Page 371 of Conveniently Wed
KATHERINE’S ARRANGEMENT BY BLOSSOM TURNER
PROLOGUE
Civil War—October 1864
Rockingham County, Shenandoah Valley
“Katherine. They’re coming.” Pa swung his rifle over his shoulder and grimaced. The gun slipped to the floor. With jerky movements, he retrieved the weapon.
“Pa, your shoulder.”
“Go, girl, and do exactly as we planned.”
Through the window, the smoke from the neighbor’s house, a cloud of ominous black, darkened the distant horizon. She glanced back at her pa, torn between helping her ma and sisters and him. Her heart leapt into her throat as he fumbled with his rifle. What could he really do against a group of soldiers? He could barely hold a gun.
“Katie, get moving. I’ll be on the porch.”
She shot forward, stumbling on the hem of her dress as she ran toward the kitchen. “Ma, we gotta go.” She snatched up her trusty rifle hung above the back door, and felt for the revolver she kept hidden under her dress.
Ma was stuffing a pillowcase with food. A loaf of bread fell through her trembling hands and tumbled to the floor. Katie’s sisters huddled close with wide eyes and tears streaming down their faces.
“Ma, come on.” Katie picked up three-year-old Gracie, put an arm around her ma’s shoulders, and steered them toward the door. Her three other sisters followed on her heels.
Gracie squirmed, fighting to get down.
“Beckie,” Gracie howled. “I need Beckie.”
“There’s no time,” Ma said.
Katie thrust Gracie into Ma’s arms. “I’ll find it. We can’t have her screaming.”
Katie placed her hands on both sides of Gracie’s small round face and leaned in. “I’ll get your doll if you promise to obey Ma and do everything she says. Understand?”
Gracie whimpered. Her thumb went into her mouth.
“Ma, take the girls. I’ll find the doll.”
Katie raced from room to room. She swallowed hard against the knot of fear rising in her throat.Where is that doll? God, if you’re up there, please…
No sooner had she voiced her prayer than she spotted the arm of the doll poking out from underneath her sister’s bed. She swooped it up and ran out the door.
The smoke in the distance billowed into a thick black cloud. Katie picked up her skirt and darted across the yard. The Yankees were closing in.
She headed for the hedge that lined a small section of the dusty drive. The boxwoods, her ma’s prized token of a childhood in Richmond, would serve them well today. A thick blackberry bramble sprawled directly behind, preventing any rider from coming that direction.
Ma and her sisters huddled in their makeshift shelter dug into the ground. Five sets of frightened eyes looked up at Katie as she approached.
She tossed the doll to Gracie and looked at her ma. “I’m not leaving Pa alone.” She knelt down and grasped the leaf and twig covered board they had prepared to conceal the hiding spot.
“What about you?” Fifteen-year-old Amelia held out her arm, her dark eyes saucer wide and brimming with tears.
“I’ll join you as soon as I can.”
“Ma, stop her,” Amelia said.
“She knows what’s she doing.” Ma nodded her approval.
A knot twisted inside Katie’s gut. Ma so easily gave in. As usual, she treated Katie different from the others. Regardless, she wasn’t about to leave Pa to fend for himself. If they tried to harm him, she would use her gun and they would pay. With her sharp aim, she would be able to take out a few of them before they got to her.
