Sins of a Shaker Summer Read Free Page A

even abandoned.
    Rose assumed that one or both girls had taken a turn for the worse, and she expected flurried activity around their beds, but what she saw when she entered the sickroom sent a flash of fear through her heart. Three sisters had joined Josie on one side of Nora’s bed, while Andrew and Wilhelm stood on the other side, their backs to Rose. She rushed forward, convinced she was viewing a deathbed scene. But when she reached Nora, she saw one sister bent over the bed, both hands covering the child’s face.
    Sister Patience McCormick’s deep voice half-sung what sounded like a prayer. At least, to Rose it seemed to have the rhythm of a prayer, though she heard only an occasional word in English. Rose had finished the Shaker school system and left the Children’s Order by the age of fourteen, more than two decades earlier, so she had little experience with other languages, except what she had learned from visiting businessmen during her ten years as trustee. She thought she recognized a few French words, a little German, and some Latin.
    Startled by a familiar clumping sound, Rose glanced toward the entrance to the sickroom. Sister Elsa Pike planted her sturdy body just inside the doorway. Her round, flat-featured face exuded suspicion.
    â€œI heard one of them girls got into something she shouldn’t’ve,” Elsa announced, “so I come right over. Ifit’s anything grows around here, plant or animal, I’ll know what to do.” She brushed past the sisters to the foot of Nora’s bed.
    Rose clenched her hands around the sides of the cradle bed. Perhaps her reaction was instinctive—whenever Elsa entered a room, Rose prepared for battle. This battle, she feared, would be fought over a helpless eight-year-old child. She was certain that Elsa had somehow heard about a healing in progress and raced over to interrupt. Elsa considered the gifts of the spirit to be her own private domain.
    Ignoring the drama unfolding next to her, Elsa grabbed Nora’s foot and shook it, as if she were awakening the child from slumber.
    Patience did not flinch, but her tone became louder, more insistent. A drop of perspiration traveled down the side of her flushed face. Her eyes flew open and she began to tremble as if electric shocks pulsed through her body. Wisps of gray-streaked black hair pulled free of her cap.
    â€œMother Ann is among us,” she said in a raspy voice. “She has come to heal this innocent child. From our Mother’s heart through my hands, may this child be healed!” She stroked Nora’s face over and over. Now not even Elsa stirred. When Rose became light-headed, she realized she had stopped breathing.
    Nora twitched violently, then grew still. She seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.
    â€œShe is healed,” Patience whispered, stepping back from the bed. The slow blinking of her eyes betrayed her own exhaustion. Without another word, she left the room.
    After a few moments of silence, Josie drew her hand across Nora’s forehead, then felt for her pulse.
    â€œShe does seem better,” Josie said.
    â€œCan you be certain she is truly out of danger?” Rose asked. Wilhelm narrowed his eyes at her, but she ignored him.
    â€œWell, her pulse does feel a bit stronger,” Josie said.
    â€œBut you can’t be sure?” Rose asked.
    Josie shrugged. “I can’t, of course, but . . . Nay, I can’t be sure that she is healed.”
    â€œThis ain’t no healing,” Elsa said, snorting in derision. “That girl will be sick as ever come nighttime, just wait and see.”

THREE
    â€œW ALK BACK TO THE FIELDS WITH ME ,” W ILHELM COMMANDED . “We must discuss how to proceed.”
    A private chat with Wilhelm usually gave Rose an aching head, but she was curious about his reaction to Patience and her apparent healing of Nora. Certainly healing was one of the gifts of the spirit possessed by their