Free Westward Skies by Zoe Matthews Page B

knew it needed more attention than she could give it at that time.
     
    “What happened?” she asked Jessica.
     
    Jessica shook her head and kept her head down.
     
    “You need to tell me, Jessica.”
     
    “I can’t tell you.  It’s all my fault.  I wasn’t tough enough.”
     
    Lizzie gazed at Jessica for a moment, then made another instant decision. She let the children know that she was leaving Helen in charge while she took care of a problem.  She then got a clean handkerchief and water and went back to Jessica who she had left sitting on the floor in the coat room.
     
    “Jessica, did the dog do this to you?”
     
    The child remained silent and Lizzie started to feel frustrated.  “Jessica, this is a serious wound.  We need to get this cleaned up and get you home.”
     
    “I tried to wave the stick like Pa told me to, to make me look big and tough, but it just made the dog madder,” Jessica finally confessed as she broke out into sobs.
     
    Lizzie gathered her into her arms.  “It’s okay.  You’re safe now.  I will make sure something is done about that dog, I promise.”
     
    “You can’t tell Pa,” she cried.
     
    “Oh, honey, you can’t hide something like this from your Pa.  He needs to know what happened.”
     
    “I wasn’t tough like he wanted me to be.  What if he sends me away?”
     
    The words hit Lizzie in her heart.  She had been sent away because she wasn’t good enough.  Would Austin really do that?  Lizzie immediately knew the answer.  Austin loved his daughter.  He wouldn’t ever send Jessica away.
     
    “I don’t think he will sent you away,” Lizzie told her.  “He loves you very much.”
     
    But Austin must face some hard truths about expecting a small child to be strong and face a fierce dog who was almost as large as she was.  She was definitely going to have another talk with Austin, even if it meant he would never allow her to spend time with Jessica ever again.   Someone needed to stand up for the child and that someone was going to be her.
     
    ****
     
    Lizzie remembered that Hannah had told her she was going to the general store that morning, and so Lizzie was able to meet her there.  Hannah made arrangements with her husband, Chase, for Jessica to be taken home in their buggy. A woman who had also been in the general store offered to take over the school class for the rest of the day, which Lizzie accepted very gratefully, especially when she remembered that this woman had been a teacher before she married her husband.
     
    When they arrived at Austin’s farm, she asked Chase to carry Jessica to her bed.  After thanking Chase as he left to let the doctor know he needed to come, she helped Jessica remove her overalls. The wound looked very red and deep.  She placed Jessica’s leg on a pillow, then went to boil some water.  She knew the cleaning she had done at the schoolhouse had not been enough.  It needed to be cleaned better immediately.
     
    Austin burst into the kitchen.  “What’s going on?  I saw Chase come into the yard and then drive off.”
     
    “We need to talk, Austin,” Lizzie told him firmly. “Sit down, please.”
     
    He looked at her sharply, but sat down as requested.
     
    “Jessica was late for school today. She wouldn’t talk to anyone and did hardly any schoolwork.  I found out why at recess when I realized she wasn’t playing with the other children like she usually does.”
     
    “Why?  What happened?” he demanded.
     
    “She was bitten severely by the Fosters’ dog on the leg.”

“What?  Are you sure?  I told her all she needed to do was swing that big stick around and he wouldn’t touch her.”
     
    “Of course I’m sure.  I wouldn’t lie to you about this.”  Lizzie couldn’t believe that he thought she was making this up.
     
    “Where is she?”
     
    “I am not finished,” Lizzie told him in her best schoolteacher’s voice. 
     
    “We can talk later.  Where is she?” he