The Believer by Ann H. Gabhart Page A

said theirs is a beautiful village with plentiful food and large houses"
    "He said they make everyone work:"
    "You're not afraid of work. Nor am I"
    "What about Hannah?" Payton asked. "Will they understand her spirit?"
    Elizabeth sighed deeply. He spoke the worry that had troubled her all the morning. "I don't know, but perhaps it is time she began to rein in her spirit. She needs to go to school. Father said so himself last spring, and he said the Shakers had a school. A good school. And whatever it is will surely be better than her being carried off to an orphanage where we might never see her again. I couldn't bear that. I would go to Colton first"
    Payton's face flooded with anger. "Colton is the cause of this. If not for him, we could stay here. We could make our way.
    "It is his cabin. His land:" Elizabeth pushed the truth at Payton.
    His anger settled deeper in his face and changed to lines of sadness as he accepted that truth. "I'll miss the river;" he said at last. "When will we leave?"
    "As soon as we can be ready. Colton promised me two days, but I don't trust him to stand by his word"
    "What can we take?"
    "Only what we can carry." Elizabeth had already been grieving over each thing she touched that morning-her mother's rolling pin, the wooden biscuit board carved by Payton, the books on her father's shelves-knowing she would have to leave all of them behind.
    "What about the cow?"
    "We will loose her in the woods and leave her to pay Colton although I have no idea of the amount he claims is owed him. I searched, but I could find no record of debt in Father's papers:' A spark of hope sneaked back onto Payton's face, but Elizabeth blocked it before it could bloom into words. "Even if there is no proof of debt to him, we can't continue to live in his cabin. Not without paying more than I am prepared to pay."
    Hannah opened the door and came inside with Aristotle. Her hair was a wild halo of white curls around her dirtsmudged face. The worry grew in Elizabeth that the Shakers would not understand Hannah's spirit. Who could understand the wildness in the child? Not even their father had understood it. He had simply accepted it, as had Elizabeth.
    "What of Aristotle?" Payton looked at the dog. "Father said the Shakers didn't have pets. You remember, don't you? How he said it was odd to be in such a large village with no sound of a dog barking"
    Aristotle ran over to Elizabeth and pressed his nose against her leg. Why did everything have to be so hard? Why couldn't Colton have been a man she could bear to touch her? She didn't have to love him. Just be able to bear his presence next to her. She stroked the dog's head and blinked back the tears that threatened to spill out and leak her strength with them. She could sacrifice herself to Colton for Payton and Hannah if there was no other way. She could not sacrifice herself for a dog.
    "The Lord will help us find him a home on the way."
    When Elizabeth told Hannah her plan, Hannah stomped her feet down hard as if attaching them to the floor and crossed her arms over her chest. "I will not leave my mother and father."
    Elizabeth stooped down until she was looking Hannah straight in the eye. "Our mother and father are not here. They are in heaven"
    "They are more here than anywhere else we can go:"
    "No, my Hannah, you have it wrong. They are with us wherever we go. Here in our hearts" She put one hand softly over Hannah's heart and the other hand over her own heart. "We've told their bodies goodbye, but their love is right here inside us forevermore"
    Hannah stared at her for a moment while the blue of her eyes seemed to darken with understanding. Then she put her hands over top of Elizabeth's hands. "Your love too?"
    "My love too"
    "Will I have to comb my hair?"
    "Not today, but you must take your comb, for you will have to comb it before we get to the Shaker village. Perhaps we should cut some of it off to make the job easier"
    "I care not. It is only hair."
    "But what