He had barely entered the cabin and placed the snowshoes besides the door, when Theresa came into the sitting room to greet him and spotted the wooden contraptions on the floor. He watched as recognition filled her eyes and she backed away from him.
"You can't possibly be thinking about going out in that blizzard Jeremiah?" she asked him, dreading what he was about to tell her.
Mindful of the two small girls playing quietly with each other in front of the fireplace, he took a hold of her arm and led her into the kitchen.
"I'm going to try and make it into town Theresa. If I can't make it that far, maybe I can make it the Jennings place and buy some supplies from him. It shouldn't take me more than two days to get to town and back. The meat from the sows should give you enough meat to last until I return. While I'm gone, I don't want you to worry about caring for the animals. I've left enough grain and water with them to last until I get home. There's enough wood stacked beside the kitchen door for another month or so, so you won't have to worry about cutting any." He told her quietly.
"No Jeremiah! Just the other morning you were telling me that you could barely see a few inches in front of you and if you hadn't known how far the barn was from the house that you would have never found it! What's going to happen with you're out there on the open prairie, with nothing to guide you but the horses! I won't have it! I won't have you going out in this cold and freezing to death, because you couldn't find your way!" Theresa told him, her voice growing ever increasingly louder as she talked.
"Theresa, remember the children" Jeremiah told her sternly.
"You remember the children! What am I suppose to tell them, when you don't come back? That their pa died because he was too ignorant to know better than to go out in a blizzard!" Theresa sobbed uncontrollably, fear sweeping through her. Jeremiah winced at her harsh words. He knew that she didn't mean what she had just said, but the words hurt just the same. "I'm going Theresa. There's nothing I wouldn't give to not have to go out in that blizzard and leave you and the children alone, but I see no other choice! I will not allow you or the girls to sit here and starve to death, without trying to do something to prevent it! Now, why don't you finish cooking breakfast while I get ready for my trip." He told her firmly.
Theresa choked back the harsh words she wanted to say, knowing it was useless. Jeremiah was like a bear when it came to doing what he thought was right. As much as she hated the thought of him going out into that freezing weather and getting lost, she knew he had no other choice. Making him feel worse about leaving her and the girls behind could only worry him even more and perhaps cause him to do something stupid in an effort to hurry back home to her. She would never forgive herself if something happened to him because of something mean she had said to him.
"I'm, I'm sorry, Jeremiah. It just frightens me so to think of you being out in the cold. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." She told him, wrapping her arms around him tightly.
"I know, Theresa. I know. I should have never brought you and the girls out here. We had a fine life back in Centerville, I should have been contented working for my pa." Jeremiah told her, remorse filling him as he thought of all the suffering he had caused her.
"Now listen here, Jeremiah Stene McCloud, I'll not have you talking like that! You weren't happy living under your pa's thumb all the time! That's why we moved out here! So's you could have the farm you always dreamed of! I wouldn't have it any other way! As long as I have you and the children, there's nothing else in this world I need! I love you and my place is with you. Do you understand?" Theresa told him vehemently.
Jeremiah gazed into her tear-filled eyes and again felt amazed at the love he saw written there. "I love you, Mrs. McCloud."
"And I love you."
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