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Image Credit: Picture purchased and licensed for use from

123rf.com. The model(s) in this image is in / and are no way connected with this story nor supports nor conveys the issues and situations brought up within the story. The model(s) use is solely used for the representation of looks of the main character(s) of this particular story. ~Sephrena

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Previously:
 
Laddie barked but quickly stopped and we now knew why. Meric and Ruach were at the door and though they were now human size Laddie sensed their power and decided to lie over in the corner...

Beth was well educated and had her own mind which was good at living with Michael. She became like a tutor and soul-mate to me, helping me to become an even better student for the years ahead. The bigots in society did not all live a distance off in the South, nor was it all black and white. Much of it had to do with money, influence and how people saw others be they, common workers or women...

The following day Anne began to run a fever and come late afternoon it would not let up. Beth was nursing Anne when she asked me to sit down. “Michael has told me before that his Mom is an angel and while he said he isn’t he thinks you might be...”
 
 
Chapter 4
 
Glory was shaken with the near-death experience; the idea being an angel was not a safeguard rattled her. She was afraid for her friend Margaret as well. Susan noticed as Glory’s eyes followed Margaret wherever she was, even to the extent of watching Margaret when she used the outhouse.

It was cool as the evening set in, but I was feeling warm an icky as I explained I wasn’t feeling that good. “Well you have looked like you were getting a little puffy, but I thought it was just your hips filling out.”

I asked, “Mom what are you talking about?” Carol and Margaret laughed and I still wasn’t getting it. Margie gave me a gentle hit on the side of the head, “Are you that clueless?”

Mom escorted me to the bedroom and I said it would be fine when Margaret asked if she could come in with us. “You might as well if I am in trouble I won’t get punished too severely with witnesses.”

“So young lady are you telling me you really don’t know what is happening,” Mom asked, surprised that she had too? “It was just about a month ago when it came the first time. Have you been bleeding more this time?”

Luckily the door was closed as I lost my cool and just picked up the skirt of my dress. “Yuck, and I am wearing my best bloomers.” These were now a bloody mess.

Margie giggled, “They aren’t your best pair now, at least I hope not. Well, I guess that we are now either best friends or sisters.” Carol snuck through the door to see what was up and was hugging her daughter.

“Margie, why don’t you bring in a basin with some warm water to help Glory clean herself up, her Mom and I will take care of her clothes.” Mom suggested I could just change into my nightshirt and a robe.

Mom and Carol joyfully talking, “She and Margaret’s passage into womanhood is welcomed, I just wish her mother was here to enjoy it.”

Carol says, “I know what you are saying, but for Glory, you are her ‘Mother’ and you might as well as enjoy the moment. Because you are the one who will live with the moody girl who comes with it. That is unless even here she will be a little angel.” Carol was waiting for Mom to tell her.

She has enough of humanity in her that she will be all you suspect she will be and maybe with a righteous attitude to go with it.”

“Righteous attitude, that seems normal enough for a girl with her monthly blessing,” they too were now letting their hair down and just being friends.

Daniel began to ask what was happening but Mom reflected the question only saying, "Later." Dad decided to go check on the livestock as he understood it better.

Back in my room Margie spoke as I changed, “You know the boys already believed you were a bleeder. I heard them speaking. One would think, we are prized cattle; they were talking in terms of which of us could breed.”

That threw me back to remembering I had been a boy and how we talked. ‘Yuck, I said stupid stuff like that.’ I spoke up, “I catch one of them talking like that and I will fix him!”

“If angels don’t have the power to do that let me know, I am sure Mom would help me learn something new.” I hugged Margie and we both laughed. I was putting my robe on when I heard a knock at the door. Margie and I were out to the main road as my mother opened the door.

Our dog had barked but soon stopped and we now knew why. Meric and Ruach were at the door and though they were now human size; Laddie sensed their power and decided to lay over in the corner. Mom invited, “Come in and have supper with us.”

Meric raised two dead chickens offering them for the meal that would be cooked. “Glory go tell your father to quickly do his chores as we have guests for dinner.” Carole tried to excuse herself and Margaret, but Mom said “No.”

I was sure she didn’t want to go but was not sure if she should stay. Meric did not seem too happy about having Wiccans around but Ruach smiled. “Susan is a rare one of us and Meric, you do well to relax and enjoy the experience.”

Carole smiled, taking the chickens and she gave them to Margie and sent her out to find me so we could clean them and get them ready to use for dinner. It wasn’t hard to guess that for dinner we would be having chicken and noodles.

Meric looked more like a guy, but Ruach intrigued me because Ruach looked more like a female but having seen its strong presence more like a warrior made me wonder. Ruach spoke, “I am more like Joan who your mother has told you about. It is true for us angels, but even humans have two spirited people among you. You would do well to have a broader perspective when you look to see. Plus Joan might not cut you as slack like I will this time.”

Dad was done chores and was back in and cleaned up as we waited for the meal to be ready. There was no hurry as chicken and noodles were good to savor for a bit. When the rolls were finished we ate. Dad asked the blessing as well as conveyed his thanks to the angels an acknowledge Carol and Margie our special guests as well.

Ruach was the one to share the story of Susan, Carol, and the Angel Joan. Meric took notice and confessed he thought it had just been a wisdom story, though he had not garnered much wisdom from it. It was late when Meric and Ruach walked out into the night. While it wasn’t a bright light there was an aura around them that all but Dad, Michael and Beth could see for some distance.

Margaret and Carol would stay the night; Mom and Carol slept in my bed as Margie and I slept on blankets on the floor. Margie and I kissed and hugged as we expressed a love for the other. It wasn’t sexual, but sensual in a deeply loving way I would confess to. I didn’t worry about what my Mom would think as her relationship with Carol was stronger than ours.

I was up early to help Dad begin chores, I was so thankful and appreciative he was safe and home. To see the farm creatures react to his being back, one knew they are smarter than people often credit them. Mom was up early to prepare coffee and warm rolls for Carol and Margaret to have on their walk home.

Once back in the house I went to my bed and tried going down the sheets and alas there was neither a breeze nor an open portal. By the time I came back from under the covers, my Mom was there. “Has this world shaken you a little,” Mom asked?

“How did you know?” I ran to Mom and hugged her, “I don’t want to leave you, but I feel so much out of my world here.”

“It isn’t as much the times and places Glory as it is you are growing up. Not only did you see the world as a growing woman yesterday, but you saw more than most and it is a lot to handle.”

“If that portal should ever open again before you go through it, make sure you are going to someplace and not running away from where you are. The latter is not a good choice.” I scratched my head only partly understanding but I knew it was a thought to remember.

The days the next two weeks were ordinary with one exception. Ruach had mentioned, “Don’t assume your challenges and danger are over, they have just passed for a moment.” I would ask Mom if she knew what Ruach was talking about.

“Do you remember your history and what is yet to happen?” Indeed I knew the Civil War was going to come, but facts and details of it were now cloudy in my mind. Mom said, “There is much more leading up to it. The news of the plight of slaves and blacks were far more perilous than history books could capture.”

Daily life and death just in the area of Salem back then were not as sterile as the life I used to growing up in. I could smell when loaded fishing boats came in; death was close at hand, as well the aroma of hay as well as manure, chimneys used for cooking and fires that consumed homes and lives. Going to fetch ice from an ice house was much different from going to a freezer or ice box in the refrigerator.

I didn’t have a big closet full of clothes, but a girl’s dreams were not short on wanting to look pretty. I was not only attracted to Marcus and Dirk, but I liked walking around Salem with Margaret or other girls looking at other guys. Better yet I enjoyed going to an event and having boys look at us. Mom cooled me down, I guess I was looking like an immature girl that was way too interested in boys.

Margie at Mom’s suggestion helped me to learn. I would actually have more boys interested in me when I didn’t try so hard. Styles and hairdos back then might seem ancient history but then it was alive and tantalizing and exciting.

Growing up near Philadelphia I enjoyed going to the ocean to swim in the summer, but at Salem, the water was close at hand but also a lot colder for much of the summer. We enjoyed swimming in ponds and streams, but they were not nicely marked out for people’s enjoyment.

My brother’s wife gave birth to a daughter earlier than expected and Mom took me out of school to go with her to their home in Peabody some forty miles away. Mom stayed for a few days, but I was to stay until school started in September. Peabody had mills for textiles and lumber. Instead of the ocean close by I smelled smoke, heard horses on cobblestone experienced people living close by.

Elizabeth and baby Susanne, ‘Anne’, were precious. Beth taught me to cook what Michael liked which was some of what Mom taught me. I got to help Beth as well as Anne with personal things. While doing so had a beautiful side to it, it was less romantic and more lifelike than I envisioned.

Luckily for Beth, she couldn’t or didn’t need to see herself between her legs following Anne’s birth. But I was not as lucky as I got to do a lot of the things a grown woman does every day. I soon did not share my Mom’s viewpoint that her son was a sensitive man. I was often up earlier than Michael as well as getting up in the night when he wouldn’t. I lost my temper with Michael which I think was better for everyone in the house except maybe me.

I was fortunate that Anne was born late in the spring and I could take her for walks when the weather was good. I liked being at a park or shop and meeting other Nannies closer to my age. Seeing a boy pay attention to me was now a rare treat. The touch or conversation of another woman was more precious. Sadie became one such person and an important friend but she lived blocks away in the other direction from the park. It was six weeks before she mentioned a fabric shop and butcher that I could interest Beth into checking out.

Beth also became a precious friend as well as my sister-in-law. She was well educated and had her own mind which was good at living with Michael. She became like a tutor and soul-mate to me, helping me to become an even better student for the year ahead. The bigots in society did not all live a distance off in the South, nor was it all black and white. Much of it had to do with money, influence and how people saw others be they, common workers or women.

Beth and I enjoyed looking at Anne and amusingly think how a man and woman making love could result in a baby. From her cute little fingers with fingernails to her inquisitive eyes and pretty eyelashes. Mom was envious as they were long and dark as mine. Beth reminded me that some girls including classmates could be getting married and become pregnant this summer.

Strangely I find that exciting as well as way too close. Beth is close enough, I find myself identifying with her yet she has experience that I learn from in just watching and hearing her.

“You know Glory I am enjoying you more now, it seems like you are more alive, like ‘there is a new spirit in you.” It reminded me of a similar thought from Margaret, “Is it the spirit of an angel coming to life or I having come from another place and time?” I would like to be able to ask it out loud.

One day as Beth was nursing Anne I was next to her and she wrapped an arm around me and pull me into a warm hug with my head leaning on her shoulder. “You know you are now my little sister. I could hold the two of you in my arms all day, I love you that much.” I felt embarrassed by my tears, but Beth said, “It is a girl thing, those are happy tears, or at least I hope so.”

The following day Anne began to run a fever and come late afternoon it would not let up. Beth was nursing Anne when she asked me to sit down. “Michael has told me before that his Mom is an angel and while he said he isn’t he thinks you might be.” Her eyes focused on gazing at me and her baby she asks, “I know this might just be a regular ailment for a baby, but I’m not sure and I feel so helpless. Are you an angel and can you help Anne?”

I had already been praying and I had no great inclinations one way or another. “Is it you who are asking or you and my brother?”

“He’s afraid but I don’t think he will say it,” Beth responds.

“While you are sufficient, I would like if Michael to could express his caring. The more we feel alone the less powerful our love and caring usually feel. If it is alright with you I would like to ask Michael to come in and be with us.” Beth softly smiled at Michael being there for their daughter.

I called Michael and his first question was to ask about dinner. Glory knew and had a warm relationship with Michael that I sensed and knew and was now leaning on. “Michael and Beth, I haven’t done much like an angel nor am I not sure how sick Anne is. Her health rests more with you and God than with me, but if I am to act I feel it is to be in unison with your love for your daughter and your faith in God.”

Suddenly fear came over Beth and I understood God’s desire to be at work here. “Beth, your faith is not a matter of measuring up with God or your formal connection. It is the living nature of your faith and there you need not fear. God heard you praying many times in carrying Anne; you thanked God for her birth and were happy to part be of God’s miracle in creating your girl and God said your thanks was born out of love and not duty.”

“‘God longs to gather you like a hen gathers its chicks together under her wings’, God identifies as much with you as a mother as God identifies with Michael as a father.” It was their hands upon their child and my arms around them as we prayed. Anne’s eyes opened and as her mother wiped them a smile came upon her face. Just a coincidence, maybe, but her fever was broken and her temp was coming down.

I felt humbled as a younger teenage girl being there. I felt no special part but bless for being there and but warm in the thought of being any part of such a time. It was late when I was able to get to sleep and another early day tomorrow, but I thought of Suzanne. Soon she was spiritually there and we talked. She told, “I love being here with you but I don’t want you to be afraid to talk directly to Jesus/God.” Her hands had enough substance to brush her fingers through my hair and for me to feel her kiss. “You are with God, now let yourself feel God in you.”

It was the soft voice Elijah heard, though may be softer. I told Mom about a sparkle I saw in Anne’s eyes and Mom said, “Every child is precious, hopefully, you will see a spark in each. But it may mean there is the spirit of an angel indwelling there. You are not to treat her any more special, just realize she may hear and feel your love and guidance in more ways than you realize.”

That night when I fell asleep I had a nightmare that took me back to a time of my father beating me as a young boy. But the dream was being transformed and I saw the old woman down the block soothing me with each lash and hit. I woke and Glory’s mom, Abigail, was there holding me in her arms. I was happy for me, but it felt shallow as I knew abuse was not just about me.

Glory’s Mom spoke to my heart, “Tonight your ancestors are hurt and falling away. A child is dying and a voice within the family is taking the place of God’s. Pray for them and be there for others when you can. Suzanne helps you to know not to struggle against perceived enemies, your adversaries are real enough. Carole’s spirit is not much different from the Great Spirit of Native Americans.”

I did not understand all that I heard, but there was a peace that covered me as I drifted back to sleep. I remembered this time the beauty of Glory’s Mom, Abigail and Suzanne looked much alike as many sisters do. Now I had the images of two loving Moms upon my heart, yet my heart ached for the painful memories of my own mom.

It was nearly 5:30 a.m. when I woke up and went in to listen at the door for Anne. She was cooing like a very content baby so I let her rest as I went to start a fire for cooking and to take off the morning chill. Michael was up come 6:30 and he came out giving me a hug and saying, “Thanks for last night and being up this morning. I got up and gave Anne to her Mom while she was still warmly snuggled in bed.”

My brother Michael is an attractive man, looking much like his father Daniel, I was surprised with just a bit more sensitivity and hearing it expressed. My brother was now looking even more handsome than ever. I went in to check on Beth and Anne. Anne was finishing Beth’s first breast, and I took her to burp and change. Giving her back to her mother I knew to warm some water as well as the house in general as she would need to be bathed.

I cooked breakfast first for Michael, as well as a lunch for him to take to work. Twice a week Michael would eat out but three days there was lunch to prepare. Then breakfast for Beth and me with the heated water now cooling for Anne’s bathing.

This morning when I walked Anne outside I saw some Indians coming into the city to trade furs and other goods. Daniel my Dad had helped me not to be afraid and visit with some learning very simple words and communication. Their pelts today were extra fine, smooth and clean.

Beth was surprised that I purchased a few pelts. I convinced a young brave that his woman would like a washboard. And I asked if he could bring her some time as I wanted a pair of moccasins before fall. I talked with Beth and she liked the idea that there were times that leather provided better protection from the cold and cold of New England.

It was my fifth week there before I met my first boy to talk to. Sadie and I had met them at church, and Michael knew of the one I took interest in. He, Levi, was apprenticing as a stonecutter and Mason. His hands were strong and rough from his work, but he had a gentle touch and a warm heart that touched me deeply.

I was surprised that on our first date his hands found their way under my blouse and to my breasts. It was only a short moment and neither of us was offended. I had slapped him so he would not go any further nor to allow him to stay there. But it was long enough to supply his poetic tongue. Levi was not only strong of body, but he also educated himself to be strong in mind as well.

It was on our third date that wanted to take away my virtue which in some ways strongly wanted him to take me. But I wanted to be his wife and not a girl he conquered or nothing at all. His apprenticeship would be seven years, five more from this summer. That satisfied my desire to graduate from high school as well as attend a women’s school as well.

We had gone to a social event at the urging of Levi’s boss, Karl Conrad. Karl was a mountain of a man which would have been fine, but there was something I sensed about his spirit. While he brought a young woman who worked for him to the social, he made plays for many women during the evening.

I had stepped out for some cool air and was coming back in when I saw Karl and the young woman entering the dimly lit hall and his silhouette all but disappeared. He had a spiritual presence that stunk with an ugly stench of evil. Suddenly I knew Marie’s name and asked her to leave him, “Marie, I encourage you to leave, Karl’s promises are not worth it.”

“Woman, I do not know who you think you are, but this is none of your business and I can crush you if you do not shut your mouth. If she leaves you can take her place.” The idea was repulsive and sent shutters through my body.

I urged Marie to leave, but she was frightened and unable to walk one way or another. Karl stepping closer recognized I had come with Levi so he made a different threat. “You young man is my apprentice, you do well for his future to leave us alone.”

“I am scared and I understand your threat, but alas I cannot and will not leave.” I looked to candles along the wall and caused them to come aflame. The light caused him to pause with concern wondering what happened.

He reached up his arm to hit me but was grabbed from behind. “Karl does not hit her nor hurt Marie,” I could not see him but I knew it was Levi.

Karl turned and Levi let him go. Karl left and Marie followed against my pleas to her. Levi tried to tell me that Karl was not a bad person just a man sowing his oats. “Levi do not fool yourself, nor ever treat me or any other woman like that,” I told him from the knot formed in my stomach.

I asked to be taken home and though Levi wanted to stay, we left. Levi tried to convince me that Karl meant no harm and told me of the importance of his job. He swore I didn’t understand men were more talk than a threat.

I cried as we parted and told Levi, “I hope you could find another stone craftsman, but…” We kissed and he walked away…

The following day Karl tried to influence John Martin Michael’s boss to fire Michael and after he failed he came to the Cookhouse and threatened to walk over me and to hurt Anne. I stepped back and reached over my head and began to draw a sword from my back.

Karl’s strength crashes across my face and sent me to the ground and stepped to go past me as I rose and lunged at him with my sword. He dropped to the floor bleeding as I withdrew the blade. In his hand was a message that would implicate Levi; he had dropped it as he ran off.

Beth had entered the hall from above on the second floor with a gun in her hand. I called out Suzanne name knowing she would hear. I knew the trouble was not over. What I did not know was Levi had left Karl Conrad.

Levi had gone to Michael and Mr. Martin knowing Karl would make a threat against Michael. Michael and Levi had arrived at the house together. The police would soon arrive at Mr. Martin’s request. Levi and I were able to convince Michael and Beth the problem was not over. Levi was sure Karl would seek his revenge; I knew something worse than Karl would not stop either.

It was too late to leave for our home near Salem. We did not want to be on the road if trouble came. Michael, Levi, Beth and I were prepared to stay awake through the night, but the small still voice within said, “You are protected be at peace tonight.”

Come dawn we were packed and on the road and come noon we met Daniel and Susan on the road. And we all returned to Salem. We all agreed we were better off on our own turf. I felt secure but my stomach was sour. Michael did not tell Beth why but he was surprised to see Carol at the house when we arrive home that night…

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To Be Continued...