Ribbons of Steel (21 page)

Seth rounded up the family with the help of Mrs. Flanagan, and they waited in line for their turn for Mr. Childs to snap their picture. Sarah started to fuss, and Catherine took charge of her, walking her back and forth. The boys made funny faces, hoping to make her smile.

Seth wondered if Mr. Childs was ever going to get around to taking their picture before everyone was too grumpy to smile when it was their turn. Mr. Strang chose that moment to stop by and strike up a conversation. The Strang farm, as Catherine had mentioned, was only a few acres over the hill from their land.

“I hear the trunk lines have officially reduced wages by ten percent,” Mr. Strang said. “The B&O line is holding back. Don’t know when things are going to blow around here, but I hear it’s building up and could be any day now. Sounds like Pittsburgh is the worst.”

Seth had been told the general strike scheduled for June twenty-seventh was cancelled because of dissention in the union ranks. For now, all was quiet here in Candor, and he could relax and concentrate on matters closer to home.

“The trains are still running. A good sign,” Seth said.

“They’re starting to hold back. Some have started running double headers. A group of us are getting together to voice our concerns. Going to form a cooperative. I like what I’ve been hearing about you, Seth. You’re doing good things up on your hill. A good head for business. Why don’t you join the cooperative, too? We’re meeting Thursday at the Town Hall. Two o’clock sharp. Why not join us?”

“Thank you, sir. A cooperative sounds like a good idea. I’ll be there.”

Mr. Strang shook Seth’s hand and walked on. To be accepted by the local farmers was a big step forward in Seth’s mind, but to be asked to join the cooperative was an even bigger feather in his cap. Many of these farmers had been around for a long while and didn’t take kindly to some of the new-comers. He would attend the meeting, dang it. Getting involved in community affairs would prove to Anna Louise he was somebody. Just like Mr. Linsky.

Mr. Childs called to Seth. It was their turn to gather in front of the camera. Sarah sat still while the photographer fiddled with the picture machine, a smile on her face. When the camera flashed, Sarah wailed, and Robert rubbed at his eyes. Catherine soothed them, but a commotion to their left of the field caught everyone’s attention, and Sarah stopped fussing.

The two fire departments, Alpha and Alert Hose were getting ready for the hose contest. Once the spray of water shot into the air, the contest was on. Hooting and hollering filled the afternoon as the hose companies sprayed water across the field at each other, each trying to outdo the other. Everyone standing within several yards of the event got soaked from the spray. This year the Alpha Hose outdid the Alert Company by a large margin, their water supply running out sooner. Afterwards the two companies competed in their annual baseball game. This time the Alert Company won.

Seth and Catherine took the children to look over the hand-made items at the various booths set up on the opposite end of the field where women sold their jams and jellies, canned or baked goods, and even Mrs. Wentworth had her hats on display next to Mrs. Flanagan’s Irish lace display. The two ladies chatted amiably. Wand’s Glove Factory and the Blanket Factory also had a booth selling some of their more recent articles of clothing and horse blankets.

Seth spotted Anna Louise several times throughout the afternoon. Each time, he held out hope she would look his way and smile or wave. But Mr. Linsky was always at her side. He couldn’t get their kiss out of his mind. She had returned his kiss. Hadn’t it meant anything to her?

Was there any hope?

To Seth, the day dragged on until it was time to gather everyone once again to go to the church for the evening reading of the Declaration of Independence and the community’s traditional ham dinner. Catherine and Mrs. Flanagan helped him gather the family together and load everyone into the wagon. Seth waited for them to get settled before he clicked on the reins and instructed the horses to head down Main Street to the Federated Church.

“Seth, guess who won the pie-eating contest.” Robert smiled up at him.

“You,” Seth said, taking his brother’s thunder away.

“How’d you guess?” Timothy asked, the dismayed look on his face comical.

“You have cherries on your face.”

“Oh.” He reached up to wipe it off.

“I got second place for my age group,” Michael said. “I didn’t eat fast. It was too good to gobble down.”

“Did your pie win this year, Catherine?” Seth asked.

“It sure did,” Maggie chimed in, beaming just as bright as Catherine.

“And who won your basket?” Seth asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t bother to find out. I told you I didn’t care.”

“If you say so.”

“It was Jimmy Leonard,” Timothy snitched.

“Come on, everyone, let’s get going. We have a dinner to go to.” Catherine urged everyone along, taking the spotlight off her for the time being.

The sun had been bright overhead all day and had recently descended over the hillside toward Spencer. The smell of fresh baked ham circled out through the church’s kitchen window and lingered down the street

Seth’s stomach rumbled.

He did a quick sweep of the church lot as he drew the wagon alongside the street looking for a place to hitch the horses. Anna Louise was nowhere to be found.

“She’ll be here,” Catherine whispered in his ear. “I’m sure she’s inside helping in the kitchen, as usual. This is her family’s church.”

Seth gave Catherine a withering look. His sister’s smile firmly in place, he turned to concentrate on finding an area wide enough to hold both horses and wagon. When he found one, he maneuvered them into place, then jumped from the buckboard to hitch the horses to the post.

Seth threw on his finest church-going jacket he’d tucked under the front seat of the wagon and slicked back his hair to make sure it hadn’t come undone during the afternoon. Satisfied he looked presentable for Anna Louise, he proceeded to help everyone down from the wagon. Together they filed into the church’s side entrance.

Catherine was right, Seth noted as they paid for their dinner and found a seat. He spotted Anna Louise through the pass-through window in the kitchen. She wore a crisp white apron over her day dress. He was even more surprised when she was the one who waited on their table after they were seated. And even more pleased when Anna Louise and her family sat behind them during the reading of the Declaration of Independence held in the church meeting room after dinner.

He could smell her sweet fragrance and wanted to turn around to drink in her beauty. He held himself back from wanting to do nothing more than run his hands through her magnificent blonde ringlets which bounced every time she shook her head. If they weren’t sitting in the middle of the church with everyone surrounding them, he would love to untie the red bow in her hair and let those wispy strands hang loose. He didn’t even feel an ounce of blasphemy because they were in a church and he was thinking such thoughts. Being this near to the love of his life was driving him mad. Like a kid, he fidgeted in the pew, his long arms dangling between his knees.

Dear Lord. He should be praying. Instead, he wanted to cuss his father out for sending his mother west and putting him in this difficult position. Anna Louise was right. Who in their right mind with dreams within their grasp would want to take over the running of a ready-made family, run a household, and deal with a nobody farmer like himself?

Seth had hoped to make strides with Anna Louise today. Instead, she was right in many respects. Perhaps he wasn’t the person she needed. She needed someone like Mr. Linsky who could take care of her, pay for daily help, and even a nanny when the children came along. Seth pictured her, a leader in the community, walking down the street and being held in high respect in many social circles. If she were to marry him, he could only see her as someone who would grow bitter with lost opportunities. But it didn’t stop him from loving her and wanting her to love him in return. They could work something out. He was sure of it.

Bowing his head and closing his eyes, Seth sent up a prayer.
“Dear God in Heaven, please forgive me for asking for your help with Anna Louise, but I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’m sure you mean for her to be my wife only she don’t know it yet. Please help her to see the light.”

Seth opened his eyes. Guilt washed over him, and he bowed his head again.
“Please look out for Ma way out west and help her heal so she can come home and be with her family. Oh, yes. And help Catherine to pass her exams. Amen.”

By the time the oration ended, Robert and Sarah had fallen asleep. A gentleman in the back row snored to beat the band, and his embarrassed wife nudged him in an effort to make him stop. Mrs. Flanagan and Catherine carried the kids and herded the others from the church into the cool evening. Seth lingered near the vestibule to have a word with Anna Louise before she left. He caught her arm and drew her aside.

“Do you have a minute, Anna Louise? I’d like a word, please.” Seth held his hat in his hand, his shoulders slumped.

“For you, Seth, I can make time. Shall we go to the alcove near the stairs,” Anna Louise said with a hint of concern.

Her eyes hooded, she followed him.

He didn’t want her pity.

Seth cleared his throat. He looked down at Anna Louise. She was so beautiful; he almost lost the courage to speak. But this was important, and he had to get through it.

“I, um…,understand why you can’t see your way clear to consider my proposal, Anna Louise. So, I want to put your mind at ease. I won’t pester you to reconsider my proposal I made the other day.” Seth squeezed the hat in his hands while he gazed into Anna Louise’s brilliant blue eyes. This was goodbye. He had to let her go.

“Seth…,”

“No. Let me finish,” he said. “I know you have dreams, and they don’t include me. I’m sorry. I want you to know I do love you, not because I need someone to help me out with my sisters and brothers, or the household, or the farm. The situation at the time prompted me to act irrationally. Too soon, as it turns out.”

“Seth…”

Seth didn’t give her a chance to speak. He drew her behind the alcove and wrapped his arms around her, pulled her in close, and kissed her full on the lips. He let her go, turned, and walked out of the church.

And wiped at the tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. He was glad the sun had disappeared behind the hillside. He unhitched the rope from the post and got into the wagon where his family had already settled. He was thankful everyone was tired on the ride home and no one was up to talking as the night grew more dim. Even Maggie Flanagan. He didn’t think he could keep up a conversation, his heart ached so. He’d likely bite their heads off if they started.

Is this what loving someone did to you? Turned you into a sorry sap?

Seth moaned, clicked on the reins, and drove the wagon into the night.

Chapter Fourteen

It’d only been a week since the oil car incident, and Charley’s attempt to pacify the workers had no effect whatsoever. Meeting with the trainmen and the engineers did little to defray their concerns. Fight after fight broke out among the men once again. Sides were taken. It was time to talk to Seamus and find out just what the hell was going on, why the men were still all worked up.

“Donahue’s been seen at the rails sparking the rift again,” Seamus said, combing his fingers through his hair. “He’s keeping the men agitated. Now he’s nowhere to be seen. The coward. He hasn’t been near his office, neither, far as I know.”

“I told Aderley he should have fired him a long time ago. The weasel uses his position to fuel the fire. I think he keeps Aderley in the dark about a lot of important facts in regards to the true situation on the other rail lines and the strike. I’ll eat my hat if they’ve really given out pay raises anywhere in the entire nation.”

Charley clutched his fists at his sides. It was getting harder and harder to keep his loyalties on both sides of the matter. Fact was, he sympathized with those whose wages were next to nothing already. The entire strike could have been prevented if Scott and the other big bugs hadn’t cut wages in the first place.

“How can I tell Aderley he hasn’t gotten anywhere with those talking Union?” he asked Seamus. “I have to go in there now, report to the man himself, and see what I can do.”

“Good luck to ya. I pray he listens this time, or we’ve got big trouble heading our way.”

“I don’t like this one bit, Seamus. Not one bit. I’ve been nothing but a sorry friend to the men. I’ve been stupid to stand by and let things go on without standing up for you and the others.”

“You’ve been in a hard spot. Can’t be easy.”

“No. But I plan to tell Aderley, and even Scott if necessary, where my true loyalties lay. More than half the city of Philadelphia’s moral majority has already figured out where their loyalties fit.”

Charley walked along the tracks leading to the station and Aderley’s office. Damn the rails. Child labor issues had surfaced during the last meeting. Nothing had been resolved. No way in hell did he want his children working in such dangerous conditions alongside him day after day. The other poor Joe and their sons busted their hides for the number of hours needed to earn a respectable wage. And in the end, it didn’t make a damn bit of difference in their everyday lives. Working conditions were bad enough, and many of the young boys ended up injured. Still, he understood why men let their children work. They needed the wages. But it still didn’t make it right. Or safe.

But dammit, Seamus was right. If they didn’t stand up for what they believed in, then the corporations would win.
Again
.

Charley entered Aderley’s office to find him at his desk, head held between clenched fists. An eerie keening noise filled the room. Charley stood just inside the doorway a moment longer, not sure what was going on. He’d never seen the big man in such bad shape. Had Westmüller died? Had there been more bloodshed he didn’t know about? What had happened to put Aderley in such a pathetic state? Charley wasn’t aware of anything happening involving the strike that would cause such a reaction. But for sure, it had to be something big.