A Lasting Impression Read Online Free PDF

ma’am.”
    Claire frowned, listening to the waves lap the hull. How had the physician known she was readying to travel? Then again, she guessed he’d overheard her conversation with Uncle Antoine. Their exchange had been revealing.
    Tennessee.
    That was where he’d said they would find their new start. And in Nashville, of all places. She’d glimpsed parts of that city two years earlier, when they’d passed through Nashville on their way to New Orleans, and it had hardly seemed like the Athens of the South, as Uncle Antoine called it. Her clearest memory of Nashville was of how despondent the people appeared. Discouraged and beaten. Even the land itself had seemed in mourning, if that were possible.
    The rain from earlier in the day returned, and she found refuge inside the steerage cabin. The cabin was long and dimly lit. Rows of benches bracketed narrow aisles, making the space feel smaller than it was. There were few passengers, and most of them male.
    Claire sought a bench on the far end of the room and claimed a spot near the only family—a father and mother with four small children. She folded the coat she’d brought along and used it as a makeshift pillow, then closed her eyes, feeling the sway of the boat and imagining she was in a hammock, the kind her father had promised for years that he would buy for them.
    But never had.
    A day and half later, the Natchez steamed its way into port in Mobile, Alabama. Parched and famished, her food supply depleted, Claire disembarked and located the train station. After taking care of personal needs, she hurried across the street to the general store.
    The first train whistle hadn’t sounded yet. She still had time.
    She chose a sleeve of crackers wrapped in brown paper and a drink, and a wedge of cheese from a case on the counter. Thinking better of it, she turned and discreetly counted the money in her change purse, then started to put the cheese back—and paused.
    She was so hungry. . . .
    Almost two days remained before she would reach Nashville. She’d told Papa and Uncle Antoine she needed more money, but they’d insisted they’d given her enough.
    She glanced around but saw no one. She looked at her open reticule, then back at the cheese. Then at the store’s fully stocked shelves. Surely the proprietor did well enough that he wouldn’t miss—
    With swift decisiveness, Claire returned the cheese and withdrew her hand as though it might be burned. I will not do this anymore. No more deceit. No more stealing. Or lying.
    “Will there be anything else, ma’am?”
    Startled, Claire turned. The apron-clad proprietor wore a smile, but something in his features told her he’d seen what she’d been about to do. She lowered her head. “No, thank you. This will be plenty.” Face heating, she counted out the coins, with a penny left over.
    The train whistle blew. Twice.
    Twice? Looking out the window, she saw the porter hoisting the step stool onto the passenger car. She turned to grab her purchases and her reticule slipped from the counter. Its contents scattered across the floor.
    Gritting her teeth, she knelt and snatched up the items, then grabbed the cloth bag the gentleman held out. “Thank you, sir!”
    His kindness never dimmed. “God be with you, ma’am.”
    Claire ran for the train, calling out to the porter. He gave her a low-browed warning, and by the time she found an empty bench in the last car, the train had long pulled away from the station.
    Shaky with hunger, she reached into the cloth bag for the package of crackers and—
    Her hand closed around something.
    Slowly, not trusting her sense of touch, she withdrew a wedge of cheese wrapped in wax paper, along with the crackers and her drink. Still feeling a slight weight at the bottom of the sack, she peered inside and saw the coins she’d paid.
    Tears threatening, she recalled the proprietor’s parting words. “God be with you, ma’am.” She ate the crackers and every morsel of cheese,