Cathleen: Companion Book One:The Cattleman's Daughters A Novella by Danni Roan

Author:Danni Roan [Roan, Danni]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

After tea and cookies, where Bianca chattered away at her, Cathleen was escorted to what everyone called the soddy and finally stepped into the little earthen building that would be her new home. She’d never been in a sod building before and couldn’t help but wonder what it could be like. The first thing she noticed was the overwhelming smell of apples. Apparently the apples harvested from the few trees that grew behind the bunk house had been, until just hours ago, stored in the small dry hut. It was blessedly cool no matter what it smelled of, and she smiled.

She’d been surprised when a wizened old Chinese man had come to escort her to the shack with Mae at his side. “This is my ye-ye.” The girl spoke up “my great-grandfather.” She smiled and the old man’s dark eyes twinkled back at her with affection.

“I take you to your new house.” He’d offered, extending a hand toward the back door. “It all ready for you now.” He added with a wink.

Cathleen couldn’t help but grin at the mischievous gleam in his old eyes. Even at his age he seemed to exude energy.

A steady stream of people carrying furniture, bedding and a plethora of other household items suddenly stopped their coming and going, leaving her mercifully alone in the tiny space,to take in her surroundings.The little house was approximately twenty feet by twenty feet and almost square. To her right pushed up against the rolled earthen walls sat a miniscule round pot-bellied stove next to a small shelf with pegs for mugs, and a short bench with a wash bucket on it. Directly in front of the stove was a small square table just big enough for two people with two mismatched chairs. The other side of the building held a large wooden bed now covered in a bright quilt or red and yellow patches. A small window was suspended over the bed on the far wall that faced the ranch yard and along the wall near the door was a bench and a row of pegs for clothing items.

Cathleen smiled. It was small and snug and cozy. She glanced up at the ceiling surprised to see wooden beams supporting the earthen roof. “This will do just fine.” She said to herself looking around more closely, before stamping her foot on the hard packed dirt floor, surprised at its firmness. Over all it was lovely and surprisingly pretty with its plastered walls.

She turned as the door opened again and several of the girls came in carrying more items from the main house. “Oh,” the oldest Katie exclaimed. “We thought you were still with Nona.”

At Cathleen’s confused look the golden haired girl smiled. “We all call Bianca Nona. It means grandmother in Italian.” She smiled again. “We brought a coffee pot, skillet and a bucket to scrub things up. I’m Katie by the way.” She added.

“Thank you girls you’ve all be so lovely.” Cathleen said shyly “but you’ve done enough. This will be my home and I’ll take it from here.

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