Dorothy Garlock - [Wabash River] Read Online Free Page A

reasonably.
    “Have you seen the children misbehaving?” she asked, and went on before he could answer: “They’re a part of my family now. A big part. Colin helps with the sheep and in the field. Jane Ann looks after Dillon.”
    “Ya ain’t got the means to feed extra when ya ain’t got no man on the place,” he said stubbornly.
    “I didn’t have a man on the place when you brought them here. I’ve managed for almost four years. Now that the war is over—”
    “Yore man will have a say when he comes home. Ya ain’t heard that he’s dead, have ya?”
    “I’ve had no official notice,” Addie said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice.
    “Well, looky here,” Mrs. Sikes broke in, before her husband could continue the argument. Dillon had placed a crudely made bow and arrow in her lap.
    “Colin made it. Wanna see me shoot?”
    “Sure do. But be careful you don’t hit something.”
    “I hit a chicken once. Didn’t hurt it.” Dillon went to the edge of the porch, placed his arrow on the string, and pulled it back. When he let go of the string, the arrow went a good three feet out into the yard. He ran to get it. When he returned he was smiling happily.
    “That was good. Very good. Wasn’t it, Horace?”
    “What? Uh . . . yes, good.” The preacher was fanning himself with his hat. “Do you reckon Mr. Hyde’ll want to live here on this place if he . . . when he comes back?”
    “I imagine so. I see no reason to move.”
    The preacher’s face always screwed up into disapproving lines when he spoke of Kirby. He had met him only once—the day Kirby and Addie had ridden over on his horse and asked Preacher Sikes to marry them. He had heartily disapproved of the hasty marriage and had tried to talk Addie out of it. When she refused to be swayed by his argument, he performed the ceremony with a deep frown on his face.
    “If ya get a mind to sell the place, Oran Birdsall is looking for a place for his boy. He’s got cash money.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind . . . should we decide to sell.”
    “Jist thought I’d mention it. Come on, woman.” The preacher heaved himself to his feet and anchored his hat on his bald head. “We’d best be goin’.”
    “Come over, now.” The birdlike woman hopped off the porch. “We’re goin’ to call on the Longleys. Sister Longley is down in the back.”
    “I’m sorry to hear it. Say hello for me.”
    “I’ll do that. ’Bye, Sister Hyde.”
    “Goodbye.”
    “ ’Bye,” Dillon echoed.
    Addie stood in the yard until the buggy was out of sight. She breathed a sigh of relief as she gathered her son into her arms.
    She thought about what the preacher had said about the Birdsalls wanting to buy the farm. The Birdsalls and the Renshaws were the most prosperous families in the hills surrounding Freepoint. She had known for a while that the Birdsalls wanted to increase their holdings.
    Addie had secretly longed to spread her wings. There was a big country out there, and she wanted desperately to see some of it. She had hoped that someday she could sell the farm and start a new life in some other place where she could breed and raise her sheep, process her wool, and spin it into yarn. For the last few years the money she had earned from selling or trading the warm garments she and Trisha knitted had provided most of the necessities for her and her family.
    But then Kirby, with his laughing eyes and dancing feet, had come into her life and turned it upside down. He had arrived one day and asked to sleep in the barn and work for his board. There had been so much to do, and he had seemed so eager to do it, that she had allowed him to stay. In no time at all he had helped her hoe her small cotton patch, mend the fences, and prune the peach trees. They had worked the vegetable garden together—and together they had picked the wild raspberries.
    Kirby had nothing but disdain for her small flock of sheep and refused to have anything to do with them even though he