"All right, I'll get the things we need for tonight out of the wagon." Arrah said. "Drew, Graham, will you boys come and help me?"
"Yes Ma'am." Drew said, and he and Graham followed her outside to the wagon. Arrah grabbed the Family Bible, a few books (in case they wanted to read before bed), and the carpet bags with everyone's clothes in them. "Graham, you grab 3 of the bedding mats for you boys to sleep on, please? And Drew, could you grab one of the ropes, some nails, and few of the quilts?"
"All right Arrah." Said Drew, and the boys did as they were told.
"Oh and grab a hammer as well, please."
Drew found the hammer that was mixed in with all of the other tools put in the extra wash basin. He got out of the wagon and found Graham and Arrah waiting for him. "Ya know, Arrah, I could carry my carpet bag, Graham and Leslie's too." Drew said taking the bags from her.
"But I wanna carry my own carpet bag!" Graham whined.
"Well fine then! Carry your own bag!" Drew said, raising his voice and shoving the carpet bag at Graham's stomach. "I just wanted to help."
"Drew, you don't need to be so stern with your brother." Arrah said, scolding him.
"Yes Ma'am." Drew said looking down at his feet.
Leslie comes out the door and runs up to them. "What can I do to help?"
Arrah gets down on her knees and holds Leslie's hands in both of hers. "You can help by being a good little boy for me, ok Leslie?" She stroked his mop of blonde hair.
"But I want to help carry something!"
Arrah thought for a moment and then said, "Ok Leslie,...you can carry this." She handed him a small bag made of dark blue calico fabric, tied at the top with a red ribbon. The ribbon acted as a drawstring so you could open it. Arrah had made it.
"What's in it?" Leslie asks.
"You'll find out before you go to bed."
"Is it a present for me?" Leslie asks and looks up at his sister-in-law.
"Yes it is." She answers him. Her lips form into a smile.
"But my birthday isn't till next week!" Leslie said with his chocolate-brown eyes shining with glee. Arrah smiled down at him as they walked hand in hand back to the house and up the steps, with Graham and Drew following behind them. They took their things upstairs and into the room. After supper was finished, everyone settled into the sitting room, seated on chairs and the little couch. Almanzo played his guitar and Young Drew played the fiddle. For a few hours, they played some songs together, but then Manly gave it a rest and let Drew play by himself for a while. Everyone was enjoying a nice hot cup of cambric tea, and listening to the beautiful music coming from Drew's fiddle. The sweet sounds of the fiddle played, "Great is the Lord." and everyone sang along.
"Great is the Lord
And greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In the mountain of his holiness..."
"Oh Drew! That was wonderful!" Laura exclaimed when the song was finished. "Your playing sounds a lot like my Pa's did when I was a little girl!"
"Thank you Mrs. Wilder. Do you have a favorite song you'd like me to play?" Drew asked.
"Oh, I can't think of any thing right now... Rose, you pick the song." Laura said tapping her eight year old daughter on the shoulder.
Rose grinned up at Drew. "Do you know Polly Wolly Doodle?" She asked excitedly.
"Well, sure I do!" He said.
He started to play and everyone sang and clapped along to the music.
"Oh, I went down south for to see my Sal,
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day (clap, clap)!
My Sally was a spunky gal.
Sing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day (clap, clap).
Fare thee well (clap, clap)
Fare thee well (clap, clap)
Fare thee well my fairy fay (clap, clap)
For I'm off to Louisiana, for to see my Suzy-Anna,
Singing Polly-wolly-doodle all the day (clap, clap)."
Cage, being his somewhat goofy self, lifted Arrah out of her chair and started dancing a very lively waltz with her. Arrah also had a sense of humor, so she went along with it, laughing with each dance step they took. When the music stopped, Cage fell back into his empty chair and pulled Arrah on top of him and both collapsed into a heap of laughter.
"Oh you dance divinely, Mr. Lay." Arrah teased, laughing and trying to catch her breath..
"So do you, my beautiful dance partner!" Cage laughed and kissed her.
"That was fun Drew, I like that song!" Graham said to his brother as he finished playing.
"Me too." Said Rose. "It's my favorite."
After a while, Leslie, who was now sitting on Arrah's lap, let out a yawn and snuggled up to her.
"I guess I best be getting this little one up to bed. He's plumb tuckered out!" She said stroking his blonde hair.
"I think it's time for both of you girls to be getting up to bed, too." Almanzo said.
"Yes Papa." Rose said while giving her mother and father a hug and kiss on the cheek. Jenny did the same. "Goodnight Uncle Manzo...Goodnight Aunt Laura."
"Have a good sleep Jenny." Laura said.
"Goodnight Mr. and Mrs. Lay." Said Jenny, wanting to be polite to their company.
"Goodnight Jenny." They said. Jenny and Rose headed up to their room.
"I think I'll be heading up to bed too. I'm all played out!" Drew said.
"From the fiddle or you're really tired?" asked Almanzo, chuckling.
"Both." Drew said, with his thumbs hooked in his pockets. "Goodnight."
Then Graham, Drew, and Arrah who was carrying a half-asleep Leslie went up to the room. Arrah put all three of the bedding mats on the floor together side by side. She nailed one side of the rope on one side of the room, and the other on the other side of the room and hung the quilt on the rope.
"Why are you doin' that Arrah?" asked Leslie who was now awake.
"For privacy." She said. "Graham and Drew, you boys can get changed here, ok?...You, Mr. Leslie come with me and I'll get you ready for bedtime."
She picked Leslie up and went behind the quilt, and sat down on the bed with Leslie. "Drew, be sure to shut the door when you're changing."
"Yes Arrah." Drew said and shut the door, and they undressed and changed into their nightshirts and got under the covers.
Arrah was sitting on the bed with Leslie, and helped him take off his dark brown suspenders, undid his brown trousers, and unbuttoned each button on his red and brown plaid shirt. For being somewhat poor, Arrah always made sure the boys always had clothes to wear, even if it meant that she went without every once in awhile. Arrah dressed Leslie into his gray and white pinstripe nightshirt and he scurried off to bed with his older brothers. Arrah came in to tuck the boys into bed, and gave each boy a kiss on the forehead. Leslie gave her a hug goodnight.
"Can you tell us a story to help us go to sleep, Arrah?" Leslie asked.
"Of course I will,...I've never told you the story of the Blue Forget-Me-Nots have I?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No." Leslie said, settling himself under the dark red and blue diamond pattern quilt, with Graham on one side of him and Drew on the other.
"Well it's an old German legend that my Pa used to tell me when I was a little girl." Arrah told them as she began the story. "When God created all the beautiful flowers and gave them all a name, one little white flower forgot the name that God gave it..."
"Well, what did the little flower do?" Leslie asked, interested in the story.
"The little flower was so sad that it turned blue and it told the Lord, ' I have forgotten the name that Thou hast given me.' "
"What did God tell the little flower?" Graham asked.
"God said to the little flower that He would give the flower a new name...He called the little blue flower 'Forget Me Not'."
"It's kind of like what the Lord does for us when we get saved, we go from being a sinner to a Christian." Drew said.
"Very good thinking, Drew... And we must never forget God and what He has done for us," Arrah said. "Goodnight boys," She said with her pearly-white smile shining down at them. "I love you."
"We love you too, Arrah." Drew said, reaching up to hug her. Arrah knew she wouldn't be having many of these special moments with him left so she savored the moment, Drew was almost a grown man and quite handsome much like his older brother. Arrah knew that any sweet young girl would be lucky to have him for a husband.
"G'night." Graham said and looked over to his youngest brother who was already asleep. Arrah laughed a small quiet laugh and kissed his small forehead "Goodnight." She whispered as she blew out the boy's lantern. She left the bedroom and went downstairs into the sitting room and sat down in a chair between Cage and Laura.
"I swear!...Sometimes I feel more like their mother than their sister-in-law." Arrah smiled and was silent for a moment but then spoke, "Oh,...but they need a mother-figure. Someone they can look up to in that way."
"It must be hard for them sometimes," Laura said, "I can see they loved their Ma, and no one could replace a person like in a child's life."
"Though,...being a mother-figure to them is nice," Arrah slips her hand into Cage slightly larger one. "Plus it's good practice." She smiles at him.
"Are you two expecting?" Laura asked.
"Oh no." Arrah said, with her cheeks turning a light shade of red. She was slightly embarrassed. "We've tried a few times before, but nothing's come of it..."
"Yet." Cage said, holding her hand in both of his. He kissed her forehead. "and I expect to have a whole bushel of 'em too."
"Cage." Arrah's cheeks turn even more crimson.
"So how did you two meet?" Almanzo asked.
Arrah looked at her husband and smiled. She put her small hand on top of his, and her thumb brushes over his wedding ring, and she looks down at her own. "Would you like to tell our story Cage, or shall I?"
"You tell them. You tell it better than I do." Cage said and kissed Arrah's cheek.
"Well, I was a 16 year old Iowa farm girl, and every summer it was my job to herd my family's two cows to their grazing spot. One day I heard someone coming up the road. I didn't recognize the person. He was a fair-haired, green-eyed young man, wearing a black Derby hat, and he had a newspaper tucked under his arm. He called a greeting to me, but I didn't answer him."
"She was being snobby." Cage teasingly said and then laughed.
"I most certainly was not! I figured I didn't know you then, so I didn't need to answer you." Arrah smiled, her brown eyes twinkling with laughter.
"Sweetheart,...that's called snubbing a person." Cage said smiling a crooked smile.
"It is not, it's called being shy," Arrah said quickly and laughed.
"Anyway he said hello to me again, and again I didn't answer him. He went up the hill a ways, and sat down at a tree to read. I kept watching him out of the corner of my eye. I was wondering what he thought of me. That summer had ended and one day I was getting ready to go to a picture show with one of my friends. I heard some voices coming from downstairs, which was nothing knew in our home, because my older brothers Micah and Amos would always have friends over, and I went downstairs. I saw the young man with the Derby hat next to my brother Micah, and immediately he came to me, shook my hand and told me that he knew I was the girl herding the cattle that past summer. I apoligized to him about not returning his greeting on the day we met. He said it was alright... Later we started courting and you know how the story ends up..." Arrah said holding Cage's hand.
"What a sweet little story." Laura said.