Barn Dance
Fiddle music reverberated off of the freshly assembled barn walls. The hand organ, flute, a guitar, and a steel drum accented the melody as one of the men who’d worked so hard all day sat on an upturned barrel, playing his heart out on the beautiful instrument. Hope sat on a bale of hay, watching, her toes tapping, keeping time with her hand on her thigh as the others took turns on the dance floor, celebrating the finished barn.
How she wanted to leap up and join them! Ever since she’d been a little girl, she’d loved to dance. Her father used to pick her up and twirl her around in his arms, sometimes in their very own parlor while her mother hummed a tune. A rush of memories flooded Hope’s mind, and she was overwhelmed with homesickness. Dwelling on that now would cause her to cry, so she didn’t let the images linger. Instead, she turned her attention to Ginny and Tom, George’s friend, who didn’t even come to her chin, but she was schooling him on proper hand position as he attempted to lead her across the floor. Hope giggled and caught Caroline’s eye.
Not for the first time, one of the single men sauntered over to her. “You sure you don’t wanna dance?” he asked. “Ain’t no one here on the school board.”
Hope smiled up at him. It wasn’t the first time she’d explained the situation to him. “No, thank you,” she said. Apparently, her explanation for why she couldn’t join him, or any of the others who had asked, wasn’t clear enough. “I’m all right.”
“You know, your contract says you can’t be seen with any single men, but what about an old married one?” The man who came to rest next to her on the bale of hay had been identified earlier as Homer Coy, Horace’s dad. His wife hadn’t come because she was feeling poorly. So far, he’d danced with his daughter-in-law and Caroline, who’d had a lovely time trying out some of the older dances from his day, and Hope imagined it would be a lot of fun to take a spin herself, but her head was shaking before her mouth started speaking.
“I do appreciate the offer, Mr. Coy, but I think I’d rather just sit and watch.”
“Too bad,” he said, patting his leg. “Purty girl like you oughtta be able to cut a rug with whoever she wants.” He stayed next to her, his foot keeping the beat, and Hope silently agreed with him.
The other man had moved on, much to Hope’s relief, and her eyes traced back over all of the singles standing around talking. There really weren’t enough women to go around. All the rest of the gals were married except for a couple of distant cousins of Evelynn’s who’d shown up after the barn was up. They took turns with the other men so no one was left out, but Hope was getting a whole new perspective on the situation. She imagined there were plenty of unwed women back in McKinney who simply weren’t part of this group. Her understanding was that these people all lived fairly far out of town, but most of them likely wouldn’t fit in with the crowd from town anyway since they seemed to think Judah and his family were acceptable human beings that shouldn’t be chastised for simply existing.
Brady and Anna had done a few turns on the dance floor before there had been some sort of tiff between them, and Anna had stormed out, Brady on her heels. Whether or not they’d actually left was beyond Hope. She wasn’t too surprised to see it. Brady had a way of choosing words that infuriated whomever he was speaking to, particularly women.
Caroline was dancing with Judah now, and Hope tried not to watch, though it was difficult. She’d managed to avoid him ever since Brady’s interference earlier in the day. Both times they’d gathered around the table, she’d sat down at the far end near the children, and he’d stayed nearer the barn with the other men who had no families with them. When he’d danced with Ginny earlier in the evening, her eyes had held fast to the pair, Ginny’s giggling ringing over the sound of the musicians as he spun her faster than necessary and then bowed to her like she was a princess when the song was over.
He hadn’t been among those who’d come and asked her to dance, and she was glad for it, because she would’ve been too tempted to say yes. Even now, it was difficult to keep her eyes off of him. He had a grace about him, the way he moved across the floor with his sister in his arms like she was light as air and they were dancing on a cloud. Part of her wanted to assume her thoughts were muddled by their encounter earlier, that seeing him bare chested had messed with her propriety, but in her heart Hope knew better. All those years of yearning for someone to get a reaction out of her, to feel something for someone, and she was beginning to understand at last what it was that had made her mama risk everything to reach out to her daddy when she was already betrothed to someone else.
The song ended, and another melody filled the night. It was a familiar tune, one she’d heard her daddy sing to her mama a thousand times. Though no one sang the lyrics, she knew them all by heart, hearing echoes of her daddy’s voice in her head as she followed along. When they reached the part that mentioned “raven black hair,” the shade of her mother’s and her own, Hope remembered how he’d always reach over and pluck a curl from each of his girls, letting it spring back before he continued. Overcome with emotion, Hope got up and headed for the door, thinking she’d catch her breath outside where it wasn’t so stuffy and there were no eyes to see the tear slipping down her cheek.
The music followed her away from the barn, so she kept walking until she found herself in a thick copse of trees and then in a wooded area. The moon was bright in the sky and the heat of the day had sizzled away, leaving a refreshing breeze. She wiped her tear with her fingertips and leaned back against the trunk of a stately pine whose branches began at least a half a foot above her head. The scent of nature was calming, but the music was still discernible.
I woke from my dreaming
My idols of clay
My visions of love
Have all faded away.
She took a few deep breaths, hoping to calm her spirit. She’d expected to miss her family, but this was almost unbearable, and to think there was no one to comfort her, no shoulder to cry on, made it even more intolerable.
When the song was over, the little band picked up the tempo and played something unfamiliar to her, which was a relief since the last thing she wanted was to dwell on sad love songs from her parents’ time during the war. She had just about decided she could handle going back in when she heard a cautious footstep and pressed herself up against the trunk of the tree, praying she hadn’t managed to get herself into any trouble. Just because she’d felt safe so far didn’t mean she wouldn’t encounter any men with questionable morals.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
