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Hogtied (Heartsong Presents #635)

By Lynn A. Coleman

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One

Jamestown, Kentucky, 1840

Urias, please reconsider.”
“Mom, I’ve prayed. I’ve got to go.”
Dad came up beside her and massaged her shoulders. “You go, Son. Do what you have to do but remember, we’ll need you in time for the spring planting.”
“Yes, Sir. You two mean the world to me. I promise I’ll be back.” Mom and Dad MacKenneth had opened their home to him seven years ago. They’d become his family and he now looked differently on life.
Pamela MacKenneth stepped toward him and wrapped her arms around him. Urias embraced her tenderly. “I promise, if I can’t find her this year, I’ll leave her in the Lord’s hands and trust that she’s all right.”
“I understand. I’ll miss you terribly. Don’t forget to say good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa,” she encouraged.
“You think I’d be able sit again if I didn’t say good-bye to them?” His adopted parents laughed. Well, that helped lighten the mood a little, Urias mused.
“Did you pack all the items we went over, Son?” his father asked.
“Yeah. Thanks for all the help.”
“You know I’d love to be hiking up those mountains with you.”
He knew all too well. His father loved the mountains, but he loved his family more. When Urias had first met up with Pam and Nash “Mac” MacKenneth they’d been working their way through the Cumberland Gap area along the Wilderness Road. Somehow it seemed far more than seven years ago. Grandpa Mac had an accident and Urias’s adopted father took over the cares of the family farm. Course, he and Mom weren’t married at that time, and it took a bit before Dad came to his senses and asked her to marry him. But he finally had, and now they were a family of six—including Urias.
But his first family was who he needed to find now. He’d heard rumors that his younger sister was living in the Hazel Green area around Mt. Sterling. He’d gone last year and hadn’t found her. In 1837 Urias and his family had attended an Association at Hardshell Baptist Church. That’s when he heard someone mention they once knew an O’Leary—and she had red hair just like him. Of course, red hair and Irish names seemed to go hand in glove. But he’d been searching for Katherine every fall right after the harvest ever since. This year he’d stay through the winter and give it one final look. It didn’t matter that he’d given every merchant he met his name and a message as to how he could be reached in Jamestown.
Unfortunately, Jamestown was several days’ travel from the Hazel Green area.
Sucking in a deep breath, Urias broke the merriment. “I gotta go. Pray for me.”
“You know we will, Urias.” Pam wiped the tears from her eyes.
Urias choked back his own. These two people loved him so much. He never felt anything less than a part of their family.
“Urias,” Nash Jr. called out from behind him. Urias turned toward the young boy’s voice.
“Hey, Buddy, what ya got there?”
“A present.” Urias remembered the first time he held Nash when he was only a few hours old. It didn’t seem possible people could start out that small.
“Is it for me?” Setting his Kentucky long rifle against the wall, Urias knelt on one knee to put himself at a more equal footing with the boy.
“Uh-huh.” Nash handed it to him with a smile that lit up the small child’s face. It was wrapped in a scrap of cloth he recognized Mom had been working on a few days before.
“Thank you.” Urias opened the cloth and found an old arrowhead. “This is wonderful, Nash. Thank you.”
“If your powder gets wet you can use it to fight off a bear.” Personally, Urias hoped he wouldn’t have to fight off any bear, ever. The scars on Mac’s back were enough of a warning to stay clear of those critters as much as humanly possible.
He reached out and ruffled the boy’s thick black hair. It was so much like his father’s. “I’ll remember that.”
Dad winked.
Mom held back a chuckle at the boy’s naivete.
When the MacKenneths and Urias first met, he had a minor run-in with a bear. Thankfully, it was more interested in their ham than in them.
“Urias,” his sisters said in unison. Molly, the older of the two, smiled. Her first two adult teeth were just beginning to show in the empty space. Sarah was two years younger than Molly, but she kept trying to wiggle her front teeth, hoping they’d come out soon like her big sister’s had. Molly had long, dark curly hair like her father. Sarah had straight brown hair like her mother.
Molly held a hand-wrapped package with a bow around it. “We made these for you.”
“They’re your favorite,” Sarah added.
“Thank you, ladies. They smell wonderful,” he said as he took the bundle of cookies and placed it in his pack.
He hugged and kissed each of his siblings, said his good-byes, and headed to his grandparents’ house. He and Mac had built it after Grandpa Mac’s accident—a single story, with ramps to go in and out of the place. Grandpa had been in a wheelchair for seven years and Grandma tended to his every need. She also attended to Urias’s education. After a brief but cheery good-bye he headed out on horseback toward the mountains. “Lord, please let me find Katherine this time.”

***

Kate,” Prudence called as she entered the darkened barn. She’d seen her retreat there once before. “Kate,” she called once again.
“Pru?”
“Yes, it’s me. Where are you?” Prudence blinked as her eyes adjusted to the lack of sunlight.
“Up here in the loft,” Kate whispered.
Prudence climbed up the rustic ladder and saw Kate sitting there with her knees up to her chest. “Are you all right?”
Kate closed her eyes and her gorgeous red curls—which Prudence had envied more than once—bobbed as she nodded.
Prudence knelt in front of Kate and pushed those lovely locks from her friend’s face, exposing the most beautiful green eyes one could wish for. But something overshadowed the beauty she’d seen in this servant gal. “You’ve been crying. What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry.” Kate wiped the tears from her face with the hem of her gray cotton dress. “What do you need?”
“I don’t need a thing. I was looking for you. Now tell me why you’ve been crying.”
Father had purchased Kate from a traveling salesman a couple years prior. Kate never talked of her past, and Prudence wasn’t sure she wanted to hear about it, either. Servants weren’t always treated well, and slaves were treated worse. Kate wasn’t a slave, but Father paid her no wages and she had no freedom to up and leave. Father called her a bond servant, saying that once she worked off the price of her bond she would be free to go. But he’d never said what that debt was—not that he ever had a mind to discuss private financial matters with the women in the family. Mother preferred it that way. Prudence, on the other hand, wanted to know. She’d listen in the shadows, overhearing Father’s business deals. Many times he’d make a profit. But Prudence knew her interest was foolishness. No woman was allowed a place in business, no matter how quickly she could calculate the figures.
She’d snuck into her father’s office more than once to try to find the papers regarding Kate, but she never came up with any. If only there was something she could do for this poor woman.
“No, Miss Prudence. Pay me no never mind.”
Prudence reached out and held her friend. “Please tell me.”
“Your father is thinking of selling my bond.”
“No. You’ll never pay off your bond if he sells you.”
“I know, but I don’t care. I’ve nothing to live for. I’m useless to anyone but to fix their meals and clean their house. I’ll never be free to marry. I’ve been beaten since I was ten and my brother run away. Mother used to beat him. Once he was gone, she started on me. Then one day she came home and said she’d sold me to a man and I was to keep my mouth shut and do what the man asked and not say a word about it.”
“I’m so sorry.” Prudence didn’t have to ask what Kate would have been forced to do.
“Ain’t your fault. This be the best house I’ve been in, in six years.”
“I’ve got to do something. Father can’t sell your bond to another. Perhaps he’ll let me pay for it.”
Kate’s freckled face looked straight at her. “You have money?”
“No, but I know where I can get some. I’d have to disguise myself as a man but I think I could pull it off. I know how men deal with business.”
“Miss Prudence, that be too dangerous, and your pa wouldn’t permit it.”
It was true. He wouldn’t. But she’d have to do something. God, help me to help Kate. She needs to know she has value. It isn’t her fault she’s been thrown into a life of servitude.
“Trust me, Kate. God will help me and help you.”
“God doesn’t like someone like me.”
“Oh, fiddlesticks. He likes you just fine. You’re a good woman, Kate. You’ve been my friend and confidant for two years. I’m indebted to you. I promise with all that I am, I’ll do whatever it takes to release you from this bondage.”
Prudence wrapped the frail woman in her arms. Kate ate little and she slept even less. Her pale skin seemed a tinge gray in recent days. If God didn’t do something soon, she’d probably spend her whole life in bondage—and that wasn’t a way for anyone to live or die. “I love you, Kate.”
Fresh sobs raked over the worn and weak body of her friend. Kate was only seventeen years old, but she looked closer to thirty. Prudence shuddered to think what had happened to her before coming to live here. Kate would flinch at the slightest movement back then, nearly jumping a couple inches off the floor when anyone spoke to her. She’d clearly been abused by someone who’d owned her bond.
“You said you have a brother?” Perhaps she could try to find him.
Kate nodded and smiled. “He’s four years older than me. He left home a year after Pa died. Ma beat him bad. . .broke his arm and jaw one night. After he healed, he ran. He told me I’d be fine because Ma liked me and had never struck me. But he didn’t know I’d be the closest target.”
“I’m sorry. What’s his name? Perhaps I could find him.”
“Urias. But I think he’s dead.” Kate turned and held her knees to her chest once again.
Prudence’s hopes for finding Kate’s brother were quickly dashed. It was up to her. Kate had no one else in this world. Father God, how can I help? she prayed.

***

Five days later, Urias rode into Hardshell, Kentucky, and up to the only church in thirty miles. It was the same church where he and his family had attended the Association gathering three years before when he’d heard Katherine’s name. The church was a log building covered with boards. He stepped inside onto the puncheon floor, the split logs smooth from use. At the moment, only the parson occupied the rectangular space where fence rails substituted for seats. It wasn’t much compared to the church he and his family attended back in Jamestown, but it would stand the test of time, Urias reasoned.
“Parson Duff.” Urias extended his hand.
The older man reached out his beefy hands, grasped Urias by his upper arms, and held them as though Urias were an old friend. “And how do I know you, Son?”
“My family and I came to the Association back in ’37. I don’t reckon you would remember me. My name’s Urias O’Leary. My parents are Mr. and Mrs. Nash MacKenneth from Jamestown,” he said as Parson Duff released Urias’s arms then took his right hand.
The parson stood a couple inches shorter than Urias, but his presence seemed larger. A far-off look gathered in the man’s eye and a smile spread across his broad lips. “There were several folk out to the Association. Grand time, grand time. The Lord be praised.” Parson Duff released Urias’s hand and looked him straight in the eye. “What is it I can do for you, Son?”
“I’m looking for my sister. I’ve spent the past three years searching these hills, with no luck.”
“And who might your sister be?”
“Her name is Katherine. Katherine O’Leary, unless she married. She’s only seventeen, but in the hills—”
“The girls can be married at thirteen.” Parson Duff finished his sentence.
Urias nodded. If Katherine was happily married, he’d stop worrying. But the growing sense of urgency to find her this year had made him wonder if she might actually be in danger.
“Come with me outside, Son.” Parson Duff led him out the front door of the church. “Can you describe her for me?”
“Apart from her having hair the same color as mine, we share the same green eyes. I don’t know what she looks like beyond that. I left home seven years ago when I was fourteen. She was ten at the time.”
The parson walked him over to his horse. “Fine animal.”
“Thank you.”
“Urias, there’s a family over toward that there hollow whose nephew came for a good, long visit. Fine young man by the name of Shelton Greene. His uncle is a bit concerned about him. Now it ain’t my place to say what Shelton is sufferin’ from, but he did mention a gal name named Kate with red hair and green eyes. I reckon if you go and see him, he could tell you if this Kate is your sister.”
Urias’s heart leapt for joy. Could it be this easy? Could he have found her on his first day? Every time in the past when he’d come to the church the parson had not been around. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” Urias jumped up on his horse and grasped the reins. He stopped for a moment. “Where can I find this man?”
Parson Duff chuckled and gave him simple directions. An hour later he’d met up with Shelton Greene.
“You say you’re Kate’s brother?” Shelton asked.
“I don’t know. But I’d like to meet her. Is she here?”
The young man—all of sixteen he’d guess—looked down at his feet. “No. Kate is a bond servant to my father.”
“A bond servant?”
“My father bought her two years ago. She has to work for him until her debt is paid in full.”
“And how much does she owe your father?” Urias couldn’t believe his sister had become a bond servant.
“Don’t know. Father keeps his business dealings close to his chest. If you don’t mind me asking, can you afford to buy her bond?”
No matter what the price, if it was his sister, he’d pay it. How could this have happened? Poor Katherine. He should have tried harder to find her years ago. Dad would have helped him. “I’ll find a way.”
Shelton gave him directions to Hazel Green and the Greene plantation. “Thank you. I’m much obliged.”
Urias mounted his horse. Had Mother been worse on Katherine? Dear God, please let this woman be her. And enable me to negotiate with her owner.
He could spend the winter trapping. Perhaps that would bring in enough. Urias gave the horse a gentle prod with his heels. “Yah!” he ordered.
The winter would mean months more his sister would have to remain in another person’s possession. Urias shuddered at the thought. No man should own another. Urias set his jaw. His nostrils flared. He couldn’t get to Hazel Green fast enough. “Yah!” He snapped his whip above the horse’s head.

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