Free A Girl Like That by Frances Devine

seeing Katherine quickened his steps. He was relieved to see that Charlie had sent someone to the livery to bring his horse and carriage around.
    As he rode home in the stifling heat, he glanced up, hoping for the sight of a rain cloud. It was the middle of September. But the driest September Sam could remember.
    When he arrived at home, he found his mother in the kitchen supervising dinner preparations.
    “Sam, dear. We’re having guests for dinner. Could you possibly bring the ice cream freezer out? Everything is mixed and ready to go. You have time to crank out a batch before you change, if you wouldn’t mind.”
    “Of course, Mother. Let me go hang up my suit coat.” When he came back downstairs, he went to the storage room off the kitchen and took his mother’s pride and joy out of its box.
    She poured the mixture of cream, sugar, and vanilla into the container and added salt and cracked ice to the freezer.
    Sam started cranking. “Who are the guests, Mother?”
    “Oh, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The Langleys’ niece, Martha, is visiting, and Ella wants her to meet young people her own age. I told her I was certain you would be happy to meet Martha and perhaps introduce her to some of your friends.”
    Sam grinned, amused at another of his mother’s attempts to help him find her future daughter-in-law. She’d been hinting for some time that he should be settling down. She’d be quite surprised if she knew he had already chosen his future bride. “Yes, of course, Mother. I’d be happy to show her around, but I have plans for tonight.”
    She held both hands up to her pretty, plump face. “Oh dear. I should have checked with you first. But I’m sure they’ll be leaving by nine. Would that upset your plans? I’ll be so embarrassed if you can’t be here.”
    When Sam saw his mother’s hopeful expression, he knew he wouldn’t be seeing Katherine O’Shannon tonight.

Eight
    Katie walked into the stifling room and held her breath, trying not to gag from the smell of cabbage and onions steaming from a pot on top of the small stove in the corner. The one-room, run-down shack contained two beds pushed up against opposite walls. A threadbare, faded quilt lay neatly folded at the end of each bed, and twin rickety chests stood side by side against the front wall. Four chairs, with sagging seats, hugged the uncovered table near the back door.
    A colorful painting of an Irish meadow on the wall above the table, the only suggestion of color or beauty in the neat but drab room, caught Katie by surprise. As she followed Bridget and her mother, she noticed the dirt floor was swept clean and smooth. Mrs. Thornton opened the back door, and Katie sighed with relief as they walked out into the small backyard and she inhaled fresh air.
    About a dozen women stood in clusters of twos and threes, seeming to ignore the nearby hodgepodge of chairs, stools, and wooden barrels.
    A tiny woman, her blue eyes sparkling and black hair pulled back in a bun, turned from two others and hurried over to Mrs. Thornton. “How are ya farin’, Margaret? I hope this heat won’t be too much for ya.”
    “I’m feeling much better. Thank ya, Susan.” The paleness of her lips and dark circles beneath her warm brown eyes belied the brave words, but her neighbor nodded and smiled.
    “It’s glad I am to be hearing it.” She turned to Bridget and patted her on the shoulder. “And here you are working and helping your ma and the wee little one. A good thing.”
    “Mrs. Bailey,” Bridget said, taking Katie’s hand, “I’d like for you to meet my friend Katie O’Shannon.”
    The woman smiled. “It’s pleased I am to meet you, Miss O’Shannon. And happy that you’d be caring about the poor people of Conley’s Patch.”
    Katie blushed. “Please call me Katie, ma’am. And really, it’s just an idea for child care that Bridget and I came up with.”
    “Well, anything to help put food in the mouths of the children is a