Pains Of The Past

Chapter 19

*** I was going to go to bed, but I decided to get this up here for you. I hope you are enjoying the tale of Lilly and Carter. Love you all!!!! ***

IrishEyez

Chapter 19

After a miserable six day train ride of me getting sick all the time, we were finally in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, our new home.

We made quick work of getting all of our belongings and the horses before carter and I went to get a wagon and two horses that would be needed for our journey to our new ranch. The owner of the Livery Stable, got us what we needed while Carter and Hector loaded the wagon. Rosa and I found the general store to get the other supplies we would need.

A husband and wife; The Hanson’s run the general store and were happy to see someone new coming to the area. They were even happier with our high purchases of flour, sugar and many, many other things. We paid for our numerous purchases and met the men outside to load up before heading out.

We asked for the directions on how to get to the ranch and Mr. Hanson was more than happy to oblige. It was not too far out of town, only about half and hour ride.

Carter made a list of things he might need for repairs and such with Mr. Hanson and also told him that he should be back in a day or two to get them, once he was able to assess how much needed to be done.

Before long we were on the wagon and heading to our new home. I kept envisioning it being in a shambles and that we would have a ton of work on our hands from the moment of arrival. I was in for a shock when we arrived.

There were at least 200 horses corralled and what appeared to be about 100 head of cattle. I looked over to Carter who was smiling wide at our new home.

As we got closer to the barns and houses we watched as several men came out to see what was going on.

I gave a wave and Carter tipped his hat to them as we pulled the wagon up in front of the large white house. A woman in about her mid to late 50’s same from the house, wiping her hands on her apron.

“Can I help you folks?” She asked while shading her eyes from the sun with her hand.

“Good afternoon ma’am, I’m Carter Woods, this is my wife Lilly and this is Rosa and Hector. We are the new owners of the ranch.” Carter said and pointed to each of us in turn.

“Well, we were expecting ya’ll a day or so ago, good to see you have arrived in one piece. I’m Nora and I handle the cooking around here for everyone. Those men that are heading this way are the ranch hands. I’ll let them introduce themselves. Welcome to your new home.” She chimed out to us as we all got off the wagon and headed for the house.

I was in shock at how lovely it was. The first floor had a large kitchen with a long table with enough seating for everyone, a sitting room with a fireplace and an office/library that had a beautiful mahogany disk and leather chair that I already saw Carter spending many hours behind.

We then headed upstairs and there was six bedrooms. One was already occupied by Nora and we assigned Hector and Rosa to theirs before going to see the master bedroom. It held a large bed, two standing dressers and it even had a large closet. I knew I was going to be very happy here.

“Lilly. come take a look at this.” Carter called out from down the hall. I left the master bedroom and headed to him as he stood outside one of the bedrooms we didn’t go into previously. “I think you’ll like this.” He grinned down at me.

He opened the door and I walked into what appeared to be a ready made nursery. The walls were bright white and it had a crib, dresser and a table for changing the baby. The crib contained a beautifully crocheted blue blanket. “It’s as if it was meant to be.” I muttered out as Carter wrapped his arms around me from behind.