"I cannot accept this essay and you know it Miss O'Malley." Master Jacobs spoke sternly.
"Yes sir, but why? I did what you asked. It is all I can do." Katie-Grace shifted uncomfortable under the angry stare of the new school master.
"Don't try my patience, young lady, you know very well what's wrong with it."
Katie-Grace tried to reign her temper in. She wanted to shout and argue back, but knew it would only cause more problems. Mr. Jacobs frustrated her to no end. She had always loved books and school, and knowing this was her very last year, she wanted so much to really enjoy it, but ever since his arrival, he had seemed bound and determined to remind her of all her secret fears. She tried to think about something else while Master Jacobs lectured her. She thought about her seventh birthday. It was her first birthday since she had come to Kentucky.
As she climbed down the ladder that morning, Rose said, "Here she comes!"
"Happy Birthday!" They all shouted at her.
"Cake for breakfast!" Israel cheered. "Happy birthday Katie!"
She had felt overwhelmed and surprised. She couldn't speak.
"There are presents too!" Rose said clapping her hands.
"Alright! Everyone, let her breathe. Sit down. Katie, why don't you go wash your face and hands." Her Aunt had said gently. She stepped out on the porch and walked to the water basin. She glanced around anxiously, scanning the distant trees. Seeing nothing, her tension eased some. Even after a year, being outside was still a struggle for her.
She splashed the cold water on her face, and then looked up.
"Here you go." Her Uncle handed her a towel. She wiped her face and saw her Aunt standing beside him.
"How are you doing, Katie-Grace?" Her Aunt said softly. "Rose was so excited and couldn't wait. I know it is a lot for first thing in the morning."
"I'm fine." She said softly, and looked up into her Aunt's blue eyes. She loved her Aunt. Although her Aunt looked a lot like her mother, there were tremendous differences. The easiest one to see was her Aunt's bright blue eyes. Her own mother's eyes had been brown. But the most important differences had to do with the kind of people they were. Her mother had been sad, angry and bitter. Whenever she tried to really remember her mother, the same two images always came to mind; her mother weeping or her mother ducking and cowering from her father's outstretched hand.
Her Aunt Rebecca, on the other hand, was joyfully loving. She loved when her Aunt would reach out and wrap her arms around her. She'd never felt anything like it. She always smelled like a garden of flowers and freshly baked bread, and for the first few months she had been with them, she'd never wanted to leave her Aunt's side. She'd held onto a fold of her skirt and followed her everywhere.
"We have a gift we want to give you." Her Uncle said quietly.
Her Uncle was a contradiction. He was a towering giant who could hunt, track, and shoot anything, but he was also kind, compassionate and tender. In just that first year, she had seen him take on a giant brown bear without really even breaking a sweat. But she had also seen him gently rock little Rose to sleep. She felt safe whenever he was near.
Her Aunt handed her a small velvet bag. She took it slowly and opened it. Inside was a silver necklace with a four leaf clover charm. She recognized it immediately.
"It was my mother's." She said softly.
"Yes, but my Ma gave it to her. It was your grandmother's." Her Aunt said to her and her blue eyes filled with tears. "If I close my eyes and think of my Ma, I can see this necklace around her neck. She gave it to your mother right before she died." Her Uncle reached out and held onto her Aunt's hand. Katie's eyes filled with tears and they thought she was crying because the necklace had belonged to her mother. Her parents had never been kind to one another, but her Aunt and Uncle treated each other with constant love and kindness. It never failed to overwhelmed her and for some reason almost always made her cry. "Here, you want me to put it on you?" Her Aunt asked. She nodded her head, unable to speak, and her Aunt put the necklace around her neck. The two of them stepped back and it looked at her.
"It looks pretty on you." Her Uncle said. "Happy birthday, Katie-Grace." He leaned over and gave her a kiss on one cheek while her Aunt kissed the other.
."I . . ." She started to speak, but found she couldn't finish her sentence. They stood waiting, patient, loving. She wanted to throw her arms around them and tell them that she loved them with all her heart. She wanted to say that she wept each night thankful that she was here now with them. But she was too afraid to speak. She carried a deep and secret fear, that one day they would send her away. Because of it she kept silent believing if she never claimed them as her own out loud, they would have no opportunity to reject her. So all she could say was, "Thank you."
"You ready to go inside? Rose is probably bursting." Her Aunt asked. She drew in a deep breath, and nodded.
As she sat down at the table, Mima put a piece of cake in front of her. "Happy birthday Katie." She said quietly. "Enjoy your cake! Its the only day that Ma will ever let you have cake for breakfast."
She lifted her fork, and started to eat it, but after two bites she set her fork down. She felt full without having really eaten.
"Here." Israel said quietly. "I made you a present." He handed her a package wrapped in a cloth. She opened it. It was a small cradle for a baby doll.
"Pa helped me make it. I thought it would be good for your doll." Israel said.
"Thank you, Israel." She said softly. "But I don't have a doll. I lost it when . . . "
"This is from Rose and me." Mima said. Rose handed her another package. She opened it and inside was a doll. "Oh, she's pretty!" Katie said.
"She used to be mine, but I don't need her any more. I know you'll take good care of her. Rose helped me make her a new dress." Rose beamed proudly.
"Thank you, Mima." She turned to Rose. "She's so pretty. Thank you." Looking into Rose's big brown eyes filled with love for her, it was impossible not to smile back. She glanced around the room. Israel smiled up at her from the piece of cake he had devoured. Mima's hand rested on Rose's shoulder. Her Uncle and Aunt stood near the fireplace watching, her Uncle's arm wrapped around her Aunt's shoulder. She was overwhelmed and then she had burst into tears. She remembered it because it was the first time, she'd ever cried in front of all of them. Her Uncle picked her up and lifted her into his strong, dependable arms. He had sat down on the settee near the fire and her Aunt had come too. She sat in both their arms crying. She tried to stop it but it was impossible; like trying to stop a river from flowing.
Up until this moment, she had only ever cried alone into her pillow at night. Twice her Aunt had heard her, and come up to her bed and rubbed her back soothingly. She had pretended to be asleep and had heard her Aunt say to to her Uncle after she'd gone back downstairs, "She's sound asleep, and crying for her mother. Oh, Dan . . ."
She couldn't hear his response but when she peeked over the edge to see them, he had his arms wrapped around her. But now, she could hide it no longer, and she wept as she never had in her whole life. Her cousins had all gone outside.
"Ah grah, it's alright, Katie. Hush, now love, hush." Her Aunt had said softly rubbing her back and kissing her.
"I would never let anything bad happen to you." Her Uncle said. "You are safe here with us."
She remembered little else of her 7th birthday. Mostly, it was the memory of the two of them holding her as she wept. It was like nothing she'd ever felt. She imagined it was the way a baby felt when its parents held it for the very first time; loved and wanted. They thought she cried because she missed her parents and was sad not to be with them, but the truth was that she cried because she was finally home.
"I won't have your disrespect, Miss O'Malley. You need to complete the assignment correctly. I will give you one last chance. This third attempt will be your last, however. If you fail to do it correctly this time, I will be forced to fail you." He sighed in frustration. "Are you listening to me at all? I am trying to help you. I don't want you confused. These people are kind, but you don't belong to them. It is important to understand this. When trouble comes they'll look to their own first."
"Yes,sir." She said softly. "May I please go now? My bro . . . My cousin is waiting."
"Yes. I expect that essay done correctly tomorrow."
Katie stepped out into the sunlight and saw Israel waiting for her.
"Now, you have to tell me." Israel said looking at her worriedly. "It's an hour after class let out. Rose is already home."
"Israel," Katie said frustrated. "I don't want to talk about it. Master Jacobs is so . . ."
"Mean." Israel finished for her. "Come on." He grabbed her hand roughly and walked her out the fort. Finding a large rock, he stopped and said, "Sit down and tell me."
***DB***
"Ma," Israel said to his mother after they returned home. Katie had gone immediately to take the wash off the line without even going inside to set her slate and book down. "Remember what you told me about needing to step in?"
She looked up from the bread she was kneading and wiped her hands on her apron. "I remember. Where's your Pa?" She asked immediately worried.
"In the barn." Israel said.
"Alright, now tell me what you know. If half of what Rose said is true. . ."
***DB***
"Why hasn't she said anything to us?" Daniel Boone leaned against the work table. They stood together in the barn.
"I think she is confused, Dan. You know, she started to call me Aunt Becky the other night. He's told her that she isn't really ours. He's told her that sooner or later, we won't want her anymore."
"I don't like him." Daniel said angry. "She never smiles since he started teaching her. And she's nearly stopped talking. What's it his business what she calls us?"
"Maybe he just doesn't understand it. He isn't from around here. Maybe no one's told him the story of how she came to be here. He is supposed to come to supper tomorrow. It's our turn. We could explain things then."
"I don't know, Becky. I'm liable to hit him if I lose my temper." He looked at her.
"If you feel you have cause to hit him, I'd be the last one standing in your way." She said.
"That's a fact." He laughed. "Alright, we'll speak to him then. She called you 'Aunt Becky'? She hasn't called you that in years. Why is he bothering her about this?"
"I don't know, but Dan, how can she doubt? She's lived with us longer than she did with them." She looked up at him and he could see the worry in her blue eyes. He put his arm around her, and squeezed her shoulder.
"Well, she's your girl, Becky. She keeps secrets hard, and she's got a whole pack of 'em locked up inside her. Has she ever said a word to you about what happened that day?"
Rebecca shook her head. "No, she never talks about anything."
"Secrets can't be kept locked inside forever." He raised his eyebrows at his wife. "I've been telling you that for years, darlin'. I don't know. Maybe I should just take care of this myself."
"Dan," She warned. "You'd better not. I'm afraid of what you might do to him. Besides maybe it can be explained." She looked up at him with big, blue, trusting eyes that never failed to simultaneously melt and strengthen him. "It can't be that he's just mean, can it? People aren't just mean for no reason at all?"
"You." He said with a sigh. "You are always looking for the good in folks. Some people are just mean, Becky. Maybe its not the case with him, but it might be. And if it is, well, the girls can learn from you just as well as in some classroom." He patted her shoulder. "We'll set it right, darlin'."
***DB***
"Katie-Grace, are you feeling alright? You look a little bit pale." Daniel Boone asked his daughter the next morning.
"I'm fine." She said. "I don't feel sick."
"You look pale though. Becky, doesn't she? I don't think we ought to chance sending her to school today. There's that fever going 'round. It'd be best if she stayed home." He winked at his wife.
"I guess it is better safe than sorry." Becky said smiling. "You won't mind staying behind and helping me today, will you, love?" She ran her hand through Katie's long, red hair.
Katie shook her head and smiled. "I can do whatever you need. I like helping you," She hesitated and this time Daniel caught it, "um, Ma."
"I'm feeling poorly." Rose said quietly.
"You look right spry to me." Her father said.
"I'll walk you to school Rose, and I'll wait for you after, alright?" Israel said.
"It isn't me you wait for." Rose said stubbornly. "You just want to see Anna Lee."
"Rose, stop teasing your brother." Rebecca said. "Now, you do your best at school today. And if Master Jacobs calls you Margaret, try and remember to answer. Just pretend you are in trouble with me, and then you'll be listening for Margaret all day." She hugged Rose to her, and lifting her face with her chin, gave her a kiss. "But I'm not the least bit angry with you Margaret Rose Boone! You mind that now and try to have a good day."
"Yes, Ma." She turned to her sister. "Lucky!" She disappeared out the door with Israel trailing behind.
"I'll keep on eye on her. Don't worry, Ma." He said with a grin.