Chapter 36

Once Miss Effie left and Ada June settled down on her cot with Selinda, Mira went into the bedroom to get dressed. She was buttoning up her bodice when Gordon carried a lamp into the room and set it on the chest. He shut the door.

She glanced up at him. His face was so solemn that she looked down at the button she was fastening as though it took all her concentration.

"The girls are asleep," he said.

"That's good."

She searched for more to say as an uneasy silence fell between them. No words came except that she was sorry, but she wasn't sorry. Was he? Or angry that she had welcomed Selinda into their house?

She was still sifting through words in her mind when he spoke. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Her gaze flew to his face, surprised to see he looked hurt. "I was going to as soon as you woke. I didn't know, myself. Had not considered it until Mr. Horace's mother asked me how far along I was when I went to Elsinore's house yesterday afternoon. How did she know when I didn't?"

"Mountain women are tuned in to such things, I suppose." His face was more relaxed now, but still without a smile. "But you could have told me when you came back from Elsinore's yesterday."

"I was so sad about Elsinore then. And I had to have time to consider whether it could be true. Besides, Elsinore and Ada June needed you. Then when you came home so late, I thought to wait until morning." She studied his face. "Are you sorry?"

"Sorry you didn't tell me?"

She shook her head the barest bit. "Sorry about the baby."

"Are you?"

"Oh no." She put her hands over her abdomen. Over her baby. Their baby. "I'm so happy. Happier than I feel I should be with the sorrow of Elsinore gone."

"Sorrows don't erase joys. Nor joys sorrows."

Tears flooded her eyes. Some of sorrow for Elsinore. Some of joy for how she already loved this child barely beginning to grow inside her. "I want you to be glad."

In one stride, he crossed the distance between them to wrap his arms around her and hold her like a fragile piece of china. "I love you, Mrs. Covington, and nothing could make me happier than being the father of your child."

"Our child."

"Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow."

He kissed the top of her head as she rested it against his shoulder. Here with Gordon she would always find a resting place.

Elsinore was buried the next day. Mira held Selinda, and Ada June leaned against her, while Gordon said the funeral words at the grave.

The next week after the news about Mira being in the family way spread through Sourwood, things settled down. Not her stomach unfortunately, but even losing her breakfast every morning became part of her daily routine.

Awake early each day to get what the mountain people called a soon start. Gordon was up first to do the fire fixing and water carrying, but Mira was out right after him to start breakfast and dress Selinda. The baby had some fussy times, no doubt needing her mother, but Ada June stayed close to comfort Selinda. That somehow comforted Ada June too.

After Selinda was ready for the day, Mira made sure Ada June combed her hair and washed her face and hands before the girl spooned applesauce or mush into Selinda's mouth and helped her drink milk from a cup. Mira kept an eye on Ada June to be sure she ate something herself and didn't give all her eggs and biscuits under the table to Bo.

Most of the time Mira made it until after everybody was fed before she had to go heave out the few bites she'd taken. Miss Nicey Jane made her a tonic, but even though Mira tried to get it down in little sips, she heaved it out too.

Worse than the heaving was her backache. Probably from all the lifting of Selinda, but she couldn't complain about that. Having the baby was a blessing, whether she was in Mira's arms, Ada June's arms, or Gordon's.

Gordon hadn't complained once about having two daughters join their family, although he did continually speak worries about Mira. That's why she rarely mentioned her back pain and did her best to overcome the fatigue that fell over her at times like a heavy blanket draped around her shoulders. Instead, she smiled and told him she hoped to be carrying a boy instead of a girl so he wouldn't be completely outnumbered by females.

That made him laugh, but then he would look into her eyes and tell her he would love their child whether a girl or a boy. That he already did. And he proved it by praying fervently for the baby every night. He made up songs about the baby. Sometimes he said "her" and sometimes he said "him." Ada June loved it when he did that and Selinda would babble along with him.

Whenever Joseph was there, he frowned when Gordon called the baby her. He would look at Mira with puppy-dog eyes and beg her. "You gotta have a boy, Miss Mira. I can't be the only boy around about here."

Joseph came to the house every day after school to see if Gordon needed anything. At least that was what he claimed, but Mira knew he really came to play with Bo.

Almost every day, Joseph asked Ada June if she would give Bo to him. He knew she wouldn't, but sometimes little boys could be filled with hope for the impossible.

"I could never give Bo away, Joseph," Ada June told him over and over. "You got dogs and your granny Effie has dogs."

"Hounds." That came with a little disgust. "Them don't wanta do nothing but chase rabbits or raccoons. They ain't a bit like Bo."

"Maybe you can get one like him to be your dog." Ada June tried to let him down easy.

"But Bo likes me."

"Maybe so, but he likes me most." And that would end the discussion of ownership, even if Bo was licking Joseph's chin.

Mira's heart warmed at how Ada June was glad Bo had taken up with Joseph. That was proof she counted Joseph a friend. She seemed as wary about making friends as Bo. The dog offered tail wags to very few.

When Mira worried about Ada June not making friends at school, Gordon told her that was to be expected. "Ada June hasn't known much kindness in her time, although those in Sourwood might claim different. They'd say they've seen to her. Kept her from going hungry. But nobody put food on the table for her out of sincere caring."

"Miss Effie seems fond of her in her way." Mira had noted how when Miss Effie was at the school, none of the children ever bothered Ada June as they sometimes were apt to do when Mira turned her back on them.

"Miss Effie might be the one exception. Ada June stayed with her a long while before Luther Slade asked to take her in as help for Dottie."

"That didn't work out so well," Mira muttered.

"Well, no, but Ada June managed."

"If you call sleeping in the woods managing."

"But you forget Ada June likes being out in the woods. She's got her different ways. She might be sleeping out in the woods now if she didn't know it worried you."

"Then I'm glad she knows that." Mira had no doubt a bed in a house was better than a bed in the woods.

"She does want to please you."

"Isn't that good?"

"Of course, it is. We want to please those we love."

Mira thought of all the ways Gordon worked to please her and tried not to wonder if he thought she lacked in doing the same. But she was carrying his child. What better thing could a wife do for her husband?

Gordon went on. "Anyway, her time with Miss Effie was before I came here. By the time Dugan Foster asked me to establish a mission in Sourwood, Ada June was already with Miss Dottie."

"They just passed her around and treated her like a mule for hire." Anger burned inside Mira at the thought.

"The people aimed to do right. Ada June was, maybe I should say is, an unusual child."

"But she has such a good heart."

"You don't have to convince me." Gordon smiled at her. "But you're a teacher. You know how children can sometimes pick on a child who is different. You can't deny Ada June is different, or at least she was before you took her under your wing. Who knows? In time she might lose that wildness she developed in order to survive after her mother died."

"I just want her to not be afraid to like others. To not have to hear them call her a woods colt. What a dreadful thing for her, as if it's her fault she doesn't have a father." Mira peered up at Gordon. "Do you know who that was?"

"No, I don't." Gordon sighed. "Even if I did, I'm not at all sure telling Ada June would help or simply hurt her more. She's lived without knowing for years."

"She just wants love."

"Everyone does."

The hint of sadness in his eyes when he spoke those last words stabbed Mira. She still hadn't said the words she knew he waited to hear. She should say them. He said them often and she had no doubt he meant them. Yet, she hesitated.

But love, true love, took time, didn't it?

May brought another burst of beauty to Sourwood as the dogwoods bloomed among the trees. As Mira walked to school on the last day of the regular school session, she felt a mixture of regret and relief. She enjoyed the early morning walks to the school, sometimes carrying Selinda. Other days, like this one, Ada June brought the baby later. Mira had started out earlier than usual to prepare for their final day.

Many of the children had already stopped coming since they were needed at home to plant their fields and gardens or sass patches. Mira smiled at the mountain talk she was learning.

She didn't want to shut down school completely. She hoped to have classes a few hours every afternoon for any, young or old, who might want to come practice their reading skills. One of those would be Ada June, who had not lost her excitement about learning to read.

Ada June. What a gift she was to Mira. She and Selinda both. Mira was bountifully blessed.

Ada June had yearned for family ever since her ma died, but she hadn't expected to get it by being a ma at her age. Before Elsinore headed up to heaven, Ada June had been pondering asking Miss Mira if she'd take her on as a daughter. Seemed like Selinda coming to live with Preacher Gordon and Miss Mira put a block to that. Plus with Miss Mira expectin' one of her own, she didn't likely need to take on a half-grown girl.

Ada June missed Elsinore, but she'd never thought about her as a mother. More like sisters could be. Fussing some, but always ready to get done with that and think kindly about one another again.

That was sort of how Ada June felt about Selinda too. More sisterly than what she imagined ma-like would be. Selinda needed a grown-up ma and not somebody who hankered after sleeping in the woods when moonlight fell soft over the trees and critters whispered along their trails in the silvery light.

Before she had Selinda to help see to, Ada June slipped away for a night off to herself now and again. She never told Miss Mira she was sleeping at Aunt Dottie's, but she was pretty sure Miss Mira thought that.

But after Elsinore passed on, Aunt Dottie had waylaid Ada June at church. "I've heared what Elsinore did. What with giving over Selinda to you. So's I know you have to be as busy as a hen with hatchlings to watch. I reckon I can do for my young'uns these days without addin' more burdens on you."

Without the excuse of helping Aunt Dottie, Ada June couldn't slip off to the woods without Miss Mira knowing that was what she was doing. Miss Mira wasn't trying to make Ada June into somebody she wasn't how some others had done in the past, but she worried over her.

Ada June's ma had been gone so long that she had done forgot how it felt to have somebody caring what happened to her. It could be some constraining, but nice at the same time.

That was why most every night she came in and slept in the cot in Preacher Gordon's front room. Selinda still slept in the cradle, even though she didn't hardly have room to wiggle her toes in it. Preacher was working on a bed that would roll right under Ada June's when Selinda wasn't in it. That way the cradle would be ready for Miss Mira's baby.

Seemed like now Miss Mira had babies enough to think about without taking on Ada June. She didn't say that, but Ada June was afraid she might if'n she asked her about being her ma. So, she didn't ask.

Miss Mira seemed happy enough even with heaving up most of what she ate every livelong morning. Ada June heard Miss Effie say she was carrying hard. Sometimes when she thought nobody was paying any notice, Miss Effie got those lines between her eyes that meant something wasn't right when she looked at Miss Mira. But Ada June had learned to most always be paying attention, whether it seemed like she was or not. That gave her a running start if trouble went to brewing.

Connor Rayburn hadn't laid off giving her that trouble. He had got to be some sneakier about it so's Miss Mira wouldn't catch him. But Miss Mira still knew. Preacher Gordon did too. He told her to pay no mind to Connor or any of them others when they shouted out things like "woods colt" and "dumb girl" or whatever worse things they thought up.

That was some easier for her to do than it used to be. She wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe because half the time she was packing Selinda to school to save Miss Mira a load. Seemed like the girls weren't so ready to poke on her with Selinda on her hip and smiling out at them. A time or two, a couple of them offered to take Selinda and give Ada June's arm a rest. Miss Mira said she should let them, but Ada June kept recalling times they didn't appear so nice acting. She wasn't about to take any chances with Selinda.

The older girls did help with entertaining Selinda during the school time. Inside where Miss Mira could make sure nobody did wrong things. Ada June knew how folks were. Sometimes niceness was just a coating like moss on a wet rock that was slippery if a body depended on stepping full on it.

Today when she got to the schoolyard, she spied Connor moving behind a tree. He was probably aiming to scare her, but she wasn't about to run away. Not whilst she was packing Selinda. She didn't even start walking fast. Instead, she held her head up and kept walking, aiming not to pay the first mind to him.

She told herself that, but she did miss Bo beside her. He was back at Preacher Gordon's house like he always was on school days. She kept a smile on like she wasn't worried about the first thing as she come up by the tree. Just like she thought, Connor leaped out in front of her, roaring like some kind of idiot. She only jumped a little, but Selinda let out a wail. Ada June hugged her to calm her down. She didn't say a thing to Connor, or Marv either when he jumped out behind Connor.

They weren't as quiet. Connor danced around her. "Hey, ma. Got your own little woods colt now?"

She wanted to set Selinda down and sock him. But she didn't.

"Where's your pitiful excuse for a dog?" Marv stepped in front of her. He always poked her about Bo. "My old hound could swallow it in one bite." He nodded toward where his dog hunkered down scratching at its ear.

Some of the other kids turned to stare at them. Joseph was over next to the schoolhouse with his head down, pretending he didn't know Connor was pestering her. That didn't bother Ada June. Joseph was a fine friend when they were off to themselves, but he wasn't but six. He couldn't go against the big boys. He wasn't big enough and he was a boy. Boys had to act like they didn't care about nothing and especially not a girl like her.

Now if Billy Ray was there, he'd put a stop to Connor's nonsense. He was big and not worried about his spot in a schoolhouse yard. She did like Billy Ray. She hoped Joseph would grow up just like him. But Billy Ray was back at Miss Effie's house doing some plowing or planting. That was where she wished Connor and Marv were too.

Now that Selinda had hushed her crying, Ada June decided to get back at Marv. Without saying the first word, she whistled soft like. Marv's hound pricked up his droopy ears and lumbered straight over to Ada June.

She tickled him behind the ears like she'd been doing every time she came across him hanging around the schoolhouse. Dillon and her had become right good friends.

Marv hollered mad like for him to come, but Dillon took his time listening. He liked his ears scratched. Selinda giggled and touched the hound's head. Ada June gave him one more scratch under his chin, ignoring his slobber, before she went on toward the schoolhouse steps.

Connor wasn't through trying to get her goat. "Whose clothesline did you steal that dress off of?"

If it weren't for how she didn't talk to Connor, she'd tell him a few things. After she socked him in the nose. But she guessed she shouldn't think on doing that. Preacher Gordon claimed Connor had the wrong idea that it made him big in other people's eyes when he picked on her. He said Connor's pa was always on him to be tough, and that sometimes the oldest boy in a family had a rough time living up to how a pa thought he ought to be.

Ada June didn't have to worry about that. She wasn't a boy and she didn't have a pa.

A girl named Iva Mae ran over to go up the steps with Ada June. "I like your dress. If I saw one like it on a clothesline, I'd yank it off for sure."

Then she laughed, but not at Ada June. With her. So Ada June laughed too, and when Iva Mae reached for Selinda, she handed her right off. That made Selinda babble something beyond understanding, and they both laughed again.