Page 9 of Songs and Spun Gold
Pulling her to a stop, Angelika spun her and stared seriously into her eyes. “I know. But it only takes once, Katy. One of these days, either your temper or your rash behavior is going to land you in something you can’t back out of.”
“I know,” Katy whispered, dropping her eyes.
“I’m your friend, Katy,” Angelika said. She squeezed Katy’s arm and gave her a wry grin. “Even when you blow up at me. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I know,” Katy said again. She reached out and squeezed back. “Thanks, Angelika.”
Linking arms, they began walking again. Katy let Angelika lead, not wanting to go home yet. Closing her eyes, she let the familiar rumbling of the nearby river wash over her and leach away the remaining tension.
“Do you suppose I’ve chased Fritz away?”
“Hmm?” Angelika’s arm moved in hers as she turned to look at Katy. “What, you mean with that display in the market?”
Katy nodded, only half listening to her friend’s reply as she continued to soak in the presence of the Felsig.
“I’m fairly certain he’s witnessed – or at least heard of – worse from you,” Angelika said dryly.
“I meant by what I said about him,” Katy replied, her mouth turning down. “Or implied, by what I said about…” She wished she could remember his name. She hated calling him “the noble.”
Katy felt her jaw tightening.Whydid something so simple – yet so important – continue to escape her?
For a few minutes, the only sound was the soft thumps of their feet on the ground, the song of a few birds undaunted by the coming storm, and the ever-present roar of the rapids. Distantly, the low rumble of thunder suggested that they would bewise to seek shelter.
“You know, Katy, I think you need a change,” Angelika announced suddenly. Opening her eyes, Katy glanced over at her friend. Angelika’s lips were pursed, but when she realized Katy was watching her, she smiled brightly. “My father and I are traveling to the capital in a couple of months. You should come with us to help sell the last of this season’s yarn.”
Katy felt her heart lift. While she loved her home, she’d never left it. Faintly, she could hear the call to adventure. To see far-off places, meet new people, experience new things—
Because that had turned out so well for her mother as a young woman when the allure of adventure took her to a festival. It was only after marrying the young man she met there that she discovered his love of drink.
“It sounds like fun. But I don’t know if—”
“Your family can spare you for a few days,” Angelika said shortly. “Someday you’ll get married, and they’ll have to live without you.”
Katy snorted. “Only if I can convince Fritz to overlook my many shortcomings.”
“Fritz isn’t the only man out there, Katy.”
“But none of the others will look at me!” Jerking her arm out of Angelika’s, Katy spun away and covered her mouth, squeezing her eyes to hold in the tears. “That didn’t come out right,” she gulped.
Sighing, Angelika wrapped an arm around her. “Katy—”
“Two years, Angelika,” she ground out. “Two years since I turned eighteen. And Fritz is the first one to ask me to walk with him.”
“Would you have agreed before last night?” her friend gently asked.
“I—what does that matter?” She rubbed the bridge of her nose to release the pressure.
“Men don’t like rejection any more than women do. Why would they ask if they thought they knew the answer?”
“I—” Pausing, Katy considered Angelika’s point. It was surprisingly valid. But it didn’t change the fact that Katy was undesirable. For many reasons.
Angelika shook her slightly. “Come to Himmelsburg with me, Katy.”
The pressure of her tears drained out as swiftly as her earlier anger, but this time, it left her feeling drained as well. Maybe it was the weather.
“All right,” she agreed wearily. “When do we leave?”
CHAPTER 3
