Free Christmas at Harmony Hill by Ann H. Gabhart Page A

officers in the army claimed forty years, even fifty, and led their men into battle with vigor.
    Why did her every thought circle back around to battles? But what else could occupy her mind with Gideon marching on with the army? She shut her eyes. She wouldn’t think of him fighting the Rebels. Instead she would think about the way he looked as he held her that last morning with the gentle light of love in his eyes. With that thought warming her heart while the fire warmed her body, she let her mind drift back to the first time she saw him at his cousins’ house making sorghum.
    He had looked so different from the boys she’d known all her life as he led the horse around in a circle to keep the rollers squeezing the juice out of cane his uncle fed into the mill. His red hair lopped down over his forehead and his freckles were bright in the sunshine. She’d never seen anyone with that many freckles. When Gideon spotted her standing there holding onto Lucas to keep him out of trouble, he had grinned and grabbed up the boy to perch him on the broad back of the workhorse.
    “Grab a couple of handfuls of the old girl’s mane there, kid,” he told Lucas with a a big grin over at Heather. “We wouldn’t want you falling off and cracking open your head before you have a chance to introduce me to your sister. She is your sister and not your girl, isn’t she?”
    Lucas had laughed, excited to be on the horse, even if it was only a tired old workhorse. Heather had smiled a bit at Gideon, but that was all. She hadn’t encouraged his attentions that day. He was too different. He even sounded different with a northerntwang to his voice. Simon said he was from up in Ohio and that he wouldn’t be around that long.
    “Joey says he don’t know why he decided to come visit them, unless he thought he could find some freckle-removing juice down this way,” Simon said. “He’s needing it for certain.”
    All the boys made fun of his freckles, but Gideon just laughed right along with them until they began to see past his freckles. And he didn’t head back north. At least not right away. Instead he headed over to Heather’s house. At first he pretended it was to see Simon, but it wasn’t very many days until everybody knew he was courting Heather. He took Lucas and Willie fishing but told Heather she’d better come along to make sure he didn’t lose one of the boys. He did handstands in the yard to make her mother laugh and gave Jimmy rides on his shoulders so he could be taller than his brothers, even Simon.
    And Heather tumbled right into the quicksand of love. She sank fast with no interest in being rescued. They shared their first kiss in the golden light of a harvest moon in late October. They were together every moment possible through November. He went home in December.
    “But I’ll be back next summer,” he had promised. On the way home from church, he pulled her off the road in behind Mr. Johnson’s barn. Sheltered there from the early winter wind and hidden from curious eyes, he kissed her before he asked, “You’ll wait for me, won’t you, Heather Lou? You won’t let another boy steal your heart if I’m not around to chase him away.”
    “They can’t steal what’s not here. You’ll be taking my heart home with you,” Heather had whispered.
    She couldn’t stand the thought of him leaving her. She wanted to go with him. She was nearly eighteen. Lots of girls married that young. She would have gone with him in a minute, but he hadn’t asked her. He’d kissed her. He’d held her close. He’d even said he loved her, but he hadn’t said anything about getting married and loving her forever.
    Her mother said that was good. They hadn’t really known each other very long. It was better to be patient when a person was talking about love for the rest of her life. She reminded Heather that he’d promised to be back in the spring, and if the feelings were still strong between them, then would be time enough