Free Hidden in the Trees (Bellingwood Stotries #1) by Diane Greenwood Muir Page A

from the stove. Sylvie had made a cushion stuffed with chicken feathers to fit over the bench. Many an evening passed with the boys spread out on the bench or the floor in front of the fire as they listened to their mother read stories to them from their favorite books.
    "After you finish your chores this morning, I want you to run to the General Store before school. Mr. Ivins should have a package for us from Uncle Robbie."
    Andrew grinned at his mother. A package from Uncle Robbie always contained a book for him. It had been more than two months since the last time he had gotten something new to read and he couldn't wait to see what his uncle had sent.
    With renewed energy, he quickly finished his breakfast and pulled his boots on. His coat was hanging by the door and he slipped it over his shoulders and went outside. Spring had arrived, but the mornings were still chilly. Andrew couldn't wait until the warm summer sun shone from early in the morning until late in the evening.
    He pulled the pails off their hooks and began speaking to the two cows in the barn as he approached them.
    "Good morning girls. I'm not late yet. I know you don't like it when you have to wait."
    He continued to talk to them as he squeezed their milk into the pails, enjoying the warmth of their teats on his hands. He finished and set the buckets just inside the barn door and let first one cow and then the other outside into the pasture, making sure there was water and hay for them before running to the chicken coop. He had to gather eggs and get them fed each day. Some mornings it felt as if it took forever. This was one of those mornings.
    He took the eggs up to the house and went back for the milk, carrying it carefully in to his mother. She was going to make butter today and if he was lucky, there would be a pie for dessert. She had canned apples last fall and there were still quite a few jars in the root cellar. Whenever she made butter, she chilled the first batch and then used it to make a few of her famous pies. Everyone in town talked about Sylvie Donovan's pie crust and when it came time for the fair in the summer, she took first place every year.
    His mother transferred a dozen eggs into a smaller pail and handed it to Andrew. "Would you stop by Mrs. Watson's with these?"
    Once a week, he went to see Mrs. Watson with a pail of eggs. She gave him a dime for the eggs and the empty pail from the previous week. She was a painter and lived above the bank downtown. When he had time, she would tell him stories of cities she had visited around the world. She told him of Paris and London, Madrid and Athens. He shut his eyes and imagined the places she had been as she described them. She had beautiful books of art that she let him look at and his favorites were paintings of those fascinating locations.
    He took the pail from his mother and she gave him a dollar and a piece of paper. "I've made a list of things I need. Please give this to Mr. Ivins and then wait. Take your cart, it will be a great deal for you to try to carry home."
    "I will," he responded.              
    He and Jason talked about taking care of their mother when they lay in bed at night. Their father had left them two years ago, hoping to make his fortune in the west. Sylvie Donovan hadn't waited for him to return or send them any money, but began cooking and baking and selling milk, cream, butter and eggs to keep the family afloat. A hired hand, Ellis Anderson, had worked the fields with their father and stayed on to help Sylvie keep the farm. Jason began working with him right away and this morning they were planting wheat. A patch of corn and another of oats would be planted soon.
    Sylvie told her boys over and over how fortunate they were that their father had prepared ground for them to plant crops. The boys knew better. They knew Ellis had done most of the work while their father read newspaper articles about gold in California. His thirst for easy money finally