His Lily of The Valley

Home Sweet Home

Everyone was up with the sun. It had been the first time in a week they had slept in a bed and it seemed to have done wonders for Lily. She felt a little more relaxed than she had in a very long time. Last night she did in fact wash everything that needed to be washed, including both the children. After they all ate breakfast they hitched up the wagon. John and Betty took their own wagon, loaded with some extra cleaning supplies and other necessities. The road they took out of town was near the church on the side that the children played. Betty had informed Lily that the church did in fact serve as the school for now, but a new school house was to be built later in the summer.

They continued to ride for a few minutes when Lily noticed that they were going into a wooded area. The air was much cooler and the smell of fresh earth was much stronger. The trees here were greener and many bushes and flowers lined the road. As they made their way along Lily took note of the edible plants she saw. There was onion grass everywhere and dandelion too. Black walnut trees and blackberry bushes. She noted too the rabbits running about and the sound of a stream in the distance. If they were to stay this was a great place to find what she needed to keep them fed. Taking a peek at Anne and Daniel, she saw that they too were looking around in wonder. She knew she needed to find a home for them and if this did indeed work out they would be making this their home.

After about an hour of riding through the woods a clearing came into view. John pulled their wagon to a stop as Lily brought her wagon up along its side. They sat there for a while just looking around. A small cabin sat to the right of a beautiful meadow. To the left Lily saw the stream was not far away now. The whole meadow was surrounded by woods, with wild flowers everywhere. It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. They hadn't even looked at the cabin and she knew she didn't want to leave. She looked back to the cabin now as John began to tell her what was there.

"The cabin has three rooms, so it should do you just fine, at least for this winter." He said looking over to the children. "There is a small barn that should be just fine for the mules and the goat. Though I'm not sure the wagon will fit. We'll take a look to see. On the side of the barn is a chicken coup and the space between the barn and the house would be a good place to put your garden." He pointed to the left of the cabin where a large oak tree stood. "The well is on the other side of the cabin. The kitchen is on that side and there is a door to make it easy to get water and fire wood can be stacked on that side too. Why don't we go have a look?"

As they approached the cabin Lily could see that it needed some cleaning up, but for the most part it was in good shape. Three steps lead up to a small porch that had flowers growing all around it. There was a window on either side of the door and as they stopped the wagons by the barn Lily saw that there was another window on the right side of the cabin too. It made her wonder if there was one on the left side of the cabin where the kitchen was located. Windows cost a lot of money, and the owner of the property would most likely charge more than she could afford for the property.

As if reading her mind Betty put an arm around her shoulders. "Don't you go worrying, we won't let you get over charged. If the price is too high we will figure something out." Giving Lily a gentle squeeze Betty turned to the children. "Now let's go have a look at the house while john gets the animal settled." Anne and Daniel took off running to the front door laughing. "Wait!" Lily shouted. "There could be dangerous animals in there." She told them as she came up to stand on the porch next to them. "Why don't we bring the wagon up to the porch so we can unload everything easier? We can check the cabin first, but not without my riffle." She said to Betty and John, who had caught up to them and were now standing on the porch as well. John chuckled. "That's a good idea. I'll bring the wagon up now. In the meantime why don't you two check that chicken coup out? We need to make sure there are no holes and plenty of hay for the chickens to rest in." John said to Anne and Daniel. They both looked a little disappointed but did as they were told. Lily gave John a grateful smile before he followed after the children to collect the wagon.