CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
Jamie was glad to see the last of Mr. Taylor. He wouldn’t mind seeing the last of this chicken too. “What are you going to do with this?” he asked Piper.
She made a face and shrugged a little. “I’m supposed to fry it.” She smiled at him. “Want to stay for supper?”
“That might be the safest thing. For some reason, I keep getting mistaken for a revenuer. Those guys are not popular around here.”
“So Mann Taylor was worried you’d find his still and turn him in?”
“How do you know he has a still? And how do you know him anyway?” Jamie asked.
“A wild guess on the still, but I ran into Mr. Taylor the other day when I was up here. Do you think his name is actually Mann? Or that they just call him ‘man’ the way he called you ‘boy’?”
“I don’t care what he’s called. I’m just glad he didn’t shoot me.”
“Did you think he would? I mean, really?”
“He talked about letting the buzzards have me. So yeah. Really.”
“He scared my socks off when he shot that snake. Not that I wasn’t glad he did.”
“Wonder if he’ll eat it.” The snake had been heavier than he’d expected when the man handed it to him.
“I don’t know.” Piper shrugged. “But at least we don’t have to get rid of it.” She gave the chicken another look. “We better de-feather this bird.”
“We?” Jamie held it out toward her. “I don’t know anything about dressing out chickens.”
“You think I do?” She gave him a sweet look. “But you will help me, won’t you? Mrs. Breckinridge would want you to. Nurse Thompson would tell you to. Come to think of it, how come you’re up here anyway, instead of sweeping floors at the hospital?”
She started toward the house and he walked with her, still holding the chicken. “The nurses up here needed some medicine by tomorrow. Something they forgot to give you. So, they let me borrow Dr. Jack’s horse to bring it. Sid over there might be the only reason I’m still breathing.”
“Why’s that?”
“Your Mr. Taylor was ready to shoot me and keep Sid, but I told him everybody would know the doctor’s horse.”
“People here do know the horses and mules the same as they know one another.”
Jamie looked over at Sid. “I better take care of him.”
“Not yet. You’re holding the chicken.” She smiled at him as she went up the porch steps. “I’ll get some hot water. That’s what they say to do next. Dunk it in hot water.”
The water sloshed out of the bucket when she set it down on the porch and nodded at Jamie. “Go ahead. Put it in there.”
Jamie did as he was told. “How long?”
She pulled a paper out of her pocket. “It doesn’t say.” She wrinkled her nose. “Eww. It stinks.”
“Like wet feathers.” He pulled the chicken back out of the water and yanked on some feathers. They came out. “Are we supposed to save them?”
“Save what?”
“The feathers.”
“Why?”
“To put in pillows.”
“Oh.” Piper looked at her paper again. “It doesn’t say anything about that. Just to pluck them off.”
“Then pluck we will.”
They set to work pulling off feathers.
“I’m glad Mann Taylor didn’t shoot you.”
“Yeah. So am I.” He wasn’t sure that sitting on porch steps while plucking a chicken was the greatest place to admit he loved her, but he wanted it out in the air between them before something else unexpected happened. “Piper.”
“Yes?” She looked over at him.
Yes was a good word. He pulled the last feathers off the underside of the chicken and rinsed off his hands in the bucket. “When I thought maybe he was going to shoot me, I kept thinking how much I wanted to see you at least one more time before I died.”
She placed the plucked chicken in the pan she’d brought out and put her fingers over his lips. A feather tickled his chin.
“Shh,” she said. “I can’t bear to think about you getting shot.”
He captured her hand in his. “I so regretted how I’d put off saying something to you I should have said a long time ago.” He looked straight into her eyes. “I love you, Piper Danson.”
Piper pulled in a breath. Had Jamie really said the words she had so long dreamed of hearing him say? I love you.
He was smiling. Somewhat tentatively. Unsure. How could he be unsure?
Above them, a bird sang a joyous chorus of tweets and chirps. She didn’t need to see it to know it was a mockingbird. She was becoming a bird expert. But why was she thinking about birds when Jamie had just told her he loved her? Maybe because her heart was singing like the bird. Or maybe because of the plucked chicken between them. She looked down at the chicken. She still had to clean out its innards and save the gizzard.
Laughter bubbled up inside her. “You know how to pick a romantic moment.”
“That’s not what you’re supposed to say.” But he started laughing too. Then as suddenly, his laughter died away. “I don’t know why I’ve never told you I love you. I’ve loved you since way back before I knew what saying I love you even meant.”
“What does it mean?” Her laughter was gone too as she looked up at him. His eyes were waiting, and she knew he’d never looked away from her.
“It means I can hardly breathe when I look at you. It means I want to be with you forever.” He tightened his hold on her hand. A couple of little white feathers drifted off in the breeze. “I know I don’t have much to offer you. Nothing but my love.”
“What more could I want?” She leaned toward him across the chicken between them. Their lips met. A chaste kiss, but that didn’t keep her heart from feeling ready to explode.
He stood and pulled her to her feet. She was more than eager to step around the chicken into his arms.
“Halloo.”
The boy’s voice jerked them both around.
“Halloo. Nurse Freeman.” Billy West ran into the yard.
Piper brushed another feather off her hand and called out. “Back here, Billy.”
“Oh, hello, Danny.” He smiled when he saw her. His smile turned shyer when he looked over at Jamie. “Where’s Nurse Freeman?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Ma sent me after the nurse. The baby’s coming. Pa’s plowing out in the back field, so she sent me to fetch the nurse. Figured that would be faster than me going for Pa.” The boy frowned as he looked around. “Said for me to tell the nurse to hurry.”
“Nurse Freeman is out on a call and the other nurse is gone too.”
The little boy’s face fell. “But Ma needs her.”
“She didn’t think she’d be gone long.”
“Ma can’t wait.” Billy’s mouth tightened with determination. “Did you reckon which way she went so’s I can chase after her?”
“She went down that way.” Piper pointed. When Billy turned to leave, she stopped him. “Wait, Billy. Jamie’s horse is saddled and ready. He can take you to find the nurse.”
“Sure, but I better give Sid a drink first.” He looked over at Piper. “You still going to finish with the chicken?”
Piper sighed. “I guess I should or all that effort will go to waste.”
After Jamie led the horse away to get water, Piper stared down at the chicken. No need putting it off. She took the knife and slit open the soft underside of the carcass. Billy watched her pull out the guts.
“You wouldn’t know what a gizzard looks like, would you?” she asked him.
Billy gave her a funny look. “You don’t know what a gizzard looks like?”
Piper made a face as she dumped what she’d pulled out of the chicken carcass on the pan. “Not a clue.”
Billy peered down at the mess. “Maybe you can just cook the rest of the chicken. You do have to cut off those feet.” He pointed.
Piper stared at the three toes on each foot that had been scratching in the dirt only a little while ago. Her stomach turned over. A bowl of beans sounded better and better. But Nurse Freeman said to fry the chicken. Like it was the easiest thing in the world to do. Sort of like milking the cow the other night.
She’d eaten fried chicken. That someone else had butchered and someone else cooked. But someone else wasn’t here. She held up the knife.
“Careful you don’t cut off your fingers.” Jamie led Sid across the yard toward them. “I like those fingers.”
Her heart took a flutter beat as his smile had her remembering his arms around her.
Billy ran over to Jamie. “Can we go? Ma told me to be in a right smart hurry getting the nurse.”
“Then come on,” Jamie said. “But I don’t know how we’ll know where to go.”
“Danny said they went thataway.” Billy pointed. “Ain’t but a few houses down that trail.”
“Maybe you’ll meet her coming back.” Piper wished the nurse and Truda were riding up to the center. Not only would that get Nurse Freeman on the way to help Billy’s mother, Truda might know how to cut up a chicken. How hard could that be?
How hard indeed. After Jamie pulled Billy up on the horse, they cantered off, with Jamie looking back at her, seeming as uncertain about his what-next as she was with the chicken. But he was moving. Time for her to be moving too. With the knife.
Cutting off the feet was easier than she expected. When she had the legs, thighs, and wings severed and resting in the pan, she felt a surge of accomplishment. She eyed the remaining carcass and then knifed it into two pieces. She cut the back apart where it had some give and then split the breast. Her arms were trembling as though she’d done some kind of extreme manual labor.
Extreme or not, perfect or not, she did it. She carried the chicken inside to figure out the next step. As she washed the chicken pieces, she thought of Jamie’s words of love. Why hadn’t she answered by confessing her own feelings for him?
I love you, Piper Danson. His words danced in her ears. He was right about not having anything to offer but his love. That was enough. More than enough. Her father’s frowning face popped into her mind. She could almost hear him saying love was fine for those who could afford it. But it was hardly legal tender to buy a house or food for a pantry. In his mind, security was more to be desired than love. Love would grow as it had for her parents.
She didn’t need love to grow afresh. Love had long ago taken root inside her and, like a trailing vine, entwined her heart and mind. Just not for the man her father had chosen for her.