“What’s your name, child?” he asked.
“Adria,” she whispered, a little surprised the sound came out of her dry lips.
“Adria,” he echoed her. “That’s a fine name. I’m gonna take you back to Mr. George’s hotel where we can see to you.”
“What about Eddie?”
“That your little brother there?” The man’s voice was soft. “You don’t have to worry about him. I’ll come back and do what needs doing.”
Adria didn’t want to, but she couldn’t keep her eyes from peeking away from the man’s chest toward Eddie beside her mother. He wasn’t moving and her mother’s eyes were staring up at the ceiling. “What needs doing?”
“Well, it ain’t an easy thing for a little missy like you to know, but your mama and li’l brother done gone on to glory. All’s can be done for them now is a proper burial. I been doing it for all them that got took by the cholera.” He rubbed his hand up and down Adria’s back and turned so she couldn’t see her mother anymore. “What about your pappy?”
“He died first.” Adria pointed toward the bedroom.
The man nodded. “It’s a sorrowful thing.”
“Am I going to go to glory too?” Glory seemed easier to say than die.
“Only the good Lord knows our appointed time to leave this old world, but I’m thinkin’ that you might have to wait a while to see glory. Could be the Lord has more for you to do down here like he has for me.”
“What’s that?”
“Hard to say. But time will tell, missy. Time will tell. Now you just rest your head down on my shoulder and let ol’ Louis take you on up the street. Matilda, she ain’t bothered by the cholera, same as me, and she’s got a healin’ hand. Me and her, we’ll do for you and chase that old cholera out of you.”
“I want my mama.” Adria was crying inside, but her tears had all dried up. Her eyes felt scratchy when she blinked.
“Ain’t that the way of us all. To want our mammies.” He carried her out the door.
Night was falling, or maybe day was breaking. Adria didn’t know how long she had lain there by the couch afraid to look at her mother. And now she would never see her again. Not unless she went to glory.
She ought to want to go to glory along with her mother and father and Eddie. They were a family. Her mother said that all the time, and then she would pick up Eddie and pull Adria close to her in a hug at the same time. If Daddy was there, he’d put his arms around them all and make what he called a family sandwich with his children in the middle. That always made Adria giggle. She liked being in a family sandwich, and now that was gone. Unless she went back and lay down beside her mother to let the bad air get her too.
But she didn’t want to do that. She was glad the big man was carrying her away from her house. Away from the bad air. She thought she ought to be sorry about that, and she was sorry. Very sorry and sad her family was gone, but she wasn’t sorry she was still breathing. She wanted to believe it was like the big man said. That the Lord wasn’t ready for her yet.
She thought she should tell the man she could walk. She was way past carrying age, but the man wasn’t breathing hard and it felt good to let him take care of her.
“I prayed,” she said. “Did God send you to my house?” That wasn’t what she’d prayed for, but she heard the preacher say once that sometimes the Lord knew what you needed better than you did.
“That could be.” The man’s chest rumbled under Adria’s ear as he chuckled at her words. “I reckon the good Lord has his ways of makin’ things happen, but fact is, the doctor’s wife told me you’d been there to get the doctor.”
“She wouldn’t let him come.”
“Well, he couldn’t rightly make it, child. The cholera has done laid him low too. Could be he’ll make it through, but he can’t be no use to nobody else till he does.” The man’s voice was soft and deep, with nothing scary about it.
“Are you an angel?” Adria had never thought about angels having black skin and smelling sweaty. She always thought about them floating around with wings and white robes, but could be that was all wrong.
The man’s chest rumbled again. “That’s something I never expected anybody to say about me. But no, missy, I ain’t no angel. I reckon I should’ve tol’ you who I is to rest your mind a bit. I’m Louis Sanderson, Mr. George Sanderson’s man. He owns the hotel here on Main Street, and when the cholera come to call, he give me his keys and told me to carry on with things best I could. He aimed to get as far from the cholera as he could and I’m supposin’ he did.”
“Daddy wanted Mama to go, but Eddie got sick and then she got sick too.”
“The cholera is a terrible thing.”
“Why didn’t you go too?”
“There’s some wonderin’ ’bout that, but whilst I ain’t no angel, the good Lord had a job here for me to do. Folks to take care of. He somehow kept the bad air from bothering ol’ Louis and seemed to me he must have had a reason for that. Somethin’ he expected me to do. The Lord gives you a job to do, then I reckon you’d best do it. Ain’t that right, missy?”
She tried to listen and understand what he was saying, but she couldn’t hold all his words in her ears. “I don’t know.”
Louis patted her back as he carried her up some steps to a door with painted glass. “Well, don’t you never mind about that. Right now you just think on gettin’ better. Matilda and me, we’re gonna take good care of you.”
Acknowledgments
From the time I first fell in love with books, I knew I wanted to be a storyteller. As a young girl, I imagined living in a remote cabin in the mountains with three or four dogs to keep me company while I wrote stories. I thought writing had to be a solitary occupation. But I’m thankful the Lord saw a different future for me and sent me a loving husband who puts up with my trips down story roads with my characters. I’m blessed by the support and patience of my children who grew up to the clacking of my typewriter. I’m thankful for their families now that make life so good.
I’m grateful for the support and encouragement of my editor, Lonnie Hull DuPont, who helps make my stories better. Karen Steele and Michele Misiak are never too busy to answer my questions even when I forget which one I should ask what. Many thanks to Gayle Raymer for the eye-catching cover that looks so authentically Shaker. A special thanks to Barb Barnes for her careful editing to smooth out any bumps in my story words. I appreciate all the others on my Revell team who move my book along the publishing journey and out to readers.
I am continually blessed by the unfailing encouragement of my agent, Wendy Lawton. When I wasn’t sure I was headed in the right direction with this story, she offered to read my first few chapters and assured me that yes, the story did work. Thank you so much, Wendy.
And of course, I thank the Lord for giving me a gift of words and letting that little girl’s dream of being a writer come true.
Last but not least, I thank each of you who read my stories. I often think of storytelling as a partnership. I write the words, but you read them and let them come to life in your imagination. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed going back to Harmony Hill for another Shaker story.
Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling author of several Shaker novels—The Outsider, The Believer, The Seeker, The Blessed, and The Gifted—as well as other historical novels including Angel Sister, These Healing Hills, and River to Redemption. She and her husband live on a farm a mile from where she was born in rural Kentucky. Ann enjoys discovering the everyday wonders of nature while hiking in her farm’s fields and woods with her grandchildren and her dog, Frankie. Learn more at www.annhgabhart.com.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Endorsements
Half Title Page
Books by Ann H. Gabhart and A. H. Gabhart
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Dedication
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Sneak Peek of River to Redemption
Acknowledgments
About the Author
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