The Frontiersman’s Daughter by Laura Frantz Read Free Book Online Page B

fields?—Neddy appeared. Lael took off her bonnet and flipped her heavy braid back over one shoulder, her feet in a firm stance that belied her skittish feelings.
    He was walking slowly toward them, scarecrow thin, his fair hair tied back with whang leather. When he saw her, he stopped. She took a shy step toward him and did the same.
    Try as she might, she couldn’t master her swirling emotions. Something lonesome and long dead pulled at her as she looked at him and remembered a great many things at once. Neddy reading to her in the firelight. Neddy teaching her to spell her name. Neddy bringing her a sugar lump from the fort store. Tears mingled with her salty sweat and stung her flushed face.
    Without a moment’s hesitation Neddy did what Pa would never do. Reaching out a long arm, he pulled her into a snug embrace and let her cry.
    “Lael girl, you look the same as you did when you were six years old, only handsomer.” His voice was deep and warm; he smelled of smoke and dirt and toil. His thin face seemed almost to shine.
    “Well, now,” Ma Horn huffed, looking as if she might crow at any minute. “Let’s go in and have us a little visit.”

7

    In the dog days of August, Lael was called home on account of a letter. As it passed from her mother’s hand to her own, Lael was doubly struck with the indigo wax seal and the elegant hand that had penned the ivory envelope. Though the edges were crimped and the ink slightly blurred from days spent in a saddlebag, it was nevertheless a wonder. Suddenly the queer, formal handwriting took a familiar turn. Miss Mayella!
    Had it been only three years since Miss Mayella had left the settlement school and returned home to Virginia? Since then no genteel teacher had dared venture to the frontier, with the British giving guns to the Indians and the colonies at war.
    With Ma looking over her shoulder, Lael devoured the shocking contents. A teacher was needed in the settlement. Who else, given her high marks and her father’s reputation, could it be but Lael? If she would accept the position, a small stipend would be paid by the Virginia Society of Education.
    Lael let the letter fall to the porch planks where Ma snatched it up. Home less than a day, she couldn’t seem to get her bearings and now was befuddled with this unpleasant proposal.
    “We’ll have to tell your pa the good news,” Ma said, a tad triumphant.
    Lael sat down hard in the churning chair, all the breath knocked out of her. Was Ma so anxious to be rid of her? Ma’s wide, satisfied smile belied her need to restore the Click name to its former glory, before all the trouble had tarnished it. Lael could decipher her thoughts simply by studying her.
    Unable to endure it, Lael looked away. Surely she could count on Pa to see reason. Why, she was no more a teacher than he was a preacher. Ma simply hadn’t pondered it properly. She was needed here, truly. All the chores of autumn were yet undone, as evidenced by the burgeoning garden and field of corn.
    And her favorite task by far—digging ginseng for profit—was about to begin. Ma Horn had told her all the best places to find the rich roots, even drawing a crude map of sorts, marking coveted spots known to few in the settlement. Lael liked the thought of earning money this way, exchanging it for some trinket for her mother and Ransom or perhaps a beaver-felt hat for Pa.
    Weary from the long trip down the mountain, Lael was glad to see the day dwindle to an end so she could escape to the loft. After being gone for so long the loft seemed strange to her— smaller and more crowded. Or perhaps it was Ransom who had changed. He seemed all knees and elbows now, nearly filling the rectangular trundle bed. She could see so much of Neddy in him, and the likeness touched her.
    Tonight he seemed as restless as she, the heat lying like a wool blanket over the top of them, suffocatingly close.
    “I can’t sleep,” he said softly, reaching up to touch her hand as it