Here Come the Brides Chapter 10 Old home Cabin
Joshua unloaded the gear from Bess and tied her to a nearby tree so she could graze. He and spent most of the first day airing out the cabin, and cleaning. He was surprised that he didn't run across anything living in the cabin, he thought at least there would be a raccoon or squirrel. "I guess even the animals don't want to be around me," he grumbled to himself.
The Cabin really needed a lot of work. There were rotted boards, and loose shingles. The corral needed work, but the back of the barn had collapsed and was overgrown with vines. He repaired the broken fence posts on the corral to keep Bess secure. He pulled water from the old well, filling the trough for Bess and used water to prime the pump.
As dusk set in, he moved Bess to the corral and gave her a final scratch on the muzzle before going inside.
Well, here I am. He thought when he finally settled in for the night. Memories flooded his thoughts of Mama kneading bread at the table, her giving him reading lessons while the bread baked and Papa rolling his tobacco, him having to share a bed with Jason, until he was forced to share a bed with Jeremy. Now I have the whole place to myself he thought. He remembered always feeling like an afterthought, but he supposed that came with being the middle boy... He thought of Jenny, the little baby that only lived a couple months. She would have been three years older than him. Jenny wasn't a secret. Her little grave marker was up the hill surrounded by stones under the shade of a dogwood tree. Josh used to ask about her but his Mama would get sad, and finally his Papa told him not to bring up the baby. All he knew was that she had snow white hair, like him and she died of the fever. He always wondered what it would be like to have a sister to talk to, and he felt like he desperately needed a sister right now.
It had been a long day. Lying there trying to sleep, he saw Emily's face and thought of holding her in his arms. How could she believe Missy? What had he ever done to make anyone believe it? As he lay there he started getting frustrated. He was tired, but sleep wouldn't come, instead his mind went round and round over the events that brought him here. Things he couldn't control were forcing him to walk away from work and leave his brothers to carry the load. After tossing and turning for most of the night, he finally drifted off to sleep.
Morning brought a new perspective. He slept later than he ever had before, likely because he hadn't gotten enough sleep in weeks. He finally woke feeling fully rested and starving. Josh got up and splashed cold water in his face. Breakfast was simple, salt pork, bread and cheese.
Going out he checked on Bess. She trotted towards him and he greeted her with a scratch on the nose. "Hey girl," he said. "How about I take you out to a nice grazing spot," he said. He tied a lead to her harness, opened the corral and led her to the same grassy area as the day before.
He walked up the hill and found the little grave marker. It was overgrown with weeds. The dogwood tree was still shading it, the last white blooms clinging to a few branches. He wondered if any wildflower still bloomed here. His Mama transplanted them here whenever she found them, and got annoyed when the rabbit and deer ate them. Josh spent the morning clearing the area and pulling weeds, he wasn't able to tell a weed from a wildflower when they weren't blooming, so he just cleaned out everything, vowing to come back and plant some sort of flower here. He sat for a while, trying to picture Jenny, had she lived.
The rest of the week was spent clearing out the overgrowth around the place that was threatening to overtake everything including the cabin itself. He took measurements and noted what lumber he would need to bring on his next trip. Josh didn't mind the solitude during the day when he was busy, but the night was different. Shutting his mind was nearly impossible when he was alone at night in the quiet. He tried not to think of his brothers and what they were doing. He felt like he had failed them; leaving like he did, but he didn't know what else to do. He wondered if Jeremy was enjoying his time in San Francisco. It made him smile picturing him there, knowing Jeremy would be a little nervous, but that was his little brother, always unsure, but he usually always came through.
When Jeremy stepped off The Shamus O'Flynn, his first step was the hotel Jason said he had always used. Once he dropped off his bag, his next step was the print shop. He ordered flyers to post throughout town but they wouldn't be ready until the next day. Leaving the print shop, he walked next door to a small bookshop and bought War and Peace for Jason. He thought of finding a good book for Joshua. The clerk suggested Silas Marner. Jeremy read the book sleeve and immediately sat it back down. He would find something else for Joshua later. He needed to find something special for Candy. He crossed the street to the millinery shop.
Jeremy felt like a fish out of water in the little shop.
"May I help you?" asked the clerk.
Jeremy looked around nervously. "Yes, I-I need a hat." He said.
"Will this be for you?" she asked.
"No mam, it's for a lady," he said.
"Well I need two," he said, finally starting to relax a little. "A woman and a young girl." He said.
The clerk immediately pulled down a straw boater hat with a powder blue ribbon. "I have the perfect thing for a young girl," the clerk said "These are quite popular right now."
Jeremy bought the small boater for Molly and a green velvet tricorn style for Candy. The clerk assured him they were the latest fashions, and he hoped they would like them.
His final stop for the day was the general mercantile, where he bought a bag of marbles for Christopher.
The print shop had the flyers ready the next morning and Jeremy immediately began posting them everywhere he could find.
A tall, dark haired man approached Jeremy holding one of the flyers he had posted. "Excuse me," he called out.
Jeremy saw the paper in his hand. "Yes?" Jeremy said.
"I saw this and I'm very interested." The man said. He held his hand out. "Names Davy Webber."
Jeremy smiled shaking his hand, "it's nice to meet you Mr. Webber."
"Yes, please just call me Davy," he said.
Jeremy thought that Davy looked to be around Joshua's age, but he couldn't tell for sure.
"Hi, I'm Jeremy Bolt. Have you ever done any logging before?" Jeremy asked him.
"Yes I have Mr. Bolt, my very first job was logging. I worked for a few different camps around Puget Sound. I've done a little millwork in Olympia and I've just recently left Culvers Lumber in Olympia."
"What makes you want to go back to Logging?" Jeremy asked.
"Well, I don't know how to explain it," He started. "It's being out in the forest, I miss that. I helped move the logs along the river, and met a fellow that worked for Culvers. They offered me a job. I took it, thought I'd give it try. It was alright, but I'm just not much of a city guy. I just missed being out there among the trees."
Jeremy had heard of Culvers before, and Davy sounded like a decent fellow. He appeared genuine and straightforward. "Okay Davy," he said, holding his hand out. "Welcome aboard."
Davy smiled and eagerly shook Jeremy's hand. "Could you use some help posting your flyers?" Davy asked. "I'm not doing anything."
Jeremy smiled, he liked this guy. "I'd like that," Jeremy said. "Yea I'm looking to hire around ten good men," he said.
"I know a couple guys that may be interested," he said "but I'm going to be honest, I've not worked with them before so I can't vouch for their work, or if they can do the job. They just seem like decent men."
"If they're interested, bring them today," Jeremy said.
That afternoon, Jeremy had several men show up looking for work. Jeremy made sure they knew what logging entailed. All but one was hired. The one man decided against it when he realized it would require moving to Seattle.
Davy was a big help to Jeremy and the pair got along well. All three days he helped while Jeremy told him all about Seattle and the Bolts logging company.
"And you actually went all the way to Massachusetts for women?" Davy asked while he and Jeremy were having dinner.
"Yes, a hundred women," Jeremy said "and we had to convince them to stay a whole year, or we would lose Bridal Veil Mountain," he said.
Davy laughed. "That couldn't have been easy."
"You have no idea," Jeremy said shaking his head. "But it worked out and Seattle's growing. There are plenty of brides available still."
"Brides?" asked Davy.
Jeremy smiled. "We call the women we brought back Brides," he smiled. "It just kind of stuck, because that's why they came, to meet someone and get married."
Jeremy touched on the problems they were having with vandals at camp. "We've fallen behind on the contract and need this third crew," he said assuring Davy that they had no intention of this being a temporary job. "We're hoping the men will stay on and make Seattle their home."
When Jeremy and the loggers he'd hired were set to board the Shamus Flynn on their journey home, Jeremy had made a new friend in Davy Webber. He was happy with the men he'd found and although he was looking for ten men, he'd hired twelve.
Davy shared his past, both good and bad with Jeremy. He was down to earth and easy to talk to. Jeremy didn't bring up Missy's accusations against his brother. He didn't feel like it was his place. He hoped it wouldn't cause any problems. He told Davy he had two brothers and told him a lot about Jason, but didn't talk much about Joshua. He realized it later and it made him feel terrible.
In Seattle Westley privately met with Burt and Tom to decide the next step in holding up production. Westley told them that Joshua was supposed to be up at his family's old cabin, and with both him and Jeremy away, maybe they could sabotage the log flume again. "I think I'm being watched," he said. "So you have to do it while I have an alibi."
"Is he up there alone?" Burt asked.
"Who?" Westley asked
"Joshua Bolt, is he up there alone?" Burt repeated.
"How am I supposed to know? You need to focus on what were here for Burt." Westley snapped.
Burt just smirked.