The Lieutenant's Promise by Aileen Fish Read Free Book Online

normal chores.”
    As Levi set out with the plow, each of Em’s siblings picked up a bushel and followed behind, picking up the potatoes from the freshly turned dirt. The work was slow as they brushed off as much dirt as possible before tossing the spuds in the bushels. Em’s back was used to the work, but it still began to ache after a couple of rows.
    About that time, Levi broke into song. “Well, I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee…” His rich baritone filled the air.
    Em paused, watching his face as he passed her by on another furrow. He winked, sending butterflies scurrying in her stomach. Such an interesting man!
    Maggie added her voice to the song, so Em followed suit. Pa used to sing while he worked. Hearing Levi do so seemed so familiar, yet made her realize how much she missed her Pa.
    Pa was such a loving man. He’d pick up peppermint candy for all the kids when he brought a load of vegetables into town. He’d laughed so much.
    Em lifted her bushel and set it down a few feet farther down the furrow. There was no sense wishing Pa were still around. Some things couldn’t be changed. So many chores awaited her, leaving no time for melancholy spirits.
    “I had a dream, the other night, when everything was still…” Levi turned up another row, not missing a beat in his song.
    Susie came running from the house. “I finished my lessons. I want to help.” She fell into step beside Maggie, helping fill her bushel. It became very clear she was more interested in singing than gathering potatoes, but she did keep at it.
    Em looked up in surprise to see Ma and Harvey approach. Harvey was bouncing about, stomping on his shadow. He stumbled over the freshly turned dirt, but caught himself on the edge of Maggie’s bushel without overturning it. He reached into the dirt. “I help.”
    Ma picked up a bushel, and Em walked to her, asking softly, “Should you be helping with this? You mustn’t overwork yourself.”
    “It’s such a beautiful day. Too pretty to be indoors. I will stop if I get tired.” She bent to begin on a new row. In the bright sunshine, the white threads in her fading red hair were more obvious. “Besides, it sounds as though you all are having too much fun.”
    Standing still for a moment, Em watched her family work. The last time they’d all done so was before Pa’s death, before Ma grew so big with Harvey in her belly that she couldn’t work.
    Levi was like the Pied Piper, and they were his lemmings. If it kept her family this happy, she’d willingly follow him off any cliff.
    “All around the cobbler’s house, the monkey chased the weasel…” Levi worked on, seeming oblivious to the change he’d wrought in her family.
    The field was finished in what seemed like no time at all, except that the sun was high in the sky. Ma had gone inside earlier to put together some cold fried chicken and pickled beets, and Susie carried out a pitcher of cool water for everyone.
    Levi unhitched the mule and led him to the water trough, then tied him in the shade while the others sat under a tree.
    Em fanned her bonnet in front of her face, unable to keep her eyes off Levi. He looked so…ordinary wearing plain clothes rather than his uniform. She wouldn’t have thought herself to be one of those silly girls who swooned over a uniform, but perhaps she was.
    Yet ordinary didn’t described how handsome he was. Even with his hair slicked back with sweat beneath Pa’s old straw hat, with lines of clean skin showing on his face where sweat had cleared a path, Levi was the best-looking man she knew.
    He caught her watching him and offered her a smile. “What’s next?”
    She blinked. “Next?” Had he been reading her thoughts?
    “The next chore on our list.”
    “Oh, of course.”
    “I’ll be weeding the tomatoes, if you care to join me,” Tom said.
    “Em will be taking the potatoes into town,” Maggie offered, grinning at Em and wrinkling her nose.
    Grimacing back, Em said, “I’m