Truly Yours Historical Collection December 2014

by Susan Page Davis, Paige Winship Dooly, Connie Stevens

  “I suppose,” Zeke said.

  Harry said nothing, but when Zeke told Pax to go to the barn and prepare the wagon, Harry pulled the boy aside just behind the lean-to.

  “Pax, while you and your pa are at the store, can you do a little errand for me?”

  “Oh, yes, suh.” Pax’s dark eyes shone as Harry drew a handful of coins from his pocket.

  “You get yourself some candy, and I want something pretty for Miss Sadie and your momma. I want to thank them for letting me stay so long, you see.”

  Pax nodded, staring at Harry all the while. “What kind of pretties, suh?”

  “Oh, maybe some new gloves?”

  Pax’s brow furrowed.

  “Ask your papa,” Harry said. “If he thinks that’s too personal, he’ll know what to get.”

  Zeke came out the back door and scowled at Pax. “You ain’t got the wagon ready?”

  “My fault,” said Harry.

  “I’m doin’ Mr. Harry’s business, Pa.” Pax drew himself up with importance.

  “Well, git on to the barn now and do your own business.” Zeke drew his arm back as if he would swat the boy, and Pax ran for the barn, but Harry knew it was all a show.

  “Zeke, I really, really need to talk to Mr. Oliver,” Harry said.

  Zeke shook his head sorrowfully. “I wish you’d quit askin’ me, suh. I just can’t let you. If anything bad should happen, Miss Sadie wouldn’t forgive us.”

  Harry sighed. “Just how bad is he, Zeke? Tell me the truth now.”

  Zeke’s mouth worked for a few seconds, and he glanced at Harry then looked down toward the barn. “Well, suh, he’s bad. Real bad.”

  “But Sadie spends a good part of the day with him every day, and you told me she talks to him.”

  “Yes, suh. Miss Sadie talks to her Father every single day. That’s a fact.”

  “Does Oliver talk back?” Zeke wouldn’t meet his gaze, and Harry pressed further. “Well, Zeke, what I don’t understand is how your boss can be so very ill that he can’t even see me in his bedroom once in a week’s time, and yet you claim he’s talking to his daughter about business and such all the time.”

  Zeke drew himself up and looked him in the eye with the air of a martyr. “I can assure you, suh, that Miss Sadie receives guidance from her Father every day on how to run the farm.”

  Harry shook his head, at a loss to comprehend the situation. All he knew was that he wanted some sort of permission from Oliver McEwan to pay his addresses to his daughter. Surely if she knew she had her father’s approval, Sadie would agree. Harry couldn’t forget the sweetness of her embrace before she had torn away from him that night in the barn. For a few seconds it had been the culmination of his dream. He realized that since May it had been in the back of his mind. If Sadie lived up to his memories of her, he had intended to speak to her father about marrying her. He tried to keep his exasperation in check as he told Zeke, “I would really like to see Oliver before I go, if only for a few minutes. You know that, don’t you?”

  “That’s impossible. I’m sorry, but it can’t be done.”

  Harry pulled his felt hat off and dashed it to the ground. “Zeke, I’m losing my patience. I can’t understand how Oliver can be giving Sadie so much help if he’s too sick to see a client, even in his bedroom. You know what I want to talk to him about, don’t you? And I don’t mean horses.”

  Zeke stared down at Harry’s dirty hat. “Yes, suh, I reckon I do.”

  “That’s right, you do. I want to speak to him about Sadie, to see if he’d be averse to me courting her. You don’t have a reason to keep that from happening, do you, Zeke? Do you have something against me?”

  Zeke looked up at him with wide eyes. “Oh, no, suh. I like you fine, Mr. Harry, and I think you’d be a wonderful husband for Miss Sadie. But you told me yourself, she give you the broom.”

  Harry heaved a sigh and tried once more to reason it out. “But it’s her father’s illness that’s holding her back, don’t you see? It’s got to be that. I know she cares for me.” He stared at Zeke. “Has anyone actually told Oliver I want to see him? Does he even know I’m here, Zeke?”

  Zeke stooped and picked up the hat. He dusted it off and handed it to Harry. “I’m truly sorry, suh. It ain’t going to happen.”

  Harry stared at him for a long moment. Maybe he should just march upstairs and go to Oliver’s room and ask him. But, no, he couldn’t override Sadie’s wishes so blatantly. She would surely be angry then. Or would she? Maybe she would be relieved if he took the initiative and forced the issue.

  Harry pulled in a deep breath, realizing his feelings for Sadie were keeping him from looking at the situation rationally. His hostess had asked him to leave as soon as possible. He couldn’t disrespect that. It wasn’t in his nature, and it wouldn’t win him favor with Sadie if he acted that way. He put on his hat and headed for the lean-to where he had laid out the wood needed to repair the window sashes.

  Nine

  Sadie stuck out her tongue and squinted in fierce concentration. Harry and Zeke were fitting the new window into Tenley’s bedroom, and Harry had entrusted her with putting the glass panes in the second frame, for the room next to her brother’s. She bent over a makeshift worktable the men had set up in the front yard—two sawhorses supporting a couple of planks that held the window.

  The work was exacting, as Sadie had to fit the panes to the wooden sash Harry had built to replace the one that was crushed. She inserted tiny glazier’s points on the outside of the glass to hold each pane in place then applied the putty carefully to seal each pane to the wooden frame. Then she had to wipe away the excess before it dried, leaving the windows clear and sparkling.

  Harry had done a good job, and the spaces were precisely the right size. Her task was tedious, rather than creative, but she was determined to do it well.

  Of course, when these two windows were in place, Harry would be leaving. He had saved her a lot of money by making it unnecessary to hire a skilled carpenter. The parlor window was finished. If she hadn’t known better she’d have thought it was the old one, but Harry had totally rebuilt it. It had taken him three days to do it right.

  The smaller bedroom sashes hadn’t demanded as much time, but still Harry had been here two weeks now.

  Sadie thought her heart would break when he finally left, but even so she looked forward to the relief his departure would bring. The strain between them was almost unbearable.

  Zeke and Pax had come home from Winchester with the windowpanes a few days ago, bearing candy, a colorful new head scarf for Tallie and several spools of fine lace and ribbon for Sadie. She had begun to scold Zeke for spending her scarce resources on trifles, but Pax had cried, “It was Mr. Harry’s money, Miss Sadie. He paid for your pretties.”

  She nearly lost control then and had to flee to her room so no one would see her weep. Harry was too dear. In the middle of her agony and sorrow, he bought treats for her poor friends and showered her with fancy trimmings.

  “There will be better days,” he told her that evening at dinner when she thanked him. “You’ll feel like sewing again. I know you love to design pretty clothes, and Zeke thought you’d enjoy those gifts sometime when things are looking better.”

  At that moment, she’d almost wished she had worn the green gown. She knew Harry wanted to see her in it, and she wanted to see his reaction when she wore the dress with its intricate stitching.

  I can’t encourage him, she reminded herself. It seemed so unfair. They could have had such lovely times together.

  She bent over the window sash where it rested on the sawhorses. Now and then she glanced toward the house where the men were working. Zeke had stood the tall ladder against the side of the house and mounted it. She couldn’t help looking up to where Harry was leaning out Tenley’s window, steadying the sash as Zeke fitted it into the frame. They had torn out and replaced the broken lumber around the window, and now the new one was almost in position. Pax stood below, bracing th
e ladder.

  A sudden shout from Zeke made her look up, just in time to see the heavy window frame falling.

  “Pax!” Sadie screamed.

  The boy jumped back away from the ladder, but the corner of the window caught him on the head, and he crumpled to the ground as the glass shattered around him.

  “Pax!” Zeke scrambled down the shaking ladder. Sadie ran toward them. Harry had the presence of mind to lean out the window hole and grasp the top of the ladder to keep it from sliding to the side. As soon as Zeke reached the ground, Harry let go and disappeared from the window.

  Zeke huddled over his son, moaning, “My boy, my boy.”

  Sadie reached his side. “How bad is it, Zeke?”

  “He bleedin’ bad, Miss Sadie. He got a big gash on the side of his head, and his arm’s bleedin’.”

  “The glass got him,” she said.

  Harry came tearing out the front door and hopped over the side railing of the porch, landing a few feet from the ladder.

  “Be careful.” Sadie straightened and held up her hands. “There’s glass everywhere, Harry. Stay back.”

  Zeke picked up the boy and carried him out away from the side of the house, laying him tenderly on the grass. “He’s breathin’, Mr. Harry. What do we do?”

  “We need to stop the bleeding. But be careful. If there’s glass in his cuts, we don’t want to push it in deeper.” Harry looked at Sadie. “Can you get us something to bandage him with?”

  As Sadie turned, Tallie charged around the corner of the house. “What happened? What’s all the ruckus?”

  She stopped as she saw Pax’s prone form then turned her eyes heavenward. “Oh, dear Jesus! Help us now!”

  “Where’s the nearest doctor?” Harry asked.

  “I done told you—they ain’t a doctor,” Zeke said grimly. “If they was, we’d have had him here for Mr. Oliver when he needed him.”

  “Oh, Lawd, oh, Lawd!” Tallie wailed, clasping her hands together. “My baby! Save my baby boy!”

  Sadie ran to her and put her arms around her. “Come, Tallie. We can pray while we fetch what’s needed. I’ll get some hot water and clean linen. You fix my bed so they can bring him there.”

  “Not in your bed, Miss Sadie. It ain’t right.”

  “Well, that’s what we’re doing.”

  “Where will you sleep tonight?” Tallie asked.

  “We’ll worry about that later. Now do as I say!”

  Tallie blinked at her then lifted her skirt and ran for the front door. Sadie followed, shouting to Harry, “As soon as you can move him, take him up to my bedchamber!”

  ❧

  At midnight Tallie sat by her son’s bedside, humming a dolorous hymn. Harry stepped softly into the room, and Tallie said, “You sleep, Miss Sadie. I want to stay with him.”

  “Tallie, it’s me.”

  She jumped and turned to look at him.

  “I thought I’d sit awhile with the boy.”

  “Bless you, Mr. Harry. You don’t have to do that. I won’t be able to sleep anyhow.”

  Harry felt tears threaten him as he looked down at the boy’s angelic, dark face, still against the snowy pillow, but he smiled at her. “I guess this is a mother’s post.”

  “That it is.”

  “I just wanted to help, Tallie.”

  “I know. I know.”

  He saw a straight chair before Sadie’s secretary and pulled it over beside the rocker Tallie occupied. “If I’d only kept a better hold on that window. I’m so sorry, Tallie.”

  “It ain’t your fault, Mr. Harry. Don’t you be a-thinkin’ that way.”

  “I can’t help it.”

  “It was my Zeke dropped the window.”

  “No, you mustn’t blame him. It was me, too. Both of us lost our hold.”

  Tallie was silent for a minute. “I don’t blame neither of you.”

  Harry bit his upper lip. Better she feel that way than to have her blaming her husband. He would say no more on the subject.

  “Where did you put Miss Sadie?” he asked, and Tallie glanced at him.

  “She in her brother’s old room. She put the bed back together in there herself.”

  Harry nodded. “I didn’t know but she might have a cot in her father’s room.”

  “No, no, she’ll sleep better where she is.”

  “I think Pax will be better tomorrow, Tallie. I truly do.”

  “I hope so, Mr. Harry.”

  Harry stretched out his long legs and leaned back with a sigh. “I’m sure he’s concussed, but the skull wasn’t broken.”

  “That good or bad?”

  “I think it’s good. We’ll know more when he regains consciousness.”

  “Them big words.” Tallie shook her head.

  “If he comes to, we’ll know,” Harry said.

  “Will you pray for him?”

  “Of course. I have been already since the minute it happened.” Harry reached for her hand, and Tallie squeezed his fingers.

  “I’m glad you’re a prayin’ man. We need a lot of prayer just now.”

  Harry bowed his head and earnestly sought the Lord’s mercy for Pax. He’d spent two weeks living with this boy and his father, and the family was precious to him now. He’d had enough conversations with young Pax to know the condition of his heart.

  “Dear Lord,” he prayed aloud, “you know this brother in Christ is in need. We ask for Your will, Father. We know that if You should take him home now, he’d be in a wonderful place with You. But his momma and his pa would be devastated, Lord, and we beg You to spare Pax’s life. Give him health and strength again so Tallie and Zeke won’t have to worry about him. And we pray for Mr. Oliver, too, Lord. Please help him to regain his health.”

  Tallie began to sob, and Harry said quickly, “Amen.”

  “Amen.” Tallie blew her nose on a square of calico.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, leaning toward her.

  “Yes, suh. I be as good as I can be.”

  “Can I do anything for you? Maybe I could check Mr. Oliver—”

  “No!”

  Harry was startled, but Tallie patted his arm. “It’s best to leave him be.”

  “If you’re sure he’s resting. Isn’t there anything else I can do, Tallie?”

  She shook her head. “You’d best sleep, suh. In the mornin’ you can fetch my older son to come and see his brother. And, like you say, maybe things be better in the mornin’.”

  ❧

  Sadie lay awake, staring at the canvas that covered the hole where the window should have been. She could have spent the night in her father’s room, but somehow she’d known that sleep would elude her in that chamber. Why she’d imagined she would find it here in Tenley’s room, she had no idea.

  They had to end this charade. Harry had done nothing to deserve the shabby treatment they had given him. The irony was that Harry himself would say they had been kind to him. The knowledge of their deception and of the lies she herself had tacitly told made her physically ill. Even Tallie was ignoring the little things Zeke let fall that implied Sadie’s father would be up and about again one day. The dear servant’s loyalty to her mistress was causing Tallie to go against her honest nature, and that grieved Sadie.

  Harry’s compassion for Pax when the boy was injured had touched her deeply. Sadie knew Harry blamed himself for the accident. He was becoming like family to Zeke and Tallie, and now he felt he had let them down. He had injured their son, perhaps fatally. That was the way Harry saw it. Sadie wished she could take that sickening guilt away for him.

  “Dear Lord, I care too much about him,” she whispered in the dark. “You’ve got to take him away from here. I fear I’m past beginning to love him. Lord, please, if You have a way for us to straighten this out, show us now. Otherwise, what can I do but send him away believing a lie?”

  If only she had told him everything from the start. But that would have meant betraying Zeke’s deception. They had all thought it was only for
a day and it wouldn’t matter, but now it had gone so far that Sadie didn’t see a way to make it right without hurting several people.

  The last two weeks had opened up a new world for her as she got to know Harry. Tallie said they had seen the stuff he was made of. Sadie didn’t want to think about how bleak her life would be when Harry left. If only she had the courage to tell him, even now, and face whatever came. Rejection? Anger? Condemnation? Could she take that from Harry? It was too dire to contemplate. Tears left the corners of her eyes and streaked down her face to her ears.

  I’m so tired of crying, dear Father. I’ve lost Tenley and Papa, and now I’m losing Harry. Please, don’t take Pax away from us, too.

  Ten

  Sadie lingered in her room before dinner, wondering again if she was making a huge mistake. In the three days since Pax’s injury, the boy had made a marvelous recovery. He was back in the little cabin with Zeke and Harry now and today had even gone back to helping feed the horses and performing his barn chores.

  Sadie had her own bedroom back, and her daily routine seemed more normal. The windows were finished—Harry had gone to town himself for more glass the day after the accident while Tallie and Zeke hovered over Pax.

  This would be their last dinner together. Harry had no reason to stay on now; the outside repairs were done, and Pax was on the mend.

  She knew he didn’t want to leave, and she didn’t want that either. The things she had learned about Harry in the last few days only confirmed what she already knew. He was witty, intelligent, diligent, and compassionate. Her love for him had blossomed, and yet she’d kept it in check out of necessity.

  But now, on this final evening together, she had made a momentous decision. She would wear the velvet gown.

  Was that foolish?

  Dinnertime arrived, but still she hesitated, wondering if she should go down in the dress she loved. If only her mother were there to advise her! She stared into the mirror. Her auburn hair gleamed in the lamplight, and her eyes were huge. They picked up the color of the dress and seemed more green than blue this evening. She had added an extra row of lace at the cuffs and neckline from the trimmings Harry had paid for. She wasn’t sure he would notice it, but that was all right. She wanted to be wearing something that he had given her tonight. The dress suited her. For once she did not think she looked gawky and immature. Would Harry see her as. . . beautiful?