Katie's Dream (6 page)

“It's been so long since I've seen him.”

“Were you ever friends?”

“I tried.”

I was quiet for a moment. “We should get some sleep. We have a lot to think about in the morning.”

“Will you stay out here with me, Juli? Under the stars tonight?”

I didn't want to protest. But there was Katie inside, in a strange house. “Honey, what if that little girl wakes up?”

“You're right.” He pulled himself to his feet. “How 'bout we stretch out a blanket in the sitting room?”

I didn't know why he'd wanted to sleep outside. He'd never before mentioned such an idea. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah.”

I took his hand, and we walked to the house. He didn't speak again. I looked in on Katie and blew out the candle. When I came back to the sitting room, Samuel was unrolling Emma's big comforter quilt to give us something soft to lie on. We wouldn't need a cover, as warm as it was.

He sat there, looking up at me in the soft moonlight filtering through the nearest window. He looked so vulnerable. Like a child, almost. Like Katie, scared and alone.

“I've never known another woman, Juli. In all my life.”

“Oh, honey, I know.” I held him, kissed him, but I couldn't help but feel his tension. If Edward did this to him every time he came around, I hoped he never came back.

Finally Samuel lay still beside me, and I tried to sleep. Tomorrow he'd have to get to town. Maybe he could use Barrett Post's pickup again. Ben Law would know what should be done for Katie, whether she'd been abandoned, kidnapped, or whatever. Maybe he would want to talk
to Edward. Almost surely he would. But I was still glad Edward hadn't stayed.

Late in the night, I woke to find Samuel shivering. It wasn't cold, not by any stretch of the word. Almost I waked him, thinking it was one of those dreams he used to have when we were first married. But I only kissed his forehead and let him sleep on, because if I woke him I thought he might not go back to sleep at all.

Slowly, quietly, I slipped to our bedroom to check on Katie again. She looked like an angel there on our bed, her dark curls spread out across the pillow. But then I noticed that her cheeks were wet. She was crying in her sleep. I gazed through the doorway toward Samuel on the sitting room floor. It seemed almost as if they were sharing something tonight. Some sadness that no one knew about but them.

I went back to my place on the quilt, thinking it might be better not to take this child to Ben Law. Who would care for her? It sounded as if her mother really did leave her, regardless of what Edward's role in that might have been. What if they couldn't find the woman? Or if she refused to take responsibility for her child, even if they did?

I lay down carefully, scooted up against Samuel, and eased my arm around him. He turned his head just a little. “Bear paws,” he said. And then he was still.

“What was that?” I asked, sorry I'd waked him with my touch. But he didn't answer. He wasn't awake.

I lay there listening to his steady breaths. He knew everything about me. I'd told him what it had been like when I was a little girl, losing my mother and then my father. I'd told him about Grandpa Charlie, and especially about Grandma Pearl and all the things we used to do together. But I only knew Samuel's parents' names and that they hadn't exactly been pleasant most of the time. I'd met his mother and his cousin Dewey, the only relative
he could halfway trust. But Samuel didn't tell me details. He just didn't talk about it, especially about his father or Edward.

Lord, you know. You make no mistakes, and I'm sure we've met Katie for a reason. But this is so hard for Samuel. Help him. And help us to help this little girl.

FOUR

Samuel

I woke with the dream still on me. My father. Holding me over the stair rail, shouting at my screaming mother.

Hurriedly I sat up. Juli was already started on her day, and the sun was rising outside. How could I have slept so late?

With a dull ache in my stomach, I went to the washstand and poured water from the pitcher to the basin. The water on my cheeks was cool; it felt good to wash away the night. But we still had the day to face. My brother's actions. And a scared little girl named Katie.

She was not in the bed when I peeked in. I found her and Juli together in the kitchen, stirring something in the batter bowl. I might have thought it was Sarah for size. But this girl's hair was darker, curlier. Sarah's was more like Julia's, lighter brown, straight, and beautiful.

“Robert's up already too,” Juli told me. “I sent him to check the eggs.”

“You should've waked me.”

“It does you good to sleep in a little, Samuel. You're always up so early.”

“This is not just any day.”

Katie looked up at me, her sad eyes seeming filled with questions.

“Good morning,” I told her.

But she didn't answer.

“I thought I'd let Sarah sleep as long as she wants,” Juli continued. “But it won't be long. You know her.”

“I better get the milking done.”

Juli nodded. I took the milk pail and headed out to the barn. As I walked I thought on that child. She seemed to like Juli. Maybe her own mother hadn't been so warm and inviting. I certainly knew what that felt like.

Looking in on Lula Bell first, I noticed her bulging eyes, the slow breaths. “Not feeling the best anymore, are you?” I said aloud. “Hate to say it, but my brother might have been right. Might be better to end it for you than to let you go on and suffer. Guess I better ask George about it.”

Lula Bell was a good cow, the first I'd ever milked. Emma's cow, Sarah still said. It wasn't a happy thought, to consider losing her. But some things are inevitable.

George would want to butcher. Save the meat. But Lula Bell might not wait till fall. I sighed, filling the feed trough, though the cow didn't show the slightest bit of interest. She didn't seem to want a drink either, or to go to pasture, though Sukey and her calf were eager. I milked as quickly as I could, but still Sukey was impatient. She didn't like standing still for me, not if she could go out and run and play like a kid.

Robert had long since taken the eggs in by the time I got done milking; he was back out at the well, filling a bucket of water for his mother.

“Can I still go fishin'?” he called to me.

“I think so. And I expect Willy to have a mind for it and probably meet you over there.”

“Hope so,” he said. “More fun with him there.” He hurried to walk with me on the little path to the house, both of us with our buckets almost full.

Sarah stepped out on the back porch with Katie slowly following her and holding Sarah's doll. Maybe Juli had told them to play outside till breakfast. If so, I was glad. It might give me a chance to talk to Juli alone a minute. I would need to use Barrett's truck again, and now young Sam had it. I expected I'd have to walk over to Barrett's later and ask about it. I always offered him work in exchange for its use, since I couldn't fill his gas tank. And he was pretty understanding, knowing I wasn't the only one in these parts who couldn't afford an automobile.

“Dad, how come Uncle Edward didn't stay?” Robert asked.

“That's kind of a long story.”

“I thought he was in prison.”

“So did I.”

He moved his bucket to the opposite hand and looked at me with some concern. “He didn't bust out, did he?”

“No. I suppose they let him out.”

“Then he don't steal no more?”

“Let's hope not.”

“Why'd he leave that girl? Is she my cousin?”

I looked to see where Sarah and Katie had gotten to. They were under the lilac bushes, safely out of earshot. “No. Robert, we don't know who she is. Or where she belongs. I'll have to take her to town today and see if I can get the sheriff to help me find out.”

“Dad, that don't make no sense. Don't she know her name?”

“Yes. But we need to know where her mother is, or whatever family would be closest to her. We need to get her home, if she has a home.”

“Well, why was she with Uncle Edward?”

“I don't know. I guess you'd say that what he told us didn't make any sense.”

“Did he steal her?”

I'd wondered the same thing. But that didn't really fit with what Katie had said about her mother. “Probably not. I think he just happened upon someone who didn't want to take care of her anymore.”

“Well, how do you know they'll want her back, then?”

“Robert.” I shook my head, not wanting to think all this through. Or talk about it. “There'll be someone. Grandparents or something.”

We were just approaching the porch steps when we heard the sound of Barrett Post's truck coming up the lane. I could always distinguish that tinny old Ford from what little other traffic came our way.

Young Sam pulled in quickly with Willy sitting in the front seat with him. Robert and I both set our buckets down and went to meet them.

“Still plannin' on fishin'?” Willy yelled. “I come just in case.”

“It's all right,” I told him. “You can go till noon.”

“Get out then, Franky,” Sam called.

I hadn't even seen the younger boy in the back. He climbed down and stood there silent.

“Let's get us some worms,” Willy said.

“You can get started,” I told Robert. “Take your mother the water first.”

Robert and Willy both raced off, not waiting for Franky, and he didn't follow them.

“Pa said I ought to ride along, in case it was all right to fish,” the boy said. “But if you don't mind, I'd rather be in the workshop. I got me an idea how to make a chair for Emmie Grace so she don't keep fallin' out a' the big ones.”

“That sounds good,” I told him. “And you're welcome to try it. But I can't promise any help. Especially not today.”

“Don't want no help, if you don't mind. I'd like to see if I can do it myself.”

I didn't doubt that he could. He'd helped me make two chairs and several other things. He was good with wood. Surprisingly good for his age. “Get some paper inside if you need it,” I told him. “I like to draw a plan first.”

“Thank you,” he said. But he started straight for the workshop on the west end of the barn. I guessed he didn't need any paper.

“Your comp'ny gone so early?” Sam Hammond asked me.

“He left last night.”

“Your brother?” he asked.

“Yes, he's my brother. Edward.”

“Why'd he leave his girl?” he said, looking over toward the lilac bushes.

“She's not his girl.”

“Oh.”

Maybe I should have explained. But I didn't feel like getting into it, and he didn't ask. Sarah was climbing her doll up through the branches of the bush, and Katie just sat watching. For the first time I wondered what other people would think. That she was kin, probably. Why else would she be here?

“Sam, I'm glad you stopped by with the boys,” I told him. “I need your father to come and look at Lula Bell.”

“He said she weren't quite herself last night. I'll tell him.”

“And if you'll wait a minute, I need to talk to Barrett Post. I'll ride along.”

“Tell you what,” he suggested. “You just take the truck, since you're goin' that way, and I'll walk back through the timber an' talk to Pa.”

“You don't mind?”

“I figured I'd have to walk home from Post's anyhow. Not so far this way.”

He got out of the truck. It almost surprised me that he didn't push for any details. His father would have asked where the girl came from. And why I had to talk to Barrett again when I was just there yesterday.

“Thanks,” I told him. He only acknowledged the word with a wave and then started off toward their farm on the well-worn path our feet had made through the timber.