Willow Creek Mansion

CHAPTER ONE

Anna Harper heard her daughter scream. She knew it was not a dire emergency scream. She had learned long ago, with three boys in the family, there was a come help me Mama, my brothers are teasing me scream, or a scream that meant real trouble, as when she had almost been bitten by a snake. She was trying to get the clothes hung up, and wanted to wait until she was finished. The screaming kept up however, so she went to see what all the ruckus was about. As she rounded the corner of the house, she saw her children out at the edge of the woods that surrounded their home. She didn’t like for them to play in the barn or the woods where she couldn’t see them. As she got closer, she could see Daisy, the shepherd, with her tail wagging. That was another indication they were just playing a trick on their sister. But she could already tell the screams were getting worse, and she now could see why. She went over to them and said, “What are you boys doing? Untie your sister this minute.” Bella was securely tied to a tree and Dakota and Earl were piling leaves and little pieces of sticks around her ankles while Frank was brandishing a long stick. “Oh, Mama” Earl said, “You just ruined it. We wasn’t going to really burn her at the tree, see Franks’ stick don’t have any real fire.” “Why would you do that” Mama said. Dakota answered her as if she ought to know what they were doing, “we’re Indians and she’s the only white girl. Now you spoiled our game.” “I’ll spoil more than your game if you ever try this game again. Now untie your sister.” She would be so glad next week when she would see that big yellow school bus coming down the road. She loved her children and had enjoyed having them home for the summer but she was always glad to see them start back to school.

Anna and Blake had always been God fearing people and read the Bible to the children each night, and tried to instill in them right from wrong. Basically, they were good kids. They all went to Church and Sunday school at the little neighborhood church, this is where Anna had met most of her friends. Vera Jones was her closest friend, and the pastor’s wife, Mary Jo, was also a close friend. They were all three women the same age, and had children in the same grades. They had a lot in common to talk about when they got together at Church Functions.

Blake was good with the kids though. She was sure glad she had a husband like him. When she was a teenager, and started to talk about the boys, and which ones she liked, she had asked her Mama how you could tell if the boy you liked was the one to marry. Her Mama said, what kind of a husband do you want? She knew what I would say, when I said “one just like Daddy.” I think my next question surprised her though. How did you find him Mama? She was so smart to tell me to ask God to help me be sure and not to let me marry the wrong man. I prayed this prayer every night, until I married your Dad. I must remember to tell all my children to do this, she thought. God surely did answer when He sent Blake to me. I knew when I met him that I could never find a man I liked as much as Blake. He is the best husband I could ever have asked for.

Blake worked for a logging company and this worried Anna some. It was a dangerous job. They had lots of accidents on the job. Just last year, a logging truck went out of control. The man driving it lost control on a curve and it ran over a man killing him instantly. She knew she should trust God more and she did trust Him, but what a lot of people didn’t think about was, that God did not promise us that there would never be any pain or heart ache or problems in our life. He did promise us that He would be with us through it all. That is where the trust comes in.

CHAPTER TWO

The children would be home from school and she had better get supper started, for Blake would be home soon also. When that bunch got home, they would all be hungry as bears. She fixed chicken and dumplings which they all loved. She had stewed a chicken yesterday and took all the skin off and the meat off the bones. She had all that rich broth just waiting for her good dumplings to be dropped in it. Then she would add the chicken. She’d slice some tomatoes and heat up the green beans she had cooked this morning with some of the ham trimmings she had in the freezer. Add her apple pie that was almost ready to come out of the oven, and they could eat like kings.

When the kids got home from school, she asked Dakota if he would help teach Bella how to properly set a table while Frank and Earl would go outside to watch for their Dad and give a holler when they saw him coming and she would start putting the food in bowls. Then when Blake got washed up, they would all be ready to sit down to eat. The kids all complied for they could smell those chicken and dumplings and apple pie.

Blake was late and he hadn’t said they might be working late. He usually would know if they were on a job that might run them late, but he hadn’t said anything this morning. He was an hour late now, and she was getting worried. Frank and Earl came in wanting to know if they could go ahead and eat, but Anna told them she was sure they wouldn’t starve in the next few minutes .She told them to go back out side and wait for their Dad. Surely Blake would be home soon, but she was beginning to get a bad feeling.

Just about then, Frank and Earl came rushing in to tell her a Police car was coming down their lane, and Anna felt like the bottom fell out of her stomach. She knew it could be nothing but bad news.