A Time to Bloom (Leah's Garden #2)(4)

But the Webers had reached their wagon by the time Del caught up, Mrs. Weber wrestling a crying toddler. Del stopped and glanced around. The gathering was dispersing, wagons heading in all directions. Disappointment sagged her shoulders. She had waited too long. She’d have to talk to parents at the party.

“What did you learn, Lark?” Del asked from the driver’s seat on the way home.

“They’ve settled on a location for the water towers and train station. The railroad already owns that land, so they’ll be paying for the construction. It turns out Mr. Young owns most of the land Salton is being built on, along with Mr. Caldwell.”

“Really.” Del raised a brow.

“Adam seemed a bit surprised to learn he’d purchased the land for his house and clinic from the banker, not the town.”

“Did you happen to ask about the school building?”

Lark slanted her a glance. “I was there to listen, not shut them up by reminding them that I was present. But you know the other night, when we were talking about a boardinghouse?”

Del and Lilac nodded.

“I have a feeling we need to start working on that while there is still land available. Once that train is running, I think land prices will rise accordingly. I think instead of paying off the homesteaded land, we use that money for a half acre or so in town, east on Main Street and on the north side of the tracks. The same as the water tower and train station.”

“Who is going to build it?” Del asked.

“I don’t know, but we should sit down this afternoon and write a letter to Anders to see if he wants to buy into our idea.”

“Who will run it?” Lilac asked. “I mean, Del will be teaching school, Forsythia is busy being a doctor’s assistant and working at the store, and Lark and I are the only two working full-time on our own big dream. You think Anders would sell the store and move out here?”

“And Jonah?”

“To run a boardinghouse?”

“No, to farm the land for us, and I’ll take over the boardinghouse.” Lark shrugged. “The first step is a letter to Anders, and the second is talking with Mr. Young.”

“You think Anders will go along with this?” Lilac asked.

“I have no idea. I asked Josephine to put half the garden there into zinnias for seeds. We’ll have a good harvest of bachelor buttons and daisies here. I’m hoping the snapdragons will work well too.”

“What about cosmos? Ma loved her cosmos.”

“We planted all the seeds we have, so we shall see how it goes.”

They climbed down from the wagon, and Lilac led the oxen off to the shed, parked the wagon next to it, then unyoked them and let them out to pasture in the one field that was fenced.

“Lark, did you hear Jesse talking about a herd of pronghorns just north of here?” Lilac asked.

“No, really?” Lark’s face brightened. “You want to go hunting?”

“Today?”

Lark nodded. “At times like this, I wish we had another horse.”

They headed inside, and Del began pulling out food for the noon meal.

“We can ride double till we find them and then sling the carcass up behind the saddle. Remember how Little Bear talked about hanging on to the stirrups to travel faster?”

“We could roast a haunch for the party.”

“You two are crazy. Everything we have to do around here, and you want to take off hunting.” Del continued slicing bread.

“I wish we had a smokehouse built,” Lark said.

“Oh, sure, one more thing to build.” Shaking her head, Del set to buttering the slices and spreading jam on them. She tried to squelch the tension building in her middle. Usually their time of fellowship after church left her uplifted, not disgruntled. “When shall I plan for supper?”

“We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

After they left, Del took a tablet and pencil outside and sat in the shade to write to Anders. She breathed in the fragrant summer air and closed her eyes. Lord, forgive my anxious thoughts. But someone needed to stay focused around here.

Dear Anders and Josephine,

It’s Sunday afternoon, and Lark and Lilac just headed out to hunt pronghorn. Lark mentioned again how she wishes we had another horse.

Haying probably starts this week. We’ll recruit everyone we can. Tell Jonah we could sure use some help out here.

The big news is the railroad tracks are being laid through Salton and on west. They plan to dig the well this week for the water towers, so Salton will be the first water stop after Lancaster. Building a train station is high on the discussion list.

She laid down her pencil and went in to feed the fire under the rabbit stew she had made. Lilac had snared a couple of rabbits and given one to Forsythia. A slight breeze tickled the short hairs at the nape of Del’s neck, easing peace into her soul.

We have an idea—not that we don’t have enough work as it is—to build and open a boardinghouse with a café that will be open to the public rather than just those paying for a room. There is such a need for housing both for those working here now and others that are coming. We thought that since the wagon trains are less frequent, we’d have fewer visitors, but the train tracks are bringing more change. I don’t know if you are aware of the emerging salt mines, but they are not far from here.