Disclaimer: I don't own Christy.
Part 5
April 1912
The weeks passed rather quicky. When April came, Rachel was still unsure of what she wanted to do. Live a life like her parents had as missionaries or give it up for the man who'd agreed to marry her without her initial consent. Love had grown, and now Rachel Henderson was torn about the choice she'd be forced to make when William and James arrived in America.
The latest letter Rachel had was something she feared more so. James made it clear he was coming to Cutter Gap with William and Rachel's maternal Uncle Herbert. The worry began to show on her face over the days, and it was clear that her students could sense it.
"Miss Rachel, Miss Rachel," Bessy Holcomb called as she tried to draw her teacher's attention.
"What is it, Bessy?" Rachel replied.
"It's time for lunch, ma'am," Bessy Coleburn said.
"Very well. Class go and have your lunch. Zady, may I ask a favor of you?" Rachel asked, since Christy had taken a day to herself to help with mission chores.
"Yes, 'um," Zady responded. The other students went for lunch, and she approached her teacher's desk.
"Could you fetch Miss Christy? I'm feeling rather under the weather today," Rachel informed Zady.
"Yes, um'," Zady Spencer responded.
A while later, Zady Spencer returned with Miss Christy, who was ready to take over for Rachel, who'd been dealing with some despair since the last letter came from England.
"Rachel, Zady said you were feeling poorly?" Christy asked when she saw her colleague raise her head from the desk with tears streaming down her face.
"Christy, I must go home, but I can't leave this place and all the students," Rachel remarked. Cutter Gap had become her home and the people she served her friends.
"I know exactly how you feel. Go and take a short rest. I'll help here for the rest of the day," Christy urged Rachel to leave which she did.
"If you're sure," Rachel said as she dried her tears.
"Yes, now go and rest," Christy told Rachel, who needed the time to think since every day drew closer to the time she'd be asked to leave the work she loved.
Three Days Later - 15 April 1912 - Cutter Gap Mission
"Rachel, thee seems to be feeling better," Miss Alice remarked, since she knew of Rachel's worries.
"I am, Auntie. I'm staying, and you can't get rid of me that easy. I want to have this life that my parents lived of hard work and making a difference, even ever so small, it all counts," Rachel beamed with pride at the smallest changes she'd been able to accomplish with her students.
"Thee have changed, Rachel Henderson. I do believe it has been for the better," Miss Alice remarked.
"It's remarkable what any person can learn from, say, Mrs. Spencer or even Mrs. Holcombe. Like the way Mrs. Spencer sold her quilt to provide new shoes for her children this last fall or the way Mrs. Holcombe has taught me about the herbs that help during a bout of illness. These mountains have changed me and my outlook for the better," Rachel said as she hung up a pair of trousers that belonged to the reverend on the clothes line.
"Miss Rachel, call for ya all the way from New York City," Ruby May yelled. She
came running down the mission house steps.
"I must take it then," Rachel said before taking off for the mission house.
"Hello, this is Rachel Henderson. How may I help you?" Rachel said over the phone line.
"It what?" Rachel said with shock obviously written all over her face.
"Titanic couldn't have possibly sank. You must be mistaken," Rachel said as she spoke to the employee in New York.
"Did ... did William Murdoch, James Moody, or a Herbert James make it off?" Rachel asked.
"Thank you," Rachel said before she hung up the phone with a look of great despair written all over her face.
"Rachel?" Miss Alice asked when she noted that her niece looked like a white sheet or even a ghost for that matter.
"What happened?" Reverend Grantland asked.
"The Titanic, she sank last night. There's word that everyone survived but they don't know for sure. I was just informed of this because my uncle is missing," Rachel said. The people around her looked on in shock that the ship deemed unsinkable would sink.
"Are they certain, Rachel?" Miss Alice asked.
"Yes. Now if you'll excuse me I consider myself in mourning," Rachel informed the group as she climbed the stairs to change into total black out of respect for the dead in her family and her friends that were missing.