Page 36 of A Steadfast Heart
“Read it to me?”
“Be glad to, once you finish your penmanship.”
Jo muttered and sprawled back across her papers, her back to the parlor.
Kaitlyn smothered a grin. She hadn’t thought it would be that easy. “You can read it yourself anytime you want once your reading improves.”
“I read good enough. ’Sides, penmanship ain’t reading.”
“No, but they’re connected. One supports the other.” Kaitlyn turned the page in her book. A clink interrupted her. She looked up to see a trickle of black ink spreading across the dining room table.
“Oops.” Jo’s smile was sweeter than honey. “Guess you’d best clean that up. I would, but I can’t get up.”
Kaitlyn retrieved a rag and wiped up the spill. A bit of turpentine removed most of the stain, its sharp smell burning her nose. Then she took the paper and pen from Jo’s spot at the table. Jo’s smug smile faded when Kaitlyn replaced it with a slate and piece of chalk. “Less chance for accidents this way.”
She sailed into the kitchen, then sank into the chair and dropped her face into her hands. She’d tried everything else. She might as well pray. God had never cared for her, but didn’t He have a special love for children? Maybe He’d help for Jo’s sake.
I don’t know what to do, Lord. She’s clinging to her anger like a mother clings to her child.
Mother. Child.
Somehow, that was the source. Except it didn’t make sense. Jo’s mother hadn’t abandoned her. Something had happened on that trip, and no one knew what. How could she find out?
Show her your own pain.
The still, small voice echoed in her mind.
She wanted to pretend she hadn’t heard it, but she’d tried everything else.
Kaitlyn made two cups of tea, liberally dosed one with honey, then carried them to the dining room. She placed the sweetened tea next to Jo, then sat next to her. “Tea sometimes makes talking easier.”
Jo sat up and pushed the cup away. “I’m not allowed tea. If you was my ma, you’d know that.”
“I’d like to help you, Jo. I know what it feels like to lose a mother.”
Jo scoffed. “You think ’cause your ma died, I should be your friend?”
“I was younger than you when I stood beside her coffin. Even breathing hurt.” Kaitlyn’s chest tightened.
Jo looked down at her hands. “How did she die?”
Jo’s voice had softened. Kaitlyn’s hand twitched, but she restrained herself from taking Jo’s. Too soon for such a move. She cleared her throat. “Her saddle girth failed. She fell badly. A stupid accident.” She took a sip of tea. The warmth didn’t touch the frozen lump in the pit of her stomach. “My father wanted me to learn about pressing flowers and managing a dinner party. My mother had always been my champion, insisting that everyone needed an education.”
Jo rolled her eyes. “Why?”
Because you never know when your brother might force you to marry the man who holds his gambling debts.Kaitlyn placed her cup on the table. The tea sloshed but stayed inside the cup. The details were too much for an eleven-year-old. Maybe just the essence? “It’s a hard world out there. No one gets through it without getting knocked down a time or two. An education gives you tools to get back up.”
Jo folded her arms over her chest, a sure sign that Kaitlyn wouldn’t like her next comments. “I’m gonna run a ranch. This ranch. I don’t need fancy handwriting to do that.”
“Doesn’t your father keep notes about what works and what doesn’t? What good will they do him if he can’t read them later?”
“What happened after your ma died?”
Kaitlyn took a sip of tea to hide any hint of a smile she hadn’t managed to suppress. Jo didn’t have an answer, so she’d changed the subject. Best to go along with the change. “My mother left her assets to me in a trust. My half-brother hated me for that, even though he wasn’t her son. Things got hard at home. He liked to lock me into places I couldn’t get out of. Never the same place, so my father couldn’t find me.” Not that he looked over hard. “But I was safe at school.”
Jo’s mouth dropped, and she looked away.
Too much truth? Maybe. Maybe not. “And that schooling meant I could answer your pa’s ad. Before I saw it, I was planning to be a teacher.”
