The Seamstress’s Christmas Prayer (Preview)

Chapter One

As the train swayed gently back and forth, Sarah Mitchell closed her eyes and imagined she was gently swaying in the breeze on the swing hung by her parent’s creek. Her older brother, Elijah, had hung the rope swing about ten years earlier when she was sixteen. Back then, she’d stood on the banks of the creek with her arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently as he worked away. 

“Eli,” she had called to him as he tried to toss the rock that was tied to the end of the rope over top of the big branch, “stop that. It’s never going to go that high! Even you’re not strong enough to do that.”

Eli, with his golden hair shining in the sun and an impish grin on his face, tried to pay her no attention, but she wouldn’t let him ignore her.

“Papa told you to put that rope in the barn. What are you going to tell him when he goes looking for it?” she had asked, her tone becoming gradually more playful.

Eli tossed the rope tied rock up as high as he could, but it still didn’t crest over top of the branch. “I’ll say that it got up and walked away, I don’t care! I’ve wanted a swing out here for as long as I could remember, and now that I’ve finally found just enough rope to do it with, I’m going to darn well do it!”

The rock landed with a plunk beside him and he bent down to pick it up again. Sarah sighed. She was used to her brother being stubborn, but he almost always listened to her eventually. He had a soft spot for his younger sister, and whenever he knew she really needed him to do something, he would cave to her will and do it.

“We’re too old for swings anyhow,” Sarah had tried again, knowing that if she didn’t at least try to get him to put the rope back in the barn, she’d be in trouble. “Are you really going to use it that much? You hardly have any time to yourself, what with your chores, your schooling, and Anna!” When she’d finished saying the name of the girl her brother had been going on chaperoned excursions with for the last year, she made kissing noises, which then dissolved into laughter. 

That made Eli freeze with the rock poised, ready to throw in his hands. He glared at his sister. “Don’t do that, Sarah. It’s so immature. You’re above that kind of silly teasing.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and tried not to let him show that his words had affected her. “I’m not above anything when it comes to you, dear brother. But you know what is above you? That branch that you’re never going to reach with that rock!”

Eli narrowed his eyes, drew his arm back as far as it would go, and launched the rock into the air. This time, it easily crested over the top of the largest branch and came down on the other side. It hung there in midair, dangling off the branch as Eli turned to her with a triumphant grin on his lips.

“See? I knew it would work!” he called to her as he whooped and hollered. “Now I’m just going to tie it off and then we’ll have the finest swing in all of Janesville! And Pa won’t miss this piece of rope one bit, you’ll see!”

When they’d gotten the rope tied around the tree branch, Eli slid a length of wood with a hole in the middle onto the rope and tied it so that it hovered just above the ground. After he was sure the wood wouldn’t budge, he put one foot on either side of the board and swung over the creek.

“Woohoo!” he called as he went over the water and swung back. “I’m freeeeee!” 

Sarah laughed joyously as she watched her older brother swing back and forth over the water. 

“Fine, fine,” she relented good-naturedly. “But don’t come crying to me when Pa scolds you for not doing what he asked!

When he was done testing out the swing, Eli insisted she give it a go. As the wind swept beneath her auburn hair while she swung, she understood exactly what he meant about being free. She’d never felt like that before. She closed her eyes momentarily, drinking in the glorious feeling of the graceful motion. When she opened her eyes, Eli was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, beaming at her. She’d never seen him look so happy. 

It was this image she kept in her mind… now that Eli was gone. Even now, sitting on the train with Eli’s little boy, Thomas, leaning against her, asleep, she could still see the look in Eli’s eyes as he watched her. When she thought of him, that was how she saw him: happy, carefree, triumphant. Not how he died: trapped in a dark, airless mineshaft, scared and alone. 

After their parents had died of Typhoid, Eli had been left as the head of the family; the ‘family’ which was now just the two of them. Sarah had begged him to stay in college and pursue his higher education, but he was determined to provide for them. He got a job at the mine immediately after their deaths and began working right away.

“It’s just how it has to be right now, Sar,” she remembered Eli saying to her as he held her hands on his first day in the mine. She didn’t want to let him go.

“But it’s so dangerous down there,” she protested, crying. “I’m so afraid for you, Eli. I don’t want you to have to suffer down there.”

“If Ma and Pa had been able to recover, maybe things would have been different,” he replied, not answering her concerns. “Maybe we could have made our way to a better life.”

“I can make enough from sewing to support us,” she tried to assure him. “I’m a very skilled seamstress, Eli. Just you wait and see how much I’m going to make once I get started.”

Eli patted her cheek. “We both know that isn’t true, Sarah. There’s no doubt you’re the most talented seamstress in all of Wisconsin, but seamstresses don’t make much.”

“Neither do miners,” she snapped back defensively. She felt bad as soon as the words were out of her mouth, but she couldn’t take them back.

But Eli just chuckled. “You’re going to go far, Sarah. Much further than me.”

Those words had never rung as sadly true as they did right now. Did Eli know he wasn’t going to make it out of those mines? Did he know he was even going to live long enough to marry Anna and have a wonderful little boy who looked just like him?

Now, on the train, Tommy shuffled in his sleep as though he were uncomfortable, so Sarah repositioned him. But he didn’t close his eyes again, instead looking up at Sarah.

How long until we get there? Tommy asked with his eyes. Tommy had gone silent after the grief of losing Eli had taken his mother from him all too soon as well. Sarah had become his guardian and had been providing for him as a seamstress ever since. He had such an expressive face that he hardly ever needed to talk in order for her to understand him.

Sarah chuckled. “Not long now,” she reassured him. “Are you hungry?”

Tommy shook his head vehemently. He rarely ever wanted food since coming to live with her. It seemed his appetite had gone away with his voice.

“You’ve hardly eaten anything today,” she reminded him. She reached into her bag and pulled out the secret weapon she had been holding back for just the right moment. “Would this interest you?” she asked him, holding out a glazed tea cake. 

Tommy’s eyes widened and as he grabbed for the bun, Sarah quickly swapped it for a half of a cheese sandwich. “Good to know you’ll eat something,” she said with a trickster’s grin. Tommy frowned at her but didn’t try to give her the half sandwich back. “You can have your tea cake when you finish your sandwich, okay?”

Her nephew nodded obediently and munched on his sandwich. Sarah felt her own stomach start to growl. She hoped Tommy wouldn’t hear it and try to give her some of his food. She wanted him to have all the food she could afford, which, right now, wasn’t much. He was the one who needed it; he had the growing body and the need for nourishment. She could suffer as long as it took for her to find a position that would allow her to provide enough food for them both.

Suddenly, the world outside their windows started to change. Since they’d left Wisconsin, it had mostly been great swaths of farming fields and open spaces. But now, as they got toward their new town, buildings seemed to spring up out of nowhere. There were now little log homes with happily puffing chimneys. The snow drifts parted every once in a while to reveal small streets that slower horses and carriages trotted down. Then, in the distance, Sarah could just make out the outline of a train platform. The stop name that was hanging from the roof of the train station said ‘Belvedere.’ Her heart beat quickened. They were finally arriving!

“Next stop, Belvedere! Belvedere Wyoming!” the train porter called as he walked past their car. “Any passengers disembarking at Belvedere?”

“Yes!” Sarah called out, waving her hand at him. When Tommy heard Sarah, he popped the last bit of sandwich into his mouth and sat up straight. 

The porter stopped a little ways in front of their seats when he heard Sarah. Turning around, she saw that he wore a bemused look on his face.

“You’re sure it’s Belvedere you’re getting off at?” he questioned her.

“Yes?” This time it came out as a question. “Why?”

The porter chuckled. “You ever been to Belvedere before, little lady?”

Sarah hated to be condescended to, and that was exactly what this man was doing.

“No,” she said firmly, “but I have a distant relative who lives there. Is there something wrong with the place?”

“You’ll just have to find out, I suppose,” he said, holding out his hands, ready to take their luggage.

Tommy, her able assistant, reached above their seats and took the luggage. But before he could hand them to the porter, the man reached over, took the luggage, and started rushing down the hall of the train. Tommy and Sarah had to practically run after him in order to keep up. 

“Wait!” she called, but either the man didn’t hear her or ignored her entirely. Sarah could feel the train pulling to a stop, which was a relief to her. She worried that the porter was just going to throw their things off the train and give them the boot onto the platform.

He let them catch up to him at the door as the train came to a halt. He flung open the door and tossed their suitcases to another train attendant standing on the platform. It would have been an innocent enough motion if the platform attendant had been able to catch the cases. The problem was that the porter had thrown both of them at the same time, which meant it was nearly impossible to catch them. As Sarah watched the two cases leave the porter’s hands, her heart sank. The cases arched through the air and as they did, their latches unclasped. Even before they hit the ground, they were spilling their contents. All of their worldly possessions fell upon the platform just as a tall, gruff-looking man was walking down the platform.

“What in the–” he began as one of Sarah’s dresses came down on his head and covered his upper body.

“Oh, good heavens!” Sarah cried, stumbling off the train. She ran over to the man and began trying to get her dress off him. She could feel the embarrassment creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. “I am so sorry, please accept my most sincere apologies for–”

She pulled the dress off of him just as her hem caught on something on his leg. She heard the fabric of her dress tearing and saw that while the majority of her dress was in her hand, a chunk of it was now hanging off… his leg?

“Now look what you’ve done!” the man hollered as he gestured to the fabric hanging off his leg. 

The more Sarah looked at it, the more she realized something was… unique about it. The fabric had caught just under the man’s knee… or rather, where his knee should have been. The fabric of his own pant was crumpled in such a way that Sarah could see it, too, was caught in some aspect of his leg. The man roughly reached down, yanked Sarah’s dress fabric out of the join in his knee and smoothed out his pant leg. She didn’t dare stare for too much longer, out of fear she might upset the man more.

“There, take it!” he yelled at her as he held out her dress fabric. “Can’t you keep your belongings where they should be? Or are you just another helpless person ready to clog up the streets of our town?”

Sarah was taken aback by this man’s demeanor. She finally looked up at his face and saw that while he was handsome, his visage had a hardness that made him uncomfortable to look at. He had dark brown eyes that were almost black and hair to match. He stood about a foot taller than she did. He looked to be about ten years older than she was. 

She looked back and saw that Tommy was standing on the platform with his lip quivering. She couldn’t bear to see him upset. She took his hand lovingly and said, “It’s okay, sweetheart. We’re going to be fine. Let’s just collect up our things and find the nearest church.” She directed the next part directly to the unkind man. “I’m sure we can find kind souls who will help us there.”

But her words seemed to have no impact on the man. He simply rolled his eyes and continued on down the platform. She noticed as he walked away that he had a significant limp on the side of his body where the dress had gotten stuck. Perhaps he had something wrong with that leg? Whatever it was, she didn’t care to find out. She and Tommy quickly picked up their things off the platform, shoved them back in their cases and headed into town to find their salvation at church.

Chapter Two

“Foolish woman,” Daniel McKenzie grumbled as he walked the rest of the way down the platform. “She’s probably going to church looking for charity for herself and that little urchin by her side. Why do they always seem to end up here?”

He paused for a moment as he uncomfortably adjusted his prosthetic leg. It was an improvement over his last one: the joint in that one seemed to jam every other step. At least this one made it feel like he was really walking again and not hobbling. Jeremiah Wainwright, the woodworker who lived two doors down from him, had worked hard to make sure of that.

As he walked through the snow covered streets toward home, he remembered the day Jeremiah gave his new leg to him.

“I tried to make it as close to the measurements of your other leg as I could,” Jeremiah had said, handing the beautiful wooden appendage to Daniel. It was hinged at the knee and had a leather slot at the top so he could slide his stump into it. There was a handsome black belt at the top he could use to secure it in place. “Peter helped with the leather pieces, because I’m not so good with that kind of thing. What do you… what do you think of it, Daniel? If you don’t like it, I can always make changes to it.”

Daniel looked from the thoughtful, incredibly generous gift to the young man who was giving it to him. Jeremiah was only twenty-four, and unfortunately looked a great deal like Robert, his brother. It almost pained Daniel to look at him.

“It’s… fine.” Daniel said, placing the leg on the table beside him in his workshop. “How much do I owe you for it?”

“Owe me for it?” Jeremiah looked at him as though he’d just said he’d like him to move to the far north. “Why, nothing. It’s a gift, Daniel. I saw how much pain your other leg was causing you, so I… I made it for you.”

Daniel could feel the uncomfortable swell of emotions building up inside of him. He knew he should say how grateful he was for such a generous gift, but the words got stuck in his throat. 

“You didn’t have to do that,” was all he said. He turned his attention to the forge, which was now starting to go out because he hadn’t been tending to the bellows. He sighed and began pumping them. As he did, the coals slowly turned from a pale orange to bright red. 

“I know,” Jeremiah’s voice came from behind him. “But… I wanted to. I hope it fits. See you later, Daniel.”

Daniel just kept looking at the coals as he heard Jeremiah’s footsteps fade away and the door close behind him. He hadn’t seen the young man since.

He turned the corner onto Belvedere’s main street. There were evergreen boughs strung up in shop windows, toys were cluttering the window of the General Store, and he could hear the gentle rustling of sleigh bells in the distance. The remembrance of the holiday season brought nothing but pain to Daniel’s mind, so he turned away whenever he saw it. 

What he didn’t turn away from, though, was the small, bearded figure he saw shuffling down the street just now. As the man passed by the empty storefront next to the apothecary, he slipped on some snow and the leather bag he was carrying went flying. It landed in a nearby snowdrift and he watched the man’s shoulders slump.

“I’ve got it, Doc,” Daniel called as he hurried to grab the doctor’s medical bag. Daniel reached it just before Doc Harrison did and handed it to the short man with the jolly face.

“Thank you, Daniel!” he said gratefully as he took the kit from him. “No matter how many times I’ve told Mayor Belkin about that slick patch, he never seems to take care of it! One day I’m going to end up flat on my back and not be able to work anymore, and then we’ll see how he likes it!”

“He doesn’t appreciate you like he should,” Daniel said quietly.

The doctor winked at him. “Very few do, Daniel, very few do. How’s the leg?”

Daniel pulled up his pant to reveal Jeremiah’s handsome work, strapped to his stump. “It smarts now and again, but I’m getting along better. Finally feel like I stopped sensing the ghost leg at the end of the stump.”

Doc Harrison adjusted his tiny round spectacles on the end of his button nose. “That’s a good sign, Daniel. I can imagine that was very off-putting. But don’t be alarmed if it returns. Recovery will not be linear for you, I don’t think.”

Daniel nodded but said nothing. 

“Well, I best be off,” Doc Harrison said, pulling his wool cap lower down onto his head. “I don’t have to go very far tonight, just to the Rupert household. But that baby could come any moment now, so I should get there as soon as I can.”

“Best of luck, Doc,” Daniel said sincerely. Doc Harrison started shuffling down the street. His large overcoat dragged a little on the street behind him, leaving a trail as he went. “Does Bessie need any new shoes?”

Doc Harrison paused and turned around. “Unless you have something that will keep her from slipping at all on the ice, I think the next time I’ll need to get her shoed is in the spring! But thank you, Daniel! You’re very kind!”

The doctor turned around and continued in the direction he’d been going, doffing his hat to Daniel as he went. Then, Daniel continued on toward his forge, trying not to look at the Christmas decorations as he went.

When he arrived at his workshop, he went inside and began working the bellows right away. He never fully put out his fire, for it was far too much trouble to get going again. There were always a few embers glowing peacefully at the bottom that would blaze to light when given enough air. He pumped the bellows for some time, allowing the mindless task to distract him from the pain in his leg. When the fire was finally hot enough to begin working with, he continued what he’d been working on before he’d gone to the train station to deliver the replacement spikes: anti-slip horseshoes for Doc Harrison. 

The shoes looked just like regular horseshoes, except they had small protrusions around the outer corner. As Daniel pounded away at the shoes now, he hoped these pieces would stick in the ice and snow. 

The doctor has to make calls at every time of the day or night, in any weather. I want him to be able to get to whoever needs him… like I used to.

Daniel’s work was interrupted by the door being thrust open. He turned just in time to see Mrs. Hudson bustle through the door and drop a large sack onto his small table by the door.

“Have you eaten today?” was all the older woman asked when she looked at Daniel. 

“Yes,” he grumbled, and continued pounding away at his horseshoe.

“Better question,” she said as she came in and started lighting his scant few lanterns, “what have you eaten today?”

He paused his work and wiped his moist brow on his sleeve. “The food you left me last time.”

“Which was…” she pressed.

“I don’t know, some sort of pie,” Daniel grumbled as he returned to the bellows. “It was good.”

Mrs. Hudson picked up the bag and gestured to the stairs. “That’s what I like to hear. I’m going to go make you a few more things, and then I’ll be back down. Did you get rid of the ashes like I asked you to?”

“Yes,” he mumbled, poking at the coals with his implement. 

“And are you going to the service this afternoon like you said you would?”

That question stopped him dead in his tracks. His eyes locked on the fire before him as he thought about the possibility of returning to the church. As soon as he even considered sitting in those pews, an awful, unending guilt began gnawing at him from his core. He closed his eyes, trying to keep the feeling at bay, but it kept coming. Before he could stop it, the panic combined with his guilt and drew him back to the battlefield.

Daniel had been an able-bodied soldier back then. He and Robert, his younger brother, had been put on the same crew. Robert was only four years younger than he was, but to Daniel, he seemed younger. He stood three inches taller than Daniel and had bright red hair and blue eyes. The two men looked nothing alike, and yet they couldn’t have been closer.

The morning of the accident, Daniel and Robert had been assigned to protect a wagon train as it went through dangerous territory. They rode on the back of the last cart together and watched as the world tumbled out in front of them. 

“I’ve never seen as much of the world as I have in the last few months, Danny,” Robert told him happily. “If I’d known what a great adventure this would be, I would have signed up sooner!”

Daniel laughed. “You could hardly have signed up sooner, Robbie. You’re hardly old enough to fight as it is.”

“But I’m an old soul,” Robert said wisely, sweeping his hand out in the direction of the plains. “This is all new to these eyes, but I’ve seen this all before, Dan. I’m sure I’ve been here before, in another form.”

Daniel blinked at him. “You have?”

Robert nodded convincingly. “It sounds silly, but I’m sure of it. No joking. And when I die, I’ll come back here again.”

“Don’t talk about that sort of thing, “ Daniel said. You’ve got a long life ahead of you, kid.”

“I know,” Robert said sagely, “but I like to be prepared for the inevitable, Danny. Death comes for us all someday.”

Just as Robert finished speaking, Daniel spotted some figures in the distance. He brought his gun closer to his side.

“Friend or foe?” Daniel asked his brother. “You’ve got better eyesight than I do.”

Robert leaned forward and squinted. “Friend, I think. They have the look of the tribe we’re aligned with.”

Daniel looked at him dubiously. “And that is…”

Robert shot him a funny look. “You think I remember their name? They were nice, that’s all I remember.”

Daniel chuckled and relaxed a little. “Good thing I have you around to keep things straight for me, brother. Otherwise I would have started shooting at them.”

It was then that Daniel noticed that Robert was continuing to watch the group riding toward them. 

“Now I’m not so sure,” he heard Robert say warily. “I wish you could see better, give me a second opinion.” 

By this time, the tribe was close enough that Daniel could see that they were, indeed, not the group they were aligned with. 

“I think my opinion is you were wrong,” Daniel said, readying his gun. 

Why had he said that so gruffly? Why was that one of the last things he ever said to his brother? 

Everything happened so quickly. Daniel and Robert did their best to aim for their enemies, but there were too many of them. Before they knew it, they were overpowered and there was a spray of bullets.

“Robert, get behind me!” Daniel called to him as he fired protective shots around his brother. 

But Robert wasn’t listening to him. He was firing wildly, there was a terrified expression on his face, and then… a bullet pierced his right shoulder. Another caught him just below his temple and a third hit his neck. He was gone before he even hit the ground. 

“Robert!” Daniel screamed for him, moving as fast as he could to his brother’s side. But as he ran, a bullet went straight through his right knee, and another tore through his thigh. He crumpled to the ground, bleeding and screaming as he gripped his leg. He was left alive, but to him that was worse torture than death. He held his brother’s lifeless body and wept as long as his body would allow it. He was only rescued by the other members of his cavalry three days later, and by that time his leg was in such bad shape it couldn’t be saved. He returned a broken man with his brother, his better half, gone forever.

When he moved to Belvedere a year or so after Robert’s death, all Daniel wanted was a fresh start. But every time he walked past the church, it was as if it were taunting him. The wooden doors asked him why he was the one who lived and not Robert. The cross by the doors wanted to know why he hadn’t tried harder to save his brother. The silence in the pews begged to understand why he was still there when his brother wasn’t. It was nothing the church was doing, of course, he knew it was all in his mind. But it didn’t make it any easier.

“Daniel, did you hear what I asked?” Mrs. Hudson asked expectantly. She stood at the base of the stairs with her hands on her hips, looking at him.

“Yes,” he said, getting up and tossing some ash on the coals to cool them off while he was away. “I’ll go.”

“Good man,” she said, trundling up the stairs. “I’ll have some dinner ready for you when you get back.”

Daniel put his coat on and went back out into the cold. He knew there was no point in arguing with Mrs. Hudson—she believed she always knew what was best for Daniel and wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

He trudged through the snow toward the church, knowing full well he would not go inside it. When he arrived at the front pathway, he grabbed the shovel from the shed and began shoveling the front walk. It had been done fairly recently, but there was still a good layer of snow covering the walk. As he worked, his leg ached deeply, a physical reminder of the loss he had suffered.

A short while later, the doors opened and townspeople started filing out of the church. Daniel stood off to the side under a tree so that he wouldn’t be in the way. He also went and put the shovel back in the shed so that no one would be aware it was him who had done that good deed. 

As he watched everyone come out, he saw the young woman and child who had thrown their things all over him on the train platform. Now that he wasn’t in such an uncharitable mood, he knew it was probably an accident and felt badly that he’d spoken to her so roughly. But he wasn’t going to say anything to her. That wouldn’t be appropriate.

Now, he saw Pastor Philips coming out of the church. He paused at the doorway, looked for someone, and when his eyes fell on Daniel, he smiled. Daniel audibly groaned. He knew this wasn’t going to be good.

“Daniel, how nice to see you,” Pastor Philips greeted him. “The walkway looks very nice, thank you. Perhaps the next time you’ll make it through the front doors? It’s nice and warm in there, I promise.”

Daniel would have rolled his eyes, but he knew what a good soul Pastor Philips was, so he stifled his disgust. “I trust you.”

The corner of Pastor Philips’ mouth tugged upward. “Daniel, do you still have that one room accommodation above your forge?”

Daniel eyed him suspiciously. “Yes.”

“Are you still unable to access it because of your leg?”

“…yes.”

“Is there a chance you might be willing to open your home to charity this Christmas, Daniel?” Pastor Philips asked.

“No one would want to live with me,” he grumbled, shifting uncomfortably from one leg to the other. “I wouldn’t be good company.”

Daniel hoped he was being convincing enough that Pastor Philips would leave him alone. He didn’t want to share his home with anyone, let alone someone in town who required charity. 

“I know that to be incorrect, Daniel,” Pastor Philips said patiently. “This family is in great need of some help this holiday season, and I know you’re a kind enough soul to open your home to them. What do you say?”

Family? Thinking about living with just one person was bad enough, but a whole family? That sounded like a nightmare. But the more Daniel looked at Pastor Philips, the more he remembered what kind things he had done for him when he returned from the war. Daniel sighed. He knew exactly what he was going to say.

“No,” he said again, not caring that he was disappointing the pastor. It was more important to him to protect his peace this holiday season than it was to help other people. He didn’t care that he wasn’t being a good member of the church. He just wanted to be alone.

“Excellent, I’ll send her to the forge in about an hour,” Pastor Philips said.

“Did you not hear what I just said?” Daniel asked angrily.

“No, I did, I just opted to hear what I needed to,” Pastor Philips answered with a smile. “Thank you for your kindness, Daniel. I know you won’t regret your decision.”

With that, Pastor Philips walked away, leaving Daniel positively seething. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten roped into taking care of a family over, of all times of the year, Christmas. And what was that he said after Daniel had said ‘no’? “I’ll send her to the forge in about an hour.” What ‘her’ was he talking about?

Just as Daniel was wondering that, his eyes landed on the young woman and her son from the train platform. The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place. He wasn’t housing just any family for Christmas. He was housing them.