Letters
Leah woke up to find Luke looking at her. “Good morning, wife,” he said with a loving smile.
“Good morning, husband.” Husband. Would she ever get used to it? She would, because Luke was going to be easy to get used to.
“How do you feel?”
“Wonderfully content. I love you so much, Luke.”
“Not half as much as I love you. You’re more than I ever dreamed possible. I know God must have planned you just for me.”
“Are you ready to get up and have breakfast?”
“If I must, but I’d rather stay here with you.”
They went down to find Granny setting the food on the table and the others seated. “You timed that just right,” she said.
“You can take your time, Luke,” Granny said. “Clifton and I did all the morning chores. It’s cold out there this morning, too.”
They ate a leisurely breakfast. Afterwards, they gathered for their worship.
“Play some hymns on your fiddle,” Leah told Luke. “I love to hear you play.”
“Either you’ve gotten better, or I’ve forgotten how good you were,” Dr. Moretz told Luke.
“Maybe I just have someone in my life who inspires me now,” Luke replied.
A fierce wind came up. It roared around the house and caused the fire to sputter and crack. “This sounds like a good day to stay inside,” she told them.
“Luke’s been telling me what a good chess player you are, Leah,” Dr. Moretz said. “How about a match?”
“You don’t want to do that,” Luke warned.
Dr. Moretz took much longer with his moves than Leah.
Luke sat and watched. “Do you want to play me a game of checkers, on the side?” Luke asked Leah during one of his father’s particularly long moves.
“Sure.”
“Are you trying to make me feel like I’m not much of an opponent?” the doctor asked.
She defeated Dr. Moretz about the same time she and Luke came to a draw in checkers.
“I thought Luke had been exaggerating,” Dr. Moretz said, “but maybe he only told half the truth. How often do you two draw in checkers or stalemate in chess?”
“Often, but I don’t mind being tied with Leah.” Luke enjoyed teasing her with innuendos and double meanings.
“Do you win sometimes?”
“Of course he does,” Leah said.
“I do, but we tie more. I think the two of us are pretty evenly matched.” He looked at Leah with a twinkle in his eye.
“He gets his teasing naturally,” Granny Em said. “His grandfather was even worse, but that’s one of the things I loved about him.
When they sat down to supper, Leah looked out the window to see snow falling. The flakes looked small, and the wind sent them dancing. She excitedly pointed it out.
“That’s just blow snow,” Granny Em said. “It won’t amount to much.”
“I’m glad this didn’t happen yesterday.” Luke said.
“I think your wedding would have been special no matter what,” Patsy said.
“You’re right,” Luke agreed. “I guess I’d better brave the cold and go milk, though.”
“Let me help you,” Dr. Moretz said. “I think I’m still a mountain man at heart. I love it here and feel more at peace.”
With being married to Frances, Leah could see why. Dr. Moretz deserved someone who’d love him and treat him special.
“I wonder if Luke and I wouldn’t have been better off if we’d both moved back here after Sarah died. At the time, I thought the farm would be more painful as I saw the places Sarah and I had met and fell in love. Now, they make me happier and bring back lovely memories.”
“Well, you had your medical practice in Salisbury,” Granny Em said. “As much as I’ve wished it could be otherwise, you were called to be a doctor, not a farmer.”
“That’s true,” he agreed.
Monday morning showed little sign of Sunday’s foul weather. The ground had a white tint, as if glazed with frost, but the sky had cleared.
Leah and Patsy moved the rest of Leah’s things to Luke’s room, but, when they did, storage became tight. She left some summer things and bedding in her trunks.
By the time winter hit in full force, she feared they would need the extra covering. Their bedroom sat over the sitting room so some of the heat from the fireplace rose, but none of the bedrooms had heat. It would be terribly cold when the fireplace died down in the winter. She smiled to herself. At least she had Luke to keep her warm.
Luke and Dr. Moretz moved the wardrobe from Ivy’s room into Luke’s for her. It matched the one he had, and Luke said he would have another one made for Ivy’s room.
“Are we well off?” she asked him. Papa had always shared his ledgers with her.
“Not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but we have enough. Father insists on giving Granny extra, and she puts it into the farm account. There are plenty of families here who have no cash. They barter for what they can and raise or make do for the rest. Why do you ask? Most wives leave money matters to their husbands.”
“Papa always discussed plantation business with me, and I often helped him with his accounts.”
“I should have known you’d not be like most wives.”
“Do you want me to be? Maybe I could get Frances to train me to be more like her.”
Luke looked taken aback, even alarmed. She tried to stifle her laugh, but when he looked her in the eye, he must have seen a mischievous twinkle, because he burst out laughing.
“I see you can give as good as you get. No, I truly wouldn’t change a thing about you. I want us to share everything with no secrets.” He went to his desk, picked up an account book, and handed it to her. “You’re welcome to examine anything in this room or on the farm. I’ll look forward to us making decisions together, and I’m actually glad you’re interested in such things.”
After supper, Raymond, Oralee’s grandson, rode up. He carried a letter in his hand.
“I went to Boone this smornin’, and this’d just come to the post office. I said I’d brang hit out. With you bein’ newly wed and all, I didn’t know when you’d git in.”
“I appreciate that,” Luke said, as he took the letter. “Come in and visit for a spell.”
“No, I best be gettin’ on. Thar’s evenin’ chores to be done.”
Luke handed the letter to Leah. “This is for you.”
It was from Ivy. Leah took it to the sitting room, sat down, and began to read:
Dear Sister,
If I could only express how happy I am! Lawrence treats me as if I’m the most precious thing he’s ever known. I fell in love with him quickly, and I love him more every day. I didn’t know what love really was before Lawrence.
His mother has been welcoming. Learning my duties won’t be hard, since Mama taught me much of this at Gold Leaf.
The family held a ball for Lawrence and me when we first arrived. Lawrence bought me a new dress, and I had it made in such a way it concealed my thickening middle. Lawrence dances divinely. Of course, the ball was to announce our marriage. If there were any rumors flying, I didn’t hear them. Archibald Biles didn’t come.
I’m over being sick in the mornings, and that’s much better. I’m showing now, but I’ve been able to hide it so far. Perhaps I’ll stay small enough it’ll look more like the baby comes early. Hester Sue’s baby and mine might be close to the same age.
Mama is not doing well. She overreacted when she saw me. She clutched me and refused to let go. Paul and Hester Sue had to pry her hands away. She cried and cried when I left even though I assured her I was staying close and could see her often. She has let herself go, too. She appears disheveled and almost wild.
I want to thank you for helping me accept Christ’s forgiveness. I think that has done as much to turn my life around as anything. Lawrence and I read, study the Bible, and pray together every night. Strange how I’ve spent so many Sundays in church but never really learned much at all.
Well, enough about me. I want to know all about you. How was your trip back? Has Luke proposed to you, yet? Is it already getting cold up there? Write and let me know everything. I think of you often.
Love,
Ivy
She looked up to find Luke watching her. “By the look on your face, I’m guessing it’s good news.”
“All except the part about Mama.” She handed him the letter. “No secrets,” she said, when she saw the question on his face.
“I’m glad for them,” Luke said, when he finished reading. “It sounds as if they’re very happy. I think we finally got the correct couples paired up. Ivy is better for Lawrence and you’re better for me.”
As they got dressed Tuesday morning, Luke said, “As much as I hate to, I need to get back to doing more work before the thick of winter gets here. I guess the honeymoon is over.”
“I beg to differ,” Leah said. “I don’t think the honeymoon will ever be over for us. I think we will live years together in a perpetual honeymoon.”
“I like the way you think, but I believe what you call my roguish nature is rubbing off on you.”
“Oh no, it was there all the time, but, like any proper lady, I didn’t let it out.”
“Are you saying I bring out the worst in you?” he teased.
“I guess that depends on what you think’s bad. I certainly thought you were the most handsome man I’d ever seen. My feelings got all jumbled and confused when you touched me, and our marriage brought out a passion in me I didn’t know I had.”
“I wouldn’t call any of those the least bit bad. It’s what I longed for in a wife. The better I get to know you, the more I like what I see, but I’m still having a hard time believing you’re really my wife. You seem too good to be true.”
“That’s okay. I’m willing to spend the rest of my life proving to you how real I am.”
“Enticer,” he whispered right before he kissed her.
Luke and Dr. Moretz spent most of the day cutting wood. Surely they had enough already, but Luke seemed afraid, with an early onset of winter and the possibility of a late spring, they might come up short.
“I enjoy getting out and working around the farm,” Dr. Moretz said at supper. “I miss doing the physical labor. There’s a special fulfillment to seeing what you accomplish mount up.”
“I’ve enjoyed your company and your help,” Luke said. “We work well together. Anytime you need a break and want to come, you know we’d love to have you. Granny is happier with you here, too.”
“I really should have packed up and moved us back up here when your mother died. I think you and I would’ve both been happier if I had. But I guess that’s water under the bridge now. We must deal with things the way they are, not what might have been.”
“Water under the bridge can end up washing you too far downstream,” Granny Em said. “Are you so unhappy now, Clifton?”
“No, I’m not unhappy. I’m just not as happy as I could be. I look at Luke and Leah, and I’m reminded of how it can be. I had that with Sarah. I guess it’s too much to expect such a love twice in one’s life, but I’m glad Luke’s found it. I’m happy because of his happiness.”
“I think the three Moretz men have been blessed with the love of three outstanding women.” Granny Em chuckled as she realized she had included herself in that. “What more could you ask for?”
“Maybe to have yours by your side always,” Dr. Moretz sighed.
“I know what you mean, Clifton. I had Edgar much longer than you did Sarah, but I miss him something terrible. Yet, I thank God for what we had.”
“I understand completely, Mama. I thank God for Sarah, too. I always have.”
Dr. Moretz decided to return home the third week in October. “I’ve left my practice long enough,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed being here, but I need to get back before my patients forget all about me.”
Luke decided to ride to Boone with him. They left on horseback early Wednesday morning. Luke said he planned to be home well before dark.
Granny Em spent most of the day trying to teach Leah some complicated weaving patterns and Patsy the basics. Leah caught on quickly, because she understood the warp, weft, and how to weave a solid color.
“If I had to wear only clothes made from what I wove,” Patsy said. “I’m afraid I would be scantily clad.” They laughed.
Leah heard a horse. Luke was back, and she ran out to meet him, but stopped short. Luke and Dr. Moretz were both back. Something must be wrong. She went out to see.
“Hello, darling,” Luke said. He pulled her to him and held her tightly, as if he released her, she might blow away.
“What’s wrong? Why is Dr. Moretz still with you?”
“I’ll see to the horses, Luke,” the doctor said. “You go on in. I’ll be in shortly.”
“Come on,” Luke said. “I’ll tell you inside.”
“You had a letter from Paul at the post office,” he began. “I hope you don’t mind, but I opened it. After Paul put the seal on it, he’d added a note to the back that said, ‘Let me know if you can’t come immediately.’ Father and I wanted to see what was wrong. Read it and then we’ll talk.”
“It’s fine you read the letter,” Leah said as she began to read.
Dear Leah,
I hate to inform you that your mother passed away. Ivy is taking it very hard, and we need you to come home.
Ivy found some shocking information when she was helping your mother sort through some of her things. I think Myra had managed to hide it all these years, but she’s not been thinking straight, since Ivy left, and she didn’t conceal it this time.
There were some letters and a diary to prove Ivy is only your half-sister and is no blood relation to me. She had a different father. It seems Myra was in love with a man named Patrick Ivey. Her parents didn’t approve of him, so Patrick wanted them to move to Missouri. Knowing Myra had been used to a more lavish lifestyle, he went out first to secure a livelihood and place for them. He planned to return for Myra within a year. Neither knew when he left she was with child. After she realized she was expecting, news filtered back through Patrick’s family that he had been killed in an accident. Myra became desperate and frantic. She latched onto Father, who was lonely and grieving himself. I don’t think he knew any of this. I’m sure he didn’t at first, anyway. Ivy was born and presented as his, but Myra named her “Ivy” after her father.
Ivy is devastated. The news of her parentage was shocking enough, but now she blames herself for her mother’s death. She thinks her discovery killed the woman.
The doctor says Ivy is in danger of losing her baby and perhaps her own life. Lawrence is beside himself with worry and adds his pleas for you to come with all haste. Your sister is not eating and looks deathly ill. We’ll be expecting you soon.
Love,
Paul
“Oh, my,” Leah said, as she looked at Luke. She saw his concern for her, and it was her undoing. The tears came. Luke didn’t say a word. He just moved closer, scooped her into his arms, and let her cry on his shoulder.
When the tears finally stopped, she pulled back. “What am I going to do?” She wanted Luke to tell her what to do. She didn’t feel capable of figuring it out herself.
Luke quickly read the letter again. “What do you want to do?” Why did he like to answer her questions with a question?
“I don’t know. I feel I need to go to Ivy, but I don’t want to leave here again. It would be hard to leave Granny and Patsy alone for the winter. What if Granny got sick again?”
“That’s why I came back,” Dr. Moretz said. “I thought you could return with me, and Luke could stay here at the farm.”
She looked at Luke again. No! She didn’t want to leave Luke. The thought terrified her, and she knew Luke could see it in her eyes.
“Luke,” was all she could get out. “Oh, Luke.” She grabbed for him and used his shoulder again. She knew she had soaked his shirt with her tears, but they wouldn’t stop.
“Come on, darling.” Luke pulled her up, and, with his arm around her, he led her upstairs. “We need some privacy to figure this out,” Luke told his family.
He put Leah on the bed and lay beside her to hold her in his arms. “Let’s just talk.”
“You know I don’t want us to be apart,” he began, and she nodded. “It will be hard on both of us, but I really think our love is strong enough to withstand a separation. We need to look at what God would want us to do. What do you think that is, Leah?”
“We are supposed to love and care for one another.”
“That’s what I thought. Do you think you might help Ivy, if you went to her?”
Leah nodded.
“I think so, too. Besides being Ivy’s sister and giving her support, you have a gift for healing. But, I think the decision must be yours. It’s your family.”
“I know I need to go, but it’s not what I want. My desire is to stay here with you.”
“I felt some of the same things when I needed to find Ivy before I felt free to pursue you. I felt it was the right thing to find Ivy first, but I wanted to stay here and marry you then.”
“It seems something with Ivy continues to draw us apart. Will it never stop? Will we never be able to live and love without interference?”
“Oh, sweetheart, I pray so. What’s your decision?”
“I guess I have to go. I couldn’t forgive myself if something happened to Ivy or her baby, and I hadn’t tried to help.”
He nodded. “Are you hungry? Do you want some supper?”
“No, I don’t feel like eating.”
“Neither do I. I’ll go down and tell father what we’re doing. You two will leave in the morning. Get ready for bed, while I’m out, and I’ll be right back. We’ll at least have tonight.”
Morning came way too soon, and Leah found herself mounted sidesaddle on Luke’s chestnut riding away from the farm away from Luke.
She only had room to take her travel bag, but that would be okay. There should be plenty of dresses in her closet at Gold Leaf.
She thought she’d cried out all her tears on Luke’s shoulder the night before, and she promised herself she wouldn’t shed more, but, when Luke gave her the last kiss good-bye, the floodgates opened.
“Remember how much I love you,” Luke said as he lifted her into the saddle. She thought she saw tears in his eyes, too, but she couldn’t be sure, because everything blurred through hers.
“I love you, too,” she whispered. “More than you’d ever believe.”
“We’ll ride to Wilkesboro,” Dr. Moretz told her. “If you need me to get a carriage there, I can, but, if you can make it to Salisbury, we’ll go by my house and get one.”
“I can make it to Salisbury,” she said. “I rode sidesaddle for two days, when we went to get Ivy in South Carolina, and I can again.” She felt so uncomfortable about leaving Luke that she probably wouldn’t notice the discomfort of the sidesaddle.
The actual physical pain she felt throughout her body surprised her. The intense, dull ache began in her core and radiated out to every part. She’d always been competent and independent. She’d never dreamed she could need someone as much as she needed Luke.
At least this would only be a temporary separation, and they should be together again soon. She would cling to that.
They didn’t stop in Boone, but went on to Deep Gap. Leah felt as if she might be wearing down the mountain she had gone up and down it so much in the past months.
She tried to eat supper, but the food got stuck in her throat. The doctor ordered her some broth. “At least drink it,” he said. “We can’t have you getting sick, too.” She managed most of it.
She went to her room and got out her Bible. She read from Psalms, but they failed to encourage her this time. She wondered if Luke would be reading his Bible now for the family devotion.
She undressed and crawled into bed. She said her prayers and then lay, meditating and opening her mind to God. Lo, I am with you, always, even unto the end of the world.
They made it to Salisbury late Friday. Leah felt stiff and achy, but she didn’t complain. That was the least of her problems.
She went straight to bed. If she could only fall into an oblivious sleep, but sleep rarely came. She lay and thought of Luke. She could close her eyes and see his face as clearly as if he stood before her, but, if she reached out to touch him, her hand met only air.
Tomorrow she would see Gold Leaf and Paul for the first time, since she’d left, but there would be no Papa and no Mama there. Tomorrow she could begin to help Ivy. The sooner she helped her sister recover, the sooner she could get back to Luke.
She dozed some, but mainly she lay awake in the dark. Despite her melancholy, she felt God with her, being her support and comfort. She held to His promise that He would never leave her. If it hadn’t been for that, she would have turned around and gone back up the mountain. But she knew those thoughts stemmed from her selfishness, and she would not give in to them.
Luke lay awake in a cold, lonely bed and stared into the dark. He did more work than ever, but he just went through the motions. He hoped he’d be tired enough by the end of the day, that he could fall asleep, but sleep eluded him. How was it possible to be so strongly bonded to someone that you were only a fragment of yourself without them? Never in his wildest imagination had he thought he would miss Leah so much. He had even encouraged her to go, and now he feared she would be gone through the winter, as she waited for Ivy’s baby to come.
He could close his eyes and imagine her in his arms, but such thoughts only made the pain more intense. His whole body ached for his wife. He needed her as much as he needed food, water, or air. Why had he let her ride away? And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee.