Sarah's Promise Read Online Free PDF Page B

dance? The idea was crazy. He’d probably omitted his return address because I’d have thrown the letter away unopened if I’d seen his name. How could he possibly think that getting me to open the envelope would make any difference?
    Mom came back to the kitchen and stirred the pot of beans she’d left on to simmer. We’d have bean soup tonight, which always hit the spot for me when it was cold. I didn’t tell her about the letter, and I was glad Katie didn’t say anything more. I guess it was just too embarrassing to mention that I’d been asked out on a date. We were planning a wedding, for goodness sake. I prayed Donald would have the good sense to never try such a stunt again.
    “Everything all right, Sarah?” Mom asked cheerfully as she started peeling an onion to go in the beans.
    “Yes,” I answered quietly, trying to think of another chore to keep me distracted.
    “Don’t worry about Franky, honey,” Mom said suddenly. “He’ll manage fine.”
    I knew the words were meant as comfort, but they seemed like nothing but a jabbing reminder. How would I manage for two weeks without Frank here? What if he decided to stay even longer?
    Mom was chopping onion, quickly and rhythmically. She didn’t seem bothered by the snow, or the big dog I’d shot, or Frank’s absence. Sometimes I wished I could be more like her. Peaceful about everything. At least, that’s the way she appeared.
    The snow hadn’t gotten worse, but it still bothered me. For Dad’s sake, with his drive home from town, but mostly for Frank. I know he’s going to be all right, Lord. I know it. He’s in your hands.
    I tried to sew, but it was hard to concentrate, so I prayed in my head for Frank and for our future together. Just as I thought I’d put other things out of my mind, thoughts of Donald’s invitation broke in again.
    How dare he! Hopefully if I gave him no reply he’d get the message that he was barking up the wrong tree. I wouldn’t even consider going to that winter carnival, but I didn’t want to have to answer his letter to say so. I didn’t want to deal with him in any way at all.
    Mom was almost done cutting the onion when we heard a dog barking in the south field. It didn’t sound like the Hammonds’ dog, and we didn’t usually hear any others out here. Feeling peculiar, I moved to the window and looked out, but that horrible black beast was still right where we’d left it. Dead and almost invisible now under a blanket of snow.
    I was very glad when Dad pulled in. He hadn’t wanted to get stuck in town if the roads drifted shut, so he’d called Buck Norton to fill in for him at the service station and came home early.
    “It might not be snowing north of here,” he tried to assure me.
    But I didn’t feel any better about things. If it kept up, Dad wouldn’t be able to get to work tomorrow, and we’d miss our prearranged telephone call from Frank.
    Dad closed the big dog’s carcass in a barn stall because the wind was too strong to do any burning and the ground was too frozen solid to dig. He said he’d take care of it in tomorrow’s light. When we told him the story, he hugged us all, relieved that everything had come out all right. And he said he was proud of me, taking care of things like that.
    I don’t know why, but his words almost made me want to cry again. I was getting frustrated with myself. Things didn’t bother me so much most of the time. It was the situation with Frank that had started it all. Life would change immensely if he took a job somewhere else. Did he want things to be so different? What was wrong with the life we had here?
    There was no sense thinking about it. I buttered one of my fresh-baked muffins as a quick snack for Dad. He ate it and headed back outside to start the milking early. I went to help him, hoping the work would keep my mind off things, but the wind was picking up terribly, and walking through the blowing snow just made me feel worse. This wasn’t going to be a