from the Hannah that used to be, the one that was gone now, replaced by a woman he had never imagined. She looked so much like her mother, and it occurred to Liam that the dead did come back to life and walk the earth, in the form of the children they had left behind. On the few occasions he ever saw himself in a looking glass he could see his father’s face just beneath his own, and when Hannah looked at herself there was Sarah. Men had fought over Sarah.
Clouds passed overhead and sent shadows across the paper. Liam was cold and then warm again. It was Elizabeth who had taught him to read, back when she first opened her school; at this moment Liam wished she had never bothered.
He broke the wax seal and unfolded the paper, ran his palms over the creases to smooth it on his knee.
Dear Liam,
This ship has come to rest in a wide water called a firth with England on one side and Scotland on the other. Scotland is where my grandmother Cora was born, and perhaps my grandfather’s people, but it is a very strange and lonely kind of place. We were brought here against our wishes, and will stay only until we can find another ship to bring us home.
In my grandmother’s cornfield the bean plants will be winding up the young stalks toward the sun. I think of this time a year ago when we came upon bears in the strawberry fields under a fat moon, do you recall? And they chased us away, and we ran until we fell and then we laughed. Elizabeth bids me give you her best greetings and to say she hopes you are keeping up with your schoolwork. My father says he knows you will be strong, and patient. Curiosity asks you to visit with Galileo when you might. She fears he must be melancholy. She says, too, she hopes you never get it in your head to go to sea.
We never meant to be so long away, but I will bring many stories with me, and you will tell me your stories too.
Your true friend Hannah Bonner, also called Squirrel by the
Kahnyen’kehàka of the Wolf longhouse, her mother’s people
11th day of June, 1794
A sound came from deep in his chest, something wound so tight that if he let it go completely it might fill the world. Liam ran his hand over the paper again and again. If he had waited another month, even a week, maybe this letter would have reached him. All these years it had been waiting here for him.
He tried to remember back to the days before he walked away from the mountain, but it was so long ago that the boy he saw in his mind’s eye was a stranger to him. Impatient and angry, lonely and wanting to move, to go, to be anywhere else but the empty cabin at Lake in the Clouds.
Liam folded the letter and put it in his pack, slipped his rifle sling over his shoulder, and set out for the village.
Chapter 6
Just when Jemima Southern had given up all hope of finding an excuse to go to the village in order to get a better look at Liam Kirby, Isaiah Kuick realized that he was out of tobacco. Normally it would have fallen to Reuben to run this errand, but the boy had been sent down to the mill to scrub down the overseer’s lodgings, and so Isaiah did something out of the ordinary: he came into the kitchen.
Jemima was more than willing to put down her mending and take the coins, not from his hand but from the table where he put them. Without his mother in the room, Isaiah seemed unwilling to even look at her. Whether this meant she was a temptation to him or that he truly disliked her Jemima did not know, but for once she had something more interesting than Isaiah Kuick to consider. While he and Cookie discussed when Ambrose Dye might be back from Johnstown with the slaves who had been gone for the winter, Jemima contemplated which path to the trading post would give her the best chance of running into Liam Kirby. Otherwise he might leave Paradise before she ever had a chance to talk to him.
Once out of the house, she picked up her skirts and trotted, but she crossed paths with no one but old Mrs. Hindle, bent almost double
Clouds passed overhead and sent shadows across the paper. Liam was cold and then warm again. It was Elizabeth who had taught him to read, back when she first opened her school; at this moment Liam wished she had never bothered.
He broke the wax seal and unfolded the paper, ran his palms over the creases to smooth it on his knee.
Dear Liam,
This ship has come to rest in a wide water called a firth with England on one side and Scotland on the other. Scotland is where my grandmother Cora was born, and perhaps my grandfather’s people, but it is a very strange and lonely kind of place. We were brought here against our wishes, and will stay only until we can find another ship to bring us home.
In my grandmother’s cornfield the bean plants will be winding up the young stalks toward the sun. I think of this time a year ago when we came upon bears in the strawberry fields under a fat moon, do you recall? And they chased us away, and we ran until we fell and then we laughed. Elizabeth bids me give you her best greetings and to say she hopes you are keeping up with your schoolwork. My father says he knows you will be strong, and patient. Curiosity asks you to visit with Galileo when you might. She fears he must be melancholy. She says, too, she hopes you never get it in your head to go to sea.
We never meant to be so long away, but I will bring many stories with me, and you will tell me your stories too.
Your true friend Hannah Bonner, also called Squirrel by the
Kahnyen’kehàka of the Wolf longhouse, her mother’s people
11th day of June, 1794
A sound came from deep in his chest, something wound so tight that if he let it go completely it might fill the world. Liam ran his hand over the paper again and again. If he had waited another month, even a week, maybe this letter would have reached him. All these years it had been waiting here for him.
He tried to remember back to the days before he walked away from the mountain, but it was so long ago that the boy he saw in his mind’s eye was a stranger to him. Impatient and angry, lonely and wanting to move, to go, to be anywhere else but the empty cabin at Lake in the Clouds.
Liam folded the letter and put it in his pack, slipped his rifle sling over his shoulder, and set out for the village.
Chapter 6
Just when Jemima Southern had given up all hope of finding an excuse to go to the village in order to get a better look at Liam Kirby, Isaiah Kuick realized that he was out of tobacco. Normally it would have fallen to Reuben to run this errand, but the boy had been sent down to the mill to scrub down the overseer’s lodgings, and so Isaiah did something out of the ordinary: he came into the kitchen.
Jemima was more than willing to put down her mending and take the coins, not from his hand but from the table where he put them. Without his mother in the room, Isaiah seemed unwilling to even look at her. Whether this meant she was a temptation to him or that he truly disliked her Jemima did not know, but for once she had something more interesting than Isaiah Kuick to consider. While he and Cookie discussed when Ambrose Dye might be back from Johnstown with the slaves who had been gone for the winter, Jemima contemplated which path to the trading post would give her the best chance of running into Liam Kirby. Otherwise he might leave Paradise before she ever had a chance to talk to him.
Once out of the house, she picked up her skirts and trotted, but she crossed paths with no one but old Mrs. Hindle, bent almost double
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