Free Katie's Dream by Leisha Kelly

“Samuel here?”
    â€œHe’s not back yet from the Posts’.”
    â€œYou tell him I was here and there ain’t much we can do for that cow. May as well put her down, hot as it is. I’ll ask Post if he can come one day next week to give us a hand. Lizbeth can help you do some cannin’. That way, there’ll be some gain at least.”
    I hated the thought of losing Lula Bell. And using the meat was far from appealing, but George was practical about such things. We had to use what we could. His pantry was getting as bare as ours, and I knew he was right.
    â€œI’ll tell him.”
    â€œI’ll be to the north field, if he gets time to work ’longside us today. But I’ll unnerstand if he don’t.”
    He was walking away toward the well, where Sarah had stopped to get a drink. Katie was standing there with her when he came up. He turned his eyes to her, and she backed up a step.
    â€œWhat’s your name, little girl?”
    â€œKatie Wortham.”
    George glanced over at me for a second with a strange look on his face. “That so? Well, you’re a purty little girl. Enjoy your visit.”
    He didn’t say anything else, just turned back toward his team and wagon and went on his way.
    I hadn’t known Katie’s last name was Wortham. I’d just assumed it would be Vale, like her mother. Was she just saying that now, because she was still trying to claim Samuel? Of course, people would think she was Edward’s child, because of the name and because he’d brought her. And the poor girl might not really have a clue who she was.
    I finished hanging what I could on our clothesline and draped one bedsheet over a bush. I wondered if Lizbeth had managed to get her washing done. The Hammonds always had so much, with ten kids and one of them a baby. Of course, I did some of theirs here, but there was still an awful lot on Lizbeth. I thought maybe I should walk over there later in the day and see if she could use some help.
    Sarah and Katie agreed to help me pick the first green beans, so I got three bowls and we started in. Katie was so quiet as we worked. Maybe she didn’t like the work butwas too polite to say so. If she thought me hard, making her lend a hand, maybe she wouldn’t want to stay here after all.
    But what was keeping Samuel? He’d had more than enough time to walk back from Posts by now if he couldn’t use the truck. Maybe Barrett had hired his help with something extra. I could hope. It had been months since that had happened.
    Before we were done picking, though, Samuel came up the lane, truck and all. “He had hay for Joe Porter,” he explained. “I helped him load and haul it to get the job done quicker.”
    Katie stood very still, trying hard not to cry.
    I took her hand. “Samuel, this is going to be hard for her. Facing strangers again, for one thing.”
    He nodded. “Maybe I wouldn’t go today, except she might have a grandma or somebody somewhere worried sick not knowing where she is. We’ve got to think about that too. Even if her mother’s walked away, there might be someone else.”
    I knew he was right. But poor Katie. She must feel like both her mother and her father were rejecting her. She sat on the porch step quiet as a daisy while I packed the leftover muffins and a few fresh carrots in a brown paper sack for them to take along. Samuel was ready to go, to get this over with, but I made him wait a minute longer as I ran in our bedroom to get the three little yarn dolls Katie had left on our pillow.
    When I came back out, she was still just sitting there. Sarah had come and put her arm around her shoulders.
    I sat at Katie’s other side and placed the little dolls in her hand. “You can keep these,” I told her. “We have more.”
    She looked up at me and sniffed. “I don’t wanna go.”
    â€œIt’ll be all right. All you have to