A Time to Bloom (Leah's Garden #2)
Lauraine Snelling
To Wendy Lawton.
Wendy is one of the most creative people I know, in so many ways.
Her marvelous business sense is put to good use as an agent,
where she blesses us all through her skills and encouragement.
Delphinium
Derived from the Greek word delphis, meaning dolphin, since the flowers are shaped like dolphins.
They symbolize an open heart and ardent attachment and convey a feeling of light and levity.
1
SALTON, NEBRASKA
JULY 1866
Has it been an entire year? Delphinium Nielsen thought in surprise.
She and her three sisters were gathered around the table in their sod house. She said aloud, “We’ve been here in Nebraska for a whole year, and I think we need to celebrate. After all, we’ve accomplished a great deal.”
She waved to include the addition to the house and their section of land that would one day become Leah’s Garden. They already had the sign up at the end of their lane. The garden would be a dedication to their mother, who dreamed of having a nursery of plants, flowers, bushes, trees of the flowering and shade kinds, and also fruit and nut trees. Her dream had been in Ohio, but then the war got in the way, and both of their parents passed on to their heavenly reward.
“I agree.” Larkspur, the eldest, nodded.
“So what are you thinking?” Forsythia, the first of them married and the third in line, asked.
Del shrugged. “I don’t know. The words just popped out of my mouth. I guess a party for all of our friends here in Salton. I could invite the families of my students too.”
Excitement pricked at the thought of seeing her beloved schoolchildren again. She needed to start planning for the fall term soon. With all the new families in town, she could have a much fuller classroom. Hopefully in an actual school building this year instead of the church, where they’d been meeting since the tornado last fall.
“We could ask people to bring their own chairs or benches.” Lilac, the youngest, held Mikael, the baby they had adopted on their trip west, along with Robbie and Sofie, who were playing with their carved animals outside. Forsythia had promised both of the two mothers who died on the trail that she would take care of their children. When she married Dr. Adam Brownsville, they had a ready-made family.
“We’d have to.” Del paused. “You know, there’s a town meeting coming up. We could issue the invitation there.”
“Why not at church tomorrow?” Lilac watched Mikael as he woke and grinned up at her. She kissed his forehead. “You are such a good baby.” Her words earned her another grin.
“True, but I also need to ask around about more important things.” Lark sighed. “I need to find a bull for Buttercup. She should have been bred several months ago.”
Robbie had decided that the little heifer born to Buttercup was his. He named her Clover, and she followed him around like a dog. Right now she was lying in the shade of the house, chewing her cud while the children played.
“Doesn’t the Weber family north of town have one?” Forsythia asked.
“I’ll find out.” Lark looked up. “Just think, with a roof from this side of the house, we could have shade outside for gatherings like this. Our trees can’t grow fast enough. When I think of home, I covet the trees.”
The cottonwood they’d dug up at the creek bed and planted off the corner of the house last fall had made it through the winter and leafed out, but it couldn’t be called a shade tree yet.
“There aren’t many around here, that’s for sure.” Del dug a sheet of paper out of the cabinet Jesse, Adam’s nephew, had made for them. He had even carved the handles for the doors. She sat back down at the table. “All right, let’s plan this event. A week or two from this Saturday?”
“No, let’s do as Lilac suggested and have Reverend Pritchard announce it in church tomorrow for next Saturday. Why put it off?” Lark asked.
They all shrugged, so Del wrote that on the paper. “We’ll have a potluck supper and music for singing and dancing after.”
“If there’s to be dancing, we need to firm up some dirt,” Lark said. “We’ve not had that many people out here at one time before.”
“I know. A real celebration.” Del beamed.
“I thought we had a fine celebration after our wedding,” Forsythia said. “That was only a few weeks ago.”
“We did, but no potluck or dancing. And besides, that was in town,” Del said. “This will be right here.”
Sofie came in from outside. “Mama, Robbie growled at me.”
Forsythia rolled her eyes. “You go tell Robbie that Mama said to play nice.” She paused. “Wait. What did you do that made him growl?”
They all knew that Robbie was infinitely patient with Sofie.
“I smashed his fence.”
“And why did you smash his fence?”
“Because.” The little girl studied her bare feet on the finished dirt floor, her light blond hair in two braids.
“Because why?”
Del pushed her laughter down. Forsythia was so patient with the little ones.
“’Cause he said my cow couldn’t come in his pasture.”