Beauty for Ashes Read Online Free

the table beneath the hickory trees in the yard. Carrie’s bouquet of wildflowers occupied the center.
    Carrie stirred the icing until it thickened. While it cooled, she washed and hulled a bowl of plump strawberries and rearranged the cinnamon cookies on their plate. She finished the cake and headed upstairs to dress for the wedding.
    She stepped into her new dress and fastened the tiny buttons, pinned her hair, and donned her hat. The little silk toque was several years old now, but thanks to Ada Caldwell’s skill and good taste, it was as stylish as ever, and it matched her new dress perfectly.
    Eager for Ada’s arrival, Carrie peered out the window. Several of Henry’s friends from the mill had arrived, including Sage Whiting, the foreman. Sage’s wife, Mariah, stood beneath the trees chatting with Dr. Spencer and his wife, Eugenie. An unfamiliar rig drove into the yard and Carrie’s stomach fluttered. Had Griff Rutledge arrived? But it was a friend of Mary’s who emerged from the rig. Carrie shook off a vague feeling of disappointment. Why should she care whether or not the horse tamer showed up? After all, she was practically promised to someone else.
    Carrie turned from the window and gazed around her bright, airy room. Had it really been fourteen years since Frank Daly lost his life at Bloody Pond? Though she had finally made the decision to set aside her widow’s black, she missed her husband still.
    And she thanked God every day for Henry. Since Frank’s death her brother had been her only family. Together they’d added a parlor and a second floor to their family farmhouse, built a new barn and tool shed. Thanks to Henry’s extra income working at Wyatt Caldwell’s lumber mill, they lived more comfortably than most. Her life wasn’t exciting, but she had grown content keeping house for Henry, attending church, reading by the fire on cold winter evenings. Now, everything would be different.
    “Carrie?” Henry knocked on her door. “You dressed?”
    “Come in.”
    He entered the room, a shy smile lighting his tanned face. He took her hand and spun her around. “You look pretty, little sister.”
    She smoothed the folds of the dress. “Jeanne Pruitt did a wonderful job. But honestly, Henry, it’s too fancy for me.”
    “You deserve it. I wanted you to have something nice.” He reached into his pocket. “Look what I found.”
    “Papa’s watch fob.” She ran her fingers over the worn leather. “I thought it was lost.”
    “I thought so too, but Caleb and Joe unearthed it, playing in the attic.”
    Caleb and Joe. Ever since Mary had accepted her brother’s proposal, she and her boys had spent nearly every Sunday at the farm, and Carrie always dreaded their arrival. The boys were dirty, noisy, and rude beyond measure. So far, for Henry’s sake, Carrie had held her tongue. But once they were all living together, things would have to change. She sighed. Perhaps Henry was right and a man’s influence would shape them up.
    “Anyway, I’m glad they found it,” Henry said. “Ma and Pa were a good match. Maybe it’ll bring me some of their good luck.”
    “I hope so.”
    He stuffed the watch fob into his pocket. “You know what I was thinking about last night? That summer right after Ma and Pa died, when we were visiting with Aunt Maudie and them and we went swimming one night to cool off. Two stars came out, and Aunt Maudie told us they were Ma and Pa, keeping an eye on us from up in heaven. You remember that, Carrie?”
    “Barely. Mostly I remember cousin Althea trying to drown me.”
    “She was just fooling. Besides, I was right there. I wouldn’t let anything hurt you. I still won’t. You know that.”
    She nodded. He had always been her best friend, her protector. She watched her brother smoothing his hair before the mirror. No one in Hickory Ridge, least of all Carrie herself, had ever expected Henry to wed. After all, he was long past the age when most men had taken a wife. And he