Chapter 7
“No, just the opposite. She spent the morning with Marley helping her take care of her triplets and came home a different woman. She wants to get on with her life. She realized that she’s not the only one who has had bad things happen to her.
She found a small house to move into and bought it, she started cleaning it out, made a new mattress for the bed, and contacted the adoption agency that she and Jerry had applied to, and she still wants to adopt a baby or small child.
Can she snap out of her depression that fast?
” Helen asked him worried about the abrupt turnaround that her sister-in-law had done.
“Not usually, but it’s been known to happen.
I’m thrilled that Marian has snapped out of her depression.
I just hope that it lasts. If you see her falling back into her depression, let me know.
Until then, celebrate with her on her new look on life.
” Doctor Flynn told her and thought that he’d drop in and check up on Marian sometime today to see for himself just how well Marian was.
“Thanks, Doctor Flynn. I will. I’m so glad that she’s finally happy again but couldn’t believe that it could happen that quickly. It was like she flipped a switch. George and I are still reeling over the different woman we were living with.” Helen told him as she was leaving.
Marian woke up and packed up all her things into the two trunks she had brought with her to Sheridan.
One held all her clothes, sheets, blankets, quilts, towels, dish towels, wash rags, curtains, even some rag rugs she had to put in front of the door and on the floor by the bed.
It was stuffed pretty full by the time she was done packing all her clothes and everyday belongings she used, like her brush, toothbrush, and such.
Her other trunk held her pots, pans, dishes, silverware, knives, kettles, washboard, rolling bars, clothes pins, she had even packed some of Jerry’s things that she thought she might like to keep.
As Marian went into the general store, she was surprised to find a huge pile of supplies that George and Helen had gathered for her to take to her new home.
There were hundred-pound bags of flour, sugar, rice, beans, corn flour, potatoes, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, cases of green beans, corn, beets, tomatoes, tomato juice, mixed cases of fruit…
peaches, cherries, and applesauce. There were also boxes of yeast, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, salt, pepper, a dozen eggs, a half-gallon of milk, several seasonings to use in her cooking, a loaf of bread, vinegar, bleach, tallow, lard, lye soap, a sewing basket filled with scissors, thread, yarn, and knitting needles, an oil cloth for her kitchen table, some cuts of venison, pork, several smoked chicken, turkey, sausage, a ham, and a side of bacon.
“George…Helen, what is all of this? I need it, my shelves are in dire need of supplies for me to cook with, but I wasn’t planning on buying it all today. I was going to get what I could afford…a little at a time.” Marian told them with tears in her eyes.
“That’s what we figured. We want you to be set up really good.
This is our housewarming gift to you. You’ve been working in the store for a year, and we never paid you a cent.
This should set you up pretty good for the rest of the summer and the winter, too.
By next spring, you should be in good enough shape to get your own supplies.
I’ve got Tom Tanner’s son bringing our wagon around front to load everything up and take it over to your house.
He’s also going to help take out the old supplies in your cellar and help burn them.
We heard from the sheriff that some supplies had been left from the previous owner, but they had gone bad and gotten mice and bugs in them.
Pitch them and start fresh. We loved having you living here and want to continue to have you working with us.
” Helen told her and saw George nod. She came and hugged her sister-in-law.
“Oh, Helen, I don’t know what to say but thank you so much!
This is wonderful! It’s everything I need and then some!
!” Marian kissed Helen on the cheek and then hugged George and kissed his cheek, too.
“Thank you, George. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of what you’ve given me.
It’s too much…I can’t wait to start putting it all away with my own pots and pans and start cooking!
” She almost started crying she was so happy.
Tom came in from tying up the horses on the wagon.
She met him and told him she had two trunks in her room upstairs and he ran up to get them first. He carried them with ease as he put them in the wagon and then started on the pile of supplies in front of him.
George helped him to get it loaded up quickly.
While he was working on the supplies, Marian ran over to the resale store for some extra sheets.
She also looked to see if they had a cradle, crib, highchair, and dresser.
They did. She asked the owner to hold them for her.
She was getting a child from an adoption agency, and she didn’t know their age.
As soon as she did, she’d be back to get the right bed for them.
She also picked up her first basket of mending for her job at the resale store.
Marian promised she’d bring it back as soon as she could finish it.
Carrie had laughed. “I see that you’re moving into your home today. You take care of that first. I can wait for a few days while you get settled in.”
“Thank you, Carrie.” Marian told her with a smile. Today, she just couldn’t quit smiling.
She came back just as Tom finished loading everything up in the wagon. She climbed up to ride to her new home right after she hugged Helen and George again. She couldn’t believe she was on her way to her own house.
Tom knew where she lived and took her there in no time.
Before he carried anything in, he went in and brought out all the old bags out.
He set fire to them while Marian went in and scrubbed out the cellar.
She saw evidence of where she had mice in the cellar.
She ran to the livery to get a cat or several kittens to get rid of the problem.
Here she met Oscar Jennings. Oscar was playing with his daughter…
Tessa. She was running to him and calling him ‘Dada’!
Marian loved it. Oscar picked her up and threw her into the air.
His wife was next to him. She looked very pregnant.
“Hello, I’m Marian Garrison. I just moved into a small house.
It stood empty for a year. There were bags of food in the cellar.
We just threw them away and they had mice.
We burned them, and I scrubbed the cellar clean, but I fear there are mice in my cellar.
Can I buy some cats or kittens from you to get rid of my mice? ” She asked him.
“Marian it’s nice to meet you. I’m Oscar Jennings, this is my wife, Sally and our daughter, Tessa.
My wife is about to give birth to another baby in about a month.
We’re very happy about that. I won’t let you buy a cat or a kitten, but I will give you one.
I have several that are ready to wean from their mother and they are good mousers.
They should keep your cellar and house mouse free in no time.
It will be our housewarming gift to you for coming to Sheridan.
Let me go get them for you.” Oscar told her and put Tess down to get the kittens.
She tried to follow her father, but Sally held her hand to keep her close to her.
“You have a beautiful daughter, Mrs. Jennings. I’m hoping to adopt a child in the near future.
I helped Marley Thatcher a few days ago with her triplets while she canned vegetables from her garden.
She mentioned you and that you were friends.
Perhaps if they send me a little girl, our children can get together and play. ” Marian asked her.
“Whether they send you a girl or a boy, bring them over and let them play in our yard. Oscar made a sand box and a swing for Tess to play while I wash clothes in the yard. He’s so good to us.
I would love to have someone for her to play with.
Heather’s little girl is too small for her to play with and so are Marley’s triplets.
It’s nice to meet you, Marian. Welcome to Sheridan. ” Sally told her and smiled.
Oscar arrived with two half-grown kittens. Marian loved them on sight. “Oh, Oscar, they’re perfect! Thank you. I’m going to put them to work right away and hope they get so stuffed with the mice they catch, they’ll feel right at home.”
Oscar laughed and picked back up his daughter. “Let me know if we can help you out in any other way.” Marian nodded and hurried back home to start putting things away.
Tom hadn’t wasted any time while she was away.
He had carried down the hundred-pound bags to the cellar of flour, sugar, rice, beans, corn flour, potatoes, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, and the cases of green beans, corn, tomatoes, tomato juice, beets, and all the cans of fruit, too.
Marian turned the two cats loose in the cellar.
Tom laughed as they jumped toward several corners of the cellar.
“Oscar gave us kittens when we moved to town when my sister and I were little. I got a beagle puppy and Hannah got a kitten. We loved it. That kitten proved it’s worth in mice the very first week we were there.
My Ma loved it. She hates mice, bugs, and snakes.
I’ll cut all the grass in your yard and cut you some wood before I leave today, too.
My father is the sheriff. He told me that you were moving in and asked me to help you get settled even before George asked me to help move you with all the supplies.
So, I’m doing what my Pa asked, and George asked me to do.
Sorta, killing two birds with one stone. ” Tom told her with a grin.
“I don’t care who you’re obeying, I’m just glad you’re here. I can’t believe how strong you are! How old are you?” Marian asked him as she climbed back up the cellar after giving praise to Tom for where he put all the bags and cases in the cellar.
“I’m fourteen, but my Pa was a big man, and I’m probably going to be big like him.
But I may be as big as him, but I’m not going to be like him.
My Ma was married to a really bad man the first time she was married.
He was killed, and then she married the sheriff.
I hope to grow up to be like Sheriff Tanner.
He’s a good man and a man to look up to.
Now, I’d best get busy or I’m never going to get everything done.
Is it all right if I just bring all the food and put it here into the kitchen.
I’ll hang the meat in the smoke house.” Tom told her.
“Tom, I’ll go and sweep out the smoke house and start a slow fire in it first. But yes, what you said about putting it all in the kitchen was perfect, except the two trunks.
Put them in the bedroom, if you wouldn’t mind…
the empty bedroom.” Marian told him and took her broom and went to clean out the smoke house and get a fire started in it.
She was glad that she had some firewood on the side of the house.
She started a small fire in the smoke house and took note of the meat she still had from the previous owner.
She took a roast and decided to put it in the cookstove to cook while she worked all over the house.
She noted that she had several roasts, several hens, and even a turkey hanging there.
Tom came and hung the new meat from George and Helen on the side to smoke.
She was thrilled to have as much as she did.
“Ma’am, before you start up your cookstove, let me go up on your roof and make sure that your flu doesn’t have any bird nests in it.
I’ll also check your fireplace. You might want to put a sheet around them so that I don’t knock any soot on your nice clean floors and walls.
” Tom told her and then made to climb up on her roof.
Marian made to run in and get a sheet up around both her cookstove and fireplace.
It was a good thing Tom looked and knocked down what was in the flues.
Both the fireplace and the cookstove had bird nests in them.
Knocked down, they made a mess in the kitchen.
She carried the nests outside to put in the fire with all the food from the cellar.
She put the dirty sheets in a basket by the back door.
It looks like she’d be washing before she went to see Marley tomorrow morning.
She then started scrubbing the soot from the floor so that she wouldn’t be tracking it all over the house.
She also scrubbed it from the cookstove, too.
It slowed her down a lot, but she was sure glad that Tom looked before she put the roast in the oven.
It could have started a fire that could have burned down her entire house.
He carried in the two trunks and put them in the second bedroom which finished off unloading the wagon.
“Mrs. Garrison, I’m going to take back the wagon and horses.
Then, I’ll be back to chop wood and cut the grass in the yard for you.
If there’s anything else you need done, you just make a list for what you me to do.
” Tom told her and climbed into the wagon seat and took off.