Midnight Rescue / The Proposal / Christy's Choice (21 page)

“You could always start preaching in Richmond,” she replied with a wink.

“I'm happy here,” David told her gently.

“I can see that now,” Mrs. Grantland said with a resigned sigh. “But a mother can still hope, can't she? Just think of all you're missing, David. The fine restaurants and fancy stores and—”

“And Delia Jane Manning,” Christy added with a grin.

“She is a
fine
girl,” Mrs. Grantland said wistfully. “She'd make some man a beautiful wife . . .”

“Well, it
does
seem I'm available once again,” David said, avoiding Christy's eyes.

A frantic figure clad in a white apron rushed out of the front door of the mission house.

“Mother! Mother! David! Come quick!” Miss Ida screeched. She waved something silver in the air.

“That thar's one of our fishes!” Zach cried.

“Ida, dear!” Mrs. Grantland cried. “What's happened?”

“The ring! The ring!” Miss Ida cried frantically. She held up a tiny band with a cluster of diamonds on it. “I found it inside this fish!”

“Great-great-grandmother Grantland's ring, inside a fish!” Mrs. Grantland fanned her face, as if she might faint yet again. “We can only thank the good Lord she's not here to witness this!”

“Zach and I done caught the fish,” Creed cried, “so we get the reward!”

“It looks like I'll have to come up with
two
copies of
Huckleberry Finn
,” Christy laughed.

David took the ring from Miss Ida. It glimmered in the sun like a radiant promise. He gazed at Christy, shaking his head. For the first time, he began to smile.

“You don't suppose,” he said, “that this is a good omen, do you?”

Christy smiled back. “Miracles do happen, David,” she said. “At least, that's been my experience.”

Christy's Choice

Contents

The Characters

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Abuot The Authoe

The Characters

CHRISTY RUDD HUDDLESTON
, a nineteen-year-old girl.

CHRISTY'S STUDENTS
:

CREED ALLEN, age nine.

BESSIE COBURN, age twelve.

SAM HOUSTON HOLCOMBE, age nine.

RUBY MAE MORRISON, age thirteen.

DAVID GRANTLAND
, the young minister.

IDA GRANTLAND
, David's sister.

ALICE HENDERSON
, a Quaker mission worker originally from Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

DR. NEIL MACNEILL
, the physician of the Cove.

LETY COBURN
, mother of Christy's student, Bessie.

KYLE COBURN
, Bessie's father.

FAIRLIGHT SPENCER
, a mountain woman.

GRANNY BARCLAY
, the midwife of the Cove.

MR. HUDDLESTON
, Christy's father.

MRS. HUDDLESTON
, Christy's mother.

GEORGE HUDDLESTON
, Christy's brother.

LANCE BARCLAY
, a young man from Asheville.

MR. BARCLAY
, Lance's father.

MRS. BARCLAY
, Lance's mother.

MABEL BENTLEY
,
MELISSA BENTLEY
,

ELIZABETH DEERFIELD
,
and JEANETTE GRADY
, Christy's friends from Asheville.

THOMAS WOLFE
, a boy from Asheville.

One

S
queal! Squeeeeal!

Christy Huddleston was standing in front of her class writing on the blackboard, when suddenly the hogs began squeeling at the top of their lungs.

Squeeeeeal! Squeeeeeeal!

“What on earth?” Christy wondered aloud.

“Teacher, them ol' hogs is scared somethin' awful,” Sam Houston Holcombe said.

“Must be a varmint got in with them,” nine-year-old Creed Allen agreed. “Them's the sounds of hogs that are mighty afeared.”

Squeeeeal! Squeeeeeeeal!

Christy put down her chalk. She sighed and rolled her eyes up to heaven. “Why me?” she whispered. She had to be the only teacher in the world who had hogs living under her classroom.

The hogs lived in the cool, dark mud beneath the school building, which also served as a church on Sundays. In rustic Cutter Gap, high up in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, the mountain people were too poor to afford two separate buildings.

Since the building provided some shelter for the hogs, Christy had learned to accept them—even though sometimes their smell was quite unpleasant.

Squeeeal! Squeeeeeeeeeal!

Suddenly, a loud banging came from underneath the floorboards. The hogs were squealing louder and louder. They were making so much noise that Christy knew she couldn't continue with her lessons.

Christy walked down the aisle toward the trapdoor that led down to the hogs. “I suppose we had better see what's going on,” she said.

“Ma'am, you might best be careful,” Creed warned. “Them hogs is acting downright fitified!”

“Well, I have to see—” Christy started to say. Suddenly the trapdoor jumped upward with a bang. Christy took a step back.

With a second blow, the door flew open. A huge hog came leaping up from below. It was in a panic. It scrabbled on the wooden floor, then ran right for Christy.

“Look out!” Sam Houston yelled.

Christy snatched up her skirts just in the nick of time. The hog went flying through her legs, leaving a smear of mud on Christy's stockings.

Squeeeal!
The hog tore around the room, banging into everything in its path.

“It's after me!” thirteen-year-old Ruby Mae Morrison cried. She jumped up on a chair. “Keep away, you old hog!”

Then a second hog seemed to explode up from below. A third hog followed.

“Look out!” Christy yelled. “Everyone be careful!”

Now there were
three
crazy hogs racing madly around the classroom. Children jumped out of their way. Desks were overturned. Books went flying. Papers were blown every which way.

Sam Houston stuck his head down in the hole and said, “I reckon I know why them hogs is so scared, Miz Christy. There's a fox down in there with them.”

“Someone grab these hogs!” Christy said. “They are destroying the classroom.”

“Dumb old hogs,” Sam Houston said. “Can't no little fox hurt them none.”

Squeeeal!
Again one of the hogs ran straight for Christy.

She jumped aside. But when she jumped, she bumped into a second hog, which knocked her off-balance.

“Look out, Teacher!” Creed Allen yelled.

Christy teetered on the edge of the opening in the floor. Down below, she could see the quizzical look of the little fox. He was looking up at her. Christy windmilled her arms, trying to keep her balance. But it was no use.

“Aaaaaah!” she cried.

Down she fell. Down through the hole in the floor. Down into the mud.

She landed with a plop. The fox took one look at her and ran.

When she looked up, Christy could see the faces of her students peering down at her.

Then, one by one, three more faces appeared. The first was David Grantland, the handsome young preacher who ran the mission.

He smiled.

“Is this some new teaching method, Christy?” he asked.

The second face belonged to Miss Alice Henderson, the Quaker missionary who had founded the mission. She poked her head over the huddled students. Christy could tell she was trying very hard not to grin.

“Why, Miss Huddleston,” said Miss Alice. “Whatever are you doing down there?”

The last face to appear belonged to Doctor Neil MacNeill. He didn't even try to hide his smile. Instead, he laughed outright.

“No, no, Christy,” he said. “It's supposed to be
you
in the classroom and the
hogs
down below. Not the other way around.”

“Very funny, all of you,” Christy said through gritted teeth.

David stuck his hand down. “Come on, I'll help you up.”

Christy tried to climb up out of the hole. But the sticky mud held on to her skirts and resisted her attempt to escape. She slipped and fell back again. One of her shoes was so stuck she had to unlace it to get free.

Finally, after several tries, she emerged back into her classroom. The three hogs had been shooed outside. But it was too late to save Christy's dress, or her dignity. She was covered from head to toe with mud.

“You're not setting a very good example for the students,” David said with a laugh, as the others joined in.

“I'm glad you're all enjoying this,” Christy said.

“Actually, we came to discuss a serious matter with you,” Doctor MacNeill said. Then he wrinkled his nose. “But I think first you might want to see about a bath.”

“I'll watch the class,” David volunteered.

Christy left David in charge of the class and marched out of the schoolhouse to the mission. She was definitely not in a happy mood.

Miss Ida, David Grantland's older sister, was in the doorway of the mission house.

“Surely, Miss Huddleston, you don't intend to track all that mud into my clean parlor!” she exclaimed.

Christy just glared at her. Miss Ida decided it might be best to step aside.

Twenty minutes later, Christy felt almost human again. She had taken a very hot bath, using plenty of soap, and had put on a fresh skirt and blouse. She found Doctor MacNeill and Miss Alice in the parlor, waiting patiently for her.

Christy set down the basket she was carrying, filled with her muddy clothes. It was going to take hours to get them clean. They seemed to have picked up ten pounds of mud.

“Feeling better, Christy?” Miss Alice asked.

“Yes, Miss Alice, I am. I apologize if I seemed ungracious before.”

“Ungracious?” Doctor MacNeill said. “You looked like you would have bitten the head off anyone who crossed your path.”

“I believe Christy had reason enough to be snappish,” Miss Alice said kindly. “Perhaps you had best tell her your news, Neil.”

The doctor grew serious. He leaned forward in his chair. “It's Bessie Coburn,” he said.

At the mention of Bessie, Christy's face clouded with concern. Bessie, who was thirteen, was Ruby Mae's best friend. The two of them were inseparable. Since Ruby Mae lived right in the mission house, Bessie was often there, too. That is, until very recently, when she'd become ill.

“Is Bessie's condition worse?” Christy asked the doctor.

“Yes. I'm afraid it is,” Doctor MacNeill said.

“Much worse.”

Two

B
essie is in increasing pain,” Doctor MacNeill continued, “and it will only get worse. I am certain now that we are dealing with some sort of a cyst or abscess. I don't believe it's life-threatening, at least not yet. But it is very painful. It will have to be removed.”

“Surgery?” Christy asked. “Poor Bessie.

She's just a child.”

“Yes, we'll have to perform surgery. And it is more than I can handle here in Cutter Gap.

I need the facilities of a
real
hospital. And I would dearly love to consult with Doctor Hugo Mecklen. He is a surgeon who specializes in this area of medicine.”

“Whatever it takes to help Bessie,” Christy said. “Only . . . what about the money?”

“Naturally, I'll contribute my services free of charge,” Doctor MacNeill said. “And I believe Hugo will as well.”

“But there are still the costs of the hospital itself, and of medicines,” Miss Alice said. “We all know that the mission doesn't have much money. But I don't see how we can avoid this expense. It will mean no more books or school supplies for a while.” Miss Alice smiled confidently. “But we have always managed.”

Christy bit her lip. No books! Already the children were sharing books between two, and sometimes even three, students. But, of course, Bessie's health came first.

“I've already spoken to some friends on the railroad, and they've generously agreed to let Bessie and her companions travel for free,” Miss Alice said.

“We'll be leaving as soon as we can get Bessie's parents to agree,” Doctor MacNeill said. “Once that's arranged, we'll only have one problem.”

“What problem?” Christy asked.

“It's not a very big problem,” Miss Alice said, with a grin. “It's simply that we'll need someone to travel with Bessie. Her mother can't go. Not only is she expecting another baby soon, but she's needed to help plant the corn crop. Anyway, we thought perhaps you might wish to go.”

“Me?”

“The hospital I'll be taking Bessie to is the one in Asheville,” the doctor explained with a smile. “You could turn it into a visit home.”

Home
.

Christy glanced at the basket filled with her muddy clothes. Her mind traveled back to her home in Asheville. There in her room was a large oak wardrobe, a lovely armoire.

Inside hung a dozen or more dresses. Clean dresses, clean blouses, clean everything.

Here in Cutter Gap, it seemed, nothing was ever truly clean. No matter how hard they all tried.

She pictured her tidy, well-decorated room.

There were lace curtains on the windows and rugs on the floors.

Here at the mission, her room was almost a cell by comparison.

Most of all, she pictured her bed. Her big, fluffy, soft feather bed.

Had she ever been able to sleep as well here, on her lumpy secondhand mattress?

“So will you go with the doctor and Bessie to Asheville?” Miss Alice asked.

“And
me
,” David added as he strode into the middle of the room. “I'll be going, too.”