Love's Abiding Joy (Love Comes Softly #4)(20)

Missie briskly led the way to the chicken pen. Forty or fifty hens squawked and squabbled in the enclosure. They looked healthy enough, and Missie assured her mother that they were very good egg producers.

Josiah immediately began hollering at the chickens, attempting to throw handfuls of grass and dirt at them through the wire. Since the wind was blowing from the wrong direction, most of it blew right back into Josiah's face, so Missie put a stop to the activity. Josiah was quick to obey, blinking dust from his eyes.

As they moved on toward the unassuming soddy, Marty noticed that Missie referred to it with love and even joy, a fact that Marty found very difficult to understand. Missie pushed open the rough wooden door and they entered the dim little sod shack. When Marty's eyes had adjusted, she could make out the bed in the corner, the black iron stove that still remained right where it had been, the small table and the two stools.

Marty gazed all around her, from the simple furnishings to the sod roof and the packed-dirt floor.



This is the "home" that waited for you after that long, hard trip? An' ya actually lived here, Marty thought incredulously. Ya actually lived in this little shack--an' with a baby! How



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could ya ever do it? How could ya stand to live in such a way?

My, I--"

But Missie was speaking: "Willie wanted to tear it down, to get it out of here, but I wouldn't hear tell. Got a lot of memories, this little place. We've had to re-sod the roof a couple of times. Roofs don't last too long with the winter storms, the wind an' rain; an' once they start to leak, they aren't good for anything."

Marty did not express her feeling about the soddy. Instead she expressed her feeling for her girl. "I'm so proud of you, Missie--so proud. I hoped to bring ya up to be able to make a happy home fer the one thet ya learned to love. An' ya did. Ya looked beyond these here dirt walls into the true heart of the home. Home ain't fancy dishes an' such, Missie. Home is love and carin'. Remember when I insisted on those fancy dishes, Missie? I said thet you'd be so glad fer them someday. So I fussed 'bout ya takin"em even though ya really had no room fer 'em an' could have taken somethin' more sensible in the room thet they took in the wagon. Well, I was wrong, Missie." Marty's hand touched her daughter's cheek. "I was wrong, an' you were right. Home ain't dishes, frills, an' such, Missie. Home is love an' carin'. You showed me thet ya could truly make a home an' ya could do it with jest yer own hands an' yer own heart. I'm proud of ya. So very proud."

Missie's answering smile was understanding as Marty wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked around once more before leaving the small sod shack; this time it did not look as bleak, nor the floor as earthy. In those few short minutes, something had happened which changed the appearance of the little room.



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Chapter Nine




Catching Up



When the children were finally tucked into bed after insisting on a story from both Grandma and Grandpa, Clark and Willie had gone to his office, a small room off the kitchen, to discuss the business of farming and ranching. Missie and Marty settled comfortably in the living room with coffee cups.

"It was useless to try to 'catch up' before this," said Missie, "but I think that things are quiet enough now for us to talk--really talk. I have so many questions. I just want to know 'bout everyone--everyone. I hardly know where to start, but you might as well start talkin', 'cause I just can't bear to let you go to bed until I find out all 'bout those at home."

Marty drew a deep breath. "I've been jest 'bout dyin' to tell ya all 'bout the family. My, ya'd be surprised, could ya see yer brothers an' sister now!"

"Is Clare still the tease?"

"Worse . . . worse, seems to me. He's always funnin' and I sometimes wonder iffen he'll ever grow up. Yer pa says he will, once he marries an' settles down."



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"An' what is his Kate like? Clare wrote me. Sounded in the letter as though she was nothin' less than an angel sent from heaven. What's she really like?"

"Kate's a fine girl. We feel thet she's jest what Clare needs. She's quiet and steady, a little overly cautious at times, but they should balance one another real well. She's quite tall, with brown hair, large violet eyes . . . I think thet it was the violet eyes thet caught Clare's 'tention. Though she's not what ya'd call a beauty, she does have very pretty eyes."

"An' you said that they're gonna marry this fall?"

"August 27. Might have been a little sooner, but we wanted to be sure and have lots of time to get home ag'in and git us ready fer the big event."

"Does Arnie have a girl?"

"He's been callin' on a little gal over in Donavan County. You remember Arnie; he's rather shy. He takes things pretty slow-like. Ellie says thet Hester will need to do the proposin' iffen it ever gits done!" Marty chuckled. "I think thet Arnie jest hasn't quite made up his mind yet. Wants to be good an' sure. She's a nice little girl, but her brothers are rather no-goods. Have a bad reputation in the area. Arnie ain't 'bout to let thet influence him, but he feels thet it's important when one marries they accept all of the family members."