Summer
When Leah awoke the next morning, she quietly got ready and tiptoed out, so she wouldn’t disturb Patsy. She had built the fire and put on the coffee before Granny Em appeared.
“Any sign of Luke?” Granny Em asked.
“I haven’t seen him, but I guess he could be milking.”
“Well, I’m going to see, and, if he isn’t, I’ll milk.”
“Anything you want me to start for breakfast?”
“There’s a slab of bacon and eggs in the larder. Go ahead and fry out the bacon. I’ll make the biscuits when I get back, or you can give it a try, and we’ll scramble the eggs at the last minute, so they’ll be warm.”
Leah decided to make drop biscuits, since she found it easier to get light, moist biscuits that way. She had the biscuits baking in the covered spider when Luke came downstairs. He looked better.
“I slept all night through for the first time since I left here. Thank you, Leah.”
“I’m glad the tea helped.”
“Leah.” He took her arm and gently pulled her around to face him. His touch sent tingles up her arm, and her heart pumped double time. He may have felt something, too, for he quickly pulled his hand back. His gaze locked her eyes to his with a penetrating look she couldn’t pull away from. “Right now my burden is heavy, and I can’t express what’s in my heart. I hope and pray it won’t be like this much longer.” With those words, he turned and walked outside.
Leah sat down. She’d suddenly grown too weak to stand. What had Luke just said to her? Was Ivy his heavy burden? Was Leah in his heart, but he couldn’t tell her, until the burden was taken from him? Once she had been good with riddles, but this one confused her, or did she just fear the answer?
Patsy came downstairs and began to set the table. Leah had already fried the bacon and broken ten eggs into a bowl when Granny and Luke returned. She added a tiny amount of milk to make the eggs fluffier, and beat them until smooth. She put some butter into the skillet, poured in the eggs, and scrambled them slowly as they cooked.
“That smells good enough to eat,” Luke said with a grin. He almost looked like he did before all this happened.
“You’d better wait until you taste the biscuits,” Leah teased. “Biscuits have always been my nemesis when it comes to cooking.”
“Well, I’m glad to know you’re not always perfect,” Luke told her with a twinkle in his eye.
“Far from it.”
“If you two will quit picking at each other, let’s bless the food and eat, before it gets cold.” Granny Em said, and Luke complied.
“These biscuits are just fine,” Granny Em said.
“They’re delicious,” Luke agreed. “Everything is. How did you get the eggs so light and fluffy?”
“I mixed in a little milk.”
“I’ll have to remember that,” Granny Em said.
Luke ate his bacon and eggs with a couple of biscuits. Then, he had some biscuits and fresh strawberry preserves. “I feel better than I have in a good while,” he said. “I’ve had a good night’s sleep and eaten a big breakfast. Now I’m ready to face the world.”
“You just needed to get home,” Granny Em said.
“I think you’re right,” Luke replied, but he looked at Leah.
Luke looked across the table at Leah. Did she understand what he had tried to let her know when he’d first come downstairs this morning? He couldn’t tell by looking at her. He’d thought about being clearer about his feelings and asking her to wait until these problems with Ivy were resolved, but, that wouldn’t be fair to Leah. What if Ivy had been through so much, she now wanted to marry Luke? He hoped not. He hoped he would find her well and happy, wherever she was.
Just seeing Leah after two weeks had been a tonic that lifted his spirit. He realized part of his melancholy had come from missing Leah. He’d grown to care about her more than he’d realized. Despite his efforts to the contrary, he might as well admit it—he loved her.
He loved her in a way he’d never loved Ivy. If he’d ever been in love with Ivy at all, it’d been infatuation. He’d loved the woman he thought he saw, but Leah came so much closer to being that woman. Although she had grown up on a plantation, she had the strong, independent spirit of the mountain people.
“Well, since I’ve been gone, I guess I need to get to work. I think I’ll begin with hoeing the garden and fields.”
“I would like to pick the last of the strawberries to make a dessert for supper,” Leah said, “but we’ve already picked a few times. I can carry the older rifle, like I’ve been doing.”
“We’ve hoed once since you’ve been gone,” Granny Em said. “It shouldn’t take you too long to get through it again.”
“We’ll plan to go pick strawberries right after lunch, then.”
“I’ll help you hoe, and that way, you’ll finish even sooner,” Leah told him.
“Patsy and I’ll wash some clothes, then,” Granny Em said. “There’s not as much as the last time we washed, but Luke has some things. We need to get them out early, in case it rains this afternoon.”
Leah ran upstairs to gather up her dirty clothes and give them to Patsy. Luke went outside to get the hoes.
“I see there are still a few peas,” he said when she came out. “What’s the chance I can get some more of that soup?”
“The peas have almost stopped bearing, but I think I can get enough for soup. Perhaps I can fix some for supper.”
In each plot, Leah started chopping down the weeds in one corner, and Luke began in the opposite one. They met in the middle. Luke hoped it would prove an allegory for what would be. As long as he and Leah eventually got together, he could patiently work through the problems, just like they were cutting down these weeds.
Luke stopped and let the rush of feelings wash over him. Now that he’d quit trying to lie to himself and pretend he felt nothing for Leah, what he felt seemed overwhelming. He would stay at arm’s length, however, until they found Ivy. What if she never turned up? What if something awful had happened? He feared he’d find her used and abandoned, and he’d have to marry her. He’d just have to wait and see, and he couldn’t court Leah until that had been settled.
They finished all the hoeing and ate dinner. Then, all except Granny went to pick strawberries.
“I see most of the strawberries are gone,” Luke said, “but there are some still in the shady areas. It looks like the cherries and blackberries are beginning to ripen. We can pick them soon.”
They’d picked berries for a while, when Luke heard a strange, rattling noise. He knew that sound. “Don’t move, Leah,” he commanded. He could tell Leah wasn’t sure what was happening, but she did what he told her and froze in place. Luke finally spotted the culprit and fired his rifle. Leah nearly jumped out of her skin. Luke moved forward and saw the timber rattlesnake with his head shot off.
Leah cocked her head to one side and held a hand over her ear. The close shot had likely sent her ears to ringing. “What kind of snake?” she asked.
“A timber rattler, and he’s a big one.” Luke looked at the dull, black snake with rust splotches edged in gold. The snake had been headed right toward Leah.
“I never saw it, even after you told me to stop.”
“They blend into the terrain.”
“You about scared me to death,” Patsy said.
“Me, too.” Leah took a deep breath. “I think we have enough strawberries for supper. Let’s go back.”
Leah cooked supper for them. She made the cream of pea and potato soup Luke liked. Instead of using hunks of side meat, this time Leah added diced ham, and it was even better. She also fixed biscuits and cake with strawberries and sweetened cream for the top.
“I feel like I’ve just had a feast to welcome me home,” Luke said, when they’d finished eating.
“I’m just glad to see you feeling so much better,” Granny said. “You had me worried last night.”
Leah and Luke played another game of checkers. This time Luke won by the skin of his teeth.
They had their devotion and went to bed. Luke lay in bed thinking. He didn’t feel as anxious as he had before. Being here with Leah and Granny had calmed him, and he knew God had been with him all the time. Luke felt His presence now comforting him. Whatever happened, God would be with him.
Luke’s return made the farm work go much faster. He could do more than all the three women put together. When he caught up with other work, he chopped and hauled wood for the fireplace. Obviously, they would need a lot to keep them through the winter here.
Leah and Patsy often went with him and helped carry the wood. When they got the logs back to the farm, Luke would saw them into fireplace lengths, split the larger ones, and Leah and Patsy stacked the wood he cut.
Granny had taught Leah what new herbs to look for, and she often gathered some of them while they were getting wood. Ginseng seemed to the most important of the new ones.
They picked blackberries and made pies and preserves. Leah didn’t like picking blackberries, but she’d picked them on the plantation. The briars made her arms and hands look as though she’d been in a cat fight.
At odd times, Luke looked at her tenderly, almost as if he wanted to take her in his arms, so she tried to look away. She understood they needed to wait and be patient. She didn’t like it, but she understood.
Luke and Leah were together more now than before. If they were out of sight of the house, Patsy always went with them. If Patsy or Granny Em couldn’t accompany them, Leah didn’t go either, but that rarely happened.
After supper, Luke and Leah often played a game before the devotions and bedtime. They played checkers, chess, or backgammon.
Leah liked to beat Luke in chess the best, and she always tried harder there. Since both of them often took a long time to move in chess, they sometimes played another game on the side. One player could be studying on a chess move, while the other moved in checkers or backgammon. Often they’d leave the chess board set up, because they wouldn’t finish a game before bedtime.
“We’ll have more time to play this winter,” Luke told her.
“It sounds like we’re going to be confined all winter,” Patsy said.
“That’s somewhat true,” Granny Em said. “Sometimes, I feel like I’m taking after the bears and hibernating in the winter. Luke usually gets out and does the chores when it gets so cold.”
These days turned out to be almost happy times, and Leah marveled in them. It seemed as if they had all pushed Ivy into a corner of their minds, since they could do little but wait. Yet, there were times when Luke would grow pensive, and Leah knew Ivy held his thoughts. Both of them were in a state of uncertainty, waiting to find out about her, so they could get on with their lives in one direction or the other.
Cherries ripened and they picked all they could. Leah liked the black ones better to eat, because they seemed sweeter, but the red ones were great in pies or preserves. They even crushed some and made cider.
Luke would climb the trees and push the limbs down so the women could pick more. He’d also pick from up in the tree. Leah would have liked to don pants and climb into the trees, and she might have, if Luke hadn’t been there. She didn’t want to do anything that might draw his attention to her in a physical way right now. The attraction between them seemed too strong anyway.
The days grew warmer, but Leah found them comfortable. Here they thought eighty extremely hot while on the plantation eighties in the summer would have been a respite.
The garden produced its bounty, and they enjoyed the fresh vegetables. They made crocks of pickles from the cucumbers and also pickled some beets. They ate fresh green beans and strung them to dry as leather britches to cook in the winter. Some of the fruits, especially apples, would also be dried. They would make hominy later out of some of the corn by soaking hard kernels in the alkali solution from the ash hopper and cooking them. They had leaf lettuce, squash, and radishes, and there’d also be carrots, okra, potatoes, pumpkins, and field peas. Where the early garden peas had been, they planted a fall crop of turnips and mustard greens.
All the root crops, as well as the some of the cabbage, apples, and pears, could be harvested and stored in the root cellar, a small, cave-like room dug into a hillside. It had a thick wooden door and deep earthen walls to keep it from getting below freezing. Just to be on the safe side, Granny Em wrapped the containers in old, worn-out quilts.
Leah liked gathering food and preparing it for the winter. It gave her a sense of survival and made her feel capable of caring for a family. It also connected her with ancestors, who had struggled just like this to settle a new land. It gave her the feeling she belonged.
One Saturday, at the supper table, Luke said, “We’ve been working hard. Why don’t we pack a dinner after breakfast tomorrow and spend the day exploring the mountain? We can take a quilt and have our Sunday Bible study out among nature.”
“That’s a good idea, Luke,” Granny Em said. “These girls have worked their hearts out, and they haven’t gotten to get out at all. Leah just got to go to Boone once, and Patsy didn’t even do that.”
They woke up Sunday to bright sunshine, a rarity on the mountain. Normally, they rose to low clouds and mountains wrapped in fog. It would usually burn off by mid-morning, however.
They packed things for the day and loaded them into the wagon. Granny Em seemed as excited as anyone.
Luke headed up toward higher elevations first. He pointed out important plants and scenes along the way.
Leah felt the impact of the beauty of this land. The valleys and glens were like perfect landscapes. They called to Leah and wanted her to run their hills and sing atop their summits.
The forests were dark and mysterious, but not foreboding. Hardwoods dominated the lower elevations, but, as they went up, the evergreens took over. Ferns abounded, and Leah felt as if she’d stepped back in time to an enchanted European forest.
Luke pointed out blue spruce and Fraser firs, two majestic evergreens unfamiliar to her. Granny told of herbs and plants they could use for home remedies.
They came to a more level section, and Luke pulled the wagon over and stopped. They pulled out the quilt and their Bibles, and they sat to read the creation story from Genesis. It took on special meaning for Leah now, because she sat surrounded by God’s marvelous creation. She said as much when they had their discussion.
“Why do you think I feel closer to God in the mountains?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Luke said, “but I feel the same way. It’s almost as if my spirit soars to the mountain peaks, and I’m more aware of God’s hand.”
They sang some hymns, and Leah felt their voices ring out, as clear as the mountain air. She wished Luke had thought to bring his fiddle, too.
They sat silently for a while to meditate and say their individual prayers. Then, Luke prayed aloud to close their worship time.
They got back into the wagon and rode some more. At the top of the mountain, they got out and walked around. Leah saw many lovely flowers and plants she’d never seen before. One eye-catching lily had small, deep-red flowers. Luke said a botanist had discovered it and named it after himself, Gray’s lily. How odd the delicate red bloom would be called “Gray.”
“Those Blue Ridge goldenrods are found only in a few locations at the highest elevations,” Luke added.
They ate dinner at the top of the mountain, and, even near noon, the air held a chill. A steady breeze blew, and the women pulled their shawls around them. Thankfully, Granny Em had said to bring them along.
Luke put an arm around Granny Em to help keep her warm as they went back to the wagon. Leah looked longingly, wishing that arm was around her shoulders. She shook herself. She knew better but couldn’t seem to tie down her wayward thoughts.
“Let’s drop by and visit Oralee,” Granny Em said. “I haven’t seen her in a long time, and I’d like for the girls to meet her. She’s about as mountain as they come.”
“I thought you were mountain, Granny Em,” Patsy said.
“No, no.” Granny laughed. “My mother and father moved to Watauga County when I was fourteen. Of course, it was Wilkes County then. I’ve never talked like the old mountain people. I’m a newcomer by their standards.”
“What does that make us?” Patsy asked.
“A foreigner, or ‘furriner,’ as Oralee would say.” Granny Em laughed.
“The families who came in the early seventeen hundreds kept some of their old English language patterns,” Luke added. “The way they talk is almost reminiscent of Elizabethan English and Shakespeare’s time.”
“Do they use ‘thees’ and ‘thous?’” Leah asked.
“No, it’s different. Just wait and you’ll see.”
“The slaves speak their own way,” Patsy said. “I used to talk like that, until Miss Leah taught me differently.”
“Yes, it’s the same idea, except they’re different dialects.”
“Oralee’s husband is dead, too,” Granny Em said. “Her grandson and his family live with her. She’s some older than me.”
They rode up to a log cabin nestled in the shadow of the mountain. It looked smaller, older, and more in need of repair than their log house at the farm.
“Lawsy me, is that thar Emmaline? Hit’s been quite a spell, hain’t hit?” a weak, but excited voice said when they were ushered into the cabin.
The cabin consisted of one big room, but sacks had been sewn together and tacked up to create a bedroom in the corner. Oralee lay in bed in another corner. Supper cooked in a big pot in the one fireplace. The rest of the sparse furniture looked homemade.
Introductions were made. Polly, Oralee’s granddaughter-in-law, had let them in. Three young heads peeked down from a sleeping loft, but they pulled back quickly when Leah looked up.
“Y’all have a cheer,” Polly said. “Raymond’s in the barn with the two eldest boys. He’ll be in to reckley.”
“You got a looker thar,” Oralee said, looking at Leah. “Come riecheer, girl. Let me have a looksee. You a-courting’ her, Luke?”
“No, ma’m,” Luke said.
“Bein’ a bit choicy, haint yuh? Well, yuh best keep yer eyes peeled, Emmaline. Them bucks’ll be swarmin’ ’round yer place like bees to honey. How old are yuh, gal? My eldest great grandson’s goin’ on sixteen.”
“I’ll be eighteen before long,” Leah said, “but I’m not interested in seeing anyone now.”
“Now that thar’s a right smart thang. Seems yuh got more sense’n most.”
The children in the loft kept peering down when they thought no one was looking. They seemed to be staring at Patsy.
“Y’all youngins a-fightin’ agin?” Oralee asked when noise came from the rafters. “Thar’s no call fer that. Y’all best cut it out ’fore I git ahold o’ yuh with a keen hickory switch. You ort to have a good whuppin’. Y’all’ve jist ’about wore me plumb out today. How many times have I done axed yuh to quit yer ruckus?”
Leah looked around at the primitive cabin with just the bare necessities. From what she’d seen from riding by, this place must have been typical of most mountain cabins. She realized Luke and Granny Em were well-off compared to most of the other families here.
“How have you been, Oralee?” Granny Em asked.
“Oh, I reckon I’m right pert fer a woman a-gettin’ up in years.”
“Don’t let ’er lead yuh on,” Polly said. “She’s been right puny lately.”
“I never heared tell of sech. Jist ’cause I hain’t up kickin’ to the ceilin’, don’t mean I got one foot in th’ grave.”
“How you do go on, Granny,” Polly said.
“Luke, I heared you went off and brung this purty little blonde thang up the mountain, but she went and flew the coop, leavin’ you all done in.”
“You know you can’t believe everything you hear,” Granny Em said.
“That’s shore ’nuff the Gospel. Luke, wouldja reech over thar and throw another log on the far. I’ve got a chill and it’ll soon be time to start supper.”
Luke put a piece of wood in the fireplace. “Well, I guess we’d better be getting back home,” he said.
“Can’t ye stay a spell longer. Stay and eat a bite with us. You’re more’n welcome.”
“Thank you,” Granny Em said, “but it’ll be milking time soon, and we need to be going.”
“Well, ya’ll come back soon, now, ye hear.”
“Patsy, you sure were quiet back there,” Granny Em said, as they boarded the wagon.
“I didn’t know what to say, and I was having a hard time following some of the conversation.”
“What did you think, Leah?” Luke asked as he pulled the wagon back onto the trail.
“Quite interesting,” Leah said. “I like to hear Oralee talk. It has an almost melodic rhythm to it, and only some of it was hard to follow.”
“You stay in the mountains long enough, and you might get to talking just like Oralee,” Luke teased.
“Are you trying to run me out of the mountains, Luke?”
“No, not at all.” He looked worried, and Leah wondered if he thought she might leave like Ivy.
“Well, that’s good,” she told him, “because, as much as I like it here, I think you’d have a hard time running me off.” He relaxed and smiled at her.
The days followed one by one in a regular pattern. They worked together like clockwork to get all the work done and be prepared for winter. Even in the summer, winter lurked right around the corner and threatened mountain life. By the end of August, the nights had already started to turn cooler.
Granny decided to kill a chicken to cook. Several of the hens had hatched biddies over the spring and summer, and, if something didn’t raid the hen house, they’d have plenty of chickens.
“Luke, if you’ll cut its head off, I’ll clean it. It’s a messy job, and I don’t want to ask Patsy or Leah,” Granny said.
“I don’t mind messy jobs,” Leah said. “Someone has to do them.”
Luke caught a chicken and took it to the chopping block, a thick stump he used to split wood on. Patsy also came running when she heard the chicken squawking.
“You ladies might want to go out of sight of this,” Luke said. “It looks pretty grotesque.”
Leah had never seen anyone chop off a chicken’s head before, so she stayed. At the plantation, a slave had wrung the chicken’s neck. She saw Patsy decided to remain, too.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Luke placed the chicken’s neck across the chopping block and severed its head with a one-handed swing of the axe. He flung the chicken out from him. The headless bird danced around, flapping its wings, while all the time blood spurted from its neck. The bizarre dance took several minutes, and the headless fowl frantically covered a lot of ground, as if it were hysterically searching for its head.
Patsy gave out a scream and ran for the house. Leah stood as if glued in place. Though sickening, the scene appeared so strange, she couldn’t turn away. She stared at the weird performance, as if she were watching a stage show. It took several minutes for the poor chicken to finally drop dead.
Luke came to stand beside Leah. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. Her stomach did feel a little queasy, but she didn’t want to show it. A farm woman needed to be strong. “That just gave a whole new meaning to ‘running around like a chicken with his head cut off.’”
Luke chuckled in appreciation. He put his arm around the back of her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze.
“I’m going to cut a load of cabbage now,” Luke said to Leah and Granny Em. “I plan to take them to Boone tomorrow.”
“Well, if you don’t mind the company,” Granny Em said, “I’d like to do some shopping. I don’t guess I’ll get a better chance before Christmas, and I don’t want to wait until the weather gets cold. I’m sure the girls will want to come, too.”
“I’d like the company very much,” Luke said. He looked at Leah.
Leah helped Luke cut the cabbage heads. They’d grown so big and hearty it proved difficult to cut through them with a butcher knife. “I think an axe would work better,” she told Luke, and he laughed. They loaded them into the wagon, so it would be ready to go in the morning.