Down Jasper Lane (Amherst Island Trilogy)

Jed’s face softened although his voice remained gruff. “That sounds like it was more your pa’s problem than yours.”

“Maybe so. Anyway, I’m sorry, Jed. Sorry for your loss. At any age it’s hard to lose your mam.”

He nodded slowly. “That it is.”

They remained there unspeaking for a long moment, and then hesitantly, awkwardly, Jed reached out and put a hand on Ellen’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss too, Ellen,” he said quietly. “It may have been some years ago now, but it’s still a hard thing to bear.”

She nodded, her throat too tight for her to speak, and then they heard the heavy, booted tread of Mr. Lyman on the porch stairs and Jed pulled his hand away and Ellen stepped back.

Summer seemed to come to an end abruptly, the days passing by in a blur of activity. It seemed to Ellen that one moment it was hot and drowsy, the raspberries dripping fatly from the bushes, the evenings long and lazy and warm. Then, suddenly, the air was crisp and the oak leaves tinged with yellow, and the postman brought a letter from Seaton that had equal parts worry and dread curdling in the pit of Ellen’s stomach.

She read it on the front porch, where she’d been sitting with Rose, shelling peas and enjoying the late summer sunshine.

“And what does Ruth say now?” Rose asked, one eyebrow raised, and Ellen tried to smile.

“She—she says I’ve passed the entrance exam to Rutland,” Ellen said, and something caught in her chest as she scanned the lines.

Miss Evans has informed us you have passed the entrance exam to Rutland. If you would still like to go to high school, we can make arrangements here.

It almost sounded, Ellen thought, as if Ruth wanted her back. Except why should she? It would be more expense, and Ellen wouldn’t even be in Seaton. No doubt her aunt was just doing her Christian duty, dispensed with a grim smile as always. Yet still Ellen felt a surprising pang of something that was almost homesickness for Seaton, for Ruth and Hamish and what could have been.

Rose put down the bowl of peas and gave Ellen a level look. “You don’t seem as pleased as I would have expected at such news.”

“I—I don’t know.” She didn’t know what to make of these developments. What did Aunt Ruth want of her?

“Well,” Aunt Rose said. “You know you’re more than welcome to stay here with us. You could apply for Glebe—having passed one entrance exam, they might not be so particular! She paused, a faint blush touching her pale cheeks. “I daresay we could manage to help you with boarding and such.”

“That’s very kind of you, Aunt Rose.” Too kind, especially when Ellen thought about the tin Rose kept above the range, a tin that never seemed to have enough money in it. It reminded Ellen of the old flour tin they’d kept for the fare to America. She let out a little sigh. She’d thought a lot about her future over the summer, although she hadn’t wanted to. “I want to go back to Seaton,” she said slowly. “It feels right to do that, for Ruth and Hamish’s sake.”

Rose nodded, her eyes alight with both understanding and compassion. “That seems wise. And will you go to Rutland?”

Slowly yet with both certainty and regret, Ellen shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“You’re not?” Rose looked genuinely surprised. “I always thought you were clever enough, certainly.”

Ellen glanced away. Sunlight slanted across the wooden floor of the porch, and she could hear the distant sound of the children’s laughter ringing from the meadow.

“It’s not that,” she said, taking another handful of fat pea pods. “I just don’t want to.” That wasn’t strictly the truth, but she wasn’t going to admit that she didn’t want to burden anyone with the cost of her education. She didn’t want to be beholden to either the McCaffertys or the Copleys. She needed, for once, to make her own way. Just like Da had done.

“Then what shall you do?” Rose asked.

Ellen gazed down at the pea pods. She’d thought a great deal about her future, about what was sensible and what she wanted to do. School no longer seemed an option, despite Aunt Ruth’s surprising generosity. “I’ve thought about going to nursing school,” she admitted quietly. “I know there’s a fine one in Kingston.” She’d also heard that student nurses were given free room and board, and could earn a bit of money serving private patients during their few free hours. It seemed a very practical, if not completely appealing, prospect.

“Nursing school!” Rose exclaimed. “I had no idea.”

Ellen ducked her head. “I’ve had some experience, nursing my mam.”

Rose was a silent for a moment, her face softened with a tenderness that made Ellen squirm a little. “Of course you have.” She turned back to the peas, her movements brisk. “I believe you need to be eighteen to go to nursing school. What will you do for three years?”

Ellen looked at her in dismay. “I had no idea you had to be as old as that,” she admitted. “I thought you only had to be sixteen.” She’d envisioned spending another year with Ruth and Hamish, helping them in the store and doing something to pay back their generosity, before going to nursing school. But three years... the prospect of working in the store for that long made her heart sink.

“They changed the law a few years ago,” Rose told her. “To encourage young women to finish their schooling, actually.” She slid her a sideways smile. “If they want to.”

Ellen shook her head. “I’ve made up my mind about that.”

“Then I have another idea, if you’d like to hear it.” Surprised, Ellen nodded. “What if you came back to the island after you’ve spent some time with Ruth and Hamish? Dr. Bandler is the island’s only doctor, and I know for a fact he’s always short of help. You could work with him and gain a bit more practical experience before heading off to Kingston, if they accept you. He’d pay you, as well. Only a little, mind, but still something.”

Ellen sat back, startled by the sudden, specific direction her life seemed to be taking. “I suppose I could,” she said slowly. To live on the island, with the McCaffertys, for two years or more! And even earning her own money, paying her own way before she went to school... Finally she saw a way forward that didn’t seem like nothing more than a dismal gathering of days.