The Widower's Wife by Prudence Bice

Author:Prudence, Bice [Prudence, Bice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc.
Published: 2010-06-08T05:00:00+00:00

As she hurried out to the fields, Jillian saw two other wagons drive up carrying their neighbors—the Collins, the Flannigans, and some others she didn’t know. Quickly, she said a prayer of thanks for the additional help and asked for the rain to begin. So far, not a drop had fallen.

Jillian’s breath caught in her throat when they reached the blazing fields. It appeared that close to half the crop was already burning. Her heart ached, and she searched anxiously until she finally caught sight of Dalton working feverishly, beating at the flames with a wool blanket.

Almost immediately, those present formed a line from the well to the fire, and everyone began working, bringing water to the flames to help put out the fire. Jillian kept looking up at the sky, praying that the rain would begin, even as the sky darkened and the winds picked up. Nobody spoke a word to anyone else. They just continued to work and to pray.

Jillian looked over at Dalton. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the fire, but she could see the pained look, even in the profile of his face. Her heart ached for the loss of all his hard work. It was a blessing when the skies finally opened up and poured their mercies out onto the fields, dousing the flames.

Finally, when only small tendrils of smoke billowed up here and there, each neighbor came forward, one by one, and offered their sympathies to Dalton and then to Jillian, before slowly heading back to their own homes. Uncle Ned and Aunt Betty were the last to leave. Aunt Betty stepped in front of Dalton and gave him a heartfelt hug. He just stood, despondent, with his arms hanging at his side. She then walked over to Jillian and gathered her tenderly into her arms.

“I’ll stop in at the house and check on the children before we head back home. Is there anything else we can do for you?” Jillian just shook her head. She didn’t trust herself to speak—her emotions were too raw. Uncle Ned gave her a tight hug next.

“Everything will be all right,” he said. “We farmers are strong. When life knocks us down, we just pick ourselves up and get goin’ again. You both will get through this, and we’ll be here to help.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, and he and Aunt Betty headed back to the house.

Jillian turned back to look at Dalton. His back was to her, and he stood motionless as the rain mercilessly poured down on them. She wiped the rain from her eyes that was now mixed with the salt of her tears. She walked up behind Dalton and placed her hand on his shoulder.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.