“Julie!” Joel shouts again, chuckling to himself. “I tell you. She’s in her own little world.”
Soon, Julie comes out the door and walks quickly toward the wagon. “A little patience would be appreciated.” She glares as he helps her up.
Albert looks back once, and soon he gets the horses moving with the wagon following close behind.
I’m beside Joel with Hazel sitting beside me. Julie is muttering something to herself about how she didn’t have time for something, and Stephen is beside her laughing.
“So…” Joel turns to look at me. “No sign of Douglas then?”
“No. Bradley hasn’t spoken a word in the past few days. You know, I hated how obnoxious he was, but now it feels weird how he’s not commenting on my dishwashing abilities.”
He smiles and hesitantly takes my hand. I smile back at him and his shoulders relax. I notice Hazel look at me for a second, but I pretend not to see her grinning.
When we arrive in Riverbend, Stephen stops the wagon, and Joel leaps out first.
Hazel jumps down, not waiting for someone to help her. Julie is sure to comment on this. “See, Hazel. The problem in doing those sort of things is that you were lucky this time, but what if you had tripped and gotten dirt all over your dress.”
Hazel looks confused. “I guess I’d have dirt on my dress.”
Joel takes my hand, and I carefully step down. I wait for Julie to get out, and as Joel helps her down, her eyes meet his. “I swear, Joel Adams. If you do anything to hurt my friend, I will tear you apart for all that you are.”
“But I’m your brother.” He looks shocked before looking at me.
“I like her more.” Julie giggles, and then walks away triumphantly.
“Okay then…” He laughs, holding his arm out for me.
I smile, looping my arm through his. “She means well.”
“Yes, she’d never intentionally hurt anyone. Except me, apparently.” Joel chuckles as we continue walking toward the building.
“You know, I’ve never been to something like this before.” I look up at the hall that is now filled with people. The sound of a fiddle comes from inside.
“Well you’re in for a treat.” Joel smiles, holding the door open for me to walk in.
There’s a lot of people. Some are sitting at the tables talking with their friends, while others are up dancing on the open part of the floor.
The fiddle plays an upbeat tune, and Hazel’s already dancing with some other girls who I recognize from school.
“Uh…where are we going?”
“Let’s find a table.” Joel takes my hand and leads me through the crowd of people until we find the table where his brothers are sitting at.
“Joel, we lost Julie.” Stephen motions to a table on the other side of the room. Sure enough, I can see Julie’s bright red dress and beside her are a bunch of young men.
Joel chuckles, pulling a chair out for me. “Doesn’t surprise me.”
“Thank you.” I smile, sitting down as he moves to sit in the chair next to mine.
“So, Genevieve. Where do you live again?” Albert asks, leaning back in his chair.
“A few miles from here on a farm.”
“Your father farms then?”
I smile. “Yes. He works with my stepbrother, and my sister’s husband.”
“Oh, I’m sorry about your other brother. Joel told us about him going missing. Any idea where he went?”
“No, he was just gone one morning.”
Albert sighs, shaking his head. “Has your father checked the river?”
“From what I know, yes.”
“I’m sure if it’s the river, he’ll wash up somewhere.”
I shift uncomfortably at the thought. Joel must notice because he smiles. “All right, how about we not talk about this?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Genevieve. I’m sure you didn’t want to hear that.”
I laugh lightly. “It’s all right. I’ve heard all the possible ways he could have disappeared already. I just try not to let myself think about it.”
Soon, the fast music stops and a slower paced song begins to play with the piano now accompanying with the violin.
“Genevieve, may I have the honor of dancing with you?” Joel holds out his hand, and I look at it for a quick second before taking it.
“Of course.”
I follow him to the dance floor. I notice everyone is doing the waltz and I silently thank my ma for teaching it to me when I was young.
We both start a little slow at first, sometimes forgetting which way to go. Every time I can’t remember what to do, I look to the older couple dancing beside us.
I hear Joel stifle a laugh.
“What?” I ask defensively, looking up at him.
“Oh not you. Julie.” He nods his head to the left, and I turn my head to see Julie dancing with a young man.
“Who’s that?”
Joel laughs. “I haven’t a clue.”
We dance quietly for a while, and I let the music eventually show me what to do. Soon, we’re keeping up with the beat and don’t seem to be messing up as much.
I look up into his dark brown eyes as a smile slowly crosses my face.
When the music stops, Joel takes my hand. “Would you like some lemonade?”
“Sure.”
I follow him to the back of the room where there’s a wide table with pitchers of lemonade and water, as well as a variety of foods. Joel pours me a glass and I take it. “Thank you.”
As I take a sip, I squint when I think I see someone grab a bun from the plate on the table and pull it down under the table.
“Joel?”
Once again, I see the hand shoot up from under the table, this time grabbing a cookie.
“Yes?” He turns, following my gaze.
“I think there’s someone under the table,” I whisper. He watches for a second as the hand quickly grabs another bun.
He chuckles. “I think you’re right.”
In one swift movement, Joel lifts the tablecloth and looks underneath. I look too and see a terrified face.
One I recognize all too.
Sitting under the table, with a bag overflowing with food, is none other than Douglas.
* * *
“Douglas!” I yell, wanting him to hear me over the music. Before I can take it in, Douglas is up and bolting toward the door with his bag of food in his arms. “Joel, we need to get him!”
Joel is already running out the door after Douglas. I chase after him, lifting my skirt up a bit so I don’t trip.
“Where did he go?” I catch up to Joel. It’s dark out, and I can’t see Douglas anywhere. Suddenly I see a shadow running behind the mercantile. “There.” I point.
Joel starts running after him. I sigh, knowing how fast Douglas can run. We need something faster.
A man with a pure black horse walks past.
I jump in front of him and his eyes widen. “Could I borrow your horse? It’s an emergency.”
“Umm…” He pauses, looking at me in confusion. “Sure, I guess.”
I take the reins from him. “Thanks. I’ll bring him right back. I promise.”
I jump up onto the horse and dig my heels in. The horse begins to run, and I guide it in the direction of the mercantile.
Despite my discomfort of being on an unfamiliar horse, I keep riding, pushing the horse to go faster. I soon catch up to Joel and he looks up at me with disbelief apparent on his face.
“Hurry up and get on.” I lower my hand and he takes it, pulling himself on to the back of the horse. “Hold on.”
His arms wrap around me and for a few seconds I panic, but then realize I need to get Douglas. So I get the horse running again.
“Genevieve,” Joel shouts over the sound of the horse’s hooves hitting the ground. “Have you ever ridden one of these before?”
“Yes, but never with someone else, so my advice is...” I pause. “Don’t fall off.”
And with th
at, I dig my feet in to the horse’s sides and its pace quickens. The wind is rushing past us, and I feel the flowers falling out of my hair as well as strands coming out of the fancy hairstyle Julie had done for me.
“There!” Joel yells, as he points left.
Sure enough, Douglas is running into a thick part of the forest on the edge of town.
“The horse can’t go in there. I’ll run after him.”
Joel jumps down, and I pull the horse to a stop. I quickly clamber down and rush to tie the animal to a tree.
I race into the bushes, and soon regret the idea of wearing these shoes. I have to resort to pulling them off my feet. I make a mental note to buy Julie some new ones.
“Let me go!” Douglas screams, and soon I find Joel with a writhing Douglas beneath him.
“Douglas.” I look down at him. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to run away. But you apparently aren’t allowing me to do so,” he shouts, still trying to get Joel to let him go.
“Boy, I’ve been in more fights than you want to know. You aren’t going anywhere. So save your strength,” Joel says to him.
Douglas scowls, but does go still.
“You ran away?” I ask stepping toward him.
“Yes. I hate you and your family. So I snuck out and made my way to Riverbend.”
I open my mouth in disbelief. “You thought we wouldn’t find you here?”
“No.” He glares at me. “I was stocking up on food so I could leave Saturday before you all came to church again.”
“Where were you going to? You’re only fourteen.”
Douglas looks at me, tears beginning to well in his eyes. “I was going to go home, okay. Home. Back to Colorado.”
Chapter 18
Douglas is crying now, and Joel loosens his grip on him.
“Douglas? Are you all right?”
“No,” he shouts between sobs. “I haven’t been all right since the day my ma married your pa and we had to move in with all of you.”
“Please stop crying. Joel, can you let us talk alone for a minute?”
Joel pauses, and then sighs, releasing Douglas. “Don’t think you can run. Because one shout from Genevieve and I’m back.”
I watch Joel disappear into the bushes. I know he won’t go far, but hopefully Douglas will open up by thinking he’s not around.
“You know.” I sit down on the ground. “When your ma, brother, and you moved in, I was really angry. Honestly, I couldn’t stand any of you.”
I pause, looking behind me slightly. Douglas is still standing there, tears drying on his face. “When my pa married your ma, I was heartbroken. I thought my pa had forgotten about my ma and that he didn’t really love her. I was also worried what my ma would think. I thought she’d be upset that he replaced her.”
“You-you thought that?” Douglas sniffs.
“Yes, in fact I barely slept two hours each night for a month after you moved in. I had nightmares and didn’t feel like doing anything.”
It’s quiet for a minute, the only sounds being the crickets nearby. I hear him shuffle toward me and sit down.
I look beside me and he’s sitting with his head between his knees. “I just missed my father so much, and when my ma got remarried, I thought she didn’t love him anymore. I guess all along I was thinking the same thing as you.”
I nod, looking at the small boy beside me. His hair is a mess and his bag of food is beside him.
“Where were you going to stay if you made it home? To Colorado, I mean?”
Douglas sniffs and looks up. “My friend Johnny’s.”
“Don’t you think his parents would tell your ma?”
He sighs. “I was going to figure it out as I went. I had my plan and was going with it.” Douglas pauses. “Genevieve, I’m sorry for how mean I was to you before I ran away. I’m not really like that.”
“I know, Douglas.”
He tilts his head, looking up at me. “But how?”
“Your ma told me what a sweet boy you were and how you and Bradley are nice boys. She was worried about you and the way you were behaving.”
“Bradley and I were trying to be mean so that maybe your pa would kick us all out. Then we could live where our pa built us a house. I guess we never thought you were feeling the same way.”
“What do you say…” I stand, brushing the grass from my skirt. “We go home. I know there are some people who have been worried sick.”
“You won’t tell them I ran away, will you?” Douglas looks up at me, his big blue eyes meeting mine.
I let out a breath, looking in the direction Joel had gone.
“Douglas that’s an awfully big thing for me to have to do. I’d have to come up with a lie about how exactly I found you.”
“Please. Mama will think I don’t love her and that’s why I ran away.” He has tears forming in his eyes now.
“Douglas. I’ve learned telling lies only gets you deeper into the pit you’ve dug.”
He furrows his eyebrows. “What pit?”
“No, I’m only using it as an expression. It means you may think you’re in big trouble for something, so you lie, but the truth always comes out eventually. Then you’re in even more trouble.”
“How do you know this, Genevieve?”
I sigh, looking down at him. Perhaps if I tell him, it’ll be easier for him to tell everyone he ran away. “Well, Douglas, about five years ago a man tried to steal our wheat. I felt bad for him, though, and secretly gave him money from my family’s stash. They still don’t know, but I’m planning on telling them soon.”
“Who-who was he?” Douglas asks, his head tilted.
I look up and Joel’s standing with his hands in his pockets. “It was me, Douglas. I tried to steal the Carter’s wheat.”
“You?” Douglas exclaims, pointing at him.
“Yes, I realize now it was an awful thing to do. Stealing.” Joel pauses before picking up Douglas’s bag of overflowing pastries. “Running from your problems never turns out. And if you continue, you’ll get yourself into a lot of trouble.”
“I know. I just didn’t know what to do. And, Genevieve? You haven’t told your pa?”
“No, Douglas. I’ve been too afraid, but I think he’ll be able to forgive him.”
Douglas shrugs. “Well, good luck.”
I laugh. “Good luck to you, considering you ran away.”
“Yeah, because of you.”
Joel chuckles. “Now, now, you two. No fighting.”
“Yes, and Douglas, I’d like you to take all of this food back to the dance and apologize.”
“Do I have to?”
I take the bag from Joel and hand it to Douglas. “Yes. You do.”
I watch in surprise as Douglas comes toward me and wraps his arms around me. “I’m sorry about everything, Genevieve.”
I hug him back, smiling. “It’s all right, Douglas. I think we’re going to get along a lot better now.”
“I hope so. I’ve always wanted a sister.” Douglas smiles, pulling away from me. And I realize now, I think I might have always wanted a brother.
Chapter 19
I’m sitting in the wagon with my hands folded in my lap. My stomach feels uneasy, and I’m thinking of jumping out of the moving wagon and running. But Joel’s words keep coming back to me about how you can’t run from your problems.
I know Freida and the rest of my family will be overjoyed when I bring Douglas in, but I’m going to have to mention Joel too. Then I’ll have to tell the whole truth about Joel Adams, and I’m not sure my pa’s going to like it.
Hazel is talking to Douglas, and he’s telling her how he got to Riverbend. Julie is fast asleep beside me, and Stephen and Albert are talking to Joel.
I’m left alone with my thoughts. How is Pa going to react to this? Surely he won’t be too mad—it’s been five years now. And I’m hoping Pa will forgive him and see he’s a better person now.
Soon, the wagon stops, and I make my way
down. Joel helps everyone down, and Douglas stands looking up at the house.
“Mama!” he shouts, trying to get his bag over his shoulder. “Mama, I’m home.”
I watch as the door opens, revealing Freida. A smile immediately spreads across her face as she leaps off the porch and runs toward Douglas.
She soon reaches him, pulling him into a hug. “Oh, Douglas. Where were you? Oh why would you do that to me?” Freida is sobbing.
Bradley is standing in the doorway beside Pa.
“Brother.” Bradley chuckles, pulling him in to a quick hug once Freida lets go. Pa smiles at them, but as I watch him longer, his eyebrows furrow as he turns his head. I follow his gaze to where Joel is standing.
* * *
“Mr. Adams, is that you? Because I believe I told you five years ago you weren’t welcome on my property again,” Pa’s voice shouts from the door.
I feel like my heart skips a beat. My hand is instantly around the pendant. “Pa. It’s okay. He’s changed.”
Pa begins walking toward us. “No. He’s a thief. Want more wheat, do you? You’ll have to come back in the fall I’m afraid.”
“No, Pa. Listen, he’s changed. He has a job and he’s looking after his siblings on his own. He’d never hurt anyone.”
For the first time since we’ve arrived home, Pa looks at me. “And how do you know that, Genevieve? And what were you doing in a wagon with him and his family?”
“Pa, he lives near Riverbend. We’re friends. And he helped me find Douglas and gave us a ride home.”
“No. If I knew the girl you and Hazel went to the dance with was his sister…” He spits the word out, venom in his tone. “I wouldn’t have allowed you to go. I would’ve come after you instantly.”
“Pa. Please, he’s changed. I swear it.”
“I don’t want my daughter to be associated with a thief. Now, Mr. Adams, I demand you take your family and get off my property at once. And don’t come back. And while you’re at it, don’t think you’re good enough to be around my daughter ever again.” Pa moves closer to him.
Joel holds his ground, though, and doesn’t back away. “You’re right, sir. I’m not good enough for your daughter, but I’m certainly trying. I may not be rich, and I may have a bad past, but from what I understand, so do you.”
The Daisy (Carter Sisters Series Book 3) Page 8