Angela's Hope (Wildflowers)

by Banicki, Leah

  She made it to Clive’s shop and knew he would know who to talk to about getting help.

  She was glad to see Clive at the counter. He was only in town a few more days before he planned to go back to California.

  “Hello sweet Darlin’,” Clive said with a grin. He was talking with his son about inventory issues but gladly set aside the talk to see one of his ‘girls’.

  He took her to his office and sat her down. She fully explained her issue, the fight, the pregnancy and her temper tantrum.

  Clive congratulated her on the pregnancy but he kept it mild. The tears in her eyes told him that she had more to say.

  “I have been praying the whole way here. I need a housekeeper, Lucas has been begging me for so long but I was stubborn. I prayed today that God could find us someone that needs the job and will be blessed by it. I know the struggles Angela has had over being a servant. I don’t want to make anyone feel lowly. Truly!” Corinne said sincerely.

  “That is a good thing to pray for and I might know just the right person, but I want to share something with you.” Clive handed her a clean handkerchief for her to dab at her tears. “Everyone on earth was made for a purpose. There are doers, builders, farmers, planners, managers and helpers. I see mothers live their lives with just as much purpose and drive as any company owner. Everyone has their strengths. To some, a housekeeping job means a comfortable living, a room and a family to take care of. To others it would be a burden they would resent. Angela was forced into servitude. That is very different than being given a job you have been searching for.”

  They seemed to be the right words and Clive could see the tension leaving Corinne’s shoulders.

  “You think you might know of someone, really?” Corinne asked.

  “Just yesterday Pastor Whittlan came to me with a prayer request and news about the young lady who had stayed with him and his wife until last fall. Violet Griffin is her name. She is your age, but is an experienced cook. She is married but her husband left for the Gold Rush and she hasn’t yet heard from him. I guess the small house they lived in together is falling apart and she is looking for work just like you are needing. She needs a roof and an income without her husband around. It is becoming a common problem. I could enquire if she is still available, I could bring her by if she is. From what I hear she is in desperate need. The pastor and his wife just took in two orphans and have no room. They gave rave reviews on her cooking and hardworking attitude. They said she was sweet as pie.” Clive grinned.

  “That will be lovely. Now I need to do some shopping. We have no food at the house to prepare and we have nothing to eat ready. I better get home and start something if we are to eat anything today.”

  * * * * *

  As Corinne walked into the front door she could tell Lucas was there. She heard a rustling around. Lucas peaked his head around from the hallway and gave his wife a wary smile. He was checking the emotional temperature. He seemed to feel safe to enter the room fully but didn’t say anything, he just watched his wife calmly.

  Corinne tried to give him a kind grin, then she shed herself of her coat and scarf. She had taken precautions with the weather being unpredictable and wet at short notice. She settled the packages of food to be prepared on the table then walked toward the middle of the room just a few feet away from her husband.

  “I would like to apologize, Lucas.” Corinne said. She was standing a few feet away from her husband and was hoping he would approach her soon. She wasn’t sure if he was holding any anger or resentment inside from sleeping separate from her, or if her words had hurt him.

  Lucas nodded but stayed where he stood, his arms at his sides. Waiting for her to continue. She thought.

  “I went to bed angry, and I was stubborn and I didn’t listen or compromise or any of the things I should have done.” Corinne said. She could feel shame bubbling up from inside her. Lucas was so good to her. Why had she fought with him? It seemed so stupid to her now.

  Lucas lifted his arms up as a signal and she ran the three steps toward him and buried her head against his chest, where it fit so perfectly.

  “I forgive you, Cori. I am sorry if I was a bit stubborn today myself.” Lucas admitted.

  “No, you were right. I needed a shock to wake me up.” Corinne said against his chest. Lucas held her away from him a second to look into her eyes.

  “I love you Cori girl.” Lucas said and wiped away a few tears that were making trails on her pale pink cheeks.

  “I love you, and I went to town today to say I’m sorry in a special way.” Corinne said. Her eyes had lost all the anger from the last day and they were peaceful. “I talked to God and knew that I needed to compromise.”

  “Come let’s sit.” Lucas led her to the cushioned sofa by the warm fireplace. Corinne explained her visit to Clive.

  “So he may be coming by with a housekeeper this evening for us to talk to?” Lucas asked after he let her talk.

  “Yes, I bought a few things to throw together for a simple dinner. I should really get to work if we will eat before nightfall.” Corinne said. She was nervous about the meeting but she knew she had done the right thing.

  “Let’s make supper together. It’s partly my fault that we have nothing to eat.” Lucas grinned and stood. When his wife stood he grabbed her in a passionate embrace. His kiss and long embrace said volumes that words couldn’t say about how he felt about her. It was hard to argue but the compromise tasted sweet on Corinne’s lips as her husband released her and they playfully went to their kitchen and prepared dinner together. It was healing to let the anger from the night before fall off her shoulders and escape the house. The tension between them was gone.

  After dinner Corinne spent some quality time with a quill and parchment. She wrote a long letter to Angela. Fully describing her stubbornness and even apologized again for her actions and not allowing her to help around the house. It was a blessing to tell her friend about her pregnancy and to be honest about her flaws.

  She read the letter to Lucas and he laughed over her descriptions of him.

  “I am not a saint, Cori.” Lucas said with a chuckle.

  “Well, you are so patient with me. You seem saintly enough.” Cori said from her seat on the arm of Lucas’s chair. He reached around and gave her side a squeeze just to hear her squeal.

  “We all have our vices and flaws dear. Perhaps mine is loving you to distraction.” He said with a mischievous grin.

  “How did I get so lucky?” Corinne set the letter on the nearby table and with a deft move she went from the arm of the chair to Lucas’s lap. Lucas didn’t seem to mind.

  Chapter 24

  Willamette Valley - Oregon

  Violet Griffin’s heart was light as she gathered her things. She looked to the ceiling where the leaks were clearly showing signs of mold and rot. It had been a few weeks of living here with the wind and weather wreaking havoc on the home she had shared with her husband, Eddie. She had been so desperate just a few hours ago. She had tried to move back in with Pastor Whittlan and his wife but they had just taken in two orphaned children and had no more room for her. Their house was a small one next to the Spring Creek Fellowship Church. It only had a small loft and two rooms. She knew they had been spreading the word about her predicament, people were praying for her.

  The windstorm a few weeks back sent a tree through the roof. A few men from the church showed up to help remove the tree and patch the roof with a tarpeline but with so many men gone in the gold rush to California her home repairs were forgotten in a town that was in desperate need of more strong backed lads than they had.

  Violet said a prayer of thanks again out loud as she packed. Clive Quackenbush, the owner of the local Hudson Bay store, and a member of her church had stopped by just minutes before. He had found a potential live-in housekeeper position.

  “God’s blessings always arrive in time.” Violet said to the room. She began humming a spiritual song as she grabbed a worn brush and with the help of a
n old, slightly cracked mirror on the wall she unpinned, brushed and re-pinned her long blond hair into respectable form.

  She grabbed the few books she owned and set them in the trunk by the door. She wanted everything to be easy to get to in case she got the job.

  Clive was coming back for her in an hour so she wanted everything to be ready. She put all of Eddie’s clothes and personal items in the food pantry, where they would stay dry and closed away from the wet weather that leaked in so many places. The leaky rooms were a mess, she had no idea how she would keep the floor boards from rotting if she wasn’t here to empty the buckets when it rained but she was at the point of considering this house as a loss. The owner who had rented the land was off to California as well. She had tried to find him to pay the monthly fee and his home had been empty. Violet didn’t know the right course of action and sought advice from the local sheriff. He told her that if the landlord wasn’t collecting his rents she had the right to stay there until he told her to leave. The sheriff had been kind and told her that he would back her up if there were any trouble. He was also a member of Spring Creek Fellowship Church.

  Violet owned three dresses. One was for Sunday meeting and the other two were getting threadbare but she had no complaints. She had a warm shawl and a nice work apron that covered her daily dresses. She had no need to be fancy anyways. Her husband Eddie had told her many times that she was his beauty and would be in a satin gown or a flour sack. Eddie had been sweet to her. He had started courting her only a year ago. He would come by wagon with several of the lumberjacks every Sunday for service. They all worked out on the edge of Mount Hood and the surrounding area, but they always made it to church on Sunday.

  Violet stayed with the Pastor and his wife and she sometimes sang a hymn in front of the church. She loved to sing to God and though she had a shy temperament on most days at church she felt safe. Singing was her way to thank God for all He had done for her. Eddie was not shy about how her voice and her sweet spirit touched his heart. He may have been a tough lumberjack by profession but he had the heart of a gentleman. He had a Godly heart and won her over. Seven months ago they had been married.

  She stayed home while he went off for days at a time to do his work. His boss at the lumber mill sent the men to different places to prospect for good timber. His crew would be back after a few days and Violet enjoyed every day they had together. Eddie wanted to save money so he could afford to get land and build his own little farm. Getting land in Oregon was affordable. But building a farm took startup money. Eddie had a plan. He thought that with Violet’s skills at baking and cleaning she could help them save. Maybe she could work as a cook or housekeeper. Violet knew that would be good work for her. She had been doing that for the Pastor and wife. She loved being in the kitchen and taking care of a home was just part of her nature. She found pleasure in making things tidy. She had been doing a little business selling her bread to the lady at the boarding house in town for a little extra money, but it was just a start in her mind.

  When the buzz around town about gold being discovered in California started it was all the men could talk about. She watched her new husband being pulled away with dreams like so many other men.

  “He left four weeks ago today,” she thought. She reminisced about Eddie with his kind heart and strong arms that had held her. He had sworn to protect her and stay with her. But the temptation was too strong. Even with his boss’s promise of extra wages for staying, Eddie couldn’t resist it. He left by steamer with his closest friends and thought, the danger of winter and danger be hanged! Her pleas for him to stay fell on deaf ears. He knew in his heart, he told her, that this was going to get them to their dream.

  He had forgotten about a few things in his haste to leave to make a fortune and speed up his plan toward a farm of their own. The first problem had come after Violet had realized he left her with no funds for food. She had a little saved from her bread sales. But her sales dropped off dramatically when the boarding house stopped buying bread from her. With so many men gone off to search for gold the boarding house was near to empty.

  Then the storm had brought the tree through her roof. Violet was at a loss. This place was nothing to brag about, but she knew it was just the place where her and Eddie would make their start. Now it was a ramshackle cabin with a leaking roof and mold beginning to make it dangerous to live in.

  Violet felt ready to say goodbye to the only home she had shared with her dear Eddie by the time she heard the wagon outside. The jingling harnesses were music to her ears.

  Clive knocked politely and Violet opened the door and was grinning and ready. Her dark wool coat pulled close around her. Clive grabbed the bag from her hand.

  With a glance around he could see she had been busy. A trunk was at the ready and there was nothing laid about anywhere. The place seemed to be packed away.

  “Your belongings in the trunk?” Clive asked.

  He watched the young blond girl nod. He put the bag in the back of the wagon and came back for the trunk.

  “Mr. Quackenbush, we know not iffen I have the job yet?” Violet said. She didn’t want him wasting his energy if she was just going to be back within a few hours.

  “There is no need chile’. You will be sleeping under a solid roof from now on, whether you have the job or not.” He said with his charming grin. “And call me Clive, Quackenbush is such a mouthful.” Clive laughed as he heaved the trunk up on his shoulders. He deposited it into the back of the wagon.

  Without a look back Violet climbed into the wagon and said a prayer of thanks. She was not afraid of change. In her short life God had shown her that sometimes blessings are found around the corner.

  * * * * *

  An hour later she was sitting in a lovely home with Corinne and Lucas Grant. She had seen them both at the church. She had never spoken to them but they had a reputation of being Godly people. She had seen their lavender fields during full bloom over the summer and fall. It had been one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen.

  “I do love baking and keeping house. I know how to cook, mostly hearty and simple meals but I love learning any type of cooking.” Violet said with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

  Corinne and Lucas had welcomed her in and they all sat around the cozy fire. She hadn’t been truly warm since the tree had broken through her roof. She loved this lovely home around her now.

  “We aren’t picky about food, though Lucas does have a bit of a sweet tooth.” Corinne shared with a smile.

  “Is there a certain day you want laundry done, or certain food on certain days?” Violet asked. She was at a loss on how the interview was going. They weren’t asking many questions of her.

  “Well, I have no particular wants in that regard.” Corinne looked to her husband for help.

  “We just need someone to help us keep the place running so Corinne can do what she is gifted at, which is her greenhouse and botany lab.” Lucas said.

  “That seems to be a good definition of housekeeping.” Clive said with a grin, finally inserting himself into the interview. It seemed that the young people were being a bit shy about this interview.

  “I am glad for a chance to keep your table full and your house in order, Mr. and Mrs. Grant. I enjoy keeping my hands busy and I love to bake bread and set a good table. We could figure out how that best works together.” Violet offered.

  “Since I am new to this I think that sounds like a great plan.” Corinne said. This young woman had a spark of goodness inside her. A joy within her heart and Corinne knew she would be good for them, and they would be good to her.

  Within an hour the deal was struck. Lucas and Corinne gave her a tour of the house and she was delighted with the area that was wonderful, cozy and private they had set aside for her. A whole wing of the cabin for her own use. Violet would have never expected to so blessed.

  She would start the next morning. They all took an evening stroll over to John and Marie’s to introduce her to the fam
ily. Since the properties butted up against each other it was a convenient layout of land.

  Once the introductions done and some supplies were shared for the next day’s meals the plan was for Marie and Violet to go into town together to fill up on supplies for the Grant’s nearly empty pantry. Violet already had ideas bursting in her head about how to bless her new ‘family’. She believed strongly that God had brought her to this young industrious family for a reason. She laid her head to rest on a soft pillow in a warm room with the sound of snaps and pops of a low fire in the hearth in the room with her. Her prayers for Eddie were heartfelt, and also for the new people in her life. Clive, Lucas, Corinne, John, Marie and little Cooper, the names danced in her head.

  She prayed for God to give her the strength and wisdom to do a good job and to be a blessing to her employer.

  Chapter 25

  April 1850 – San Francisco

  A steam ferryboat chugged into the harbor of San Francisco bearing Clive and a few dozen boxes of goods for the store.

  Clive enjoyed the smell of the sea air and the hint of the earthy spring behind it. The bay was calm as Clive watched the wharfs go by slowly as the boat chugged along. He could see the way the city was still growing, fast and dirty and overcrowded. It was not a place he wanted to leave his loved ones. He knew that soon the plan had to be to move his kin out. He felt at a loss of what to tell Angela, he kept praying that somehow her brother would appear and save him from a hard conversation. But he placed the worry in God’s hands and let it melt away for the time being.

  Clive let his mind wander to business and plans for Portland, Oregon, to fill his thoughts as the steamboat finished the journey to the southernmost wharf. He waited his turn in line to offload and was happy to see his grandson, Gabe, waving from the dock. He had a wagon ready. Clive was thankful for the small blessings, his family still safe and well.