“I’m going for a walk,” she told him.
“A walk?” He looked puzzled. “I thought with the team gone, you gonna help
me burn the rest a them stumps.”
“Tomorrow. I’ll help you first thing in the morning. I promise.” She turned
toward the trail.
“You keep that shotgun loaded by the door and now you goin’ off alone into
the woods without it?” Mourning said to her back.
“I’m not going far. I just need a little time to think.”
Mourning shook his head and grumbled, loudly enough for her to hear,
“Think. She gotta think some more. Ever time that girl say, Mourning, I been thinkin’, I know I be in trouble.”
Once she was out of his sight she slowed her pace and then stopped to sit in a small clearing, with her back resting against a tree. It was dark and cool under the canopy of the forest and the rustling of small animals was somehow
comforting. A woodpecker ra-ta-tapped in the distance. There was so much life
in the world. She looked around her and sighed. It was a beautiful country. No
wonder Uncle Scruggs had missed Michigan so much. But not even he had
wanted to stay here without his Lydia Ann.
What did I think I was I going to do, all alone on a stupid farm? Whateverwas wrong with me in Five Rocks is still wrong with me here. It has nothing to
do with my mother. Or my father carrying on with Jettie Place. It’s me. No man
is ever going to want me. At least back in Five Rocks I had Tobey and Mrs.
Hardaway and Miss Evans.
A mosquito began to annoy her and she rose and walked on farther, too
distracted to bother marking her trail. Then she heard breaking branches and
froze. That was no small animal. Lord, let it be a deer. She moved silently to the
thickest tree and watched from behind it. The steps came closer and she
crouched down.
It was Jeremy Kincaid who came into sight.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Jeremy!” Olivia straightened and stepped from behind the tree. “Hullo,
Jeremy! It’s Olivia. Over here.” She waved, making no effort to hide how happy
she was to see him.
“Olivia!” he shouted and waved back. She was relieved that he seemed
pleased to see her. “What are you doing out here alone?” he asked.
“Just going for a walk,” she said as they crossed the clearing toward one
another.
Once the gap had been closed, neither of them seemed to know what to say.
“So how are you?” he asked.
“I’ve been keeping well. And you?”
“Grand. I’m grand.”
“What are you doing? Hunting?” She nodded at the shotgun and water skin
slung over his shoulder.
“No, I was just going to check on something.” For a moment he stared at her
