Read Online Until the Harvest by Sarah Loudin Thomas - Free Book Online Page B

hung her head but didn’t protest. Margaret shifted slightly so that she was between her mother and sister. A week earlier their mother claimed Mayfair wasn’t fit for anything better than cleaning. What wild idea did she have today?
    “She likes to come. Emily doesn’t expect her to work and neither do I. She’s just good company.”
    “I don’t care.” Lenore squinted at her eldest daughter, as though trying to make her out through a dirty window. “It’s high time I started teaching her the finer things in life. I’m tempted to ship her off to a girls’ school, where she can learn proper etiquette and how to present herself in the best society, but for now I’ll handle her education.”
    Margaret looked at her younger sister, whose normally pale cheeks were positively ashen. She took her hand and squeezed it.
    “This will be fun, sweetie. Mom is a very elegant lady, and you can learn a lot from her.” Margaret’s words sounded hollow in her own ears, but her mother smiled. Margaret hoped Mayfair was fooled, too.
    “Thank you, dear. Now you run along. Mayfair and I are going to have a wonderful day.”
    Margaret released her sister’s hand and walked out the door feeling as though she were leaving a mouse with a bored cat.

    “Emily, do you think you’d ever want someone to live in with you?” Margaret dusted the family room while Emily sat rocking and reading Good Housekeeping . There was a picture of Mary Tyler Moore on the cover. Margaret wondered how she got her hair to look so perfect.
    “Oh, maybe one of these days. I think having you is enough for the time being.” She dropped the magazine in her lap. “Sometimes you need a moment all to yourself. When John first died, I didn’t think I could stand being alone, but eventually I came to appreciate it.” She sighed. “And losing a child—well, that leaves you with a whole other feeling of being alone.” She closed her eyes for a moment, then looked back at Margaret. “I remind myself that we’re never truly alone. God is always and ever with us.”
    Margaret nodded and went to put the can of furniture polish away. She supposed what Emily said was true, but there were times when she felt not just alone, but abandoned. Times when she worried what the future could possibly hold for her sister. Times when other people were around but seemed disconnected. Times like now.
    “Henry’s here,” Emily called out. “The cow can’t be far behind.”
    Swiping her hands against her rust-colored pants, Margaret hurried into the family room. Henry stood with his coatunfastened and gloves in his hand. In that moment Margaret was struck by how good-looking he was. He wasn’t traditionally handsome—not like Robert Redford, say—but he was handsome in the way a man is when he’s pleased with the world and his place in it. Margaret didn’t think she’d ever seen Henry like that before.
    “Jerry from the stockyard will be here any minute. I saw him coming, but he’s taking it slow over the dirt road with Bertie in the back.”
    Margaret giggled. “Bertie?”
    Henry grinned back. “I know. You’d expect Daisy or Buttercup or something like that. But Bertie it is, and I think it’s stuck by now.”
    Margaret wished Mayfair were with them. She loved animals and would have enjoyed being here to greet Bertie. There was a clanking sound outside, and Henry hurried to help unload the cow. Emily and Margaret bundled up to go out and welcome the newest resident to the farm.
    Henry and Jerry had Bertie in the side yard, leading her by a rope attached to her halter.
    “Halter comes with her,” Jerry said. “Owner wanted to throw it in since she’s used to that particular one. You reckon you can take it from here?”
    “Yup. Thanks for bringing her out,” Henry said, shaking the man’s hand.
    Margaret eyed the cow. “She’s awfully big.”
    Henry laughed. “She’s a Guernsey, one of the smaller breeds. Course, she’s pregnant.”
    “Oh, my