Heart of Glass by Diane Noble

Author:Diane Noble [Noble, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-78601-2
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2011-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

I walked all day, keeping off the road, eating blackberries when I found them. Along the way I found a field of new corn and picked four ears, one to eat and three to take with me.

Sometimes I lost myself in the tangle of vines and undergrowth, and new scratches joined the still-swollen cut on my leg. The shade of the woods kept me cool as I crept along, and I found three springs of fresh water to quench my near unbearable thirst.

A cloud of mosquitoes kept me company, hovering around my face. Soon welts as big as the centers of black-eyed Susans grew on my arms and neck.

I could see my Smokies now, rising up pale lavender and blue against the sky. By sunset they had darkened to shadows, and soon bright stars spangled the indigo skies behind. They called to me in a voice so strong I could almost hear it.

The following day I would reach Dover Town. At least that was my hope. I spent the night in a cornfield, shivering in the damp soil, more from the fright of my experience than from the cold. I ate more corn in the morning, then was sick in the row of corn beside me.

I knelt to the ground then, clutching my stomach as a dull aching pain bent me double. I thought of my suspicions about being with child, and promptly dismissed them. It couldn’t be. Not now.

I started walked again, slowly and unsteadily, keeping to the side of the road lest I be seen. My glorious mountains were my guide, and I followed them west. By midday, I walked to an outcropping at the top of a gentle rise and saw Dover Town lying serene in the distance.

When darkness fell, the glow of lights in the windows of the houses told me I was almost there. Needing a place to sleep, and soon, I puzzled my choices, dressed as I was in ragged, dirty clothes. How could I walk into town—especially to convince the banker that I was Fairwyn March—unless I could find clean clothes and a bath?

Tired and hungry again, I sat heavily on a stump near a clear stream, and let my face fall into my hands. The water rolled and bubbled along its bed, and I stared at it, knowing what I needed to do.

I’d read about the travelers who’d headed west on wagon trains. They had little more than I did now. I looked down at my skirt, then examined my shirtwaist, my smile widening. Before I lost my nerve, I quickly removed everything but my chemise, waded deep into the stream and scrubbed my shirtwaist and skirt with sand. Then I ducked under and rinsed my hair in the dark liquid depths.

I was refreshed when I rose from the water, and I quickly hung my garments on a maple branch, praying it wouldn’t rain. Exhausted, I fell on a grassy patch of the riverbank and slept until dawn.

The next morning, the sun shone bright on my little patch of land.

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