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dusty bay windows and bathed us in light.
    “It stopped raining!” Robert cried.
    I looked up at Sam, dismay hidden in my heart. He met my eyes but didn’t say a word. I knew he would be ready to move on now that we had decent weather again. “We should stay on the road to Dearing,” he’d say. “And then try to get a ride for Mt. Vernon, even though Dewey has nothing to offer us. We can’t just stay here and trespass.”
    How could I tell Sam that I didn’t want to go any farther? I didn’t want to move one foot from this spot, unless it was to find somebody who could tell me who used to live here. There had to be a way. God doesn’t make mistakes. Surely he’d led us all along. And surely it was him making me feel so at home.
    God could make a way. He could lead us straight to someone who knew who had lived here and what happened. But it was a scary thing to think of facing a landowner and telling him I wanted this place, without money. Almost overwhelming. Sam would think me crazy. But we had nothing to lose by trying.

SIX
    Samuel
    Robert was by the apple tree and Sarah sat on the slanted old porch with her doll, Bess. Julia knelt by the well pump, rinsing the pots and dishes we’d used at breakfast. They all looked so comfortable that I hated to hurry them along. But the sun was edging higher, and I knew how hard it could be finding rides, especially out here away from anything. I wasn’t anxious to spend another night in a strange place.
    “I mean to check the timber,” Julia told me suddenly. “Time’s good for mushrooms, especially after a rain.”
    I shook my head, looking down the weedy drive toward the road. “Don’t you think we ought to be getting on while the day’s young?”
    Julia set the skillet down and rose to her feet. “For what, Sammy?”
    I looked at her in surprise, not expecting her to speak the futility that was in my heart. I didn’t quite know how to take that. “I want to get to Dewey’s by dark,” I said.
    “What would we accomplish going to Dewey’s now?”
    I reached out my hand and wasn’t surprised that she didn’t take it. “I’m sorry,” I told her. “But we’ve got nowhere else. Not yet.”
    Her eyes suddenly blazed with an excitement that shocked me. “We’ve got here, Sam!” she exclaimed. “We’ve got now! And we can make the most of it! Look at the kids! First we moved in with Evie from the bank, then a city shelter, then we dragged them across the countryside, laying them to bed wherever we could find a place! Don’t you think they could use a rest from all that?”
    A weight, pressing on my chest, settled in deeper. “Of course they could. But we’re so close to Dewey. They’ll enjoy the visit. We can’t stay here . . .”
    Finally she took my hand and squeezed it, but what she said to me was no comfort. “Why not?” she argued. “We can’t stay there either. Let’s give it a day or two. I’m not ready to leave, and neither are they.”
    “You know we can’t stay, Julia. We’re breaking the law—”
    “Sam, will you look at them?”
    Her words were so quick and certain that I turned toward my children. Robert was up the tree now. And Sarah was meandering across the yard, picking violets.
    “Sam, they don’t want to go nowhere,” Julia insisted. “They’d be happy on a farm just like this. Maybe we could find the owner—”
    “You’re talking crazy! We’ve got nothing! What are you going to tell an owner? That he should give us the place because our kids like it? The world doesn’t work like that, Julia! He’d either laugh in your face or call the law on us.”
    “It’s been sitting empty for awhile—”
    “That doesn’t matter! You can’t just claim it! It’s not right, not even to stay another day.”
    “It can’t hurt to inquire,” she persisted. “I know we’ve got no money. But we could offer to fix up the place. It’ll just go downhill that much faster with no one here.”
    “Julia—”
    “No, hear