Chapter 24

 

Where was Cora? Aaron searched every corner of the barn and couldn’t find her or Merrill either. Would she have gone outside with that dandy? He looked out back and didn’t see anyone. Maybe they were in front. He elbowed his way through the barn and out the front doors.

Groups of people visited in the pleasant evening air, but Cora didn’t appear to be with any of them. He headed around the side of the barn where the dark form of a man walked toward him, his voice preceding him. “Well, if it isn’t Farmer Stark.”

No mistakin’ the arrogant voice of George Merrill. A Christian, even a new one, was supposed to love everyone, but Aaron had a hard time finding love in his heart for this poor excuse of a man. “Where’s Cora?”

“Oh, I imagine about now she’s fixing her hair. You know how girls are.” George made no sense.

Aaron clenched his fists. “I asked you where she’s at.”

George tightened his cravat bow under his chin. “I left her out back. In that little grove of trees—”

Aaron realized he’d swung when his fist cracked against George’s face. George sprawled on the ground. Aaron grabbed the fancy high collar and bow tie under George’s chin and pulled him up for another go round.

George held one hand to his nose and waved the other in front of his face. “Don’t hit me again. Wait. I have something to show you.”

Aaron pulled his fist back. He wanted nothing more than to plow it into the dandy’s face. But he stopped and shoved George back, watching him stagger and fall to the ground again.

George dug inside his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief for his bleeding nose. He pulled a folded piece of paper from another pocket and held it toward Aaron. “Here. Take this.”

George had nothing Aaron cared to see. He shoved his hand aside and hauled the wimp to his feet a second time. “You tell me straight out if you hurt Cora.”

“She’s fine.” George pushed against the hand holding him. “I wouldn’t hurt Cora, you ignorant bumpkin. I’m in love with her. I’m taking her home with me. Why else would I come to this place?”

Aaron’s hand fell away, drained of power. George’s fist couldn’t have hit him as hard as his words had.

George extended the paper again. “Cora and I had quite a talk about things. We decided the easiest way to break our news would be to let you read this.”

“I don’t believe you.” Aaron’s eyebrows drew together. He crossed his arms to keep from tearing the other fellow limb from limb. Did Cora want George after all? Is that why she’d danced with him? He braced his feet and glared.

“I didn’t think you’d take my word for it. That’s why I insist you read the letter Cora wrote me. In it you’ll find her words of love for me, not you. Sorry, old boy, but what would you expect?”

The razor-sharp words of Cora’s old friend severed Aaron’s heart in two. He couldn’t speak, but George could and did.

“Cora begged me to rescue her from this place. As soon as I got her letter, I came.” George pushed the letter into Aaron’s hand.

His mind in a daze, Aaron unfolded the paper. The full moon overhead supplied barely enough light to see the ink. He stared blankly at it.

George shifted. “Well, aren’t you going to read it?”

Aaron looked up without a word.

George laughed. “I don’t believe this. How did Cora get mixed up with the likes of you? You can’t read, can you?”

Aaron flinched as George’s laughter taunted him.

“Cora was always at the top of her class. She won every spelling bee in St. Louis. She started reading when she was only five. She’s the only female I’ve ever known who was my intellectual equal. We belong together and have planned to marry since we were children. We’d have already been married if her father hadn’t moved her here.” George flung his hand out to the side. “Look at this place. Look what it almost cost Cora. Thankfully, I arrived in time to save her.”

Numbness crept over Aaron. He had no defense. George was right. Cora didn’t belong with him. She was better than this place. She was too good for him. He’d known it from the start. She deserved the very best.

George snatched the letter from Aaron’s hand. “Here, let me read it to you.”

At last Aaron found his voice. “No! I can’t read, but I ain’t stupid. You can give her all the things I can’t. I ain’t gonna stand in your way ’cause I love Cora too much for that.” He turned to walk away, but stopped and pinned George with a glare. “You probably don’t know it, but you ain’t good enough for her neither.”

Aaron went on through the darkness around the barn to the back door. He’d look for Ivy or Ralph and tell them he was heading home.

He stepped into the brightly lit barn, letting his gaze slide over the crowd. Cora stood at the front door. With George. Pain sliced anew through Aaron’s heart. He moved toward the musicians where Ivy stood.

Ivy caught his hand. “Aaron, Mr. Reid wants a word with you.”

“I’m goin’ home, Ivy. Can you ride back with the Hansons?” He tried to free his hand.

“Yes, but first, Mr. Reid wants to talk to you.” Ivy tugged on him.

Mr. Reid looked up from resining his violin bow.

“You wanna see me?” Aaron glanced toward the front door. Cora stood facing George. They seemed to be deep in conversation. No doubt making plans for their future.

“Yes.” Mr. Reid cleared his throat. “I know it’s proper to speak to the father, but in Ivy’s case. . .well, I thought I should ask you.”

“Ask me what?” Aaron pulled his attention from Cora.

“I’ve asked Ivy to be my wife. She’s consented if you will give us your blessing.”

Aaron’s eyebrows shot up then lowered in a scowl. He glared at Mr. Reid. “You what?”

“Ivy has agreed to become my wife.” The older man held his hand out to Ivy.

She took it, stepped close beside Mr. Reid, and smiled at her brother. “I said yes, Aaron. We want your blessin’.”

Aaron searched his sister’s face. She watched him, a hesitant smile tugging her lips. He shook his head. How much more could a man take? “You sure about this, Ivy?”

She nodded, her bright blue eyes wide and shining.” Yes, for sure I am.”

“All right, if it’s what you want.” He offered his hand to Mr. Reid. As they shook, he nodded. “You have my blessin’. Always be good to her. That’s all I’m askin’.”

“I promise.” Bill Reid grinned.

“Thank you, Aaron.” Ivy leapt into Aaron’s arms for a hug and a quick kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, sis.” Aaron held her close for a moment before he slipped out the back way. It was a long, lonely walk home through the moonlit night, and he spent most of it making plans.

~*~

Cora stopped at the front door and looked back the way she’d come. Where was Aaron? She couldn’t find him. Her eyes blurred with unshed tears.

“Looking for me?”

She froze at the sound of George’s voice then turned to glare at him. “No, I was not.”

“Now, don’t tell me you’re looking for that ignorant bumpkin.” He shook his head.

Cora turned away. “Aaron is anything but ignorant. He’s very intelligent. He’s talented and he’s—”

“Gone.”

“What?” She swung back.

“I merely suggested he appears to be gone.”

Cora stared at the smirk on George’s face. So he had told Aaron about the letter. Probably read it to him. Never had she seen a more hateful, self-satisfied, arrogant bag of wind in her life.

“George, I don’t ever want to see you again.” Cora spoke slowly and distinctly then turned and walked away.

She found Ben and Esther and stayed with them the rest of the evening. Aaron had left without her. Her heart broke into a million pieces. Did Aaron feel the same? He wouldn’t have left her here with George otherwise. Hope rose within her.

Tomorrow everything would be better.

~*~

Cora woke late and threw her arm across her puffy eyes. The light hurt her head. Vivid memories of the evening before hurt her heart. Aaron had walked out on her. She couldn’t wait until he decided to ask her for the truth. She’d have to go see him.

Ivy arrived from the woods before Cora left the yard. She took one look at Cora and whistled. “You look like somethin’ Ole Blue might drag up to the door. Let’s go for a walk.”

Cora tied her bonnet under her chin and the two girls set out back toward the woods. They walked in silence for several yards before Ivy turned toward Cora. “Did you know Aaron’s gone?”

That’s what George had said. She shook her head. “What do you mean, gone?”

“I mean he’s gone. Packed up and left early this morning before the sun came up.” Ivy’s bright blue eyes, so like Aaron’s, stared at Cora as if searching for truth. “He didn’t tell you he was goin’ neither, did he?”

“No.” Cora shook her head and clutched Ivy’s arm. “Where did he go? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“I don’t know where he went. He didn’t say, and he didn’t say why, neither. That’s why I came this morning. Why’d he leave, Cora? What happened last night?”

“George Merrill lied to him.”

Ivy snorted. “What’d that struttin’ rooster say?”

“That he came for me. He told Aaron I sent for him.”

“No.” Ivy shook her head. “That ain’t the real reason he took off.”

“What other reason is there? Are you saying he didn’t want to marry me after all and only used that for an excuse?” Cora’s heart sank. Maybe Aaron didn’t really love her.

“Can’t you see?” Ivy stopped and faced Cora. “He left for you. He don’t want to get in your way. He thinks you want that rooster, all right, but he mostly thinks you need him and his money.”

“What for?” Cora stared at Ivy, trying to make sense of her words.

“A big house with a buggy and high-steppin’ horses to pull it. Fancy clothes and pretty dishes and stuff like that. He said he can’t get you all them things, and George Merrill can. He said Merrill was smart, like you.”

Cora shook her head. “No. Ivy, I told George last night I never want to see him again. I want Aaron. Nobody but Aaron.”

“I guess you lost your chance, ’cause he said he ain’t never comin’ back.” Pity shone from Ivy’s eyes. “I surely am sorry it turned out this way. I’d like to been your sister-in-law. I was gonna ask you to stand up with me at my weddin’. You think you might still?”

“Your wedding?” Cora blinked. “I didn’t know you were getting married.”

Ivy smiled, her bright blue eyes dancing. “It happened last night. At the dance. Bill Reid asked me. Aaron give us his blessin’ before he left.”

“Mr. Reid?” Surely Ivy didn’t mean Mr. Reid.

“Yes. Can you stand up with me? With Aaron gone, we don’t want to wait long. It’ll be end of this month.”

Cora shuddered. She’d scarcely escaped Mr. Reid’s clutches and Ivy acted happy about marrying him. He was at least fifteen years her senior. She spoke without thinking. “Do you really want to marry him?”

“Of course I do.”

“But he’s old.”

Anger flashed from Ivy’s eyes. “He ain’t old. ’Sides, it ain’t none of your business what I do, Cora Jackson. Now do you wanna stand up with me or not?”

“I’m sorry, Ivy. Of course I’ll stand up with you. I just wish I could ask you to return the favor.”

Just when she thought her supply of tears had already been exhausted, more flooded her eyes. She wiped them away and struggled to keep from letting any fall.

“You really liked him, didn’t you?” Ivy’s soft voice sounded beside her.

“I love Aaron with all my heart.” Cora pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve to catch an errant tear. “I’ll never marry anyone else. Please tell him I’ll wait for him the rest of my life if I have to.”

Ivy shook her head. “Cora, I’m right real sorry for you and Aaron both, but I don’t look to ever see him again. He said he’s never comin’ back.”

~*~

Early that evening, Cora sat alone in her room gradually becoming aware of male voices downstairs. When she recognized George’s voice, she covered her ears. Then Father called from the foot of the ladder. “Cora, you have company.”

A tremble began deep inside Cora’s soul. She couldn’t see George. He’d become a monster to her, and she feared him as much as she blamed him for driving Aaron away.

Father called a second time, but she only burrowed deeper inside herself. Then she heard a noise at her door. Father stepped into the room, his kind eyes chasing the tremble away. “Cora, what’s going on? Is there something you’ve forgotten to tell me?”

Cora looked up into her father’s concern and opened her heart to him. When she finished, she said, “I love Aaron, Father, and George made him leave. I told him I never want to see him again, and I meant it.”

“All right.” Father stood, his face stern. “I’ll get rid of George and then we’ll talk.”

Cora listened to the rumble of voices downstairs until all grew silent. She crept toward the doorway and peered down into the room below. Father stood at the foot of the ladder. He smiled at her. “Come on, Cora. I think George decided he’d overstayed his welcome. He’s going back to St. Louis.”

Cora scurried down the ladder into her father’s arms. He led her to Mother, and she sat on the floor at her mother’s feet, relishing the warmth of her family’s love.

Father sat down across from them. “Now, Cora, tell us where Aaron went.”

“I don’t know.”

“Was he on foot?”

Cora nodded. “Yes, Ivy said he turned the farm over to Ralph. All they have is the ox and it’s Ralph’s now too.”

“Then he doesn’t plan to come back?” Ben sat beside Esther across the room. Esther looked as if she might cry.

Cora looked at the floor, fighting her own tears. “No.” Her voice choked up and she coughed. “He said he’s never coming back.”

Father swore under his breath. “Looks like George did his dirty work well.”

Ben leaned forward. “Why don’t we go after him? He can’t have gotten far on foot.”

Father nodded. “Maybe he’s gone to Springfield. We’ll wait until morning when we can see. Even with a day’s head start, we should catch him if he stays on the trail.”

Cora’s heart lifted with hope.