Go West Serial Novel – Page 5

Go West~Chapter 41

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Forty-one

Aldon

It was time for fall round-up, and Aldon was anxious to move the cattle down the mountain before they decided to move themselves. The three-year-old cows had such a strong homing instinct that if no one came for them by the end of summer they’d start down on their own. He knew if that happened the cattle could fall off cliffs, get caught in brush, or be attacked by predators. He had taken the foreman’s job so it was his responsibility to get the cattle safely back to the ranch.

Checking to see that everyone was equipped for the trip, he looked first at Ellie and his heart did cartwheels. She wore her new Stetson and a pair of jeans that would fit a young lad. She had on her dainty leather gloves and Aldon was glad to know that her violinist hands would be protected from the rough work of riding, roping, and carrying kindling once they arrived at the line cabin. All riders had multi-purpose bandanas around their necks. They could use them for carrying freshly caught fish or wild strawberries — not both at the same time, of course. A bandana would keep dust out of their noses or double as a washrag, also it could be handy as a bandage or tourniquet.

Aldon wore his Colt 45s in their holsters slung at hip level and his bullets snugged into the slots of his ammunition belt around his waist. His rifle fit snugly in its case under the stirrup fender.

“You look ready for anything,” Aldon said, as he watched Ellie gracefully mount Summer. He was proud of her. She had learned so much and so had he. She neither looked at him nor smiled. He’d heard of broken hearts, but he’d never had a taste of what one might feel like before.

Aldon never got tired of heading out after the cattle when the air was as crisp and pure as cold apple cider, and the leaves on the aspens twinkled silver and gold. As they climbed, he saw more wildflowers than he’d ever seen before. A small patch of snow in perpetual shade had glacier lilies growing near it, while a stump at the top of a rise grew Columbines at its base. He must remember to tell Ellie they were the state flower – that is if they ever really talked to each again. They passed Mirror Lake where mountains reflected in the lake were perfect duplicates of the ones that towered above. The day passed quickly and by the time they got to the line cabin it was almost dark.

Aldon built up the campfire and stood watching while Ellie hooked a pot of beans onto the trivet that straddled it

“Will you walk up to the beaver dam with me?” he asked her. “It’ll take a while for supper to get warmed up. Kenny can stir the beans and keep them from burning.

Ellie sighed, but still wouldn’t look at him.

“Come on, please.” He tugged on her jacket sleeve. “I need to talk to you.”

“Oh all right,” she shrugged. “Let’s go.” She followed silently as he led up the trail.

When they got to the pond she looked around and he could tell she was remembering the last time they were here. They sat down on the clean, flat rock that was still warm from the sun.

“I don’t think the rattler would have struck at you, so my action might have been too impulsive.” Aldon said. “I’ve always had a hair-trigger when it comes to looking after people. It’s a bad habit and I want you to know that I’m asking God help me to change.”

“I agree, but don’t over-do it. Sometimes people need protection, especially around poisonous snakes.” She still didn’t look at him, but at least she was talking.

“The thing is,” he said, feeling he hadn’t made his point. “I’m praying hard about developing some self-control.”

“You don’t have to do it on my account,” Ellie said. “I’m not going to be around here that long.

“What?” he jerked his head toward her and stared. His felt as if his heart had stopped circulating. “You’re leaving?”

“I don’t want you to feel like you did something wrong. You were trying to keep the peace in the dance and that was part of your job as a community leader. I’m not exactly pleased with the idea people have of me now, but Enrico has treated me respectfully since then. You didn’t think I did anything to encourage him, did you? I didn’t mean to.” She pressed her lips together.

“No! He didn’t need any encouragement. He thought he should have everything his way — we all think that sometimes, I suppose. But I want to know…am I driving you away?”

“No. I’m going partly because of the weather. I don’t want to be here in the wintertime. It’s cold enough in Chicago to freeze your toes off, and I hear it’s as bad in this place. The ranch won’t need me. I’d just get in the way.”

“But where are you going? Winter’s pretty common most everywhere.”

“I’m thinking about heading for California.” She ran her fingers through her hair and then smoothed it down.

DiVoran’s Promise Posters, Paintings from Go West as well as other art can be purchased as note cards and framable art

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Go West~Chapter 40

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Forty

Ellie shares a secret

“Now tell me about your life in the mountains,” said Vera.

Ellie thought a minute, then decided that since she and her mother were starting a new, freer relationship she could tell her something she had not spoken of to anyone.

“I’ve been teaching the children’s Sunday School class at the Community Church in town, even though I don’t feel qualified.” Vera made an hmm, noise which encouraged Ellie to go on.

“We have Bible stories and learn about Jesus and his time on earth. That’s the way I think of it — a short time on earth to show us that He was human like us, and at the same time He was God and the Holy Spirit. My theology is scanty, but I’ve had an experience that I want to tell you about.”

“Tell me,” said Vera turning toward her daughter.

“Well,” Ellie took a deep breath and let it out. “Sunday before last, we came across a scripture that said, ‘To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.’ Those words – accepted in the beloved stuck; I decided to ask God what they meant. Suddenly everything I’d been reading and feeling began to make sense. I knew then that in spite of my selfishness, God loved and accepted me, and it had something to do with Jesus’ dying on the cross, though I don’t understand that part yet.”

“I’m not much of a scholar, you know, dear.” Vera’s brow furrowed as she concentrated on what Ellie was saying.

”I can only tell you what happened to me. The more I thought about Him the more I felt He wanted to have me as a friend. Does that sound strange?” Vera shook her head no.

I asked one of the boys what I should do and he helped me say a proper prayer. When I looked up from praying the world seemed to be shining. The things that had bothered me didn’t bother me anymore. I felt tenderness toward folks I hadn’t even liked. And the funny thing was, I knew it wasn’t my love I was feeling, but God’s.”

When Ellie stopped talking long enough to look over at her mother, she saw that Vera slept. For an instant she understood how God must have felt all those years when she ignored him. But, she consoled herself. At least I tried to tell her. Someday I’ll tell her again, and she will understand.

DiVoran’s Promise Posters, Paintings from Go West as well as other art can be purchased as note cards and framable art

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Go West~Chapter 39

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Ellie and Vera

Vera kept talking long after Ellie’s heart had slid into her stomach. Now she wanted the tale to go back to being a secret, but it was too late. Elegant Mr. Louis Norton had used her mother and discarded her. The result was that Ellie was illegitimate. She knew bad names existed for children whose parents weren’t married, but she never dreamed that they would apply to her. And to have had her mother hurt like that – to have such a wholly self-centered man for a father — well, she wanted to crawl under the bed and stay, never to be seen again.

“Mr. Norton had his chauffer drive me to the convent, and that’s how you came to be born there,” said Vera. “Now, maybe you understand why I never told you.”

When her mother reached for her arm, Ellie steeled herself against moving away. How could anyone be so foolish and naïve, she wondered? Then she recalled that her mother had been only sixteen-years-old when she was duped and manipulated by that evil man. She was pregnant and friendless in the big city.

“The nuns were good to me considering I got myself into all this trouble, but I still felt lonely, and I wanted to keep you. You were the only one born there that week. They planned to send you away to some rich people who wanted a baby. The guard nun, however, fell asleep, so I wrapped you in a blanket and escaped through the courtyard. We needed a place to sleep that night so, right away I looked for a job. I’ll always thank God for sending us to the Williams family who ran a pub on skid row. I reminded them of their daughter, who had recently died in childbirth so they gave me a waitressing job and room and board. They insisted I wait a week to begin work, then because you were a newborn, they let you sleep in a big box behind the bar. You were such a good baby. You were happy and you made everyone who saw you smile.

I wrote my folks and waited for an answer, but instead they came to Chicago to find me. We decided not to meet with Mr. Norton now that we know what a bad man he really was. Dad got a job in the stockyards and mother worked in a general store. By then we had a small apartment and I was able to stay at home and look after you during the day. At night your grandmother and grandad took care of you while I continued to work for the Williamses. The three of us eventually saved enough money to start a small neighborhood store of our own. Here again, the pub owners were a big help. When we began to get ahead and got into the department store business your granddad paid them back many times over for what they had done for us. I’m so ashamed and sorry.” Vera’s voice held tears.

“Dear Mother, I had no idea, A young girl who had never been away from home just wouldn’t know. Shouldn’t your parents have been more wary?” Ellie now patted the hand resting next to her on the bed.

“I’ve thought about it over the years, of course,” said Vera. “But I never have had much confidence in myself since that happened and I keep trying to think what I might have done different. But if I’m honest, I got to say, I’ve always been so glad to have a beautiful and good child like you that I could never regret having you and keeping you.”

“Now I understand why you always warned me about men, especially older men. You wanted me to avoid that kind of a situation. Sometimes I felt confused because it seemed as if Grandmother was trying to marry me off to a rich politician, and you seemed reluctant for me to go anywhere with a boy at all. I am sorry you never married, never had a life of your own. Thanks for loving me and looking after me all my life. You were always there quietly in the background.

Vera took hold of Ellie’s hand and Ellie’s heart was flooded with love and compassion. She gently squeezed the hard-working hand of her mother.

“I love you, Mom,” she whispered.

DiVoran’s Promise Posters, Paintings from Go West as well as other art can be purchased as note cards and framable art

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Go West~Chapter 38

Go West

by DiVoran Lites

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Ellie and Vera

“I don’t think you will understand about your father, but you’re right, it’s time you knew.

I’ll start with my family. Dad was a miner from Wales, and mother was a farm girl he met and married on his way to Colorado. He heard they needed miners in Rockridge, which is high up in the mountains. I was born there in 1864. We lived in such a spread-out community that a cabin could be a mile up the ridge from its neighbor. The town, which was down by the railroad, had seven buildings: an assay and claims office, a general store, a Chinese laundry, a depot for the narrow-gage railway, a general store, and two saloons.” Vera lay down and took a deep breath in preparation for going on with her story.

Ellie settled in next to her mother, happy to be talking with her and listening to her. They hadn’t had enough of that in her young life.

“A handful of children lived in log and wattle cabins, but there was no school. Your grandmother, Hester, taught us to read, write, and cipher and that was all. From then on she taught us practical things like cooking, sewing, and raising chickens. We added to daddy’s meager pay by serving meals to miners on their way to work or on their way home. We assembled baskets full of sandwiches to take to the train for its noon stop in town.

“We also learned to shovel snow to get into and out of the cabin. There were times,” she mused, “when the drifts were up under the eaves and we were snowed in. Fortunately, either our supper or breakfast gang would shovel us out so they could eat, or we might still be trapped.

“When your grandmother hit upon the idea of teaching us to crochet we started ordering yarn from the Sears and Roebuck catalog and making afghans, sweaters, doilies, antimacassars and even doll clothes for a department store in Denver. We sent them down on the train.”

Ellie wished she’d get on with the story, but not wanting to be rude, she remained quiet.

“One day after I turned sixteen, Sis and I went down to the station with some grub. A fine gentleman got down from the train. I’d never seen anyone as elegant – though I didn’t know that word at the time. He called us over, bought four sandwiches, told us his name was Louis Norton and that he was looking for a place to open a dry goods store. He also asked about a place to sleep. There was no hotel, but we thought Mother and Dad might find him a place, so we took him home with us. It was muddy and slippery getting up to the cabin, even though dad had built a wooden stairway. We carried his suitcases and sometimes got behind him to push because we were afraid he’d fall if we didn’t. He and I got to laughing so hard that Mother heard and came out to see what was going on. He was about the same age as Dad, but when dad came home from work we saw a great difference in the city man and the dirty, hardworking miner.

“Mama and Daddy took a liking to him. Daddy cleaned out the woodshed and caulked the gaps between logs so Mr. Norton would have a warm place to sleep. It was real cozy and he said liked it. He asked us girls to show him around and we climbed the hills. He was in fine fettle.

“Each day, when the miners left after supper, the adults sat and talked. Mama and Daddy told him the mine was petering out, and we’d have to move on. It didn’t take long for Mr. Norton to know Rockridge wasn’t the place for a new store and never would be.

“Within a week the miners were moving on. Arthur Schultz made our parents mad by saying they should watch Mr. Norton around their young girls.

“One day he asked Mother and Daddy to come to Chicago and work for him at his store. Daddy said they’d wait until the mine closed and pick up some money for the journey. Mr. Norton couldn’t see any reason we girls didn’t come right away. He said his wife would help us get enrolled in school. Sis was eighteen and done with even the thought of school. She was in love with a young miner so she decided to marry him and go wherever he went.

“To me, though, going to the big city and maybe to school sounded like an adventure. My parents thought I was a good learner and could do well. Besides, I needed polish, and Mr. Norton would be just the person to see I got it. I packed everything I owned in a gunny-sack, and Sis and the parents saw Mr. Norton and me off on the train. After several days, we arrived in Chicago in the middle of the night and because Mr. Norton had sent a telegram from up the line we were met at the station by a long, black automobile. We went directly to his store. Mr. Norton unlocked the door and took me in for what he thought of as proper clothing and outfitted me then and there. I felt all grown up even though the clothes he chose for me looked too fancy for a sixteen year old.

DiVoran’s Promise Posters, Paintings from Go West as well as other art can be purchased as note cards and framable art

Creative Arts