Hope Springs by Sarah M. Eden

our Katie.” Tavish smiled fondly. “That’ll be a treat, to be sure.”
    She held out the bottle of powders. “And I’ve brought Ian this.”
    Tavish’s smile vanished. “Begorra, Katie. Johnson was demanding five dollars for a bottle.”
    “I had some savings,” she said. Uncertainty touched her shrinking feeling of accomplishment.
    “But five dollars, Katie. That’s too dear.”
    She shook her head. “Ian cannot heal if he cannot rest, and he cannot rest if he is in pain.”
    He looked almost upset, somewhere just shy of angry. “That was your going-home money, Katie.”
    It was her going-home money, but it was more than that. It was her funds for giving Father back his land, money for her sister’s headstone. But none of that was on her horizon any longer. Having chosen to stay in Hope Springs, it was now her money for starting over again. It was her future.
    Keep your head above water on this, Katie. You need to be strong.
    “I meant to get the powders my own self, Katie, once I’d finished my day’s work. I’ll pay you back the five dollars.”
    “No, Tavish. I can do this for them.”
    “You can, certainly, but you don’t have to. We’re his family; we’ll see to it he has the medicines he needs. You needn’t worry.”
    We’re his family. Meaning, of course, she wasn’t. She wasn’t anyone’s family.
    “Is Biddy about?” A change of topic would save her from an embarrassing breakdown. “I’d like to give her the powders.”
    “She’s in the sickroom, where else?”
    Biddy near about cried when Katie gave her the medicine. The flow of gratitude flustered Katie a little. Clearly her contribution had been unexpected. We’re his family. It would take time, she told herself. A person didn’t simply toss themselves into someone else’s family.
    “And I’ve brought my fiddle,” she said. “If you think anyone would enjoy a tune or two. Of course, if I’d only be in the way—”
    “Oh, dear Katie.” Biddy squeezed her free hand. “Your music would be a gift from heaven itself. Soothing to the soul, just as you said.”
    The music did, in fact, bring a change to those gathered there. More smiles were evident, fewer furrowed brows. Ian remained in bed, but Biddy said she knew he could hear the tunes and appreciated them.
    Katie left the house feeling better than she had on her arrival. Tavish insisted again he’d repay her for the powders. She hoped he wouldn’t. Making the sacrifice helped her feel part of them all. So many of the worries plaguing her were either out of her control or things she’d already failed at. This was something she could do to help.
    Her mind spun wildly about as she lay in bed that night. Her thoughts battered her raw emotions. Too much had happened too quickly. She had changed plans she’d had her entire life. It was too much. Far, far too much.
    She hoped that one day her heart and mind would wrap around the changes she’d made in her life. She would find joy to outweigh the pain. There in Wyoming she’d find a family to be part of, people to belong to.
    In time, she hoped, the emptiness she felt would ease.

Chapter Seven
     
    Joseph pulled his buggy to a halt in front of Mrs. Claire’s house. The girls were spending the day with the Kesters down the Red Road. He really ought to have been out in his fields. Yet, there he was, out paying a visit. He’d tried to focus on his work, but his mind constantly returned to Katie. There was nothing for it but to go see her and clear his thoughts.
    He had a barrel of flour for her. She likely wouldn’t need it for another week or more. But flour was the perfect excuse to come see her, if only for a moment.
    Finbarr helped him heft the barrel out of the buggy. Joseph could roll it inside and leave it wherever Katie wanted it.
    “Let me know if Ian or Biddy need anything,” Joseph said.
    The boy nodded and made his way up the path toward the road.
    Joseph knocked and waited. Would Katie think him a fool for