Page 47 of The Heart of Bennet Hollow

“Do you reckon Jayne got the job?” Kit leaned so near to the window that her nose bumped the glass.

Lizbeth set her stitching aside. “I sure hope so. Do you see her yet?”

“Not a thing.” Kit squinted. “Wait! There!”

Moving to the open door, Lizbeth spotted Jayne on the lane. Pa walked beside her. Kit darted outside first, running up the dirt path. Lizbeth followed. Kit circled Jayne, asking questions that couldn’t be heard.

“Don’t say anything good until I get there!” Lizbeth called.

Jayne waved overhead. “I got the job!”

Grabbing up her skirts, Lizbeth broke into a run. “Tell us everything.”

Jayne clasped her hands when she reached her. “Mr. Jorgensen gave me the position! Put me to work right away, askin’ me to balance several time cards from the week before.”

“Only took her twelve minutes,” Pa added. “Least that’s all I had to wait.”

“Mr. Jorgensen seemed relieved.” Jayne’s eyes danced and Kit clapped as she bounced up and down. “I’m to return tomorrow, then every Thursday. So, it shouldn’t take me away from the farm for more than a day or so each week. I promise, Pa.”

He chuckled. “No need to make me any promises.”

“I’ll go tell Ma!” Kit raced back toward the house.

Pa slowed his steps, muttering about a downed fence post. “I left my toolbox there to try and fix it earlier. I’ll only be a few minutes, girls.” His heavy boots took him toward the pasture.

Turning, Lizbeth looped her arm around Jayne’s to start for home.

But Jayne didn’t budge. “Lizzy, there’s somethin’ more.”

Lizbeth swung to a halt as Jayne withdrew a letter from her apron pocket that read Callum Brydolf, Shelburne, Vermont. Jayne peeked toward the house where Kit disappeared inside.

After opening the envelope gently, Lizbeth read. She gasped. “Jayne! He asks if he can come visit you.”

“I know! I can hardly believe it!” Jayne’s blonde curls flounced around her shoulders as she shook her head and she looked like a bride, standing here beneath a glorious sky.

“Well then, let’s get you home so you write him back!” Laughing, she looped her hand through Jayne’s elbow again, giving a tug this time. “Sneak up to our room and take all the time you need. I’ll go see if Pa needs a hand to give you some time alone.”

Jayne’s cheeks tinted pink. “Thank you.”

Lizbeth kissed her cheek. “Off you go! And I want a full account of what you write back when I come upstairs tonight. So don’t seal the envelope!”

Jayne laughed. “I promise!” Jayne’s feet flitted down the lane. It was the closest she’d come to running in a long time.

Turning, Lizbeth followed after Pa. He stood at the edge of the pasture fence, trying to lift a board back into place. Reaching him, she lifted the other side.

“Mind the splinters.” He eased his own end back into place and Lizbeth followed suit. Pa’s bushy eyebrows tilted toward the house. “I do believe your sister has a beau.”

Lizbeth smiled. “I hope so.”

Pa dug through his pocket. “Picked up a handful of nails just now in town.” At his feet sat his toolbox where he’d been working that very morning. “Good thing I spotted the fall-down. We wouldn’t want Sassafras to get loose.”

Her laugh huffed out from the exertion. “Pa, Sassafras wouldn’t want to go anywhere if she can help it. Nor Eugene. He’s a homebody, make no mistake.”

Pa’s chuckle was as deep as the rich, damp earth around them.

“Those mules don’t have much aim for an adventure, do they?

They know where their meals come from and like to stay close.

” Using a hammer, he placed the first shiny nail against the wood.

The crack of the first blow rang out through the hollow, echoing off the distant hills.

“’Bout that.” Pa retrieved another nail and seemed to study it more than anything else. “I spoke to Mr. Jorgensen today.”

“About Jayne?”

“No. Eugene.”

Still bracing the rail, she felt a splinter scrape her skin. “Eugene?”

“He’s made an offer for him.” Pa stated it matter-of-factly as though he were making a grocery list and she simply on her way to town.

“They’ve lost some mine stock this month and it’ll be some time until he can get the animals replaced.

In the meantime, it’s slowing production down on their quota.

He knows you’ve kept these two mules over the years and he asked if we’d accept his price. ”

“His price?” Lizbeth worked at the tiny splinter that had found its way into her palm. “Pa, no. They’d send him down in the hoist cage. He’d be smashed into it. Terrified. He can’t work in the mine.”

“It’s not easy on the animals, but they make it through. Once below, they’re with their kin again.” He handed her a nail.

Lizbeth took it, her mind on anything but the chore. “That’s no kind of life. You can’t consider it, Pa.” Even if Eugene endured the trip down, he would never exit again. He wouldn’t see Sassafras. This meadow. Or her. “We just can’t.”

“I know how you care for those two, so I’m reluctant to mention it. But you’re growin’ up now, and you oughta know how these things work. Eugene has some good years left in him and Jorgensen would pay a fair price. Offered forty-five dollars. You’d likely be able to bargain up to fifty.”

The sum hit her square in the chest. Forty-five dollars?

“We don’t depend on Eugene the way we need Sassafras.” Pa’s gray mustache tilted down in a frown. “Seein’ as the animal’s been yours all these years, I don’t feel right selling him off without talking to you about it.”

Lizbeth touched the edge of the fence. Nearby, Eugene’s one lopsided ear tilted toward her as it always did. “Are you saying it could cover the rest of the debt?”

“It would come close.” Pa’s eyes were soft.

“Think on it for a few days. I hate to suggest this, but it’s important we face the facts of the matter.

” When she didn’t respond, he offered over the hammer.

“Now, let’s talk more on it later. How about for now, we get this rail finished before it gets dark. ”

Blowing out a sigh, Lizbeth took the hammer. She tapped the silvery head, then hit firmer, just nicking the edge of the nail. It sank farther in.

“That’s fine work. Right fine.” Pa inspected the shiny speck that was more crooked than flush before handing her several more nails. “Might as well finish the job.”

Lizbeth raised the hammer but lowered it back to her side. “What if I can’t do it, Pa?”

“Doin’ rather well so far.”

“I mean...” She tossed a hand toward the field. “What if I can’t lead another mule to the mine? I want to help—in all the ways that I can—but this ?” Again?

Pa scraped at a patch of dirt with his boot. “I understand the weight of it, my girl. Believe me, I do.” He took the hammer and held it in place before beckoning for her to accept the handle again. His own worries showed on his weathered face.

A gust of air stirred her hair as Lizbeth took hold of the roughened hammer handle again.

“How about we take it one moment at a time together?” Pa said. “We’ll keep looking for other ways, but we can do so knowin’ the facts.”

“Yes, sir.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “All will work out, Lizzy girl. And I’m proud of all the ways you’ve helped. We’ll solve this. One way or another. I promise you, we will.”