Moving from Maryland

by Christine Sterling

  “Daisy,” Gracie exclaimed. “What brings you by?”

  “George got hurt today at school. He caught his hand in the door.” George held out his hand for her to examine.

  Gracie could definitely see the mark where his finger was caught. “Does this hurt?” she asked, straightening his finger.

  George hissed. “A bit.”

  “You didn’t break it. But it will be swollen for a while.” She looked at George. “Let’s get those scratches cleaned up.”

  “I’ll have his father stop by to pick him up,” Daisy called, heading out the door. “I need to get back to the schoolhouse. I left Ellie Mae in charge, and heaven knowns what it might look like now.”

  Gracie led George into the examination room. “How did you manage to do this, George?” Gracie cleaned the scrapes on his finger as she listened to George explain how the accident happened. Once he was done, she directed him to soak his finger in cold water while she cut some linen strips to wrap it in.

  She had just finished wrapping his finger when she heard the bell signifying the front door of the clinic opening.

  “I’ll be right out,” Gracie called. She turned and John appeared in the doorway. His face was dirt covered and his pants were torn. Tears flowed down his face, washing away the dirt where they traveled.

  “John!” Gracie said. “What’s wrong?” John ran over and gave her a hug. Gracie smoothed his hair as the boy sobbed. “I can’t help if you don’t tell me.” She held the boy out at arm’s length and knelt on the ground in front of him.

  “Whitey called me a foundling because my ma died, and Pa isn’t around much. Said no one wants me.”

  “I’m sorry, John. That was very mean of Whitey. You definitely aren’t … that word.” She cupped his face in her hands and used her thumbs to wipe away some of the dirt on his cheeks. “Then what happened?”

  John took a couple of deep breaths between the tears. Then the hiccups started as he tried to speak. “I clobbered him.” Gracie tried not to laugh. “When Mrs. Daisy called us back into the classroom, I ran away.”

  “So, Mrs. Daisy doesn’t know you are here?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, John, let’s get you cleaned up and then we have to tell Mrs. Daisy you are here.”

  “I can run and do that,” George said. “My hand is all wrapped up now.”

  Gracie nodded and George headed out the door. She lifted John under the arms and placed him gently on the table so that his legs were dangling off the side.

  “Is this really about Whitey calling you that name?” John didn’t say anything. He looked at his hands as they picked at the hole in the fabric where he tore it. Gracie left him to go get a cloth and a pitcher of water. She wet the cloth and went to removing the dirt and grime from John’s face.

  “He’s going to marry her,” John finally whispered.

  “Who?”

  “I heard them talking last night. I snuck down to get a cookie and they were talking in Pa’s office.”

  Gracie stiffened. “Your Aunt Louisa?”

  John nodded and sniffled once more.

  Gracie moved to take a look at the scrape on his leg. She tried to keep her emotions under control. Why should she care if Barrett Wright was to get married? What was he to her?

  She had seen him, along with Louisa, walking through the town; mostly to the mercantile. After which Barrett piled up boxes filled with goods into the wagon.

  She was walking home from seeing Mayor Winthrop as she passed by his wagon. He sent a glance her way, but he didn’t acknowledge her. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he had been sucking on lemons.

  John’s voice revived her from her thoughts. He sounded so small. Gracie realized he was just a little boy but sitting there he looked even smaller than his 7 years.

  “I’m afraid of going home.”

  “Whatever for? You are surrounded by people that love and care for you.”

  “But I don’t want Pa to thrash me for fighting.”

  “He wouldn’t do that. Would he?”

  “I dunno. He gets really loud when he is angry.”

  “Well then, how about if we tell him not to get loud.” Gracie finished cleaning his scraped knee and put some salve on it. “All done. Feel better?”

  John nodded, wiping his nose. Gracie handed him a handkerchief and he blew his nose rather loudly. He looked at her with blue eyes that were red and glassy. “Can I stay here until it is time to go home.”

  Gracie looked at the clock. School was just letting out, so there wasn’t any point in sending John back. She nodded. “Would you like some milk? Or a snack?”

  John hopped down from the table. “Can I have it with Mr. Bonesy?”

  “Absolutely.” She was glad she didn’t have any appointments for the afternoon. She quickly tidied up and then headed upstairs to get John a glass of milk and a piece of jelly bread.

  Chapter 6

  Barrett looked at his watch. The boys should have been home by now. The sun would be setting in the next hour or so. He hoped that they weren’t in any trouble. The boys were going to walk home today so that Barrett could spend more time with the cattle.

  He saw a cloud of dust in the distance. A wagon was coming up the road to the ranch. He wasn’t expecting anyone. He lifted his hands to shield his eyes, and squinted, hoping he might be able to make out who it might be.

  “Looks like Reverend Brown and his wife,” Jasper said.

  “How do you know?”

  “I’m using that fancy spyglass Smithy had. It lets me look at the mommas from far away.”

  Smithy and his toys. That man had more odd and unusual things than anyone Barrett had ever known. They watched the couple pull up to the house and Barrett went over to greet them.

  “Reverend? What brings you out this way?” Barrett said, greeting them at the wagon.

  “’Tis those lads o’yours,” Mrs. Brown spoke in her Scottish brogue. “I just saw Mrs. Daisy Rockford at the mercantile. What a saint she is, taking care of all those young’uns.”

  “Adeline,” Reverend Brown admonished, “he doesn’t need to hear all that.”

  “Well tell ‘im yourself, then,” Mrs. Brown huffed.

  Barrett bit his tongue. He didn’t want to laugh at the couple. They were very well regarded in the community. “Tell me what?”

  “One of your boys was hurt at school today. And the other one ran away after a fight,” Reverend Brown explained.

  “What?” Were they okay? Which son ran away? Where did he go? So many questions to be answered that Barrett didn’t know where to begin.

  “I dunno which lad it was, but Daisy said she had taken one of them over to Dr. Pickett.”

  Barrett groaned.

  All he had been hearing about for the past week was the dinner they had at Gracie’s house. They even begged Mrs. Parker to make fried apples. He had never had them before, but even he had to admit they were very good.

  “We told Daisy that we would come by and tell you, since we were on our way out here. We were going to check up on the Elliot’s.”

  The Elliot’s were one of the families further down the road. Barrett recalled hearing the patriarch of the family had passed away.

  “Please give them my regards. And thank you for stopping by.” Barrett tipped his hat. The preacher nodded and slapped the horse with his reins.

  “Giddy-up,” he said as the horse turned the buckboard around. Mrs. Brown gave a quick wave as Louisa came out on the porch.

  “Who was that, Barrett?” she asked.

  “Just the reverend and his wife.”

  Louisa looked confused. “Why would they stop by? And why didn’t you invite them in. It would have been a perfect time to talk about our wedding.”

  Barrett tried to keep the scowl from his face. Louisa pressed him the night before about marriage. She said she wouldn’t have traveled all the way out to Nevada unless that was his intention. Did she misread anything in his letter?
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  They had only exchanged two letters. He couldn’t think of anything that he had written to give her the impression of marriage.

  Yes, he did entertain it. But that was before the petite firecracker with the dark hair came to town. Now he knew he couldn’t marry anyone until he got Gracie fully eradicated from his mind.

  Louisa wasn’t the same woman he remembered from the last time she visited. There was something …almost harder, about her. He remembered, Louisa and Eliza being as different as night and day, but now, Louisa had an edge to her.

  Since she arrived, his house had been in an uproar. Mrs. Parker didn’t cook like Louisa was used to. The weather was too hot. The boys were too loud. The cattle too smelly. But she still pressed for marriage.

  When she pressed him the night before, he grumbled some excuse, which she took for agreement.

  “About that, Louisa…”

  “Boss?” Jasper said, riding up beside the house. “Need me to go get the boys?”

  “The boys?” Louisa piped up.

  “They got into a bit of trouble in school today.”

  “What have those boys gotten themselves into now? They run all over the place like a bunch of savages.”

  “Enough, Louisa,” Barrett said, raising his hand in a stopping motion towards her. “I won’t have you talking that way about my boys. I know they are a handful, but again, they are just boys.”

  “If Eliza was alive, I bet they wouldn’t be in trouble.”

  Barrett pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache forming. “Boss?” Jasper asked again.

  Barrett waved him away without looking up. “It’s alright, Jasper, I’ll go get them.” He called Jasper back before the man could round the side of the house. “Can you hitch up the buckboard?” Jasper nodded and headed toward the barn.

  “Give me a few minutes and I’ll go with you,” Louisa said.

  “No,” Barrett called after her. “I’ll go alone. I think I need to talk to the boys.”

  Louisa’s face went from upset to very pleased. She gave him a little smirk. “You are right, Barrett. It is probably best if you give them the news alone. Once I’m their mother, things will definitely improve around here.” She gave a little swish of her skirt and went inside the house.

  Barrett sighed. Instead of going inside as he planned, he went to the water pump and splashed cool water on his neck to alleviate some of the pressure.

  There was about an hour of daylight left when he pulled in front of the clinic. He could see, through the window, the oil lamps were lit and John was talking to that skeleton. Why John was fascinated with the old thing he would never know. When Doc Wicks was there the children would stay clear of it, but now it appeared the children flocked to it to be told stories of organs, bones and muscles.

  He was about to knock on the clinic door when the door flew open and George stood there looking at him. His son’s hand was wrapped up in linen. It appeared three times the normal size.

  “Did you hurt yourself?” he asked.

  “Yes, Pa,” George replied. “I wasn’t watching where I put my hand and it got caught in the door.” He waved the linen mitt at his father. “Gracie wrapped it for me, so the fingers won’t move. It should be fine to take off by Sunday.”

  “Uh-huh,” Barrett said, scratching his chin. “All three of you boys here?”

  “Yes, Pa,” George said moving aside so Barrett could enter the clinic.

  He refused to come into the building since the last time he was there – when Sam fell out of the tree. He heard laughter upstairs and then the sound of a door opening and closing. Footsteps came down from the area above. He looked up to see Gracie descending the steps. She was barefooted and Barrett felt his throat go dry.

  “I thought—” Gracie began. “Oh, it is you.” She stopped at the bottom step and looked at him.

  “Disappointed?”

  “No,” she said.

  “I admire your honesty. It looks like you’ve been in a snowstorm.” He pointed to her dress.

  Gracie looked down. She had flour all over the green fabric. It was on her hands and when she touched her hair John giggled. “We were making cookies upstairs.”

  “We?” Barrett asked.

  “Yes. Sam, George and I.”

  Barrett looked at John. “You didn’t want to help?”

  John looked down. “I wanted to stay here and talk to Mr. Bonesy.” He pointed to the skeleton.

  Barrett noticed that John’s shirt was covered with dirt and he had a hole in his pants. “What happened to your clothes?” John sniffed. “Son?”

  John murmured something that didn’t quite reach Barrett’s ears.

  “Tell him,” Gracie coaxed.

  John looked at Barrett. “I got in a fight today at school.”

  “A fight?” Barrett ran his fingers though his hair. John had been acting out for a while, but he had never been involved in a fight.

  “Yes, Pa. But I had a good reason,” John pleaded.

  “Okay, we will talk about that.” Barrett wasn’t sure what to say. Eliza was so good at handling the children, but now… he realized they really did need a mother.

  “Can I help you bake cookies now, Gracie?” John asked.

  “No, we are done for the night. But I can cover you with flour.” Gracie reached for John and he shrieked. She rubbed her flour-coated hands in his hair. “There you go, you imp. Now you are covered in flour, too.”

  John beamed. He gave Gracie a hard hug around her legs. “Are the cookies done?” he asked.

  “Not yet,” Gracie told the boy. She looked at Barrett. “Are you in a hurry? They will be done in a few more minutes.”

  “What kind did you make?”

  “Schneckennudeln.”

  “Schneckel-what?”

  Gracie laughed. “They are called Schnec-kenn-u-deln.” Gracie pronounced every syllable. “It means small noodle in German. There was a girl in my dormitory that would sneak into the kitchen and make them every Saturday. Finally, she stopped sneaking because everyone would gather Saturday afternoon to wait for her.”

  “They smell good,” Barrett said.

  “Thank you.” Gracie pointed her toe and tilted it back and forth. Barrett noticed she had very tiny feet. “I made these with cinnamon and sugar. Are you going to stay?”

  Barrett shrugged his shoulders. “I guess we can stay for a few. This way it will give me a chance to talk to the boys about what happened today.”

  John started to head upstairs, but Gracie stopped him. “You need to stay here and tell your Pa what happened today.” The boy looked frightened. “Remember what we talked about. Use your words.” John nodded, so she turned her attention to Barrett.

  Her cheeks were covered in flour. She had streaks of it in her dark hair and there was a touch of flour along her lip. He wanted to reach out and brush that spot away. He wondered if she would taste like cinnamon and sugar.

  “I’ll send Sam down. You can use the waiting room or the exam room. I’ll bring the cookies down, unless you would like a cup of coffee.”

  “Coffee would be welcomed.”

  “Then just come upstairs when you are ready. I have a table up here if you would rather talk around that.”

  “We can do that.”

  Gracie twirled on her foot. “Can you please lock the door and pull the shade? I’m closed for the rest of the night unless there is an emergency.”

  Barrett watched her bound up the stairs and disappear behind the door at the top. He stood there watching for a moment more before George tapped his arm.

  “You alright, Pa?”

  Barrett swallowed. “Yes, son. I’m alright. Let’s talk about today.”

  He came. He came! He didn’t send Jasper or any of the other ranch hands. Gracie was almost giddy. Why, she didn’t know. But there was something about the rancher she found … so handsome, even if he did irritate her to no end.

  However, it didn’t make any difference since he was engag
ed to that woman. Be nice, Gracie, she warned herself.

  Gracie poured a cup of coffee and made herself some tea. She poured milk for the boys and placed the glasses on the table. It only took a few minutes for Barrett, George and John to appear in the kitchen.

  “I’ll pull the cookies out to cool and then I’ll leave you be.”

  “Actually, I’d like it if you could stay. I think it would make John feel better. He told me that I’m too loud.” Gracie nodded and poured a splash of milk in her tea. “How did you get milk and butter?” Barrett asked.

  “Patients. Not everyone can pay, so they just give me something for my services.” Gracie put the milk pitcher back in the ice box. “I think I have enough where I could eat ham, eggs and toast for the rest of the year. Plus, I have enough wood for the fire.”

  “So, people pay you in meat and dairy.”

  Grace gave a little smile. “It makes them feel good and I’m more than happy to take what they offer. I wouldn’t want to insult them.” She pulled the tray of cookies from the oven and placed them on the top to cool.

  “She got some of Mrs. Brown’s strawberry preserves,” John piped up.

  “Did she now?” Barrett looked at Gracie and winked. “Mrs. Brown doesn’t share those with just anyone.”

  “She put it on bread for me. It was good,” John said, drinking his milk.

  “How come I didn’t get any,” Sam cried.

  Gracie patted his hand. “Because you had enough dough when we were making cookies.”

  “Thank you for taking care of the boys today.”

  “It is my pleasure. I enjoy their company.” Gracie sat at the table and sipped her tea. “They remind me of my own brothers.”

  “I bet your brothers weren’t this much of a handful.”

  Gracie laughed. “Oh, they were much worse. They would leave fish parts in the garden and all the cats would come around. Plus, the stench was terrible!” The cookies were cool enough that she slipped several on a plate and placed it on the table.

  “What else did they do?”

  “They were just boys. They did the normal boy things – chased frogs, chased girls, chased fish.”