Mary Connealy (69 page)

“I talked to someone who would love to have children.” Her heart lifted as she thought of the lovely couple who had come out of a room beside Libby’s.

Hannah knew her brothers. Trevor understood what she meant, and he looked wary. Nolan, smart as a whip, was wondering if they’d feed him. Bruce turned his trusting eyes on Hannah, too obedient for a six-year-old. She knew he’d do as he was told. Nolan and Bruce would go, but Trevor needed this home, too. He needed to get out of that mill and back into school. And he wouldn’t want to leave her and Libby.

Hannah prayed. She knew God would have to make it all work out, and she had no doubt He would. “They’re waiting in Daily’s Diner to meet you. I didn’t want them to see us in the shack. If they like you, they’ll take you home tonight.”

Trevor opened his mouth to refuse.

She nailed him with a glare. “I want you to go with them, Trevor. To make sure the boys are okay.”

“What about you? What about Libby?”

“Grace’s money will come. We’ll be okay.”

“What kind of people are these who would take three of us and leave you and Libby in the cold?”

“They don’t know about Libby. I saw no point in telling them.” Hannah’s hand closed hard over the wobbly latch that pinned the little door closed. “I’m sixteen. Grace got a job teaching school when she was sixteen.”

“You can’t teach school. You haven’t been to school yourself.” Trevor stood, trembling with anger. “You need me. Let the boys go.”

“I haven’t been to school, but that doesn’t mean I’m uneducated. I can read and do my numbers. I can teach. I’ll find work. You kids”—she waved her hand as if she were annoyed with them—“have made it impossible for me to work. And now, with Libby getting better and three less mouths to feed, I won’t have to earn that much. As soon as I can find a teaching job, I’ll take it. Libby might start talking when her foot is better, and then maybe someone will adopt her, too.”

Except Libby’s foot was never getting better. And that probably meant she’d never speak, either. The doctor had done all he could. She didn’t tell her brothers that. She’d pick her up tomorrow, give the doctor the last bit of money she had, and bring her little sister home.

“You need me, Hannah.” Trevor stepped away from his brothers and glared at her.

“The boys need you more. Please, Trevor, go.”

Bitter and angry, Trevor stared at her. She prayed he’d relent as she fiercely controlled her tears. She had to get him out of here, out of this life. Even though his mill money was all they had, continuing to work there would destroy him.

And if he went to this meeting angry, the couple wouldn’t want him. Just the chance that they could want a fourteen-year-old was slim.

“Trevor, do this for me. This couple seems very nice, but I’ll feel better if you’re there to make sure nothing like Parrish happens to Nolan and Bruce. Don’t think of it as being adopted. Think of it as the two of us splitting the family in two so we can take better care of them. You see to the boys; I’ll care for Libby.”

Trevor hadn’t been one of Parrish’s children. Parrish only wanted girls. But he’d heard all about the hard work, cruelty, and hunger.

After a long second, Trevor said, “Promise you’ll find me if you need anything. I’ll get a message to you so you’ll know where we are.”

Hannah’s exhausted eyes dropped closed with relief. Now if only the couple would take them. Now if only Grace would send money one more time. It had been too long. Grace had never been a day late before. Hannah knew her sister was in trouble, but she didn’t speak of it. Hannah held her breath, waiting, praying. She’d have said anything to get Trevor to grab this chance.

“Promise me, Hannah.”

She would never disrupt their lives. She would never see her little brothers again. She prayed for forgiveness and said, “I promise.”

The couple grabbed onto the boys as if they needed them to survive. They bought them supper, including Hannah. She waved her brothers off with a smile and a full belly then returned to her empty shed, her empty cupboard, and her empty life. Adding Libby to it tomorrow would only emphasize the emptiness.

The boys had left everything behind—and that wasn’t much. But Hannah had three tattered blankets to roll up in. She lay by her barrel and cried until her heart was as empty as her life.

Her house was full of furniture.

Her boys were full of laughter and food.

Her heart was full of love.

Grace kept coming back to it. For the first time in her life, she was truly, fully, joyously happy.

She had no idea about the baby, but from what Daniel said, with her body being abnormal, she doubted she could have a child.

She wanted one. It was amazing how fiercely she wanted one. She pictured a tiny baby—a girl, she wished fervently, especially when the boys were rampaging through the house, slamming doors open and leaving them that way. Only one, not a set all coming at once.

But God had already given her so much, she didn’t dare ask for more. If she asked for anything, it was for Hannah. There would be no money coming from Grace. How were they managing?

She thought of her promise to be brave. God’s faithfulness to her deserved her best efforts at being faithful to him.

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions
fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

Be faithful to Hannah and the children
. Grace smiled as she prayed it. God was so much more faithful to His children than His children ever were to Him. Grace clung to that promise and attended to her new family.

“Great is thy faithfulness.”
The verse echoed in her head as she saw the life she had literally fallen into. It could only be God’s will that she be here with Daniel and the boys. How could God have found her in that awful house with Parrish? How could He have led her to this place and, through the work of her fear and Parrish’s cruel obsession with her, driven her into Daniel’s home? How had God arranged for Parson Roscoe to drop by and insist on a marriage? Even the snowfall that had kept Parrish out and kept Grace from escaping in those first unhappy days were part of the pattern God had set for her life.

Oh God, thank You. Help me give back to You with my own faithfulness
. She thought it when she woke. The words sang in her heart throughout the day. She remembered it while she talked with the boys and her husband. She fell asleep in Daniel’s arms with that prayer on her lips. God would care for all His children.

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord!

Whack!
“We’re going to go over this again, Miss McClellen.”

Whack!
Parrish lifted the ruler and held it ready over Sally’s trembling hand. The raised welts on her palm gave him vicious satisfaction. He glanced up and saw the rage and fear on her sisters’ faces. They didn’t like it, but they wouldn’t do anything.

He knew how children were. They didn’t tell their parents about punishment at school. Parents sided with the teacher and doled out a second punishment at home. The ruler sang as it whizzed through the air and landed on soft flesh. By nightfall, the welts would go down, and palms didn’t show bruising. Even if a bruise or two showed, a few lashes with a ruler were acceptable punishment.

Whack!
If Parrish wielded his ruler with more force, more often than might be called for, who was to know? The other children studied, their heads kept carefully bowed. He had them well trained. Mandy and Beth did their best not to glance up, but he saw them sneak a peek once in a while. He’d make them regret that.

Whack!
He sometimes let the ruler fall almost until he drew blood, especially with the girls. He would work out his anger on those little hands and imagine Grace and what the future held in store for her.

He heard Sally’s stifled sobs and felt a thrill of savage pleasure. That was four. He usually gave five, but Sally McClellen was unusually stubborn. One more.

Whack!
She would know better than to jump to the defense of her slow-witted kindergarten classmate. A boy. He much preferred punishing girls. One more.

Whack!
He had to force himself to stop. The sound of wood striking flesh made his mouth water, and he wanted to go on all day. He saw a line of blood welling on the side of Sally’s hand. He reined himself in before he marked her any more. It wouldn’t do for her father to get upset. Clay McClellen had the kind of eyes Parrish didn’t want looking at him.

“Go back to your desk, you stupid child. I’ll be glad to give you your little classmate’s punishment anytime you want.”

Trembling and bleeding, Sally went quietly to her desk. She flinched every time he called on her. He made her stay in for morning recess and sit at her desk through dinner. She folded in on herself when she was in the schoolroom alone with him. He thought finally she was learning.

“We’ve got to do something about him,” Beth hissed as she and Mandy shared their lunch pail.

Mandy looked at the schoolroom. Her eyes burned. Beth knew that look. Mandy wasn’t one to sit back when the family needed protection, no more than Ma.

“We can’t tell anyone,” Mandy whispered back. “Master Parrish says Pa would stick up for the teacher. He says we’ll get a thrashing at home worse than the one at school.”

“We told Tillie, and nothing bad happened.” Beth chewed on her sandwich. It tasted like sawdust. “She said she’d figure out a way to help us. And Pa might not stick up for Master Parrish, either. He might see how mean Master Parrish is and beat him up and fire him and everything.”

Mandy stared at the building as if she could see through the walls if she tried hard enough.

“I don’t like Sally being in there alone with Master Parrish. He’s cruel, and he likes making her cry. You can see he likes hurting her.” Beth looked nervously at the school. Even from across the yard, she worried that somehow Master Parrish would know they were bad. He liked lashing Sally the most, but he didn’t spare the rod for the other students.

“I wish the Reeves boys were here.”

Mandy gasped. “Why would you want those awful Reeveses around?”

“Because no one can control them. They’d figure out a way to make Master Parrish’s life miserable, maybe even get him fired like they did to poor Miss Calhoun.” Beth figured out that the Reeves boys might be pure trouble on ten running feet. But after all, they were only boys. Since when did a bunch of boys hold a candle to a girl when it came to plotting? It was time to take action.

“True enough. They’d never put up with him.”

Beth needed her sister to agree. Mandy was the organized one. She’d have to help. She decided making Mandy even more upset might be just the right thing to do. “Sally wasn’t bad today. She just tried to explain about Clovis being young. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Nope, she didn’t.” Mandy kept eating, but she swallowed as if the sandwich was stuck in her throat.

“She was bleeding.” Beth added that just in case her big sister wasn’t 100 percent mad clear to the bone.

“I saw.” Mandy turned away from the school.

Beth snatched the biggest apple out of the tin pail.