Brides of Ohio (11 page)

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “You do understand this isn’t going to be easy or fun?”

“I know, Mr. Kirby.” Jacob looked at him as seriously as an eight-year-old could look. “There’s no school since everybody’s planting, and I’m tired of wandering around town. I want to be a farmer like my pa.”

Katherine watched a wave of guilt pass over Daniel’s face. “You can work here so long as it’s all right with your ma.”

A huge smile lit up the youngster’s face, and he looked at Katherine and Mary.

Katherine mustered up a smile. “I believe there might be some peppermint candy somewhere about the house. Isn’t that so, Mary?”

“Yes.” Her friend smiled. “Why don’t we go take a look?”

As she went to follow Mary and the excited young boy went into the house, Daniel grasped Katherine’s hand. “I almost forgot about my hand,” he explained and then flashed an impish grin. “I like peppermint, too.”

“Well, I suppose. As long as you behave.” Katherine found herself unable to resist playing along, but she quickly reminded herself friendship was all there could ever be between them.
Handsome men like Daniel Kirby don’t fall for women as plain as me.

Daniel was hitching the team up the next morning as he waited for Jacob to arrive. He hoped Adele would let the boy work in spite of Katherine’s presence. And his. After all, he had failed to protect the life of her husband, and now he was asking her to trust him with Jacob on a daily basis. Farming wasn’t the same as going off to war, but it certainly had its own share of dangers.

Sweat was already beginning to form on his brow. It was going to get warm today. He looked up at the sky in frustration. He was well behind where he should have been at this point in the season.

He shook his head. Jonah wouldn’t have gotten behind, even without help. His older brother had been a gifted farmer. He could make every bit of sunlight count for something.

His hand ached as he pulled on a strap, quickly reminding him of Professor Harris’s visit. A prayer rose in his mind, but he bit it back.
What’s the use?

Katherine came out of the house just then and walked out to the poultry yard on the other side of the garden. Daniel watched as she stepped into the chicken coop to collect eggs. She’d seemed reserved yesterday evening in the parlor. Even Mary had commented on how quiet she’d been. She’d given the excuse she was tired and left for her room earlier than usual, before they’d had a chance to talk.

He heaved a long sigh. It was going to be a long day today with or without help. He hoped she wouldn’t be too tired to talk tonight. Their conversations in the evening were a lifeline, a connection to something now lost to him.
At least He hasn’t taken that away
, he thought.
At least not yet.

He was just about to take the horses out to the fields when Jacob arrived. And he wasn’t alone. The boy was walking up the drive alongside a wagon carrying three freemen, one of whom Daniel instantly recognized.

“Simon Peter!” he exclaimed as he strode over to them.

The wagon springs creaked with relief as the man climbed down. He was a sturdy, muscular man, a head or two taller than Daniel.

Unperturbed by the man’s height, Daniel looked up at the man with a grin. “Are you still the tallest man in the county?”

“Sure as you’re the second tallest,” the man joked back and slapped Daniel on the back. “You remember my boys, Aaron and Michael?”

“I sure do,” Daniel replied as the two young men climbed out of the wagon to stand next to their pa. Daniel greeted them and glanced in the back of the wagon. A plow, harrow, and other farm equipment lay in the bed. “What’s all this?”

“Well, my youngest, Jeremiah, he’s been working with them colts of Professor Harris’s, training them and all, and he comes home yesterday and tells me the professor says you’re trying to work all this land by yourself.” The man’s normally good-humored face frowned at Daniel. “Now why didn’t you come and see me if you were having trouble?”

“Simon, you have your own fields to get done.”

“Now, Daniel Aaron Kirby,” Simon Peter’s firm voice interrupted him. “I done know ya since you was younger than this one here.” Simon Peter pointed at Jacob, who was staring up at him with saucerlike eyes. “We got a good start on our planting, and Joe and Jeremiah say they can make do. Aaron, Michael, and I are set on helpin’ ya plant your crops.”

His sons smiled and nodded in agreement.

“And he’d be a fool to refuse your help,” Mary said as she shuffled up to them. “Simon Peter, you’re a sight for sore eyes.” She was lost for a moment as she and Simon embraced. “How’s Celia?”

“Miss Mary, it’s right good to see you, too. Celia’s just fine. Her sister came up a few months back, and she’s staying with us.” He looked past both of them and smiled and nodded. “Hello there, ma’am.”

Daniel turned to see a hesitant Katherine slowly approaching. She was clutching the egg basket so tightly, he could see the whiteness of her knuckles. He quickly realized how intimidating Simon Peter must seem to someone so small and walked over to her. “It’s all right,” he said quietly. “This is Simon Peter Johnson. Ma and Pa hid him when Jonah was a baby. He lives just outside of Delaware with his wife, Celia.”

“Will I bother him?” she asked tentatively.

Daniel smiled at her tenderhearted nature and shook his head. “Simon Peter has been a freeman for years now, Katherine. I’m sure he’ll be happy to meet you. He’s a large man but a gentle one.” He coaxed her closer.

Mary grabbed her arm and pulled her over to stand in front of Simon Peter. “Simon, this is a dear friend of the family,” Mary said, “Miss Katherine Wallace. Katherine was my neighbor down in South Carolina.”

“Oh yes. The professor said you had someone staying with you.” He bent down and took her tiny hand in his huge one.

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Mr. Johnson,” Katherine said softly. Daniel took note of her attempt to blunt her accent.

“Ma’am, folk just call me Simon Peter,” he said. “I reckon I won’t answer ta nothin’ else.”

“I do hope I won’t make you … uncomfortable.”

A bright white smile spread across the man’s face. “Oh no, ma’am, not a bit. Celia’s from down there in the Carolinas. You sound a mite like her.” He looked over at Daniel. “We’re ready to start when you are.”

Daniel looked at the men and, regretting his earlier attitude, silently thanked God for sending him help just when he really needed it. “Aunt Mary’s right. I’d be a fool to refuse help now. But I intend to pay you and your sons what’s fair.”

Simon Peter gave him a hesitant look. “You sure?”

“I won’t take no for an answer.”

“Well, all right.” They smiled and shook hands.

“Wow!”

Katherine jumped at the awestruck voice at her elbow. She looked down to see Jacob still standing next to her. His eyes were glued to Simon Peter, who was striding out toward the fields with his sons and Daniel. Katherine couldn’t help but giggle. “I know. He’s right large, isn’t he?”

“He’s a giant,” the boy squeaked.

“Well, he’s a gentle giant,” Mary declared, patting Jacob on the back. “What did your ma say about working here?”

“Ma said it was fine for me to work here for as long as Mr. Kirby needed me.”

Mary cocked an eyebrow at the young man. “Did she understand why?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The boy winced as he reached for his backside. “She understood all right.”

Katherine chuckled along with her friend, and her heart rose hopefully. She had worried the widow wouldn’t allow her son within ten feet of her. Perhaps her prayers were beginning to pay off. She smiled kindly at the boy. “You’d best be off with them, don’t you think?”

“Oh yes, ma’am.” Jacob ran off and called out to Daniel.

He turned toward the boy and, catching sight of Katherine, smiled.

A sharp thrill rose in her chest and she smiled back.

“Thank you for lifting such a great weight from his shoulders, Father,” Mary prayed aloud.

“Amen,” Katherine finished softly, still smiling. Suddenly remembering herself, she shook her head.
Katherine Wallace, if you keep up this foolishness, you’ll deserve every bit of what’s coming to you.

She heard Mary chuckle and turned to look at her friend. “Jacob’s a funny little thing,” she said.

“He is, but that’s not what amuses me,” the older woman replied as they walked in the house and headed toward the kitchen.

Katherine set the basket of eggs down on the worktable. “What is it then?”

“You and my nephew.”

Katherine nearly dropped the eggs she and Mary were transferring from the basket to a large bowl. “What on earth do you mean?”

“You’re a fool if you don’t see how he looks at you.”

“I … haven’t noticed,” she replied evasively.

“Well I have, and he has the same look on his face as Thomas did whenever he got a letter from you.”

“Mary,” Katherine scolded, “he does nothing of the kind.” She continued to stack eggs in the bowl for another moment or two. “Even if he does, why would he?”

She heard her friend give an exasperated sigh. “Father, forgive me, but I would have liked to tell your family a thing or two.”

Katherine glanced up to see a pleading look in Mary’s eyes.

“Katherine, we’ve been over this before. When are you going to realize just how pretty you are?”

“When the mirror finally agrees with you,” Katherine said gently. Before Mary could get another word in, she grabbed the bowl of eggs and took them to the root cellar out next to the house. She set the eggs on one of the many shelves and pulled down several jars of vegetables to take back in for lunch.

Sometimes Mary was too kind for her own good. Pretty is the very last word she would choose to describe herself.
Short, eyes that aren’t one color or another, and a head of hair that can’t decide if it’s red or brown
—
pretty is the last thing I am
, she thought. Oh, Thomas hadn’t seemed to mind her lack of beauty, but then they hadn’t actually met face-to-face very often at all. And as far as Daniel was concerned, clearly Mary was only seeing what she wanted to see.

Katherine shut the door to the root cellar and leaned against it as she juggled the jars in her arms. As much as she enjoyed discussing the books she’d been reading with Daniel, it had to stop. If it didn’t, she would only end up with a very broken heart. She’d realized it yesterday evening and deliberately gone to bed early.

“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick,”
she quoted to herself.

I
t was easy to keep her resolve that evening. As long as the planting was going on, Simon Peter and his sons were staying at the farm during the week, sleeping in the barn. What had been going on with the Johnsons dominated the conversation in the parlor after supper.

“Are you and your family still attending the church in Africa?” Daniel asked.

The dumbfounded look on Katherine’s face made Simon Peter laugh heartily. He then explained how, a year or so before the war, a group of slaves had made their way to Ohio after being freed in North Carolina. They eventually came to Westerville, a virulent antislavery community south of Delaware, and the citizens invited them to stay in some abandoned cabins north of town. They stayed and prospered, prompting one of the few proslavery farmers in the area to label the town “Africa.” The new community proudly accepted the name.

Unfortunately for Katherine’s plan, Simon Peter and his sons left late Saturday afternoon so they could spend Sunday with their family. Katherine once again managed to get by that evening with the excuse she was tired, but she knew she’d need to come up with something different or Mary would suspect she was getting sick.

However, making up excuses was the furthest from her mind as they went to services Sunday morning. Reverend Warren had promised to speak to the body this morning. She fought the jitters as Daniel helped her down from the carriage.

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked.

She nodded and tried not to look directly at him. He’d had to wear his uniform again this week, and seeing him in it made it hard to breathe. She grabbed on to Mary’s arm.