The Tender Flame by Al Lacy

Author:Al Lacy [Lacy, Al]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-87484-9
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Published: 2012-05-01T16:00:00+00:00

IN APRIL 1865, THE CIVIL WAR came to an end. Only days afterward, the nation was stunned when President Abraham Lincoln died from an assassin’s bullet.

At Montgomery Village, Maryland, a new family moved into town in May of that year. John and Betty Moore and their twelve-year-old daughter, Brenda, were devoted Christians and quickly became active in the Montgomery Village church. Jessica Smith and Brenda Moore became friends, and as time passed they grew closer and closer, each calling the other her best friend.

Jessica and Brenda graduated from high school in May 1871, and the following month Jessica turned eighteen. She had blossomed into a lovely young woman.

Jessica had told her best friend about Josh Cornell and the torch she’d carried for him when she was a young girl. She often thought about Josh, but she had no idea where he was. A couple of years after their correspondence dwindled and finally ceased, she had written Josh a letter. It was returned “addressee no longer at Fort Union.”

One day in July, Jessica carried a glass of lemonade from the kitchen into her parents’ bedroom. Carrie was dressed but was lying on the bed. She smiled at her daughter and sat up. “Thank you, honey. It is a rather hot day, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and I think you should stay down for a while yet, Mama. Don’t want you to overdo.”

Carrie took a sip of the cool lemonade. “I can’t just lie around all the time, Jessica. Even the doctor said I have to stay as active as possible.”

“I know how you feel, Mama, but I don’t want you trying to do the washing and ironing. I’ll take care of it. I’ll stay out of your way when it comes to the cooking, though. I know your favorite thing is to cook for us.”

Carrie took another sip of lemonade and smiled. “No mother ever had a better daughter than you, honey.”

Jessica’s dark brown eyes glinted with humor as she said, “You’d get some argument on that if other mothers heard you say it.”

There was a knock at the front door.

“That will be Brenda. Why don’t you lie down, Mama?”

“I’d rather sit up in my chair,” said Carrie, slipping off the bed.

Jessica helped her mother from the bed to the overstuffed chair by the window, then hurried to the front of the house and opened the door.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Brenda. I was occupied with Mama. She’s sitting in her room right now.”

Brenda Moore smiled as she stepped inside. “How’s your mother doing?”

“Better than last week. She’s been up and dressed every day. Dr. Westland says patients with low-grade consumption should try to live as normally as possible. They just can’t do all the things they would like to. If I’d let her, she’d still be doing the housecleaning, washing, and ironing.”

Jessica noticed that Brenda was holding a portion of the Baltimore Press opened to the classified section. “Looking for a job?”

“No … a husband.”

“A what?”

As they drew near the master bedroom, Brenda said, “I’ll tell you about it after we stop in here.

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