The Soldier's Wife by Cheryl Reavis

Author:Cheryl Reavis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2012-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

Bright morning stars are rising...

Day is breaking in my soul….

And then it was over. With one final gesture, the careful placement of the many flowers they had carried onto the outcropping of rock, these people sent Thomas Henry Garth’s soul to its rest.

As they walked back down to the cabin, Sayer took his arm again, and Beatrice and Amity went on ahead. They were quiet and well behaved, but still it was as if some burden had been lifted from their small shoulders and they could be little girls again. Jack barely remembered what he had said about their brother, except for the one truth in the midst of it—that despite the sad circumstances, it was a privilege to have met Thomas Henry’s friends and family.

Preacher Tomlin said a prayer of thanks when they all had gathered in the yard, his last of the day before everyone ate. This time Jack found himself actually listening. The ritual of prayer had been such a part of his life at the orphanage, but he had deliberately let go of that aspect of his faith. He had let go, and he’d found nothing to replace it.

Apparently it was the custom that the men were served first, so there was no time for anyone to start up a conversation with him. Jack found himself going around the table and filling his plate with ham and cheese and corn bread and pickles, but he didn’t pile it high enough to satisfy the women who supervised the process. It took a considerable amount of charm on his part to convince them that he had a sufficient amount of food and that he would not starve.

“Will you let the poor man be and let him eat in peace,” one of them finally said, shooing him along. He made it all the way to the porch with the plate and a glass of apple water before his hands began to shake.

* * *

“No!” Rorie hissed in Sayer’s ear because Sayer had seen the sudden change in Jeremiah’s demeanor, and she would have followed after him when he abruptly left the group. Rorie stepped firmly on the hem of Sayer’s skirts to emphasize just how unwise she thought such a move on her part would be.

“Too many eyes hooked to too many wagging tongues,” Rorie whispered. “And he don’t need you. Not now.”

Sayer looked around her. Surprisingly, Jeremiah’s sudden departure had caused barely a ripple. She supposed that they attributed it to a soldier’s need for the privacy to vent his sorrow—except that he had told her himself that he hadn’t known Thomas Henry very long.

But whatever it was, Rorie was right. He didn’t need her. Of course he didn’t need her. She knew that. What she didn’t know was why she had been so determined to go after him despite how it might look to the people around her.

“All right,” she said to Rorie, and after a moment of intense scrutiny, Rorie stepped off her hem.

The meal concluded

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