“Tell me why you took us in.”
Jed met Thomas’s gaze.
“That day you saw us at the train, in that big building.”
Jed scratched his cheek. “Well, I don’t rightly know how to put it into words.”
“I mean really. I wanna know.”
“I felt this deep desire in my heart and just knew that it was what the Lord wanted me to do.” He paused. “And I also knew that if I didn’t take you two with me, it’d be a long ride home.”
“I didn’t think we were ever gonna get chosen. I did want to, but then I didn’t. Like I wondered if we’d get somebody mean. Or if they would take Josiah without me.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that now.”
“Are we staying with you forever?”
“That’s the agreement I made.” Jed nodded. “Until you get married and make a home of your own.”
“Well, you’re not married.”
Jed rolled his eyes and pulled back Thomas’s sheets. “Come on, let’s get these two moving.”
~*~
Grace paced the length of the porch. Horses appeared beyond the bushes. Her heart thudded against her ribs. Two men on horseback rode toward the house but went on by. Her shoulders slumped. Did Mr. Green change his mind?
The corn had been carried to the shed, another three dresses ironed, and two batches of fresh dough lay in the bowls to rise. More than once she stepped off the porch and headed toward the doctor’s office, only to tell herself she needed patience.
The trot of hooves sounded around the bend. A fine carriage came into view. Two handsome looking sorrels pranced down the road. Mr. Talbert again. The tweed vest he wore matched the silky burnt umber sheen of his horses. The carved abalone buttons on that vest most likely cost more than any dress she’d ever purchased. He stopped the carriage in front of the house and removed his hat. “How are you this lovely day?”
Grace resisted the temptation to bolt inside. “Doing well, but I’m very busy.”
He loosened the reins. “Didn’t get a chance to speak with you at the festival. Did you enjoy yourself?”
“I did.”
“Well, that’s about as exciting as it gets around Sheldon. But I did have a bite of your apple pie. My favorite, of course.” He winked. “Sorry you didn’t win, but maybe next year.”
Grace thought to offer him some corn, but she didn’t want to encourage him.
Mr. Talbert shifted his weight and relaxed further in his seat. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry.
Grace stepped toward the front door. “I think I hear Edith calling. Good day.”
The clomping of horse hooves echoed on the dirt path. The work wagon came around the bend.
Her heart pulsed. She scampered down the steps, past the fine carriage and toward the road.
Griffin sat next to Jed on the seat. Thomas was in the back. The red and purple around Thomas’s eye matched the shade of canned plums. He smiled when he saw her, and the corner of his mouth lifted higher as he prepared to get down.
Griffin hopped to the ground, greeted her, and walked around to the back of the wagon.
Jed dismounted from the other side and reached in back to lift Josiah.
As the boy’s face came into view, Grace smothered a gasp.
His nose was black and blue and swollen. Josiah’s gaze met hers, and although he didn’t smile, the twinkle in his eye announced he was happy to see her.
“I’ll carry him into the house. Doctor said his ribs aren’t broken, but they’re mighty sore. I hate to move him, but after I get him back home, he ain’t moving for a good while.”
Grace ran to the house and held the front door open.
“Need some help there, Mr. Green?” Hail Talbert called from his carriage.
Jed looked up and so did Griffin. Both of their faces hardened. “We got it.” Jed replied.
Mr. Talbert began to ask questions from his fancy carriage, his voice loud.
Grace waved a farewell and then shut the front door. The sound of the carriage leaving barely registered. She got several blankets and the pillow from her bed to make a pallet on the floor. Two childhood books and several from Edith’s collection had been placed on the kitchen table.
Thomas picked up one and flipped through the pages.
“I’ll take good care of them, Mr. Green.” Grace placed her hands on the back of Thomas’s shoulders. “I promise.”
“I know you will.” Jed dipped his head toward her. “That’s why I asked.”
“I’ve got salt pork and apple fritters for supper if the boys stay that long.”
Thomas looked at Josiah and then at Jed.
“Perhaps the boys will allow me to read them a story,” Grace murmured.
“We best be going. Hope not to be gone more than a couple hours.”
Grace took a step and knocked one of the books off the table. She and Jed reached for it at the same time. He handed it to her, and when their gazes met she blushed as if Jed had read her thoughts.
Griffin knelt and whispered something that made Josiah giggle.
Jed placed his hand over Josiah’s. “I have to make a delivery. I need Griffin with me.” Jed lifted Thomas’s chin. “I will be back in a few hours. It’s important that you listen to Miss Cantrell and do what she says.” Jed and Griffin left.
Thomas pushed the curtains aside to peer out the window.
“Will you read me a story?” Josiah called to Grace.
“Sure. Just a minute.”
Through the cloudy windowpane, the wagon grew smaller in the distance.
“Should we save them some apple fritters or eat them all ourselves?” Grace asked Thomas.
“We should share,” said Thomas.
“You think a lot of your father, don’t you?”
“He’s not my father. He just took us in because he felt sorry for us.”
14
The wagon jostled through the stream.
“Where do these people live?” Griffin finally erupted. “Ain’t nothin’ out here.”
“Farm country. Fertile land around these parts.”
“Why couldn’t they pick it up at the shop?”
“He said it’d be a while before he could find his way back into town. They aren’t too much for mixing with people.”
“Who’re we actually takin’ this to?”
“The Reifstacks.”
Griffin tore off his hat and slapped it against the side of his leg. “Why didn’t you tell me that back there? You actually want me to be five feet away from those—” Griffin’s jaw clenched.
“You’ll have to trust me. To show you how to pound iron. To run a business.” He angled his head. “And to work with people.”
“You gonna make them boys a slingshot too?”
“Paxton Hubbard has done all right, and he’s not so bad. Just needed someone to accept him. Sometimes you have to heap burning coals.”
Griffin scrunched his face. “What?”
“The Bible says to love those who’ve hurt us. Being good to an enemy is like placing a pile of hot coals on their head.”
“Don’t make no sense.”
It would someday. Although Griffin’s loose temper had stiffened the hairs on the back of Jed’s neck more than a time or two, Jed had discovered an honest, hard-working young man who wanted nothing more than to find his place. His place in a world that had given him very little. Griffin didn’t trust people, and if Jed had traveled down the same path, he probably wouldn’t either.
The property extended for miles on a flat terrain. Jed found the area too remote. The small home had been built many years ago. But it had been made for one or two sharecroppers to bunk in, not a family of five. Abner Reifstack toiled every day for years on land he’d never own. Seemed like a lot of laborious energy not put to effective use.
Jed pulled the wagon to a stop.
One of the Reifstack boys tended to the oxen just outside the barn. The other two pushed a pull saw acros
s a large timber. All three stopped what they were doing. Curtains pulled back from inside the house. A moment later, Mrs. Reifstack stepped outside. She dried her hands on her apron and looked warily at her unexpected guests. Long, ratty hair had been pulled haphazardly into a bun, loose strands hanging.
The boy with the oxen turned his head and hollered toward the opened barn. A voice yelled back from inside. A moment later Abner emerged. He stood in the entrance, a bucket in one hand. The knees on his faded overalls had been worn threadbare. He plopped the bucket down and walked toward the wagon. His limp had grown worse over the years and he had a vengeful gleam in his eye every time Jed encountered him. He bellowed at the boys to get back to work. “Well, Jedidiah Green, what brings you out this way?”
“I got your hay knife finished. Thought I’d bring it out to you.”
“Oh, you made a special trip? No reason for that,” he chuckled, “although hard tellin’ when I could get to ya.”
“I figured you could use it, and I needed to talk to you anyway.”
“Oh, really. What about?”
“Well,” Jed cleared his throat. “It’s about your boys.”
Abner’s face hardened. “All right. What about ’em?”
“Seems like your three had a run-in with my apprentice during the festival. And yesterday, with the two young boys I’ve taken in.”
“Now, I know about the festival up in Sheldon. Sheriff had done been out here to talk with me. Don’t know nothin’ about a few days ago, though.”
Griffin’s eyes were riveted on the farmer.
“The two boys living with me—one is twelve; the other six. Both small and frail, not much they could do to defend themselves against stocky lads like your boys. They claim they were jumped walking home from school. Said it was the same three they encountered at the festival. I’ve found no reason for them not to be honest. They were hurt pretty bad and shook up too.” Jed paused. “Did your boys come to town yesterday?”
Reifstack’s eyes flickered, then his jaw tightened. “Well, I doubt it was them. They aren’t angels by any means, but they’d get a whoopin’ if I heard them takin’ ’vantage of the puny.”
Mrs. Reifstack stepped toward the wagon. She looked tired and worn. She was not yet thirty, but a hard life had done her in. She paused before Griffin and folded her arms. “Don’t know what you talkin’ about, Mister. My boys were here with me yesterday. All day. Ain’t that right, Billy? Sounds like someone’s a little ’shamed he got his butt whooped at the festival. Now, he’s comin’ around here and makin’ accusations.”
Abner Reifstack gestured with one hand. “Lena, go on in the house and let me handle this.”
“Why? What you gonna do? Don’t you go lashin’ my boys on account of this no-good New York scum.” She looked at Griffin, a devilish smile on her worn face. Her voice lowered to a grumble. “Don’t have no Mama or Papa. He can’t be all that important to anybody.”
“Lena!” Reifstack jabbed his finger toward the house. “Get back on the porch and hush your mouth.”
She laughed and strolled toward the house.
Jed had rarely seen such defiance and bitterness come from a woman.
Abner Reifstack turned his head to one side. “Billy, get yourself on over here.”
Billy came forward, his bare feet caked with dirt. His stained pants had a big rip in the knee, and the hem lay about two inches above his ankles.
Abner whistled and then gestured for the two to come.
Billy grabbed ahold of the top of his suspenders. “Yes, Pappy.”
“Jedidiah Green seems to think you and your brothers had another mix-up with those orphans. You know anything about that?”
Billy shook his head.
The two younger brothers walked up. Neither had shirts on under their overalls. Sweat mixed with dirt beaded on their forehead, their dusty cheeks reddened with the blaring heat from the sun.
“What about you boys? You up in Sheldon yesterday botherin’ Mr. Green’s take-ins?”
“No, Pappy,” the older one spoke. “We’s here workin’ yesterday.”
Reifstack nodded and then turned to Jed. “Well, you heard ’em. Perhaps your orphans mistaken my boys for someone else.”
“I hear you, but I don’t think so.” Jed stepped down from the wagon. “My apprentice and I will get this hay knife out of the back for you.”
Griffin didn’t move.
Billy stepped toward Jed and helped him unload it.
“Where do you want it?” Jed asked.
“Over yonder is fine.” Reifstack directed. “Somewhere up against the barn.”
Jed and Billy placed the heavy piece against the barn wall, and then Jed extended his hand toward Billy. “Thank you, young man.”
Billy looked at Jed and then reached out and shook.
Reifstack motioned to one of the other boys. “Go on inside and fetch me—”
Jed interrupted. “No need to pay me or trade. This here’s on me.”
Griffin brought his hands to his face and propped his elbows on his thighs. His fingers gripped the roots of his hair.
“But this’ll be the last service I do for you, your family, or Mr. Jeffries.”
Griffin’s hands relaxed and he looked up.
Abner Reifstack’s face paled, and his eyes dulled. “Well, where’s Mr. Jeffries supposed to have me take his farm equipment? The shop in Carter’s Ridge done closed up. The smith’s shoulder done wore out.”
“Heard about that. Happened last year.” He gestured toward Griffin. “Hopefully I’ve got me a good ten years at least before I hand it over.”
“Is that all you got to offer?”
“Well, Baxterville has a blacksmith and a joiner. Fort Worth has several. So does Wellington.”
“I can’t be traveling that far.” Abner shook his head and seemed nervous. “Mr. Jeffries ain’t gonna be happy ’bout this. Not one bit.”
“Perhaps you should pray nothing breaks down. But I can’t,”—Jed paused—“I won’t support someone who’s injured someone who belongs to me. Especially more than once. They were walking home from school. Both half the strength and size of one of yours. That’s meanness, Abner. And I’m obligated to see to their protection and welfare as long as I’m living.”
A breeze whipped through the yard. The stiffened silence between the two men spoke more than shouting. A loose board around the window on the house flapped with the sudden air. An ox lifted his head and looked their way.
Billy opened his mouth to speak.
Abner Reifstack’s gaze bored into Jed’s. “You hush up, boy, and get back to your animal.” Without moving his head, Reifstack’s eyes shifted to the two shirtless boys. They ran back to their work.
Jed tugged on the brim of his hat. He pulled the wagon forward and circled it around.
Mrs. Reifstack was still on the porch, and daggers glared from her eyes.
They drove farther. Jed’s tension released from his shoulders.
Griffin relaxed against the back rest. “So, that’s what you call heaping burning coals?”
“Yep.”.
“If you think that’ll be the end of hearing from those boys, you’re crazy.”
“Whoa.” Jed pulled on the reins and the horses stopped.
“What’re we doing now?” Griffin asked.
Jed climbed down and to the other side. “You’re going to drive the wagon.”
“Now?” Griffin asked.
Jed pointed toward the driver’s seat.
Griffin grabbed the reins and then froze. “What happens if the horses don’t move?”
“You have to show them who’s boss. But you can’t bully them into obeying.”
Griffin swallowed and then exhaled.
“You’ll do fine.” Jed patted him on the back. “And if you don’t, there ain’t nobody out in these parts anyway.”
~*~
Grace pulled a leaf of lamb’s ear from the plant and handed it to Thomas.
&nbs
p; His fingers swept over the soft, furry leaf. A bright smile emerged. “Never had a garden in New York.”
“You can use a few to line the insides of your shoes. A trick my pa taught me.”
“Can we get some for Josiah and Griffin? And Mr. Green too?”
“Sure. Why don’t you pick some for them while I grab some rosehips and chamomile?” She made her way through the herb garden, stopping to pluck the chives that relentlessly insisted on invading her pennyroyal.
“My mother likes chamomile tea.” Thomas knelt in the dirt, his profile perfectly highlighted with the tall larkspur’s delicate blue flowers and deep green leaves.
“So, your mother is alive?”
Thomas’s hands froze. “Well, I’m not sure. She was real sick. One day I came home from market and she was gone.”
Grace felt her chest tighten. “I bet you miss her very much.”
“A lady and a man came and took me to the mission. That’s when he gave me my book. He said the book was all they found, but we had a few more things. Like a picture of her on a table by the bed. Wish I still had it. I’ve started to forget what she looked like.”
“Well, you have her memories.”
“That’s what Mr. Green said.” He stroked the leaves he had collected. “I wish you were my mom.”
Grace almost released the handful of herbs. Her heart warmed with a tingling sensation.
“I like Mr. Green and all. He’s just kinda grumpy sometimes. But then sometimes he’s not.” He picked up a clump of dirt and squished it. “Can’t figure out why he took us. I keep askin’ but he won’t tell me.”
Grace dropped the chives into her basket. “What do you mean?”
“Well, he ain’t got no wife. Griffin said Mr. Green took him because he was after help in the shop.” He sat back on his heels. “This man from the train got mad at Mr. Green. Said he couldn’t take me and Josiah if he didn’t take Griffin too.”
“He seems to take good care of you and Josiah.”
“I’m starting to worry he might change his mind and think we’re too much for him.” Thomas pulled a tall weed, tossed it aside, and then stood. “We better get back to check on Josiah.”
“Edith is watching him. He should sleep for a while.” Grace brushed the dirt from her skirt. “I need to look in on the hens. Something has been spooking them the last few nights.”
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