The Endless Forest
Page 31

Now he was talking about the flood damage, which houses had roofs and which needed shutters, how difficult it was to get hinges and every other kind of hardware that was needed. Joshua Hench was an outstanding blacksmith and he was more than hardworking; since the flood it seemed that the sound of hammering came from the smithy twenty hours a day. But even Curiosity’s son-in-law could not conjure raw material out of thin air.
Martha liked it when Ethan talked to her like this, as a woman grown, someone capable of discussing the situation and contributing her thoughts. It was very different from the hours she had spent going over the readings he had assigned her in philosophy and current events.
She looked up from her mending and saw that Curiosity was walking toward her, moving more quickly than a woman her age could or should. Her cane kicked up sharp-edged divots of earth.
“Came by to see Elizabeth,” she announced. “Asked about you and now here you are, working.”
“It’s not very much,” Martha said. “Just a little darning. Jennet’s boys are hard on their socks, and I might as well make myself useful.”
Curiosity called over to Anje. “Been at it since sunup, have you?”
Anje nodded and wiped a strand of hair from her face with the back of one wrist. “Joan should be coming to take over any minute now,” she called back.
Curiosity lowered herself onto the second stool and pushed out a deep breath. She said, “Don’t you have a nice hand with a needle. But then I always did like darning; it put me in a peaceful state of mind. Some women darn too heavy, but see there, you got a smooth edge all around.”
Martha made a humming sound and bent down to the thread basket, taking her time to find what she needed.
“You modest as you ever was as a girl and just as hard a worker,” Curiosity said. “Why do you blush and look away when you hear the truth spoke plain?”
“You give me too much credit,” Martha said. “I’ll take on any work that gives me an excuse to stay out of the village another day.”
A smile flickered across Curiosity’s face. “You planning on staying up here on the hill for good?”
“It’s a tempting idea,” Martha said. “I certainly wouldn’t ever be bored as long as the Bonner grandchildren are nearby. They want to go down to the village as much as I want to stay here, and somehow I’ve become the person they bring all their arguments to. I don’t make those decisions, but they seem to like to practice on me.”
Curiosity crossed her arms over her middle and rocked back and forth, laughing softly. “They are a rascally bunch. I can tell you, all this pestering about going down to the village will stop just as soon as Daniel opens the school back up. Then you’ll see how much work they got to do right here. Now you, you’ll go down when you ready. I expect you’ll want to see Callie sooner rather than later.”
“I think about her every day,” Martha said. “But then I always find a reason not to go.”
Curiosity thought about that for a while. “Ain’t much of a welcome home you had, but I don’t expect you wanted one.”
“No,” Martha said. “Not especially.”
“I had my doubts when they took you away to Manhattan,” Curiosity said. “But you turned out a fine young woman, and I’m glad to see you back here again.”
Tears filled Martha’s eyes. “Thank you,” she said, her voice hoarse.
“Now I’ma say something to you, and I want you to listen close. That young man—what was his name?”
“Edward Peyton,” Martha said. How strange it sounded, spoken out loud. “Teddy.”
“You can count yourself lucky to be shut of such a weak-willed boy. Maybe you don’t see it yet, but so it is.”
“Oh, I see it,” Martha said. “I had a letter from him yesterday that made everything clear to me. Do you want to hear it?”
“If you want to read it to me, I’ll listen.”
“I put it in the fire, but I can recite it word for word. It went like this: ‘My dear Miss Kirby, I should like to have the ring I gave you returned to me at your earliest convenience, as it was my grandmother’s and is meant to stay in the family. Sincerely, Edward Peyton the Third.’”
In the small silence that followed, Martha gathered her thoughts. “I did try to give it back to him on the day he broke the engagement off, but he could not get out of the house quickly enough.” The rest of what she was thinking came out almost against her will. “No doubt he is about to enter into another engagement. I’m sure I’ll hear about it soon, in next week’s post or the one after that.”
She wondered at herself that she could be so calm as she told these things, but it all seemed so small and far away. The very idea of Teddy left her hollow, nothing of anger or resentment. A kind of echo, and no more. Now there was a lightness, a feeling of having taken the right path, though it had not been her choice at the time.
“Not the right young man for you, no indeed,” Curiosity said. “You need somebody you can count on when things get rough. Because they going to get rough this summer, and I know you feel it coming.”
Martha came up out of her thoughts at this change of tone.
“You mean Jemima.”
“I do. That exactly who I mean. The only good thing that woman ever done was to bring you into the world and then leave you with us when she run off. But she back now, and the only reason for her to come looking for you is, she want something. She won’t stop coming at you until she got it.”