A Prairie Rose

Chapter 17

Mr. Hansen made quick work of patching up the cracks along the house. He came inside for a quick meal, pecked a kiss on his wife's cheek and thanked her, then headed back out with four long boards to slather them with the mud we had gathered. He spent the next couple of hours going back and forth between the roof and coming into the house, thrusting the boards down from the hole in the roof and angling and measuring.

The mud had not yet fully dried, and Hattie and Grace and I found ourselves constantly sweeping up dirt, or on our hands and knees, dabbing at globs of the mess dropping on to the floor. I didn't see why it mattered if mud fell onto the dirt floor, but Mrs. Hansen was insistent, saying that once it dried, it could make the floor uneven, which would be dangerous so close to a fire.

"We wouldn't want anybody to fall into the flames", she reminded us, watching as we cleaned and cleaned while she prepared the makings for the next meal. 

It was all worth it, though, because just as sunset was upon us, we had a real chimney. Once her husband was no longer lingering just above it, Mrs. Hansen told Grace to add several logs to the fire, and the cabin warmed quickly, a peaceful glow filling it. I could just dream of what it looked like from the outside, though Mrs. Hansen would not let me go out and check this close to dark- a cozy, happy little cabin among the trees, I imagined, glowing from the windows and billowing inviting smoke from the chimney- the actual, real chimney!

When Mr. Hansen re-entered the house, my excitement got the better of me, and I flung myself at him. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly and thanking him eagerly, until I remembered that little girls should be seen and not heard, and certainly not throwing themselves at people for hugs. Then, I fell quiet once more, releasing him and stepping away, though my happiness did not dwindle.

He chuckled, a low, pleased sound as he patted my head. I did not care that his hands may be dirty- how could I be upset over hands that had worked so well and hard and willingly to make me a home? 

As he sat again beside his wife, who was already pouring warmed water into the basin for him to wash himself, he glanced to her. "I plan to head over to the house tomorrow and begin pulling away the rubble- if I move fast enough, perhaps we can have it rebuilt before the snow starts. It will be impossible to do once the ground freezes over."

But that night, as I slept tucked in beside Hattie and listening to Grace's soft breathing in the next bed over, the first flakes of snow began to fall, the ground turning white and hard. I had no idea until Mrs. Hansen was gently shaking me awake the next morning, for her husband had patched up the walls and latched down the door and crafted the chimney so skillfully that no chill had made its way inside of the little cabin in the night.

He was standing near the front window when we came in, and I noticed that there were thick curtains tied just above the window now, keeping out any chill- Mr. Hansen was pulling the corner of one side back just slightly to look at the white ground outside. "That's it, then- there will be no way to build up a house until the last freeze is over. Rose, do you think your Pa would mind us staying here through the Winter? Money is no issue, of course- we can pay daily, weekly, monthly, whatever he likes. Since he isn't back yet, I suppose he'll have to find lodging somewhere and take shelter, himself, until this snow passes. No way to get up the valley in this. It could take weeks just for the road to unfreeze."

I shook my head, trying to hide a smile- they would stay longer now. "No, Sir, he won't mind. This is a lodge, after all."

That wasn't true, of course. Had Pa been here, he would have already grown tired of such constant company. Especially company with children- he hated children. Particularly little girls. Besides, I was quite sure that this cabin was no longer really a lodge. It felt like a real, true home, through and through.