Chapter 4

Jonathan left the cabin after the family meeting. He himself was unsure of just what to do. Jeremy, and Joshua and their wives had all agreed to help as best they could. They did not include Rose, who would know more than anyone about how to care for his father, but at the same time, she was still an outsider. He walked in the woods and came to a rock overlooking the one of the lakes in Seattle. He saw Rose standing there. He hesitated and then decided to go to her and asked her some questions.

"Hello!" he said quietly and congenially.

"Oh, it is you Jonathan, what can I do for you?" Rose said as she dried her tears with her handkerchief.

Jonathan looked at her and then he saw the picture of his father in her hands.

"I—I—I'm not sure what to do. They had the meeting, but no one asked me or consulted me about what I thought would be best. Even my dad, just smiled and consulted his brothers and then starting with Uncle Jeremy, they each put their hand on each other with dad's last since his hands are still so sensitive!" Jonathan looked anxious and a little afraid as well.

Rose took this in, she had been dealing with many a parent, child, loved one who had also been afraid and anxious about something. She chose her words carefully:
"Jonathan, how old are you?" Rose asked.

"21!" he said proudly!

She looked at him then asked: "Do you have any friends or buddies whom you can talk to about this?"

Jonathan looked at her and almost shook his head no and then he told her:

"I kind of have all this mountain, that I talk to! When dad told me stories about how grandpa and grandma came and how there was nothing and they worked very hard to make it work and then how Grandma and Grandpa died and he had to take care of Joshua and Jeremy and run a logging camp, well, I kind of got the idea that I would have to be like my dad! But I don't have brothers or sisters to take care of I really don't have time for any friends really. I have the mountain and I am learning how to run a mill with Mr. Stemple and his foreman.

I don't really know who to talk to now. I have my uncle Jeremy; he listens a lot as well. When mom died and I disappeared and dad and my uncles and everyone was looking for me. Jeremy found me and he…well he helped me get through that."

"What about your cousin Roland, or Jake or Melanie? Did you talk with them as you were growing up?"

"Well, Roland was adopted by my uncle Josh after Lottie and Clancy had taken him in. Clancy found him stowing away on his ship and of course Lottie would not hear of sending the boy, he was all of 5 years old, away. She took him in and since he did not know English or his real name, they baptized him Roland Clancy! I was really close to Jake; however, he seems to have left. I heard he is married now…."
Rose interjected:

"Jonathan, go talk to Jeremy, he seems to be levelheaded and will listen to you. If you still need to talk, we can talk as well. It is time we headed back to town and work." She smiled as she moved to leave.

Jonathan looked at her and was glad for her company, but still felt left out, and alone.

"Jonathan!" Rose said handing him the picture: "Take this back to your home and talk to your uncle Jeremy." She gave him the picture and walked away.

Jonathan looked at her as she walked away. He wasn't sure but he knew he admired her and would go to talk to Jeremy when he was free next. He had to get back to Stemple's mill. Harve, old as he was, was still training him on the mill works while Jeremy and Joshua ran the logging camp.

Joshua was again at the books. He was babysitting his new little girl and she was crying. She wanted her bottle, she had the same color hair he had, and of course the blue eyes of all the Bolts. He had been overjoyed that Karen and the baby were all right. They would soon have a naming day for the little girl but at night, he was just content to stay with his daughter and wife and enjoy their company.

The crying of the baby brought him back and he immediately picked her up and realized it wasn't a bottle that she needed. So, he spread a blanket and placed her on the table on the blanket and proceeded to change her.

As he was changing her diaper, one of the men walked in and asked about a situation that had happened on the north side of the mountain. Josh listened as he changed the baby's diaper, and she was up and happy again.

"Well Clark, I don't know what to say. You said that if you started to clear the old growth trees some of the newer trees might be uprooted?"
Clark nodded in the affirmative. Josh thought Jason would know what to do. He always understood how to do this, which trees to cut and which would have to remain. Josh picked up his daughter and held onto her and he followed Clark out of the tent. He heard the familiar 'Timber!" and checked to be sure no trees were falling nearby. He followed Clark to the horses and mounted one with his baby in his arms. Karen had gone home to prepare dinner for them and asked that he watch the baby. He was beginning to think this was a bad idea when he heard someone say:

"I will take her!"

"Oh! Biddie! What are you doing here?"
"I live here, remember!" she chuckled as she reached for the baby. "Karen asked me to fetch her because she could not get here sooner. She wanted to be sure the baby was changed and fed before dinner tonight."

Josh looked at Biddie. Somehow or other, this woman, who was a gossip, and a bit too much for almost anyone was still the one that people would leave their children with and she would care for them as if they were her own. He handed the baby to her and then hurried off with Clark.

Biddie walked back down the path to Josh and Karen's home when she met Jonathan and Rose coming from the other direction. Jonathan looked very happy with perhaps a decision he had made. Biddie immediately went up to them to ask what was up.

Johnathan looked at her and with a mischievous Bolt look that almost got himself and Rose into trouble when Rose, seeing that glint in his eye said:

"I was just up on the mountain thinking and Jonathan came to the same spot, so we did some talking about things."

"Oh, you mean like Jason being ill?"

They both nodded yes and continued going on to where they were headed.

"Miss Rose, thank you, I would have been tongue tied with Biddie, she is always making me nervous!"
"Does she tell everyone everything she sees or hears?

"Well, she has been known to say too much sometimes, but since she has been married to Barnabas, she is getting better. I hear he really listens to her and she doesn't talk as much as when she was first here. That is what I have been told!"

Rose nodded and then said goodbye as he was going to stop at Lottie´s to see Roland. She went towards the cabin where she was staying with Jason and Jonathan. She opened the door and went to Jason´s room. He was still sleeping. That is good she thought, he does need sleep to heal. Looking at him, she thought about the picture she had borrowed, and he had looked so happy and carefree! She covered him with a blanket and then went to her room which had been added to the cabin via a door to an indoor toilet and bath. Joshua, Jeremy, and Jonathan had built it so that she would be able to have a private area but also be within earshot of Jason in case he should need help. Often for a while he did need help. She remembered caring for him one day and Miss Lottie had come in and gave her a break. She liked Lottie, she noticed that Lottie, a person who had run a saloon among other kinds of jobs, was more of a mother to most if not all the citizens of Seattle. Especially the many women that had come to Seattle to marry loggers!