Anna Witting Quotes

“My father did not see her look, but I did. And I knew that Caleb had seen it too. Sarah was not smiling. Sarah was already lonely.”

″ ‘We thought you might be thinking of leaving us,” I told her. “Because you miss the sea.” Sarah smiled. “No,” she said. “I will always miss my old home, but the truth of it is I would miss you more.’ ”

“Sarah came in the spring. She came through green grass fields that bloomed with Indian paintbrush, red and orange, and blue-eyed grass.”

“Papa said nothing. But he put his arm around her, and leaned over to rest his chin in her hair. I closed my eyes, suddenly remembering Mama and Papa standing that way, Mama smaller than Sarah, her hair fair against Papa’s shoulder. When I opened my eyes again, it was Sarah standing there. Caleb looked at me and smiled and smiled and smiled until he could smile no more.”

“In a month’s time the preacher might come to marry Sarah and Papa. And a month was a long time. Time enough for her to change her mind and leave us.”

“I looked at the long dirt road that crawled across the plains, remembering the morning that Mama had died, cruel and sunny. They had come for her in a wagon and taken her away to be buried. And then the cousins and aunts and uncles had come and tried to fill up the house. But they couldn’t.”

“Sarah brushed my hair and tied it up in back with a rose velvet ribbon she had brought from Maine. She brushed hers long and free and tied it back, too, and we stood side by side looking into the mirror. I looked taller, like Sarah, and fair and thin. And with my hair pulled back I looked a little like her daughter. Sarah’s daughter.”

“A few raindrops came, gentle at first, then stronger and louder, so that Caleb and I covered our ears and stared at each other without speaking. Caleb looked frightened and I tried to smile at him.”

“Caleb read and read the letter so many times that the ink began to run and the folds tore. He read the book about sea birds over and over. ‘Do you think she’ll come?’ asked Caleb. ‘And will she stay? What if she thinks we are loud and pesky?’ ”