Glimpsed: Day 2

Word Count: 12,007

Summary of Events:
Chapter 3:
Charlotte and Deborah baked a cake to try and see if it would work as a wedding cake and talked of Deborah's reservations about Elisha. Samuel received another letter from Mrs. Guest explaining why she was writing him.
Chapter 4:
Charlotte and her family attended a hymn sing at church and as she was sitting with Elisha one of the ladies came up and asked about marriage and children making them both feel uncomfortable. Samuel was visited by Parson and Mrs. Harcourt and rather irritated by the parson's presence.

Excerpt of the Day:
"First it was young Stephen — just a year old — who fell ill. Christina first called upon me for some kind of help when he fell ill. I offered to pay for a doctor to care for Stephen myself, but Christina and Robert both vehemently refused, so I didn't do anything — and regret it deeply.
All it took was twenty days. Stephen died on December eighth. Shortly afterwards Catherine fell ill. Then Benjamin. Catherine died on December fifteenth. Robert fell ill the day after — I know not even what afflicted them. Benjamin died on December eighteenth. Christina then started to show signs of illness — as did Ella. Robert — as in Robert Jr. — died on the twenty third of December. Finally, on December twenty eighth Christina succumbed to the illness — even to the end vehemently refusing my charitable offer of paying for the doctor for them.
Samuel stopped reading and stared at the paper, dumbfounded. Christina dead? But, wasn't it bad enough? There was only Ananias and himself now. . . .
. . . Setting the letter aside, Samuel rested his elbows on his knees and ran his fingers through his hair until the heels of his palms were settled on his forehead. Staring at the folds of fabric made by his shirt sleeves at his elbows, Samuel just breathed.
Eventually his breathing became shaky, the lines off the different coloured cotton woven to make the plaid pattern of his shirt began to blur — some of the thinnest lines in the pattern seeming to disappear entirely.
Samuel then noticed some darker, circular spots marking the material as tears landed on his sleeves, and also on the legs of his jeans. Even though he couldn't hold the tears back, Samuel was successful in keeping the sobs contained in his throat.
Christina was gone. The sentence seemed to repeat over and over in his mind, seeming all the more wrong, all the more unreal the more he thought of it. After awhile he changed the wording: Christina was dead.
It seemed so final, it left him empty inside. All he had left was Ananias off in Nebraska. No one else. After awhile Samuel lay back across his bed and moved his hands so they were sitting over his face.
In the darkness behind his eyelids Samuel saw Christina, her dark hair pulled back into braids, a barefoot child running along the banks of the Ohio, a bright smile on her face before Aunt Chastity caught them.
A no less barefooted — but more demure in carriage — young woman helping Edwina care for her step-siblings. Saying farewell to Daniel and Ephraim when they went off to fight in their smart blue uniforms. Diligently spelling Edwina in vigil by their father's bedside as he fought for every breath. Eyes bright and shin king as she married Robert, and then set off for Oregon.
She was gone. He could never see her again. Finally the sobs burst forth from his lips and he really cried."