The Girl Called Ella Dessa: Will she ever be cherished for the inner beauty beneath her scars?

by Karen Campbell Prough

  The final touch, which caught everyone’s eyes, was the ornate white lace encircling Grace’s up-swept hair. It barely covered her blushing cheeks in a gathered wave of fragile stitching. Its richness wasn’t something usually displayed in a wilderness town, let alone a small cove, miles and miles from a populated city or bigger settlement.

  No doubt, she was the most gorgeous bride Beckler’s Cove had ever seen.

  Ella’s eyes switched from Grace to Konrad. His eyes say she’s beautiful. Her own fingers strayed to the collar of her white blouse and fingered the bumpy scars.

  *******

  Samuel’s feelings fluctuated as Grace went to stand beside Konrad and his papa sat down. He clenched his hands at his sides. He silently groaned at his inability to yell for her to stop. In truth, he felt happy for her and excited about the new teacher becoming his brother-in-law, but he longed to grab his big sister’s arm and pull her out of the crowded building.

  He clenched his top teeth down on his bottom lip and watched Grace freely reach for Konrad’s hand.

  Grace was his sister, the one who used to read him stories before bed, the one who showed him how to find the best blueberry bushes on the high, sun-filled ridges. She had always been in his life. For him, her leaving home would be as if she died.

  Why do things have to change?

  Home wouldn’t be the same without her gentle laughter. Emptiness might fill the house. Their mother would be lonely.

  He heard the scripture and the words Leigh recited. Why does anyone have to leave his or her parents? What does it mean to cleave? The only time he heard it used was when his mother chopped a chicken breast into two pieces.

  It made no sense to him.

  With an upturned face, Grace spoke soft words of forever. Konrad slipped a silver band over the fourth finger of Grace’s left hand and clasped the delicate hand in both of his. The preacher’s mouth formed words Samuel no longer heard. It was over—his sister had allowed herself to be stolen.

  Leigh ended the ceremony. “Konrad, you may kiss your wife.”

  Grace lifted the veil, revealing her lovely, pink-cheeked face and shining eyes.

  Samuel stole a sideways peek at Ella Dessa. The girl’s face glowed with attentiveness. Her curved lips parted, as she observed the couple’s first kiss as man and wife. In that split second, her vivid blue eyes blinked and turned in his direction. Their gazes locked and held for only seconds, but it was enough for Samuel to feel his heart gallop in his chest.

  He saw her press a hand to her scarred neck, before turning her attention back to Grace and Konrad. Everyone laughed, clapped, and cheered. People moved into the aisle and jostled one another to be the first to greet the newlyweds.

  Samuel frowned. He lost sight of Ella Dessa as everyone elbowed him.

  Because of the chilly December weather, an indoor meal had been planned. He knew borrowed tables filled Leigh and Naomi’s house. All the women had baked and brought food to add to the collection. He ducked past the adults congratulating his sister and new brother-in-law and headed toward the door.

  Worrying about losing his sister was now a moot issue. Food became more important than lingering in the church and doing mushy things like kissing and hugging. Samuel pushed open the church door and ran for the Chesley log house.

  Four older women barely looked up as he burst through the door. They had shed their shawls and busied themselves with opening baskets of food and setting the items on two tables positioned side by side. Chairs and benches encircled and occupied the edge of the outer walls, to make room for the arriving crowd. A comforting fire danced in the massive fireplace.

  He slipped in and warmed his hands while he eyed the abundance of delicious food layering the tabletops.

  “Samuel McKnapp, I know why ye snuck off an’ got here first. Son, keep yer distance from the food—if ye know what I mean.” Granny Hanks shook a blue-stained wooden spoon at him.

  He eyed the waving spoon. Blueberry cobbler, for sure. It had to be his mother’s recipe— made from berries dried for the winter.

  “Do ye hear me?”

  “Why, Granny, I only thought I’d come help you.” He grinned at the scrawny woman. She reminded him of one of their chickens.

  “A buncha help you’d be!”

  “Ahh, you know I can be of help.”

  “Yes, you’d help yerself.”

  He heard voices and laughter. The door burst open and flooded the room with wintry air. Leigh ushered in the bride and groom. He stepped onto a bench as the place filled with people eager to get out of the cold. His hand waved above the gathering and motioned for silence.

  “Welcome! Thanks to all who stayed to partake dinner with the new couple. We’ll ask God’s blessing on the food at this time. Shall we bow our heads?”

  Samuel bowed his head, but his eyes searched for Ella Dessa’s slender figure.

  “Our Father,” Leigh cleared his voice, “we ask Your touch on Grace and Konrad as they start their life together. Give them blessings abundant. Thank You for this food of which we are about to partake. Amen.”

  The group echoed the preacher’s “Amen.” The bride and groom sat in two rockers near the fireplace. People handed them gifts and covered their laps with homemade tokens of love. While they opened the presents, people drifted to the tables, filled plates, and visited.

  Samuel ducked between adults and soon acquired a full plate. He sought a spot along one wall. It was underneath the tacked hide of a mountain lion, and he sat with his back against the squared logs. Using his fingers, he shoved a huge piece of venison into his mouth, just as Ella Dessa stepped in front of him.

  She balanced a plate of food in her hands. “Konrad said you’d be willin’ to bring lessons to me?” Her sparkling blue eyes watched him desperately stuff the meat into his mouth, but her calm expression didn’t change, and she didn’t laugh at him.

  He felt his face redden. He almost strangled on the dry meat, and he chewed faster. “Yes. I told him … told him I could.” He swallowed, coughed, and covered his mouth. “Oh, that almost got stuck.”

  “I might need help.”

  “Help?” he repeated, his voice squeaking. “You?” He tried not to cough.

  “Yes, with lessons. I won’t be at school to hear Konrad teach ‘em.”

  “Oh, I see. Of course—I’ll help you.” He cleared his throat and wiped his fingers on the front of his clean shirt. “You want to sit down?” He pointed at the space beside him.

  Her eyes drifted to the golden-brown hide on the wall. He saw her shudder and switch her uneasy gaze back to his face.

  “It won’t hurt you.”

  “I know that.” She pulled her gathered brown skirt to the side and sat close to him. Her bent knee bumped his.

  “It can’t hurt you. It’s been dead a long time.”

  “I know.” She set the plate on the floor in front of her. “Will Jim go to school?”

  “Jim?”

  “Yes. Will he go?” She broke a piece of bread in two and turned to face him. As she took a bite, crumbs fell and trailed down the front of her plain white blouse.

  “Huh?” Samuel forced his gaze away from the crumbs on her faintly curved chest. “Naw, he finished his schooling with Mother. He’s needed at home and besides—he’s too old.” He moved as if by accident and pressed his leg closer to Ella Dessa’s thigh. He grinned at her, and knew she had no idea how his heart hammered his ribs.

  “Oh, I guess I should’ve known that. Your pa’s knee is better, right?”

  “Yep, he just limps now.”

  “He walked fine with Grace.”

  “He did. But I bet he’s trying his best to walk without limping.”

  Peggy appeared and tugged Katy with her.

  “Katy, you can sit on the other side of my brother.” She knelt beside Ella Dessa and balanced her plate in her right hand. She reached across to snitch a piece of sweet blueberry bread off Sam’s plate. “I didn’t get one of those.”

>   “Hey, that’s mine.” He grabbed, but missed the stolen tidbit.

  “No more,” his sister mumbled. She rolled her eyes and stuffed the morsel in her mouth.

  “I’ll share mine.” Katy handed him one of her two pieces. She smiled expectantly. Her attentive gaze never left his face. Two dots of crimson colored her rounded cheeks.

  “Thank you, Katy.” He groaned inside and carefully took it from her fingertips, all the while, wishing she’d stop gawking. She was pretty, with her soft red curls and huge green eyes, but he considered her a pest. He was three years older.

  “You’re welcome, Samuel.” She continued to study him.

  It irritated him—he had hoped to talk to Ella Dessa alone.

  Peggy leaned past Ella Dessa. “Sam, your eyes, and Katy’s eyes match— perfect.”

  He fixed his gaze on the plate in his lap and muttered, “I never noticed.”

  “No, Samuel’s are more bluish-green,” Ella Dessa said. “Like the wings on a dragonfly.”

  He lifted his head and felt a surge of hopefulness. He smiled. “Wow, I like that. I’m a dragonfly?” I’ll be anything, just so long as you talk to me.

  “No.” She corrected him. “The color of your eyes are—”

  “Sam, doesn’t Katy’s hair look beautiful?” Peggy wasn’t going to be ignored. “Her mother let her wear it up for the first time. I like the pretty curls hanging by her neck. I wish my hair looked more like Katy’s and less like fuzz on an auburn sheep.”

  “Ahh, sure.” He gave a fleeting appraisal of Katy’s hair and a thought struck him. “You know what? Her curls remind me of fat red worms we dig in the spring for fishing.”

  “What?” Peggy yelped, her mouth wide open. “Sam, that’s not nice.”

  Katy’s expression was a marvel to behold.

  Her eyebrows rose. Her eyes widened and resembled two marshes covered in summer-bright lily pads.

  He feigned innocence. “Whaddaya mean? I like those worms.”

  At his side, Ella Dessa made odd humming noises in her throat. She hid her face in both hands.

  He shook her arm. “Are you choking?”

  “She’s fine. Samuel, you hurt Katy’s feelings.” His sister glowered as if she wanted to punch him in the mouth. She slammed her tin plate on the floor. Food bounced onto the wood planks. “Why, I ought to—”

  “I didn’t hurt her.” He turned from Ella Dessa to Katy. The instant he saw tears in Katy’s eyes, he knew she hadn’t taken his words as a compliment. “What I mean is, they look wonderful. Just like red worms are wonderful for fishing.”

  Katy turned away from him and stared straight ahead. Blotchy, purplish-red spots covered her pale cheeks. Her chin quivered, and one huge tear glided down her face.

  Ella Dessa reached across his plate of food and patted Katy’s arm. “Katy, don’t be upset. That’s what Samuel meant. I’ve seen them kind o’ worms. Why, they shimmer a pretty reddish color, and they coil up right nice.”

  Katy clutched her plate of food and jumped to her feet. With a sob, she headed for her mother.

  “Now, look what you’ve done.” His sister also stood with her plate. “You ought to be ashamed, comparing her hair to—to worms.”

  “I didn’t mean anything bad.” He watched Peggy follow Katy into the crowd of adults, before a long sigh pushed from his lungs. “I’m in trouble. Puddle-deep trouble. Mother will have my head when I get home.” Suddenly, he realized Ella Dessa leaned against his right arm with her whole body trembling. “Hey.” He tried to see her face. “Look at me.”

  She burst into a full laugh and covered her mouth.

  “You’re laughing?”

  “You picked the wrong words to say,” she blurted out and faced him. “Poor Katy. I ain’t wantin’ to laugh. It’s just–I keep seeing her face. You’re sumpthin’ else, Samuel!” She started sniggering again. “Oh, my sides hurt.”

  “Humph. Everything I do or say goes wrong. I didn’t say it to be mean. Honest.”

  “I know that, an’ you know that.” Her lips lifted in a delightful smile. Her fingers touched his arm and lingered. “Don’t fret. I’m sure your sister will put things right. But Katy may hate you.”

  He studied her hand and fancied he felt its heat through his shirtsleeve. “Would you hate me, if it was you?”

  “No. Well, I’d try not to.”

  “Good, because I’d never want you to hate me.” Oh, why’d I have to go and say that?

  Her lively eyes searched his face, before she smiled. “That’s good. It means we’re friends.” A girl’s pealing laughter caused her to turn toward the tables. “Hmm. What’s the name of that dark-haired girl?”

  “Sophie. She’s older than us—by a little.” He noticed a flicker of something akin to melancholy in her eyes. “Why?”

  “Oh nothin’. She likes talking to your brother.”

  “Seems to.” He watched Jim lift a piece of spice bread and offer it to the laughing girl. “Or him to her. You’re not eating.”

  “It’s stickin’ in my throat.” She swallowed and stared at her plate of food. “Sorry ‘bout Katy gettin’ up in such a huff. Maybe she’ll come back.”

  “Do you think I want that?”

  “Well—”

  “Ella Dessa.” Rebecca Foster stopped in front of them. “You look so sweet and grown up.”

  “Thank you.”

  Samuel dropped his eyes. He couldn’t help but notice Rebecca’s belly had expanded to much the same size as Velma’s, but was hidden by a draped shawl.

  “I hear you’re living with Velma and helping her.”

  “Yes’um. I try my best.”

  “Where is she?” She rose on tiptoe to look around the room. “Oh, I see her. She’s sitting near the door. I’ll go keep her company.”

  Ella Dessa’s eyes followed the young woman. “She’s so nice.”

  “And pretty.” He finished stuffing a final bite of the turkey sandwich into his mouth. “Of course, I know someone else who’s just as pretty,” he mumbled and brushed away crumbs.

  She blinked twice. “Who? Katy?”

  “You.”

  “Me?” Apparent surprise washed over her delicate features. Her right hand slapped itself across the scars on her neck. “I can’t say as I believe that,” she whispered. Her wistful eyes searched his face.

  He made sure no one overheard him and leaned in close. “You need to believe it ‘cause I said it. You are.” His eyes locked on her parted lips.

  “Ah, Velma is beckoning to me.” With a flush coloring her freckled cheeks, she stood with her plate and walked away.

  Samuel watched her bend and listen to the pregnant woman. He had never before experienced the feelings entangling his mind and heart. Girls were pests—giggling nuisances, he always ignored. Now he longed to linger close to Ella Dessa, make her smile, and study the unique expressions on her face. The image of her curved lips floated before his mind.

  *******

  Ella pushed through the crowded room and searched for the children. Velma didn’t feel well. Her belly cramped, and she wanted to go home. How can we walk home in the cold? Velma might lose the baby.

  She saw Jim and Sophie move away from the table and stop near the fireplace. The flickering flames revealed the older girl’s smooth-skinned neck. She felt a stab of intense jealousy, but the looming problem erased the girl from her mind.

  “Honey, is something wrong?” Inez touched her shoulder.

  “Velma isn’t well. We need to go home.” She swallowed and added, “What do I do? There’s no wagon. Gust has it. We can’t walk home alongside the creek like we came, ‘cause it’s freezin’, now.”

  “You walked here?” Inez appeared stunned. “I had no idea she was without a wagon.”

  “Without horses and mules,” she whispered. “Or much food, now. We done ate her fav’rite chickens. Don’t tell no one.” She tried to keep her chin from quivering. “Velma—she says we ain’t beggin’. She says Gust will be back
, right soon, bein’ it’s nigh unto Christmas.”

  “Listen to me.” Inez bent close, her lips almost touching Ella’s ear. “It’ll be our secret. I’ll get Jim to bring our farm wagon to the door and take you home. Get everyone together.”

  “But he’s talking to someone.” She pointed at the engrossed couple.

  “He won’t mind.”

  Ella found Scott dragging Carrie away from a table. He pulled at the sleeve of his sister’s faded dress.

  “She was stuffin’ food in her pocket.” He shoved the girl. “She’s lucky Pappy ain’t here. He’d take her to the barn and whip her for stealin’.”

  “I ain’t got food. I ate it.” Stains and crumbs covered Carrie’s hands, and she had a blank look of innocence on her face.

  “Scott, don’t fret. Both of you go to your mama. I got to find Mae.”

  Ella squeezed past the adults, but felt a touch on her arm.

  “Ella Dessa?”

  “Oh, Grace! Thanks for lettin’ me see you get married. We must go now.”

  “You’re so welcome. It was our pleasure to have you. Konrad’s expecting you to start school studies with the rest of the children next month. We also want you to come visit us.”

  “I will.” She turned away. But Konrad laid a hand on her shoulder and detained her.

  “I want to introduce you to my family. I don’t believe you’ve met them. This is my uncle, Miles Kilbride, and his wife, Leona.” Konrad smiled. “Uncle Miles, this is Ella Dessa Huskey.

  Miles Kilbride!

  Her breath caught in her throat. She raised her eyes and gazed into the friendly, golden-brown eyes of a man she had seen in the church. “Nice— to meet you,” she said and almost choked on the simple words. Her heart hammered against her ribs and pounded in her ears.

  She must have misunderstood.

  I ain’t heard right. He can’t be the same man. That’d mean Pa stole this man’s gold!

  “We are happy to meet you, Ella Dessa.” His attentive gaze lingered on her face, even as he touched his wife’s arm. “This is my wife, Leona.”

  Leona’s deep, dusky coloring and unfathomable black eyes caused Ella to remember the Cherokee Indians living higher on the mountain, in hidden pockets not known to most white men. They had been friends to her mama and had secretly visited many times.