The Face of Heaven by Murray Pura Read Free Book Online Page B

death,” she said, her eyes and lips narrow.
    “I wanted…to surprise you.”
    “Well, Nathaniel King, you certainly succeeded at that.”
    He released his grip on her arm and stood back. “You were havingtime alone and with God, it seems. I should go. Once again, I’m sorry. I will be by tomorrow evening if you still wish it.”
    Lyndel regained her composure, turned her glare into a small smile, and said, “You may come for supper.”
    When he nodded and smiled, then turned to go, Lyndel said, “You don’t need to go. Stay, please…for a while. I’ve had quite enough time alone praying prayers and thinking thoughts. Some human company would be welcome.”
    “Are you sure? It was not my intention to intrude—”
    “You’re not intruding. Stop being a gentleman, please, Nathaniel, and go back to being my brother’s best friend—and my new friend.”
    A small smile went over his face. “All right. Gut . How are you, despite everything—despite today being the day of the funeral?”
    She paused, then said, “On the one hand, Charlie is with the Jesus whose words he loved to hear me read. On the other hand, I can’t help but feel he left us too soon. And then there is Moses Gunnison—I can’t stop thinking about him and wondering how he’s faring on that Virginia plantation.”
    “I know.”
    “And you, Nathaniel, how is it with you today?”
    He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. His eyes were dark under the broad brim of his hat, raindrops falling from its edge. “Would you mind walking with me? We can follow the creek for a while, perhaps for miles.”
    “Miles?” She smiled at him, the rain beading on her face. “Do you have a lot to say?”
    “Depends.”
    They began to make their way side by side, she with her hands folded under her apron, he with his still in his pockets. For a long minute nothing was said and there was just the sound of their boots in the mud and wet grass of the field. She glanced up at him.
    “Are you waiting for me?” she asked.
    He shook his head, suddenly gray and somber as the weather. “I’m not sure how to begin. I wonder what you will think of me.”
    “Well, once you start we can find out. Is this the big important thing you wanted to tell me?”
    “ Ja, ja, I guess it is.” He puffed his cheeks with a breath and then blew it out rapidly.
    “If it’s that difficult to get out perhaps you can tell me something else in the meantime.”
    “Tell you what?”
    “You whispered in Charlie’s ear. You put a slip of paper in his coffin.”
    He glanced at her. “So closely you were watching?”
    “Indeed I was.”
    “I told him…that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty—from the Bible—and on the paper I wrote some of the words from a song the slaves sing while they work.”
    “And what were the words?”
    Nathaniel cleared his throat. “Some of these mornings, bright and fair, I thank God I’m free at last. Going to meet King Jesus in the air, I thank God I’m free at last. Free at last, free at last, I thank God I’m free at last.”
    Lyndel gazed at him, her mouth partly open. “You astonish me, Nathaniel King. Where on earth did you learn that? It’s beautiful.”
    “I…I just thought…I could picture Charlie singing it while he was in the fields—”
    “What a—different sort of man you are. I never guessed it.” She smiled. “But it is a good different, Nathaniel King.”
    He shrugged. “I suppose the leadership think of me as something of a wild young colt, what with my talk of clearing temples and making whips.”
    “Well, it’s in the Bible, Nathaniel, so they can’t say too much, except perhaps that clearing the temple was the task Jesus was called to perform as the Son of God, not you.”
    “Your father told me over the meal that I was free to leave for Indiana, so they can’t be too badly disposed toward me.”
    “Put your fears aside. I’m sure the pastors have a high opinion of you. My father does