Angel Sister by Ann H. Gabhart Page A

bacon and carefully lifted it. The bacon piece fell off before she got it to her mouth.
    “For heaven’s sakes, just pick it up and eat it, Evie,” Kate said.
    Evie sent her a mean look. “You eat the way you want to and I’ll eat the way I want to.”
    “Girls,” their mother said. “Don’t start. Not today.”
    Kate stared down at the table in front of her and muttered, “Sorry.” After a moment she looked up and asked, “Do you have chores for me this morning?”
    “I thought you might go with your father. See if his shop needs sweeping out or anything.” Her mother kept her eyes on her teacup.
    “But somebody has to go fishing with me,” Tori said. Then she brightened. “Or I could go by myself.”
    “Not yet, Victoria,” their mother said. “Maybe next summer.”
    “But I’m already ten,” Tori started.
    “Don’t look at me, Mama.” Evie finally got the piece of bacon to her mouth on her fork and chewed a moment before going on. “Besides, you promised to help me sew the collar on my new dress today. I want to wear it Friday night when I go out with George.” Her face took on her “dreaming about George” look.
    Kate thought any old dress would do for George, who was a goof. A goof with a car, which was nice when he let Kate ride along to Edgeville with them to take in a movie, so she bit her lip and didn’t say anything. Kate loved going to movies, and sometimes George even paid for her ticket as long as she promised not to sit anywhere near him and Evie. Of course George called her Evangeline. Nobody shortened Evie’s name except Kate. After all, Evangeline had been named after the romantic and tragic heroine of a poem. A poem that both Mama and Daddy loved.
    Kate wished she knew a few lines of it by heart so she could say them now and try to get her parents to smile at each other. Instead neither of them showed even a whisper of a smile. Mama stared down at her tea while Daddy’s words bored a hole through the wall between them.
    “I don’t need a guard, Nadine. Kate can go with Victoria.” He finished off his coffee and stood up.
    Mama kept her eyes on her cup. Her fingers were white where she was squeezing the handle so hard. “I didn’t say you did, Victor. I merely thought you might need some help this morning.”
    “There’s no doubt of that,” he agreed pleasantly enough, but there was an edge to his voice. Still it was hard to tell if he was angry with himself or Mama or someone who wasn’t even in the kitchen.
    Kate didn’t think it was her, so she dared to speak up. “Mama needs some sugar and baking soda, so I’ll walk along with you to the store.”
    “I want to go too,” Tori said.
    “You have to get those worms before it gets too hot,” Kate said quickly. “They’ll go too deep once the sun starts baking the ground.”
    When Tori started to fuss, their mother spoke up. “Kate’s right, Victoria. You can’t go fishing without bait.”
    Kate loved having time alone with her father. Sometimes she could get him to tell the best stories. But today as they started up the road toward his blacksmith shop in the middle of Rosey Corner, he wasn’t in a storytelling mood. He pulled his hat brim down low and frowned like the sun was hurting his eyes.
    To fill the silence between them, Kate started chattering. “Mama’s making raspberry jam. That’s why she needs sugar. And she said she might have enough raspberries for a pie.”
    “The raspberries are ripe?” Daddy sounded surprised. “Well, I guess it is the middle of June. Where has the year gone?”
    “A lot of it’s still left.” Kate spun around and walked backward for a moment in front of her father. “I love summer. Don’t you love summer?”
    “A smitty gets hot in the summer,” he said, but his frown was gone.
    “I guess so.” Kate said as she turned to walk beside her father again. “And I suppose this summer’s not so great for a lot of people.”
    “I wasn’t aiming to make you sorry