“Well, I do,” Cutter imparted. “Fell out of a tree once when I was just a mite bigger’n you. Been scared of heights ever since,” he swore with so much emphasis that Elizabeth found herself smiling.
Katie gasped. “You’re not scareda heights?” Cutter nodded slowly, and Katie giggled, as though it were a ridiculous notion. “Not me!” she boasted, her hands going to her hips. “I bet you’re scared now. Aren’t ya?”
“Reckon so,” Cutter admitted soberly.
“Ohhhh, you pooooor thing,” Katie said with so much parental concern that Elizabeth had to giggle. Nodding gravely, Katie added, “Do ya want me to pull ya in? Do ya? I can save ya!” she declared solemnly.
“Can you really?”
“Oh, yes!” Katie swore with vigor, her eyes sparkling. “You just watch me and see! Give me your hand,” she demanded.
“Oh... I dunno,” Cutter said, resisting the urge to do just that. His foot was hurting like hell, and standing out on the trellis wasn’t helping any. “Maybe you should get in and pull? I believe I’m too afraid to give you my hand unless you’re safe inside your room. That is your room, isn’t it?”
“Uh-huh... but why?”
“ ‘Cause we might both fall,” he explained, “and I sure wouldn’t wanna break my arm again.”
“Oh!” Katie exclaimed. “Dat mussa hurt! Good idea!” She scrambled down from the sill. “And know what? I think I will be stronger in my room. But why did ya climb up if you’re so darned scared?” she wanted to know.
“Darned?” Cutter reproved.
“Uh-huh. My granpapa says it all the time,” she explained somberly. “Din’t ya never hear that word a’fore? People say darned when they’re reeeeal mad, you see, and sometimes they even say...” She whispered a word.
“You don’t say,” Cutter remarked, managing to sound only mildly amused. He glanced down at Elizabeth and sent her what appeared to be a wink.
“Oh, sure,” Katie said matter-of-factly. “Din’t ya never hear that one, neither?”
“ ‘Fraid not,” Cutter lied.
Katie chatted incessantly, but with Cutter’s help, she was soon standing safely within her room. Once inside, she thrust out her hand.
Astounded at the scene unfolding before her, Elizabeth watched as Katie held out her little wiggling fingers for Cutter to grasp. And she couldn’t help but giggle as Cutter pretended to let Katie pull him within, grunting and moaning. Feeling a sense of wonder, she stared at the pair in the window. When Cutter was on his feet inside, he spoke to Katie softly, patting her head. And still Elizabeth stared, feeling an affection in her heart that startled her in its intensity.
From what she could tell, Katie looked much as she remembered Katherine had looked at that age. And Katherine had been a beautiful child. The only difference she could discern in them was the hair. Katherine’s had been as rich a gold as wheat before the harvest, and as straight as her own.
It wasn’t until Cutter had been inside a full moment that she began to wonder if he didn’t intend to come back out. Her expression turned suddenly disbelieving.
“Cutter?” No reply. There was only the blur of an open window. “Cutter!” she hissed. The dog barked behind her, but Cutter never reappeared.
“Cutter!”
Chapter Twenty
“You can’t just leave me here!” Elizabeth shouted up to the empty window. “Cutter McKenzie! You come back out here this instant! You can’t—”
Abruptly the front door flew open and a woman’s unfamiliar round face peered out, looking first bothered, and then stunned. As she stared, her chin dropped and her eyes widened. Suddenly she cocked her head, as though in question.
“Uhh... uh... h-hello,” Elizabeth stammered. “I-I-”
“Lands!” the woman declared suddenly, so loudly that Elizabeth leapt back a step. Her face was pale, as though she were looking at a specter. “But no! It couldn’t be!” she continued, as she slowly came forward and did a half circle around Elizabeth.
Elizabeth watched her warily, following her steps with question, turning as she turned.
“My, what an uncanny resemblance!” the woman said at last. “You must be Elizabeth!”
Elizabeth nodded slowly.
The woman nodded, too. And with an abrupt shriek of delight, she seized Elizabeth by the hand. “Oh! But isn’t that always the way!” she exclaimed. “We’ve been expecting you, but Mr. Bass isn’t here just now! He was called away on business, wouldn’t you know.” She patted Elizabeth’s hand reassuringly, then released it. “But do come in, and don’t mind me! Lands sakes, I just can’t believe my eyes! Katie will be so glad to see you, finally. And goodness, if you don’t look so very much like her mother!”
