Courting Miss Hattie by Pamela Morsi

Author:Pamela Morsi [Morsi, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Historical, Western
ISBN: 9780553761955
Google: xWYKAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0553761951
Barnesnoble: 0553761951
Goodreads: 692914
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 1991-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER 14

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By the time the heat of July had settled in, the cotton crop was laid by. Good weather had helped the cotton grow tall and strong, and all that was left was for the boils to blossom and the pickers to pick. The word was that cotton was thin in the Deep South but the weevils were thick. That meant a higher price per pound and good news for Arkansawyers. The mood in the county was light, and the need for laughter and music was in the air. It was a special time of year, between chopping and picking, when all the other farm chores were caught up and neighbors who had barely had time to pass a word together since spring gathered for fun and celebration.

Hattie had a brand-new dress for the July Fourth picnic, white lawn with a pleated bodice and a sash of bright blue satin. In honor of the holiday she pinned two bright red poppies to her hat. For the first time in her life, she would be attending a community outing on the arm of a man, and she couldn't keep from smiling and humming as she packed the last of the huge basket of victuals. Feeding eight on the ground was no small task, but she took it on gladly.

The last few weeks had seen improvement in her life and her outlook. Reed had finally begun to act like himself again, although he had still not returned to their former breakfast ritual. Harm would disappear for days at a time but kept returning to do his share. He was quieter now, yet he seemed to have formed a truce with Reed.

And Mr. Drayton—no, Ancil, she corrected herself. She had decided to start thinking about him on a first-name basis. Ancil had been a prince and a gentleman. He continued to call upon her two nights a week, and she had become increasingly relaxed in his presence. His "smoochy-smooches" were still not quite what she would have hoped, but she rebuked herself for wasting a thought on such trifling. She had put her foot down about the pinching, and he had acted the perfect gentleman since.

As she heard the wagon pull up in the yard, she hurried out to meet him. The last evening she had seen him, he had spoken with great seriousness about the future. She felt confident that he was going to declare himself soon. The very idea of it made her nearly light-headed.

By the time she reached the porch, Ancil had pulled the team to a stop. "Well, good morning, Miss Hattie," he called out. "Don't you look like a flag yourself."

She accepted the statement as if it were a compliment and asked the boys to come get the picnic basket.

"Daddy says there's going to be fireworks and I can stay up and watch!" Ada told her excitedly as Ancil offered her a hand into the wagon.

"Fireworks?" Hattie asked, looking at Ancil with almost as much excitement as his daughter.

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