Prairie Promises by Kelly Eileen Hake

Author:Kelly Eileen Hake [HAKE, KELLY EILEEN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62029-523-6
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2009-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Waiting made time seem to unwind still more slowly on the Grogan farm. Opal knew she’d angered Adam and didn’t want to push him about the times she could go over to her family’s farm. If she asked after the stunt she’d pulled at the end of their last conversation, he might change his mind altogether. So she cooled her heels and took whatever task Lucinda shoveled out.

Her new mother-in-law seemed determined to account for every moment of Opal’s day, as though in retribution for her very presence on the farm. Little did she know that the constant tasks keeping her busy were also what kept Opal sane.

Even so, she found it hard to hide her smile when Lucinda requested that Opal clean out the “winter accumulation” in the chicken coop. Lucinda can’t know I maneuvered this. But, Opal reminded herself, no matter how she’d be glad the next time she gathered eggs, today would be far from pleasant.

Armed with her oldest apron, a broom, a scrub brush, thick gloves, a bucket of water, and an empty bucket for disposing of the waste, Opal marched up to the converted lean-to and shooed away the chickens. A cursory check turned up a single egg since she’d looked before breakfast. She set it aside and got to work.

Loading up the old nests, well worn after winter, into malleable bundles wouldn’t have been unpleasant if it weren’t for the pungent stench and accompanying ammonia fumes almost overpowering the now-empty coop. Opal toted the nests to the compost heap, gulping in the fresh air between. She judged the compost to be the less offensive of the two places.

When she returned to the coop, she stood as near the entrance as possible to wield her broom. Out whisked the old straw, dotted with the distinctive grayish-white of chicken waste, sodden and long overdue for replacing. Opal swallowed back her gags to haul bucketful after bucketful back to the compost heap until she couldn’t tell which smelled worse.

Back into the corners, along the shelves, in the crevices of the wood, not a stick of straw escaped the purging. By the time she’d removed everything offensive, she felt distinctly lightheaded. I breathed in too much of that ammonia, she decided, turning over the now-empty waste bucket and sitting outside in the shade for a moment. She breathed deeply of the fresh air, letting her head lean against the wall of the coop and her eyes drift shut until the world stopped twirling.

“Enjoying the shade, are you?” Diggory’s gruff tone dripped contempt. “Good to see my son married such a hardworking woman.”

“He did.” The criticism stung—both at its injustice and at the core truth she wasn’t the woman for Adam. She stood up to face him but moved too quickly. The ground swayed.

“Whoa.” Diggory reached out to clamp his hands on her shoulders, keeping her at arm’s length but supporting her nonetheless. “Easy there.”

When the ground stopped swaying, Opal realized it hadn’t been the ground at all. She blushed.

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