The woman then told her something that reverberated inside Kitty’s head for a long time afterward. She had inclined her head to Kitty and with a grave voice said, “I think there are two verses you need to consider. They’re Psalm 34, verses 4 and 5. ‘I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.’ Please consider those words.” The kind woman reached out and laid a palm on Kitty’s marked cheek. “Trust the Lord and don’t be ashamed of your face.”
A flurry of preparations followed that day. Kitty and Kit began a correspondence that allowed her to grow more comfortable with the idea of marrying him. At first, he seemed to want to discourage her from joining him, emphasizing the loneliness she could expect. Then his letters changed, asking things about her and demonstrating his interest in her.
Her home sold quickly after the decision to put it on the market, and Kitty packed the items which she specified to the new owners she would keep. Her mother’s desk, the china and silver, paintings and photographs, as well as the hall tree would travel on the train with her.
Finally, the day before her departure, Kitty hired a carriage and made her way to the cemetery. Alone in front of her parents’ headstones, Kitty removed her hat and the protective netting that shielded her from the world’s taunts. The light autumn breeze that tickled her face held a hint of the ocean. Kitty breathed it in wistfully, knowing that the breezes in Wisconsin would lack the tang of the Atlantic.
With loving care, she planted a mum between her parents’ grave markers. Though another person might speak to her dead parents and explain the decision for her life that she’d made, Kitty thought that was ridiculous. Her parents had trusted their souls to the Lord and certainly couldn’t hear her from heaven. So, she hummed a favorite hymn as she worked to be sure the graves were tidy.
Suddenly a sad thought made her stop her humming. The only things she had to say goodbye to were these graves. She had no friends to visit. Her mother had allowed Kitty to hide much of her life, even schooling her at home rather than exposing her to taunts at school. The emptiness of her life wouldn’t change when she went to live in the shadows with her husband.
Finished with the graves, Kitty looked for the caretaker, deciding to meet him without covering her face. She remembered the verse about not being ashamed about her face. When she did find the man, he hardly glanced at her and Kitty silently thanked the Lord for honoring his promise that she wouldn’t feel ashamed. She asked the man to water the mum well for the next three days so that it would root itself and thrive. This done, she drove the carriage back to her home, only to find the man from the livery on her doorstep waiting to collect it as well as an employee from the depot wanting to load the furniture and any trunks she planned to ship the next day. Too late to consider escaping a future filled with shadows.
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About Marisa
Marisa Masterson and her husband of thirty years reside in Saginaw, Michigan. They have two grown children, one son-in-law, a grandchild on the way, and one old and lazy dog.
She is a retired high school English teacher and oversaw a high school writing center in partnership with the local university. In addition, she is a National Writing Project fellow.
Focusing on her home state of Wisconsin, she writes sweet historical romance. Growing up, she loved hearing stories about her family pioneering in that state. Those stories, in part, are what inspired her to begin writing.
Find her on Facebook, in the Chat Sip and Read Community, Sweet Wild West Reads, or on her Facebook page.
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A Farmer for Christmas
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
The book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. All rights are reserved with the exceptions of quotes used in reviews. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage system without express written permission from the author.
A Farmer for Christmas ©2019 Marisa Masterson
Cover Design by Virginia McKevitt
http://www.virginiamckevitt.com
Editing by Amy Petrowich
1st Ed.
A Farmer For Christmas (Spinster Mail-Order Brides Book 4) Page 8