Free The Reaper's Song by Lauraine Snelling

on the left one. She thought quickly. How to save his pride and yet get him into some decent foot coverings?
    “I have a pile of wood that needs splitting out back. My husband hasn’t had time to get to it, and—”
    “Thankee, ma’am, but I ain’t one to take charity.” He got to his feet.
    “It isn’t charity when one member of a family helps out another. And I got a lot of catching up to do on family.” Penny gentled her voice. “Please.” Men could be so stubborn. “You’d be doing me a favor.”
    “Well, if I can work ’em off somehow . . .”
    “Good. You will.” Penny snatched up the others he’d tied together again by their laces. “You can wash up for dinner out back. Man can’t chop wood on an empty stomach.” She turned as the bell rang again. “You go through that door over there. Washbasin is on the bench—water in the reservoir of the cookstove. I’ll be back soon as I take care of this customer.” Then she sang out in a cheery voice, “Coming.”
    But her voice and smile hid the thoughts crowding her mind. Could something have happened to Hjelmer? Immediately she banishedthat idea to the woodshed where it belonged. Why, he’d been out in his shop not over an hour ago. Or was it longer? Seems she’d spent half her life waiting for that man.
    “Morning, Miz Bjorklund. You got any chewing tobacco?” asked one of the workmen that was checking the track.
    She shook her head. “Sorry, but I told your friend that yesterday.”
    “How come there ain’t no rooming house here in Blessing?”
    “No one’s thought to build one yet. Guess we didn’t know there was a need.” Penny stepped behind her counter. “I’ve got some fine cheese here, though. Better for you than tobacco, anyhow.”
    “Any bread?”
    Penny started to shake her head. She could feel her brain gearing up with a new idea. “How many men on your crew?”
    “Three. Why?”
    “Did you bring dinner with you?”
    “No. Where would we get that? The place in Grafton don’t provide meals, just beds. And not so good a ones at that. Charge a quarter too.” The man shook his head. “Highway robbery, if’n you ask me.”
    Penny could barely wait for him to quit griping. When he paused for breath, she leaped in. “If the three of you want to wash up, I’ll set the table. I’m serving beef stew with new carrots and potatoes, fresh baked bread, and custard pie for dessert for . . .” She paused. Swallowed. “For two bits apiece.”
    “All you can eat?”
    Please, Lord, let there be enough . She swallowed again and nodded. “All you can eat.” Her voice squeaked on the “eat.”
    “I’ll go ask the men.”
    “You do that, then come around that side of the building.” She pointed to the left.
    As he went out the door, she sliced off a hunk of cheese and dug some dill pickles out of the barrel. By the time she had finished, he stuck his head back in the doorway.
    “They’re comin’.”
    She flipped the sign on the door to closed and hurried back to her kitchen. A red-and-white checked oilcloth already covered the table. She could hear Ephraim out back sloshing water and humming. She dipped more hot water into a bucket and set it on the bench. “Could you draw me another bucket from the well? We got more company for dinner.”
    “Why, sure.” He hung the towel back up by the mirror. “Theresomewhere special you want this water tossed?”
    “On the roses there.” She pointed to a pair of plants under the kitchen window. Hjelmer had given her those for her birthday not long after they were married. One red and one white. She stepped out and, taking her shears out of her apron pocket, snipped two blossoms of each.
    Setting them in a jar on the table, she quickly set four places. If and when Hjelmer came home, he’d have to wait. Somehow the thought didn’t aggravate her a bit, though it might him. But then . . . She cut off the thoughts and sliced the loaf of bread she’d made the day before. After