The Roswell Legacy by Frances Statham (parable of the sower read online .TXT) 📗

she turned again to Ginna. “And I’m relying on you to pack and make sure he gets off on time.”

“Yes, Mummy.”

“And Ginna, when Maudie comes in the morning to do the ironing, send her on over to Cassie’s.”

“Before or after she does the ironing?”

“Why, before. You’ll be able to manage quite nicely, I’m sure, without her.”

When they reached the brownstone, Ginna said, “Nathan, would you like to take the one-seater to the carriage house and unhitch Twoopy after Barge leaves the driveway?”

“I sure would, Ginna.”

As soon as the larger carriage came to a stop, Nathan was the first one down. “I’ll stay outside to watch,” he said, and ran toward the one-seater, which was still at the hitching post.

Araminta stepped down and Ginna came next, following her mother into the house while Nathan climbed into the one-seater out front and thought about taking it and running away with Pinky.

Two hours later, Nathan and Ginna were alone in the kitchen. A few minutes before, Clara had finished the dishes and gone to her lodgings over the carriage house. Now Ginna watched while Nathan dealt the cards on the table for a game of Go Fish.

For Nathan’s sake, Ginna tried to keep her mind on the game. But she was not successful. At the end of the fourth hand, Nathan spread out his cards and announced, “I won again.”

“So I see.”

“But you’re not even trying to win, Ginna. The game’s no fun if you don’t try.”

“Well, I guess my mind’s on other things. Like your leaving tomorrow. I’m going to miss you, Nathan.”

He didn’t want to think about it. “Oh, I’m used to going away, Ginna. No big deal. Barge promised he’d watch Green Boy for me. He’s going to see that he gets enough bugs and flies to eat.”

“That’s nice.”

Nathan took a quick swipe across his eyes with his hand. And then he quickly changed the subject. “You think Cassie’s baby has come yet?”

“Probably not.”

“Some babies die when they’re born, don’t they?”

“Yes. But Papa is there with Cassie. So we shouldn’t worry about that.”

“I’m going to stay up until he gets home.”

“Then you might be up all night, Nathan.”

“I don’t care. Do you think it will be a boy or a girl?”

“I’ll say a girl.”

“Then I’ll say a boy,” Nathan replied.

“What do you want to bet?” Ginna’s eyes held a teasing look as she waited for her brother to decide.

“A trip to the fair.”

Ginna laughed. “In Chicago?”

“Yes. If I’m right, you have to take me. And if you’re right, I’ll have to take you.”

“Do you realize how far away Chicago is, Nathan? I think whoever wins will have to take the other to someplace closer—like the zoo.”

“But Chicago isn’t really that far away, Ginna. We could go on the train. And it only costs fifty cents to get in.”

“How do you know?”

“Pinky’s father wrote for information. He’s got the train schedule and everything. Pinky showed it to me.”

“Is Pinky going? Is that why you want to go, too?”

“Maybe.”

“I’d love to go to the fair, too, Nathan. Only …”

Ginna was sad as she looked at her little brother. He had his dreams, the same as she. With little possibility that they would ever come true, either. “But it’s really time for bed. You’re so sleepy, you can hardly hold your eyes open.”

“I want to stay up, Ginna. Until I know about the baby.”

“Whenever Papa comes home, I’ll wake you.”

Nathan yawned again. “You promise?”

She nodded.

Nathan slowly gathered his cards together. “What if you don’t hear him come in?”

“I’ve latched all the doors. He’ll have to knock. Now let’s go on upstairs. You have a long trip ahead of you tomorrow.”

Ginna switched off the kitchen light. And together, the two climbed the back steps to the landing. When they reached his bedroom door, Ginna leaned over and kissed her brother. “Good night, Nathan.”

“Good night, Ginna.”

After he’d closed his door, Ginna walked on to her own bedroom down the hall. She had no plans to go to sleep. Unlike Nathan, she would remain awake, all night if she had to. For it was imperative that she speak with her father—not only about Cassie’s baby, but about her own birth as well. Please, God, she said. Please let Cassie be wrong.

Once again, the house began its ghostly conversation in the silence of the night: creaks and noises, with the scamper of something in the attic. A squirrel, perhaps, running along the length of the roof. And a few minutes later, the eerie hoot of an owl caused her to go to the window and look out. But in the darkness she could see nothing.

She sat up in bed, still fully clothed, and stared at the small clock. Its hands had barely moved. In desperation, she rose, opened the bedroom door, and started downstairs to find a book to read. But before she reached the landing, she passed her mother’s door. On sudden impulse, she decided to borrow her mother’s latest fashion magazine instead.

She groped for the light inside the bedroom door. Her mother had left hurriedly, for the bedroom was in a state of disarray. Seeing the new blue dress draped carelessly across the slipper chair, Ginna started toward it, to hang it up before it became too wrinkled. Then she thought better of it. Feeling a little guilty, as if she were an interloper, she left the dress on the chair and went instead to the nightstand where her mother always kept her tin of chocolates and her fashion magazine.

As Ginna opened the drawer and took out the magazine, an envelope dropped out of it onto the floor. Quickly, she stooped to retrieve it. As she turned it over, she saw that the letter was addressed to her in Jonathan’s handwriting. And the seal had been broken. It was the missing letter.

CHAPTER

19

“Cassie, dear, you’ll have to try harder,” Charles admonished. “The baby can’t be born without your help.”

“But it hurts,” she wailed. She glared at her