Prairie Storm by Catherine Palmer Page A

sing and do your acts. I’ll read fortunes, sell elixir, and manage the money. I’ll bet those rich Topeka fellows know a fair number of talented men and women who would love to perform with us. We’ll book touring shows, and we’ll even let the townsfolk use the place for a meeting hall. They’ll support our business, I just know they will. It’ll draw all kinds of people here to spend their money. This’ll be a regular boomtown in no time at all.”
    Lily drew a shawl around her shoulders and regarded her friend. “I need to go and feed the baby, Bea,” she said softly. “We’ll talk about the opera house later.”
    â€œThere’ll be no later .” Bea’s lips hardened. “I can feel the forces pulling on you, Lily. Don’t surrender to that preacher’s whims. You know what he’s like. You know that kind of man. He’ll use you. He’ll wear you out and dry you up. He’ll drain the very life out of you, if he can. Please, Lil, I’m trying to save you. Come with me to Topeka.”
    â€œOh, Bea,” Lily said with a sigh.
    â€œWhen you see how those men are going to treat us, you’ll forget all about that preacher and his scrawny little kid. We’ll buy ourselves some new dresses. We’ll go out to eat in fancy restaurants and sleep in a fine hotel. Elijah Book will be long gone by the time we get back to Hope.” She clasped Lily’s hand. “This is your chance to shine!”
    Lily closed her eyes and thought for a moment. When she had first run away with the traveling show, the dream of one day performing in a real opera beckoned her with glory, fame, and riches. With each mile of the hard road and each day in her loveless marriage, her dream faded. Hope vanished. All she knew now was that she had escaped her father. Nothing more.
    And then Abby had been born. A baby.
    â€œYou go to Topeka, Beatrice,” Lily said. “I’m going to stay here and take care of Samuel.”
    Bea’s nostrils flared. “I hope you’re joking.”
    â€œI’m not. I’m needed here. You can talk to the men in Topeka without me. When you come back—”
    â€œ If I come back.”
    A stab of fear ran through Lily’s heart. “You will come back, won’t you?”
    â€œMaybe.” Bea shrugged. “The cards have shown me I’ll build an opera house somewhere. But if you don’t come with me, you might lose me forever.”
    Lily swallowed. To be left alone … abandoned … “I guess I could go to Topeka. You’d need me to sing in the opera house.”
    â€œYou sing very well, Lily, but I can always find another singer. This is your chance to be part of the dream.”
    Silence filtered through Lily’s heart as she pondered her choice. Why did the future always look so black, so uncertain? Why did she have no direction in life? Where should she turn?
    She studied the diapers. And then her eye fell on the hymn book. God sent you along here to help us out , Mother Margaret had told her. Sing to everybody far and wide. Sing to that baby God gave you . Sing to the preacher. Sing to God hisself!
    Lily didn’t know who God was, but she did know Mother Margaret. Something about that tiny old woman filled Lily’s heart with hope.
    â€œI’m going to stay here,” she told Beatrice. “I’m going to take care of Samuel.”
    â€œYou’re crazy!” Beatrice snapped as Lily scooped up the diapers and clambered out of the wagon. “That’s not your baby. Your baby is dead, Lily. Dead! I’m going to Topeka. I’ll leave without you! And I’m taking the melodeon!”
    Lily halted. That was her organ. When she had left her house in Philadelphia, she had taken enough money from her father’s vault to buy the small instrument. She had selected it herself, and it had accompanied her in every performance.