Katie's Dream

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Book: Katie's Dream Read Online Free PDF
Author: Leisha Kelly
her hand on the child’s shoulder. “You want a cookie, sweetie? Or some bread and butter?”
    The little girl didn’t answer.
    â€œIs that the child’s name or the mother’s?” I asked Edward.
    â€œOh, you’re good.” He shook his head. “You’re good, Samuel. I wouldn’t have expected it.”
    â€œAre you going to answer my question?”
    â€œThe mother’s, of course.” He looked at Julia and shook his head again. “The girl’s name is Katie.” He turned toward the child rather sternly. “Didn’t I tell you to be quiet, kid? And I’d come and get you when I was good and ready?”
    â€œHow old is she, Edward? Do you even know?”
    â€œI expect she could tell you that herself. Six or seven, I guess. Thereabouts. Little, though, isn’t she? Kind of like her mom. Delicate. With those sweet eyes. Right?”
    Whatever he meant by such words, it disgusted me. “Shut up. Did you feed her anything all this way?”
    â€œSure. A few times. What do you take me for? A heathen?”
    I tried to set her down in a chair, but she still didn’t want to let go. “I don’t know, Edward. Right now, I really don’t.”
    â€œWell, I can tell you I was glad to find you not so much the saint as you claim. Sly old devil, Samuel. Back in Pennsylvania. Trudy told me all about it.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    He looked at Julia again, his smile barely hidden. “So sorry, Missus,” he said. “But these things catch up to a man. Katie here is his. That’s exactly what I’m told. And your little girl is almost this size, isn’t she? You must have been sitting at home—”
    â€œShut up, Edward!” I handed the child into Julia’s arms.
    â€œWhat are you gonna do, Sammy?” he taunted. “Throw me out? Throw your girl out too? Huh?”
    â€œShe’s not—” I saw the girl shiver. She was starting to cry. “Edward, we can discuss this outside. Let the poor kid—”
    â€œYou mean you don’t want your wife to hear?”
    â€œThere’s nothing I’d hide from Juli. Nothing. Our kids are the only ones I’ve got. But this is not something we need to fight over in front of a scared little girl!”
    â€œVery good, Samuel.” He sat down, smirking up at me. “We don’t have to fight. Wouldn’t mind a bite to eat, to tell you the truth. Got any bacon?”

THREE
    Julia
    We didn’t have bacon, and I was glad. Samuel’s brother or not, Edward was a skunk, and I didn’t feel like giving him what he asked for. I couldn’t imagine this poor child suddenly separated from her mother and carried across five states by this crude man. Was he even telling the truth about it? What kind of a mother would allow such a thing?
    He wasn’t telling the truth about Samuel, no matter what he wanted me to believe. He’d devised some sort of plan to make trouble, though I couldn’t imagine why. Didn’t he know Samuel would have welcomed him, just for a normal visit, if he’d only been decent?
    I sliced what was left of the bread and went quietly to the basement for the butter in the cool pit. We had eggs left in there too. I could fry them up and serve someapplesauce, home-canned from the pantry. The little girl was sure to like that. At least I hoped so.
    By the time I got back upstairs, Robert had come in from the barn. Samuel sent him to bed too. He didn’t seem to want the kids around Edward, and I couldn’t blame him, the way that man talked.
    â€œJulia, you are a sight to behold,” Edward said when I was cracking the eggs. “Mother said you were something to look at, and she was right.”
    Samuel was sitting at the table now with the little girl beside him. I saw how he tensed hearing a remark like that, but I didn’t say anything. And I wondered if Samuel
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