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Luke’s house nestled into the corner of two long rows of poplars at the corner of one of the fields. Kathy put the horses and wagon away almost single-handedly. She dug her brown work dress and a couple of aprons out of her trunks to take with her. She left the trunks in the wagon box. She could bring them down later in a wheelbarrow, or they could sit there in the barn until Luke recovered.
She and Luke strolled down the fence line, past a lily pond, and into the yard in front of the cottage. They didn’t see Adelaide anywhere. The same stone that made up the larger house on the hillside made up the walls of the cottage. A stone chimney rose from the back of the roof. Furry green moss covered the surface of the stones, and ivy trailed around the windows.
“What do you think?” Luke asked when they came in sight of the cottage.
Kathy stopped in the yard and surveyed the house. “I love it. It’s absolutely magical. Did you build it?”
Luke nodded. “Me and Max. It isn’t much on the inside, but it’s comfortable and very warm in the winter. When you light the fire during the day, the stones heat up and give their heat back during the night, so you wake up in the morning and the house is still warm. You look outside and the ground is covered with snow, but the house is still toasty warm. It’s nice.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Kathy exclaimed.
“You think it’s wonderful now because you haven’t lived here before,” Luke pointed out. “After a few winters, you won’t be so delighted about it.”
“I think I’ll still like it,” Kathy replied.
“And as for being married,” Luke continued. “You might not be so delighted about that in a few years, either.”
Kathy cocked her head at him. “I suppose everyone goes through that. Anyway, I’m married now, so I’m stuck with it, aren’t I? And you’re stuck with me.”
“That’s the general idea,” Luke agreed.
Kathy smiled and went back to admiring the house.
Luke observed her in silence. “I haven’t forgotten, you know.”
“Forgotten what?” Kathy asked.
Luke snorted. “But I can see that you have.”
Kathy knit her brow. “Forgotten what?”
Instead of answering, Luke took a few hesitating steps toward her. Then she remembered. “We were in the middle of something,” Luke told her. “When we were interrupted by affairs of state.”
“Affairs of state!” Kathy teased. “Hardly!”
“Still,” Luke replied. “We were in the middle of something, and if you don’t have any objection, I wouldn’t mind returning to it.” He lowered his face to hers and his lips touched her mouth with the weight of a butterfly landing on a flower.
Kathy felt his hand nestling into hers, and they drifted toward each other. Their bodies inclined closer and closer together, until only the thin film of their clothes separated them. And still their lips lingered in mutual delicacy, sampling and savoring their essence for the first time.
“What if Adelaide comes back?” Kathy whispered.
“Let her come,” Luke replied. But he eased back ever so slightly. “I guess that’s just something people learn when they have children.”
Sure enough, Adelaide chose that moment to come back. The dog yapped at her heels, and the flush of childhood joy bloomed on her cheeks. Kathy envied her delusion of contentment. Luke was right. Let her maintain it as long as she could. Why crush her with sadness sooner than necessary?
Kathy and Luke went into the house, and Luke showed Kathy around the one big main room and the little bedroom off the back. A long wide bench sat indented in the front wall under the window. A bent willow rocking chair and settee sat before the fire.
The sun dropping low in the western sky stole the warmth from the air, and the smell of night crept over the land. Kathy turned her attention to raking up the fire and getting supper ready.
She’d just finished putting supper on the table when she looked around and noticed Adelaide sitting on the window seat. The girl gazed out at the deepening twilight. She sat very still and quiet.
Kathy wiped her hands on her apron. She glanced around and didn’t see Luke. Was it her place to approach the girl? She understood now why the townspeople all vanished after the gunfight. They didn’t want to tread on the family’s sacred grief.
But there was no one else. There wouldn’t be a better time to broach the subject than now, and wherever Luke was, he wasn’t here. She sat down on the window seat.
“I really like your name,” Kathy began. “Do you know where it comes from?”
“It’s the name of a queen in Europe.” Adelaide didn’t turn away from the window. Her voice rang flat and hollow in the quiet cottage. “I can’t remember which country she’s from. Maybe England. Mama told me, but I can’t remember.”
“I like that,” Kathy replied. “It must be nice to be named after a queen.”
Adelaide continued to stare at nothing outside the window. “They’re gone, aren’t they? They’re gone, and they aren’t coming back.”
Kathy hesitated. “That’s right.”
“And I’m alone,” Adelaide declared. “This morning I had a family, and now I don’t have one anymore.”
“You still have a family,” Kathy replied. “You have Luke and me. I know it’s not the same as having your mama and your papa. No one can ever replace them. But you aren’t alone. And you have to remember that Luke has lost his mama and papa, too. He’ll be just as sad as you. So you aren’t going through this alone.”
Adelaide sighed. “I guess so.”
“Are you ready for supper?” Kathy asked. “I understand if you aren’t really in the mood for it.”
Adelaide’s head drooped and she looked down at her hands in her lap. Kathy peered at her, trying to catch her expression, until she noticed tears falling into Adelaide’s lap. Kathy laid her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“It’s all right, darling,” she murmured. “It’s okay to be sad about it, and it’s okay to cry.”
Adelaide broke down then, moaning and sobbing. Kathy enfolded her in her arms and hugged her against her chest. She rocked the girl like a baby, and she breathed with relief when Adelaide wrapped her slender little arms around her chest and hugged her back. Kathy could understand this crying and mourning. The happy laughing and playing with her dog, pretending the tragedy hadn’t happened, worried Kathy. Better to get the pain out in the open.
She only wished Luke was here. He needed to grieve the loss of his family as much as Adelaide. If they could do it together, if they could see each other grieving and give each other permission to grieve, so much the better.
