Chapter Fifty-One
The architect came and went over what Steve, Bucky, and Runa all wanted in their house and outbuildings. He discussed the past and current popular styles for houses, eventually convincing Steve and Bucky to agree to a fancier home than either man really wanted, but it was a look that Runa appeared most drawn to when they looked over the sketches. The two men had decided in private the night before that they would give Runa what she wanted in a house, within reason. The style she liked bordered on unreasonable, rather impractical for life out on a ranch instead of in the middle of a town where everyone would see it, but it would make her happy to have a pretty home, whereas they were just content with four walls, a floor, and a roof.
It was three days before the architect came back to Bluestone Ranch from where he had been staying in town (at Pepper’s boarding house, of course) and laid out his rough designs for them, promising to have better plans drawn up before construction started. Steve and Bucky rode back to town with him, taking the rough plans and measurements to Ben Parker to discuss what more needed to be ordered in addition to what Runa had already ordered. They arranged for him to hire a work crew as well, experienced masons and carpenters to come and help assemble the house. Usually, the neighbors would come together for such projects, but the rebuilding of Bluestone Ranch was going to be more of an undertaking than Steve and Bucky wanted to burden their neighbors with. A date was arranged for the work to begin; on August fourth they would begin the rebuilding.
Their next stop was to Scott Lang’s, to put in an order for enough supplies to keep the men and the work crews fed, as well as to purchase tools for the building, and rope, canvas, and poles for tents, among other things. They made an arrangement with Scott for Luis to bring out an order of supplies weekly until the building was completed and they were no longer going to be feeding and boarding a small army of men.
Then Steve slipped away to the Maximoff’s to order the new bed that he and Bucky had talked over with Runa, something that would fit three instead of two, with a bit of room to spare. While he did that, Bucky remained behind, looking through the Montgomery Wards and Sears and Roebuck’s catalogues that Scott kept handy for people to order from. Scott could get quite a few things shipped to his store, but there were some things, in some quantities, that were simply beyond the scope of his supply. Things like ordering mattresses and bedding for sixteen bunks.
Bucky was just leaving the mercantile when he was stopped by Reverend Fury.
“Mister Barnes.” The Reverend said by way of greeting. “I was hoping to catch either you or Mister Rogers before you left town.”
“Reverend.” Bucky tipped his hat slightly. “I was on my way to see you. What can I help you with?”
“I hear you’re about ready to start rebuilding your ranch buildings.”
“Just about.” Bucky agreed. “Mister Parker promised the first load of materials should be in tomorrow, and the men we’re hiring should arrive shortly after that.”
“Hiring?”
“Runa wants a fancier house than we can build ourselves, so she brought out someone to design a place, and we’re hiring a crew to get it all built.”
“You’re going to do your neighbors out of a barn raising?”
Bucky grinned. “As a matter of fact, no we are not. I was going to stop by and see if you would make an announcement in church that we’re going to have a barn raising on the eighth, with a bit of a celebration to follow. It’s the first building we’re going to put up.”
“It’s not a farm or a ranch without a barn.” Reverend Fury agreed. “I’d be more than happy to make the announcement. I’ll spread the word a bit beforehand as well.”
“Thank you, Reverend. We’re also planning on hosting a barn dance once the house is finished, but that won’t be for another while.”
Reverend Fury smiled. “Trying to give this town plenty to look forward to?”
“Well, that, the fact that we’re going to want to thank everyone who comes out to help us, and that we may also want to give folks something to talk about other than the trial and the events leading up to it.”
He nodded sagely. “Replacing one brand of talk with another more benign sort is better motivation than most would have.”
“I also want a chance to get Steve and Runa out on that dancefloor together.” Bucky confessed, “He missed his chance on the Fourth of July, and deserves another one.”
“Ah, and we find the ulterior motive.”
“There are a lot of motives here, Reverend. They all boil down to us just wanting to have fun and celebrate with our neighbors when you get right down to it.”
“And that is the purest and best motivation, particularly when compared to the others.”
~*~
The following day, the preparations for the rebuild were in full swing. The men all worked to clean up what little remained of the burnt-out husks of the old buildings, though most of it had been cleaned up already by that point, but Steve and Bucky wanted the land to be well prepared for the rebuilding.
Then Ben Parker and his nephew Peter arrived, each driving a wagon loaded down with lumber, mostly for the barn. They made several trips, delivering load after load of lumber, and Iris made certain that they had plenty to snack on when they weren’t driving or unloading; particularly Peter, who was at the age where he was a veritable bottomless pit.
While everyone else worked on cooking or unloading and stacking lumber and supplies, Runa, Wanda, Titus, and Happy Sam all worked to pack up the house. Runa and Happy Sam were only allowed to do the lightest of the work, but they still worked hard to get everything prepared for the house to be torn down the following day. Titus and Wanda worked together to get the trunks and most of the furniture outside, save for the beds, the chairs and tables from the dining room, and the stove from the kitchen. The pantry was cleaned out completely, all of the food stuffs packed up and taken to be kept beside the springhouse, near to where their outdoor kitchen would be set up.
The day after that Bucky went to town to get the order of canvas and ropes for the tents, while everyone worked at cleaning out the rest of the house. When Bucky returned a tent was erected for Runa, Iris, and Wanda to share, and another was place over the outdoor kitchen to protect Iris from the burning Texas sun while she worked. Most of the furniture was covered over with canvas to protect it from nightly dew, and two of the mattresses from the beds were placed in the tent the women would share. Steve and Bucky were to share the other mattress in their cramped tent, Titus and Happy Sam the other. There had been some ribbing about Titus being the oldest on the ranch, but he merely gave a tight, dry smile, and worked just as hard as the rest of them, which caused the good-natured teasing to come to an end. Despite his hard work, everyone knew he wasn’t used to roughing it as the others were, and his (slightly) more advanced age would make sleeping on the ground harder for him. In addition, everyone had heard Runa’s full story by that point, and knew that Runa saw him as a father figure, that the man had been in her life since she had been born and had loved her and cared for her as best he could from his position as a servant and then as a superior. They respected that, and accorded him the same respect that they would have shown Runa’s father, were he still alive.
Junior was the first person to call him Papa Titus, but he was not the last. By Saturday afternoon everyone was calling him Papa Titus, and he was resigned to it.
“I seem to have adopted an entire ranch.” He drawled at dinner that afternoon.
Runa got up from her seat, and went to place a kiss on his cheek. “It means we’ve accepted you and this is your home now, Papa.”
Titus looked up at her, and there was tender warmth in his eyes. “You don’t have to call me that, Runa.”
“Well, I’m going to. They’re right, you’ve been like a father to me since Uncle Lars died, and I’m certain that Papa wouldn’t mind me calling you by the title now.”
“He’s probably glad that you kept watch over her.” Steve agreed.
“I know I would be, in his place.” Dum Dum agreed.
“Amen.” Sam agreed quietly.
“All right, then I’ll be Papa Titus.” He looked around the table sternly, “But I still intend to work alongside you all. I haven’t sat around a day in my life, and I’m not about to start now.”
There were more than a few smiles at his declaration.
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Steve grinned as Runa returned to her seat.
After dinner, they began the process of dismantling the old house, setting aside the materials that could be used over again, which were precious few. The house was an old one, and while it had been comfortable, it was not the best contrasted structure. Time had weathered and eaten away at the boards, until most were suitable only for kindling and firewood. And so, bit by bit, the old house was torn down to make room for the new.