After the Storm by Jo Ann Ferguson

Author:Jo Ann Ferguson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781453248478
Publisher: Open Road Media

Eleven

Brendan called out, “Samuel, where are you?”

Looking up from where he had been checking an ear of corn, he waved to the boy. He smiled as Brendan rushed up to him. “You’re just the person I wanted to see. Can you—?”

“What did you say to my mother?” he asked, his arms clasped over his chest. “She’s looking so sad.”

“I don’t recall saying much to her other than good morning.” He tossed the ear into the half barrel he was using to collect the corn until his wagon was repaired. “What did she say before she started looking sad?”

He shrugged.

“What were you talking about?”

“Oh …” He gulped. “My Grandpa O’Shea.”

He ruffled the boy’s hair and said, “I’ll see what I can do to cheer her up.”

“Samuel, I’m sorry.” Brendan stared down at his bare feet. “I shouldn’t have accused you of upsetting her, but you and she—you, well, you know.”

“I know.” He pointed to the row of corn, not wanting to discuss the uneven course of every conversation between himself and Cailin. “Start here and see if you can finish the row before lunch.”

“Mama wants me and the girls—the girls and me—to go into Haven for her.”

“Do that, and then finish up this row.”

“Yep.” His grin returned as he raced off, leaving a small dust storm in his wake.

Samuel wiped his forehead on his shirt before tucking it back into his trousers. If this hot, dry spell had come a month ago, the crops would have been ruined. Harvesting in the heat was no fun, but at least he would have something to feed the cows he had planned to buy this fall.

As he opened the screen door into the kitchen, which smelled of that morning’s eggs and coffee, he smiled. Cailin was humming the tune he often whistled while he finished a chore. Even in that blasted patched dress, she was beguiling as she swayed to the music. He wondered when the next dance would be at the Grange Hall.

“Busy?” he asked.

Cailin halted in mid-note as she looked over her shoulder. She dried off a plate and put it up on the shelf. “I’m done with the dishes. I’m going to do some cleaning. By the time I’m done, the bread will have finished raising, and I’ll bake that. There’s a cake Brendan’s been asking me to make for dessert, so I need to prepare it.”

He raised his hands and laughed. “I wasn’t accusing you of not having anything to do. I was wondering if you wanted to take a few minutes and go for a ride.”

“A ride? Where?”

“I’ve got to see Wyatt Colton to get the axle for the field wagon. Do you want to ride along?”

“Is it far?”

“No, so you’ll be back before Brendan and the girls return from Haven.”

She nodded. “It shouldn’t take them long to pick up some chocolate and the mail.”

“And you accused me of spoiling them.”

“You accused yourself, if you’ll recall. Sending three children into town to pick up some supplies isn’t exactly spoiling them.

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