Katie's Dream Read Online Free Page B

the front seat but didn’t say a word. Juli climbed down and stood beside me.
    â€œEdward, this is Julia,” I said, far from comfortable. What would it mean to my family to have their Uncle Edward here? Already I wondered if my brother had changed at all, and if he would be staying long.
    â€œGood evening,” Julia said politely. “It’s good to meet you.”
    â€œThat’s generous of you,” Edward said with a laugh. “Hard to say what all you’ve heard.”
    â€œYou have a brother?” Rorey asked from behind me. “I didn’t know you had a brother.”
    â€œThat your baby Sarah?” Edward asked.
    â€œI’m not a baby,” Sarah answered immediately. “But that’s Rorey.”
    In two shakes, Kirk and Joe and Harry had climbed down behind me, and Willy and Sam were out of the front seat and standing next to Robert.
    â€œWho are all these?” Edward asked. “Them orphans Mother told me about?”
    Why did he have to be so blunt? I’d written my mother, several times, telling her all the things that were happening here. Maybe I shouldn’t have. She and Edward weren’t likely to understand. “They’re our neighbor friends,” I explained. “We’ve been to the Independence Day celebration in town.”
    â€œGood for you,” Edward said, with something odd in his voice.
    â€œWe’re not orphans,” Rorey spoke up. “We got Pa over t’ home.”
    â€œRorey, shhh,” Lizbeth scolded. “You all get back in the truck. We’re going home.”
    â€œBut I’m stayin’,” Willy started to protest.
    â€œNo, you’re not,” Lizbeth insisted. “They got comp’ny, so it’s not right. You can meet up with Robert in the mornin’. Mr. Wortham, is it all right that we take the truck on home?”
    â€œI wanted to stay too,” Rorey complained.
    But I knew Lizbeth was right. I had to talk to Edward first, without the distraction of having them all sleep over. “That’s fine, Lizbeth,” I said quickly. “You all have a pleasant night.”
    â€œYou want I take the truck to Mr. Post in the morning for you, then?” young Sam asked.
    â€œYes. Thank you.”
    Robert lifted Sarah down, but the rest of the kids got back in, much to the disappointment of some.
    â€œIs it coffee you want?” Julia was asking my brother timidly. “Or would you rather have tea, or even milk? I’m afraid we haven’t any lemonade. Or ice.”
    â€œBye!” Harry called to us from the truck.
    â€œBoys,” I called quickly, “tell your father I’m still planning to help him work field tomorrow if I get the chance.”
    â€œYes, sir,” young Sam answered. And then they drove away.
    â€œI don’t like soured milk,” Edward was telling Julia. “If you ain’t got ice in this heat, how do you know it ain’t soured?”
    â€œI’m sure George milked fresh tonight,” she answered. “And he’d have put it down the well for us.”
    â€œWho’s George?”
    â€œThe father of all those children who just left,” I told him.
    â€œYou got you a strange arrangement here, Sammy.”
    â€œIt might look that way.”
    â€œI’ll take the coffee.”
    It meant lighting the cookstove in this weather to heat the water, but Julia didn’t seem to mind. Rather, she seemed to appreciate something quick at hand to do.
    â€œCome with me, Sarah,” she said. “We’ve got some cookies we can set out for our guest. You can help me.”
    â€œGo see that the cows have water, Robert,” I added. “And the chickens too.”
    He did so without complaint, though George had probably taken care of it already. Robert knew so little about his uncle, and I knew he was curious. He’d have plenty of questions later.
    â€œQuite a farm you got hold