Home by Morning by Kaki Warner

Author:Kaki Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-05-21T04:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

One week stretched into two. Then three. By the end of the first month, Thomas’s life had taken on a sameness that calmed the turmoil in his mind, even as it numbed his spirit.

Every morning, he walked Katse’e to the new two-room schoolhouse built on the ashes of the Chinese camp that had burned last year when fire swept down the canyon. He had made her a walking stick from a length of ash, and she was learning to use it. On Joe Bill, if she had the chance. The pup Ethan Hardesty gave her was too young to be much help—and might never be. As the weeks passed, he looked more and more like the Scotsman’s Irish wolfhound, a dog bred to hunt. But Katse’e loved him, and someday he would make a good guard dog like his sire, despite being named Bitsy.

After leaving her off at the school—and in the care of Jamie Jessup, who watched over her even though he had three years less than she did—Thomas would walk through the town that he was paid to watch over, stopping at different shops and stores along the way to answer questions or listen to complaints. But rarely to visit. The townspeople seemed to prefer that he keep his distance, which was fine with him.

The rest of the morning he spent in his office, looking over paperwork, updating the wanted lists, and waiting for his lunch to arrive. Afternoons, he did his work from horseback, riding along Mulberry Creek, or up to the old mine, or along canyon trails. Then, if Curtis had not gone to get her from school, it was time for Thomas to walk Katse’e back to the Arlan house—he still could not think of it as home, and doubted he ever would.

Every evening, he sat before the fire and read aloud from a book Rayford Jessup had given him about a Scots hero named Rob Roy. It was slow going with all the Scottish words, but Katse’e seemed to enjoy it—as did Miss Minty, Harriet, Bitsy, and the Abrahams. He also read from the braille book Prudence Lincoln had bought for her, while Katse’e followed along, her small fingers moving over the raised dots that made up the letters and words. It was a halting process, but Thomas felt a father’s pride when Lillian was able to read a few of the words on her own.

Nights were long and restless.

Then dawn would come, and the cycle would begin again.

It was hardly the warrior’s life he had once envisioned, but at least he had a purpose, even if it was not one of his choosing.

He thought things were going well, but then not long after Katse’e started school, he came home to find her hiding under the back stoop with Bitsy. Neither of the Abrahams had been able to coax her out. Curtis had walked her home from school that day, and he said everything was fine until she heard Thomas come through the front door.

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