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Chicago

Annie sat in stunned silence, face pale, hands shaking.

“I don’t understand, Emily. Why wouldn’t you tell me you were getting married?

I’m your sister!” The ruby roses Emily had brought as a peace offering hung their heads in shame.

Annie was deeply hurt, and even more upset than Emily had anticipated.

“And why the sudden rush to move to Kansas? You and Henry have the whole world at your feet here.”

“We don’t want the whole world, Annie. We just want our own piece of it.”

“But you’ve both got good prospects here. Real prospects, not those of a silly pipe dream. Do you have any idea what you’re getting yourself into? How hard it will be?”

Emily tried to stay calm, despite Annie’s heightened emotions. “This isn’t a silly pipe dream, Annie. It’s more real to me than anything I’ve ever done.”

Annie laughed bitterly. “It’s an illusion, Emily.

You’re blinded by love and the false promises of prosperity made by fraudulent businessmen.

‘Come to the Great Plains where all your dreams will come true.’?” She threw her hands in the air.

“Dreams aren’t always about rainbows and happy endings.

They can be dark and dangerous. They can lead you astray, tempt you down the wrong road. ”

“What do you mean?”

Annie huffed out an exasperated breath. “It doesn’t matter. John will give Henry a position in his business if it’s more money you need. You’ll want for nothing and never have to work again.”

“But I want to work, Annie. We both do. Thanks to John’s investment advice, Henry has enough saved in the bank to buy a plot of land and some machinery to start us off.”

“This is all Henry’s doing, isn’t it. He has you completely under his spell.”

“There’s no spell, Annie. No trickery or influence.

I love him. I love him with all my heart and want to build a life with him.

Henry has plans and ambitions and money, yes.

But this is my dream too, Annie. You know how bored and restless I’ve been here, how I’ve felt there was some bigger adventure calling me. ”

“Yes, and I remember a time when I was part of that adventure. You and me against the world. What happened to that?”

“You married John Gale. That’s what happened. You’re the one who changed everything, Annie, not me.”

Emily’s words cut through the tension in the room. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

“Yes, Emily. I did marry John. And you married Henry, although forgive me if I don’t remember your anniversary.” Her words were raw, her tone cutting.

It was difficult to see Annie so emotional—hysterical almost. It wasn’t like her.

“Kansas isn’t so far away,” Emily offered, reaching for something positive. “Not even a day on the railroad. You can visit whenever you like. I’ll make peach cobbler.”

“Emily Kelly, a homesteader! Listen at you, playing house like a romantic fool. Anyway, it isn’t that simple.”

“Why not?”

Annie’s eyes filled with tears. “It just isn’t.

” She threw her hands in the air. “It’s all totally impractical, Emily.

You don’t know the first thing about farming.

What if the crops fail, or a prairie fire rips through, or a tornado tears your home apart?

What if it all goes wrong? What if you hate it? ”

“But what if it all goes right, Annie? What if I love it? What if this is what I was meant to be doing all along?”

“Now you’re just being obstinate.” Annie loosened the button at the neck of her blouse. “You’ve never even been to the prairie, let alone Kansas. How can you go rushing off to live somewhere you’ve never even seen?”

“Isn’t that exactly what Mammy and Daddy did when they left Ireland?

They took a leap, Annie. Took a chance. What if?

Where next? Remember?” She looked at the table set so perfectly for the Temperance League luncheon Annie was hosting that afternoon.

“Life can’t always be carefully considered and meticulously planned.

” She couldn’t hide her excitement as she grabbed Annie’s hands.

“This is the adventure I’ve always wanted, Annie.

I want to build something from nothing. Do something real.

And with Henry beside me, we can do anything.

I know we can.” She took a long breath. “Do you remember the stories you used to make up when we were little? Your Wonderful Adventures .” Annie’s made-up tales of magical lands and mythical creatures had seen them through fevers and thunderstorms, tiresome train journeys, and long summer days.

“I could almost touch those imaginary places, feel everything you described as if I were there. It’s the same when I think about Kansas.

I feel like I already know it. Like I’ve known it all my life. I wish you could be excited for us.”

“And I wish you’d never met Henry Gale! I wish I’d never introduced you to him.”

Emily stood up. “That’s a terrible thing to say. You don’t mean it.”

“I do mean it! Every word.” Annie’s face hardened. Emily had never seen her so furious. She crossed her arms and stared at Emily defiantly. “When will you leave?”

“Henry wants to go as soon as possible, to look for the perfect plot of land and start to build our home.” She reached for her sister’s hands, trying one last time to find the smallest seed of understanding. “Remember what you said to me, what you told me to do when I found my true love?”

“To hold on to him.”

Emily nodded. “I found him, Annie. I’m going to hold on to him.”

Annie stood up and walked to the window with a heavy sigh. “You really mean it, don’t you?”

Emily nodded.

“And there’s nothing I can do to change your mind?”

“Nothing.”

Annie took a deep breath and turned to face Emily. “Not even if I told you I am pregnant?”

—

The news of Annie’s pregnancy hit Emily hard. She was happy for Annie, but she was also afraid that it threatened to interrupt her and Henry’s plans when everything had been so perfect.

She was unusually quiet when Henry met her after work the next evening.

“Em? What is it? Not having second thoughts, are you?”

“No. Not at all. It’s just…Annie’s expecting.”

“But that’s great news. Isn’t it?”

“It is, I guess. But she’s not herself, Henry. She seems really upset about it. Frightened, even. She keeps talking about Mammy losing baby Joseph, and women who die in childbirth.”

A look of realization crossed Henry’s face. “She wants you to stay, doesn’t she? Until the baby comes.”

Emily nodded. “She practically begged.”

He let out a long breath. “Then you should stay. I can go ahead to Kansas. Find the perfect plot of land and build you a home.”

Emily’s heart sank. She felt pulled in two directions—duty to Annie one way, devotion to Henry the other. “But we planned to build our home together, Henry. Start our new life together.”

“And we will, when you follow on. What difference will a few months make when we are planning a whole lifetime together?” He offered a sorry smile as he brushed an eyelash from her cheek. “You’ll only regret it if you don’t stay. She’s your sister, Emily. Family’s family, after all.”

She knew it made sense. She wasn’t afraid of hard work, or getting her hands dirty, but what did she know of building a timber home? Annie’s baby was due in the spring. It wasn’t long, but it felt wrong to be apart from Henry when their plans had been made together.

He pulled her into his arms. “In the end, when we’re old and gray and sitting on the porch watching the sunset, I doubt we’ll even remember the first few months. If you leave Annie when she needs you the most, she might never forgive you—or you yourself.”

Emily snuggled into the crook of his arm. “I can’t wait to grow old and gray with you.”

“Then stay with Annie. Meet our niece or nephew. Kansas will wait for you.”

“And you? Will you wait for me?”

He kissed the top of her head. “I’ve been waiting for you my whole life.

—

Henry left in early December, before the first heavy snowfalls.

Emily moved in with Annie and John, packing up her few belongings once more.

Staying in her sister’s guest bedroom was far from the start to married life she’d imagined, but as Henry had said before he’d departed, “A few nights apart in exchange for a lifetime together? I’d say that’s a pretty good deal! ”

The thought of the years stretching ahead of them sustained her as she lay in bed, imagining the prairie wind whistling beyond the window and the bright song of her fiddle and bow filling their new home with music.

She pictured them bringing in the harvest, their grain a river of gold as it slipped through her fingers.

She felt the first breaths of a new life bloom within her just as surely as a new life bloomed within Annie.

Precious beginnings.

Seeds of hope taking root in the earth.