CHAPTER ONE
Peering up at the trees, the sensation of someone watching my every move mounted. But here was nothing out of the ordinary while I rinsed the last of my laundry in the river not far from home. Only the high noon sunlight shadowed me.
Gathering my clothes, I ignored the unnerving feeling. No harm would come to me here. It was still daylight. The mist always materialized after sun set. By that time, I was locked behind closed doors and shutters, safe from the howling winds and the frightened animals who changed into feral beasts controlled by the vapor.
Shivering, but not because I was cold, I forced my thoughts back to my chores.
"Adela Jane?" I heard my name in the distance.
Standing, I stretched my back, stiff from my hunched position. A squirrel stared down at me from its perch on a tree branch. I let out a nervous laugh at my overactive imagination. To think I'd been alarmed because this small, harmless creature watched me performing my duties.
"Where are you, Adela Jane?" The voice grew closer.
I grabbed my wicker basket and placed it on my hip. "Over here." I shouted to my dearest friend, Emma Marie, barely nineteen, newly married and probably with child. Later today, she would visit with our healer to see if in nine months she'll bring forth a new life to help keep our numbers strong. Our dwindling population in the village of Romanhnah gave our elders some concern. It was expected for those who reached maturity to embrace marriage and create offspring.
Surely, I wouldn't grow old and gray with only my cat Ez to keep me company. One day I longed for what Emma Marie had accomplished. But, I had more important matters to attend to than my foolish dreams of love.
Emma Marie's footsteps stomped through the dead leaves lining the forest floor. It had been a dry season, and the lack of rain worried us all. But the river still flowed deep through our valley and many trees thrived.
"There you are!" Emma Marie smiled, placing her hands on her hips. Her curly black hair brushed down her back in a way that made me jealous. My dirty blonde hair was more flat than wavy. When the weather acted up, my hair snarled and knotted. Sometimes it annoyed me too much that I longed to cut it off. I would do no such thing. It took years for me to grow it to my waist. I'd received many compliments, especially from the young men in the village.
But I still hated my hair.
"Of course I'm here. It's Saturday. Where else would I be?" I clutched my basket of wet clothes, eager to hang them to dry in the sun. Emma Marie followed my movements by skipping. She may be a married woman, but she still engaged in childish things that should be put to the side.
"You silly goose. Everyone in town is preparing for the harvest celebration tomorrow. People are setting up so they can start the festivities early. There will be dancing and drinking once the sun rises!"
I let out a small laugh. Emma Marie felt such joy about life and always had a smile to give. She'd rather play than work. Her doting husband, Thomas Andrew let her do whatever she wanted. But it made sense. She was the darling daughter of the richest landowner in Romanknah.
"Emma Marie, you know full well before we celebrate we must thank the Almighty above. Then we can dance and drink." I hurried forward. I really wanted to get these clothes on the line to dry.
"You work too hard. You're always helping your grandmother at her house or doing chores around your own. You need to enjoy life more! It's bad enough we can only go out during the day and not at night." She was adorable when she pouted. My envy flared because she was wonderful at everything she did.
When I pouted, people asked if something was wrong with my mouth.
"I'm being realistic. I would love nothing more than to go up on my roof and lie down and watch the stars. But I don't want to end up missing, carried away by the mist."
"That's all anyone talks about. Mist this, mist that. Bah! I really don't see why we should thank the Almighty all the time because he's the one to blame for all our woes."
Dropping my basket, I slapped my hand over her mouth. "Shh!" I checked to see if anyone overheard her outburst. "You should take more caution with what you say. The Almighty is not to blame for the curse."
She pushed my hand away and crossed her arms. "Oh really? Can you please explain why the mist has been around since the dawn of time and why no one dares to leave their homes at night? Perhaps it's not so deadly like we've been told?"
"How can you ask that? Of course the mist is a danger to all. Remember the blacksmith's son who disappeared ten years ago?"
She kicked a pebble. "I'm not likely to forget him. It's become a local legend to scare us before bedtime. Every time we have a village meeting, one of the elders mentions how the poor drunken boy didn't make it back to his house in time after the sun set. I always wondered why no one saved him. All they had to do was open their doors and give him shelter."
I didn't have an answer for her. Many accepted things without reason because of our fear. No one had witnessed his death, but most heard his dying screams. All the adjacent houses had boarded up their windows with wooden planks, refusing to open their doors to save him. By then it was too late. The mist dragged him away, never to be seen or heard of again. After that night, the community didn't dare leave their homes.
As I reached for my basket, Emma Marie took it instead. "Please don't be angry at me. It's...I'm worried because I don't know what the healer will say. I'm a bit scared to be with child. What if I'm not good enough to take care of a baby? You've even said I'm too flighty. What if I'm not ready for this?" She sniffed, ready to sob any moment.
"Every woman is scared to be a mother." I placed my arm around her shoulders. "You'll do great. You're kind and caring, and Thomas Andrew will also be there to support you."
She nodded and wiped away at her eyes. "You're right. Oh, Adela Jane, you're always the voice of reason." She hugged me and we continued down the path to my house less than a mile away.
"Mama and Papa will be there to help me also. Nathan Alexander says he can't wait to play ball and catch with his first nephew."
"A nephew, huh? How is Nathan Alexander these days?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't tease me about my interest in her brother.
"He's fine as one can be. Not a day goes by where he doesn't ask how you are."
"Wh...what?"
She skipped away, swinging my basket in her arms. She turned and winked. "Don't be surprised if he makes an excuse to visit you today." She ran toward my house.
"Emma Marie, you have some explaining to do!" I grabbed my skirt to dash after her.
Emma Marie was my best friend since we've been in the cradle. Only she knew of my tender feelings for her older brother, who I wished to make my husband before the end of the year.
*********
The hazy early afternoon whipped up a slight breeze, helping dry my clothes on the line. I sat on a wooden rocking chair in the corner of my front porch while my six-year-old cat licked his paws, prone on my lap. My Nonnie Vivian Jean gave me this lazy feline a few months after my mother passed away. The pudgy cat covered in gray fur loved when I petted him. He purred, enjoying the sunshine. Not bothering to shield my face with a bonnet, I peered up at the clear blue sky. Emma Marie had warned me on more than one occasion to cover up because I freckled from the sun. But last summer Nathan Alexander commented on how much he liked my brown spots. Since then I didn't mind so much about the marks.
A wonderful quiver of joy hit low in my stomach. He promised me a dance tomorrow, and perhaps many more. He was very much a grown man, almost halfway through his twenty-first year. He should be married already, with a child or two, but for reasons unknown, he hadn't wed yet. I liked to think he waited for me to grow up. Giggling, I hid face against the inside of my arm.
Ez stretched and jumped down from my lap in search of some mice for an afternoon snack. He loved to wander the fields and in the forest but always returned before sunset, where we sat out the night, listening to those wretched sounds from the forest animals. But that was hours away yet, and I still had so much to do. My next chore, which really didn't feel like one at all, would be a visit to my Nonnie, my mother's mother.
Wanting some exercise, I grabbed my light-yellow shawl that matched my dress and strolled down the path to Nonnie's house. I enjoyed the warm breeze as I waved to the various villagers I'd known all my life. Many enjoyed picnics at the tables by the square in the bandstand and others fished in the pond. I smiled and called out greeting, which some returned. I continued with more of a skip in my step.
Gilbert Mason wiped down a horse in the open doorway of the town stable. He gaped at me as I passed by. Over the past few months, he'd made me very uneasy, looking at me in ways a man shouldn't. He had always been a loner, a bit off in the head, a man near thirty who didn't have a wife or child. A hard worker who loved horses, but one who disturbed me in ways no one else did. I wrapped my arms around my waist and kept going. It was rude on my part not to call out a greeting, but I didn't want him to take notice of me.
I'd become a paranoid ninny.
I shook off those awkward feelings. Nonnie's house stood right off the lane near the edge of the square. A very wise woman, not yet in her sixtieth year, she was one of fifteen elders who decided on the village rules we all adhered to.
She sat in a rocking chair on her front porch while she did some cross stitch. She finished sewing a flower on the panel whenI reached the first step.
She placed her stitching in a basket on the floor next to her foot. "Hello, my darling butterfly. How are you on this fair day?" Her contagious smile made me give her one in return.
I'd always been called a butterfly by Nonnie, her special nickname, since she first held me in a swaddling blanket. She once said as a babe I never wanted to lie still, often flapping my arms much like butterfly wings, as if I wanted to fly far away.
"I finished my laundry and wanted to see how you're fairing." I walked up the steps while she grabbed her basket. I admired her when she stood upright, a tall woman, remarkable from her shiny golden locks with a touch of gray to her peaches and cream complexion. I sorely lacked, with a nose too big for my face and thin lips that made my chin too long and narrow. I wasn't lucky to have my mother's pretty face either.
"You stopped by because you want a piece of the cherry cobbler I made for tomorrow."
I could never lie to her. "That also."
She let out a husky laugh and tugged on a wayward strands that had escaped from my braid.
"Come in for some cobbler and tea." She opened the screen door and disappeared inside. I glanced off in the distance at a puffy white cloud in the horizon.
Hopefully a sign of the much needed rain to come.
*********
No matter how often I visited Nonnie, her house always smelled welcoming, with a combination of lemon and cinnamon from her cleaning and cooking. She loved to cook; her kitchen was her sanctuary and the room I loved most. I never thought of my own under-used kitchen in that way. I was not the best cook. I ate simple meals even though Nonnie tried her hardest to teach me our family recipes. Content, I enjoyed a piece of her homemade cobbler, oozing with sweet cherries.
Nonnie stood by the stove and poured cups of tea. I enjoyed the cobbler, wishing for another piece even before I finished the first. I should be more rounded from eating her meals, but, thankfully, those in my family didn't put on weight.
The light from the window hit her face. I stared, thinking her one of the most beautiful people in our village.
"Nonnie, I love you."
With a furrow in her brow, she brought over the cups of tea and sat down across from me. "Child, that must be one of the nicest compliments you have ever given me. Why such an emotional outburst?"
I shrugged. "You've always been there for me. When Mama died, I thought I would be alone in the world."
"But you aren't. You have me and your friend Emma Marie, and, of course, Ez. You've grown into quite the capable young woman. If I'd thought otherwise, I would never have allowed you to keep your own house."
Setting my fork down, I took a sip of the warm lemongrass-flavored tea. "So you have said before. I also have Ez for protection. He helps me keep my home neat and tidy by ridding me of any pests."
She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. A cat can only go so far with giving you friendship and love. I'm talking about human companionship. With a man."
"Oh, Nonnie—"
She held up a hand. When she raised her hands, everyone would quiet down and listen to what she had to say.
"Adela Jane, tomorrow you'll be eighteen, the same age your mother was when she brought you into this world. I'm so proud of your independence and how willing you are to help me with chores, but I'm getting on in years and I want you to be settled when I leave for the great beyond."
I had heard this speech countless times before. But, out of respect for my grandmother, I nodded and patted her hand.
"I know, Nonnie. Don't worry about me. I won't end up like Aunt Caro Lynn."
"You have a bit of Caro Lynn in you. Now, don't argue with me. I've noticed those picture books spread out on your kitchen table. You're just like her. She wanted to go off and see distant lands with no thought to having her own family."
Whenever she talked about my aunt, she became sentimental. "But, Nonnie, Aunt Caro Lynn found her place somewhere else. She's thriving in a big town. She writes you twice a month with all her adventures and about her gentlemen callers. So what if she doesn't have a man to call husband or children of her own?"
"Oh yes. I know what those gentlemen callers want from her."
"I don't understand. It's bad for Aunt Caro Lynn to have more than one friend?"
She let out a loud laugh and shook her head as always when I made strange comments.
"Oh, butterfly, you're still so very innocent in the ways of the world. If only I could make you see reason. More and more people are traveling long distances to run—"
"Away from the mist?" I interrupted, quickly regretting my rude outburst when she snorted.
"Where are your manners?" Displeased, she pressed her lips together. When she didn't say my name or call me by one of her endearments, I knew I had upset her.
"I apologize. It's...I'm happy here! But sometimes I wonder what it's like to go far away where the mist can't find me."
"There's no use in having those dreams. The mist is everywhere. Your aunt hasn't even escaped it in her big city, hundreds of miles away."
I focused on the leftover tea leaves stuck to the bottom of my cup. Nonnie seemed lost in her thoughts and took a deep sip of her own tea. The wind chimes next to the kitchen window swayed. Their soft pings combined with the muffled sounds of hammers and the hum of outdoor conversation sounded peaceful. I enjoyed hearing them so.
Nonnie still stared off into space. She wasn't distressed or even sad, but as if she'd lost something and couldn't remember where she left it.
"Nonnie, do you think my parents would be proud of me?"
She looked back at me. "Of course they would be proud of you, butterfly. They were so happy the day you arrived. Their love carried on in you even after they left this world."
I held back tears threatening to fall. Nonnie must have noticed but didn't comment. She stood and grabbed my plate. "Why don't you have another piece of cobbler and tell me what you have planned with Nathan Alexander tomorrow."
If I'd had something in my mouth, I would have choked. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"You can't lie to me, my dear. I see the way you stare at each other during Sunday service, and how that young man is always nearby to escort you home after you finish your errands."
The cobbler she set down in front of me no longer enticed. "Um, we're only friends?"
She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. "It's very important for a man and woman who care for each other to be friends. I can say with most certainty you two have passed that stage. It took him long enough to notice you're no longer a little girl. I approve if you take him for your husband."
I crossed my arms. "Oh really? What if I don't want him?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps you prefer Gilbert Mason?"
I made a face, and she let out a ripple of laughter. "I thought so." She slapped her hand on the table.
My face warming, I picked at my thumbnail. "I've wanted Nathan Alexander for as long as I could remember. What if he still sees me as a little girl who's just his sister's best friend?"
"Listen to me, my daughter's daughter. You and Nathan Alexander are meant to be. The moment you started walking, he made certain you didn't fall on those unsteady toddler legs of yours. He would leave his friends to talk to you. Every time you and Emma Marie are together, he's there also. The smiles he gives you—and lordy he does have a nice smile—has turned into something deeper and filled with devotion and love only a man has for the woman he desires."
I swallowed uncomfortably and suddenly felt very hot. "How do you know?"
She gave me a sad smile and sipped her tea. "Because it was the same way your grandfather acted toward me." She then came over and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I put my hands on top of hers and we stared out the window and at her backyard where two chipmunks chased one another.
She leaned her face against mine and whispered into my ear, "Things will turn out for the best. You'll see."
I squeezed her hands. My grandmother may be one of the wisest women I knew, but I couldn't help but think she was wrong. Maybe things weren't fine as she said they were.
But why wouldn't they?
We continued to stare out the window. The sky was much cloudier than before.
A storm brewed in the distance. A flash of lightning lit up the sky.
Soon the mist would be here.