Chapter Two
Forty-seven year old Brett Long, whose salt and peppered hair that touched the top of his neck, stood next to his family's wagon and watched as his wife, Harriet, of twenty-eight years working with their daughters, Ellen May and Mariah Lynn, to get supper ready for the rest of the family. He and his wife had four of their eight children still living with them: Ellen May, who was pushing twenty-three; Mariah Lynn, who was sixteen, and their twin boys, Jacob and Josiah, who had just turned thirteen. Their other children, twenty-seven year old Paul, twenty-five year old Scott, twenty year old Sarah and eighteen year old Rebecca were all married and living with their spouses in their own homes.
Brett sighed. Their married children and the grandchildren had been the reason the decision to move had been so hard to make. They'd had a good home and ranch in Nevada only, while neither he nor his wife could explain it, shortly after Rebecca announced her engagement he and his wife had both felt an overwhelming feeling that they needed to take their remaining children and move back to California. He couldn't help but wonder what was in California waiting for them. Of course, he chuckled as he watched Ellen May chase the twins away from the food that was cooking over the fire; maybe he'd get lucky and see this particular daughter find a husband. Of course, he wasn't about to say that. The girl would have been mortified if she thought that was the only reason her parents had decided to buy the ranch in California and move.
Ellen May, Brett shook his head as he thought on 'that' daughter of his. Oh, it's not that she was bad; she wasn't. If anything, she was far too kind and patience for her own good. In all honesty there had been plenty of men look her way. The only problem was whenever someone came courting, or she and another girl would go on a double date, Ellen May would shut down. He'd always hear her sisters, or whoever went with her on the double date, complain that they'd had to do all the talking as 'Ellen May just sits there looking as if she was a rabbit cornered by a fox'.
"Penny for your thoughts," Harriet, who had left the cooking to Ellen May and Mariah, walked up to her husband.
"Just thinking about the children and our new home, it's gonna feel mighty quiet." Brett answered as he wrapped his arms around his wife's shoulders.
"From what I hear, while our mutual friend has acquired more patience through the years, life has not quieted forty-six year old Nick Barkley down any. If you get tired of the quiet, just invite him and that loud voice of his over." Harriet couldn't resist making the remark. She'd never forget all the fights Nick Barkley and her husband had taken part in before she and Brett got married, along with a few fights afterwards. Of course, she could chuckle because the two men had been 'partner in crimes' as it were.
Brett couldn't help but start laughing as he thought on Nick and the rest of the Barkleys. Since, from what Nick had said in his letter, all but Eugene still lived in or near Stockton, Brett knew he'd get a chance to get reacquainted with them all. "We'll have to have both him and his mother over sometime. After all, they'll be putting us up for a few days." Brett said just as Ellen May started announcing supper was ready by striking the dinner triangle with a small metal pipe. He couldn't help but chuckle again. The girl had a fascination for 'that thing' as he put it. Why she found it necessary to use it when it wasn't like they were out on a round up that took them out on the range for at least a few days, he didn't know.
Harriet saw her husband looking at Ellen May. She couldn't help but chuckle too as she pretty well knew what her husband was thinking. "Don't worry about her dear. Someday, someone will see just what a treasure she is and love her enough to marry her."
"Plenty of men have seen that already." Brett shook his head. "They have told me any woman who knows how to both work and play hard, is as honest as the day is long, and knows how to cook the way she does is more than worth their weight in gold. Only no one can court her if she won't talk to them!" The frustration he felt was in his voice as he spoke.
Harriet inwardly sighed. Her husband had a valid point and she knew it; she also had to admit this particular daughter puzzled her to no end. The young woman was up every morning at five o'clock, doing one chore or another around the house. She'd also been a huge help on the ranch they'd owned in Nevada, doing everything from rounding up the cattle to digging post holes. Although, she had to chuckle as she remembered the fights the young woman had had with her father when he realized she was out mending fences. He hadn't thought it necessary for her to be doing that type of work when he had sons who were more than willing to do it. However, in the end, it was those same sons who were able to get their father to see what it would do to Ellen May if he took the work away from her. "She has the land in her blood father; you can't take it away from her without killing her. Besides, she's just too stubborn to make the fight worth it" had been the exact words spoken. "We best retire early tonight. Morning comes early."
"We can leave this camp around nine and still be to the Barkley home by noon. It wouldn't hurt us to stay up a little bit late tonight. It's not like Mariah will be up before six a.m." Brett said as he started toward the campfire and his children.
"You seem to forget," Harriet started smiling from ear to ear, "Mariah and Ellen May switched their cooking days just last week." It was all she could do to keep from laughing hard as she heard a groan come from her husband. It was even harder to refrain from doing so as she heard him mutter under his breath that he'd take a son-in-law as old as himself if it meant seeing Ellen May married and getting his extra hour of sleep back; that is, on the days he could afford to take it.
Author's Note...don't be surprised if I wind up simply referring to Ellen May as Ellen.
