If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
— Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind” (1819)
When Joseph saw his father at Vespers, he knew something was wrong. The man seized on any excuse not to attend Mass. Hélène sat beside him, and she did not look any worse than the last time Joseph had seen her. It must be their grandmother. Had another palsy struck her?
Joseph was forced to speculate until after Benediction, when his father and sister motioned him into the Biblical garden. “We’ve had another letter,” his father began.
Joseph sank onto a bench. Each time he thought the last blow had landed, his father added another. In July, the McAllisters’ wagon had capsized in the Platte River. Perry had not survived. Cathy made it only as far as a landmark called Independence Rock, where she gave birth to a son and decided to turn back. One of the trappers remained with her and the children while the other wagons disappeared into the mountains. Then childbed fever took the lives of Cathy and her newborn. At least he’d been baptized.
Before the trapper could lead Cathy’s surviving children back to Fort Laramie, his horse spooked and threw him. Ten-year-old David and seven-year-old Sophie had been left utterly alone in the wilderness, two hundred miles from help. They began retracing their steps toward the fort; but if they’d not crossed paths with an Indian Good Samaritan, the children would surely have perished as well.
Hélène blotted her eyes with her handkerchief. “Can you imagine?”
“It’s a miracle David and Sophie survived,” Joseph murmured. “Literally, a miracle.” Yet he struggled to praise God for this imperfect mercy.
“They’re staying with former neighbors in Missouri now,” his father explained. “I’ve a few things to arrange first—patients I need to refer to colleagues—then I’ll fetch David and Sophie.”
“You’ll be able to take them in to live with you?” Joseph asked.
His father nodded. “We’ll make space for them on the third floor, across from Hélène and Liam.”
“I don’t mind giving up my dressing chamber—truly I don’t,” Joseph’s sister asserted. “It will force me to be less vain. But a boy who’s already proven himself a man should not have to share a bedchamber with his little sister. And after what those children have already suffered…it seems so cruel, to bring them into a house where two of us are dying.”
Their father the doctor did not contradict her. He only averted his eyes.
Hélène twisted up her handkerchief. “David and Sophie need a refuge, not a cramped mausoleum.”
Their father patted her hand. “It cannot be helped.”
How Joseph wishedhehad a home to offer his niece and nephew.
A few days later,Joseph celebrated Mass on Sullivan’s Island for the Irish workers. He would have welcomed the solitude on theother side of the island, the chance to listen for God’s voice and find sense in Cathy and Perry’s deaths. But Joseph had made a promise to his living sister.
So he rode Prince only as far as the Stratfords’ cottage, where Hélène was staying. He found Tessa reading on the back porch, with Hannah seated beside her doing mending. At Joseph and Prince’s approach, Tessa set down her book and came to the railing.
Though her wide straw hat obscured her eyes, her lips were smiling. “You are like something from a fairy story. While you are out of my sight, I tell myself I must have imagined you. Then, you reappear, as handsome as before.”
Joseph’s mouth fell open.
Tessa added in a rush: “Hélène has been resting. I’ll see if she’s awake.” And she darted into the cottage.
Joseph glanced nervously at Hannah. She too was in shadow, but he thought he saw her smile. The question threatened to tumble from his tongue:“Mrs. Stratford was speaking to Prince, right?”
The alternative was ludicrous. To direct such flattery at a Priest would be entirely inappropriate, even sacrilegious. To question Tessa’s intentions would be not only the height of arrogance but also calumny to Tessa. He must say nothing at all.
Joseph tied Prince to the railing and climbed the porch steps. He cleared his throat and asked only: “Were Edward or Liam able to come?”
Hannah shook her head. “They’re both busy in town.” Liam had been admitted to practice in the equity courts only a week ago.
Tessa returned carrying an apple. “Hélène is rousing herself, but she still needs to dress.”
Joseph thought Hannah glanced at him before she announced: “I’ll help her, Miss Tessa.” The black woman disappeared inside.
Tessa offered Joseph the apple. “Have you broken your fast, Father?”
“With the workers.” He shook his head to refuse the fruit. “Thank you.”
“You have made Prince very happy.” Tessa held out the apple tohis mount, who devoured it noisily. Tessa kept her eyes on Prince, her expression grave now. “Hélène told me about Cathy and Perry and your little nephew. I’m so sorry, Father.”
