“No, thank you.”
Prudence couldn’t blame him for not wanting to create more work for his sister. Little did he know that Kate was only one of three in the kitchen.
“The barn is yours for the night, if you wish,” her father once again extended his offer.
Words were mumbled, and Prudence couldn’t make them out.
She had some money in her room, she knew, but not that much. Think, Pru, think. Then it hit her—Thomas Hagins was selling some hogs. If Urias herded them down to the Cumberland Gap, he could turn a profit. The question was: Would Mr. Hagins take Urias’s word, unlike her father? And would Urias want to herd hogs? A mental flash of Urias following a herd of large hogs through the winding foothills to the Cumberland went through her mind.
She slithered out of the coat closet and waited in the front room for Urias to leave her father’s office. She had to help him. Kate needed to be free. She needed to live once again. Prudence thought back on what Kate had spoken of yesterday about her life as a bond servant, about her mother, and even her brother. The abuse had to end. If Pru couldn’t convince her father to give her Kate’s bond, then she’d do what it would take to help Urias purchase it.
Urias stomped out of her father’s office but refrained from slamming the door. His temper showed by the redness of his face.
“Mr. O’Leary,” Prudence whispered as he passed by. “Meet me in the barn. I have an idea to help free your sister.”
“What? Who are you?”
“Prudence Greene. Your sister is my best friend. I want to help.”
He set his hat upon his head. “A friend doesn’t …” He stopped short of completing his comment.
Prudence figured she knew what the man was going to say, but now was not the time or the place to be discussing such matters. Her father would have her head if he found her discussing business one more time. Mother had already threatened to send her east to some high society fashion school for ladies. Thankfully, Father had talked her out of that for the time being.
“The barn, Mr. O’Leary.” She hurried up the stairs, praying her father hadn’t heard her brief discussion with Urias. At the top of the stairs, she turned down the hall and down the back stairs, sneaking out the back door to the barn. It was the long way to go, but the best way when you didn’t want to be intercepted. The barn door creaked as she opened it. The smell of fresh hay and oats wafted past her nose. “Urias?” she called. “Are you in here?”
The door creaked open again, letting in some golden light from the sunset. Prudence ducked behind the tack wall. The tall, thin frame of Urias O’Leary was highlighted in a dark silhouette. He led his horse by the reins into the barn. “Come on, boy, you’ll have a comfortable home for a while.”
Urias O’Leary was a handsome man, and he seemed to have a peace about him in the way he handled himself.
He stroked the horse’s head. “I’ll be back for you as soon as I can, boy.”
“Urias,” Prudence called.
Urias spun in the air and pointed his rifle straight at her.
“It’s me. Prudence.”
He lowered his weapon.
“Tell me what you must, woman. I need to be on my way.”
“I have an idea,” Prudence said.
Urias sat on a rail and listened. She had an interesting plan, he had to admit, and he certainly knew the Cumberland Gap area. From here down to the Wilderness Road would be a trick though. He’d have to get some detailed directions. The big question was whether he would be able to purchase five hundred hogs with only some of the money down. Would this Thomas Hagins trust him more than Hiram Greene did?
“Your plan has merit, but …”
“I know. But would Thomas extend the note to be paid upon your return.”
“Precisely.”
“I could give Thomas my word.”
The petite woman did not appear frail; she seemed like she could take on the world, given the right incentive. “Would he believe you?”
“I don’t rightly know. Men don’t like women talking business.”
He wouldn’t argue the point, but he’d long since learned from his adopted mom that women could have as much of a head for numbers as a man and quite possibly a better head from time to time. Urias didn’t have five hundred dollars for Katherine’s bond, and while his parents might have enough, the question still remained how he’d manage to pay them back. He could spend the winter furring, but that would only bring in some of it. But it would be worth it—anything to get Katherine out of a life of servitude. On the other hand, Prudence’s idea would bring a quicker income in less than a month’s time.
“Urias, I do love your sister. She’s become like a sister to me. But we must act quickly. I found Kate crying in the barn yesterday. Apparently the subject of her being sold again had come up. I tried to purchase her bond from Father myself, but he wouldn’t listen to me. He knew I would simply forgive her the debt, and it just reinforced his thought that a woman had no sense of business. Perhaps he’s right. I can’t see the logic in one man owning another or, in your sister’s case, owing a debt that seems never to be paid up.”
“My mother never would have sold Katherine for five hundred dollars.” He jumped off the rail. “Don’t get me wrong. She would have sold Katherine, but she would have sold her cheap. I don’t understand how the bill could be so high.”
Prudence sighed. “I don’t know the nature of your sister’s debt to my father. But I do know he would charge her for her food and clothing.”
“But he doesn’t pay her a wage.”
“Precisely. That would keep her forever in his debt.”
Urias kicked up some hay from the barn’s floor. Lord, I’m upset here. Calm me down so I don’t do or say something foolish, he prayed.
“Urias.” Prudence placed her hand on his shoulder. He turned to her. He could see the tears in her eyes. She truly did care for Katherine and her well-being. His heart softened.
“I’m not angry with you. Truthfully, I’m more upset with myself. I never should have left without bringing Katherine with me.”
“You were merely a boy at the time. How could you have cared for her?”
“I would have found a way. And I know Mom and Dad would have taken her in just as they took me in, if she were with me at the time.”
“One can’t look back and change things. We have to decide what to do now. I’m worried about her. Kate’s not looking well. I think she’s lost the will to live.” Prudence began to cry. “We must help her.”
Urias wrapped the woman in a compassionate embrace. “God will help us.”
“Amen.” She sniffled.
“Get your hands off my daughter!” Hiram Greene bellowed.
Chapter 3
Urias released Prudence and jumped back.
“How dare you!” Hiram Greene’s eyes bulged. His entire face resembled that of a setting sun.
“Father, it isn’t what you think!” Prudence cried.
“Get into the house!” Hiram ordered.
“But Father, Urias …”
“Urias, is it?” The older man fumed. “Get to the house, now, before I take a switch to you.”
Urias’s hackles went up. “Nothing improper happened.”
Hiram faced Urias. “Don’t you be telling me what is what, boy. I have a mind to send you packing.”
“Daddy!” Prudence cried.
“Get!” He pointed to the open barn door.
Urias chastised himself for not having shut the door when he entered. He knew Prudence had planned on meeting him in the barn. And he knew it was not socially correct for a man and woman to meet privately. He hadn’t thought about that. He’d only been thinking about his sister and how hard it was going to be to get her out of this servant lifestyle.
“Sir, if I could explain.”
“I don’t think there is a thing you can say that will placate me in this situation.” Hiram scrutinized Urias’s horse. He relaxed his shoulders and as
ked, “Is he fast?”
Urias nodded. He didn’t know what to say at the abrupt change in Hiram’s demeanor. He’d never met a man who behaved quite like this before.
“Does he have papers?”
“No. I bred him from one of my father’s mares and a wild horse I captured.”
“Hmm.” Hiram went over to the horse. “He has good lines.”
“Yes sir.” What else could Urias say? How could this man be so belligerent one moment, then congenial the next?
“You’ll spend the night in the barn. If you leave, I’ll call the law on you. I need to speak with my wife on the matter of your inappropriate actions with my daughter.”
“Nothing—”
Hiram held up his hand. “I’m not interested in what you have to say, son. You’re a stranger to me and so is your kin. Your word means nothing. Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good. Supper will be in thirty minutes. I’ll send Kate out with a plate for you.”
“Yes sir.” Urias stepped up to his horse and loosened the saddle.
Hiram Greene marched out of the barn, then turned back around at the doorway. “Fine-looking horseflesh. Mighty fine.”
Urias knew horses, and he knew Bullet could run like the wind. He’d been offered a fair dollar a time or two for the steed. But he’d always held back from selling him. He’d been considering purchasing his own place to raise horses. Horse racing was beginning to be big business in Kentucky, and a man could do well breeding prime stock for the competition.
Hiram Greene, on the other hand, had the wealth of high society, while his business negotiations seemed more like wrestling a pig out of the mud. Urias felt certain he was paying more than his sister’s bond. But what did it matter? He’d buy her freedom.
Urias finished removing the horse’s tack and put him in an empty stall with some fresh oats. He groomed the animal; it had been days since he’d had a good brushing. He’d just finished cleaning up when his sister came in with a plate of food.
“What did you do, Urias? The house is in an uproar.”
“Nothing,” he grumbled.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mr. Greene this angry before. Prudence is in tears. The missus is beside herself.” Katherine sat down beside him. “You be a bit of a handful, Urias. Seems little has changed.”
She had grown into a fine-looking woman—no longer the thin little girl with huge front teeth and pigtails. “My life is good, Katherine. I’m going to get you out of here. I promise.”
“Where have you been?” she asked, handing him his plate.
“For the first six months, I ran from spot to spot. I barely had much to eat, except for the food I could catch. My hunting skills back then left a wee bit to be desired. I found a barn I could hide in, and I was staying in there when I met Mom and Dad.”
“Mom and Dad? Father’s been dead for nearly nine years.”
“I’m sorry. Mac and Pam MacKenneth took me in and made me a part of their family.”
Katherine looked down at the floor.
“Katherine, we’ve searched for years. When we returned the following fall, no one knew where you and Mom went off to.”
“Mom sold me by then. I don’t know where she is. She took the money and run, I guess.”
His mother was a horrid woman, but never in his wildest dreams would he have suspected she would sell her child for profit. “How could she sell you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I wish ya’d found me sooner,” she whispered.
The lump of potatoes stuck in his throat. He forced it down. “I tried, Katherine. I’ve been looking for you for six years. Unfortunately, we only had a short period of time in which to do our searching. So every fall we’d return to the area and ask people questions. Three years ago, at a revival down in Hardshell, we heard there was a gal fitting your general description who was a servant in someone’s house. So I’ve been concentrating up here. I met up with Shelton Greene in Hardshell, and he told me where you were and how I could find you.”
“Are you able to buy my bond?”
“I will. I have to go home and borrow the money from my parents, but somehow I will buy it, Katherine. I promise you won’t have to stay here too long.”
“It hasn’t been a bad place to work,” she mumbled.
Urias reached over and placed his hand on her arm. “Katherine, I’m sorry you’ve gone through all of this. I should have taken you with me.”
Tears welled in his sister’s green eyes. Urias could feel the same happening in his own.
“I’ll pack my bags.” She stood to leave.
“Katherine, I can’t take you with me. Mr. Greene does not trust me. My word means nothing to him.”
Katherine nodded. “Very well,” she droned, her words reaching down to the pit of his stomach. Urias doubted he had ever seen a person this depressed before. He couldn’t leave his sister here much longer. She needed rescuing, and, thank God, he’d been sent to rescue her.
“I love you, Katherine. You’ve never stopped being in my prayers.”
“Prayers?” Her eyes flickered like fire and her face flushed. “Prayers are worthless.”
Prudence couldn’t believe her ears. Her parents had been arguing for the better part of an hour. Not a morsel of food had been touched on either of their plates. Father insisted she had disgraced the family and must be married immediately. Mother felt marriage was a bit extreme. Finishing school was Mother’s answer, and had been for the better part of a year.
Urias O’Leary might also feel marriage a bit extreme, Prudence guessed. What had she done by meeting with him? Dear Lord, please intervene.
Prudence left the table and dining room as quietly as possible. Her parents weren’t talking with her—just about her and around her. She felt fairly certain Mother could talk Father out of a forced wedding, which she had no interest in participating in. But should she warn Urias? The only way would be to go out to the barn. Kate hadn’t come back in from her visit with her brother. Prudence pondered for a moment, hesitating in the hallway. If she went out to the barn, Father would be furious enough that no matter what reasoning power Mother had, it would be useless. She chose the stairs and the solitude of her bedroom.
In her room, Prudence prayed. She opened her money box and removed what little savings she had. Eighteen years old and not yet pledged in marriage—it had been a source of contention in her home since her sixteenth birthday. Women in the hills of Kentucky were married at thirteen or fourteen, and Prudence was rapidly approaching her spinster years. But marriage should be more than an arrangement between her father and some business partner’s son. At least, she’d always hoped and prayed it would be. She wanted love. Someone who loved her more than her father’s money.
Oddly enough, when Father began spouting off her need to marry Urias, the possibility hadn’t seemed completely intolerable. He was a handsome man, and a girl could get lost looking into those marvelous green eyes. Prudence shook off the thought. She wouldn’t be forced into marrying for simply talking with a man. They’d done nothing wrong. Fortunately, she had found a brief moment to explain to her mother what had transpired before her father came into the house, ranting and raving.
But something wasn’t right about the price of Kate’s bond. Father would never pay that kind of money even on a good horse, much less for a servant. But why would he overcharge Katherine’s brother? He’d always been a fair man in business. But recently he’d been making some strange decisions—from what little she had heard in the closet beside his office. I really must stop eavesdropping, she reminded herself for the hundredth time.
She really didn’t care about knowing the personal details of other people’s lives. She merely wanted to understand the workings of finance. For some reason, it had always piqued her interest, even as a small child.
Wrapping her small savings into a handkerchief, she set it aside
to have Kate take out to Urias. Sitting down at her writing desk, she penned a brief note to him, letting him know the monies were to purchase additional hogs. She blew the ink gently to finish off the drying, folded it neatly, and placed it inside the folds of the handkerchief, then scurried down the hallway to the rear of the house to the servants’ quarters.
“Kate,” she whispered, tapping the door.
No answer. She turned the crystal knob and pushed the door open. Kate wasn’t in her room. Prudence worked her way down the back stairway to the kitchen. Again, no Kate. Where could she be?
Prudence heard her parents still discussing their problem of what to do with their daughter. Sometimes Prudence wondered if she’d been born into the wrong family. Kate had to be in the barn with Urias.
Taking in a deep breath, she hurried out to the barn and prayed she wouldn’t get caught. She didn’t enter but stepped in the doorway and called out to Kate.
“She’s not here,” Urias answered.
“Do you know where I might find her?” Prudence asked. “Urias, I have something for you. I’m leaving it wrapped in a white handkerchief by the door. I can’t come in or Father would be beside himself. You should be warned; he’s planning on us getting married.”
“What?” Urias popped out of the dark shadows of the barn. “I’ll not stand for it.”
The sharp response hurt, even though she knew Urias was right. The idea was ridiculous. “Mother is trying to convince him to send me off to finishing school. Please take this. It’s a little more to help you buy more hogs.”
“Prudence, I have not decided whether or not to purchase the hogs.”
“But?” Prudence stepped closer to the door and to Urias.
“I cherish my parents’ counsel, and I’ve been praying and thinking I should speak with them. But if I leave my horse to insure my return, that will take weeks. I simply don’t know what to do. Katherine doesn’t trust me. I don’t know if I can blame her. She didn’t say anything but …”
“Oh Urias.” She stepped forward and placed her hand on his forearm. “You have to give her time. She’s had a rough life, and you seem to have had a good one.”
Brides of Kentucky Page 17
