Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

S adie hated it when her Aunt Penelope was right. It had been a month since Sadie had taken on all the duties in the livery, and she found her aunt was very right. The workload increase to Sadie was breaking her down. She couldn't keep all the stalls clean, the horses fed and cared for, the fences in good condition, as well as trimming and shoeing their feet as needed. Even though she only needed to worry about the frequently changing number of horses in her care, often a customer would come to the livery for the day and need a horse shod as well, and it was up to her to put everything else on the back burner while she took care of the new customer's needs.

But now, Sadie was tired almost all the time and had soreness and stiffness in her joints and back from the hard work. The early mornings and late nights were also taking their toll. Right now, she was relying upon her youth to keep her going, but she knew she couldn't keep up this pace for long.

"Good news," Aunt Penelope said as she came into the barn after running errands. She waved a letter in her hand. "We will soon have a blacksmith on the way."

Frowning, Sadie put her pitchfork off to the side and rolled her shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

"The advertisement—remember?"

Since Sadie hadn't heard more about it since the fateful day when she'd gotten rid of Joe Curtis, she'd almost forgotten that her aunt had mentioned something about putting out an advertisement. Frowning, she eyed her aunt. "What advertisement?"

Aunt Penelope released a sigh. "I put an advertisement out for a blacksmith and farrier for you in the Kansas Register. It got picked up by a couple other papers as well. So, the new farrier is coming from Missouri of all places."

Shaking her head, Sadie waved a hand in front of her. "Hold on a moment. You've already accepted someone? What if he's as much a snake as Joe? Haven't you noticed that most of the men who work as blacksmiths aren't much different from him?"

"I thought you might say something like that," Penelope said with a knowing smile. "That's why I put specifically in the advertisement that only honorable men need apply. And besides, this young man comes with a recommendation from a pastor—in fact, it's a pastor that our own Pastor Reed knows from Seminary."

Blinking, Sadie had to close her mouth which had fallen slightly agape. "Really?"

Penelope nodded. "I thought you might be surprised. Also, I've exchanged a few letters with the young man. He worked in the Cavalry taking care of the army's horses, he trained under a blacksmith afterwards for a year and he comes recommended by a pastor. Could we really ask for a better prospect for the position?"

Feeling the palms of her hands sweating, Sadie wiped them on the sides of her skirt. "No, I suppose not."

"Then it's settled then. He'll be sleeping in the hayloft for now until better arrangements can be made."

"Hold on," Sadie said again, since this was all going too fast. "Do we have enough work for him to be staying here like that?"

"Oh, he'll be helping us run the livery, too."

Sadie wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. The last thing she wanted was to have a man come in and take over her family's business and treat her as if she was his lackey. And if it was the other way around, most men wouldn't like to be taking orders from a woman, especially one as young as Sadie, herself, at nineteen. "We don't have the kind of money to pay the man, do we? Aren't we just barely scraping by as it is?"

"Taken care of," Penelope said, waving the hand with the letter in it. "He understands that he's working for a very small wage, and that we will provide him with lodging and meals."

"Meals, too?"

"Of course. It's not that hard to provide for one more person as far as that's concerned. He'll just take his meals in the house with us three times a day."

Swallowing hard, Sadie put a hand to her chest, trying to physically calm her racing heart. This was all too much. A man—a stranger—was going to be living in her barn, eating meals at her table and helping her care for her business and the horses? And she was supposed to just accept him based upon a pastor's recommendation? Could she really do any of this? Slowly she shook her head.

She was about to protest, to tell her aunt that she was fine and would continue to do all the work herself. That she didn't need any man's help, even if he seemed honorable or had a pastor's approval. But before she could speak, a voice cried out from the shadow of the doorway behind her aunt. "Hello! Anyone here?"

Penelope turned around and greeted the customer while Sadie cleaned things up a little in the area, moving the wheelbarrow of soiled straw and manure away from the aisle and closer to the compost heap. But then she heard the man say, "Four more behind me and two of them need shoes badly. The draft has lost one."

Exhaustion came over Sadie as her heart leapt in her chest. Four more horses to care for, and at least two of them needed shoes? She'd have to make a shoe from steel bar as well, since she'd only pre-made those for the size of regular riding horses, not a draft. As she looked ahead to the workload she had for the rest of the day, tears stung the backs of her eyes. There was too much to do, and even though she was a proud woman, this was getting to the point where she needed to admit it. She needed help. Perhaps this young man who was coming would be as honorable and good as Penelope suggested. And would he be coming soon? Sadie could only hope.