both children stared at the dogs with round eyes. The dogs looked back with laughing brown, almost black eyes, their tongues hanging out as they appreciated the rubs, tickles, and scratches that Erin gave them.
“Would you like to pet the dog?” Erin asked the two older children. She could see from the corner of her eye when Tommy and Theresa stopped listening to Molly and began watching the dogs in awe.
Tentatively, Theodore nodded. He hesitantly put his hand out a couple times, and King reached out to it with his muzzle, sniffing at it. The boy pulled his hand back, and King pulled back, looking at him intelligently and waiting. Finally, Theodore put his hand out again and King slowly put his nose out, smelling the hand offered to him. Something about it tickled his nose and he sneezed, alarming the boy, but Erin laughed and even Molly chuckled. The dog wagged his tail at the boy, waiting to see what he would do. Theodore, realizing it was just a sneeze and the dog meant him no harm, put his hand out again. King reached out again to meet him and took a deep smell. When Theodore reached to touch the fur, the dog stood still and he began to pet him.
Not to be outdone by her younger brother, Tabitha offered her hand to Queenie with almost identical results. Although Queenie didn’t sneeze, even she could smell that these children were dirty and needed to be washed. Their body odors emanated from them even through the new clothes they were wearing.
Soon enough, all the children had petted the dogs. Erin stood up. “I have to check the stock,” she said almost apologetically to Molly, who nodded.
“I’ll start dinner,” she responded.
“Better wait for better coals,” Erin advised with a grin, wanting to lean over and kiss her wife out of gratitude for being in her life, but she restrained herself now that they had five little pairs of eyes and ears trained on them.
“Can I help?” Tabitha asked Erin, Theodore echoing her.
“Sure can,” Erin answered, smiling at them both. “Will the rest of you keep Molly company?” she asked, realizing the other two had been about to ask to come along too. She saw an exhausted Theresa sit down, warming herself in front of the now burning fire. Tommy joined her, sitting close. Molly plopped Timmy down, and he immediately tried to crawl away, but Tommy pulled him back.
Erin walked around the wagon, using the corners of her eyes to check out the shadows that were forming from the sunset. The snow gave off an odd glow and the moon wasn’t even up. Her breath made steam in the night before her. Her long, manly strides made it hard for the children to keep up, but they scrabbled along. She checked the horses and cows, the horses blowing out of their nostrils as they smelled their person and then the strange children with them. They snuffled, looking for treats that Erin didn’t have on her. She petted them, talking soothingly to the large beasts, watching her newer horses and seeing that some sort of pecking order had been established. The young stallion was standing near enough to be sociable, but far enough away that he could dodge any well-aimed kicks.
“Are all these yours?” Theodore asked with awe.
“Yep, I was raised with these two,” she indicated two of the farm horses. “I helped raise these other two,” she pointed them out, “and we just bought him and her, so I can ride them and breed them.”
“Are you rich?” Tabitha asked in the same tone that Theodore had used.
Erin laughed, shaking her head emphatically. “No. My folks had a well-established farm, and I brought the best of the stock.” She looked beyond the horses to the cattle and cows. She had to milk at least one of them. The others would be dry until their calves were due. She’d bred them all early last summer when they were in estrous, so they would be dropping the calves sometime this spring, and their milk would start shortly before that. One cow had already calved in January, and they had killed the calf, making veal and using the rennet in its stomach to make lots of cheese for the trip. “Want to learn how to milk a cow? Did you have a cow on your place?”
Both children nodded and then shook their head as Erin fetched the milk bucket, indicating they wanted to learn but hadn’t had any cows at their parents’ home. She checked on their poultry, laughing at the cat sleeping on top of the duck crate next to the goose crates. She was sure the cat was doing it to taunt the nasty gander.
“You stay away from those geese. We have a real mean gander in there, and he’s been known to pinch. He could really hurt you,” she warned the children and they looked on with awe at the bird who hissed slightly at them. The ducks made murmuring sounds, and the chickens clucked slightly. Even the pigs, who were snuggled together for warmth under the wagon where they’d hollowed out a den in the long grasses, made a few grunting noises at the interruption of their snoozing.
Erin showed the children how to sit next to the cow while milking. “You don’t want to be behind a cow because they can kick. Keep the pail firmly between your legs, so you can move if they decide to try and step in it. Always tie your cow up good and tight,” she explained. She showed them how to draw the milk down the teat instead of just yanking on it. When Theodore asked why she didn’t just yank, she responded, “You wouldn’t like it if someone just yanked on your teat, would you?”
“But I don’t have teats,” the boy protested.
“Sure, you do, but let’s just say your willy. Would you want someone just coming up and yanking on your willy?” she asked him and then laughed at the expression on the boy’s face. She was pleased when she saw a slight smile on Tabitha’s face. “This way doesn’t hurt them,” she emphasized drawing down the teat, “and if she’d stop trying to hit me in the face with her mucky tail, we’d have nice clean milk for dinner.”
“We can drink that for dinner?” Theodore asked, clearly looking forward to it.
“Well, we have to do a few things first. We must strain it, so no dirt remains, and we must ask your ma what she wants us to do with it because she might want to make butter with some of it, but I don’t know.”
“My ma?” he asked, confused, remembering his mother that had died.
“Well, what else are ya gonna call Mrs. Herriot? You can’t call her Mrs. Herriot the rest of your life.”
“What if we call her Molly like you do?” Tabitha challenged.
“That would seem a might disrespectful to her, dontcha think?” Erin asked.
“She’s not our ma,” the young girl pointed out.
“Nope, she’ll never replace the ma that gave birth to you all, but she’s the only ma ya got now, and you’ll show her respect,” Erin said sternly as she finished stripping the teats, her hands working fast to get the milk out of the cow. Experience showed and made it look fast and easy.
Erin didn’t lecture them further on the ma issue. She figured they’d work it out in their own time and in their own way, but she wouldn’t let them be rude to Molly. There were just too many of them, and they’d overwhelm the two adults with naughtiness if the adults weren’t careful about setting them straight right away.
She showed them how she poured the milk through a straining cloth and into another bucket, and the cloth was filthy when they were done. She’d lit a lantern at that point, since they were late with the chores due to everything they did in town that day. The smells emanating from the fire and Molly’s cooking were mouthwatering, and she was holding the younger three enthralled as she told them tales of knights and ladies and other things she remembered from her readings, occasionally gesturing to emphasize a point or add to the story.
“Ma, do you want this to go in the chug-a-lug?” Erin grinned at the sally she had just made. She’d fixed a barrel under the wagon that held their extra milk to make butter and called it a chug-a-lug because of the sound of it. They had enough extra milk that they were feeding it to the cats and dogs and even the pig and her family.
“Let me have most of it for dinner here. I think everyone would like a nice cup of fresh milk,” she answered. “I need to get more dishes out of the wagon.”
“I need to feed the stock,” Erin answered. “Let me get that done and I’ll roust out some additional plates and whatnot.”
“Dinner should be ready soon,” she promised, smiling at how domesticated they were now. The children looked on, nearly drooling at the food before them that seemed so abundant.
Theodore and Tabitha helped Erin feed the stock. The horses and cows had cleared away a lot of the snow to get at the grasses beneath it, but she gave them all a little of the precious feed. The pigs and the piglets tried to eat it out from beneath them until Erin fed them in a small trough she had just for them. She shook a mix of grain and corn in the cages for the poultry, trying to measure out equal amounts. She explained why she was doing that. “We want it to last, and this trip is supposed to take anywhere from five to six months once we get to the jumping off point in Missouri. When we get to the prairies, they won’t get nothin’ but grass.”
“Where is Missouri?” Tabitha asked, feeling more comfortable as she worked and talked with Erin. She could see Theodore was developing a type of hero worship for the man who had saved them all. He was copying everything that Erin did, even his long-strided walk, something that was impossible to do with the ill-fitting shoes the boy was wearing.
“Well, it’s south and west of here. We got to go along and follow the Mississippi River south. We’ll have to find a way to cross that too,” Erin responded, not realizing she was worrying about it. From everything she had heard about the mighty Mississippi, it was a huge river and cause for concern.
“Will that take long?” she asked.
“I honestly don’t know how long it will take. Depends on a lot of things, weather for one,” she answered, kicking a bit of snow aside from her path. Theodore did the same and nearly fell, the ice under it making him slip. Erin caught his elbow until he got his balance back. “It will take as long as it takes.”
“Is someone waiting in Missouri to show us the way to Oregon?”
“We wrote and told them we were interested in coming. They wrote back and gave us a list of things to bring, and we brung ‘em,” she nodded towards the wagon. “Everything we have in the world is here,” she smiled, including the child in that statement, but she wasn’t sure that Tabitha understood that. “We just have to keep going, day by day.”
That seemed to satisfy the girl for the moment, and her incessant questions stopped. They finished feeding the stock and headed for the tantalizing aroma of their dinner. They made a stop in the wagon where Erin climbed up, had Tabitha hand her the lantern, and began rustling around in a couple of trunks. Finding her brothers’ old plates and cups, the tin not rusted too badly, she handed them down to the children. She also found her parents’ sets and silverware and climbed back down. “Let’s give these a wash and give them to Molly,” she stated.
“You wash dishes?” Theodore asked, surprised.
“Well, of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?” Erin asked, just as surprised as the boy.
“That’s girls’ work,” he stated authoritatively.
“Now, let me set you straight on that. There is no such thing as girls’ work or boys’ work; there is just work. I’ll expect you to do things that your sisters would do, and I’ll expect your sisters to do things that you would do. It’s work. We all chip in and help. I don’t expect Molly to wait on me, and she wouldn’t expect me to wait on her either. We are all in this together,” she explained, not raising her voice, but making it firm as she used water to rinse off the already clean plates, cups, spoons, forks, and knives. Erin handed Theodore a towel and handed another to Tabitha. “Why don’t you both wash your hands and faces in that other bucket of water before you dry the dishes,” she advised. She quickly realized handing them a clean towel had been a mistake when they were already so dirty, but she soon had clean children. She smiled as she realized how easy that was to accomplish. She handed them different towels to dry the dishes.
“Here you go, Ma. We have dishes for dinner, and we’re all cleaned up,” she told Molly as they approached the fire.
“Oh, good. Do you think you can convince Tommy and Theresa to clean up too?” she asked, sounding slightly exasperated at her efforts.
“What? A big six-year-old and four-year-old can’t wash up for dinner?” Erin feigned astonishment. “Why, I bet even Timmy would do well washing himself up...as good as Tabitha and Theodore.” The toddler, recognizing his name despite bearing the moniker of Tiny for so long, nodded emphatically.
“But I don’t want to get wet,” Tommy whined. He was shivering slightly, despite the warmth projected by the fire.
“Tommy, you are setting a bad example for your sister,” Erin warned him, glancing at Theresa. “Come on, Timmy,” she said, holding out her hand as she gave Molly the clean dishes they had washed and dried. Then, Tabitha and Theodore did the same. “Let’s show Tommy and Theresa how to wash up for dinner.”
“But I don’t want to wash up for dinner,” the boy insisted.
“Well, that’s too bad, Tommy. In this family, anyone who doesn’t wash up for dinner doesn’t get fed.” Erin said as she walked away with Timmy, who toddled unsteadily in the snow towards the water buckets.
Tommy thought about it and saw Tabitha and Theodore glancing at him and Theresa. Theresa took a few faltering steps toward Erin and then glanced back. That decided him. The smells coming from the food Molly had made were too good not to have some. The food at the orphanage had always been sparse and unappetizing.
“I don’t know how you did it, but everyone washed up for supper and even helped with the dishes afterwards,” Molly marveled later. They’d gotten the children to bed, pulling one of the mattresses farther down the wagon, so they could all sleep together on it. The other mattress was for Molly and Erin. They’d piled blankets on top of the children, insisting they sleep in their outer clothes but take off their foot coverings. The shoes were barely shoes. They were ill-fitting and sometimes many sizes too big or too small, but they’d sort that out eventually. Molly was just concerned that they all stay warm snuggling together under the covers in the late winter night. She smiled as she watched the barn cats, who hadn’t run off and were staying with the wagon, sniff the children thoroughly before cuddling up and sharing the warmth of their blankets.
“I’m glad we brought those clothes of your brothers’ to sell,” Molly whispered.
“I’m glad you insisted on bringing all those dresses of yours,” Erin countered, grinning. She was trying to stack a teepee of wood on the fire, so it would keep burning through the night. Even if there were just coals in the morning, it would save them time not having to start from scratch. “Maybe we should stay here for the winter,” she fretted.
“What?” Molly asked, alarmed.
“Well, we have all these children, and the place is abandoned, and it is so cold, and....”
“We’ll get no farther than Missouri with talk like that. We’re heading out tomorrow,” Molly insisted, and that was final. Erin grinned at her tone as they headed to the wagon and their own sleep. It had been a very long day.