Read The Tinkerer's Daughter for Free Online Page B

more, and then they came again. I don’t know how long that process went on, but eventually I fell asleep in Tinker’s arms.
    When I woke, I was lying on my bed. Tinker had thrown a light blanket over me and tucked my doll under my arm. I felt the warmth of the fireplace radiating through the doorway, washing over me. It felt good. I lay there for a while, staring at the thick layer of snow on top of my ceiling window, feeling not unlike I had on that very first morning after my father left. Not as alone, and not as afraid as I’d been then, but just as empty.
    No, that wasn’t true. As bad as I felt, it couldn’t compare to those first days, when my father had been the only person in my world. I was older now and a little bit wiser, and not entirely alone. I had Tinker. I had our homestead, with my own little room, and a snow-covered window in my ceiling.
    Tinker had eventually figured out how to make that window. He’d gotten it done just before the snow started. How many other things had he done for me? I couldn’t even count them.
    Strangest of all was the fact that Tinker was in no way obligated to me. The only reason my father had chosen him was that he was an outsider. He was a hermit that lived miles from town with no friends or family. It was the safest reasonable place to leave a young girl like me. Tinker had no duty to accept that responsibility. He could have sent us on our way and forgotten all about us. Why didn’t he do that?
    I knew the answer, of course. The Tinker was a good man. He wasn’t wealthy or powerful, and at first glance he certainly didn’t seem to be anyone special, but inside he truly was. He saw past our external differences. He saw me as a person, a child that needed love and guidance. At the time I had been wrapped up in all of my own emotions. How many other people would have accepted a half-breed into their homes, the way that Tinker had?
    I gradually became aware of the smell of food and the gnawing of my stomach got the best of me. Tinker was not in the cottage, but he’d left a warm roast on the stove. I took advantage of the quiet time to think. When I was done eating and thinking, I ventured out into the darkness. I found Tinker in the barn. He was working at the bench against the far wall, the one where he produced the explosive stone balls. I approached him, but not close enough that I might disturb him.
    “Feeling better?” he asked. He shot me a glance out of the corner of his eye, and then quickly went back to work. He was mixing powders in a large bowl.
    “I want to go to school,” I said.
    He set the bowl aside and twisted on his stool to face me. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that anymore.”
    “I want to go to school.” There didn’t seem to be much else to say. I didn’t want to argue about it. I didn’t want to dance around the subject, the way we had been doing for weeks. I had reached a point of no return. I was going to get what I wanted, or I was going to leave. I’d been thinking about it for a long time, and the news of my father’s death had made me realize something. If I didn’t start working towards my dreams now, then I never would.
    I think my determination was clear in my voice, and on my face. He didn’t get angry the way he usually did.
    “This spring,” he said, a tone of resignation in his voice.
    My eyebrows shot up. “What?”
    “This spring. I spoke to Analyn and she agreed that you can start school this spring.”
    I was flabbergasted. I rushed over and threw my arms around him, almost knocking him off the stool. “Truly? You’re going to let me go?”
    “It doesn’t seem the choice is mine,” he said. “Analyn all but insisted when she came here this morning. She apologized for the way she treated you. She wants you to know that she is sorry. She says that a little girl is just that, no matter what ears she might have, and every little girl deserves an education.”
    I could hardly believe what I was