sorry for your loss, ma’am.” He tipped his hat. She could see his shadow on the ground at her feet before he whipped around and strode away toward the barn.
“Ma?” Little Daisy stared at her through the slatted porch rails, clutching the weathered wood with her small hands. Tears stood in her eyes. “My plate slid off the t-table. It’s all in the d-dirt.”
From around the corner, just out of sight, James called out, “Weren’t my fault, Ma!”
One tear trickled down Daisy’s cheek. “I real s-sorry.”
Joanna remembered to count to ten and then took a deep breath of the hot, dusty air. She reached between the boards and caught the wetness on her fingertip. “It’s all right. Go help your brother clean up, then come around to the kitchen door and meet me.”
“Y-yes, Ma.” Her daughter hiccuped once, spun in a swirl of pink calico and padded off on bare feet.
Poor baby. Joanna watched to make sure no more tears fell as Daisy hopped down the step to kneel beside her brother. Their hands worked quickly. The mess couldn’t have been very much. After she filled a second plate for Daisy, Joanna would see to the rest of the cleaning up.
She felt an odd tingling at the back of her neck. It wasn’t a good feeling. She peered around, but Mr. Aiden McKaslin had already cut behind the barn and was out of sight and earshot—and quickly, too. A staid bachelor like him, close to thirty years old, probably had an unpleasant opinion of children and their messes. She’d married a man just like that.
The last thing she intended to do was pay him any mind. The banker was driving away, kicking up more chalky dust into the heavy air. Lee headed off to the barn. Most likely to talk with Mr. McKaslin, who was likely tying the cow to the back of his wagon now.
If only they had enough money in hand. Joanna wistfully glanced into the blinding shafts of June sunlight. She would have liked to have milk for the children. But beggars could not be choosers, and she was glad for what they did have. As she hurried around to the door, she spied the garden beginning to crisp beneath the harsh sun. She’d have to remember to give the vegetables an extra watering after she was through in the kitchen.
While she dished up another plate, she caught sight of Mr. McKaslin returning from behind the barn with their Jersey cow on a lead rope. Something about the man caught her eye. She’d seen him in church, of course, but he was the type of worshipper who arrived at the last moment, kept to the back and slipped out before the final hymn. There was a sadness to him that hung over him like a storm cloud. It was that melancholy that kept him from being truly frightening.
Had she offered him a meal? She couldn’t remember. Her mind was a muddle and she felt frayed to the last thread. She put more fuel in the stove and more water to heat. She went to the back door, but Mr. McKaslin was already in his wagon and driving off, the cow trailing behind. Before she’d blinked twice, there was only a dust cloud where he had been.
Daisy stood leaning at the rail with those wide blue eyes of hers even wider. “Why’s Uncle Lee all packed up on the horse?”
“Packed up? No, he’s probably out back in the fields, gone to chat with Mr. McKaslin. Don’t you worry about it, honey.” She set the plate on the table. “Here, sit down and eat your dinner.”
“Okay…” Daisy said in one long, drawn-out sigh.
As Joanna brushed a comforting hand over her daughter’s head, a movement caught her eye. There, against the background of the growing wheat fields and the fading patches of red on the barn, was Lee astride Pa’s horse. Daisy was right. There were two bulging packs behind his saddle and a satchel hung over the saddle horn. Lee had his black hat drawn low and didn’t look her way.
James glanced nervously over his shoulder. “Ma, where’s he goin’?”
“I’m sure to settle a few business matters in town, is all.” A punch of apprehension hit her square in the stomach. Something was very wrong. She forced a smile into her voice for the children’s sake. “Stay right here on the porch, eat your dinner, and I’ll get you a surprise for dessert.”
“There’s dessert?” James swiveled toward her, his uncle forgotten. “Honest?”
“Is it cake?” Daisy asked with a fork halfway to her mouth.
“You’ll have to wait and see.”
Lee rode out of sight behind the house, and it was hard to keep her step natural as she headed straight to the kitchen. The moment the door slapped shut behind her she rushed through to the front yard. Lee didn’t look behind him, but his back stiffened, so he had to know she was hurrying after him.
“Lee?” She had to keep her voice low so the children would not be able to overhear this. “Lee? Where are you going?”
“Away.” He bit out the word, then appeared annoyed as he reined in the horse. “Truth is, I sold the place.”
“You what?” She couldn’t be hearing him right. Maybe it was the lack of sleep last night and the emotional upset over the funeral. It was all the hard kitchen work in this stifling heat. Yes, that’s what it was. “For a moment there, I thought you said you’d sold out, but there’s still the crop in the fields.”
“I sold it, too. The banker said you’ve got until nightfall to get out.”
“Get out?” There was something wrong with her mind. She could hear Lee’s words, but her brain was not making sense of them. Surely he didn’t say—“You want me to get out of the house?”
“You can’t live in it if it belongs to someone else. The banker bought the place for his sister. She’d like to get settled tonight.”
“Tonight?” The earth began to spin. “Lee, what about the children? You aren’t putting us out, are you?”
“You aren’t my lookout. They’re your ragamuffins, not mine. I’m not beholden to them or to you. Pa left me this place fair and square. It’s mine to sell.”
“But before Pa died, you said…” Not only was the earth spinning, but it was tilting, too.
No, this can’t be happening. This cannot be right. She had to be ill from the heat, that was it. Her mind was fuddled from too little sleep and too much worry. “Y-you said we could live here.”
“I know what I said.” Lee glared down at her. “I came to help you take care of the old man. The crops are still doing well in the fields because of me. The banker met my price and I took it. Leave the pigs and the chickens when you go. They’re part of the sale, too.”
“But—” Her brain seemed stuck on that word like her feet to the dirt. “It’s not right. You just can’t—”
“Sure I can. I only came back here for the money. You know I never held much regard for our old man. He was a louse.”
“But you said—”
“In this world, you’ve got to look out for yourself and no one else. It’s the only way to survive.” Lee gazed down on her with pity. He pulled his billfold from his shirt pocket. “Here.”
She stared at the twenty dollar bill he held out, the end flapping
