A Home at Trail's End by Melody Carlson

Author:Melody Carlson [Carlson, Melody]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736948760
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

In all our days on the Oregon Trail,” she said aloud as she trudge along, “I never ever saw anything like this rain and mud.” Bella shook her head up and down as if to concur with her. Traveling this off-road route was taking much longer than it would to simply wade through the mud on foot. However, she knew it didn’t matter as long as she got her team home in one piece.

Eventually, she found her way back to the road again, and she recognized the land as part of Malinda’s property. Feeling somewhat hopeful but exhausted, she encouraged the team to keep going. It was dusky by the time Malinda’s farm finally came into sight. Elizabeth couldn’t remember when she’d been so happy to see the warm golden light through a window. As she plodded toward the barn, she tried to remember when she’d felt this weary. Probably on the Oregon Trail—although that seemed impossible at the moment.

“Come on,” she urged her horses, leading them through the muddy farmyard and into Malinda’s pasture. “You’re home for now.” She watched as they wearily went through the gate. She knew they were all right, and she planned to send JT out to check on them. But in all likelihood, they would recover more quickly than she would. However, they couldn’t have possibly pulled that wagon all the way home. And she did not even want to think about her dry goods, which would probably turn to mush by morning.

Feeling as if she could barely plant one foot in front of the other, she trudged over to the house, but when she opened the door and saw the shocked faces of Amelia, Malinda, and Susannah, she knew she couldn’t go inside the house like this.

“What happened to you?” Malinda demanded.

Elizabeth held up a tired hand. “Excuse me a moment,” she said hoarsely. Then she turned and walked over to where one of the water troughs was overflowing from the rain and, knowing she looked perfectly ridiculous, plunged herself into the trough, washing the caked mud from her outer clothes as if she were bathing. She could hear the girls laughing from the porch. She didn’t blame them because she knew she looked foolish, but at the same time they had no idea how cold she was.

Shivering and weak, she climbed from the trough and made her way to the covered porch, where she slowly peeled off her dripping outer clothing, dropping it down on the bench by the door. She would deal with it later.

“Here,” Malinda said as she wrapped a blanket around Elizabeth’s shoulders. “Get inside before you catch your death of cold.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth muttered with chattering teeth, allowing Malinda to guide her toward the fire. There, with the help of the older girls holding blankets as a screen, Elizabeth removed the last of her wet clothing and then wrapped herself up in Malinda’s warm woolen robe.

“Sit down,” Malinda said as she shoved a straight-backed chair beneath Elizabeth.

“Put these on.

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