Buckeye Dreams by Jennifer A. Davids

those young men will never return. It has hardened many a heart. And now you’re asking them to accept someone who represents the cause of all this.”
    “You know as well as I do this war was caused by the way the North reacted to things just as much as anything the South did,” Daniel retorted. “Need I mention Bleeding Kansas?”
    Katherine remembered her father speaking of the bloody battles between antislavery and proslavery settlers as they fought to decide if Kansas would be a free state or a slave state.
    “I know that. I only mean for you to understand that it may take a very long time for them to come to accept Miss Wallace, if they do at all.”
    “If they do at all?” Mary cried. “You can’t be serious.”
    “You haven’t been here, Mary. These aren’t the same people you and John said good-bye to. Adele Stephens hasn’t been the same since Nate passed, and she’s been slipping out early ever since Miss Wallace began attending.”
    Mary, who sat next to Katherine on the sofa, grasped her friend’s hand tightly in both of her own. Katherine was too stunned and saddened by the man’s words to notice.
    Reverend Warren rose.
    “So you won’t do anything about this?” Daniel’s voice was hard as he also stood to face the reverend.
    The man’s face was strained as he put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “I never said that. I will address the congregation as gently as the Lord will enable me.” He turned to look at Katherine. “Miss Wallace, I can tell you are a sister in Christ, and I am sorry if Minnie and I have hurt you in any way.” His face grew longer as he continued. “You see, my nephew, Andrew, was wounded in the war, and although his injuries healed, his mind never did. My brother is talking of taking him to an asylum.”
    “Paul, I’m so sorry,” Mary breathed.
    “We’ll keep him in our prayers, Reverend,” Daniel said quietly. “Thank you for coming.” He left to walk the clergyman to his horse.
    Katherine turned to Mary. “Was the reverend close to his nephew?”
    “Andrew was planning on following his uncle into the ministry.” Mary’s eyes glistened.
    Daniel slowly walked into the room and sank down into a chair. “I had no idea.”
    “Your mother never wrote a word about Andrew or how bad the church’s losses were,” his aunt murmured.
    “You know how Ma was. She hated giving anyone bad news.” Daniel ran a hand through his hair, and a heavy silence settled over the room.
    Katherine looked at Mary and then Daniel. A thought had been growing on her heart for some time now, and she suspected the idea was not far from their thoughts as well. “I shouldn’t have come,” she said softly.
    They stared at her.
    “I’ll go back to South Carolina as soon as it can be arranged.”

Chapter 9
    D aniel started at her words and watched his aunt pale.
    “No!” Her voice rang out. “I won’t have it!”
    “Mary, it’s for the best.” Daniel could tell by Katherine’s eyes she wasn’t as resolute as she sounded. He tried to catch her gaze, but she looked down at her lap. “I know where Aunt Ada is, and if I apologize …”
    “No!” Mary repeated and stomped the floor with her good foot. “I won’t have you going back to a family whose only value you are to them is who you marry.” Her eyes snapped, but her voice took on a gentler tone as she continued. “And I won’t have you returning to people who would do this to you.” His aunt pointed to the scar along Katherine’s jawline.
    He’d noticed it before but had assumed it was the result of a childhood injury. Jagged and ugly, it looked entirely out of place on her sweet face. A family member had done that to her?
    She glanced at him and raised her hand to cover the blemish.
    His aunt grasped Katherine’s hand and pulled it away from her face. “This is your home now,” she said firmly. “I won’t hear of you leaving.”
    “Neither will I,” Daniel declared. If that was how her family