It’s Manly and Beth’s first night at the Ingalls' townhouse apartment in Burr Oak after a long trip from Walnut Grove. Being in a strange place, the two cannot get comfortable and so they spend part of the night reflecting on memories of the past and their dreams of the future. A one shot. Story complete in one chapter.
Memories of the Past, Dreams of the Future
Fill in to the Last Farewell
1890
Burr Oak Iowa, right after Walnut Grove was razed
Almanzo stood at the window in their new room in the Ingalls' townhouse. It was their first night there and as usual, he couldn’t sleep. It was hard, especially when you’re uprooted from everything you love, forced off your land and separated from the place that you had called home for almost five years of life.
All because of a greedy land baron by the name of Mr. Nathan Lassiter, who bought the town and wanted to make the residents his employees. But the townspeople weren’t having any of it. There was only one thing they could do to stop him and that was to destroy Walnut Grove so that he couldn’t have any of it.
But Almanzo still had the one thing in his life that he really cared about, his family. There was his daughter Rose and his niece Jenny and the love of his life, his wife Laura. He wouldn’t be the same without his Beth beside him, especially now. Her love and her faith in him gave him the strength to carry on.
“Couldn’t sleep?” He heard her voice beside him. He turned from the window and saw her beautiful face staring up at him. He smiled, put his arm around her and pulled her close.
“Beth,” he whispered, as he rubbed his thumb against her cheek, “My Beth.”
She knows, he thought as he smiled down at her, she always knows.
“No,” he whispered, still looking into her eyes. “It’s so hard being away from the place you love.”
“You still have me and Rose and Jenny.”
“And they’re all in the other room with your Ma and Pa.”
Laura smiled. “It’s not like we left them in Walnut Grove, you know. They’re only in the other room, right next door as a matter of fact.”
Almanzo smiled and continued to stare at her.
“The only things that we left in Walnut Grove are our memories, Beth, our memories of the past.”
Laura smiled and patted the bed. “Want to talk about it? We have all night, Manly.”
He smiled and shook his head. “Can’t sleep?”
“No,” she answered, smiling up at him. “I’m too wound up.”
“How far back do you want to go? The first day we met when Sis introduced us?”
“I guess that would be the best place to start, I suppose. “
Almanzo smiled. “Do you remember what you said?”
Laura nodded her head. “Yeah, I remember,” she said, shyly. “Pleasure to meet you, Manly.”
They both laughed. “The cinnamon chicken incident,” Laura said, “you kissing me on the forehead, you pulling me out of the mud when I fought with Nellie, you making me hot chocolate, giving me your robe…..”
“The kissing incident; which was the reason why your father punched me in the mouth.”
“MANLY.”
“Your father making you wait until you were eighteen to marry me, your face when I left to go….” His voice trailed off.
Laura stared at him. “What about my face? You mean when you took off for Sleepy Eye and no one knew when or if you were coming back?”
“Beth,” he whispered, staring at her. “That was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life. I shouldn’t have even gone.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what gets into me sometimes.”
Laura smiled and touched his face. “It doesn’t matter; it’s all in the past. And just think, if you hadn’t gone, Mary and Adam wouldn’t have had opened the Blind School, we wouldn’t have met Houston and we wouldn’t have gotten new contacts to deliver to.”
“And I wouldn’t have gotten pneumonia trying to deliver the money you owed to Mr. Pims.”
“What about you and that saloon girl?”
“Beth? I told you about that…”
“And you and Chad Brewster.”
“What about you and Brenda Sue?”
Laura and Almanzo looked at each other and started to laugh.
“Did we have ever one day when we didn’t argue, Manly?”
Almanzo smiled wider and wrapped her up in his arms.
“I don’t know, but I know one thing for sure and that is that we didn’t argue on the happiest day of my life.”
Laura looked at him. “And when was that?”
“Oh Beth, the happiest day of my life was when you said yes.”
“And the only reason why we didn’t argue was that we weren’t talking to one another.”
“Well, you weren’t talking to me, even when I showed up in the middle of the prairie to ask you to marry me. I couldn’t stay away any longer; I had to come for you.”
“Don’t say that, Manly. I did have a change of heart, you know.”
Almanzo shook his head. He was still looking at her. “Oh? And when was that?”
“It was when you showed up in the middle of the prairie and asked me to marry you for the second time.”
“Beth,” he whispered smiling. “You mean that?”
“Of course I do, Manly. I love you.”
And they kissed and he pulled her down with him on the bed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
“So you never liked the boardinghouse?”
They were in bed in their robes, Almanzo propped up on his elbow listening to her. He shook his head.
“That little house was my surprise gift to you, Beth.” He sat up. “Here’s something I never told you. There were wild geraniums growing on the property when Sis and I moved in. I found one after I got the wheelchair. I took a cutting from it, placed some soil in a small pot that was lying around in the barn and wanted to see if I could get it to grow. It was the only farming that I could do for a while, Beth.”
Laura frowned. “You gave it up, didn’t you?”
Almanzo smiled and nodded. “It kept trying to die on me. I wanted so badly to be successful at growing some kind of crop that I babied it. I just kept paying attention to it every chance I could. And I was so upset with it that one day I just decided it wasn’t worth my time anymore and I let it go.”
When Laura hadn’t said anything, Almanzo continued.
“After you broke your Ma’s glass plate, I did some thinking. I told your Pa that I needed to be alone and that I needed to see the ruins one more time. I had no idea how long I sat there until your father showed up and told me that he came to bring me back, that I had been gone for a few hours and was worried about me. As he turned me around toward the little house, I noticed something that I never expected to see again.”
“It was the geranium, wasn’t it? Pa mentioned that you saw it growing wild.”
Almanzo nodded.
“You see, Laura, like I told your Pa, I over tended it. It needed some time to be alone. I guess I did too. It was then that I realized that I had responsibilities, that I felt so sorry for myself, I neglected everything I cared for. I had a wife and a baby daughter and that they needed my help. I made a promise to your Ma that I’d always be there for the two of you and I wanted to keep that promise. So I built you that house and learned to walk again. Your Pa made sure of it. It’s what you always tell me, with confidence and determination, you can lick anything. It pulled me through and made me stronger. When you first told me that Mrs. Flannery left you her mansion, I wasn’t sure if I’d be happy there, wasn’t sure I wanted to give up our new little house in the first place. It meant everything to me. But when you said that it was too big and you wanted to turn it into a boardinghouse, I thought it might be a good idea at that.”
He smiled, shook his head and took hold of her hand. Manly picked it up and kissed the back of it. “I did what was best for both of us, Beth. I thought that it might be a better way of making a living. And I found that I could do anything as long as you and Rose were there with me. I love you, Beth. I will always love you.”
She opened her arms and he came into them.
‘’You’re afraid of the city, aren’t you?” Laura said as they parted.
Almanzo looked at her and nodded his head. “Yes, Laura, I am. I got used to Walnut Grove and after Sleepy Eye, I promised myself I would never move back to the city. I didn’t want to hurt you again.”
“I’m afraid of it too, Almanzo. I grew up on the prairie. I’m just going to have to get used to it. It’s this house, the surroundings, the people. It’s just all new to me.”
Almanzo smiled. “We’ll get it done, Beth. I know we will. We’ll just have to make the best of it as long as we’re here.”
Laura caressed his cheek. “Someday you’ll have that farm you’ve always wanted, Manly. Someday soon, I’m sure of it.”
“So what would you call what we just talked about? I guess they’d be memories of the past and dreams of the future?”
Laura smiled and placed her arms around his neck. “Sounds like a good title for an entry in a Remembrance Book.”
Almanzo smiled and nodded. “You know, Beth, I have to agree. Sounds like a great title.” He took her in his arms and wrapped them around her.
And they stayed that way until the sun came up over the city streets. It was a challenge, Almanzo thought, as he watched her sleep. And at that instant, he knew that they would make it, as long as they were together.
Author’s Note:
I use 1890 as the date when the town of Walnut Grove is blown up. In the tv show it’s 1901 when Mr. Lassiter shows up to take over the town. Also, it’s 1894 when the Wilders first move to Mansfield, Missouri from DeSmet, SD.
South Dakota did not become a state until November 2, 1889.
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