Chapter 8
Marian turned to go back into the cabin.
The first thing she did was to make up her bed.
She went to her trunk and pulled out sheets, blankets, and quilts.
She had her bed made in minutes. She had her pillowcases in her hands and went outside and filled them with grass and sewed them up and put them on the bed, too.
Then she hung curtains on the windows to give her some privacy.
She hung her clothes on the wall and put some of her underthings in the dresser drawers.
She even put the rag rugs on the floor by the bed, and in front of the cabin door to wipe your feet.
At least she could sleep tonight. Then, she went to the kitchen and hung some curtains and put on the oil cloth for the kitchen table.
That looked nice, too. Then she started putting away all the supplies that she needed to cook with on the shelves.
Slowly, but surely the large pile started getting smaller.
She needed a large tub to take a bath in.
Tom had returned by then; she asked him to go and buy her a half barrel, a rubber tube, and a plug.
She gave him the money. And he took off running to get it done.
She had explained to him that she needed it to be able to bathe in it.
He came back rolling it to her house and into the front door.
Marian helped him roll it into the corner of the kitchen.
“If we drill a hole in the side of the tub and in the side of the house, we can use the tubing to put in both and it will drain out of the tub with the pull of the plug. We’ll just fill in the hole in the wall of the cabin with mud to keep ants and other bugs from coming in the house.
Do you have a drill or know where to get one? ” Marian asked him.
“Yeah, my Pa has one in our shed with the rest of his tools. I’ll borrow it when I get his scythe to cut your grass. I’ll be right back.” Tom told her and took off again.
It didn’t take them any time at all to drill the hole in the tub, but it did take them some time to drill a hole in the side of the cabin.
Marian was glad that Tom was so strong. While he was drilling, she went in and made them both some sandwiches to eat with the loaf of bread she had been given and the ham George had sent her home with.
She made three for Tom and one for herself.
He was thrilled with the sandwiches and ate all three!
The tubing went in smoothly and so did the plug.
They also filled in the mud to fill up the hole.
Tom was quite proud of himself when they were done.
Marian thanked him again and went back to work inside and Tom started cutting the grass with the scythe.
He’d take both the drill and the scythe back at the same time.
Marian finished putting all the supplies away and started putting what was in her trunks away.
She started first with the trunk that held her sheets, blankets, towels, and such.
She put a box near the tub and put the towels, a kerosene lamp, and a bar of soap.
She also hung-up blankets all around the tub for even more privacy.
She wasn’t too bad with a hammer and nails.
She put curtains in the second bedroom, too, to keep prying eyes out of her house while she worked.
She pushed the first empty trunk into her own bedroom to use as a nightstand beside her bed.
Then, she went to work on the second trunk.
Before she started, she took a few minutes to get some vegetables from the cellar to throw in with the roast. It didn’t take very long, and potatoes, carrots, and onions were baking along with the roast. It made the whole cabin smell good.
Her dishes, pots, pans, silverware, knives, and all her baking dishes helped fill up the shelves that remained on the wall.
She liked having her own things there for her to use.
She even put her grinder on the counter and took her smaller containers down to the cellar to fill with flour, sugar, rice, corn flour, and beans.
She brought them upstairs to put on the counter.
With everything put away, she started up a batch of bread.
She loved the smell of bread baking in the house.
She also went outside to pay Tom for all his help.
He was chopping wood at the time…he didn’t want to take any money for helping her.
He was doing what his Pa told him to do.
He was also doing what George Garrison asked him to do, it wasn’t all that much to do.
But Marian insisted…his help made a tremendous difference in setting up her house, and she felt she couldn’t have done it without his help.
“Tom, you were wonderful and I loved your help and your presence here with me. I hope I can hire you to continue chopping wood for me. I understand that I need a few cords to finish out the summer, and at least eight cords to get through the winter. That’s ten cords…
at a dollar a cord…I owe you ten dollars.
Do you have the time to get that done for me this summer? ” Marian asked him with a smile.
“Yes, ma’am! I’m saving up for my own horse and saddle. That will help me out a lot. Thanks Mrs. Garrison. If you need my help for anything else, you just give out a shout. I liked working for you.” Tom told her and blushed at the compliment he had given to the older lady.
“Good, I’ll keep you in mind should I need anything else done.” Marian told him and saw Doctor Flynn walking towards her home. “Doctor Flynn! What brings you to my humble home today?”
“Helen came by to see me and told me all about your house and you sending a telegram to adopt a child and the abrupt change in one day. She wondered if a person could make such a change so quickly. I told her they could. I came to see your house. It looks good on the outside. I seem to recall this house looking pretty rundown just yesterday…how did you make such a change in just twenty-four hours?” Flynn asked her and smiled.
He also like the change in Marian. She was all but bursting with energy and looked very pretty.
“What you’re seeing on the outside, all the credit belongs to Tom Tanner.
He used a scythe on the grass and has been chopping wood all afternoon.
He brought all my belongings and all my supplies from the general store here and carried them in.
He climbed up on the roof and cleaned out my flues so that I didn’t burn down my house.
For only fourteen years old, the boy has muscles you wouldn’t believe!
He even installed a tub for me to use and just pull a plug to let the water out.
” Marian told him and watched as Tom blushed at all the compliments.
“Nice work, Tom, I hear your father brag about you all the time. He’s very proud of you and all the work you do to keep your family in cord wood, and your mother in good shape while he’s working all the time.
I’d say you’re more a young man than boy with all you’re doing each day.
” Flynn told him and watched the young man’s chest fill with pride.
“Thank you, Doctor Flynn. I’m real proud of my Pa, too.
We both know that we got lucky when my Ma married the sheriff.
My first Pa wasn’t anything to write home about.
Mrs. Garrison has been working real hard to get moved in.
She has a real nice house here. I like working for her.
” He nodded at both of them and then went back to chopping wood.
“Come on in, Doctor Flynn, and see my new house. I know that it’s a used home, but to me it’s new.” Marian told him and opened up her home to him.
The smells of the roast and the baking bread hit Flynn as soon as he came in the door.
The colors she had used in the curtains and even the rag rug, made the little house into a warm and welcoming home.
Flynn felt at home in minutes. He approved of all she had done.
He could see where she was even making the second bedroom into a bedroom for a child, should she be approved for the adoption agency.
“Marian, I like your house. I felt good from the moment I stepped in the door. It smells good and looks good, too.” He told her and smiled.
“The roast and bread are almost done. Would you like to stay for dinner?” Marian asked him and surprised herself for even asking him.
“I haven’t eaten today except for a dry biscuit for breakfast. My stomach is growling just smelling your roast and bread. I will accept your invitation with happiness. Can I do anything to help you with getting it ready?” Flynn asked her.
“Why don’t you set the table for me? I just have to make gravy and pull it out of the oven.
I’m afraid I don’t have anything for dessert…
I was so busy putting everything away, I didn’t even think of making a pie, cobbler, cookies, or a cake.
Next time you eat with me, I promise to have a dessert.
” Marian told him as she made gravy. She was surprised she wasn’t nervous.
The only man she had ever cooked for was Jerry, and he ate anything she put in front of him.
She wondered if Flynn was a picky eater or if he liked all kinds of foods, too.
The roast was cooked to perfection, as were the potatoes, carrots, onions, gravy, and bread.
She hadn’t seen the butter that Helen had thrown into the supplies, but she was sure glad she had.
They had no trouble talking all through dinner and even while they washed up and dried the dishes afterwards.
Flynn volunteered to wash while Marian dried the dishes and put them away.
It didn’t take them long at all. She had enough leftovers to make sandwiches tomorrow for lunch, stew for dinner, and vegetable-beef soup the night after that.
She was thrilled to have so many meals out of one roast.
“Marian, the meal was great, I loved the conversation and had a wonderful time. I hope you won’t mind if I come back again.” Flynn told her as he walked to the door.
“I’d be thrilled if you came back. I liked cooking again and I really liked having company.
I haven’t talked so much since Jerry died.
” Marian told him and smiled at him. “Please come back often. I like having somebody to eat with, if you tell me what you don’t like to eat, I promise not to fix it. ”
“That’s easy, I don’t like liver, brains, hearts, or other organs from the animals’ people kill.
Other than that, I will eat just about anything.
In other words, you cook it, and I’ll eat it!
” Flynn told her and waved at her as he left.
He had really liked spending time with Marian.
He was also going to go back very soon and spend another evening with her.
Morning found Marian going over to Marley’s to help with her triplets. She had so much to tell her about getting a house and sending a telegram to the adoption agency. She also wanted to let her know about eating dinner with Andy Flynn last night…Doctor Andy Flynn. Was that all right?
Marley was already hard at work with canning. The babies were in the buggy. They were awake today, but they weren’t fussy…just wide awake and looking at the world.
“Morning Marian, I heard that you’ve been busy since you left my house the other day. I’m glad that you got off your duff and shook your gloom away and did something constructive. Tell me about your house.” Marley told her as she canned the last of her green beans.
Marian spent the next fifteen minutes telling her about walking around town with the sheriff and finding the little cabin that was in good shape and before she knew it, she had bought it!
She also sent a telegram to the adoption agency asking if she could still adopt a child now that she was a widow…
wouldn’t one parent be better than no parents?
She was still waiting to hear from them.
The last thing they talked about was Doctor Flynn coming to check up on her last night and staying for dinner.
“Doc Flynn stayed for dinner? Well, it’s about time he stopped being so stubborn and ate dinner with a good-looking woman.
Do you know how many women in town have tried to sink their claws in Doc over the last ten years?
No, you wouldn’t, but I can tell you that there have been over twenty that I heard about and I lived on a ranch outside of town.
He acted like they were patients, accepted the casserole they brought him, smiled and went on to the next patient.
I don’t know of any that he actually ate dinner with.
This is a first as far as I know. He eats with married couples like Nicole and her husband Clark, he’s eaten at the sheriff and his wife Abby’s house, he’s eaten here before, and I think he’s eaten at Oscar and Sally’s before…
but that’s about it. He won’t even stop long enough to eat when he goes out to deliver a baby…
” Marley told her and it made Marian start to think.
Did she really want to start a relationship after her husband just died…
granted he had been dead for a year, but was she ready for this?