Title: They Will Know Us By Our Kin
Author: Heather-Lass
Summary: The naturalist Heather O'Toole is here, and she's not what anybody expected. But they still welcome her openly, especially her mother and grandfather. Things are developing between her and David but they've hit a bit of rough patch.
Disclaimer: All the Christy characters are property of the Marshell/LeSourd (did I get that right?) estate, etc, etc, etc. The naturalist character is of my own creation but with some real life folk singer. Heather Alexander. Because she rocks. So yeah.
Author's Note: Before school starts? Ha! Yeah right! I'll be lucky if I finish it before the end of the year!
Chapter 10: Confessions
Heather stared at the man in front of the fireplace. His hair was grey and his face was grizzled but his eyes were still the same deep green that hers were.
He looked at her puzzlingly. "What did you say?"
"Pa! It's me, it's Heather!"
"No…my Heather died many years ago when she was a wee lass. Don't know what yer foolin' at."
"No! I ran away! I was mad at you! Please! Remember when we'd going fishing in the creek, or when you taught me how to shoot a rifle. The hole in the rock's still there, I went and looked last week. It's me, I've come home." Heather was at this point on the floor in front of the chair with her hand on her father's knee.
"Confoundit girl! You caused your mamma and me a heap of pain and tears. I oughta whup you good and hard until your backseat is red and you cain't sit down. But by the looks of it, sprite, you're big enough to whup me."
"I'm so sorry." Heather sobbed into his leg. "I deserve to be disowned, I know. But I just couldn't take it anymore."
"Ah…we're just as stubborn as mules with heads as thick as rocks. Ah don't cry girlie…you know I can't stand hit when you do that. Can't hold a grudge, I guess. I was orney and pisson mean and took it out on your mamma." He placed his hand under her chin and lifted her head up to brush the tears from her eyes. "Aye, I should hold a grudge and you should too…but that's gonna a get us no less heart hurtin' then we've had."
"I wrote…I wrote."
"And I was bein' proud. And I didn't wanna tell your mamma the truth. She'd a been more upset. You seen her yet?"
"A while ago. With Grandpa when Ruby and I were at the play stump. We went to the house when you and Ma went to town so we could look for the letters. Found 'em in the stump."
He pulled Heather up off the floor and she sat on his lap with her head on his shoulder like when she was a little girl. "I wanted to tell your mamma you were alive. But it would have hurt her more to know you were a'livin' and didn't want us. What you'd left behind, she boxed up and put out of sight. She refused to let us talk about you. It was like you'd never lived at all. Broke my heart more than you leavin' was not knowin' if you'd come back." They sat back in the chair and cried together, telling each other what had passed since they had last talked.
David came back to the mission late that night, his heart heavy with the tears from Heather and yelling from Christy that he expected to receive inside. When he went to put Prince in his stall, he saw that though Heather's wagon was still in the yard, Flora and Fauna were not in the pen. He raced up the stairs and in the kitchen where he nearly ran into a very irate looking Christy.
"David."
"Christy."
"We're going to have a little talk."
"Alright."
"But first, you're going to eat. This won't be solved by either of us shouting." She handed him a mug of coffee and pushed him to the dinner table. She stood near him and watched him eat. Once he seemed less hungry, she started to talk. "Did Heather tell you why she was mad at you."
"Yes, and I can see her point. But she should have come to me about it. I would have told her she had nothing to worry about. But I was afraid. I wasn't sure if she thought about me that way."
"And you told her you didn't want to start over."
"She misunderstood me then."
"That's what I thought. Explain. I'm listening. As impartially as I can."
"I didn't mean I wanted it over. I mean was…ah." He pushed back his chair. "I wanted us to forgive each other and continue from the friendship we already had. She's an amazing person, Christy. So unlike me and yet so the same. She's not at all the person I thought I'd want to be with…but I think I've fallen in love with her. And if she's done the same, then she'd have every right to be jealous. It's my fault for not telling her what I feel, even though she has a bad habit of assuming the wrong things. I'm the one who's at fault and should beg her forgiveness. But I've never been good with words not from a pulpit and I'm afraid. Afraid that I'll drive her away more, afraid that she'll leave forever, afraid of what I'll be without her." He buried his
Christy looked at David in a new light. She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "And that's exactly what you need to tell her."
"So, yer thick with the preacher now?"
"I was…we had a disagreement. He said he didn't want to start over."
"Well…I've learned since you left and he came that it's easier to continue than to start over. Maybe he didn't mean what you think he did."
"Maybe…I don't know…and than I ran away. I'm a coward, Pa. That's all I do is ran away. I ran away from here to escape you, I ran back here to escape heartbreak, and I ran away again when love threatened to shine again. What am I gonna do?"
"You're going back. We both are. Yer gonna talk to that preacher, and I'm gonna talk to Ruby. We're both cowards, lass. It's a safe way to live, but it isn't happy." Suddenly a thunderclap startled them both.
"Looks like a summer thunderstorm."
"We'd best bring yer horses and gear here where it's safe. No point in goin' back to the Mission now. We'd best stay here until it blows over and the creek levels drop.
David and Christy jumped as a flash of lightning lighted up the dark mission house.
"Guess we got that summer thunderstorm. I'd better secure the barn."
"You're not going out now?"
"No…Heather's smart, she'll have found cover. I'll go looking for her first thing when it stops. I just don't remember if I shut the barn door tight. And Theo and Buttons should probably spend the night in the barn."
"I'm going to check the window latches before I go to bed. Goodnight David."
"Good night Christy."
End of Chapter 10
Next Up: Chapter 11: Confrontations – Heather and David face to face.
Author's Note: Next week is finals, I think I have this chapter and maybe one or two to finish up and then the story is done. I'm glad too…this writer's block was not fun. Next time I'll write the story and then post it all at once.
