Laura by Margaret Tanner

Author:Margaret Tanner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Western Historical Fiction, Western Fiction, Western Romance, Victorian Romance, Victorian Era, Soiled Doves Series
Publisher: Draft to Digital
Published: 2017-11-08T00:00:00+00:00

˜*˜

Two hours later, she pulled into the Lazy T ranch. Obviously one of the nails had fallen out, leaving the sign dangling on one side of the arched gateway. The writing, though faded, was still legible.

The grass was dry and brown looking, but nearer the creek, which ran through their land it would greener. That’s the way it had always been.

The track leading to the cabin had tufts of dry grass, but was traversable even if there were a few ridges where the winter rains had flowed across it forming culverts. The cabin looked serene in the afternoon sun, nestling against a backdrop of the Black Hills.

The corral had lost a few cross beams, the barn and cabin were as solid as when Pa built them over twenty years ago. It had been Indian country then. The local Lakota tribe had never caused him any trouble, probably because most of the white settlers hadn’t as yet arrived, and Pa was always prepared to give them a steer or two when the hunting had been poor. Live and let live had been another of his sayings. He always had plenty of sayings; that had been the way he lived his life. The one mistake he made was marrying a woman who wouldn’t or couldn’t live out here.

The front porch roof sagged a little as one of the posts had snapped off. She pulled the wagon up in the front yard. Impossible for her to unload the trunk on her own unless she took out a few of the heavy items first. Walking over to the door she turned the handle. It wasn’t locked, she didn’t even know whether there was a key or not.

Stepping over the threshold, the musty odor of emptiness assailed her nostrils. Dust and cobwebs covered everything, otherwise it was in good condition. The parlor and kitchen were combined, and there was one bedroom her parents used to share. Her small bedroom was a low roofed loft area under the front rafters, accessed by a ladder behind the door.

A large bear skin rug covered the wooden floor, but it was covered in dust and leaves. Filthy dirty, dusty but liveable was her first impression.

After she unpacked the wagon, she unharnessed the horse and led him to an enclosed paddock. Changing into a brown skirt she lugged buckets of water from the creek to a horse trough so the roan could drink, then proceeded to bring water to the cabin. A well was near the back door, but the rope had rotted through, the bucket was nowhere to be seen. That would be a job for tomorrow.

The lean-to woodshed had plenty of cut logs. She carried several into the cabin and lit the fire. She set a coffee pot on to boil, also a saucepan of water for cleaning purposes.

Laura worked hard for the rest of the day and into the evening. The mattress and covers on her parent’s bed were dry if a little musty, but she had brought freshly laundered linen from the shop.

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