“Yeah, I noticed the purple-green-black of the clouds. The air feels different, too.” He followed Ansel’s line of sight toward the sky and saw more of his loggers coming into camp. “Let’s gather everyone up and talk strategy in case lightning starts a fire and the worst happens.”
***
Laurel and Gwenda sat on the front porch listening to Coral and Josie’s squeals of delight as they ran and chased each other in the front yard. Earlier, she and Gwenda had fixed a place where they could play in the sand Griffin had carried up from the river bank for the new flower gardens she wanted to put in.
Folding the shirt she’d just finished mending, Laurel set the basket on the floor beside her chair and watched Gwenda as she embroidered a pillow case. “Someday I’d like to learn how to make that stitch. Those are the most delicate roses I’ve ever seen.”
“They aren’t that hard to learn. It just takes a little practice.” Gwenda rested her hands in her lap and glanced up. “Do you know how to embroider, Laurel?”
“A little. My mother tried to teach me, but . . .” she shrugged, sadly. “I’m afraid I wasn’t a very good student. I always thought I had better things to do than to sit and sew. To me, it was as bad as twiddling my thumbs.”
“I’m afraid most girls feel the same way, unless sewing is their passion.” Securing the needle in the fabric of the pillow case, she asked, “What’s your passion? What do you want from life?”
“I’d have to say that’s two different things entirely. I’m passionate about gardening and being my own person, but my goal is to be a good wife for Griffin and a good mother for Josie and Coral.”
“My son-in-law and the girls deserve to be happy, so I wish that as well.” She placed the pillow case on top of Laurel’s basket and stood. “I’m already very fond of you Laurel. I want you to know my family comes first and that includes you, too.”
“Gwenda, I feel the same way, and I’ll do my best not to let you down.” Laurel stood to hug her newest friend, but when the woman walked past her, she turned to see what had captured her attention. The sky over the mountain was blue-black with swirling white and gray clouds. Running down the steps, she hurried toward the spot where the girls sat playing. “Come on girls, let’s go inside for a while.”
Gwenda met her and took Josie from her arms. “Good, Lord, I’ve never seen the sky look like this.”
Laurel ushered them into the house. “I have.”
Once she had them back inside, the terror of that day four months ago came rushing back to her. The sky looked exactly like it had that day in Lawrence. She tried to think of the best place for them to hide from the storm. The house seemed the most logical structure, more sturdy than the barn. It also made more sense for them to remain downstairs. She remembered how the houses and businesses that hadn’t been destroyed were missing roofs.
Yes, downstairs would be the best, but where? Obviously the main room and dining room were too open and the kitchen was too dangerous. It had too many things to fly around to inflict injury. Then she recalled the extra room she’d found soon after she’d arrived. One day she’d been checking out her new home and had come across a closed door off the kitchen behind the main room at the back of the house. When she’d opened it and peeked inside, she saw a smaller chamber where Griffin had started work on an indoor bathroom.
“Gwenda, I know where we should take the girls.” Still holding Coral’s hand, she said, “Come on, follow me.”
“I had forgotten about this room,” Gwenda said, as she followed Laurel inside. “He started this just before Ora Lee died.”
“I think it’s the best place for us to wait out the storm. Stay here with the girls, while I go upstairs for some blankets.”
With her arms full of quilts, Laurel came back down. She heard a dull roar and covered the distance from the stairs to the front windows to look out at the storm. If possible, the sky was darker than when they’d come into the house and the wind was now whipping the trees back and forth. She grabbed hold of her locket and whispered a prayer, Lord please watch over and protect us. Please, Lord, watch over Griffin, Henry and the men and bring them all home safely.
Quickly, she joined Gwenda and the girls in the small room, and made a tent for them all to get beneath so they could ride out the storm.
When Coral and Josie hesitated to follow her, she said, “Let’s hide under here with Grandma, and wait for your Papa and Grandpa to get home.”
No sooner were the words out of her mouth, than a loud clap of thunder sounded and something slammed hard against the back wall. Sounds of glass breaking filled the room. Both girls scooted under the quilt, with Josie climbing onto Laurel’s lap and grabbing her around her neck.
Coral crawled closer to her grandmother. “What’s that noise, Grandma?”
“I don’t know, darling. Something’s hitting the windows. But we’re all right in here.” Gwenda found Laurel’s hand in the darkened space and squeezed. “Thank you for getting us to safety, Laurel.”
“It’s the only place I could think of that might offer enough protection,” she answered, and closed her eyes against the lightning flashes she could see reflecting on the floor from under the door and the edge of the blanket. She tightened her arms around her small charge as Josie began to whimper. “We’ll be fine. The storm won’t last much longer.”
At least she hoped it would be over soon, she already felt as if they’d been in here for a very long time. She tried to sound confident for all of them, especially the girls, but it was hard. She remembered, too well, huddling together in the mill while debris flew around them.
“Laurel! Gwenda! Where are you?”
“In here!” Laurel shouted from under the quilt. Frantically, she pushed out from under their protective covering. “Griffin, we’re in here!”
He tore open the door and rushed in with Henry right behind him. He gathered her and Josie into his arms and held them tightly. “Thank God you’re in here. I didn’t know what to think when we drove up a few minutes ago and I couldn’t find you.”
“I didn’t know where else to go,” she cried into his chest. “Is it over?”
“It is for now. The clouds aren’t as dark and heavy as they were.”
A clap of thunder rumbled fairly close letting her know there might be more to come. “Were we in a tornado?”
Henry held his wife and Coral. He kissed the little girl on the cheek and said, “We didn’t see a twister, but the damage we’ve come across here and in other places looks like there might’ve been a small one.”
“Is there damage to the house?”
“Some,” Griffin said, his hand stroked her hair. “I’m not worried about that now.”
Laurel pushed out of his arms, handed a trembling Josie over to him, and walked past him out of their safe room. The only difference from earlier was she didn’t have to go to the front windows to see the sky. The windows and part of the roof were missing. Completely gone. The settee leaned against the wall in a pile of mangled cotton material, stuffing, and splintered wood, while the glass lamps appeared to be untouched on the mantle above. Slowly, the others joined her as they took in the dammage.
“I’m so sorry about the house, Griffin,” she said, feeling utterly inadequate.
“Don’t worry, honey. It’s just wood and nails.” He looked around the ruined room and nodded. “Yeah, we can put on a new roof or we can build another house. My family’s more important to me. You are more important to me.”
She marveled at his final declaration, but before she could answer him, a wagon wheeled up in the front yard. The man driving the horses hopped down and met them inside the house. “Is everyone all right?”
Griffin shook the man’s hand. “Yes, just rattled. And your family?”
“Good, Olga’s fine. We have no damage.”
“Glad to hear it.” Griffin turned to Laurel. “This is Ansel, father to Clem and Otto.”
“I’m happy to meet you.”
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p; “Same here, but this . . .” He spread out his hands. “I’m sorry.”
“Ansel, why are you here, and not with your family? Is something else going on?”
“Yes.” The Norwegian glanced over his shoulder. “I left the boys up at the office to keep a look out for the weather. Shortly after we all left, a lightning strike started a fire, and unfortunately, the rain hasn’t started to help with containment. Clem came to tell me, and I sent him to round up more men. They’ll meet us at the base.”
“Good.” Griffin spun to face his father-in-law. He hated to put the older man in this position, but he trusted him to make the right decisions for his family. “Henry will you stay here and keep them safe?”
“I’ll be right here. I’ll protect them with my life.”
“I know you will.” With Josie on one arm, he reached for Coral and hugged them both. “Will you be good girls and watch out for Grandma and Grandpa? And help Laurel with whatever she needs until I get back?”
“Yes, Papa,” Coral answered and Josie nodded, wide-eyed.
Handing the girls off to Gwenda and Henry, he turned to Laurel and wrapped her in his arms. “Thank you for taking care of my girls today. You mean the world to me and I’ll see you when I get home.”
“I’ll be here.”
He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her soundly, deeply. He wanted her to know how he felt about her before he went out to fight the forest fire. There was always a chance . . . He gave himself a mental shake. Thinking like that could get him killed. “See you, soon.”
“I love you,” she called out as he waved and climbed into the wagon with Ansel. If he heard her, he didn’t acknowledge it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
By the time Griffin and Ansel reached the office building at the base of the mountain, containing the fire was pretty much out of their control. They had no fire hoses or pumper trucks to get water where it needed to be, and if they did, there was no way to get the water up this far. All they could really hope to do was get all the men down off the mountain and pray for a drenching rain.
“Ansel, there’s no way we can fight this fire. Do you agree?”
“I think we should call all the men back, before we lose someone.”
“Good, you ring the bell and I’ll go try to spread the word by mouth.”
In about an hour, with word-of-mouth and the constant ringing of the bell, all the men, except two, were back at the office. Clem and Otto were still out there somewhere.
“Everybody go home,” Ansel shouted over the roar of the fire, and then grabbed his pickax and shovel. “I’ll go find my boys.”
“You won’t go alone. I’m going with you.” Griffin spoke to all the men. “Obviously, none of you have to go, but if you do, pair up with someone. No one ventures out alone and stay along the established trail.” He noticed none of the men left.
“Griff,” someone yelled. “I saw them go north when we headed out earlier.”
“That’s good. Did anyone else see them after that?” No’s and head shakes answered his question. “This is what we’ll do. Half will go north and half will go south and circle ‘round. Whoever finds them will fire off two shots or ring the bell to call in the rest of us. All right?”
“Yeah, Griff, got it. See you back here.”
Against his better judgement, as the fire could come around behind them and close off their escape, Griffin followed Ansel off the main road onto a trail that split the difference between the two main roads. “Ansel? Where’re you going?”
“I’m pretty sure I know where them boys went.” He continued to climb, stepping over brush and pushing tree limbs out of his way. “You go back to safety and wait for us.”
“Not likely. I won’t leave you alone and chance losing three men to this fire.” He stopped short behind Ansel, when the man halted his forward motion.
“Four.”
“What?” He followed Ansel’s line of sight and saw three men walking toward them. Clem and Otto bracketed another man Griffin had never seen. When they were close enough, Ansel hugged all three.
“Griffin, meet my oldest brother, Henrik Hailstock.”
***
Laurel had never been good at waiting. Griffin had left nearly three hours ago, but it seemed a lot longer. She, Gwenda, and Henry had been busy collecting all salvageable items from the main room and putting them elsewhere in the house, while the girls slept in the unfinished bathroom.
She stood in the gaping hole where the front door used to be. She knew all things could essentially be replaced, and in some cases for the better. The sadness for her lay in the fact that it had to be replaced at all.
“You truly have a level head on your shoulders. Thank you for getting us to safety today.”
She jumped as she realized Gwenda had come to stand beside her. “I’m sure you would’ve remembered the room in time.”
“We don’t know that.” Gwenda set a dining room chair upright and sat. “What did you mean earlier when you said you’d seen a sky like that before?”
Laurel didn’t want to talk about the tragedies from her past, but she wondered if bringing her fears out in the open would help lessen their control over her. She waited another heartbeat or two then said, “Last July, a tornado hit the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, where I lived with my Aunt Lottie Carlisle.
“I was at work in the Brown Textile Mill one morning, when the bad weather hit. All of us huddled in corners and under some of the heavy equipment. The entire episode lasted mere minutes, just like today, and when it passed, the damage to the town was extensive.
“I made my way back to the house I shared with Aunt Lottie and it was gone. If I hadn’t known it had been there, I wouldn’t have known it existed. The two houses on either side had only minimal damage. We never found Lottie.”
“Oh good Lord. I’m so sorry, Laurel.” She reached her arms around Laurel and hugged tightly. “But wait a minute, where was your Aunt from originally?”
“She and my mother were from Boston, why?”
“I went to school in Boston and was acquainted with a Carlotta Carlisle.” Gwenda smiled. “I remember she had more radical ideas than the rest of us.”
Laurel returned her smile. “That would be Lottie. She was fiercely independent and a member of NAWSA, the women’s suffrage movement.
“Well, I’m sorry for your loss. She had some spunk, that one. I’m sure you miss her terribly.”
“I do, and talking about her makes me realize how much I miss my mother.” She turned to Gwenda, placed her hand on her new friend’s arm. “I’ve been stubborn where my parents are concerned. I thought I needed to distance myself from my father’s domination, but in the end, I’ve only separated myself from the ones I love.”
“Speaking as a mother who’s lost a child, I can tell you, your mother misses you greatly. You have the power to give her daughter back to her.”
“I see that, now.”
“Gwen! Gwen!” Henry came running up to them, panic written all over his face. “Do you smell the smoke?”
“I hadn’t noticed it, no.” Gwenda stood and sniffed the air. “Perhaps now that you’ve brought it to my attention, I do. Which direction is it coming from?”
“I’m not sure. The smoke could just be riding under the cloud cover from over the ridge. The clouds will make it hard to see the smoke.”
“No, they won’t.” Laurel grabbed Henry’s shoulder to gain his attention and pointed in the direction Griffin and Ansel had driven off in. The clouds in the sky to the north had turned black again, which served as the perfect backdrop for the white-gray smoke that billowed heavenward. As she stared at the sky, what she knew to be smoke was accompanied by a red glow, licking across the top of the ridge. They had to get out of here. “The fire is coming toward us. What do we do, Henry?”
“Get the girls and meet me out back. I’ll hitch the horse to the wagon and we’ll head down to the river. That’s the safest place for us to ride this out.”
Laurel and Gwenda ran to the back of the house to get Coral and Josie gathered up. The smell of smoke was now more prevalent and clogged the air. Laurel hesitated at the entrance to the small room for a second or two, the memories assaulting her and intensifying her senses. For those couple of seconds, she was back in that room at the mill, with the door blocked and no escape. Josie’s tiny whimper at being woken up spurred her into action.
As they headed out the back door, Coral asked, “Grandma, where are we going?”
“We’re going down to the river.” She glanced over at Laurel as they set both girls into the bed of the wagon. “You remember how you like to play along the shore, don’t you?”
“Uh-huh, but we want our dollies, can’t we have our dollies?”
“No, darling, we have to go.”
Laurel looked over her shoulder, beyond the roof of the house, and made her decision. “Yes, sweetheart, I’ll go get them for you.”
“There’s no time,” Henry shouted. “We have to go now!”
“I’ll be right behind you.” she slapped the side of the wagon. “Go!”
Heading back to the house, she understood Gwenda and Henry thought she was crazy and, no doubt, Griffin would be furious with her. Flibberdegibbit, right at this moment, she questioned her own judgement. All she knew was, the world the girls were used to, was frightening at best and she wanted them to have something familiar they could hold on to.
She ran upstairs to the bedroom where the dolls laid on the bed, scooped them up, and started toward the steps to go back downstairs. The smoke was thicker than it had been before she went into the back bedroom, so she decided to just run for the stairs and find her way outside the best way she could. She lowered her head and ran right into a large, immovable object. Her hands scaled the solid form that was also warm and had a face . . .
“Griffin! You’re here.”
“I am. Why are you?” His arms enveloped her, holding her in place. “You should’ve been in the wagon on the way to safety. What are you doing up here?”
Laurel: Bride of Arkansas (American Mail-Order Bride 25) Page 8