Table Of ContentAll Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Cover photo © Allison Miksch/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
Cover by Terry Dugan Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota
JUST ABOVE A WHISPER
Copyright © 2005 by Lori Wick
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wick, Lori.
Just above a whisper / Lori Wick.
p. cm.—(Tucker Mills trilogy ; bk. 2)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-1159-7 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-7369-1159-6
1. Indentured servants—Fiction. 2. Women domestics—Fiction. 3.
Housekeepers— Fiction. 4. New England—Fiction. 5. Bankers—Fiction. I.
Title. II. Series.
PS3573.I237J87 2005
813.'54—dc22 2005009573
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—
electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except
for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the
publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 /BP-CF/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Characters
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Epilogue
Glossary
Books by Lori Wick
Acknowledgments
I so enjoy this page. It always gives me great joy to thank the people I love.
Abby, for the covered bridge. It’s extremely fun to have it in each book.
Also, thanks for all your help with the names.
Phil, for the seven Rs and all the hours spent on theocentricity.
Jane, you ought to be on the payroll. Your generosity and
encouragement are a blessing. Harvest House doesn’t know it, but you
might be their best salesperson.
If I have my way, Mary, this will be the last time we have to rush. As
always, you hung in there with me. All your perseverance does not go
unnoticed.
My Bob, for hanging in there throughout the process. This is book
number 33! How did we do it? I know only this: God has used you in
the most amazing way. Do you remember what you said that day long
ago? This is good—keep writing. You know better than anyone that I
did exactly that. It would never have happened without you.
Characters
Maddie Randall—pregnant since the end of May Jace Randall—her
husband
Clara—works for Jace and Maddie
Doyle Shephard—Maddie’s uncle, who owns the general store Cathy
Shephard—Maddie’s aunt
Reese Thackery—an indentured servant Mr. Zantow—the man who owns
Reese’s papers
Pastor Douglas Muldoon—pastor at one of the meetinghouses in town
Alison Muldoon—his wife
Their children: Hillary, Joshua, Peter, Martin, and Jeffrey
Conner Kingsley—owner of the Tucker Mills Bank Troy Thaden—
Conner’s business partner Dalton Kingsley—Conner’s brother
Jamie Kingsley—Dalton’s sick daughter
Some of the townsfolk:
Doc MacKay—the town doctor
Mrs. Greenlowe—Mr. Zantow builds a porch for her Mr. Jenness—the
bank manager
Mrs. Lillie Jenness—his wife
Gerald Jenness—their son
Mr. Leffler—the bank teller
Mr. Hank Somer—the town complainer The Reverend Mr. Sullins—
pastor at Commons Meetinghouse
Prologue
The coach had been built for comfort. It was plush and large and moved easily
as the horses pulled it clear of the town limits and onto the road beyond. The two
inside were comfortable as well, not only with the seats, but with each other.
“I’ll miss Grandmother,” the young man said, his voice changing often these
days.
“We’ll see her at Christmas,” his sister reminded him, thinking that they’d not
gotten out of town as soon as they’d planned. She was regretting there would be
no daylight to travel in at all.
“Yes, but she looked so sad.”
“She did, didn’t she?”
“I think she has been since Grandfather died.”
“He was her favorite person,” the young woman said, her romantic heart
sighing a little.
The 12-year-old wasn’t willing to keep his seat any longer. He shifted over to
sit next to his sister, never enjoying the dark rides home from Tucker Mills.
For a few miles they talked of nothing in particular. They knew their own
mother would be looking for them in several hours and would begin to pace
when the coach was late getting in.
The young man suddenly heard his sister chuckle.
“What are you laughing at?” he asked.
“I was remembering the other night when Grandmother began—” she started
to tell him when she suddenly felt the coach begin to slow.
“Are you going to tell me?” he asked.
“Shh,” his sister warned, her hand going to his arm with more strength than he
expected. “Be quiet,” she said. “Not a word.”
By then the coach had stopped. Brother and sister sat very close, holding
hands, listening to the conversation outside.
“Throw down your gold!” a voice snarled.
“We haven’t any,” one of the coachmen called back.
“Check inside,” the voice commanded, and the two in the interior cowered in
fear. By the time the door was wrenched open, they were terrified.
The highwaymen were not long in their work. Within ten minutes, it had
started to rain. By then they had taken the goods they sought and left all four
people dead or dying.
