The day started as a perfect shining summer morning. Bird song and soft early morning light drifted over the wooden sill of the little window. Old white embroidered curtains, swayed gently in the breeze as the girl wrapped up in the small bed finally stated to stir. Just turned eighteen, she was almost too long for the little bed. Pale little feet end up arching up and off the end as she slowly stretched out. Blinking open her blue eyes, she could not have said for sure if she was still in a dream or waking in that moment. As sleep crept away, sudden as a gunshot she remembered that this was the dawn of a long await day. The Mitchell's barn raising with its party, dancing and socializing was finally here!
Sarah Kine exploded out of bed. Covers thrown back, she rolled out of bed and slid round the small room to see her masterpiece. The yellow gingham dress hanging on the wardrobe was just finished last night. Sarah ran her hand down the full skirt, pulling it out just a bit. She had made it with enough extra fabric that it would spin full and wide on the dance floor. The dress was plain enough to please Pa, pretty enough to please Ma, and trim enough to show off her figure; not bad work at all she thought.
If only getting settled on a fiance would be as easy. Here in the Oregon territory, problem wasn't finding a fella, it was narrowing it down. There was ten men for every gal so landing a husband was as easy as saying yes. Why even Mary Rose got married last year! Few years older than Sarah and her friends, Mary was plain as a board and could not follow a thought for the all the gold in the territory. Still, she was young and said yes. That was really all that required to be a settled woman. Now she was married to the middle son of the Gilmore family. While Mary Rose wasn't a particular friend of hers, Sarah, as was her way, had been glad for Mary Rose's happiness at becoming Mrs. Gilmore. She was just as glad Arthur Gilmore was no longer a courting suitor, Sarah's toes might not have survived the next dance.
With a sigh that was little more than a puff of air, Sarah thought on her own courting suitors as she let the dress slip between her fingers. Figuring out the right feller for her and then getting her Ma and Pa to agree to him was harder then she'd expected. Sarah turned back to the low bed to pull out her soft brush from the little bedside table. Thumping back on the bed, she turned her face towards the breeze from the window. Slowly starting to brush through her thick dark hair, she started mulling her short but jam packed courting season this past year.
Her field was down to two main contenders, Carl Tillman and Danny Smith. Both were nice gentlemen from nice families, with nice prospects, who had in all their time courting had been, well, nice. Her hands drifted to a stop, the brush coming resting in her lap. She gently nibbled a bit on the left of her lower lip with a hint of frown across her brow. Wasn't that just exactly what a good and respectable girl like her was supposed to want? It's just, well, something small kept at her. Sarah could not quite shake the mite of a hot feeling deep in her gut that her nice gentleman weren't quite right. She had been ignoring it as best she could, but that little feeling was getting bolder.
Last Sunday, Carl had walked her home after church. While visiting there in the parlor with her family, he had made the rather bold hint that wouldn't it be nice to have just such a family gathering in future. Sarah remembered how queer she had felt looking up to see her Pa nodding happily along. Like a bolt of lightning shot through her, it left her just itching to run. The rest of the night had gone on forever as Sarah just smiled and nodded along as Carl and her father had debated what to do with the Kine north pasture next year. In the past week, she tried to distract herself from pulling those thoughts out and mulling them over much.
Sarah felt almost like that time she and Ruth were trying to get that apple cobbler recipe just right. Best bakers of all their friends but the two of them could not get that perfect balance of smooth tart sweetness for the filling. It took for what felt like forever, looking for that one ingredient when she couldn't even figure out how to describe was missing. With a small smile, she picked up the brush to finish, wishing if only the answer here was as simple as cornstarch.
The thought that kept creeping up on her was shouldn't there be more? She had tried to remain her normal practical self about marriage but still found herself yearning for maybe just a touch of passionate wild romance. Her dear friend Milly's whirlwind marriage to a backcountry woodsman just a few months ago had her reconsidering her suitors lately. She tried picturing Carl or Daniel as her romantic mountain man sweeping her away but that kept falling flat. Carl was too practical a man to fall in love with a girl just on seeing her. Sarah could about hear him asking why, who were her family and what inheritance was she due? Her long dark brown hair drifting softly around her pale face, she moved over to the little bowl and basin to begin washing up her face.
She thought on the happy joy on Alice's face describing the unexpected wedding of dear Milly. So romantic, Alice had called it. Milly one afternoon suddenly deciding that she'd found the man to love over a bowl of stew. Alice had giggled that the backwoodsman was so tall and handsome she could understand Milly's choice. Their friend Martha had been so scandalized at Alice, the rest of the girls at the quilting bee had all but fallen over laughing. Sarah couldn't imagine how handsome a gentleman would have to be to get her to fall in love and marry in an afternoon. The idea that there was a man who could inspire that kind of madness was a bit unnerving in its appeal. Of course, that such a man would even notice her was silly, what with her friends always catching the feller's eyes first.
Sarah knew she was a pretty girl, with her blue eyes, dark hair and clear pale skin. Her Pa always joked she looked like berries and cream, what with her bright cheeks against her pale face. Pretty, however, would often be missed standing next to beauties like golden haired Ruth or lovely Dorcas. Those two had been stopping men in their tracks with just a smile for years now. Then there was effervescent Liza, who had a knack for keeping all the boys laughing and dancing along. Sarah, perhaps the shyest of the friends, took it all her typical calm and patient stride. Her friends were next best thing to sisters; they weren't showboating or trying to steal the spotlight. As the fellers would always end up working around to asking her to dance eventually, there was nothing lost. That is what happened with Carl and Danny after all. The truth of it Sarah had to admit to herself, if no one else, was there been no man yet that made her mind not getting his attention first.
Loud thumps down the stairs as her three younger brothers bounced down to breakfast interrupted her reverie. The house was waking up and would soon be ready to get going. She knew that she had best hurry on getting ready. No more time for daydreaming, Sarah dried up her face and started quickly on her clothes. She wasn't going to miss a moment when there was a chance for dancing.
