Read Online Around the River's Bend by Aaron McCarver - Free Book Online Page A

name—Zion, was it?
    He’s from the lower class , she thought, but he has more courage than I have .
    Sabrina argued with herself for several minutes. Finally she decided, “What have I got to lose? I have nothing here—no belongings, no family, no land. I might as well go. Even if I discover that the land isn’t really mine, I haven’t lost anything! At that instant she made up her mind. “I’m going to sell the necklace and go to America!”

Part II
    Sion
    June 1791-March 1792

Chapter Five
    Back to the Mines
    As soon as Sion Kenyon entered the house of his employer, Cradoc Evans, he knew that what he had feared had come to pass.
    â€œCome in, Sion—may we have a small drink, is it?”
    â€œTo be sure, Mr. Evans.”
    At Evans’s gesture Sion took a seat and glanced around the kitchen. Mrs. Evans was not there, which was unusual. He suspected that Cradoc had sent her away so she would not have to be witness to the scene that might be painful.
    â€œThere we are, my boy. Drink it off!”
    Sion drank the small beer, wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, and said quietly, “Very good it is, Mr. Evans. You always make the best small beer in all of Wales.”
    â€œKind of you to say so, it is,” Evans said. He turned the large cup around nervously in his hands. Finally he looked at his friend with troubled eyes. “It’s sorry I am to have to tell you this, Sion, but you’ll not be able to stay in this place.”
    â€œYou sold it, then?”
    â€œAye. I agreed with Thomas Powell yesterday. He’ll be taking over in a week.” With a futile wave of his hand, Evans added, “Sorry I am to have to tell you this.”
    â€œI’ve been expecting it.”
    â€œIndeed, I suppose you have. Molly and I have been fearful to tell you. You’ve become like a son to us. Indeed you have, Sion.”
    â€œYou’ve been very good to me, sir. I remember the first day I came here. I had no more knowledge of farming than a stone.”
    â€œThat you did not, but you caught on quick. Quicker than anyone I ever saw.”
    Sion Kenyon had lost his mother to cholera when he was just a lad and his father to a mining accident not much later. He had come to work for Cradoc Evans and his wife just outside the village of Carmarthen. The farm had become a home to him, and Cradoc and Molly Evans had become more like parents than employers. They were growing older now, though. Cradoc was troubled with rheumatism and able to do very little except make the small beer he so enjoyed.
    They had first mentioned moving over a year ago, when Cradoc had moaned in pain as he tried to work in the field. “I’ll not be able to do this much longer, Sion. Molly and I will have to go stay with my brother, and it pains me greatly.”
    Since then Sion had known that the day would come when the farm would be sold. Now as he sat with the man who was a second father to him, he took another sip of the frothy liquid and said, “I’m grieved you’re in bad health, you and your dear wife.”
    â€œWell, God has been good to us. He has given us a long and good life. We had no children, but we had you, Sion. That’s meant a lot to Molly and me.”
    The two men sat there quietly enjoying each other’s companionship in the kitchen. It was a quiet hour, but Sion well knew that he had turned a corner in his life. After a time Sion leaned forward and pressed the arm of Cradoc Evans that was stretched out on the table. “You’ll not be worrying about me. I’ll make out fine.”
    â€œI know you will. You’re a good man, Sion. I never saw anyone better with a farm. When you took over two years ago, I wasn’t sure. But you’ve not made a mistake that I know of.”
    Sion laughed. He was a well-built individual with light brown hair and brown eyes. He ran his fingers along the scar on the side of his neck