New Beginnings & Cherished Memories
New Beginnings & Cherished Memories
The fourth series in the Dusty Town sequence.
Still Plenty of Sweet Living Left for Them. Episode 4
“Can’t wait to show you the house in the mornin’ Pa. It’s not as big as our main house but it has extra rooms if the young’uns want to stay over or if you have any folks from the city that might want to come for a visit.”
Jacob laughed, “Ain’t no one want to come here. They think we just have pigs and mud everywhere.”
“What about Aunt Daisy? I remember how special she was when I was little. Me and Robert were her favorites of all the children. Remember?”
Just like that Jacob went back in his mind to the memories of the days when his boys were small and the Darwintons had those frightful parties where he always felt out of place, the country boy, the poor boy among the wealthy. Maddie was always his greatest defender. She knew her family well and married him in spite of them all. In the end, she earned their respect by being her own person and not a puppet to her upbringing. Maddie was a rebel, Jacob remembered. How he did miss her!
“I do remember, Willie. And she was my greatest ally these last years I spent in the city to get me through their hideous family gatherings. They were quite painful endeavors, and had it not been for her, well, I just don’t know.
“The family made her do their bidding all the time. She minded all the children when they didn’t fit into their parents’ busy whirlwind lifestyles. And then the children grew up and she got older and the Darwintons didn’t have a use for her anymore so they put her in a home. It broke my heart to leave her behind. She was so kind to me, so very kind.”
“Can she travel, Jacob?” Betty Lou asked.
“I don’t know, but it sure seemed to me she had just about given up on life and living. The Darwintons, her own family, had abandoned her. I will never forget her face when we said goodbye, she just kept smiling through all the tears, so sad it was, so sad. All I could do was cry too.”
“I see,” Betty Lou said, like she had said so many times over the years when she didn’t know what else to say.
“Oh Pa! Write her! See if she can come! The railroad runs north of here now and then we can go get her with the good wagon. It would be safe comfortable traveling for her.”
“I don’t know, son. We’ll see, I s’pose.”
They sat quietly for a while, the light breeze cooling ever so slightly the Kansas night filled with the sound of crickets and the smell of the land, until Willie spoke. “We put Ma’s kitchen curtains in your new kitchen. They remind me of her and all the happy times we had as a family and I wanted you to have them, to remember too.”
Jacob didn’t quite know how he was able to speak just then, the lump in his throat was so great, but he did speak, through tears. “Thank you, Willie. It will be good to remember. Your ma was special, and those times were too.” Jacob reached across to put his hand on Willie’s shoulder. Willie got up and hugged his pa through tears of his own. Betty Lou smiled and was glad that Jacob was back, Willie needed him so and Jacob needed Willie too.
The moon had begun to come up over the Kansas fields and farmlands when Betty Lou announced it was time for her to get on home. “You can stay here tonight, Betty Lou, and then we can show Pa the new house first thing in the morning,” Willie offered.
“No, I reckon you and your pa have plenty catchin’ up to do, best without me in the way. I’ll head on back to town and see y’all in the mornin’. Give my hugs and kisses to Sue and the little ones.” And with that, Betty Lou hugged Jacob and Willie, and off she went. Betty Lou had been thinking during the porch sitting that the life they had once known was gone forever and it made her a bit sad, as these kind of thoughts often do.
And then, a little ways down the dirt path toward home, she thought about something else and she turned back for a brief moment and just smiled. Though it would never be the same, Betty Lou had realized there was still plenty of sweet living left for them in that dusty Kansas town they called home.
Read Prior Episodes of New Beginnings & Cherished Memories
Starting Over Again in Kansas. Episode 1
Nothing’s Changes. Everything’s Changes. Episode 2
Knowing What to Do When the Time Comes. Episode 3
Still Plenty of Sweet Living Left for Them. Episode 4 (This one)
