Big Sky Babies by Cheri Chaise

Author:Cheri Chaise [Chaise, Cheri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Woman on the Chaise Publications
Published: 2019-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Estella

The day was a whirlwind of activity. While the men pounded, chopped, and yelled back and forth with each other, I bustled about the kitchen, making pies and checking food stores in preparation for what to cook for dinner.

I barely had time to stop and play with my little girl, who mostly contented herself with her dolly and the wooden blocks Drew had made for her. To avoid yet another mishap and Cole’s concerned barking if he chanced upon us, I made a comfortable area of blankets near the pantry just for her.

But with all of the constant noise right outside my bedroom, Meghan only settled for a brief nap later in the afternoon. I took advantage of that fleeting window to gather clean linens and prepare the upstairs for our guests.

Mr. Watkins and his sons only planned to stay the night and help out in the morning before setting out on the return trip to their homestead. After all, a ranch required constant care, and Russ wasn’t about to leave his ranch hands to oversee his holdings any longer than necessary.

But losing those three was sure to slow down work on the new addition. My men were by no means slothful. Neither were the various hands we employed. It was simply a matter of mathematics. More hands meant faster gains in the work to be had.

By twilight, their work was quite evident when I went out to the porch to call everyone in for dinner and witnessed a sight to behold.

Where this morning there had only been stone footings, now stood the partially constructed log walls of what was to become rooms to house our books and my loom and a nursery for our young children. The ground floor walls were raised just over halfway, with this new addition butting up to the existing structure. I was amazed at how tightly they were able to get the wood to all fit together.

And at how much they’d gotten done in one exhausting day.

“What do you think?” Cole grinned from ear-to-ear, smelling of pine and sticky with sweat when he turned his face up to me from the ground side of the railing. I was more than happy to grant a well-deserved kiss, regardless of how my belly impeded our efforts. “If the chinking is dry enough by tomorrow morning, we should be able to cut in the windows.”

“It’s so…I can’t believe how much you…” Tears clouded my vision yet again. “It’s perfect.”

Cole rested his injured hand on the porch railing and surveyed their work. “It’ll be perfect once we get this floor finished, the second floor in place, and a roof over the top of the whole thing. Then we can take our time with the inside over the winter.”

“How in the world will you lift those logs so high?” I asked in wonder, and shivered with the obvious danger inherent in such an undertaking.

“Very carefully.”

“You’d better be careful, Cole Carston. I don’t want to have to explain to your child when he’s older why you’re dead.

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