Read Dorothy Garlock - [Wabash River] for Free Online Page A

what he’d be like. He’d be hard, tough and lonely—and he’d want her, as much as she wanted him.
    The day passed slowly for Amy. Somehow she managed not to be cornered by Tally, but late in the afternoon she was cornered by her father.
    “It’s time ya took a man, Amy. Come on home with me ’n Maude, get to know Tally, start ya up a family. Tally’s a good, strong man. He’d be good to ya—”
    “Start a family of what? Dumb-heads? I’d sooner bed down with a warthog.”
    “Hush up that talk! It ain’t fittin’. Ya ain’t got no cause ta be a burden on Libby when ya got a pa and a ma and a man willin’ to wed ya.”
    “Ha! Burden on Libby? You rode her back all the way from Middlecrossing! Maude isn’t my ma and Tally’s not a man to my way of thinking. I suppose he’s got the parts, but that’s all he’s got. He’s got no backbone or he’d be doing his own talking.”
    “Ya’ve got to where ya talk plumb bawdy!”
    “It’s no concern of yours how I talk.”
    “I can order ya ta do as I say! Yo’re a unwed daughter—”
    “You just try ordering me to do anything! I’m not a child of twelve—”
    “Yo’re still carryin’ that grudge, ain’t ya? We didn’t have us no home, no nothin’. I’d knowed Stith back home ’n I was tryin’ to make a place fer us.”
    “For yourself you mean. I’ll never forgive you for trying to sell me off to a mean, low-down bastard like Stith Lenning. And I’ll not forget that Farr and Juicy stepped in and saved me. I’ll tell you, Papa, although it’s no business of yours, I’m not a burden here. Juicy left me with enough money to pay my way. Is that what you’re after? Do you want my money for yourself, or for Tally?”
    “It’d give ya and Tally a fine start. Tally’s a good hand, a settled man—”
    “Tally’s a stupid dolt who does whatever you and Maude tell him to do. Now stop pushing him at me!”
    “Yo’re hard, Amy. Yo’re makin’ talk of yorself ramin’ ’round in britches ahuntin’ like a man. Folks’ll think ya ain’t had no bringin’ up a’tall.”
    Only by closing her eyes for a moment was Amy able to keep her temper under control. What angered her the most was her father’s total lack of regard for her feelings. He hadn’t cared a flitter for her when she was young, and he didn’t care for her now. It was Maude he was trying to please. She was pressuring him to get her to marry Tally. These were her thoughts as she stood before him, fists on her hips.
    “I’d not have had any bringing up at all if not for Libby. You were too busy complaining about your back and trying to get out of work,” she said cruelly.
    “Yo’re hard,” he said again. “Ya ain’t ort a talk like that to yore pa.”
    “Does the truth hurt, Papa?”
    Elija snorted through his nose. “I know what yo’re up to. Yo’re thinkin’ that kid what was raised by the Injuns’ll come back. Yo’re just lollygaggin’ ’round waitin’ fer a man what’s got the wanderin’s. He jist up ’n pulled foot—”
    “Hush up! Don’t say another word or I’ll never speak to you again even if you are my papa!”
    Amy’s head was up, her shoulders rigid. She met his gaze squarely, looking at him as if he were something beneath her contempt. The change in her manner was even a shock to Elija. Her body was as stiff as a board, her eyes hard as stones and glowing fiercely. She snarled her words as if she hated him.
    “Elija, it’ll be dark soon. We’d better be going.” Maude had heard enough of the conversation to know Elija was pushing too hard. She took his arm and gently pulled him toward the coats hanging beside the door. “Come see us, Amy. I’m making a dress for Mercy. Maybe you can bring her for a fitting and spend a day or two.”
    “No,” Amy said bluntly. “Daniel can bring her.” She turned her back, and from the set of her shoulders Maude knew there would be no reasoning with her that day.
    “All right, dear. Come along,