Cora's Deception (9781476398280)

by Colvin, Mildred

  Ivy’s face twisted, and she stomped away. Cora’s heart pounded from Ivy’s outburst. She understood Ivy all too well. She, too, hated this wilderness and resented being forced to move away from her luxurious home in the city. Still, shame crept in for her attitude. She couldn’t meet Esther’s eyes.

  What sort of girl was Esther? She was so beautiful, yet there seemed to be more to her beauty than physical. Something pure and good deep inside shone through her eyes and smile, lighting her entire face. Ivy’s dark, shiny hair and smooth ivory skin gave her equal, if not greater beauty. Yet her large, blue eyes held resentment while her lips twisted with rudeness, taking so much from her appearance so that it faded in comparison to Esther’s. Something about Esther drew Cora in a way she didn’t understand.

  Chapter 7

  “Girls, we have work to do.”

  Cora turned from the others to follow her mother and Mrs. Newkirk to the shelter. Eliza and Rebekah Newkirk chatted as if they’d known each other all their lives. Cora glanced over her shoulder. Esther Newkirk walked a step behind her. Ivy Stark followed at a slower pace than the rest. Cora sighed. So this was her choice for friendship. Two girls as different as dark and light even in appearance. Although both were beautiful, Ivy held herself aloof, keeping everyone at a distance. Esther’s sweetness was an invitation to friendship, yet left Cora with an unsettled feeling, as if something hovered just out of her reach. Would either girl become her friend?

  In the shelter, Vickie and Mrs. Stark had already started bread and some pies. Mother pointed to a bin of potatoes. “Cora, you’re good at peeling potatoes. Why don’t you do that?”

  “I’ll help you.” Esther stepped forward.

  Cora smiled. “Thank you.”

  The girls sat in the corner where the potatoes were stored. They set the large pot Mother gave them on the dirt floor. Cora picked up a potato and sliced the skin from one side. Esther did the same. Cora took a breath. What could she say to this girl who seemed so perfect? She peeled two potatoes.

  “Where’d you move from?” Esther broke their silence.

  Cora lifted her head and smiled. “St. Louis.”

  Esther’s clear blue eyes sparkled. “Oh, that is still in Missouri, isn’t it? Is it a big city?”

  “Bigger than here.” As soon as the words escaped, Cora giggled. “But of course, anywhere is bigger than here, isn’t it?”

  Esther laughed. “Yes, I believe so. Did you have many friends in St. Louis?”

  “George is my best friend. I’ve known him since I was five. I did have a few other friends, but spent most of my time with George. Our houses were next door.”

  “Oh my.” Esther shook her head. “We lived on a farm in Virginia, and we’ve been here over a year so I have a hard time imagining two houses sitting very close. I’ve been to Richmond, of course, so I know what you are talking about. I’ve gotten used to the way it is here now.”

  Cora smiled and nodded. She’d never get used to this place, and she’d never be content to stay here. George had promised to come at Christmas, and she could scarcely wait. He would take her away from dirt floors and crowded lean-tos that wouldn’t even make a good woodshed. What kind of house were the men building? It couldn’t be as wonderful as the house they’d left in St. Louis.

  By the time they filled the pot with chopped potatoes, the newness and tension of her first meeting with Esther had eased. Eliza and Rebekah’s giggles and non-stop chatter kept everyone entertained. Eliza rubbed at her eyes and held at arm’s length an onion she’d been chopping. “Oh, this is terrible! I’m crying.”

  “Me too.” Rebekah wiped the tears on her cheeks.

  Mrs. Newkirk laughed. “Girls, it isn’t that bad, is it?”

  “Yes!” They cried out at the same time and then dissolved into a fit of giggles.

  “I suppose it’s too late now.” Mrs. Newkirk smiled at them. “You probably couldn’t have done it, anyway.”

  “Done what?” Rebekah looked at her mother.

  “Well, my mother used to say an onion won’t make you cry if you keep your mouth closed tight while you cut it.”

  “Oh, no! Why didn’t you tell us that before?” Rebekah wiped her eyes.

  Esther laughed. “Oh, Rebekah, you know you couldn’t have done it.”

  “Yes, we could.” Rebekah swung to Eliza. “Couldn’t we, Eliza?”

  Eliza clamped her lips shut and nodded, setting her braids swaying.

  Rebekah giggled. “I can do that too. You all just watch me.”

  Ivy stirred a pot of pudding at the cook stove. She scowled at the younger girls, stuck her nose in the air, and turned her back toward them.

  Mother took the large pot of potatoes when Esther sliced the last potato in it. “You girls have been a big help. Would you mind going outside to check on the younger children? And see if you can get a count of how many we’ll be feeding.”

  Outdoors, the breeze ruffled Cora’s hair when she lifted her arms and twirled around. “This is so much nicer than that cramped shelter.”

  Esther nodded. “Yes, but you’ll have a new house soon. Won’t that be wonderful?”

  Cora looked toward the building site. Evidence of the men’s work showed in the walls half her height. Only, it didn’t look like any house in St. Louis. Especially not their house. George couldn’t come too soon.

  “I’m glad you’re here, Cora.” Esther’s soft voice pulled her away from disquieting thoughts. “I hope we’ll become the best of friends.”

  Cora wrinkled her nose. “I thought this morning Ivy would be the only girl here my age. It would’ve been awful today without you. I’d have had to spend the day with her or by myself. She’s so disagreeable. How can you be nice to her?”

  Esther looked into the distance. “I don’t think Ivy is so bad. So often we look on the surface.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ivy seems very unhappy. There may be problems in her life we don’t know about.”

  “Like her parents?” Cora’s face burned as quickly as the words left her mouth. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  Esther laughed. “I won’t tell. But I’m very thankful for my parents, aren’t you for yours?”

  “Yes.” Cora’s laughter joined Esther’s.

  The younger children giggled and shouted as they played tag well away from the men. Esther nodded toward them. “They look fine to me. I already know there are five Newkirks in that bunch. How many children in your family?”

  “Only two. Did you notice how many are in the shelter?”

  Esther counted on her fingers. “Ivy and her mother, your two sisters, my baby sister, and our mothers, and the two of us make nine. That plus seven children is sixteen. Let’s see how many men there are now.”

  At that moment, loud voices from the children caught their attention. A squabble broke out between two of the Newkirk boys. Esther sighed. “I’d better take care of that. Do you mind counting the men by yourself?”

  “No, of course not.” Cora stepped closer to the building that grew taller as she watched. She couldn’t see a door or any windows. There were plenty of gaps between the hewn boards stacked one on top of the other, though. What was Father thinking? This building might be larger than the shelter, but it wasn’t any better.

  “Well, what do you think?” A male voice spoke.

  She swung to find Aaron standing close beside her. He looked toward the cabin. She followed his gaze. “I don’t know. It doesn’t look like it will keep the north wind out.”

  “Is that so?” He grinned at her.

  Her heart leapt and warmth filled her cheeks. What was wrong with her? A shock of wavy dark hair fell across his forehead, and she wanted to brush it back into place. George had better keep his promise to come. This place was addling her mind.

  She crossed her arms and pulled her attention from Aaron. “There are huge cracks between every board. The wind will go right between them.”

  He nodded, and sh
e couldn’t keep her gaze from straying toward him. His brilliant blue eyes danced in amusement. He was laughing at her. How dare he? She tightened her hold on each arm to keep from smacking him.

  “I figured your Pa’s gonna chink the cracks.”

  Chink the cracks? What kind of language did these people talk? She frowned at him.

  His grin grew. “Yep. You know, fill ‘em in with clay or something.”

  “Clay?” Cora looked down at the grass under her feet. She gasped and her eyes widened. “Do you mean dirt?”

  He chuckled. “Not just any dirt. Clay’s known to be sticky, and it’ll harden in the gaps to keep that ol’ north wind out.”

  “But it will dry and fall out into the house.” What kind of house was Father making with dirt in the walls and probably for a floor too.

  The dimple in Aaron’s chin deepened when he laughed at her. She forgot about smacking the smirk off his face while she watched it. George couldn’t stand next to Aaron for looks. In fact, she’d never seen a more appealing man. Never felt such churning inside just from watching him talk.

  “It shouldn’t.” Aaron’s lips moved, but she forgot to listen.

  “Shouldn’t? What shouldn’t?”

  He chuckled again. “The clay shouldn’t fall out, not if your pa puts clapboards behind it.”

  Cora covered her face with both hands and shook her head. She peeked out at him and laughed. “Oh, all right. I give in. You know I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about. I don’t even think I want to know. I’ll have to live here even if the wind blows dirt in and I have to sweep it out every day.”

  “Hey, what’re you doin’ layin’ off work, talkin’ to a pretty girl while the rest of us break our backs?” Ralph walked toward them.

  Aaron jerked away. Cora’s insides jumped as he strode toward his brother and grabbed one of the heavy boards lying nearby. “Take hold of that end and let’s get this up.”

  Ralph grinned at Cora and shrugged. “Boss man don’t put up with no lolly-gaggin’ unless he’s the one doin’ it.”

  He picked up his end, and the two young men carried the board to the building. Cora sighed. Ralph was friendly and had been from the first time they met, but Aaron seemed to be warming up to her. At least he made fun of her in a nice way. She started counting men as she walked around the new building. She crossed the trampled grass to meet Esther.

  “There’s a man here alone. I mean he didn’t bring his family. Anyway, I counted nine men.”

  “We had sixteen before plus nine is twenty-five.” Esther glanced toward the men. “That single man is probably Bill Reid. He lives across the creek, and he’s not married. I imagine he brought his fiddle. When the work is done, there’ll probably be a dance.”

  “Really?” Cora couldn’t help but glance toward the men. Ralph and Aaron carried another board to add to the wall. A dance? Would either of them ask her to be their partner? What would George say if he knew? She shook off the image of George that persisted. He wasn’t here, so he’d never know.

  “Twenty-five?” Mother frowned when the girls gave her their count. “I think we can seat that many around a couple of tables. Agnes came up with a great idea for the tables. She suggested we use some of the boards cut for the house. We can put them on the stumps Father hasn’t split into firewood yet. We can do the same for benches, using shorter stumps.”

  “I’ll tell Father what we need.” Cora started for the door when Ivy stopped her.

  “Wait, I’ll go with you.”

  Esther, Eliza, and Rebekah followed her. Esther caught up with Cora. “Maybe we can set up the tables if we all help. Then the men won’t have to leave their work.”

  “I don’t know. Those boards look heavy.” Even Aaron asked Ralph to help him lift a board. “Let’s see what Father says.”

  Cora told her father their plans, and he nodded. “That’s a good idea. You can use the boards that will be last going up. Think you girls can handle it?”

  Ben stood to one side. “I’ll help them, Father.”

  Aaron turned from setting a board in place. “I can help too.”

  “Yeah.” Ralph followed his brother. “You can’t expect pindlin’ girls to do a man’s job.”

  Father’s eyebrows lifted before he smiled. “All right, but don’t waste time getting back to the real job of the day. You boys are too valuable to stop now.”

  The three young men headed toward a pile of boards stacked to the side. Esther hurried toward them. “We could do this without any help. There are five of us. Surely we could lift one log at a time. It seems a shame to take you from your work.

  Ben grinned. “It’s not a problem. Really, it’s our pleasure.”

  Ivy stepped between Ben and Esther. “But Ben, we came to help too. Why don’t we do it together? I can help you.” She tossed a smile at Esther. “Why don’t you help Aaron or Ralph?”

  Esther looked down, but Ben frowned. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Two men on a board and the other can get a stump. You girls show us where you want them.”

  “All right, if that’s what you want.” Ivy moved several feet in the other direction. She turned and smiled at Ben. “Why don’t we set up here?”

  Cora felt rooted where she stood. Esther seemed to have the same problem. She stood quietly, her eyes turned toward the ground. Had she been hurt by Ivy’s rudeness? How could anyone be so rude to someone as sweet and kind as Esther?

  The three men set up one long two-foot-wide table with two twelve-inch boards side by side. Then they set another identical table at the end of the first, leaving a walkway between them. They used one wide board on each side of the tables for benches. And they put them where Ivy said.

  The fact Ivy was syrupy sweet to Ben and rude to Esther at the same time would’ve been enough to turn Cora against her, but she’d also taken over. Even more infuriating was the fact that Ivy’s choice location for the tables appeared to be the best. It was flat ground, away from the building, and easily accessible to the shelter.

  “That does it.” Ben stepped back from the tables and turned toward Esther with a smile.

  “Thank you.” Esther’s eyes lit up with her answering smile.

  Ivy’s didn’t. Her eyes flashed below lowered brows. Cora’s lips turned upward. “Come on, everyone. I think we have some table cloths inside.”

  They covered the tables and set them with Mother’s everyday dishes as well as some Mrs. Newkirk had brought, Cora smoothed a wrinkle from the cloth. “Esther, your mother is so nice. I don’t know what we would’ve done without her help. We’d have run out of dishes and food both, I guess.”

  Esther waved a hand as if brushing off the compliment. “My mother is used to cooking and taking care of people. She enjoys it.”

  “Girls, can you help?” Mother called from the doorway of the shelter. “We’re ready with the food.”

  “As if we haven’t been helping.” Cora muttered and Esther laughed.

  They carried dishes out and set them on the tables, reaching around the men and children, who’d already started coming. Ben stood to the side watching Esther. The touch of pink in Esther’s cheeks told Cora she wasn’t the only one to notice his interest. Maybe she could help them. “Follow me, Esther.” She pointed to the end of a bench. “Let’s sit here.”

  She stepped back to let Esther in first and motioned for Ben to sit beside Esther. His grin of thanks to Cora warmed her heart as he stepped over the bench. “Mind if I sit here?”

  Esther’s cheeks colored. “No, I don’t mind at all.”

  Cora scooted in beside Esther. Eliza and Rebekah sat across from them. Ivy stomped up to the table and squeezed into the end across from Cora, her face a stormy mask.

  “Hey, reckon I’ll sit here.” Ralph stepped over the bench and plopped beside Eliza. She gazed at him as if he’d given her a gift. Aaron sat by his brother.

  “You girls enjoying your day?” Ben leaned forward to speak to them all.

&nb
sp; Ivy’s expression transformed with a smile. “We sure been busy, haven’t we?”

  Ben nodded. “Sure have.”

  He turned his grin on Esther. “Did you notice how fast the house is going up?”

  She nodded. “Yes, it looks nice.”

  “Thanks.”

  Father stood and held his hand up. “I must tell you how much I appreciate all our friends. You may have been neighbors when you arrived this morning, but you are friends now. The house is going up solid and fast thanks to you men.” His hand swept out to include both tables. “And look at what the ladies have done.” He turned to Mr. Newkirk. “Henry, I’d be honored if you’d say the blessing for us.”

  Cora bowed her head. Esther’s father spoke as if God stood beside him. “Father, before I thank you for this food, I want to make sure You know we’re mighty glad there ain’t a one of us here with a single injury in spite of all the work we done. We’re real thankful we had the health and strength to come and help our new neighbors. This food looks and smells awful good. You gave us every bite. Thank You for that and, please, if it’s not too much bother, bless it and our bodies as we eat it. Oh, just one more thing. Father, if there’s anyone here who doesn’t know You, I’d like Your help in introducing them to You. Amen.”

  Mr. Newkirk’s prayer echoed in Cora’s mind. He sat down and everyone began dipping out the food. How could anyone not know who God was? Esther’s family was unusual but nice.

  “Cora, what’re you hiding down there?” Ben leaned forward and grinned at her.

  “Um, there’s something in this bowl.” She lifted the pudding Ivy had made and passed it to Esther for Ben. Her gaze met Ralph’s, and he winked. No, he wouldn’t do that. She’d imagined it just because he grinned at her. Aaron gave Ralph a hard nudge with his elbow and frowned. Maybe she hadn’t imagined it. Her cheeks burned. She looked across the space between the tables at her parents in an animated conversation with the single man.

  Mother grabbed Father’s arm. “Did you hear that? Mr. Reid is from Boston.”