Chapter 13
The evening atmosphere was crisp and cool. The smell of the moist, fallen leaves filled the air with a delightful fragrance as the bright sky turned a dusky purple.
Chris' stove was glowing with radiant heat, almost too much heat for the small dugout home. He slipped on his boots wishing he had something nicer to wear to the harvest dance. The thought surprised him as he'd never been worried about what he was wearing. Even as a child when the other kids picked on him about his raggedy clothes, it was all he knew.
Tonight, however, he wanted to look nice for Hanna. Was it his imagination or was she beginning to see through his rough exterior to the kind gentle person he actually was inside? The person that has strived for only one thing in his life. Love. This longing has led him on desperate, destructive paths but now, he hoped, it was leading him to the beginning of the rest of his life... with Hanna.
He heard the clanking wagon wheels approaching, a sound he was now accustomed to, and ventured outside to catch his ride.
"The harvest dance is over at the Pike farm." Chris recalled being told. "Tyler and Sarah host it every year."
Chris sat, as he was tossed around, in the back of the Browley's wagon so deep in thought that he ignored everyone else on board. Mr. and Mrs. Browley sat up on the bench while Mason, Hanna, Chris and Priscilla sat in the back. He wanted to speak with her about how she was feeling that evening, obviously well enough that her parents allowed her to join the party. He wanted to talk to Hanna and tell her how beautiful she looked in her dress and in the early evening light.
His thoughts, however, focused on holding his stomach down. Nerves consumed him as he thought of tonight. It was tonight, he felt, that would be a milestone moment for him with Hanna. It was tonight he was going to ask her to dance and finally feel her in his arms.
Mr. Browley led the team around a corner and passed a stretched field. It wasn't farm land, no crops had been planted or harvested, no one must live in that certain area. Chris' eyes widened with the realization that he'd seen this field before. The scene behind it, strangely familiar. The array of purple and white flowers had withered and the trees in the distance stood naked, but he recognized it just the same. This had been the area he'd woken up to in this strange land.
It hit him how much he had changed and how much had happened in just the short time he'd been there. He looked around to the family that took him in and treated him like their own. Sure there were bumps and miscommunications, mostly by Chris' hand, but at the end of the day, he was family. It was truly spectacular how it made Chris feel.
Grateful that this new feeling took over his anxiety, he leaned his head back to enjoy the rest of the ride. It didn't last long for within minutes they turned onto the Pike property.
"We're here?" Chris asked astonished. He couldn't believe how close he was to a farm when he woke that chilly May morning. If only he'd taken a left when he found the road rather than the right. He would have found the Pike family first. He wouldn't have had to walk the entire day, he possibly could've been fed or taken in sooner.
Why did he turn right? Chris needlessly racked his brain. If he hadn’t, nothing that happened would have happened. He possibly would not have suffered so terribly with the mattressless bed, the walking, the thirst and hunger, the tornado. He would have learned nothing. He would not be with the Browley family.
‘There was a reason I went in that direction.’ Chris thought. ‘Everything that happened, happened for a reason. I am where I was meant to be, where I belong.’
Chris silently thanked God for leading him in the direction he was supposed to be. He was amazed how often he did that now. How he could speak to God in his thoughts and how naturally the thoughts came. He knew he didn’t need words for God to hear him for God knew his heart.
With a sharp breath, Chris snapped back into reality. He slid off of the back of the wagon with Mason as they helped the women down.
The entrance of the barn was illuminated by a dozen lanterns. Two hung on each side of the door, four more hung on posts to form a pathway up to the door while another half dozen lit up the inside of the barn which rumbled with music and laughter.
Chris recognized the instruments playing even before seeing them. He heard the piano, from church, that the town people lugged and moved around for these parties. He heard Mr. Edmund's fiddle and a harmonica usually played by Mr. Kinsley.
They entered two by two. Mr. with Mrs. Browley, Mason with Priscilla and Chris with Hanna. The warmth, brightness and gayety overwhelmed the building. The food table to the left was stocked and flittered with multiple fragrances which all seemed to compliment each other.
The bouncy tune made Priscilla move, wanting to bolt out onto the dance floor.
“Priscilla!” Mrs. Browley snapped. “What did we discuss?”
“Ma... I feel fine.” Priscilla whined.
“We had an agreement, two slower paced songs and that was it. You just got your strength back.”
“Your mother is right.” Mr. Browley stated. “If you make an agreement you must honor it. You don’t want to fall ill again, do you?”
“No.” Priscilla answered in a quiet voice with her head hung low.
“We’re going to start the night out with a square dance. Everybody wanting to join, meet in the middle.” Mr. Edmund announced.
Hanna grabbed Chris’ hand and began pulling him onto the dance floor. “No, I don’t know how to square dance.” Chris exclaimed pulling back on Hanna’s hand.
“It’s easy, I’ll teach you.” She stated with a smile.
He allowed her to pull him into the forming circle as Mr. Kinsley began calling the dance.
“Everybody must join hands then walk in a circle.” Hanna began explaining over the noise of the music. “Men’s palms up and women’s palms down.”
Chris did what he was told but did not have the same bounce as everyone else as they made their way around the circle. When the circle had made its full rotation, the couples all faced each other, Chris followed. Hanna linked her elbow into his and began spinning him around.
As they spun around, she shouted that the next call would be a do-si-do. “Just face me and fold your arms. We will walk past, behind and past each other again.”
She barely finished the explanation when Mr. Kinsley began calling the move. Chris looked around for a visual on what to do. The moves were not difficult, but seemed to be, as Chris realized how ungraceful he actually was.
“Next is grand right. Grab my right hand, walk past me and grab the next gals hand, keep going around the circle until you get back to me.”
When he reached Hanna at the end of the circle, she grabbed his hands, his left in her left and his right in her right. Standing side by side, they walked the circle.
“Follow my lead.” Hanna said grabbing Chris’ hands and rotating herself counter clockwise under his arm, ending at his side the very second the music came to an abrupt stop. Her smile radiated as she laughed with her labored breath. Chris’ smile met hers.
“What did you think?” She asked.
“I definitely need more practice.” Chris stated.
“I thought you did fine. You’ve never square danced before?”
Chris shook his head then opened his mouth to answer when a gruff voice approached from behind him. “Hanna.”
Cale Edmund walked quickly up to Hanna wedging himself in between her and Chris. “You came here with him? Cale sneered.
“Cale, that’s none of your concern. I am not yours to question.” Hanna stated with her chin held high. “We had a discussion of this nature the other day. I am not interested in you in that manner.”
“You’re not interested in being with me cause you’re blinded by the wiles of this joke!” Cale almost shouted, swinging his hand back, barely clipping Chris’ face.
“Watch what you say, buddy!!” Chris said sternly, p
ushing his boiling blood down to keep his temper under control.
“This has nothing to do with him.” Hanna said.
“This has everything to do with him.” Cale responded, now shouting. “We’ve been friends our whole lives and as soon as some random stranger shows up, I’m nothing to you.”
“She’s already explained herself to you, Cale, there’s nothing more to say.” Chris shouted back, swinging Cale around to face him.
Before Chris knew what had happened, he was on the barn floor, his face throbbed and burned. Mr. Edmund, Mr. Browley and a few other men grabbed Cale and dragged him out of the barn still yelling and swinging his fists.
Hanna ran and bent down to Chris’ side. “Are you alright?” She asked caressing his reddened cheek.
“I’m fine!” Chris said curtly, removing her hand from his face. The embarrassment of being taken down by someone younger than him, with no warning for Chris to prepare was too much. Everyone had seen, all eyes still on him. Chris felt his cheek pulsating but the greatest pain was that of his pride.
He stood up, brushed the dust and hay from his clothes and stormed out of the back door.
It was dark and hard for Chris to see, but he stomped on. The cold air hit him with a shock but relieved the burning from his face.
“Chris.” came a small voice from the distance. “Chris, where did you go?”
“Hanna?” he called back. She had come after him. She was truly concerned and the way he treated her... it was awful. “I’m over here.” he called trying to meet her halfway.
He barely made out her silhouette and headed for her. The surprise of an embrace took Chris aback.
“I’m sorry.” she cried.
“It’s not your fault. I’m not mad, Hanna, just... I’m just a little embarrassed.” Chris confessed, comforting her.
“It is my fault. I shouldn’t have dangled you in front of him like that. Cale has always been one of my best friends but shouldn’t that mean that he wants to see me happy?”
Chris hesitated but couldn’t contain his wondering. “Are you happy?”
As Chris’ eyes began to focus, he could make out the outline of her soft face. He placed his hand on her chin and raised her face to his. “With me, I mean. Are you happy?”
“I’ve tried not to be, I’ve tried hard but for some reason, I find myself thinking of you often. I’ve seen how you’ve changed, how you’ve taken down the wall that was strong around you when you arrived. I feel that this person I’ve seen the last couple of weeks is the real you. Is it? The real you?”
Chris didn’t know how to answer that question. He didn’t quite know who the real him was. “I’ve spent most of my life trying to figure that out, Hanna. All I do know is that I have found something within myself since I’ve gotten here and the person I want to be comes out when I am with you.”
A tear trickled down her face as she still gazed into his eyes.
“I have not stopped thinking about you since the first day I laid eyes on you. That morning you stood in the doorway of your bedroom to fetch my breakfast tray. I thought I’d died and seen an angel. I have longed to be with you since. So please answer me truthfully, could you see yourself happy with me?”
Chris didn’t know who was controlling the words escaping his mouth. They didn’t sound like anything he would have come up with on his own but that they were being manifested by his heart. His heart that began pounding straight from his chest as he waited for her answer.
“Yes.” she whispered. “I would be, Christopher.”
Christopher, the name he’d heard thousands of times in a mocking voice from his mother. The name he’d learned to despise over the years. The name he’d cringe at if anyone dared to call him that, suddenly sounded sweet. It sounded sincere and full of love. Chris’ heart melted. He touched his hand to her face and gave her a simple, soft kiss.
The faint music from the barn slowed into a gentle ballad. He embraced Hanna and they began swaying to the sweet sounds.
Was this really happening? The moment Chris had waited for since he set his eyes upon this beautiful creature. Surely he had stepped into heaven.
Without words, Chris looked upward to the sky. He didn’t need to say the words, he reminded himself once again. God knew what was in his heart.