The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay Read Online Free Page A

hair stuck against the side of her cheek. But her bare feet were cold. If she put them against the stove, someone might see her. She put one on top of the other and tried to rub them warm. She could see out the window from here. She couldn’t see the road, where the doctor’d be coming from, but she could see out over the field.
    It must be getting on toward dawn, Idella thought. The light had gradually changed. Morning fog had pushed up from out of the bay, hovering gray outside the windows. It’d swirl around your feet like smoke when you walked on the fields. Mother said it was like walking through the clouds, only better, because it smelled of the sea.
    Idella had been up this early before. There were times she and Avis and Mother would hold up the lanterns for the men after they’d been out fishing all night. The men would clean the fish and set them on racks to dry in the sun. Herring. Some would be kept for winter, and some would get barreled and pickled and sold to people all over the world. Idella’s arm would grow achy trying to hold the lantern just right. Mother told her to concentrate on the coming and going of the fog, to listen to the birds and the sounds of the water from the bay. That made it a little easier, and Idella knew that what they were doing was important, but she always wished she was back in bed.
    Her back felt awfully tired. There was nothing she could lean up against. She dared not move from her spot on the bench, not even a little. She knew that she should do like Mother said, concentrate on the fog and the coming of the day. Birds were starting up. She heard the cows. Dalton must be out in the barn, seeing that they were milked. He hadn’t come in at all. Idella wondered what he knew.
    The bedroom door opened. Idella drew back. Mrs. Doncaster went to the bottom of the stairs and looked up toward the girls’ bedroom, listening. Idella thought she heard the door close up there. Avis. Then Mrs. Doncaster went to the window by the door. She stood for a long time. Idella could see her plain. Mr. Doncaster came into the house. He put his arm around her, and she leaned up against him. Idella’d never seen anything like that between them. “She’s awful weak,” Mrs. Doncaster whispered, “awful weak.”
    “The infant’s crying. I come to get you. Lilly don’t know what else to do with it.” He brushed her hair out of her eyes.
    She nodded. “The best I can help her now is to feed her baby.” Mr. Doncaster kept his arm around her and helped her out the door.
    Idella was trembling. Mrs. Doncaster was going to feed Mother’s baby. It didn’t have a name. No one was even thinking about giving it a name. Idella pressed her knees tighter and tighter till they hurt. She started rocking back and forth, hugging her whole self with her arms.
    Suddenly Mr. Doncaster ran back. “They’re coming! They’re riding full out!” Idella forced her body to be still. Mrs. Jaegel came out of the bedroom. Idella could hear Mother’s groans when the door opened. She listened as Mrs. Jaegel filled a bowl with hot water and rushed back in.
    The bench trembled beneath Idella as the horses approached. “Is she here? Is she still here?” Dad shouted as he rode up.
    “I’ll take the horses, Bill!” Mr. Doncaster was shouting, too.
    Dad and the doctor rushed through the kitchen and into the bedroom, closing the door behind them. They didn’t even wipe the mud off their boots. The muffled sounds of the men talking were low and thick. Idella strained to listen. Sometimes she heard Mrs. Pettigrew’s voice, or Mrs. Jaegel’s, but barely.
    Someone came out of the bedroom. It was the doctor. Idella pulled herself back. He walked right up to the stove. Idella could hear his breath, still coming hard from the ride. The stove door opened and shut. Then he went back into the bedroom as quickly as he’d come out.
    Idella sat on the bench, alone in the kitchen, not daring to move, for a long, long time. She