1886. Hattie Phelan, too sick to work in the factories, moves to live with her distant relatives in Iowa with Constance Daugherty, her fellow tenant from Chicago. Hattie, embittered at the death of her mother and leaving her father in Chicago, is an...
Stiffness seeped into my fingers as I began to regret not bringing gloves. My ears were getting numb even from beneath the shawl wrapped over my head. The rain was coming down hard, and I could barely see in front of me. But all I could think about was poor little David alone in the rain.
"David!" I called out, my voice getting hoarse. I was starting to get frantic since I had been out for almost twenty minutes with no response. I had headed in a different direction than I believed the men were going to find Nathan since I wanted to cover different ground so that no one would miss David.
I looked at the landscape around me as I neared the creek. This must have been the creek where Nathan and David would fish. It would be the perfect place to look for him. I stepped to the bank, noticing the creek was much deeper than the one on our property, and was in fact very turbulent. My breath hitched at the thought that David could've slipped and fallen in.
Oh, God, please let me find him, I begged in prayer as I looked up at the pouring heavens above the treeline. Out of all prayers, let this one be answered, God. I don't think Wally could take more loss! I don't think I could take more loss.
"David!" I called as I made my way through the brush.
"Hatts?"
It was the faintest whisper, but it echoed through my skull like thunder. I stopped in my tracks, listening as rain pattered heavily against the ground.
"David?" I called a little louder as I looked around the brush for the little redheaded boy.
"Hatts," David responded, to my left. I turned in that direction, rushing over to find that he was underneath a tree, trying to keep from getting rained on, but to no avail. He was soaked to the bone and his face was stained with tears.
"Thank You, Jesus," I cried out as I knelt in front of him, wiping him off with the dry ends of my shawl that had been tucked into my coat. I then helped him shrug on his own coat before I used my shawl to tie him onto me like a sling. Now all I had to do was retrace my steps. I looked towards the direction that I had come from, praying to God it was the right way. I couldn't see very far in the rain.
I held onto David tightly as I trudged back through the mud and rain. I slipped once but was able to catch myself before I fell too far. I probably looked like a mess since I was wet, cold, and muddy. But I didn't care. All I cared about was getting David home safe. Luckily, my intuition was right, and I had headed in the correct direction, for I saw the lights of the house through the rain.
Almost miraculously, it stopped raining as heavy, only becoming a light drizzle now. I heard hoof beats to my left, and I looked to see Wally on his horse, coming out of the barn. We were only a hundred feet away, which was quickly shortened by Wally stopping in front of us and swinging off of his horse in one motion.
"David!" Wally cried out, as I took the little boy out of my shawl to hand him to his brother. He then turned to me with tears in his eyes. I shivered in response. He placed his hand on my shoulder to steady my shaking body. "Are you okay? Let's get you inside."
Everything after that was a blur. I was escorted upstairs to rest and get warmed. I remembered being fed and drinking a hot drink, but I didn't recall who was with me and what they said, though I do remember Essie's face looking down at me after I woke up from a fever dream. All I could worry about was David the whole time. I prayed so much for David's health. It was all probably aloud since I had no filter when I was as out-of-touch as I was, but I didn't care. I had to pray that David did not go through what I was going through at that moment.
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