Westward Hearts Read Online Free Page B

room.
    “Can we still have Christmas?” Ruth asked meekly.
    Elizabeth paused, but to her relief, her father laughed heartily and merrily. “Of course, we can still have Christmas, little Ruth. As I live, we will not let the likes of Walter and Violet rob us of that pleasure. Now, let’s enjoy this fine meal your grandmother has prepared for us.”

Chapter Three
    D espite Elizabeth’s announcement that she wanted to clean up after dinner by herself, Clara would not hear of it. “Please, Mother,” Elizabeth urged, “you worked hard to make a lovely meal. Now I want you to put your feet up.”
    “Nonsense. We will do it together,” Clara insisted. “Just like we always do.”
    So while Asa took the children out for an after-dinner walk and to check on a mare that was with foal, Elizabeth and Clara began washing the dishes.
    “Fetch some more hot water, will you?” Clara pumped more fresh water into the big stone sink while Elizabeth filled a kettle with steaming water from the reservoir on the side of the stove.
    “Remember the old stove?” Elizabeth asked as she carefully poured the hot water into the sink. “And how you had to heat water in a kettle on the top?”
    “Yes, I must admit that this new cookstove does make life easier.” Clara smiled. “But it took a while to convince me of it.”
    Elizabeth pumped cold water into the empty kettle now. “I remember how upset you were when James and I delivered it for your forty-fifth birthday.”
    “Oh, I wasn’t upset exactly. It was simply that I was rather attached to my old stove. My goodness, I’d had it since you were a baby.”
    “But it was falling apart.” Elizabeth opened the reservoir, pouring in the cold water, which would soon be hot. She never appreciated these stoves more than when doing dishes.
    “Yes, well, I suppose we older folks can get a bit set in our ways.”
    Elizabeth picked up a linen towel and continued with drying. “This Haviland china is so pretty, Mother. And you still have almost a full set of it too.” She set a rosebud-trimmed plate on the growing stack in the center of the worn pine table. She knew she was trying to make small talk…anything to keep the subject away from having to talk about her brother.
    “Yes, but only seven dinner plates. Just enough to set the table today. Although as it turned out, we didn’t need the plate for Violet.”
    “And Father got the china set for you for your tenth wedding anniversary?” Elizabeth asked to distract her. “How long ago was that, Mother?”
    “You know good and well how long ago that was.” Clara frowned as she handed her daughter another dripping plate. “We celebrated our thirtieth anniversary last June, Elizabeth Anne. I know what you’re doing, child.”
    Elizabeth wiped furiously on the plate. “I’m just admiring your china, Mother. I wonder how difficult it would be to find a plate to replace the one that got—”
    “What did your brother say to you when you fetched his plate, Elizabeth? I know you’re keeping something from me. Please, while Asa and the children are occupied outdoors, tell me what is transpiring right here under my own roof. If you don’t spill the beans, I will go up and ask Matthew to—”
    “No, Mother, please don’t trouble Matthew just now.”
    “Then speak, daughter.” She handed Elizabeth a bowl.
    “Matthew has gotten a rather strange idea into his head, Mother.”
    “I suspected as much.” Clara vigorously rubbed fresh soap into the dishrag. “Is he going to take off for Frankfort and demand that Violet return with—”
    “No, Mother, nothing like that.” Elizabeth pushed a strand of hair away from her cheek as she considered her words. Perhaps it was best to simply lay it out there. “As a matter of fact, Matthew has set his mind in the opposite direction.”
    “The opposite direction?” Clara frowned. “West?”
    Elizabeth nodded.
    “Oh, my goodness!”
    “I know he is only responding to the pain he feels