*Author's Note*
Thank you for the reviews, faves, and follows.
My fancy 17-inch laptop died! NOOOOOO! (Said in Vader's voice from end of Ep.3 LOL!) So I'm borrowing one from a family member when they don't have to use it or when they're asleep since I'm a night owl (actually my fibromyalgia has my sleep cycles messed up and I'm up like a hoot owl most nights). The last scene of this was lost when my computer died and I had to rewrite it (of course I hit save but it didn't save on my flashdrive cause the 'puter died in the process lol).
Anyways enough of that, have fun reading.
The Cabin
Novella POV:
It's been weeks since I've moved in with the McCoys and since then I've settled into a routine. Every mornin' I feed the chickens and gathered their eggs, helped make breakfast, clean up after, do the wash, and feed the hogs. Sometimes I even had to milk the cow too. I noticed that the more time passed by that Roseanna's chores got less and less. Since Roseanna was Ole Rand'l's favorite and I was now apart of the household he often assigned her chores to me while allowin' Roseanna to take it easy or only do what she could, which anymore wasn't much.
Oh, and talk 'bout Ole Rand'l… Bless his heart, the man was a closet drunk. I've seen him sneakin' off behind trees or out buildin's to drain his flask more times than I can count on my hands and feet. Yea, and the man was quick to strike with his belt as well. Tolbert came home late for supper one night, havin' lost track of time workin' up at the cabin and got whacked in the face by Ole Rand'l's belt as the man hollered and screamed nonsense at him.
Oh yea, I can't wait to be married and outta here. Stayin' the night at the McCoy house and livin' here were two very and I mean very different things. No wonder Tolbert was the way he was with a horrible temper. Getting' belted 'nough times in the face growin' up would do that to a personality I suppose, make them mean.
I was kneelin' on the ground in the back of the house, hunched over the wash bucket as I scrubbed clean a shirt on the washboard. My arms ached somethin' awful from doin' the laundry. I hated laundry. Roseanna was supposed to be helpin' me today but opted not to due to feelin' tired and knowin' that her poppy wouldn't make her. Aunt Sally was makin' bread while Alifair tended to the lil ones, so that left me to do the wash for a household of 14 all by myself.
"Hey, where's my sister? Ain't she 'posed t'be helpin' ya?" I heard Tolbert ask as I watched his tall shadow cast over me.
Looking up, meetin' his eyes, I told him, "She's feelin' poorly so she's inside."
"Horse shit." Tolbert spat, anger beginnin' to flicker in his stormy blues. "Ya can't do all that washin' by yerself. It's too much."
"Tolbert, it's fine." I assured him, wringing the wet clothing in my hands, before remndin' him, "I'll be doin' everythin' by myself once we're married."
"Yea, but our household won't be big straight 'way like it is here. Our wash won't be such a burden."
Grabbin' another dirty shirt and dunkin' it into the large wash bucket I told him, "We'll have chil'ren one day, Tolbert. The wash'll grow."
"Darlin'…" Tolbert sighed as he knelt down next to me. "Is there anyway somebody else can do the wash? I finished our cabin, wanna show it t'ya."
"It'll have t'wait, Tolbert. I'm sorry." I shook my head as I scrubbed the shirt clean on the washboard.
"The hell with this. I'm gonna find Roseanna, tell her to get her ass t'work doin' the wash." He spat before risin' to his feet and stormin' off to the back door of the house.
Poor Roseanna was gonna get it. Tolbert was mad, ready to fight.
Tolbert POV:
Angrily I stormed into the house, lookin' every which way til my eyes landed on my sister sittin' down with some cross-stitchin' in her hands. "Get outside an' do the wash, Roseanna." I ordered my sister as I stormed right up t'her.
"I'm feelin' poorly. I can't today." She softly told me as she pulled her threaded needed thru the cloth in her hand, creatin' the beginin' of a flower pattern.
"Well ain't that just too damn bad. Yer always feelin' poorly and Ella's always pullin' yer weight in chores anymore."
"Tolbert, poppy says-" Roseanna meekly began til I loudly cut her off with, "I don't give a shit what poppy says. Ya need t'get yer ass out back and do the wash."
"I'll help in a minute after restin'." Roseanna softly told me, ignorin' what I wanted.
Angrily I shook my head while orderin', "No, ya get yer ass out back and do it now." Roseanna just paused her cross-stitchin' and looked at me as I snapped, "I gotta take Ella to the cabin, show her it's ready."
"Tolbert, perhaps showin' her the cabin can wait til later. Novella's doin' the washin' and Roseanna is frail today." My ma's sweet soothin' voice sounded out from where she was standin' hunched over the flour and dough covered kitchen table.
"Mama." I warned, givin' her a cuttin' glare as she worked the bread dough on the floured-up table. Ma just shook her head and went back to kneadin' her dough. "Roseanna, go do the washin'. Now!"
"Why're ya yellin' at yer sister for, Tolbert?" My poppy asked as I heard the door open and his footsteps enter the room.
Turnin' 'round to face him I said, "Tellin' her t'go do the wash. Ella's always doin' it an' I gotta take her up to the cabin."
"Roseanna's fine just where she is an' that girl of yers knows her place 'round here. She knows she's gotta do washin' and chores. The cabin can wait, now go do somethin' 'round the farm." Poppy told me with a harsh look as he walked further into the room.
"No, I'm takin' Ella to see our cabin. Ain't right that Roseanna don't do nothin' nomores either." I defied my poppy, standin' up t'him with my head high an' my chin up.
"Boy, don't talk back t'me under my roof." He ordered in a likker slurred bark, marchin' right up to stand in front o'me.
"I ain't no boy. I'm a grown man with a cabin o' my own. 'Bout t'be a husband." I reminded him as he stared at me with infur'ation in his eyes.
Poppy pointed his finger at me 'fore seethin' lowly, "Ya wanna go t'your cabin that bad then, boy? Well go on, get."
"I'll get, I'll get goin' right now." I turned my back on my poppy and walked over to the back door.
Right as my hand touched the door knob I heard my poppy tell me, "Ya leave to that cabin, boy, don't come back."
"Don't worry, poppy, I won't be back." I barked before flingin' open the door an' stormin' out t'get Ella.
Novella POV:
I was scrubbin' a pair of long-johns whenever I heard the backdoor slam open. Figurin' it was my moody fiancé I just continued to scrub the dirty long-johns. "Ella, we're leavin' now. Come help me with our stuff." Tolbert's velty gruff voice spoke up over the silent mountain air.
I dropped the piece of clothin' I was scrubbin' in the wash water while lookin' at Tolbert curiously. "What? Why?"
While walkin' up to me he explained, "Poppy an' me got into a fight over our cabin. Told me if I take ya to it not t'come back, so we ain't comin' back."
Oh no. We weren't married yet and we were gonna be sharin' a cabin. That's scandalous. "But, Tolbert, our weddin's not til a few days." I told him, standin' up and dustin' off my skirt.
"I know that." Tolbert gruffly told me, grabbin' my hand. "Now come on, we gotta get yer trunks and bag up my clothes. Also, gotta get my huntin' hound dog an' a couple pups." He rattled off smoothly as he began to drag me over to the back door, which was wide open.
"But we can't live alone 'til we're married. It's not proper." I protested as we got closer to the house.
"Ella, we'll be fine." Tolbert assured me, causin' me to give him a skeptical look. He shook his head and sighed before stoppin' us in our tracked. Tolbert's calloused hand tipped my chin up, causin' my cornflower eyes to meet his stormy ones. His hard-emotionless face turned a bit soft as he vowed, "I promise I won't touch ya, less ya want me to. Yer honor won't be soiled."
Lookin' into his eyes I saw that he was speakin' the truth. I couldn't detect one bit of trickery in him. Noddin' I told him with a slight line of a soft smile, "Okay, let's get our things."
After quickly packin' Tolbert's clothes, which he didn't have much of, into a bag and loadin' my trunks into the wagon we left the McCoy farm. On my lap sat a pair of pups. I had to hold them since they wouldn't fall out of the wagon. Tolbert's huntin' dog was trained so he just laid in the back of the wagon. Set between me and Tolbert was a basket of food that Sally had given us before we left. It was filled with bread, cheese, some salted pork, and a few other various food items to get us by til we were able to get to the general store in town.
It didn't take us long to ride up to the cabin. In fact as we pulled up to it I was taken aback by how nice it looked for how quickly Tolbert and his brothers had built it. He really put a lot of effort into makin' the place livable for me.
Lookin' at him I said, "I like it, Tolbert."
"Good, was hopin' ya would." Tolbert smiled, his velvety gruff voice soundly a bit soft, as he got down from the wagon. "Give me the pups. I'll set them on the ground 'fore helpin' ya down."
Quickly I complied, handin' him over the pups. One black and one brownish-red. I watched Tolbert set them down before standin' to his full height, holdin' his hand out to me. I grabbed the basket of food in one hand and placed my other into Tolbert's calloused one. With ease he helped me down. Tolbert snapped his fingers, causing his huntin' dog to jump down out of the back of the wagon.
"Come on, let's put the basket inside 'fore unloadin' the wagon." Tolbert told me as he ushered us towards the porch steps.
Silently we walked up the porch and to the front door. Tolbert opened it and stepped aside, letting me enter before him. The room looked nice and it was clear to me that Tolbert built it with me in mind. The counter and cabinet area of the kitchen by the wood burnin' stove and sink was big. A long wooden table sat nearby with a pair of long benches. They looked handcrafted, not store bought. On the other side of the room, away from the kitchen, was the stone fireplace with a small sofa and a couple of chairs by it. Also, a bookshelf stood by the fireplace. I noticed that wall mounted oil lamps were scattered over the house for light.
"Our room's the one off the kitchen." Tolbert told me, pointin' to a door by the edge of the counters and cabinets, while I walked over to the table and placed the basket of simple foods on it. "Under the stairs is 'notha room. Reckon for a newborn when we have one."
"And you put rooms upstairs too?" I asked while headin' to the front door, passin' Tolbert, who was standin' in the middle of the large main room of the house, on my way.
"Yea. A storage room an' couple more bedrooms." He confirmed as he followed me out the door and down the porch. I knew he was followin' me cause I could her the footsteps of his heavy boots behind me, overbearin' the light sound of my own delicate heeled-booted steps.
"Ain't no curtains up. Figured ya'd wanna make those." Tolbert told me as we walked over to the back of the wagon. The huntin' hound and the pups were runnin' 'round, chasin' and playin' with each other by the wagon wheels as we reached the loaded back. Tolbert snapped his fingers and pointed over yonder while orderin' the dogs, "Go on over there. Get."
The huntin' hound quickly obeyed and ran over to where the makeshift barn was. The pups followed behind, their lil ears floppin' and tails wagglin'. Silently Tolbert hopped into the back of the wagon and started to shove a trunk at me. Once it reached the edge he jumped down and we both grabbed a trunk handle, liftin' it and carryin it towards the house.
The trunk was heavy an' I knew that Tolbert was holdin' most of the weight, but I was still helpin' to carry it the best I could. Tolbert decided to be the one to walk up the porch steps backwards. I think cause he was worried that I'd fall and hurt myself. Tolbert's concern for me was touchin', it made me see that he did love me even though he was an ill-tempered man.
Once both of our feet were on the porch Tolbert backed up and into the open door of our house, with me followin' since I was helpin' with the trunk. "Set it down right 'ere." He ordered, resultin' in me placin' my side of the chest down in unison with him. As soon as the trunk hit the floor it made a loud clunkin' sound. "Just a few more t'brin' in 'fore ya can unpack." Tolbert told me before walkin' out the door.
I was done with unpackin' the trunks and was now in my bedroom kneelin' in front of my hope chest, which Tolbert had us place at the bottom of our bed. Talk 'bout our bed it was a real nice one. I wasn't expectin' it to be a black finished metal one since Tolbert don't got a lot of money, but he got us the metal bed verses a cheaper wooden one. Our bedside table and dresser was wood with black metal finished handles to match the bed. He even got a round metal framed mirror to set on the wall above the dresser. That was black too. Our quilt, made of various shades of pink and green squares, rested atop the bed with a pair of white cased pillows on top.
Tolbert took great care in makin' sure the room was ready for me, for us, an' I didn't know if that should flatter me or frighten me. I was grateful that it was a nice bedroom and had proper furnishin's, really I was, but the idea of spendin' the night in it alone with Tolbert was a bit overwhelmin' to think about. Things just felt like they were happenin' too fast.
Sighin' deeply I grabbed the lid of my hope chest and flipped it open. I peered inside it, seein' that my chest was barely full. Unlike most girls that hoard stuff, excitedly dreamin' of their weddin' day and when they'd be able to use all the bobbles, trinkets, and things stuffed inside the hope chest. I reached inside and pulled out a small stack of crocheted potholders, made from various colored yarn. I smiled, rememberin' that I had stuck them in my chest after learnin' how t'make them from Aunt Sally. Uncle Perry just bought the fancy cloth stitched ones at the general store so mine weren't needed. I reached inside the chest 'gain and this time pulled out a folded-up piece of linen. I reckon it was for the table since it was thin and white, but I wasn't too sure. I just set it to the side and continued to pull things out of the chest.
The last thing I grabbed was the small framed tin-type photograph of my poppy, mama, and me. I was little, 'round 5, and it was taken weeks before he died. Before mama moved us into his cousin Fred Quincey's house, marryin' the nasty drunk of a man. As I held the frame I felt tears build up behind my eyes. Suddenly my vision blurred and I felt the tears roll down my checks.
"Ella? Darlin'?" I heard Tolbert ask, his velvet timbre a tone softer then usual, as his heavy foot falls entered our room. I didn't so anythin', just stayed knelt in front of my open hope chest clutchin' the tintype while cryin'. I heard him stop and felt him kneel down next to me. "Darlin, what's wrong?" His usually gruff voice took on a velvety softness as he placed a hand on my cheek, turnin' my head softly to look at him, before wipin' my tears away with the pad of his thumb. Silently, snifflin' and tremblin', I handed him the old framed photograph of my family. "These yer folks wit' ya?" He asked, causin' me to just nod. "Ya look like yer ma." Tolbert stated before placin' the frame back into the hope chest. While closin' the lid of the chest he suggested, "Let's just keep it locked up for now. I don't want ya getting' upset."
"Okay." I nodded, agreein' with his idea.
Tolbert stood up, pullin' me with him, and suggested, "How bout ya lay down for a bit? It'll help ya calm down." Silently I nodded my head, lettin' him guide me over to the bed. Tolbert gently helped me lay down, he even took my boots off so that they wouldn't get the quilt dirty. He tossed them to the side and placed a kiss on my forehead before turnin' to leave.
Quickly I grabbed his hand, causin' him to pause and look at me. "Stay. Please, Tolbert."
Tolbert nodded his head before takin' his hand from mine and removin' his boots. He tossed them to the side, where mine where at, before joinin' me on the bed. He laid down right behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist, pullin' me so my back would rest right 'gainst his chest. Tolbert didn't utter a word, instead he just kissed the top of my copper head and rested his chin on it.
Silently he held me, offerin' me the comfort I had asked for.