Angel of the Cove

by Sandra Robbins

  Anna stuck her head in the henhouse and stared into the dim interior. A clucking sound, almost like a growl, came from the direction of Jewel’s nest. “Just checking, Jewel. Didn’t mean to bother you.” Anna backed from the building.

  Granny looked up from pouring hot water into the dishpan as Anna walked in. “What you smilin’ ’bout?”

  Anna hung the basket on the peg. “I looked in on Jewel. She didn’t seem to want any company.”

  Granny leaned over the dry sink and concentrated on scrubbing the jam pot. “A settin’ hen shore don’t want to be disturbed. Cain’t blame her much. She’s a-doin’ her job so’s we’ll have some chickens. I shore hope I can get me another broody hen outta this batch. I been tryin’ for a long time to git me a big flock of chickens. I used to have more, but the foxes around here jest kept raidin’ my henhouse. Purty soon all I had left was Jasper and Jewel.” She thought for a moment before she chuckled. “Yeah, that Jewel shore is doin’ her job.”

  Granny’s words reminded her of how different this world was than the one she’d come from. Her mother’s large flock had provided their table with many chicken dishes—fried, baked, in stews, and with dumplings. She’d always taken those things for granted, but she knew she never would again. She was just beginning to understand how difficult survival in the Cove really was.

  Granny climbed from the buggy and tied the horse to the lowest branch on a scrubby tree in the corner of the Fergusons’ yard. Anna scanned the yard for the children but didn’t see them anywhere. She hopped from the buggy and waited until Granny stepped up beside her.

  “I don’t see anybody. You think they could be gone somewhere?”

  Granny shook her head. “Not likely, with a baby. They’s around somewhere.”

  At that moment a squeal of pleasure pierced the air. “Miss Anna!” Lucy and Ted, their arms outstretched, ran toward Anna.

  Lucy’s auburn hair sparkled in the sun, and Ted’s face appeared to have sprouted a new batch of freckles since she’d last seen them. Dried mud spots stained both of the children’s clothes.

  Anna braced herself for the children charging toward her across the yard. When they plowed into her, she grabbed both of them in a tight embrace. “Lucy, Ted, I’m so glad to see you.” She held them at arm’s length and studied their faces. Dirt streaked their faces. “What have you two been doing?”

  Ted grinned up at her. “We been a-makin’ mud pies. We’s the best chefs in the Cove.”

  Anna laughed and hugged them close.

  Granny tapped her on the shoulder. “What these young’uns talkin’ ’bout?”

  Anna glanced at her. “Just something we talked about when I was here before.” Her heart constricted with the words. She’d almost added “and Simon came by.” She swallowed and turned back to the children. “How have you been?”

  Ted frowned at her. “We been a-wantin’ you to come agin. What took so long?”

  “It hasn’t been that long. Granny and I have lots of women to take care of just like with your mama. Which reminds me, how’s your baby brother doin’?”

  “He’s fine. Mama says he’s growin’ like a weed.” Lucy’s grin revealed a missing front tooth.

  Anna’s eyebrows arched. “Lucy, you’ve lost a tooth since I was here.”

  Lucy opened her mouth and pointed to the gap. “Yes’m. It got loose, and Poppa put a string around it and jerked it. That ole tooth jest popped right out.”

  Anna leaned over and examined the space in the front row of Lucy’s teeth. She shuddered. “Oh, that sounds painful. You must have been a very brave girl.”

  Ted shook his head. “Naw, she cried somethin’ fierce.”

  Lucy, her fists doubled, turned on Ted. “That ain’t true.”

  Ted clenched his fists and backed away. “Is so.”

  The squabbling between the two children reminded her of the childhood spats she’d had with Robert. A quarrel could be sparked over the least thing, but anger quickly cooled when they were presented with something to distract them. Anna reached back in the buggy for a bag she’d brought. “All right, you two. I brought something for you, but you only get it if you behave yourselves.”

  Their anger instantly forgotten, the children clustered closer to her. Ted’s freckled face beamed in anticipation. “What you brung us, Miss Anna?”

  She reached inside the bag and pulled out two small bundles wrapped in homespun scraps from Granny’s sewing basket and tied with a piece of yarn. She handed each of the children one. “Before I came to the Cove, my brother rode to Sevierville and bought me some shoes, but he brought me something else—stick candy. He knew how I liked it and wanted me to bring some with me. So I thought you two might like to have some.”

  The children’s eyes grew wide with awe as they unwrapped their gifts—three pieces of candy for each. At that moment Laura, with the baby in her arms, walked around the side of the house.

  “Granny, Anna, good to see you,” she called.

  Their mother’s voice brought the children back to reality, and they bolted toward her. “Mama, look what Miss Anna brung us,” Lucy squealed.

  Ted stopped in front of his mother and jumped up and down. He cupped the present in his hand. “Candy, Mama,” he screamed. “Jest like the time Pa went to Gatlinburg and brung us back some.”

  Laura smiled down at her children. “Where’s your manners? You thanked Miss Anna yet?”

  The children whirled, raced back to Anna, and grabbed her in a tight hug. “Thank you, thank you,” they yelled in unison.

  When they released her, Anna bent down and pointed to the candy. “Now you each have three pieces. Try not to eat it all at once. Eat a little every day so you can enjoy it longer.”

  Lucy nodded. “Yes’m. I’ll remember that.”

  Ted glanced down at the candy, a skeptical look in his eyes. “Don’t know if I kin do that, but I’ll try.”

  Anna patted him on the head. “Good. Now you two go play. Granny and I are here to help your mama.”

  The children giggled and ran toward the backyard. Laura tilted her head to one side. “You’s come to help me?”

  “That’s right,” Granny said. “Thought you could use some extra hands now that you got a baby to tend.”

  Laura brushed her hair out of her eyes, and Anna frowned inwardly at Laura’s tired eyes. Tiny wrinkles lined her face. She stepped closer. “How’re you feeling, Laura? You look tired.”

  Laura straightened her shoulders. “I’m all right. Just tired. Pete needed help hoein’ the corn this morning.”

  Anna gasped. “You worked in the field today?”

  A crimson flush spread across Laura’s face. “Yeah, and yesterday too.”

  “But, Laura, your baby is just a few weeks old. You shouldn’t be doing that kind of work.”

  Granny touched Anna’s arm. “Darlin’, Pete cain’t do the work by hisself. And Laura’s the only one to help. If’n they don’t git a good crop, then the fam’ly is in for a hard time this winter.”

  Anna wished she had bitten her tongue before blurting out the words she’d just spoken. She swallowed and faced Laura. “Well, just take it easy, Laura. Try not to strain yourself, and stop when you get tired.”

  Laura smiled. “I will.”

  Anna reached out toward the baby. “Well, how about letting me hold this big boy while we go inside and see what we can do to help you out today?”

  Laura handed the baby over but shook her head. “No need for that. Let’s just visit.”

  Granny shook her head and chuckled. “No ma’am. We come to work, and that’s what we mean to do. Now, what you got waitin’ in the house for you?”

  Laura grinned. “Well, I picked some blackberries this morning.”

  Anna juggled the baby in her arms and nodded toward the house. “Well, you’re in luck. We’re two of the best berry pickers and jam makers in the Cove. Let’s go get started.”

  “Oh, Anna,” Laura said as they headed toward the house, “you
shore give my soul a lift. I never figured you for a girl that liked to pick berries.”

  Anna stopped before entering the front door. “Really? Well, let me tell you about the time I picked blackberries with a bear.”

  Laura’s eyebrows shot up. “A bear?”

  Granny grabbed Laura’s arm and propelled her into the house. “Don’t know if I can listen to this story agin.”

  Anna laughed, hugged the baby close, and followed Laura into the house. She looked around at the familiar surroundings and remembered the molasses cake and Simon sitting at the kitchen table listening to her Bible story.

  She hadn’t seen Simon in days, and she missed him so much. Every time she heard a horse on the road in front of Granny’s cabin, she hoped it was Simon and waited for him to call out to them.

  She hadn’t realized how much his friendship meant to her until it wasn’t there anymore. Thoughts of how to mend their differences poured through her mind all the time, but so far she hadn’t come up with a solution. If only he’d come back, she was sure they could work it out. All she could hope was that he would come to Granny’s for a visit soon.

  Chapter 12

  That night Anna sat at the small table in her bedroom and reread the letter she’d written to her mother. She could imagine her mother’s excitement at receiving the message and could almost envision the happiness on her face as she read it. She wondered how her mother would react to her stories about life in the Cove. The births of the Ferguson and Long children, the endless food preservation, the beauty of the scenery—all her experiences were there. She’d closed by telling how much she enjoyed the work and looked forward to going to New York in September.

  Yawning, she rose from the table and leaned over the oil lamp. She was about to blow out the flame when a shotgun blast from the backyard startled her.

  She jerked upright and hurried into the kitchen. The back door stood open, and Anna dashed into the backyard. Her nightgown billowed about her legs in the mountain breeze as she stared out into the dark night.

  Fear tightened her throat. “Granny? Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, darlin’, I’m fine.” Granny’s soft voice drifted from the shadows.

  Anna strained to see Granny in the night. “What happened?”

  Granny appeared in the circle of light that shone through the back door. A shotgun dangled from her hand. “A fox got in the henhouse. I was jest scarin’ him off.”

  Anna’s gaze darted toward the shed that served as Granny’s henhouse. “Are Jasper and Jewel all right?”

  Granny shook her head. “He got Jewel. I could see ’er in his mouth when he run off.”

  Without speaking, Anna followed Granny into the house and watched her put the gun in the cabinet in the corner of the kitchen. Tears stung her eyes.

  Granny turned to face her, and for the first time since coming to the Cove, Anna saw something akin to defeat on Granny’s face. “Seems like somethin’ always happens to my chickens.” She took a big breath. “But that’s jest how life is in the Cove. We have setbacks, but we know the good Lord’s still a-lookin’ after us.”

  Tears poured from Anna’s eyes and streamed down her face. “But Granny, what about the eggs Jewel was hatching?”

  Granny shook her head. “They won’t be no use no more. I’ll jest put this in the Lord’s hands. That’s all I kin do.” Granny trudged from the room, her shoulders drooping.

  Anna slipped back into her room and dropped to her knees beside the bed. She clasped her hands and leaned over until her face touched the patchwork quilt. “Dear God, I’ve come to see how difficult life is for women like Laura and others in the Cove. Be with the people I’m coming to love, and comfort Granny tonight. I thank You for her example of faith, and I pray to be more like her. Amen.”

  Anna raised her head and eased onto the bed. She couldn’t shake the image of Granny’s face from her mind. Tonight a fox had dined on Granny’s only laying hen, and because of that their food supply had been affected.

  The Cove was a strange world to try to survive in, and she wondered if she would ever understand it. As the words drifted through her mind, another thought welled up. On the table next to her lay the letter she’d written to her mother. The one thing she hadn’t confessed and the thought she was only beginning to recognize was how a love for Cades Cove had begun to take root in her heart. She dreaded the day when she would have to leave.

  The next morning Anna wiped the last plate from breakfast dry and set it on the shelf. She hung the dishtowel on a peg and turned to Granny. Still upset over Jewel’s death, neither she nor Granny had spoken much during the meal.

  Granny crumbled a leftover biscuit into a pan and stared at it. “Jasper’ll be wond’rin’ where his breakfast is. Guess I better git this to ’im. Seems strange not to give Jewel one.”

  “Granny, I…” Anna stopped at the sound of a knock on the front door. Granny glanced up, but Anna touched her arm. “I’ll get it.”

  Anna dried her hands on her apron and hurried through the house. When she pulled the door open, she gasped in surprise. The man who’d frightened her at the Fergusons’ home stood on the porch. Dark hair stuck out from under his sweat-stained hat and dirt streaked the front of his overalls. To Anna he looked like a giant towering over her, and the old fear returned.

  He gave no sign of recognition but stared past her into the house. “Granny here?”

  Anna backed away from the door. “I’ll get her.”

  “Tell ’er Cecil Davis be here.” The words rolled from his mouth like a growl.

  All Anna wanted was to put some distance between herself and the hulking frame of this man. Granny set the empty pan on the table as Anna reentered the kitchen. “Who’s here?”

  “Cecil Davis.”

  Granny’s body tensed. She stood still, her thumb touching one finger after another as if she was counting. When she finished, she frowned. “Land’s sakes, I shore hope Pearl ain’t started havin’ that young’un. It ain’t due for two months.”

  Granny rushed from the kitchen, her heavy stride thumping against the wood floor. Anna strained to hear the conversation in the next room. Who was Pearl? Could she be Cecil’s wife? The thought of going to his house filled her with dread. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. For all she knew, Pearl could be his neighbor. In an attempt to distract her thoughts, she sat down at the table and began to shell the peas she’d picked earlier.

  Granny hurried into the kitchen, pulled her apron off, and hung it on a peg. “We gotta go, Anna. Pearl Davis done started havin’ pains. I tol’ Cecil to go on home, that we’d come in my buggy.” She pointed to the pan of unshelled peas. “Let’s take these here peas to Pearl’s. We can cook ’em there. Hurry up, child, and get your thangs. I’ll git my yarbs and medicine.”

  Anna pushed up from her chair and grabbed the edge of the table. Her knees shook so that she thought she could hear them knocking together. She could barely voice the question that filled her with dread. “Will I be staying at the Davis’s, Granny?”

  Granny halted and thought for a moment. “Maybe we’ll both stay tonight. Pearl lost her last baby. If she loses this one she may need us, but Cecil’ll go git his brother’s wife. They live on t’other side of the Cove. Won’t take him long to git back.”

  Relief flooded over her. She’d been ready to tell Granny she wouldn’t stay alone at the Davis’s cabin. Anna nodded and rushed to her bedroom. She pulled a dress from the peg on the wall and put it in her valise before she hurried from the room.

  Thirty minutes later Granny was guiding the horse and buggy into the yard of the Davis cabin. It sat almost hidden in a grove of trees off the main road of the Cove and was much smaller than the other houses Anna had seen. A barn sat several hundred feet back of the cabin, but no cows or horses inhabited the pasture where lush grass grew. A few chickens pecked at the ground around the cabin, and Anna wondered if the foxes had also visited the Davis farm.

  Cecil Davis opened the door when
Granny knocked. With a nod he stepped aside for Anna and Granny to enter. Anna followed Granny into a sparsely furnished room. Two chairs sat before a fireplace. A quilt hung over the back of one of the chairs.

  Granny headed toward the door beside the fireplace where she stopped and stared into the next room. “Hello, Josie.”

  Anna peered over Granny’s shoulder into the kitchen and spied a little girl, perhaps two years old, in a chair at the table. Her dark hair hung in tangled curls down her back. Her unkempt appearance told Anna no one had taken time to comb the child’s hair all day. Food stains spotted the wrinkled dress she wore. Anna eased forward and smiled at the child.

  Josie’s mouth curved in a smile, and she squirmed to get down. Her father walked into the room at that moment. His sharp voice sliced through the silent cabin. “Sit.”

  The smile on Josie’s face faded, and she stilled.

  Granny nodded toward a closed door at one side of the kitchen. “Pearl in there?”

  Cecil nodded and headed for the back door. He took the hat he’d worn to Granny’s from a peg and set it on his head. “I got work to do. Be back in a while.”

  Anna, unable to believe he wasn’t staying, turned to Granny. “He’s not going to take care of Josie?”

  Granny smiled. “It ’pears like that. Guess you’ll hafta be the one. I’ll check on Pearl and call if’n I need you.”

  Granny patted the child on the head and walked to the bedroom. When she’d closed the door, Anna looked down at the little girl still sitting at the table. She scooted another chair close to the child and held out her arms. “Hello, Josie. Want to come to me?”

  For a moment Josie wavered, her bottom lip quivering. She pointed toward the closed door. “Mama.”

  Anna nodded. “Yes, Mama’s in the other room.”

  Josie stuck her finger in her mouth and chewed on it for a moment while she studied Anna. Anna wiggled her fingers and smiled. “Come on. Let me hold you.”