A Journey to Remember: Moon's Light Cove Series (Book 6)

Copyright © 2013 by Geraldine Fisher Ashe (Geri Ashe).

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Certain characters in this work are historical figures, and certain events portrayed did take place. However, this is a work of fiction. All of the other characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-5354-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-5355-8 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012918340

iUniverse rev. date: 01/02/2013

All scripture references in this book are from the King James version of the Bible.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1    Making Plans

Chapter 2    Getting Ready for the Trip

Chapter 3    Supper with Gus and Hattie

Chapter 4    Our Last Day at Home

Chapter 5    The Start of a New Adventure

Chapter 6    Arrival in Liddyville

Chapter 7    Enjoying our Visit

Chapter 8    A Day of Shopping

Chapter 9    A Surprise Keepsake

Chapter 10   Our Journey Begins

Chapter 11   A Day Filled with Mishaps

Chapter 12   A Stop in Simpson’s Springs

Chapter 13   Long Days of Travel

Chapter 14   Our Arrival in Barker Wyoming

Chapter 15   Welcome to Windswept Canyon Ranch

Chapter 16   Life on the Ranch

Chapter 17   Getting Ready for the Church Dinner

Chapter 18   A Day of Enjoyment

Chapter 19   Lessons Begin

Chapter 20   The Announcement

Chapter 21   The Lord Watches Over Anne

Chapter 22   A Sleepless Night

Chapter 23   A Long Wait

Chapter 24   A Night of Blessings

Chapter 25   Planning a Wedding

Chapter 26   A Trip to Town

Chapter 27   The Dance

Chapter 28   Back to the Ranch

Chapter 29   Flower Makes a Decision

Chapter 30   Getting Ready For the Big Day

Chapter 31   Sam and Jane’s Wedding Day

Chapter 32   Making Every Day Count

Chapter 33   Last Day on the Ranch

Chapter 34   On Our Way Home

Chapter 35   Train Robbery

Chapter 36   A Stop in Liddyville

Chapter 37   Going Home to the Cove

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my oldest daughter Heidi LeAnna Ashe. Her life has been hard, filled with many obstacles and challenges. Through it all she has blessed our lives with her presence. We love her so much. She holds a special place in my heart reserved only for her.

Her smile and laughter can make my heart light as it fills the room with her happiness. I thank God for blessing us with her.

May her life be happy and full of the love she has brought us. May the Lord watch over her all the days of her life and bless her with his love. Heidi, I love you sweet girl and this book is dedicated to you.

I love you always and forever,

Mama

Geraldine Fisher Ashe (Geri Ashe)

Acknowledgements

I thank my daughter Heidi for her love. I enjoy your visits home and the time you spend with me and your dad. I love you, mama.

I thank my daughter Hollyn for her love and support and for her help in editing this book. I thank her for her help with the author section and the front and back cover of this book. I look forward to your visits home. I love you, mama.

I thank my husband Wayne for all of his love and support. I also thank him for his help with the front cover of this book. He is the love of my life. I love you, Geri.

I thank my nephew Jeff Thomas, for fixing a problem I had with my computer. Had it not been for his help I would have had to rewrite part of this book. Thank you Jeff for always being willing to help me. I love you, Aunt Geri.

I thank my family for their prayers for me and my writing. Please keep praying for me. I love you, Geri.

I thank my friends for your love and support of my writing, I love you all, Geri.

I thank my Lord and Savior for my salvation and the salvation of my family. I thank him for always being right beside me. May I be the Christian he would have me to be. Please Lord, guide my footsteps and those of my family and forgive me when I fail you. I love you, Geri.

Chapter 1

MAKING PLANS

I cannot believe that next week we’ll travel to Harper and take the train to Liddyville. Adam our son is living there after his graduation from law school. We are so proud of him.

We’ll visit my grandmother Smith and my grandmother Miller as well as my father and mother. My grandfathers have both gone on to heaven. Adam lives with my grandmother Smith in her large house. She says it’s wonderful to have him living with her.

Our son Andy and his wife Lynn just had their second baby two months ago. It’s good to have them so close by, living here in the cove. Their three year old little boy is named Daniel and their baby girl is named Marie. Charles my husband and I love having them live just down the road.

Julie, Charles’s youngest sister and her husband Tim live out west in Wyoming. Tim built a horse ranch there. Julie and his children, Timothy and Mary live there with him. His ranch is growing and prospering. Julie is blind and she had Tim write to us and beg us to bring our family out for a visit.

Tim was married to Trudy, Charles’s sister, but she died giving birth to Timothy and Mary. Tim went out west and worked for five years after Trudy died, leaving his children here to be raised by Gus and Hattie, Charles’s mother and father and his sister Julie. They loved Timothy and Mary with all of their hearts and they took wonderful care of them. Tim missed his children and returned for them. While he was here in the cove he and Julie fell in love. So they were married and moved to Wyoming to live on Tim’s horse ranch with the children. In a little while Julie will give birth to their first child. She wants us to come and be with her when the baby is born.

I didn’t know if Charles would consider leaving our home here in the cove to travel out west for a visit. He talked about the trip to Jim Stepp who was married to Charles’s grandmother, granny Rose. They agreed to care for our place so we could make the trip.

Our children are so excited about the trip. Anne our oldest daughter is fifteen. Molly our second daughter is thirteen years old. Sadie our third daughter is ten and Cody our youngest boy is eight years old. I can’t believe our twin girls Rebecca and Rachel are already five years old.

Charles’s parents Gus and Hattie are going out west with us. They want to see their daughter Julie and help her for a while after the baby is born. Hattie is anxious about Julie taking care of the baby on her own. She worries because Julie is blind. Julie assures her that the Indian woman who helps her in the house will have no trouble helping her care for the baby too, but Hattie wants to be there. I don’t blame her, if Julie were my daughter I would feel the same way.

When Marie was born two months ago I delivered her. Granny Rose has been training me to take over as the healer and the baby catcher of the cove as she calls it. Granny Rose was down sick, so I delivered my own granddaughter. I thank the Lord that the delivery went smoothly. Delivering my granddaughter was one of the thrills of my life. It’s something I’ll never forget. The Lord has always been right by my side in all that I do. I don’t know what I would do without him. I am so thankful that I’ll never have to know what it’s like to not have him next to me. I accepted him as my Lord and Savior when I was a young girl and I’m so glad that I did.

Sadie is thrilled that Andy and Lynn named their baby girl Marie. That is her middle name and she loves sharing it with her niece. Marie was also the name of Lynn’s grandmother on her mother’s side of the family. I think the name suits my precious granddaughter.

Charles and I are also excited about going out west for a visit. Neither of us have ever been that far from home. We’re looking forward to seeing some of the west and visiting with Tim, Julie and the children. Seeing a real working horse ranch will be a new experience for all of us. Our children all hope to get to ride the horses. I’ve told them they’ll have to learn first.

Jim and granny Rose along with their family went out west to visit Tim and Julie two years ago. Lucy and her husband John stayed out west to open a store in the town closest to the ranch. Jane and Jimmy went with them. John’s parents blamed Lucy. They insisted that she had wanted to live close to her brother Tim. Granny Rose had told me that John and Lucy had made the decision together. Jane decided to stay with Tim and Julie at the ranch. Jimmy had come back with Jim and granny Rose. After all they had raised him from a baby along with his brother and sisters after Jim’s brother and their mother had died. Their father had died as the result of an accident. Their mother had died giving birth to Jimmy. Jim had been courting granny Rose and he came home to the cove with the children and they married and raised them together. His uncle Jim and Granny Rose were the only parents Jimmy had ever known.

Jimmy was the same age as our daughter Anne. He hoped to return to the west to work on Tim’s horse ranch as soon as he was sixteen or seventeen years old.

I knew that Jimmy was torn between living here and farming with Jim and following his dream of working on his brother’s ranch. I knew it would be a hard decision for him.

Jim and Granny Rose came over after supper to visit for a while. Jim pushed back his chair from the table and took a big drink of the coffee I had poured for him.

We wanted to talk somethin’ over with you and Jewel, Jim told Charles. We’ve asked Andy to look after our farm and yore brothers Sam and Joe will help Andy look after your place. We’ve decided to travel back out west to see Tim and Julie and the younguns. That is iffen it’s alright with you and Gus and Hattie iffen we go with you? Jim questioned Charles.

Why that’s a fine idee! Charles exclaimed. That’s wonderful, I told them. We would love to have your company on the trip. I know that Tim, Julie and the children would love to see you. John, Lucy and Jane would also enjoy a visit from you both, I added.

Granny Rose smiled and her face reflected how happy she was. It’s a long trip, but I miss them younguns so much. Jimmy misses them too. We look toward the west every mornin’ and night and say a special prayer to the Good Lord that he will watch over our family so far away from the cove. We thought it would make the trip a lot easier travelin’ out west with so many of our family, Granny Rose explained. Jimmy will be happy to go and see his big brother. He looks up to Tim and he loves to be on the ranch, granny Rose said.

I could tell that Charles was happy at this turn of events. He thought the world of Jim and his Granny Rose. I knew that Gus would be happy to have Jim and his ma along on the trip.

I would miss our grandchildren and Andy and Lynn while we were gone. I was glad that Adam had decided to accompany us on the trip. He had not found a permanent position as a lawyer as of yet, so he could spare the time. We planned to leave the first of May and be home by sometime in October.

Jim and Charles talked about giving part of their crops to Sam, Joe and Andy for doing their summer work. Charles had planted part of our crop as had Jim because the weather had been really warm for spring. I knew that Charles trusted his brother and Andy to do a good job of taking care of the farm for us. I also knew that Andy, Joe and Sam would receive compensation from Gus, Jim and Charles for their labor.

This would be good because sometimes Sam and Joe needed a little extra to help their families. Sometimes they would take on extra jobs to help with expenses. I knew that they would be glad to have extra crops and money to feed their families.

Charles was the oldest of his brothers and our farm had been prosperous over the years. The Lord had blessed us to be able to save a considerable amount of money for the future. We were very thankful for his blessings.

We were going to Gus and Hattie’s for supper on Saturday night to discuss the trip. Jim and granny Rose had also been invited. I knew that Jim was going over there tomorrow to discuss traveling out west with us. I also knew that Gus and Hattie would be as happy as we were to have their company.

Tomorrow the girls and I were going over to Matilda’s to finish the clothes we were making for the trip. Matilda had always treated me like a daughter. Her daughter Amelia was Andy and Adam’s mother. She had died when the boys were little. I had married Charles when the twins were four years old. Matilda had helped me learn all the skills I needed to make a home for Charles and the boys here in the cove.

I smile when I think of how little I knew about running a household. I had been raised in Liddyville in the central part of the state. Our housekeeper and cook, Cora had cooked all our meals and cleaned and took care of the house. The only thing I had done was plan teas and fancy luncheons for my school and church friends. I had crocheted doilies and mantle scarves to be raffled off for charity. I had lived the life of a lady of leisure.

Charles’s aunt Sara who lived down the street from us had introduced me to Charles. It was love at first sight for both of us. After a whirlwind courtship we married in Liddyville and I moved to the cove. I became a wife and mother in a very short time. Thank God for Matilda teaching me the skills I needed to know to fulfill my duties as a mountain homemaker and mother. Over the years she has become one of my very best friends. She is like a second mother to me. All our children call her their grandmother Matilda, not just Adam and Andy. Not only is she a good grandmother to our children she is a wonderful Christian example to us all. She is highly thought of in the cove. She is always the first person to help out a neighbor or a friend when there is sickness or a death in the family. She is loved not only by my family, but by everyone in the cove. She is a true blessing to all of our lives.

After the children had gone to bed I fixed tea for Charles and I to drink in the fireplace rockers. The fire burned low and Charles didn’t build it up. The spring night was not very chilly.

What are you thinking about? I asked him. Oh, jest about what it will be like out west, he said, answering my question. I bet the scenery will be very different than what we are used to, I told him. Yes, I would say you’re right about that, Charles agreed with me. I’m real glad that Jim, Granny Rose and Jimmy decided to come along on the trip, Charles commented. So am I, I replied. It will be good to get to spend some time with Adam, I told Charles. I have really missed him in the years since he left the cove. I’m glad he has his studies behind him and has realized his dream of becoming a lawyer, I said. That is somethin’ we can thank the Lord and yore grandmother Smith for, Charles told me. Yes, it was wonderful of her to hire tutors for him and to let him live with her until he was ready for law school. I offered so many times for us to help with his law school expenses, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She told me many times that helping Adam was something grandfather Smith would have wanted her to do. I know in my heart that she was right about that. She has also told me she’d like to help all of our children with their education, I told Charles. That’s mighty kind of her, Charles commented, overwhelmed by what I had told him. I’d never have believed that the younguns would have been give such opportunities for their education, Charles said, shaking his head in wonder at what I had said about grandmother Smith’s offer.

I hope that at least some of the children will take her up on her kind offer, I said. I know what you are going to say, I told Charles. I don’t want them to move away from us either, but I do want them to at least weigh out the options. Maybe they could go and get their education and then move back home to the cove to use it to benefit themselves and all of the folks here in the cove, I told Charles with a big grin on my face. Now yore talkin’. That sounds like a fine idee to me, Charles said, giving me a wink.

Chapter 2

GETTING READY FOR THE TRIP

T he next morning we left for Matilda’s right after breakfast. The children had finished their school work for the year. School would let out in two weeks, but I had let Lou Caldwell and Belle give them their tests early because we were leaving for our trip out west. They had all done very well on their tests. Anne would need to decide before long if she wanted to continue her education outside the cove. We would be back from Wyoming in October so the children could start their next school year.

Look mama, Molly said, pointing to a big deer by the side of the road. I thought of the time that Matilda’s father papa Collins and Mr.Gentry, Belle Caldwell’s grandfather had taken Adam and Andy to look for deer sign. They had such a wonderful time with the older men. They had learned so much from them. Dear papa Collins had been gone to heaven five years now. Mr.Gentry had joined his friend in heaven three years ago. I’ll never forget the time that Mr. Gentry saved me from a charging wild boar. The wild hog would have hurt me badly or even killed me if he hadn’t dropped it in it’s tracks just before it reached me. He was a fine shot. I was so glad I was able to lead him to the Lord. I have the joy of knowing that I’ll see my dear friend Mr. Gentry and dear papa Collins again someday in heaven. I can thank the Lord for that blessing.

Before long the store and the post office with Matilda’s neat house attached came into view. Matilda ran both the post office and the cove store. She was a very busy woman, but that was the way she liked things to be. Matilda’s hands were never idle.

Howdy, she called, as we came into the yard. She was coming from her hen house to her back porch. Hello, I answered her greeting. Cody and Sadie ran to Matilda to help her carry her pail and her rake.

Thank ye for the help, she told them, when they reached the kitchen door. Come on in, she invited, opening the door wide in welcome. We always felt wanted at Matilda’s house.

I cared for the horses and wagon and went into the house. Let’s have some tea and some cookies before we get started on our work, Matilda suggested. That sounds like a wonderful idea, I said, agreeing with her suggestion.

Soon we were seated at Matilda’s big kitchen table munching on big sugar cookies. Matilda and I sipped on cups of tea while the children had cups of cold milk to go with their cookies.

Land sakes, I shore dread y’all headin’ out west on that long trip. Don’t git me wrong, I’m glad yore all gettin’ to make the trip, but I shore will miss all of you while yore gone, she told us. I’ll think about you and remember you in my prayers, Sadie told her. Ain’t ye a sweet gal, Matilda said, wiping a tear from her eye.

We’ll all miss you too, I said, getting up from my chair to give her a big hug. Jim and granny Rose have decided to come along on the trip, I told her. Ye don’t say. I think that’s a fine idee. I don’t blame them for wantin’ to see Tim and Julie’s baby. I bet Rose will help with the birthin’. I know I’d want to iffen I was her, Matilda said. I think that’s one thing she has in mind, I said, agreeing with her.

Are ye gonna help? Matilda asked me. Only if I’m needed, I told her. Julie has the Indian woman who helps her in the house. I understand that she helps some of the women in her tribe with their birthin,’ so she has experience, I said.

That’s good. It sounds like Julie will have plenty of help when the time comes for her baby to be born. Ye can’t have to much help at a birthin.’ Ye can’t tell when somethin’ unexpected will happen, Matilda said, shaking her head. Yes, unexpected things can certainly happen, I said, agreeing with her.

After we finished our refreshments we got out our sewing and began our work. We wanted to finish two new outfits for each of us to take with us on the trip. We had been working on our sewing ever since we had decided to make the trip. I was glad that my family would all look nice when we arrived in Wyoming.

Hattie was going to buy material and sewing notions at the store in Harper to take to Julie. She didn’t know how many times that Julie got to shop in the town closest to the ranch.

That’s a good idee Hattie has to take material to Julie. You never know whether Julie gets to shop very often. She may not have near enough baby flannels and blankets, Matilda said. I believe the town has almost everything they need according to the letters Tim writes for Julie. Well, Tim’s a man and ye can never have too many sewin’ supplies, especially with a growin’ family and a baby on the way," Matilda said. You’re certainly right about that, I said in agreement.

We spent a pleasant afternoon sewing. We enjoyed each others company. We stopped at one o’clock to have a bowl of the potato soup that Matilda had simmering on the back of the stove. Anne made a cake of cornbread to go with our soup. She poured milk for us to have with our meal.

This is good grandmother Matilda, Cody said, paying Matilda a compliment. I’m glad you like it sugar, Matilda said. Anne made this good cornbread, she added, giving Anne a big smile. Matilda always encouraged the children by remarking on their helpful ways. They always wanted to help their grandmother Matilda. They were all sweet children and I thanked God every day for them. The Lord had been so good to me and my family. I could never thank him enough.

Matilda suggested that we have supper with her tonight. I told her I would need to tell Charles. Anne offered to take