by Anna Parks (ages 14-17)
“What kind of
story were you thinking?” Smiled Riley as he reached up to put them away on the
top shelf.
“Tell me the
story about mama again,” said Jared piteously as he waited to sit in his
father’s lap
“Again? I just told you last night,” Riley teased as
he settled into the rocking chair
“I know, but
it’s my favorite,” whimpered Jared mischievously,
“Don’t I know
it,” he chuckled “all right, here goes:
I first met your mom with a young man’s eyes just before her sixteenth birthday
on her family’s ranch in Fresno, California.
“After beating
around the bush for about a year, I finally plucked up the courage to ask her
if I could court her. She agreed.
“We were
engaged at Christmas and married the following summer.
“Our first
Christmas together, she told me she was expecting you.
“We were both
so excited when you came on that Fourth of July, 1887. I think she even forgave me for not letting
her go to the celebrations that day.
“When you were
about six months old, she told me she was expecting again. We waited and planned and prepared, just like
we did when you were on the way. Then,
the night before our second wedding anniversary, I woke up in the middle of the
night to hear her crying out in pain.
Something was really and seriously wrong. She’d had a problem and the baby was coming
far too early. I did all I could, but it
was no use. By sunrise, both your mama
and your baby sister were gone.
“The day after
the funeral, I packed up you and me and some of our things and we moved here to
Burney Falls. And, as you know, we’ve
been here ever since.”
Riley sighed, a
distant look in his eye, lost in the memories of years past.
Jared broke
through his reverie, “Daddy, what did she look like? Was she pretty?”
“Very
beautiful. She had those lovely eyes,
clear as a blue sky on a summer’s day.
But why are you asking me, you have your picture upstairs,” he replied,
a trace of a smile on his face.
“I just like to
hear you talk about her. She sounds so
much prettier when you say it,” said Jared wistfully.
“I can’t argue
with that,” Riley said, his smile widening though still sad
They sat in
silence for a few minutes before Jared finally said, “I’m ready to tell you
what I would like for Christmas now.”
“Alrighty,”
Riley grinned “let’s hear it.”
“I’ve been
giving it a lot of thought, and I think that what I want most for Christmas is
to go back home,” he said seriously.
“Home? We are home.
This is home,” replied his father with a quizzical look on his face.
“No, I want to
go Home,” Jared emphasized “you know,
the place where I was born. I want to
meet Mama’s family and see if they look like her. I also want to see the house you built for
Mama and the ranch you lived on. I want
to see all of the stuff you talk about every time you tell me the story.”
“Jared I, I
just don’t know,” Riley faltered “I know you want to go, and maybe when you’re
older you can go for the summer or something, but I don’t think you can go now
because, well because I don’t think I can go back. It’s hard for you to understand, but there
was a reason we moved so far north. I,
I’m sorry,” he said firmly “but we can’t go.
It’s simply impossible.”
“Yes sir,”
Jared whispered as he crept out of the rocking chair and toward the stairs
“goodnight.”
“Goodnight
son,” came his father’s deep voice, following him up the stairs and into his
bed where he clutched his picture and cried himself to sleep.
***
Riley felt
awful about how he had snapped at Jared like that. He hadn’t meant to, it had just, well, come. He hadn’t realized until it was too late how
painfully close to the surface all of those emotions really were. He thought that they had been long buried,
deep in the recesses of his heart, never to be remembered. But tonight, they had all come rushing
back. The awful pain he couldn’t erase,
all those hurtful memories.
As he closed
his eyes beside the dying fire, he thought he heard her calling his name,
pleading with him to help her. He saw
her white face as she clutched at his hand, trusting him when he was utterly
powerless. She had trusted him, and he
had let her down. Even her dying wish,
that he love and take care of Jared, he sometimes failed to keep.
He laughed
bitterly to himself. The son he had been
so proud of, that he proudly compared to himself in every way, he now wished
looked just like her. For even Jared’s
eyes were Riley’s hazel color, and he shared his father’s face and build. Riley had none but these thoughts for company
as he drifted off to a sleep filled with nightmares.
***
Riley awoke
with a start as he glanced around the room from his position in the rocking
chair he dozed off in the night before.
From the positions of the shadows, he could tell that it was early
morning, maybe 6:00.
His eyes
moistened. This was the time Andi always
got up, and he had learned to get up then too.
This had been their time together, before Jared awoke needing his
breakfast, before he had to hit the saddle for another day of work. They had woken up and, while still in bed,
done their daily devotions together. It
was a habit their parents had recommended they build into their lives, and it
had proved to bring nothing but good things.
Even now, he
still arose at that early hour sometimes out of sheer force of habit to do his
Bible study. Today, he cracked open his
copy of the Scriptures to 1 Peter 5.
When he got to verse 7, casting
all your care upon Him, for He cares for you, he let the Bible slide to the
floor. Slipping out of his chair, he
leaned his head on the sofa and let the tears come. “I can’t do this Lord, I just can’t,” he
whispered
“On whose strength” he heard the
still small voice say to his heart
“I don’t know,”
he whispered back
“On my strength, you can do
anything. But on your strength, you can
do nothing. I am the vine and you are
the branches. Without me, you can do
nothing. But with me, the possibilities
are limitless.”
“I know Lord,
it’s just so hard, I don’t think I can do it.
But I can try. Like all the weak
people in the Bible, You are what makes me strong. I can try, but I need your help. Please Lord, help me,” Riley prayed as tears
trickled down his cheeks. He
straightened up and swiped at his eyes, knowing Jared would be awake and coming
down soon. Boy, would he have some news
for him.
***
Jared stumbled
down the stairs as he fumbled with his overall strap while trying to rub the
sleepiness out of his eyes. He trooped
into the kitchen where Riley stood at the stove, frying bacon.
“Good morning,”
Riley smiled at his son as he sat down at the table, still rubbing his eyes.
“Morning
dad. I kinda wish I didn’t have school
today,” Jared muttered as he plopped his head onto his elbows and closed his
eyes.
“Well,” Riley
said as he set the plates of bacon and eggs on the wooden tabletop “I was
thinking that after school today, you and I could go down to the train station
and purchase two tickets on the southbound train that leaves tomorrow,
eventually headed for Fresno, California.”
“Really!” Jared
exclaimed, wide awake “you mean we can go home?”
“Really,” Riley
said with a smile, though it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Oh boy, I even
get to skip the last week of school!
This is going to be great.”
“That’s right,
young man. I’ll send a note to Miss
Wagner today letting her know you won’t be there. Now, finish up that breakfast real quick so
you can go upstairs to pack for the trip.
We’ll be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning,” Riley finished as
he sat down “but let’s pray first.”
***
Two days later,
Riley and Jared prepared to disembark as the conductor walked down the aisle
calling, “next stop Fresno! All of for
Fresno!”
“Dad, will any
of my cousins will be at the train station?” Jared wondered as he bounced up
and down on the seat in anticipation.
“I don’t know,
Jared,” Riley replied wearily as he leaned his head against the window. The past three days had been very stressful
for him, as he took care of everything from the packing to the arrangements for
someone to care for the livery, to answering Jared’s never-ending questions
about what his newfound family would be like.
They
disembarked 5 minutes later and Jared clutched his father’s hand as Riley’s
eyes scanned the crowd for anyone that might have come to meet them.
“See anyone
Dad?” Queried Jared as Riley began striding purposefully in the direction of a
bustling street.
“No, we’re
heading over to the livery to rent a horse and buggy, and then we’ll head for
Memory Creek Ranch.”
“That’s our
ranch, right Dad?”
“Right,” Riley
didn’t break his stride as they crossed the street and entered a dark building
smelling of hay and horses.
“Hello, what
can I do for you?” Asked a cheerful voice as a tall man with blonde hair and
blue eyes strode swiftly down the aisle to meet them.
“I’d like to
rent a horse and buggy please, Cory,” Riley responded as he stretched out his
hand and grasped the liveryman’s in a strong handshake.
“Well I’ll
be! If it isn’t old Riley Prescott, come
back to see me after all of these years.
How are you?” Cory exclaimed as the two men switched from a handshake to
a brotherly embrace.
“Doing pretty
well, how ‘bout yourself,” Riley grinned as the two men moved as one back down
the aisle and began hitching up a horse and wagon, Jared hot on their heels.
“Doing
great. Jenny’s expecting a baby and
she’s due really soon. I think I’ll die
of suspense,” laughed Cory as he turned around and spotted Jared “oh, don’t
tell me that this big boy is little
Jared; why I used to bounce you on my knee when you were a baby, and look how
you’ve grown!”
“Yep, he’s
growing a mile a minute, that’s for sure,” laughed Riley as the two men
completed their task and moved back down the aisle towards the door “well, we’d
better get going. I want to try to make
it out to Memory Creek before dark.
Thanks for all your help Cory.”
“No problem, I
just wish we had time for you to visit with Jenny and Me. Maybe after you’re settled in we can come out
for a visit,” sighed Cory as the wagon emerged from the livery’s double doors
and headed out onto the street.
“Yeah, we’ll
have to see. Thanks Cory, ‘bye,” Riley
called over his shoulder as the livery disappeared from sight.
***
That night,
Riley finally got a minute alone by the fire just to think. Jared had already been put to bed in his old
room, and Riley had piled his things in one of the guest rooms. He just couldn’t bring himself to go back
into the room where they had slept, where she had died, and so that door
remained locked.
He sighed to
himself. In the morning they were going over to the Circle C to visit with Chad
and Ellie. He knew from their initial
correspondence that their family had expanded, they now had three children,
Susie, Aaron, and Jessica (whom everyone called Jessie).
He closed his
eyes, four more days until Christmas.
Then they could go back to Burney Falls and live life like normal. A tear trickled down his cheek. He hadn’t expected it to be this hard. After all, hadn’t God promised to go before
him, to help strengthen him? He
stretched his long frame across the couch and in moments was fast asleep.
***
The next morning,
after breakfast in the cookshack- which Jared thoroughly enjoyed, they headed
for the Circle C. They pulled up in the
yard where they were greeted by Chad and Ellie and their small cluster of
children. Jared jumped down from the
wagon before it even rolled to a stop and excitedly introduced himself to his
Carter cousins.
“Howdy. I’m Jared.
What’s your name?”
“Susie. This is my brother Aaron, and my sister
Jessie,” smiled the blue eyed girl, her dark hair carefully plaited in two
braids that trailed down her back “you wanna come and see our barn? We have lots of horses in there. I’ll bet you can’t even guess how many
horses. Come on!” And she ran off,
tugging on Jared’s hand with the two little siblings trailing behind.
“Riley! How are you doing?” smiled Chad as he grasped
his brother-in-law’s hand in a firm handshake.
“All right,
until you just now crushed all the life out of my hand,” Riley shot back
teasingly, returning the grin. He then
turned to Ellie, “How are you doing?
Those kids of yours are growing like weeds, they might even beat Jared’s
record.”
“They just
might,” she returned, giving him a sisterly embrace “now come on into the house
where we can have some real conversation.
I know Chad is just dying to hear how your breeding operation is going,”
she said with a conspiring look at her tall husband.
“Me, wanting to
know about horses? Never! I think you have the wrong hombre,” Chad returned as they headed
into the house.
***
After two hours
of small talk in the parlor complete with coffee and finger sandwiches, which
Chad complained were far to small, they were interrupted by the sudden
appearance of the children. The four had
been happily playing in the yard and outbuildings, when Jared had tripped on a
board and skinned his knee. He stumbled
into the sitting room, trying his best to fight back tears.
“Jared! What happened?” Riley exclaimed as his small
son sat down on the edge of a wooden rocking chair.
All four
children started talking at once, “I didn’t see…”
“We was playin’
an…”
“Jared got
scraped up on a…”
“He was runnin’
and…”
“Woah there,”
Riley held up both hands like he was commanding a horse “one at a time please.”
“I didn’t see
the board until it was too late, an’ I just tripped on it and skinned my knee,
and now it’s bleeding,” Jared sniffled.
“Don’t worry,”
came Ellie’s soothing voice as she reappeared from the kitchen “I have
something that will fix you up nicely.”
“Ooh, Christ’as
Oinkment,” lisped Jessie as she looked admiringly at the jar Ellie held in her
hand.
“Not Oinkment
dear, ointment,” smiled her mother as she knelt beside Jared “now, this isn’t
going to hurt, but it will help it heal faster,” she added as she gently coated
the wound in salve and covered it with a bandage.
“What is that?”
queried Riley with interest.
“It’s a little
something I like to call Christmas Ointment.
It is my regular, everyday salve with a Christmas scent added to it, and
I only use it at Christmastime,” she smiled as she pulled Jared to his feet and
handed him the jar “I want you to take this home with you and put some on your
knee every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to
sleep. It is guaranteed to speed up your
recovery,” she added with a wink. “Now
go back outside and finish your game, it will be time for Dinner soon.”
“Here dad, will
you keep this for me?” asked Jared as he shoved it into his father’s hands on
his way out the door.
“Sure
thing. Be careful,” Riley called after
him as he disappeared into the bright sunshine.
“And now, about
dinner,” Ellie smiled as the adults made their way towards the dining room.
***
Riley stared at
the flickering flames in the large fieldstone fireplace that night after Jared
had gone to bed. He had had no idea that
Susie would look so much like Andi, and he wasn’t prepared. In fact, he didn’t feel prepared for this
trip at all. He thought it would be
alright, thought he could handle it, but he was finding it harder and harder
with every moment spent in this place.
He clenched his
fists to hold back the tears. Jared had
asked him again about why the door to the master bedroom remained locked. He couldn’t bring himself to explain, didn’t
know how to explain his feelings
about that room, but he knew he couldn’t hold back the questions forever.
He stood up
with determination and went into the kitchen.
Hanging on a nail inside the pantry door was a small brass key, the one
that went to the lock on their bedroom door; the bedroom she died in. With trembling hands, he reached up and took
the key off of the nail. It felt
strangely heavy in his palm.
He slowly,
determinedly, mounted the stairs one by one, his feet sounding like echoes of
his soul. Not there, not there, not there they
chanted inside his head as he ascended the steps to the self-forbidden
door. His hands shaking almost beyond
use, he turned the key in the lock. And
opened the door.
The room was
covered in a thick layer of dust accumulated from more than 5 years of being
left alone. But other than that, it was
totally unchanged, locked in that moment in time all those years ago. Everything in the room, from the quilt on the
bed, to the curtains on the window, to her hairbrush and journal laid out on
her nightstand reminded him of her.
He sank to his
knees in utter heartbreak, remembering in vivid detail every moment of that
last night. He laid his head on the
carpet and began to weep. Not just a
drop or two, but a violent torrent of tears, tears he’d been forcefully
restraining since that night all those years ago.
“Jesus!” He
cried in anguish “I need your healing power.
Come and put your Christmas Ointment on my heart. Help me, please help me.”
And on that
night, on the floor of a bedroom he hadn’t been inside for over 5 years, Riley
Prescott began to heal.
***
Three days
later, the Christmas celebration at the Circle C was the best they’d had in
years. All of the family was there this
year, including Riley and Jared, the former having finally opened his heart to
the healing power of God Almighty.
This was, in
Jared’s opinion, the “best Christmas he’d ever had.” He was delighted that he got to spend it with
his mother’s family for the first time he could remember. Susie, Aaron, Jessie, and the rest of the
Carter, Wilson, and Swanson cousins enjoyed getting to know him for the
marvelous, though mischievous, boy that he was.
Justin, Chad,
Mitch, and the rest of the family were joyfully reunited with both Riley and
Jared, and Ellie gave Jared his very own jar of Christmas Ointment. Later on in the day, after the whole family
had unwrapped gifts and enjoyed a scrumptious Christmas Dinner, they chatted
around coffee and dessert in the parlor.
“So Riley, when
are you thinking about heading back up to Burney Falls?” Asked Elizabeth Carter
as she sipped her coffee on the settee.
“Actually, I
was thinking about returning the day after tomorrow,” he replied pleasantly as
he stretched out his long legs and yawned.
“So soon?”
Queried Lucy. “I was certainly hoping that you’d give us more time with Jared
than that. Why, we’ve just started
getting to know him, and now you’re leaving?”
“Yes, although
I did have a thought. I was wondering if
I could leave Jared here…”
“Leave him
here?” Chad broke in in disbelief “you’re just going to take off up north and
leave him here?”
“Well,” Riley
said with a smile “you interrupted me.
What I was trying to say was that I was wondering if I could leave him
here for a week or two, just long enough for me to sell the house and livery,
pack our things, and move back into the house at Memory Creek.”
“You’re moving
back?” Said Justin with a delighted smile at his brother-in-law.
“Yes. I have been doing a lot of thinking and
praying over these past few days, and I think that God is leading Jared and I
back to Fresno. It’s not good for him to
grow up not knowing his family, and we already have a house and business ready
to go.”
“You know what
Riley, I say ‘welcome home’” said Elizabeth, opening her arms with a smile.
“Thanks. It really is good to be home.”
Great job, Anna!
ReplyDeleteWhat a moving story! Amazing job!
ReplyDelete