The summer sun was
high in the sky now. Sarah removed her
hat and felt its rays on her dark hair and her face. She would burn, of course, and tan. But she never seemed to get very dark, for
all the time she worked outside. Not
like William. His skin would be browner
than the wood of their home by the end of the summer.
Sarah was silent
for a long while as the sun climbed steadily higher in the sky. At last she said, “I'm getting married
tomorrow, my William.”
Again, Sarah
didn't speak for several minutes, and when she did, her voice was quiet. “To Mr. Jacob Hadley. He's a good man. He's nothing like you. He's more quiet and solemn than the pope, but
he has a pleasant smile. He's new
here. We only met three months ago, but
don't go saying that's too short a time, for then you shall sound like
Matilde.”
“He makes me
happy, and William, I haven't been happy since you died. I know you're in heaven with our little
Henry, and I will always miss you, and I will always love you. But I know you'd want me to be happy. It's been cruel living without you these five
years, and I don't know why we were only allowed such a short time
together. Maybe you could ask God, when
next you see Him.”
Sarah lapsed into
silence, lost in memories. She didn't
need to tell William about the fire, how to this day no one could figure how it
started on such a wet spring day. How
the barn had burned to the ground while the house was barely scorched. How Rev. Phillips had said that it was an act
of God, and she thought it hateful of him to say that, even if there was no
other explanation.
Sarah's two
nephews, Matthew and Stuart had been visiting that week so their mother and new
baby sister could rest. Sarah was
kneading the dough for the bread when she heard them screaming that the barn
was on fire. She ran at once, without
even taking the time to wipe her hands on her apron. William was already there when she arrived,
leading a cow out of the burning building.
Sarah took her and lead her to the yard while William had gone in for
another.
The fire had made
the animals skittish and stubborn, and Sarah was silently screaming at how long
William was spending in the smoke and the flames to get them out. It seemed an hour before he was finally able
to move both horses and all the cows.
He had just pulled
the last heifer to the door when a timber, weakened by the fire,
collapsed. Sarah, waiting anxiously by
the door was knocked down and pinned to the ground by the burning wood. The dough that was still on her hands melted
and she screamed from the pain. William
had tried to pull it off of her, but breathing the smoke was sapping his
strength. Both of their clothes were on
fire, and Sarah could feel the blisters erupt on her skin.
Just then Neil,
their nearest neighbor had come puffing up, closely followed by Matthew, both
of them out of breath from running. He
and William had wrenched the fallen timber off Sarah, and he had pulled them
away from the inferno, patting out their burning clothing. The rest of the town arrived, and formed a
bucket chain to keep the fire from spreading, but it was not until early
afternoon when a light shower came had the fire died.
Sarah had been
told that part later. She was barely
conscious and gasping in the haze of pain as the doctor tried to tend her
burns. She had ultimately been saved by
her several layers of clothing.
William's burns were much worse.
He only lived through the night.
With the dawn, he regained consciousness and looked over at Sarah, lying
next to him. He had tried to give her a
smile, which Sarah's heart ached to see on his face burned red and black. He moved what was left of his lips, but no
sound came out. Sarah knew what he had
meant to say. “I love you, too,” she
whispered.
Then William had
closed his eyes and died.
Sarah could not
attend his funeral. She didn't leave her
bed until Henry was born. Even after the
labor, her father and her brother-in-law had had to help her to the cemetery as
they laid her son's tiny body next to her husband. It was months before she was recovered
physically, and even then, she would wake up in the middle of the night,
sobbing from horrible nightmares, with no one next to her for comfort.
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