Rose, did you hear me?” Lillie Ann’s voice strained with her desperate whisper and she shook Rose’s shoulder. “We mustn’t let Pa marry Nancy Martin!” Rose stared at Lillie Ann’s frantic face and struggled to make sense of her little sister’s astounding words. “What are you talking about?”
Lillie Ann glanced across the porch toward the barn as if to assure herself that Pa wasn’t in earshot. “Charlie and his ma were at the singing school this afternoon, and Charlie told me he overheard Myrtle Foster and Lizzie Salter talking outside the schoolhouse. Lizzie said that Mrs. Martin killed her husband.”
“What?” Fully alert, Rose pulled Lillie Ann down beside her on the porch swing.
Lillie Ann nodded, tears filling her wide eyes. “Charlie heard Lizzie say that Nancy poisoned her husband with herbal concoctions.”
At the names of the two most notorious gossips in the area, a large measure of the concern building in Rose’s chest ebbed. Rose took hold of Lillie Ann’s shoulders and looked into her little sister’s face, which was threatening to crumple. “Charlie should know better than to listen to anything Myrtle Foster or Lizzie Salter say. The preacher’s wife told me that Nancy’s husband died of a wasting cancer.” She brushed the tears from Lillie Ann’s wet cheeks with her thumbs, angered that careless talk by the local gossips had upset her little sister. She drew Lillie Ann into a warm hug. “Don’t you worry a minute about what those silly old biddies said, do you hear me? There’s nothing to it.” She pushed her away to look in her face again. “Now don’t you go repeating that gossip, and tell Charlie not to either.”
Lillie Ann frowned and brushed the remnants of tears from her eyes. “Lizzie and Myrtle shouldn’t have said those awful things about Nancy, but I’m glad they’re not true. I won’t repeat what they said, and I’ll tell Charlie not to when he comes tomorrow.” Her now relaxed features brightened. “Charlie’s making a water trough for Domino.”
“A water trough?” Rose smiled, eager to change the subject. Since Bill Roberts gifted Lillie Ann with the piglet, the child spent hours each day at the Robertses’ farm visiting her new pet.
“You know that three-cornered brown rock beside the chicken house?”
Rose nodded.
“Charlie’s pa didn’t have any wood to give him, so Charlie’s chiseling out the rock to make Domino a trough.”
Rose couldn’t help a chuckle. “That won’t make much of a trough, will it?”
Lillie Ann gave an unconcerned shrug and headed into the house.
Left alone again, Rose’s thoughts returned to the incredible last moments with Jamie. Surely she had misinterpreted his actions. The jolt near her heart at the memory belied that conclusion.
The following week, Jamie began attending the singing school and invited Violet and Lillie Ann to ride along with him, his mother, and Charlie—an arrangement Violet seemed overjoyed to accept. By the end of June, Violet’s eagerness for her Wednesday afternoon buggy rides with Jamie convinced Rose that Violet had, indeed, set her cap for him. Inexplicably, that thought brought Rose no joy.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come to the singing school with Lillie Ann and me?” Violet asked Rose the first Wednesday in July as she finished pinning up her hair in front of the chifforobe mirror. “There is plenty of room in the buggy, and I’m sure Jamie wouldn’t mind.”
Rose’s heart felt the now familiar sting at Violet’s mention of Jamie’s name. She shook her head. “Nancy may stop by this afternoon with some yellow tomatoes and her recipe for tomato preserves.” Though unsure if Nancy, who had become a frequent visitor would choose today to stop by, Rose grasped at the excuse to stay home.
Violet poked another pin into the bun at the back of her head and smiled at Rose. “Tomato preserves would be nice. We should take a jar or two to the Robertses’ threshing party next week. Oh!” Violet’s eyes flew open wide. “I almost forgot. I promised Jamie I’d lend him my copy of Moby Dick.”
Rose experienced another heart-prick as Violet hurried to the bookcase that filled half a wall in their shared bedroom. Rose gave herself a mental shake. She should be happy. Her efforts to match Violet and Jamie and Pa and Nancy were finally bearing fruit. Pa seemed happier than he’d been since Ma’s death, and Rose couldn’t remember when Violet had been more joyful.
Weeks ago when her matchmaking efforts had seemed a failure, Jamie suggested that Rose pray and ask for God’s guidance. She’d taken his advice and now everything appeared to be working out, surely a sign that her efforts had earned God’s nod of approval. So why did she feel so miserable?
“Ah, here it is.” Book in hand, Violet turned from the bookcase. “If Nancy does come by, ask her if she’s changed Pa’s stomach tonic. Last night he complained that the concoction she gave him Sunday tastes bitter.”
At Violet’s comment, an uncomfortable feeling stirred in Rose’s midsection. While she thought she’d dismissed the ugly gossip Charlie Roberts had heard about Nancy, a tiny grain of it had taken root in her mind. Rose later realized that what the preacher’s wife had told her concerning the death of Nancy’s husband had come from Nancy herself. Could Myrtle and Lizzie have had it right? The uneasy feeling in her stomach churned harder. Rose had brought Nancy into Pa’s life. She mustn’t allow her growing affection for Nancy to blind her to the possibility that the woman might, indeed, intend Pa harm.
A week later, as Rose and her family arrived at the Robertses’ farm for the threshing party, Rose’s concern about Nancy Martin continued to ferment in her mind. When she’d questioned Nancy about the stomach tonic’s bitterness, Nancy had seemed both puzzled and dismissive, elevating Rose’s suspicions. While the tonic’s odd taste didn’t seem sufficient reason to worry Pa with her concerns, Rose resolved to stay alert to any further signs that Nancy might have less than pure intentions toward Pa.
Pa finished helping Violet and Lillie Ann down from the wagon. “If you gals can get the food to the house, I’ll say a word or two to Nancy then head on to the barn with the fellers.”
“You go on, Pa. We’ll take care of the food.” Violet grinned after Pa as he loped off toward Nancy, who stood talking with her sister and some other women in the Robertses’ side yard. Violet lifted a basket of food from the back of the wagon. “I’m guessing our household will increase by one before this winter.”
“Then when Rose marries Ty, we’ll be back to the same number of people.” Lillie Ann smiled up at Rose as she accepted a linen-swathed plate of sugar cookies from Violet.
At Lillie Ann’s comment, Rose experienced a tiny cringe. Attributing the uncomfortable feeling to her desire to not marry before Violet did, Rose made no reply as the three headed toward the house with baskets of food in hand.
The busy morning proved a blessing, allowing Rose little time for musing amid the chaos of a dozen women crowded into Dorothy Roberts’s small kitchen working to prepare the noon meal for the threshing crew. As midday neared, Rose helped to carry the huge platters and bowls of food to the long trestle tables set up in the yard. On one such trip, she overheard Nancy Martin talking with Dorothy Roberts.
“What a lovely shade of morning glory, Dorothy.” Nancy fingered a bluish-pink blossom on the vine climbing up the side of the Robertses’ milk house. “I was wondering if I might have a start of it?”
At the table, Rose stifled a gasp and set down the bowl of corn and tomatoes before she dropped it. While she might not have Nancy’s extensive herbal knowledge, she was aware that morning glory plants were poisonous when ingested.
Her chest tightened and her stomach turned queasy. She had to warn Pa. Now! Any moment, the men should be coming in from the fields. Willing her shaking legs to move, she headed toward the barn and met Bill Roberts walking toward her, mopping the sweat from his brow with his red handkerchief.
“Bill, have you seen Pa?”
Bill glanced back at the barn and cocked his head. “Should be bringin’ one of the teams into the barn soon.” Concern furrowed his broad brow that reminded her of Jamie. “Ever’thing all right, Rose?”
“Y–yes.” Rose mumbled as she hurried toward the barn. She needed to get Pa alone, away from prying eyes and ears.
Inside the barn she stopped, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. The scents of hay, manure, and animals filled her nostrils. The sounds of jangling harness, plodding hooves, and huffing horses drew her attention to the barn’s open end.
“Pa?” She headed toward the two harnessed black Percherons advancing into the barn.
“Whoa!” The horses stopped, but the voice didn’t sound like Pa’s.
“Pa?” Rose started to walk around one of the horses when it jerked and took another step, almost knocking her down. “Ahhh!” Scrambling to get out of the horse’s way she slammed against a stall door, tripped, and pitched forward toward the animal’s massive rump. An instant before her face smacked against the Percheron’s sweaty flank, strong arms caught her and pulled her upright.
“Rose, are you all right?” Jamie’s voice sounded breathless and fear flashed like blue lightning across his eyes.
“Y–yes.” Her stammered reply held no more truth than it did moments before with his father.
Despite her claim, Jamie kept his arms around her waist. His gaze softened, melting into hers like azure pools of water. “Rose.” As he breathed her name, he pulled her against him. His dark lashes swept down and she closed her own eyes. The next moment might have spanned an instant or a millennia. Time stood still as his lips caressed hers.
At the sound of another team of workhorses nearing the barn, he let her go. Shaken, Rose ran from the barn, all thoughts of finding Pa carried away with the cyclone swirling inside her. Outside the barn, she pressed her back against the building’s sun-warmed walls in an effort to calm her racing heart and trembling limbs. She needed solitude to make sense of what had just happened and to let her rampant emotions settle. Feelings she’d repressed for months came washing over her like a deluge. The revelation hit her as hard as if the Robertses’ entire barn had fallen on her. She loved Jamie Roberts! And he loved her!
Another realization hit her equally as hard. She couldn’t marry Ty. Remembering her promise to him last May that she wouldn’t break their engagement, she felt sick. Also, if she were to end her relationship with Ty and begin a new one with Jamie, it would almost certainly cause a rift between the brothers that might never heal, something she couldn’t live with.
“Rose.” Strong but gentle fingers gripped her upper arm.
Rose turned to face Ty and a new flash of panic leaped in her chest. Had he witnessed his brother kissing her in the barn?
Instead of the anger she expected to see in his face, she found regret tinged with shame. He glanced down at the bare dirt beneath their feet, worked soft by the horses’ hooves. “I know I ain’t paid you much attention lately.” His pinched gaze lifted back to her face. “But I’ve been thinkin’ on it hard, and I think it’s time we talked.”
Rose’s panic turned to terror that threatened to send her heart lurching out of her chest. Oh dear Lord, no! He wants to set a wedding date! She pulled away from his grasp. “I—I have to get back to the kitchen.” Lifting the hem of her skirts away from her feet, she fled to the house as fast as her wobbly legs would carry her.
The rest of the day she managed to avoid both Ty and Jamie by staying in the kitchen to help with the meal cleanup. Then, complaining of a pounding headache, which wasn’t a fabrication, she headed home alone on foot. By the time Pa and her sisters returned home, Rose’s headache had eased, but her heart felt as bruised as if it had been trampled by a team of draft horses. Knowing that her feelings for Jamie were reciprocated but, if acted on, would tear both their families apart, shredded her heart. She’d turned the problem every which way in her mind and the only way she could see to untangle the mess she’d made between her, Violet, and the Roberts brothers was for her to reject both Ty and Jamie. As for her concerns about Nancy Martin, she needed to share them with Pa as soon as possible but away from Violet and Lillie Ann.
“Hope your head feels better, honey.” Pa looked up at Rose sitting on the porch swing as he walked toward the house with Violet and Lillie Ann. “Nancy said you prob’ly got overheated in the kitchen. Said to tell you to drink some ginger tea then wring out a vinegar-soaked cloth and tie it around your head.”
“Thanks, Pa. I do feel much better.” She managed a weak smile. “I’m sure Nancy is right, I just got overheated.”
Pa turned to Violet and Lillie Ann, both carrying baskets. “You girls go on in. Reckon I best wash off some of this sweat and hay dust at the pump by the barn, ‘fore I come in the house.”
“I’ll pump for you.” Snatching at the opportunity to get Pa alone, Rose jumped up from the porch swing and followed him toward the barn. Halfway there, she stopped beneath a walnut tree. “Pa, there is something I need to talk to you about.” She licked her drying lips. She mustn’t lose her courage now. Pa’s life might depend upon it. “It’s about Nancy.”
“What about Nancy?” Pa smiled, as he always did when mentioning Nancy’s name.
Unsure what emotion to expect from him, Rose blurted what Charlie Roberts had heard about Nancy. “You said the last stomach concoction she gave you didn’t taste right. Then today, I heard her asking Dorothy for a start from her morning glory vine, and you know that morning glory is poisonous.”
An array of emotions played across Pa’s face, settling on an angry scowl. “That’s ridiculous! You know good and well that Nancy’s husband died of a wasting cancer.”
“That’s what Nancy told everyone. We have no way of knowing if she’s telling the truth.” Rose had feared Pa would reject her concerns outright.
Pa’s glare darkened. “Well I’d believe Nancy a sight quicker than I would Myrtle Foster or Lizzie Salter, I’ll tell ya that!” He shook his head and snorted. “I’m surprised at you, Rose. You should know better than to believe those old gossips.” He gave another dismissive snort. “And why on earth would Nancy want to poison me, anyway?”
“This farm, Pa.” Rose flung out her arm. “I doubt Nancy wants to live with her sister and husband forever. Don’t you think that a woman in her position would jump at the chance to get her hands on a farm as prosperous as ours?”
The frown lines on Pa’s forehead deepened. “That’s enough, Rose! Nancy is a fine woman. She means none of us any harm, and I won’t hear another bad word against her, you hear me?”
“But Pa, at least consider—”
“There’s nothin’ to consider.” Pa held up his hand and glanced down. When he looked back up, his expression and voice softened. “I know it’s hard for you to accept the notion of another woman comin’ in and takin’ your ma’s place.” His tone gentled. “You know that your ma will always have a special place in my heart. Nancy just has a new place, that’s all.” He blew out a deep breath and glanced away for a moment. When he looked back at Rose, his face turned serious. Resolute. “I was going to wait till I had all three of you girls together before I said anything, but I’ll tell you now: Nancy has agreed to marry me, and we’ll be doin’ that sometime before Christmas.”