Read A Wedding Quilt for Ella for Free Online Page A

morning.”
    Ella said nothing, but fresh tears ran heavily down her face. Mamm cried too, and even Eli and Monroe sniffled a little.
    “We will pray now,” Daett said, continuing. “Then we must eat. Life will go on…even in this hour of trouble.”

Six
     
    A fter breakfast Clara helped with the dishes, packed her lunch, and left for school. The day had dawned into a magnificent morning without a cloud in the sky. Summer’s heat was still a long time away and hard for Clara to imagine after the rough winter they had been through.
    Clara stopped in the middle of the lawn to soak in the sun’s warmth, and she felt almost guilty for enjoying the sensation. With Ella in such pain, wasn’t it wrong to enjoy anything so much? She was nearly overcome but shoved the sad thoughts away, took a great deep breath, and let the air out slowly. She allowed her eyes to take in the view in front of her. It was the best spot in the whole valley. Like her older sister, she loved their house on Seager Hill. From here the swells of land rolled away across the valley for as far as the eye could see. Below them buggies drove along the strings of blacktop roads.
    To the west, the low mountains stretched out, still white streaked with snow from the winter. Where the snow had melted, bare spots emerged with a blush of green. She laughed while she ran down the hill toward the schoolhouse, drawing in delicious breaths of air in great gulps.
    From the other direction, a buggy came up the hill. Likely it was the Miller children, Ben and Susie. They sometimes walked but must have decided to drive this morning.
    When the driver slapped his horse with the lines, the horse responded with a peculiar run. It really was Ben and his sister. Clara slowed to a walk and watched as Ben kept the horse moving at a good clip. Ben slapped the lines hard one last time and pulled left. With the speed he had, he almost made it but not quite. The old horse threw out its hooves in plenty of time, its legs spread, as if rebelling against the whole world. The driveway of the schoolyard was several yards away, but the horse was steadfast in its tracks as the buggy now blocked half the roadway.
    What a nasty horse they had. Whatever entered the horse’s brain at moments like this made it stop, and little could persuade it to continue until it decided of its own accord to move on.
    Boys came out of the schoolhouse on the run, their hats held down on their heads with one hand. One got on each side of the horse’s bridle and pulled. Two got on the back of the buggy and pushed. It was a futile effort. The horse, as usual, refused to budge.
    Ben yelled from inside the buggy in exasperation, but this didn’t do much good either. Susie climbed out, got her lunch bucket out of the back, and walked the rest of the way. The horse was Ben’s problem, not hers.
    Clara ran quickly to join Susie, having to go around the stalled buggy and exasperated boys. There was no sense in her offering to help. She didn’t have any special knack to get a balking horse on the move again.
    Down from the top of Seager Hill, one of the Englisha’s cars came, having to slow down because of the obstruction in the road. There was no doubt the situation could fast become serious if the horse wasn’t persuaded to move forward soon. In the schoolhouse, Katie would soon pull the bell rope with or without a stalled horse in the road.
    With all the excitement on the outside, Clara was ready to go inside and tell Katie about the problem. Perhaps Katie wouldn’t ring the bell until this was cleared up. She waited a moment longer while Paul, the boy who sat behind her in class, moved forward and took hold of the horse’s bridle.
    Clara watched, fascinated. Paul seemed to know just what to do. He pulled and petted the horse, talking to it and jerking firmly on the lines. Yet all was to no avail. The boys around the buggy waved their arms, pointed toward the road, and mouthed words Clara couldn’t