Morning Sky
M
ORNING
S
KY
JUDITH
MILLER
Morning Sky
Copyright © 2006
Judith Miller
Cover design by Lookout Design Group, Inc.
Cover photo of settlers used with permission of the Nebraska State Historical Society, Photograph Collections.
Scripture quotations identified NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION
®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners.
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCoy-Miller, Judith.
Morning sky / Judith Miller.
p. cm. — (Freedom’s path ; bk. 2)
Summary: “Ezekiel Harban carries bitterness and suspicion toward his wife’s half-
sister. Lilly recently fled New Orleans and moved to his Kansas prairie. He is sure she is
hiding something, but what?”—Provided by publisher. ISBN 0-7642-2999-0 (pbk.)
I. Title II. Series: McCoy-Miller, Judith. Freedom’s path ; bk. 2.
PS3613.C3858M67 2006
813'.54—dc22
2005032009
To my husband,
Jim—God’s amazing gif t to me
A MESSAGE TO MY READERS
I
hope you will join me on my continuing journey to explore the struggles and growth of Nicodemus and Hill City, Kansas, through the lives of the Harban and Boyle families. As the towns experience expansion and development, the character and fortitude of the inhabitants are stretched and tested in their fight to survive the harsh Kansas prairie.
Both of these towns were formed in the late nineteenth century by a group of African-American and Caucasian men with a vision to settle western Kansas. Their plan called for one city, Nicodemus, to be predominately settled by African-Americans and the other community, Hill City, to be predominately settled by Caucasians.
While grounded in fact,
Morning Sky
is a work of fiction and not a historical documentary. However, I have made every attempt to honestly portray the harsh circumstances these early settlers faced and the intense courage they displayed as they struggled to settle on the western plains.
Both of these towns continue their crusades to survive. Nicodemus is the only African-American frontier town in existence today.
For additional information about these communities, you may visit the Kansas Historical SocietyWeb site at
www.kshs.org
or the National Park Service Web site at
www.nps.gov/nico
/
.
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day
.
— PROVERBS 4 : 18 NIV
CONTENTS
Nicodemus, Kansas
•
June 1880
N
icodemus? Surely not!
Lilly Verdue traced one finger along the deep V-shaped neckline of her bright red dress. The crimson shade of her gown highlighted the mind-numbing drabness of this town as much as it accentuated her soft toffee-brown skin. What a wretched place.
Dust billowed from beneath the wheels of the freight wagon as it slowed to a stop. This couldn’t be the town where Ezekiel had chosen to settle with his family, could it? Stunned into an uncharacteristic silence, Lilly stared down the street. A livery stable, a sod church, and a pitiable general store that appeared to double as the local post office lined one side of the street. On the northeast corner of Washington Avenue and Third Street, she saw a frame drugstore flanked by a small sod building advertising hotel rooms for rent. Lilly nearly laughed aloud as she read the signage. The building more closely resembled a ramshackle privy than a hotel or boardinghouse. Who would even consider paying to room in such a place?
Farther down the street, she spied another sod church, a lumber merchant offering limited supplies of wood, and a real estate office. A torn broadside nailed to the door of the real estate office boasted fair prices for farmland in Nicodemus Township.
“Little wonder!” Lilly muttered. “They’d have to pay
me
to own land in this forsaken place.” No millinery shop, no dress shop, and no saloon or dance hall—yet a church on each corner.
Yes. This
would
be a town Ezekiel would choose for his family.
Lilly pulled a lace handkerchief from her beaded reticule and waved at two men standing outside the blacksmith’s shop. As the wagon passed by, she straightened to full advantage, enjoying the stares of unrestrained interest. Perhaps she didn’t need to worry about her age— it seemed she still had enough flair to garner attention from members of the opposite gender.
Dismissing the driver’s condemning look, Lilly settled back against the hard wooden seat and sighed. “Any of these dwellings or businesses belong to Ezekiel Harban?”
The driver shook his head. “No, but you’s lucky. Ezekiel’s place is only a couple miles outside of town.”
Lilly arched her perfectly shaped brows and curled her upper lip. She wouldn’t argue with the driver, for if he thought there was good fortune connected with living anywhere near this place, he wasn’t apt to understand a word she could say. Why waste her breath? Obviously this man was no different from her brother-in-law. He likely thought life must be filled with nothing more than hard work, austere surroundings, and religion. Oh yes, lots and lots of religion—the kind that was filled with a generous measure of fire and brimstone.
Mouth agape, Jarena Harban gawked at the flamboyantly attired woman. She could neither close her mouth nor turn her eyes from the mysterious sight. The strange visitor sat patiently, lips pursed and hands folded, while Jarena’s father walked around the freight wagon and reached up a hand to assist her down from the conveyance.
Though her father’s eyebrows were knit together in a fuzzy worry line—which was not a good sign—the woman appeared completely unruffled. In fact, she seemed the personification of tranquillity.With her tawny skin and perfectly coiffed sable hair, she was a vision to behold in a dress of red silk adorned with countless tiny beads. The stitched embellishments shimmered like diamonds as the woman slowly sashayed toward Jarena and her younger sister Grace. The woman came to a halt only inches in front of Jarena, who inhaled deeply and then lifted her nose into the air. Her nostrils filled with an unidentifiable scent—sweet, yet not too sweet—a most enjoyable experience.
A gleam of satisfaction shone in the woman’s eyes as she appeared to notice Jarena’s actions. “My own mixture,” she announced proudly. When Jarena said nothing, the visitor pulled off one glove and extended her wrist until it hovered directly beneath Jarena’s nose.
“The perfume—it’s my own mixture,” she explained. “I’m Lilly Verdue.
Aunt Lilly
to you and your sisters. And I suggest you close your mouth. Otherwise, you’ll soon be catching flies.”
Jarena immediately smacked her lips together. The woman nodded once, and Jarena let out a breath. For some inexplicable reason, the woman’s sign of approval was important. Jarena wanted to impress this stranger, yet she wasn’t certain why. Most of all, she didn’t want to appear ill-mannered to such a stylish-appearing relative.
However, a quick glance at her father proved he didn’t share her concerns. His eyes burned with anger, and his craggy features were twisted into a dark scowl. Jarena looked back and forth between her father and the outlandishly clad woman and waited for him to say something—anything. Instead, silence hung in the air like the stillness before a storm.
Unnerved, Jarena turned her attention to their guest. “So
you’re
Aunt Lilly? Why didn’t you tell us she planned to visit us, Pappy? We could have made arrangements before her arrival.”
A throaty laugh escaped Lilly’s lips, and Jarena noted it was one of those evocative sounds that caused men to take notice. Unfortunately for Aunt Lilly, Jarena’s father didn’t seem impressed in the least. Nor did he bother to answer Jarena’s question. Without fanfare, he hauled Lilly’s trunk from the back of the wagon.
As their father passed Jarena and Grace, he tilted his head toward the wagon. “Grab them other two satchels, gals.”
Jarena stepped forward and grasped the worn straps of the larger bag while Grace picked up the smaller satchel. As she made the proper introductions, Jarena led her aunt toward the house and explained that their sister, Truth, had taken employment in Hill City. She glanced over her shoulder with an apologetic smile. “Had I known you were coming, we would have been better prepared.”