Their Frontier Family by Lyn Cote

Author:Lyn Cote
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2012-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Several minutes passed before Sunny and Nan could calm Ophelia enough to make sense of what she was saying in the midst of her sobs. Nan laid her baby girl on the bed in the corner to nap and they set the two toddlers on the floor to play. Finally they all sat on a bench at the table—Sunny on one side of the bride and Nan on the other. Then they were able to staunch the tears.

“Now you can tell me and Sunny anythin’,” Nan said. “We don’t gossip and we want the best for you and Martin.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Sunny agreed, patting Ophelia’s arm.

“I just didn’t know...” Ophelia inhaled deeply and wiped her eyes with a frilly hankie. “I didn’t know I’d miss my family so much.”

“Ah, homesickness,” Nan said knowingly. “It is hard leaving home for the first time.”

Ophelia nodded forlornly.

“But it will pass,” Nan said. “Won’t it, Sunny?”

The question rattled Sunny. She could not remember ever being homesick. One had to have a home in the first place and she’d never had one. Until now. But homesickness might be something like the mourning she’d felt after her mother had died. Maybe someone homesick missed the people, not the home. “Everything in this life passes,” Sunny said truthfully.

Over the bride’s head Nan lifted an eyebrow at her, but went on soothing the girl. “Now the secret to getting through homesickness is keeping busy. How about we start sewing?”

Ophelia nodded glumly. The women opened their sewing baskets.

“I brought fabric,” Sunny said. “Miigwans needs a new pair of pants. His are about worn through. I chalked a rough pattern from his old pair onto this cloth.” She rose and smoothed the heavy brown broadcloth out on the tabletop. “Does this look right, Nan? Ophelia? I’ve never made boy’s pants before.”

“I have two little brothers.” And then the bride burst into tears again.

Sunny and Nan exchanged looks. Not much sewing would be accomplished today, it seemed.

“I’m sorry,” Ophelia sniffled.

“Why don’t you tell us about it?” Sunny asked, sitting down again. Perhaps the girl just needed to talk it out.

“It’s just that everything is so different here.” Ophelia waved her hands. “I’ve never lived out of town before.”

“You’re a town girl?” Nan commented, sounding intrigued.

“Yes, I lived in Galena. It’s much smaller now that the mining has gone down, but I’m not used to being where there are no streetlamps at night or paved streets.”

“I’ve never lived in a big town,” Sunny said, and then stopped herself before revealing more. The old fear of exposure tugged at her as she noted how much more stylish Ophelia’s dress was than either hers or Nan’s.

“Me, neither,” Nan said.

“Will this awful emptiness really go away?” the bride asked.

The girl’s forlorn tone prompted Sunny to press her hand over hers. “Yes, you will find that Martin becomes your home. I mean, if he’s with you then you are home.”

The truth of this flooded Sunny. Wherever Noah and Dawn were, that meant home for her.

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