Place Of Her Own by Lynn A. Coleman Page B

strength?

    After a couple of days, Shelton could work his hands with minimal pain. And a good thing, too. For today he would begin working for the senior Mrs. MacKenneth, feeding her livestock and doing some odds and ends around the place. Knowing his own limitations in farming, he’d insisted on a low wage, and thankfully, she agreed.
    Planting and harvesting hay and other grains would be the hardest part. But if he were ever going to get his own place, he needed to learn how to maintain a farm. Maybe then he could get a banker to secure a loan with him to purchase his own farmstead.
    The idea of working for Mrs. MacKenneth pleased him, but the thought of seeing Katherine every day increased his joy tenfold.
Father, help me win her heart.
    He rode Kehoe up to Grandma Mac’s farm. He found Katherine in the yard, hanging linens on the line. A smile creased his lips. A desire to see her doing the same for him and their family one day gave him pause. He pictured her with two children hanging on to her skirts and a round belly full with another. Shelton shook off those thoughts. She wasn’t ready. And although he was, he needed to keep focused on slowly building a relationship with her, one in which she didn’t jump at his very presence.
    “It’s good to see you, Katherine.”
    A light blush rose on her cheeks. “How are your hands?” “Much better, thank you. How’s Mrs. MacKenneth?” “Good, all things considered. I didn’t realize she was having so much trouble getting around.” Shelton dismounted. “Did she fall?”
    A gentle smile creased Katherine’s face. “No. Just old bones, she says.”
    As much as he wanted to stay and talk with Katherine, that wasn’t why he’d come. He couldn’t afford to lose another job. “Excuse me, Katherine, but Mrs. MacKenneth is waiting on me.”
    He took the porch steps two at a time.
    Half an hour later he was out in the barn with a list of chores. He couldn’t imagine how Mac and Urias kept up their farms as well as Mrs. MacKenneth’s. Perhaps this wasn’t a token job offer after all. She really could use a part-time workman around the old house.
    “Shelton,” Katherine called from the barn door, “Grandma Mac says she expects you to join us for lunch.”
    “I take that to mean there isn’t an option.”
    Katherine chuckled. “For an old woman she sure has some spit and fire.”
    “I believe you’re right. Do you know where she keeps the whetstone?”
    “No. I’m afraid I know little about the barn. I’ve only been in here a time or two. But I’ll be glad to help you look.”
    “Thank you. I’m sure we can find it. If not, I can borrow Urias’s.”
    She stepped inside and helped him search the barn. “Do you like farming?”
    Shelton didn’t quite know how to answer that question. “Truthfully, no. But there are a lot of things in this life that we have to do that aren’t pleasant.”
    Katherine went rigid.
    Shelton mentally kicked himself. He’d done it again, reminded her of the past. A past he prayed he was wrong about. He wanted to ask her straight out if she’d been abused but that would be rude. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to speak insensitively. Forgive me.”
    She knitted her eyebrows and cocked her head. Her lips parted slightly, but she closed them again.
    “Are you all right?”
    She pressed her eyelids closed, then opened them slowly. For a moment he lost himself in those powerful green eyes that had captivated his dreams more nights than he could count.
    “I’m fine. I apologize for responding so dramatically to a perfectly natural statement. What is it about farm life that you don’t appreciate?”
    He thought about her question for a moment. “To be honest, I guess I’m a bit spoiled. I was raised in a house where servants did my bidding. I’m not afraid of hard work, but my body hasn’t done much of it. My hands protest every time I try to do something physical. I can’t wait until the day when I can hire a man to do