Joe said sympathetically, "It must have been a terrible night."
"Best night of my life." Ellis smiled with his whole face. "I asked Barbara again and this time she said yes."
"Lordy, lordy," breathed Jim Snedeker.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Spring
Spring was heralded by a soft and gentle south wind. It ruffled the pines and stooped to caress the snowbanks. Crusted snow softened and water gathered in every little ditch and depression. Ice melted from Joe's log slide, leaving last year's dead grass brown and forlorn between snowbanks. Walked on all winter, and getting the sun's full force for half a day, the snow in the cabin yard melted and the younger children could play there.
Inside the cabin, the door of which swung open so they could watch the children, Emma and Barbara were mending clothes. A pair of Joe's trousers in her lap, Emma's needle flew as she stitched a patch over a torn knee. She had had some forebodings concerning worn-out clothing and the availability of new cloth, but she needn't have worried. There had been bolts of cloth at Laramie. Even Snedeker had some in stock and he had assured her that most trading posts carried it.
Across the table, Barbara was mending one of Tad's shirts. Emma looked at her daughter and smiled.
"It's almost the last one, isn't it?"