Buckeye Dreams (9 page)

It had been all Katherine could do to make it home from services and through lunch. As soon as she had helped settle Mary into her chair, she made her way across the road to the creek. Pushing her way through the trees, she sank down next to a large mossy rock. Without thinking, she reached for her scar as her chin began to quiver. She had thought by this time at least one or two people would have warmed up to her. But folk were as cold as ever, even more so after what had happened to the president.

Ruth Decker’s snide comments echoed loudly in her ears, but her breaking point was Adele Stephens. Katherine had dared a glance back toward her and her son when services had ended. The young widow had such an empty, bitter look on her face that Katherine could not now erase the image from her mind. She leaned over the rock and, burying her head in her arms, wept.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way, Father, she prayed. Is it me? Am I just naturally some sort of pariah?

How long she sat there sobbing she didn’t know. But when a warm hand laid itself on the middle of her back, she was still so upset she didn’t resist being scooped up into strong arms and letting her head rest on a broad shoulder.

Several minutes later her tears began to ease, and a handkerchief was thrust into her hand. She looked up to see warm green eyes gazing into her own and shyly took a step back.

Daniel released her, although his hands still rested on both her forearms. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Katherine nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“You’re sure?” She nodded again, and he gently urged her down onto the rock he had pulled her up from. “I’m going to try to catch our dinner.”

Katherine watched as he took his fishing pole and, baiting the hook with a worm from an old rusty can, cast his line out into the swirling water. The rush of the creek filled her ears and rays of sunshine poked though the green, leafy roof, dancing here and there as the wind played through the trees. She took a deep breath. The air had a wholesome, earthy scent. Sitting there taking in the rhythm of God’s creation helped her bring her emotions back in order.

Daniel looked over from where he sat at the edge of the creek. “Feeling better?”

“Yes, but you must think I’m the type to cry at the drop of a hat.”

He chuckled. “I have to admit I’m beginning to wonder if I should go buy more handkerchiefs.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m only joking. You don’t seem like the weepy type.” His face grew serious. “Have people at church been behaving like that since you came here?”

Katherine hesitated. She didn’t want to seem like a gossip or a snitch, but neither did she want to lie. Fingering her scar, she looked down.

She heard him give an exasperated sigh. “Katherine, I’m sorry you’ve been treated so poorly.” He paused. “I want you to know this isn’t like any of them.”

“I know,” she replied. “But I can’t blame them for feeling the way they do. The war has been hard on everybody.”

“That doesn’t give them the right to treat you badly. No one should be treated like that by the body of Christ. It doesn’t matter if they’re from the North or the South, saved or sinner.” He looked out over the creek for a moment before turning toward her once more. “I’m going to take this to Reverend Warren.”

Katherine bit her lip. “Mary wanted to do the same thing weeks ago. I persuaded her not to.”

“Why?” He frowned.

She looked down at her lap. “Folks already think of me as a spoiled Southern belle. A rebuke won’t change their opinions of me. It will only make it worse.”

“What they are doing is wrong in God’s eyes.” She turned to find him standing with his arms crossed and a look of gentle consternation on his face.

He was right. Even if she could talk him out of going to the reverend, she would be letting these people remain in sin.

“
Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother
. “The verse rang in her head.
But Father, it will only makes matters worse
, she prayed desperately. But the Lord’s call was clear. And in her heart she knew He knew what was best. She looked at Daniel miserably and nodded.

He crouched down in front of her. “Don’t look so worried,” he said with a small half smile. “Trust God to work it out.”

An hour later, she, Daniel, Mary, and Reverend Warren were seated in the parlor discussing the situation. Katherine looked at the clergyman warily as he took in all that Daniel had said. He was an older gentleman, slender with round wire-rim glasses and light brown hair. His generous sideburns were streaked with gray. He looked like a strict headmaster of a boarding school, but Daniel had told her Paul and Minnie Warren were two of the kindest people he knew. She looked away. If that were true, she had yet to experience it.

“Daniel, Mary,” the man finally said, and Katherine looked at the reverend once more. “You know how greatly your family is respected, not only in the church but in this community.”

They both nodded.

“But I have to question your judgment in bringing Miss Wallace here.”

Katherine felt her face burn.

Mary pursed her lips.

Daniel’s face hardened. “Excuse me, Reverend,” he said, his voice surprisingly calm, “but I can’t quite believe what I’m hearing. The Word clearly states—”

“I’m not refuting the many scriptures you brought to my attention,” he declared with a raised hand. “I just don’t think you realize how deeply the war has affected the church and the community.” He gave both of them a firm and steady gaze. “The members of Mill Creek Church were very proud to have had so many of its young men go off to fight. But over half of those young men will never return. It has hardened many a heart. And now you’re asking them to accept someone who represents the cause of all this.”

“You know as well as I do this war was caused by the way the North reacted to things just as much as anything the South did,” Daniel retorted. “Need I mention Bleeding Kansas?”

Katherine remembered her father speaking of the bloody battles between antislavery and proslavery settlers as they fought to decide if Kansas would be a free state or a slave state.

“I know that. I only mean for you to understand that it may take a very long time for them to come to accept Miss Wallace, if they do at all.”

“If they do at all?” Mary cried. “You can’t be serious.”

“You haven’t been here, Mary. These aren’t the same people you and John said good-bye to. Adele Stephens hasn’t been the same since Nate passed, and she’s been slipping out early ever since Miss Wallace began attending.”

Mary, who sat next to Katherine on the sofa, grasped her friend’s hand tightly in both of her own. Katherine was too stunned and saddened by the man’s words to notice.

Reverend Warren rose.

“So you won’t do anything about this?” Daniel’s voice was hard as he also stood to face the reverend.

The man’s face was strained as he put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “I never said that. I will address the congregation as gently as the Lord will enable me.” He turned to look at Katherine. “Miss Wallace, I can tell you are a sister in Christ, and I am sorry if Minnie and I have hurt you in any way.” His face grew longer as he continued. “You see, my nephew, Andrew, was wounded in the war, and although his injuries healed, his mind never did. My brother is talking of taking him to an asylum.”

“Paul, I’m so sorry,” Mary breathed.

“We’ll keep him in our prayers, Reverend,” Daniel said quietly. “Thank you for coming.” He left to walk the clergyman to his horse.

Katherine turned to Mary. “Was the reverend close to his nephew?”

“Andrew was planning on following his uncle into the ministry.” Mary’s eyes glistened.

Daniel slowly walked into the room and sank down into a chair. “I had no idea.”

“Your mother never wrote a word about Andrew or how bad the church’s losses were,” his aunt murmured.

“You know how Ma was. She hated giving anyone bad news.” Daniel ran a hand through his hair, and a heavy silence settled over the room.

Katherine looked at Mary and then Daniel. A thought had been growing on her heart for some time now, and she suspected the idea was not far from their thoughts as well. “I shouldn’t have come,” she said softly.

They stared at her.

“I’ll go back to South Carolina as soon as it can be arranged.”

D
aniel started at her words and watched his aunt pale.

“No!” Her voice rang out. “I won’t have it!”

“Mary, it’s for the best.” Daniel could tell by Katherine’s eyes she wasn’t as resolute as she sounded. He tried to catch her gaze, but she looked down at her lap. “I know where Aunt Ada is, and if I apologize …”

“No!” Mary repeated and stomped the floor with her good foot. “I won’t have you going back to a family whose only value you are to them is who you marry.” Her eyes snapped, but her voice took on a gentler tone as she continued. “And I won’t have you returning to people who would do this to you.” His aunt pointed to the scar along Katherine’s jawline.

He’d noticed it before but had assumed it was the result of a childhood injury. Jagged and ugly, it looked entirely out of place on her sweet face. A family member had done that to her?

She glanced at him and raised her hand to cover the blemish.

His aunt grasped Katherine’s hand and pulled it away from her face. “This is your home now,” she said firmly. “I won’t hear of you leaving.”

“Neither will I,” Daniel declared. If that was how her family treated such a sweet-natured girl, there was no way he would let her return to them.

Katherine frowned and looked at Mary. “But what about the church and everyone in town?”

“God can soften even the hardest heart.” His aunt smiled. “We’ll pray for them. Right now if you like.”

At Katherine’s nod, they joined hands and Daniel led them in prayer, asking the Lord to bind up the wounds of war and heal people’s hearts.

“Thank you, Daniel,” Mary said. “It’s time we started supper.” Grasping her crutch, she rose and made her way toward the kitchen.

Katherine rose to follow her, but Daniel stood and laid a gentle hand on her arm. “How did you get that scar?”

She reached up and laid her fingers against her scar before she answered. “I was trying to protect Chloe from my father’s whip. He struck me, and his signet ring caught the edge of my jaw.”

“I’m sorry. And I’m sorry Reverend Warren’s visit wasn’t more encouraging.”

Katherine bit her lip. “I wasn’t entirely surprised. People have been through a lot over the past four years.” A shy look passed over her face. “Thank you for praying with me.”

“We can pray every evening if you’d like,” he offered.

She smiled gently. “I’d like that.”

Feeling a little foolish, he watched as she went into the kitchen. In his mind, he had hoped the peace that had begun at Appomattox would quickly spread to every heart in the Union. But the wounds of war ran deeper than he had imagined. He hadn’t realized how being away for four years had made him so out of touch with those back home.

Bits of Mary and Katherine’s conversation floated in from the kitchen.

Real peace needs to begin somewhere
. As far as Katherine was concerned, he resolved to be an example to those around him and go out of his way to make sure she always felt welcome in his home.

A few days later, Katherine and Daniel were going about planting the kitchen garden next to the house. Over the past couple of days, Daniel had been plowing the fields set aside for corn and oats, but as he had told Katherine and Mary at dinner last night, the newly turned earth needed to dry out before he harrowed. “If nothing else, the kitchen garden can get planted,” he’d said, running a frustrated hand through his hair.

Planting was going to be a problem. Katherine and Mary were more than willing to help, but with Mary’s foot still on the mend and Katherine so inexperienced, he would be lucky to get everything done on time. He would have hired some farmhands, but with so many young men still in the army, help was in short supply. And those few who were available had already been hired out until the fall.

A good many of them had been snatched up by Elijah Carr.
He’s still hoping to get the farm one way or another
, Daniel thought as he fetched the gardening tools from the shed connected to the summer kitchen.

His face must have betrayed the anger he felt, because Katherine stared at him as they met on the way to the garden. Her kaleidoscope eyes were large with surprise. “Is everything all right?” she asked tentatively.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking about Elijah Carr.”

Her dainty face grew thoughtful. “I’ve often wondered about him.” They walked through the garden gate and began a row of carrots. “Has he always been …?”

“Angry, greedy, and hateful?”

“Well … yes.”

Daniel straightened from covering up the seeds she was dropping and leaned against the hoe. “Elijah Carr’s brother and his family moved to the Kansas Territory just when everything was beginning to heat up. He was antislavery and got into a fight with some proslavery men. He was shot to death, and his wife and son were left homeless when the men burned their house down.”