Prairie Wife Read Online Free PDF Page A

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her son, which they didn't any more, she pretended not to hear.
    It was how she survived.
    The service ended and the reverend spoke to his parishioners at
the door as they exited.
    "Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. How are you this fine
day?"
    "Well, thank you, Reverend," she replied.
    Behind her Jesse spoke a few words to the preacher, and then he
joined her and they stood outdoors in the sunlight.
    Already men had begun assembling tables in the side yard, as the
women unpacked their tablecloths and aprons. Jesse carried their crates to a
table for Amy, then disappeared while she joined the women in setting out the
food.
    Leda Bently, a farmer's wife, drew a young woman toward Amy.
"This is Rachel Douglas. She and her husband just moved here. Her man is
helping with the harvest at our place."
    Amy greeted the pale-haired young woman and immediately noticed
the faded shawl she held so that the ends covered her swollen belly. It was
obvious that her dress was inappropriate for her growing figure, because the
front of her hemline was inches above the back, revealing worn boots and black
stockings.
    "Where are you from?" Amy asked.
    "Jack is from England. I met him in New York. We were married
there, and he couldn't find work, so we came West."
    "You have family in the East?"
    She shook her head and glanced at Amy's flower-bedecked hat.
"No. I outgrew a foundling home and worked as a maid for two years before
I met Jack."
    "Rachel is real good at household tasks," Leda told her.
"What a blessing for me that Frank hired Jack for the fall. My house has
never been so clean."
    Rachel blushed. "I'm earning my own keep," she told Amy.
"I'm just so glad to have somewhere to settle for a time and not be riding
on a wagon, that I'd do anything."
    "Amy and her husband and father run the way station,"
Leda told Rachel. "Even with the transcontinental railroad finished last
spring, they still get a lot of travelers."
    "Do you need any help?" Rachel asked. "I can clean
and cook and do laundry. And Jack is a real hard worker. He'll need work after
Mr. Bently's crops are in."
    "I have three women who help me now," Amy told her.
"Jack would have to talk to Jesse. He does the hiring."
    "I'll tell him." Rachel gave her a shy smile.
    When she turned to look away, Amy noted her thin frame. The
journey west was hard on women, but it must have been especially trying for a
young woman expecting her first baby.
    "When will your baby be born?" Amy asked.
    Rachel glanced back and blushed. "Sometime this winter. Mrs.
Bently helped me figure about December."
    Amy nodded and, sharing knowledge of the experience the young
woman would face, she and Leda exchanged a concerned glance. "Well, I wish
you the best," Amy told her. "I hope you and your husband find
someplace you like to settle."
    "Oh, we like it here," Rachel told her quickly.
"I'd never seen so much wide-open space. The fields are magnificent to
behold, all that corn waving as far as the eye can see. Garden vegetables and
fresh milk every day. This is a land of plenty, to be sure."
    Amy almost felt the young woman's pleasure, almost understood
Rachel's sense of wonder at having enough food, and her appreciation of the
land. But she held herself in reserve and turned aside to slice pies.
    Another half hour passed before the parishioners gathered around
the tables and Jesse dutifully sought her out. As Reverend Calhoun said a
blessing for the meal, Amy glanced up and unerringly found Rachel. She stood
with a tall fresh-faced young man who held her hand to his chest and closed his
eyes reverently as the preacher prayed. The two of them were so young, so
earnest, so— She stopped herself before she could think in love.
    Beside her, Jesse held his hat by the brim with both hands. She
glanced up to find him gazing out across the landscape.
    The prayer ended and the air hummed with voices. Two lines formed
and the woman began serving food.
    Her father found a group of men and sat with them under