Chapter Twenty - The Apprentice

“Katie, he’ll be all right,” Jeremy said. “It’s a slash. Mallory can stitch that up.”

Katie continued her brisk pace, but it only required her brother-in-law to slightly lengthen his gait. Her back was sore. She suspected she had some minor cuts and scrapes of her own, but she’d been so flustered she hadn’t noticed until now.

Katie rubbed a tear away. “I know, I just wish he would have let Clark help him.”

“Well, he’s only been here two days. You can’t expect him to trust everyone. Give him some time.” Jeremy stuck his hands into his pockets and sent her a sidelong glance. “It’s going to take a bit to adapt. Even you’re coming back to a different life.”

“I feel different,” Katie admitted, “but not in a good way. When I tried to leave that house, Neil said I hated him because I was leaving him to be hurt. And he was right,—about the leaving—but not the hating.” Her eyes filled. “And now he’s seen Clark, and he thinks I’ll leave him again.”

Jeremy nodded peered down the driveway of the farm they passed, before turning back. “I think you’re thinking too much about what those boys think about you, when the real question is what do you think about you?”

“I think I have done some terrible things,” Katie said.

“Most people do when they’re in a situation when they have to survive,” Jeremy said. “You can’t change what the past made you do, but you can decide who it will make you into. You decide who you want Katie to be, and you work on her. And you let Neil decide who he wants to be without you. And then you can both decide if you want to be those people together.”

“Sage advice from four months of marriage,” Katie teased weakly.

“I got it from my father.” His smile crept a little higher. “On the day Mallory came to school holding Gordan’s hand and broke my sixteen-year-old heart.”

Katie threw back her head, laughing and moaning at the same time, “Her Gordan phase! I remember that! Oh, I hated him. He was such a jerk.”

“But a very handsome jerk,” Jeremy countered.

Katie shook away thoughts of the man. “I am so glad she married you.”

The man chuckled and stepped onto the porch of the seamstress. “Me too.”

They walked on in silence. Katie stayed lost in her own thoughts until they reached the edge of town and the seamstress shop.

Jeremy took his hat from his head and knocked the dust out of it. “You want me to stay with you and then you can go to the butcher’s with me, or should we part ways?”

“I’ll be fine,” Katie said. “Thanks.”

“Stay here then, and I’m swing back by.”

Katie nodded and watched Jeremy walk away, worrying his gait wouldn’t stay so relaxed once Mr. Blackwell realized she wasn’t on a visit. She blew out a breath. One battle at a time.

She pushed open the door and crept into the shop, finding no voices. She followed the clack of the ancient sewing machine, to the sewing room in the back. She watched Katherine hum as she worked, waiting for her to finish sewing the seam before she said, “Good morning.”

Katherine gasped, then grinned and shoved her chair back. “Katie! I heard a rumor you were back! It’s so good to see you! I’ve been wondering about you!” She hugged Katie, almost immediately pulling back to stare at the blue dress. “That is gorgeous. What material is it?”

“I don’t even know,” Katie said. “But I thought we could trade.”

Katherine blinked in surprise. “For this?”

“It’s the only one I have,” Katie said. “And it’s got a stain on the back, but I think you could probably get it out. I need something else. Something for a pig farm, and I don’t want to spend any more of Jeremy’s money than I have to.”

Katherine cupped the side of her face with one hand and rested her elbow in the other palm in the pose she always took when working out a calculation. “I don’t mind trading it, not at all. But the only dress I have that would fit you is meant to wear in the fall. It’s a cotton, quarter-length sleeve. I do have an extra cloak you can borrow, and you’d be warm enough in that, I think, until we could get you a winter dress.”

“Anything is better than this,” Katie said. “But I don’t want to take your cloak.”

“Too bad.” Katherine grinned at her. “I have two and you have none. And a person can only wear one cloak at a time. Besides, I already feel like I’m cheating you. I can sell a city dress to a Blackwell woman for a lot, especially if it’s made from something unusual.”

“Just don’t tell them it was mine,” Katie said. “Or they won’t be caught dead in it.”

“Makes it all the more fun, doesn’t it?” Katherine chuckled, walking into the main room to a rack where she went through a small assortment of garments. “It’s not really your coloring, but I can pick something better for the winter dress. Two dresses for the one, I think would be a fair trade. At least.”

“I was actually wondering if I could trade it for one dress and a man’s outfit?” Katie asked.

Katherine pulled a dark green dress from the rack and tipped her head toward Katie. “Intriguing.”

“And I need you to keep that a secret.”

“Only if you explain what secret I’m keeping.”

“We have someone from the city staying with us,” Katie said. “He’s a friend, and he needed a place to go. He’s pretty much a runaway slave.”

Katherine’s eyebrows climbed. “Is slavery legal in the city?”

“I don’t know if it is or not,” Katie said. “But I don’t think it matters because I had a police officer offer to buy me. And if they’re buying slaves, they’re not going to be protecting any. That’s why you can’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.” Katherine’s eyes took a determined glint. She strode toward Katie, giving her the dress. “Here. Try this one just in case we need to alter it. I’ll find something for him. Does he have a name?”

“Neil,” Katie said. “He’s big.”

“How big?”

“Like find the tallest thing you possibly have, and we’ll see?”

“Is he as tall as David Blackwell?”

“Taller.”

“Taller?”

“He’s at least six feet. Maybe a little more. But he doesn’t look tall because he’s wider too. He dwarfs Jeremy. And probably every other man in town.”

“Good night!” Katherine exclaimed. “Are all the city men like that?”

“I don’t really know,” Katie said. “But Neil’s father is about two inches taller than he is. I think it’s because they never run out of food there like we do.”

“I’ll stop by today and take his measurements,” Katherine said. “If he’s that big, nothing here will fit him. I’ll have to draft a pattern for him.”

“You may as well,” Katie said. “Hopefully, he’ll be here forever.”

She stepped into the workroom and quickly changed into the dress. The fit was a little loose at the waist, but it was good enough for her.

She stared into the mirror, tilting her head because the blonde hair was beginning to grow back beneath the brown, but the brown did seem to be more faded from when she first put it in. She sighed, wondering how long she was going to have to live with two colors, but the only alternative was to chop off the brown an inch from her head. She wasn’t ready for that.

She folded the blue dress and forced a smile as she stepped back out, handing it off. “Here. Take this. And may the best Blackwell win.”

Katherine grinned. “We should make a bet. I say Julie.”

“Well, you would know better than me!” Katie teased.

Now that the garment was in her hand, Katherine explored the material, shaking her head. “I have no idea what this is made of. It falls very nicely, doesn’t it? Oh, and I see the stain on the back. What happened?”

“I got attacked by a young mountain lion. Neil pulled it off of me.”

“And it didn’t tear his face off?”

“No, Clark shot it.”

“Everyone okay?”

“Mostly. Malory was stitching up Neil’s arm when we left. I think his heart was broken more than his body. He loves lions, and he’s just figured out they’re mean.”

Katherine laughed sympathetically. “Poor man, what a start.”

“Jeremy thinks he can adapt to country life. I really hope he’s right.”

“He’ll have to. Sounds like he’ll die if he doesn’t.”

Katie watched Katherine fold the dress, hesitating. Katherine was only three years older than herself. They’d gone to school together, closer friends than she’d been with Allison until Katherine turned fourteen and had left to work with her parents in her tailor shop. They’d bonded again, briefly, when Katherine’s father died the same year Katie’s had. But Allison was such a dominating friend, the quieter Katherine faded, except when the girls were alone in the shop. Katie wondered if that would change, now they were all out of school.

Still. Katherine had nearly a decade of sewing experience by now and Katie could only mend. She swallowed. “I need to find work,” she said. “Mallory said I might ask here. I don’t do a lot of sewing, but I could learn.”

“Do you have the patience for it?” Katherine asked.

“I think I could develop it,” Katie ventured.

“We could give it a try,” Katherine said. “I do need somebody. May as well be somebody I like. You’re good with math, and I’m not so much. You’d be good with the measurements and drafting.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Katie said. “Just worried about making good stitches.”

“That you’ll have to learn,” Katherine said. “But we could start by designing a dress that fits you better than that one does.”

“It’s good enough.” Katie gave Katherine a quick hug. “Thank you. I see Jeremy coming, so I need to go. Why don’t you plan on staying for dinner tonight when you come to measure Neil?”

“I will, thank you,” Katherine answered. She paused before her eyes moved past Katie to the back door. “In fact, I have an idea.”

“What?”

Katherine grinned. “I have to ask Jeremy.”