A Time to Bloom (Leah's Garden #2)(25)

“Just fry up some bacon,” Lilac suggested.

“Good idea.” Del hefted the cast-iron skillet onto the stove, then checked the pot simmering on the back. “There’s porridge too. That didn’t burn.”

“See, we’ll eat fit for a king.”

Del’s appetite returned enough to eat a tolerable breakfast, and then she and her sisters tied on their sunbonnets to head outside.

“Is Forsythia coming out today?” Del asked.

“She said she’d bring the little ones and help us in the garden,” Lilac said. “Jesse and Climie too, I hope.”

“Good. We can use the help.”

Still, Del’s chest tightened at the thought of facing their devastated garden. Lord, give us strength.



Lark thought she was prepared, but the sight of the garden twisted a knot in her stomach again. How could such small creatures cause such destruction?

Lilac and Del plunged right in, bless them, pulling up the stringy dead remnants of bean and cucumber plants, and, more painfully, Mama’s flowers. The forsythia and lilac bushes had fared better but hadn’t deterred the grasshoppers enough to protect the rest of the garden.

The root vegetables seemed mostly to have survived, though the carrot and beet tops were shorn. Lark frowned and pulled up an onion.

“Look at this.” She held it out to her sisters. The onion was eaten through from the inside, the outer shell of the bulb still intact.

Lilac sat back on her heels. “Those sneaky little monsters. I guess the onions stick up just enough from the earth for them to get at.”

At a wagon rattle and call behind them, Lark turned to the welcome sight of Forsythia arriving. Jesse drove beside her, with Climie and the children in the back. They climbed down and headed over.

“Reinforcements are here.” Forsythia smiled beneath her sunbonnet, Mikael on her hip. “Anders sends his apologies. He’s helping Adam with a difficult case today. Where would you like us to start?”

Lark stood, stretching her already aching back. “Maybe the children can help pile the dead plants we’ve pulled, and you can help us sort through which ones can survive and which won’t. Jesse, if you could start tilling up the soil as we clear it for replanting, that would help.”

“Where are the plants Anders brought?” Forsythia asked. “Thank heaven for those.”

“In the barn. I’m hoping we can get them in the ground by the end of the day, and then they’ll have the coolness overnight to adjust before the heat sets in again.”

“Good thinking.”

“Here.” Climie reached to take Mikael from Forsythia’s arms, her gentle face resolute and kind. “I’ll watch the children, and you go on. Where do you want the dead plants piled, Lark?”

Lark smiled at the rising strength in their friend’s voice. Give her someone else’s troubles to focus on, and she came alive—that was Climie. “The edge of the garden is fine. Jesse can haul them to the pile to compost for next year. Throw anything that is left of the corn in for the cows.”

By next year, those dead plants would help bring life to a new garden. There lay a comforting thought.

With many hands, by noontime the garden was mostly cleared, both the kitchen section and Leah’s Garden, the decimated flowers and vegetables joining the pulled weeds in a decomposing pile outside the garden fence. Lark rolled her aching shoulders and surveyed the lumpy brown expanse, so full of green and life only a week ago, though surviving plants still struggled bravely wherever they grew. Yet the bare earth held hope, too, for new seeds and the starts Anders had brought. Lord, we little knew how much we’d need him to do that, but you did.

“I’ll go rustle some dinner together.” Del pulled off her gloves and sneezed. “Got some dirt in my nose.”

“We could all use a break.” Lark glanced up at the sun.

They trailed toward the soddy, Mikael insisting on walking on his own two feet, clinging to Climie’s finger. Lark followed Climie, seeing her look down at the little boy with a loving ache on her face. Lord, she’s wanted babies of her own for so long and had them literally kicked out of her by that monster. Lark swallowed back a sudden hot rage. She’s safe here with us, but it’s a good thing you have a plan for her future.

Since they’d left the makeshift table for the party set up outside, Del and Lilac spread the cold dinner there—bread, ham and cheese, and a jar of canned peaches.

Lark quirked a brow as she sat down. “I thought we were out of fruit?”

“We are, but Forsythia brought this, and I thought this day deserved a treat.”

Lark tipped her head in acquiescence.

The young cottonwood provided only meager shade, especially this time of day, but they welcomed every fluttering leaf, along with the faint breeze that cooled their sweaty faces. They joined hands around the table, Jesse and Climie holding Robbie’s between them.

“Would you pray for us, Robbie?” Lark smiled at her nephew. She could use some childlike faith about now.

Robbie nodded and squeezed his eyes tight, scrunching his whole face.

Biting back smiles, the adults all closed their own eyes.

“Papa God, thank you for the day. Thank you for the food. Thank you Uncle Anders brought new plants ’cause the old ones got eaten. Please help the grasshoppers go eat their own food and not take anybody else’s anymore. Thank you for taking care of us. Amen.”