While Sister Altha continued to look doubtfully at Charlotte, the other sister, the one named Cora, moved forward with the touch of a smile that gentled the lines of her face. “We do not turn those away who come to us seeking peace. So we welcome you among us as long as you both abide by the rules we set forth. There is no consorting with the opposite sex. All work at the duties assigned by the Ministry, and you must open your minds and attend to the telling of the Believers’ way to salvation.”
“We are ready to do as you say,” Charlotte said.
“Each must answer for herself,” Sister Cora said quietly as she looked at Mellie. “Are you ready to bend your will to our way, sister?”
Mellie shot a look at Charlotte, but Charlotte stayed silent. They were right. If Mellie was to be free, she would have to answer for herself.
“Well, sister, do you have an answer?” Sister Altha demanded without the gentleness of the other sister.
“I can do what you want,” Mellie finally said as she lowered her eyes to the floor.
“That is a good beginning. Now we will find you a place and proper clothing.” Sister Cora reached for Mellie’s hand. “Come, Sister Melana.”
When Mellie sent another panicked look at her, Charlotte pushed confidence into her smile and her voice. “It’s all right, Mellie.”
“But who will take care of you, Miss Lottie?”
Sister Altha’s frown deepened while Sister Cora was kind in her answer as she ushered Mellie out of the room. “Have no concern for your sister. Sister Altha will summon another sister to introduce her to our way the same as I am doing for you.”
“I thought we’d be able to stay together,” Charlotte said after the door closed behind Mellie and Sister Cora.
“Nay, you both need to find your way on your own. If that is what you truly want.” Sister Altha gave her another suspicious look. “If you have doubts of the path you’ve chosen, you may stay in a visitor’s room for a few days while you dwell on the matter more fully.”
“I have no doubts,” Charlotte lied.
“That is good.” For the first time Sister Altha lifted the corners of her lips up in a small smile. “First you must sign Sister Melana’s manumission papers. Then you will begin your journey on the true way. The simple life and salvation await those who come to us with expectant hearts.” She motioned Charlotte toward the door. “Come, my sister. For as we learn in Mother Ann’s teachings, we must not waste one moment of time, for we have none to spare.”
Charlotte wasn’t sure who this Mother Ann was, but she had no problem agreeing with that teaching. She had no time to spare. Somehow she would have to find Edwin and convince him that he was wasting time here. They both were.
As she followed Sister Altha down the hallway once more, they stopped between a matching pair of winding stairs that curled along opposite walls up three floors with little visible means of support. She had never seen anything to compare with them in any manor house. No outward decoration adorned the cherry handrails or steps, but even so the stairs rose upward in such a graceful spiral that surely no eye could gaze upon them without admiring their beauty.
“What lovely stairs,” Charlotte said before she thought better of breaking the silence between her and the stern sister. Sister Altha looked at the staircases and then back at Charlotte. “Many of the world say the same, but to us their beauty is in their usefulness. That is where true beauty resides.”
Whoever built this stairway had more in mind than utility, Charlotte wanted to insist, but she bit her lip and remained silent. She wished Adam Wade was there to see it with her. She could almost hear his words echoing her own marvel in her ears.
She shook away the thought. Adam Wade was gone. He was not part of her future. He had never been part of her future in spite of the way her heart leaped up inside her just at the thought of him and the memory of his lips on hers. While she was here among the Shakers, she would practice the discipline and plainness of the woman beside her. She would push his memory completely from her mind.
Yet in spite of her determined thoughts, she slipped her hand in her pocket and felt the corners of the folded sketch. His lines drawing her face. That and her grandmother’s ring and pearls were all she had brought from Grayson.
12
Charlotte tried to quell her growing trepidation as she followed Sister Altha outside and along the walkways. She hadn’t thought they would separate her and Mellie, for she had spoken the truth when she’d told Mellie she didn’t think she could do this alone. And now they were both alone. Both being swallowed up by this strange group of people. At her request.
They stepped from the sunshine on the steps into the deep shadow of the brick building behind them. The morning air felt immediately cooler, and a shiver crawled up Charlotte’s back. What was she doing here, trailing after this unsmiling woman in her plain brown dress? Maybe Mellie was right. It could be she had abandoned her senses.
She had told Adam Wade that she was going to do the unexpected. She’d certainly done that in the last couple of days. Allowing a near stranger to kiss her without the slightest hint of resistance. Riding away from Grayson and leaving her home to the clutching designs of that woman. Pretending to want to be one of these unsmiling Shaker women. Imagining that such a crazy plan would bring back the expected life she longed after.
As the shadow enveloped Charlotte, her prayer from the night before echoed in her head. Give me courage. A prayer that was not being answered if the tremble inside her was any indication. Perhaps courage wasn’t one of the blessings the Lord doled out. The Bible spoke of forbearance and longsuffering, gentleness and meekness, joy and love as gifts of the Spirit one should seek. But what of courage? Surely Daniel had been gifted with courage when he continued to say his prayers in full sight of his enemies even though he knew he might be thrown into a den of hungry lions.
But she wasn’t Daniel. She hadn’t spent all that much time in prayer or reading the Bible. She had little reason to believe the Lord would shut the mouths of any hungry lions ready to devour her. Be strong and of a good courage. The words popped into her mind, and while she knew not where they came from, she was sure they were Bible words.
She pulled in a deep steadying breath and looked ahead. Sunlight splattered the path only a couple of steps in front of her. She had done the unexpected. She had left Grayson. She had freed Mellie and kept at least part of her promise to Aunt Tish. She wasn’t giving up on her future. She was fighting for it even if she was walking a very strange path to achieve her aim. Perhaps the Lord did attend to her prayers. Courage didn’t mean the absence of fear. Courage meant walking forward through whatever shadows lay across her path toward the future she had to find a way to make happen.
Ahead of them, the sun bounced off the windows and stonework of the large white building in the center of the village and lent it a special glow that made Charlotte hope it might be their destination. But when Sister Altha paused in front of her, she didn’t even glance over at the stone building. Instead she pointed to the frame building opposite it. “Our meetinghouse,” she said.
Without waiting for any sort of reply, the woman turned and began walking again. Sister Altha kept her capped head bent with her eyes down and her hands tucked under her apron, but now with her newfound courage, Charlotte saw no need to copy her. She wanted to see it all. If she was being swallowed into the belly of the whale as Mellie had suggested, at least she could be familiar with each rib that made up her new home.
The paths between the houses were mostly deserted. When she dared to ask Sister Altha why no one was about, the sister looked back at her with evident irritation before she answered, “The brethren and sisters are attending their duties.”
“All of them?” Charlotte asked.
Sister Altha frowned slightly. “You will discover the answers to your questions in due time without the need for idle conversation on the walkways.”
So Charlotte bit back her questions as they walked on thr
ough the village past smaller buildings with open windows that let out the peck of hammers, the sweep of brooms, and numerous other sounds of industry. Now and again, she spotted a man’s head or the white cap of one of the sisters through the windows. In the gardens between the buildings, several sisters dressed in like fashion to Sister Altha were bent over or on their knees raking leaves and debris away from the roots of the herbs and other plants. Only a couple of the women looked up at them when they passed, and even those two quickly lowered their eyes back to their work.
Sister Altha finally stopped in front of a three-story brick house with separate stone steps up to two identical front doors. The sister led the way up to the door on the left of the house.
“You will be given a bed here at the Gathering Family House. Those who come among us live here while being instructed on the true path to salvation. There will be much for you to learn. Such as always using the proper door to go in and out of our houses. Sisters use the west doors and the brethren use the doors on the east.”
“The church my father and I attend has two doors, one for the women and one for the men.”
“Yea, it is a common custom, but where worldly worshipers fail is in thinking that such is only necessary for their Sabbaths. We pick up the cross of purity of body and soul and carry it every day of the week.” Sister Altha paused inside the door and peered over at Charlotte. “It is a cross that is oft too heavy for many who come to us.”
“What happens then?” Charlotte looked straight at her face. “If they are unable to follow the Shaker way?”
“They go back to the world. We force no one to stay with us who finds the true way too intolerable. But we mourn their return to the miry pit of worldly sin when they had every opportunity to walk the way of peace and love.”
“Do many leave?”
Sister Altha looked grieved as she said, “Yea. Few can walk the narrow road. I will pray to Mother Ann that your feet will not wander from the path to salvation while you learn our ways.”
A young sister came down the hall to meet them. Her face looked as opposite of Sister Altha as was surely possible. While she wore the solemn Shaker expression, her brown eyes sparkled with friendliness and the bloom of youth was in her cheeks.
Even Sister Altha’s face brightened as she looked at her. “Ah, Sister Cora has sent Sister Gemma to be your guide to the more physical elements of our lives. She will instruct you on proper Shaker dress and explain your work duties, Sister Charlotte.” A hint of a frown returned to Sister Altha’s face. “I would not wonder if you might need a great deal of instruction in how to perform some such duties, but all who are able-bodied labor with their hands here at Harmony Hill. The Lord intended us to be useful, and you will discover it is a gift to so work for the good of all.”
“Yea, laboring with our hands increases the strength of our spirits,” Sister Gemma said. “And gives us good sleep at night. Never fear, Sister Altha. I will take good care of our new sister. Charlotte, did you say?”
“Yea. She can go with you to your work duty after the midday meal,” Sister Altha said.
“I am helping to package the seeds for the brethren’s selling trips next week.”
“An easy task. That will be a good beginning for her.”
“What about Mellie?” Charlotte asked as Sister Altha turned toward the door.
Sister Altha looked back, a frown deepening the furrows between her eyes again. It was clear she did not like being questioned. “She is no longer your slave,” she said sternly. “She is your sister now.”
“She has ever been my sister,” Charlotte said quietly. “I was only concerned for her because she was so nervous on the way here and not sure what to expect. She has always depended on me.”
“You need not worry. Your sister will blossom like a flower in the sun in the warmth of the freedom you have rightly given her.” A fleeting look of approval softened Sister Altha’s face for just a second. “Sister Cora will see to her needs. It will be good for you to learn that decisions of the elders and eldresses cannot be questioned. Obedience is necessary for the peace of our society.”
Sister Gemma waited until the door shut behind the older sister before she let a smile lift the corners of her lips. “Don’t fret. It’s not near as hard as Sister Altha makes it sound, Sister Charlotte. Come, we will begin.” She moved toward the left staircase. “This is the west stairs, the sisters’ stairs. You must always use them and not the ones on the east side of the room. Those are for the brethren.” She stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “And always step up on the first stair with your right foot first.”
Charlotte did as instructed and followed the woman who appeared to be near Charlotte’s own age up the stairs stepping with her right foot first, but she couldn’t keep from asking. “Why?”
The question seemed to surprise Gemma, who paused in the middle of the flight of stairs to look around at Charlotte. “Because the Ministry decided it should be so many years ago. Long before I came to be here.”
“When was that?”
“I was eight. My father brought me here to go to school.”
“And he never came back to get you?” Charlotte thought of her own father and wondered what he would do when he got her letter. Would he come storming through the Shaker gates and demand to talk reason to her?
“Yea, he so intended. I’m sure of that. But he and my mother 131 succumbed in the cholera epidemic of ’51. My baby brother too. My uncle took in the other two boys, but it seemed to be the sensible thing for me to stay here where I could keep going to school and learn other useful occupations. The Believers have always been kind to me. And with my folks gone, it felt more like home here than anywhere else I could imagine going.” She turned to climb on up the stairs.
“So you like it here.” Charlotte made it part question, part statement of fact as she followed the sister. After all, Gemma looked happy, as if she’d found that peace Edwin talked about seeking for himself.
“I am content. There is much love between the sisters and brethren. And when the spirit comes down in meeting, I sometimes feel light as a feather with no concerns or worries. I often simply float away on the joy of the moment.” At the top of the stairs, Gemma turned to smile at Charlotte. “Sister Altha says that’s a spirit gift. Have you ever felt such a gift of the spirit in your worship times?”
“Nothing that made me think I was floating away. Joyful or not.” The only time Charlotte had felt anywhere near that way was in the garden with the artist’s lips touching hers, but that was hardly something to reveal to these odd people who considered such joy shared between a man and woman sinful.
“Spirit gifts can be much different. Many feel they receive fruit from heaven to eat and enjoy. Others are gifted with song or a gift of whirling. Some draw spirit pictures.”
“You mean a picture of a ghost?”
The girl actually laughed out loud. The sound was so unexpected after Sister Altha’s solemn attitude that Charlotte jumped a little. Gemma put her hand on Charlotte’s arm. “Nay. Of a surety, nay. Have you been told ghost tales about us here? I have heard that those of the world tell many wild stories about us Believers, but I don’t think I’ve been told of any such that claim our village is haunted.” Suddenly she looked more solemn. “Of course, there are those spirits of our departed brothers and sisters who come back to deliver messages to us from Mother Ann at times.”
Charlotte looked behind her at the stairs and wondered if she should go back down them to search out her mare and ride back to Grayson. She’d done what she intended and set Mellie free. But she hadn’t accomplished her other aims. She hadn’t seen Edwin. She hadn’t given her father time to regret letting Selena push her out of Grayson. But people who got messages from spirits and ghosts might be more than she had bargained for.
Gemma tightened her hand on Charlotte’s arm. “Don’t look so concerned, my sister. It will become clear to you after you learn more of our ways. Trust me, there are no ghosts
to fear. The gifts of the spirit bring joy, not fear. And so it is with the spirit drawings as well. A special gift that can bless us all. You will see in the days ahead and gain understanding of our ways.”
Gemma led the way into a room that held five narrow beds that looked hard and uncomfortable with little room for even a shift in position while sleeping. Nothing at all like Charlotte’s soft featherbed under its ruffled, white lace bedspread at Grayson. A tall narrow chest sat against the outside wall. It had many drawers but absolutely nothing upon it. No flower, no pot of cream or box for hair ribbons or combs. Not even a speck of dust. Three chairs were suspended on the blue pegs that seemed a fixture in every Shaker room.
“How do you comb and arrange your hair with no mirrors?” Charlotte asked.
“We only have the need to adjust our caps, and there is a small mirror in the bathhouses and dressing rooms for that purpose.” Gemma touched her cap and then smiled as she reached over to touch Charlotte’s curls. “Your hair looks as cheerful as a candle flame on a dreary winter night. It does seem a shame to cover it, but it is our way for the sisters to cover their hair. You will grow accustomed to the cap, and if your hair proves to be a bother Sister Melva is good at clipping it short.”
Charlotte’s hand went instinctively to her hair in a protective gesture. She had not considered submitting to a shearing. “Your hair will grow less important to you in time, but until then Sister Melva will not force her scissors upon you.” Gemma laughed again.
“That’s a relief,” Charlotte said as she lowered her hands and studied Gemma a moment. “Are more sisters like you or Sister Altha?”
The Seeker Page 11
