Song of My Heart (12 page)

Sadie nodded, but she’d already made up her mind to attend the Congregationalist church.

“Well . . .” He pushed off the post, lifting his hand to adjust his Stetson. Most of the men around town wore cowboy-style hats, but for some reason the hat better suited the sheriff than anyone else. “I best let you get on inside an’ grab your dinner. Reckon it’s growing cold.”

Sadie sighed. “I hope there’s something left for me. I told Miss Melva and Miss Shelva not to expect me, so they might have eaten it all by now.”

He puckered his brow, as if thinking deeply. “You were going to eat dinner with Sid—I recall he invited you yesterday as we were leaving the café. So what happened? Did he burn the pot roast?”

Sadie had been embarrassed when Sid asked her to dinner in front of the sheriff but hadn’t included the sheriff in the invitation. Her discomfiture returned as she admitted, “We had a little . . . falling out, and I refused to eat with him. So now I need to find my own lunch.”

Thad jammed his thumb toward his office. “You’re more than welcome to eat with me. Just crackers, cheese, an’ some tinned ham. Oh, an’ canned peaches.” A boyish grin appeared on his tanned face. “I’m partial to peaches—always have been.”

Sadie’s heart skipped a beat. “Are . . . are you sure you have enough?”

“Dunno. How much do you eat?”

Sadie couldn’t hold back a surprised giggle. He managed to look so serious as he asked the teasing question. She caught herself teasing back. “I’m guilty of gluttony when it comes to peaches.”

“Hmm. I better open two cans.”

She laughed again, pleased by his answer. Then propriety beckoned. Tipping her head, she asked, “Are you sure it’s all right, though? For me to eat with you . . . alone . . . ?”

He sobered. “I sure wouldn’t want to do anything that might be considered unseemly. An’ you’re right—being alone in my office isn’t a good idea.”

Sadie nodded, disappointed. She enjoyed his company. He made her laugh. He reminded her a lot of Papa—the before-accident Papa: strong, steadfast, prone to good-natured teasing. And handsome to boot.

He snapped his fingers. “I have an idea. It’s such a pretty day. We’ll have us a picnic on the boardwalk, right under the town’s nose. Nobody can complain if we’re out where they can all see, right?”

Her spirits immediately lifted. “A picnic sounds like great fun.”

“Good!” He poked out his elbow. “C’mon. I’ll throw an old blanket on the boardwalk. You can tell me about Reverend Wise’s sermon while we eat. I’m just sure he said something worth repeating.”

Her cheerful countenance restored, Sadie accompanied the sheriff up the street.

Thad spread the musty old blanket in the grass at the park area across the street from his office. With the sun directly overhead and no porch overhang to provide shade, he’d suggested they sit beneath the single cottonwood next to the community center. To his delight, Sadie had agreed. She stood nearby with the crate of food cradled in her arms, waiting for him to get the blanket arranged just so. He couldn’t stop smiling. What a pleasure, enjoying a simple lunch with this lovely young woman.

The blanket as smooth as he could make it, he reached for the crate. “Lemme take that. Sit yourself down an’ I’ll get everything out.”

“I can help,” she said, kneeling on the blanket.

“No, now, you’re my guest today. Just sit there an’ let me take care of things.”

“Very well, then. Thank you.”

Her appreciative smile did something funny to his insides. He got busy digging in the crate. The battered tin plates that served him just fine didn’t seem good enough to put in front of Sadie, but she didn’t produce so much as a grimace when he knelt across the blanket from her and laid them out.

While he emptied the crate, she lifted her gaze skyward, releasing a sweet little sigh. “It’s so beautiful. Is the weather always this pleasant in Kansas?”

Thad chuckled. “No, not always. Kansas tends to be unpredictable.” He peeled back the lid on the ham and poked a fork into the tender pink meat. “Sometimes the coolness of spring stretches clear on into June. Other times it’s hot an’ dry. Been dry so far this year, but not so hot.” He glanced at the sky, too, noting the puffy clouds floating overhead. The tree limbs swayed with the gentle breeze. His nose detected the scents of earth, grass, and something else that reminded him of lemons. Maybe Sadie’s toilet water? “You’re right, though, about it being pleasant.” He admired the turn of her delicate jaw as she continued to survey the blue skies. “Real pleasant . . .”

She caught him looking at her, and her cheeks splotched with pink. She began fiddling with a blade of grass, giving him a view of the top of her little felt hat. He preferred seeing her face. So he plunked the cracker tin in the middle of the blanket and said, “Let me say grace, an’ then we can eat.”

He kept his prayer short and simple, then he gestured for her to fill her plate first. She did so, without hesitation, pleasing him with her lack of inhibition. The few times he’d taken a woman out for dinner, he’d observed females tended to pick at food, almost as if eating was something to be endured rather than enjoyed. But Sadie stacked the ham and cheese on crackers and ate without embarrassment. Although she minded her manners—no talking while chewing or putting too much in her mouth at once—she appeared to enjoy herself. When she picked up a can of peaches, stabbed a pinkish-orange wedge with her fork, and carried it directly to her mouth, Thad nearly cheered. Finally, a girl who could be
real
instead of putting on airs.

A stronger gust of wind deposited a few bits of brown grass in Sadie’s lap. She brushed them away, unconcerned, before reaching for another cracker. “The wind reminds me of home,” she said. “When I left, Mama was just getting her garden seeds in the ground. I hope they’ve had some rain to make the seeds grow.”

Thad carved off another sliver of cheese with his pocket knife and popped it in his mouth. He chewed and swallowed. “Do you like gardening?”

Her face lit. “Oh yes. I enjoy watching the little shoots push through the soil, and then seeing the leaves unfurl. Of course, knowing the plants will provide my family with the food we need to carry us through the winter is also gratifying.”

“You said you come from a large family?” Thad pushed his plate aside and stretched out on his side, leaning on his elbow. Assuming the lazy pose might communicate his intention to stay for a while, but Sadie didn’t appear offended. She flashed a smile in reply to his question.

“One sister and four brothers—four active brothers.” She sighed, lifting her gaze to the tree for a moment. “I miss them. And my folks.”

“So you’re close, then.” He didn’t ask, he stated. Her sigh and the melancholy droop to her lips let him know how lonely she felt, being away from her family.

“Very,” she confirmed. Shifting to look at him again, she said, “And you? Are you close to your family?”

Had Thad ever really been part of a family? It’d been him and pa, two people residing under the same roof. But family should mean the people cared for one another, looked out for one another, and took joy in being together. In that respect, he’d never been part of a family. But he didn’t want to say all that to Sadie. “It’s just me now,” he said by way of an answer, allowing her to draw her own conclusions.

Her heart-shaped face puckered in sympathy. “I’m sorry. It’s hard to be alone.” Another sigh escaped her lips, but it was not light and airy like the last one. She pushed crumbs around her plate with the tip of her finger.

“Guess you’d know,” Thad said, “since you’re kind of alone, too, being so far from Indiana.” The wind flipped the corner of the blanket over his plate. Thad flattened it back out and held it down with his elbow. “But you came to sing. So singing’s important to you?”

Her wistful gaze drifted to the tree branches overhead where a bird chirped from its perch. “I’ve always loved singing. So when Sid wrote and said I could work at the mercantile and also sing in Goldtree’s opera house, Mama and Papa said I should go—to use the gift God had given me.” The bird flew away, and Sadie turned her attention to Thad. “I know I’m meant to be here. My folks and I prayed and prayed for me to find a decent job, and God answered. But it’s very difficult to be so far away from Papa, Mama, Effie, and the boys.”

Thad kept his voice light, even though his heart had suddenly decided to set up a fierce
boom-boom
inside his chest. “Are you hoping to have a big family of your own someday?”

“Of course! Big and boisterous.” She laughed, the sound like creek water tripping over rocks. “I can’t imagine family being any other way.” She reached for the peach can and poked out the last wedge from the bottom, popping it into her mouth with a guileless smile that sent Thad’s heart into his throat.

Thad slowly sat upright, his limbs quivery. He’d never been a whimsical man, but in that moment he felt as though someone had pushed him over the edge of a cliff and he was soaring in the clouds. In that moment, he lost his heart to Miss Sadie Wagner. And he had no idea how to snatch it back.

12 

A
sa, we already got one back door. Why’n the name o’ all that’s sensible do you gotta put in a second one?”

Asa sucked in a mighty breath and held it, waiting for the extra oxygen to calm his jangled nerves. Why couldn’t the Almighty have given him brothers instead of a pair of harping, pestering, smothering sisters? When he could speak without snapping, he faced his sister. “As I already told you, Melva, if folks’re gonna be able to get to the singin’ room without walkin’ clean through the mercantile, we got to have another door back here.”

Melva’s thin lips pursed into a tight scowl. “Well, Sister ’n’ me’re both just about tetched from all the bangin’. First all the bangin’ you done for weeks on end underneath us, an’ now all the bangin’ behind us. If we come outta this without our hair fallin’ out an’ our teeth turnin’ green, it’ll be two winks shy of a miracle, an’ that’s a fact.”

Asa allowed himself a moment to imagine his sisters with bald heads and green teeth. The thought made him smile. But he hid all humor from his tone as he responded to Melva’s diatribe. “Never heard of nobody’s teeth turnin’ green from listenin’ to somebody build a doorway. Scoot on back inside an’ let me work. I still got lots to get done before Friday.”

Melva let out a loud huff, but she stormed for the door. Just before she stepped inside, Asa thought of something and called, “Sister!” She paused and glared at him, but he ignored the searing look. “Send your clerk out here for a minute.”

Melva’s thick eyebrows rose. “You gonna make her swing a hammer?”

The ridiculous question didn’t warrant a response. “Just send ’er.”

With another blast of breath, Melva stomped away. Moments later, Miss Wagner scurried into the backyard. “Yes, Mr. Baxter?”

Asa tried not to give the girl a head-to-toes-to-head-again look-see, but she sure tempted a man. The Creator did some mighty fine work when he put Sadie Wagner together. “Just wantin’ you to know, I been talkin’ up the program all over town. Got lots of folks eager to come on Friday for the opera house’s openin’.”

The girl’s cheeks flushed, and she tangled her hands in her apron. “Truly?”

Asa chuckled. Her fresh eagerness never ceased to please him. “Oh, you betcha. You been gettin’ in some practice?”

“Yes, sir! Every evening after supper I’ve gone through my . . . repertoire.” The pink in her cheeks blossomed into a deeper hue. “I have enough songs to fill a full hour.” Her brow pinched. “Is—is that sufficient?”

Asa gave a blunt nod. “For now.” But it’d need to grow to a heap longer before he could get the second part of his business in full swing. “Don’t want’cha overdoin’ at first, so stick to an hour for the first couple weeks. But you’ll need to build. After all, if we want folks comin’ back again an’ again, we gotta give ’em somethin’ more each time.”

Miss Wagner nodded thoughtfully.

“I ordered a good dozen tunes. Soon as they’re in, you can start workin’ ’em into your repertoire.” He liked the way her face turned all dreamy when he used the word
repertoire
. So he repeated it. “Yep, gotta build that repertoire.”

“Yes, sir. I will.”

He also liked how she called him “sir.” He puffed out his chest. “Well, I gotta finish up this doorway now, so you head on back inside. Maybe after supper tonight we can go to the singin’ room, an’ you can practice on the stage. Would’ja like that?”

“Yes, sir!”

Asa laughed. A genuine laugh. The sound startled him. Suddenly uncertain what to do, he bobbed the hammer at the other doorway. “Go on now.”

The girl flashed a smile before slipping through the doorway. Asa stared after her, the hammer forgotten in his hand. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d spontaneously laughed. He often conjured a chortle. Sometimes it was required. But this one had blasted from his throat without forethought. He shook his head, trying to rein in his confusion. The girl had a strange effect on him. He’d better be careful.

“Hello there, Asa.”

The jovial voice came from behind Asa, startling him anew. He swung around and spotted Roscoe Hanaman just a few feet behind him, thumbs caught in the little pockets of his brocade vest. Heat rose from Asa’s middle. Had the man seen him moonin’ over Miss Wagner?