Free A Heart Renewed by Karen Baney Page A

contemplated whether she should worry about the other crate now or not.  Opting to wait until later, she searched for a place to display some of her knick knacks.
    While Will seemed to think the ranch house was small, Hannah thought it quaint.  He had big plans to build a large board structure, instead of the log cabin they now occupied.  The kitchen had room enough for two people to move about.  The kitchen, dining area, and living room were all one large open space.  The fireplace in the living room stood opposite the kitchen on the other end of the room.   There were two bedrooms along one side of the house.
    Walking toward the fireplace, she placed the items in her hand on the mantle.  Going back to the table, she picked up the picture of her and Drew.  Then she headed for her bedroom.  Pulling out the bottom drawer of the dresser, she lifted her undergarments and placed the picture face down in the back of the drawer.  She moved the undergarments back over top.  Perhaps one day she would be ready to part with the picture.  Just not today.
    Making her way back to the kitchen, she decided to go ahead and clean the dishes, since Rosa never appeared with the ones from the bunkhouse.  She must have washed them over there instead or perhaps in her little shack.
    Later that morning, she found Rosa working on the laundry.  Picking up the wet items from the basket, Hannah shook them out and hung them on the line.  At first, Rosa looked at her warily, though she softened when she saw Hannah was there to help.
    “Rosa, I was thinking that we could work together completing the domestic chores here.  I mean, there is no reason for you to carry the entire weight by yourself.”
    “Si, señora.  I help.”
    Hannah was not sure exactly what the young woman meant.  She knew si was yes and señora was missus .  But she was not convinced she was getting through.
    “I would like both of us to cook the meals.  On laundry days, we will both do laundry.  On cleaning days, I will clean the ranch house and you will clean the bunkhouse.”
    With fear in her eyes, Rosa asked, “No less money?”
    “No less money,” she quickly reassured the half-Mexican half-Apache woman.  “You will be paid the same.  We will help each other.”
    “Si, señora,” Rosa answered with a big smile.
    As Rosa continued to wash, Hannah hung items on the line to dry.  Looking out over the lake, she breathed deeply of the pine-fragranced air.  She still could not believe she lived on this beautiful piece of property, flanked by white granite mountains, dotted with tall pines, and nestled in a grass covered valley.  The afternoon grew as hot as the hottest summer days back in Ohio, yet it was September.  By nightfall, she would be wishing for a light wrap.  The weather here was so perfect.
    When it came time to start supper preparations, she outlined the planned meal.  They would have fried potatoes, beef steaks, beans, and pecan pie.  The pie would be a special treat.  Before she moved out to the ranch on her wedding day, she gathered a large basket of pecans.  She saved them to make pies over the next few weeks.  If the portions they used on the ranch were smaller than what she was used to at the boardinghouse, the pecans may last longer than she first thought.
    From what she learned in her first week on the ranch, Will had some thirteen men that worked for him.  A few of them, like Ben Shepherd, worked for his father back in Texas and made the journey west with Will.  Most of the men were hired on just prior to the trip, although she thought he mentioned that two of the four Mexican men joined the group in Santa Fe.  Peter Foster and Amos Webb were hired just prior to her wedding.  They were the only ones to join since Will arrived in Prescott.
     She smiled as she thought back to her first morning on the ranch.  Will instructed all of the cowboys to line up to officially meet her.  He told them they were to address her as