Katie's Dream (35 page)

“Speak up, child!” the sheriff pressed. “How come you wish it weren't true? Huh? Why's it matter?”

“Because . . . because if I'm not
this
Mr. Wortham's, you're prob'ly gonna . . . you're prob'ly gonna take me an' . . .”

She couldn't finish. Julia leaned over and took the girl in her arms.

“Go easy on her, will you?” I said. “She's so young—”

“And what do you think I'm gonna do?” the sheriff demanded. “Haul her off to the jail?”

I held my ground. “You're talking awful stern, and she's scared.”

“I don't know what of. I ain't takin' her home with me.”

Katie looked up at him.

“I understand you claim she ain't yours,” he continued. “I can't even swear to it myself, now, though I ain't convinced either way. If your pappy's dead, we ought to be able to find that out fast enough. In the meantime, seems like she's still kin. Are you willing to keep the care of her?”

Juli and Katie both looked at me. “Yes,” I said. “I am.” Katie spun around and hugged at me so fast I nearly toppled over.

“Guess the explainin's easier if you're a big brother,” Sheriff Law said, but I caught his bare hint of a smile.

“I don't know how to explain it at all,” I told him. “Hard to imagine he could be alive. But with the same name—”

“So your father was a Samuel too?”

“Yes. He was.”

“It is mighty strange, I'll grant you that. But I'll tell you what. The mother's family's been notified. I told 'em where you was. If they're wantin' contact, they can sure contact you. The rest ain't the business of the law unless you especially want it to be. I'm settled on the matter.”

“Does that mean you intend for her to stay here?” Julia asked.

“Don't see we got much choice in the matter. Other side of the family ain't pressin' no claim, Mrs. Wortham. An' if your husband says this is his sister, there ain't nobody here to argue. He's happy to take her in, she's happy to stay. Nothing I need do 'bout any of that, 'less you're wantin' to know for sure 'bout Samuel Wortham Sr., an' I'd expect a small payment for that sort of an investigation, since it ain't necessary in the eyes of the law.”

I wasn't sure how he'd arrived at what was “necessary,” but I let it go. We had nothing to pay, and maybe before long I'd get around to asking my mother for myself. At least we'd learned the important thing. There was no place for Katie with her mother's family. She needed us. And that was what we needed to know.

With a feeling of relief, we said good-bye to the sheriff. He never asked me how I'd come to get a black eye. Maybe he'd heard something around town.

I picked up Katie and swung her around. “Sarah!” I called. “Robert!” They both came running, along with Rorey, who was staring at us with her arms folded.

“Katie's staying,” I told them. “She's going to live with us.”

“Yea!” Sarah squealed. “She can be my sister!”

“She's really kin, Dad?” Robert asked, looking far too serious.

“Yes,” I told him. “But let me explain it to you later, okay?”

I looked at him and at Juli and Katie's smiling eyes, and I wondered how we'd ever manage. Sure, it had to be done. What else could I do?
Lord, you'll have to help me. There's so much we're going to need.

I wasn't expecting anything else that day except a report from young Sam Hammond when he got back, telling us how Franky was doing today. Or maybe George stopping and telling us he'd left his biggest boy there and come home to see to things himself. So it came as a surprise to Juli and me when Joe came pulling up with the wagon in the late afternoon. Not until it had almost stopped did we see young Sam in the back, leaning way over. Juli went running up to them, and I did too, thinking something was wrong.

Sam was holding on to Franky. The little kid was lying in the back of that wagon on a pile of blankets, hugging on his brother for dear life. He was hurting awfully bad. You could tell it in his face. And no wonder, after a bumpy wagon ride with a broken leg.

“Why did you bring him?” Juli gasped. “Why didn't you stay at the hospital?”

“Pa insisted.” Sam spit out the words like they were bitter on his tongue. “He argued up an' down with the nurses that we couldn't pay, an' that Franky could sit just as well in bed at home. I tried to tell him it'd be awful hard, but he wouldn't listen—”

“Well, where is he?” Juli asked, understandably confused. “He didn't come with you?”

“He stopped at the house,” young Sam explained, looking
mad enough to chew nails. “Joe helped me from there, 'cause I didn't want Franky back here alone.”

I climbed in the bed of the wagon, and Franky latched hold of my neck. “I'm okay,” he told me. “I'm okay.”

But I didn't believe him.

“Did George tell you to bring him here?” I asked the boys.

“Yes, sir,” Sam answered. “He said Mrs. Wortham'd know doctorin' better'n him or Lizbeth, 'cause a' learnin' it from Emma an' all. Lizbeth was sure upset. She'll prob'ly be by here later, but Emmie was wet an' Berty was screamin' at her from the outhouse an' Pa said for us to go on. I ain't never seen her so mad. An' I don't blame her. Not one lick. Franky oughta been able to stay in hospital a while longer, 'least till he was fit for travelin'. It weren't right. Look at him.”

“I'm okay,” Franky told us again.

“Put him on our bed,” Juli told me. “I'll draw fresh water for some cold cloths.”

Gently as I could, I lifted the little boy from the wagon. He seemed even lighter than he had before, despite the plaster cast on his leg. What was George thinking? We could have found some way to pay. However long it took.

“Where was the pastor?” I asked. “What did he say about this?”

“He wasn't there,” Sam said gravely. “Pa said Herman Meyer come this morning to fetch him. Miss Hazel was mighty bad sick, the way he tol' it.”

Juli turned to me in shock, her face going pale. But she hurried away from us anyway, to the well after that fresh water.

I set Franky on our bed, and he lay over on his side, still trying hard not to cry.

“I had a broken arm once,” I told him. “Feels awful for a while. But it'll heal up in time. Good as new.”

“I don't wanna go back to the hospital,” he said. “Pa didn't want me there.”

“I know. And I don't want to move you again. But I'm going to send your brothers after the doctor.”

“Pa won't like that.”

“This is not his house. That's a decision he made, whatever his reason.”

“You ain't mad at him, are you?” He looked up at me with his silver-gray eyes tainted with pain.

“I'm not sure what to think.”

“He asked me if I wanted to go home.”

“That's not the kind of decision for a child to make.”

Juli rushed in with a bowl of water and two or three clean cloths. She put one on Franky's head and plumped his pillow. Then she turned her attention cautiously to his leg. Sarah, Rorey, and Katie snuck behind her into the doorway.

“Is he okay?” Sarah asked.

“He's still hurt bad,” Rorey surmised.

Katie didn't say anything at all, just stood there looking solemn.

“Girls, go on out,” Juli told them. “I'm going to have to sit with Franky a while.”

“I'm okay,” Franky valiantly told us again.

“Yes,” Juli told him. “You are. At least you're going to be. It's your father I wonder about, what's gotten into his fool head—”

“Juli—”

She turned to me with a gentle fire in her eyes. “You would never do this, Samuel. You would never leave your child for a second, or put him through such an agonizing trip. Where is he now? What's the matter with him?”

I didn't have any answer.

“We should pray for Miss Hazel,” Franky said, seeming to have trouble getting the words out. “They said she might not live the night.”

“Did they say what was wrong?” Juli asked tensely.

“No, ma'am,” young Sam offered from behind me. “I'm not for sure that they know.”

Juli sent me for an herb she'd seen growing just outside the cow pasture and soon had water going to steep it in. She was sweating as bad as I was, and Franky maybe worse. I prayed for a cool breeze or something, and not long after that some clouds blew in. Sam and Joe left to fetch the one old doctor who lived closer than the hospital. He'd come if he could, though he was trying to get most folks to go into Mcleansboro or Marion or Mt. Vernon for their care if they could. He wasn't well himself most of the time now.

It took a while, but eventually Juli got Franky settled down to sleep. She said that was the best thing for him. I wanted to go over and talk to George, ask him why he didn't come along if he wanted us nursing his son over here. It wasn't right that he just expect it from us without a doctor's approval or without consulting us at all. What was so pressing at home that he couldn't at least come and bring Franky himself?

Lizbeth showed up well before the doctor, hurrying through the timber with Emma Grace on her hip. She was still mad. It was clear from the way she stood, before she ever said a word. She gave the baby to Juli and leaned and kissed her brother, being careful not to wake him up.

“Think it'll hurt him?” she asked. “Bein' moved like that?”

“It hurt, no doubt,” Juli said. “But his leg ought to be
all right, set the way it is. The doctor should be able to tell us for sure.”

I went and sat outside. The day's work had definitely been interrupted, and I didn't feel like getting back to it. Sarah came and sat beside me, and then Katie sat beside her. Robert approached me too, but he didn't sit.

“Franky's gonna stay too, isn't he, Dad?” he asked.

“I don't know. At least for a while. We have to see what the doctor says. And what his pa is thinking.”

“Why'd Mr. Hammond send Franky over here when it hurt him so bad?”

“I guess he thought he knew best. Wanting Franky home, and not being able to pay for him to stay in the hospital.”

“But Franky ain't home, Dad. He's here.”

“I know.”

“His pa don't like him.”

“That's pretty harsh, Robert.”

“I don't think so. Willy told me one time that Mr. Hammond said Franky oughta quit actin' so all-fired smart if he's gonna play stupid at school. He can't have it both ways, an' it ain't right, you and Mom likin' him more than the rest.”

“That's not so.”

“Well, Willy thinks it's so. You spend more time with him than the rest.”

“That's because he's usually the only one who wants to work in my woodshop. Except you.”

“I know, Dad. I'm just tellin' you what they said.” He sighed. “I'll do the milkin' tonight. You got other stuff to see to.”