Courting Miss Callie. Dorothy Clark

ran toward her room, whirled about in the doorway and choked out the words clogging her throat. “I love you, Aunt Sophia.”

      “I love you, too, dear. Now, go!” Sophia made a shooing motion with her hands as the back door opened.

      She darted into her bedroom and shut the door, the beauty of her aunt’s smile glowing through a deluge of unstoppable tears.

      * * *

      The sun hung high in the blue expanse overhead, but the western sky promised rain. Not that it mattered. Nothing could dampen her spirits today. Callie drew her gaze from the dark clouds rolling and piling one against the other in the distance, lifted her skirt hems and dashed out onto Main Street, darted between two wagons and hopped up onto the board walkway on the other side.

      Not very decorous behavior for a young lady of her age, but she felt so light since her conversation with Sophia that morning, it was a wonder her feet were even touching the ground. Standing and waiting for the lumbering wagons to pass was unthinkable. She hurried around the parsonage to the back porch and ran up the steps.

      “Woof!”

      “Hello, Happy.” She leaned down and scratched behind the dog’s ears. “Aren’t you the smart dog, getting up on the porch before the rain comes?” His tail wagged his agreement. She laughed and patted his shoulder, then straightened, tapped her knuckles against the door and entered.

      The gray-haired woman at the worktable glanced up from her work and smiled. “Hello, Callie. She’s in the sitting room.”

      “Thanks, Bertha.” She hung her burnoose on a peg by the door, sniffed the air and glanced at the dough the woman was rolling out. “Rose water cookies. Yum.”

      The older woman laughed. “I’ll bring you some with tea, soon’s the first batch comes out of the oven.”

      “Lovely!” She smiled and rushed down the hall into the sitting room. “You were right, Willa!”

      Willa spun about and rose from her chair at the secretary desk in the corner, her eyes wide, her mouth agape. “Callie! What—”

      “I’m staying, Willa. I’m going to live with Aunt Sophia.” She crossed the room and enfolded her stunned friend in a quick hug, whirled away and came to an abrupt, teetering halt on the tips of her toes. “Oh!” She caught her balance, ignored the heat stealing into her cheeks and smiled at her friend’s husband standing in the doorway. “Hello, Reverend.”

      “Good afternoon, Callie. Forgive my intrusion, but I heard the excitement and came to investigate.”

      She stared at the man’s smile and realized, all over again, why Willa had lost her heart to him. “Please come in and share my good news, Reverend.”

      “Good news?”

      “Callie is going to be staying in Pinewood.” Willa turned to her. “I’m so glad you told Sophia the truth.” Willa’s blue-green eyes searched hers. “You did tell Sophia?”

      She shook her head. “Ellen wrote Mrs. Hall about my leaving home without accepting any of the men Father had granted permission to court me, and Mrs. Hall told Aunt Sophia.”