The lady blinked, and her jaw dropped slightly. “Why, that would be lovely. As soon as the children finish their arithmetic, I will take up their slates and grade them while you read.”
Not what Evangeline expected. “Wouldn’t you prefer to go outside and enjoy this lovely day?”
Miss Prinn looked through the window into the classroom. Before she turned back, Evangeline snatched the two spit wads from her thin, graying hair and slipped them into her pocket. What a cruel thing to do. Somehow she’d failed to teach her son to respect his elders.
“Very well.” The teacher led the way back into the room. “Class, we have a surprise for you. Our new town librarian, Mrs. Benoit, will be reading to you while you eat your dinner.”
Exclamations of delight were mixed with a few groans, one of which probably came from Gerard. Evangeline smiled at her son, but his attention was on the boy beside him, who was rolling his eyes.
“Write your names on your slates and pass them in.” Miss Prinn stood at the head of the first row to collect them. “Be careful not to smudge your work.” After she stacked the slates on her desk, she gave Evangeline a tight smile. “I shall return in a half hour.” She picked up her satchel and left the room.
With some twenty-five pairs of eyes now focused on her, Evangeline experienced a moment of unease. Then she remembered that while she and Lucius were still in society’s favor, she’d conducted meetings of the ladies’ aid alliance. This couldn’t be too much more difficult.
“You may fetch your dinner pails—” she waved a hand toward the shelves on the inner wall “—but go quietly and then quickly return to your seats.”
The children lined up politely to obey. Only Gerard and two other boys started to push ahead of the others. Evangeline snatched up a wooden ruler and slapped it on the desktop. The loud snap caused every child to stop and look her way.
She leveled her gaze on her son. “I would not wish to use this on rude children.”
Of course she’d never strike a child, but they didn’t know that. Wide-eyed stares met her. Even Gerard’s face, tanned from the sun, grew white around the edges.
Back in their seats, the children opened their pails and Evangeline began to read.
“‘On a bright December morning long ago, two thinly clad children were kneeling upon the bank of a frozen canal in Holland.’” The children seemed as caught up in the story as she was, except for Gerard. He nudged the boy next to him and glared. Then the child took on a scowl to mirror her son’s. No doubt Gerard was embarrassed to have his mother conducting class. Yet the further she read, the more she could see the Lord had directed her to this particular story. The young boy, Hans, was poor but heroic, a good example for children. If she could persuade Gerard and his friends to emulate this fictional lad, she could consider this endeavor a success.
* * *
By Friday of that week, work on the Christmas village had progressed significantly due to Evangeline’s help. Seated at his bench, Justice shaved away the last nub from the tiny wall and slid it into place, creating the last of the stalls for the livery stable. Still, he wouldn’t glue any of the pieces into place until they were painted. From the corner of his eye, he watched Evangeline dip the small brush into the bottle of green paint and then dab it on the tree he’d made. She seemed to immerse herself in the task.
She probably didn’t realize she was humming as she worked. Yesterday he’d caught himself humming along with her. Despite his determination not to care for her, he did give himself permission to admire her artistic talent and her eagerness to help with the toy village. Yet as they spent these hours every day working side by side, his resolve began to slip. No more humming. Instead, he’d use the natural wedge between them to maintain his distance.
“You probably know Miss Prinn moved the boys so they’re not seated together anymore.” Justice sharpened his blade on his whetstone, then picked up an uncompleted piece to work on. “She says most of their mischief stays on the schoolyard during recess. So far they haven’t done anything too destructive.”
“Yes, I know. And Miss Prinn invited me to come back to read to the class anytime.” She smirked. “Gerard has no idea when I’ll show up, so I think he’s decided to behave himself.”
“At least in the classroom.”
She set the painted tree on the drying stand and swished the brush in the jar of turpentine, causing its pungent odor to mix with her ever-present gardenia fragrance. “That will have to do for today. I need to finish my list of novels so Marybeth can typewrite the reference cards for them.” She cleaned her hands on a cotton cloth and rose from her chair.
“Novels first? Why not the history or science books?” He should have let her go, but against all reason, he didn’t want their time together to end.
She lifted one shoulder in a ladylike shrug. “I think most people read for diversion from their daily lives, so, yes, the novels come first. Reading uplifting stories is a harmless escape and may even inspire a person to better things.”
He grunted. Escape? That explained why she couldn’t face the reality of her son’s bad behavior.
As she moved toward the door, her elegant bearing stirred his reluctant admiration. Evangeline had grown more beautiful and graceful with time, and he couldn’t take his eyes from her. Too bad she turned and caught him staring. She gave him a questioning look, then a smile.
“I’ll have the library open by Thanksgiving. Then I’ll have less time to work on the village with people coming and going.”
Justice cleared his throat. “I’m sure Susanna and the other ladies of the library board will be pleased.” He forced his gaze back to the wood in his hand. As she moved beyond the doorway and out of his sight, he exhaled a long sigh. Before she came to town, he knew who he was, knew what he wanted. He’d honed his reputation as a tough, no-nonsense lawman. Good people respected him, counted on him. Troublemakers feared him and stayed out of his town. Then, in one single week, Evangeline turned his world upside down. He hardly knew himself anymore. But at least now he had until Monday afternoon before he’d have to endure the torture of her presence again. Maybe he could reclaim his former self by then. Of course he’d see her in church on Sunday, but with careful planning, he could avoid Susanna’s manipulations and sit on the other side of the sanctuary. Knowing Nate’s wife, however, he could only hope to succeed.
* * *
Saturday dawned, and Gerard roused his sister and cousins for the anticipated excursion. They dressed and played quietly in the parlor awaiting breakfast. Evangeline, who still found the kitchen workings a mystery, stumbled through helping Susanna get the food on the table. While she could break and scramble the eggs, her one attempt at making biscuits had produced hard, thoroughly inedible round pellets.
“Children, time for breakfast,” dainty Susanna called out rather piercingly. “Be sure you’re washed up.”
Evangeline hid a smile. When she and her cousin were growing up, they were taught never to raise their voices. At mealtimes, a buffet breakfast was served in the morning room, and a butler quietly announced when dinner and supper were served. She supposed Susanna needed to use a piercing tone to break through the children’s noisy chatter in the other room. In any event, it worked. The five youngsters scrambled to take their places around the kitchen table. As before, Natty and Frankie looked to Gerard for their example, and they all giggled over his elaborate way of shaking out his napkin and tucking it into his shirt collar.
“Humph.” Looking like a miniature of her mother, Lizzie daintily unfolded her napkin and laid it across her lap, with Isabelle following suit. Then they all giggled again.
This moment of playfulness warmed Evangeline’s heart. Gerard was a good boy. Somehow she must prove it to Justice.
But why did she care what Justice thought? Although he was pleasant enough to work beside at the library�
�enjoyable actually—his changing demeanor at the mention of her son could not be overlooked. Given time, if he was as fair as Susanna seemed to think he was, he’d see Gerard had the best of intentions. But Susanna never missed an opportunity to praise Justice or to bring his name into the conversation, no matter what the topic, so Evangeline didn’t dare tell her about his unreasonable dislike of her son. She’d probably say Evangeline was misreading him.
After breakfast, they all took the buggy to Marybeth and Rand’s ranch house down the road. In the barnyard, they were greeted by Seamus O’Brien, Marybeth’s brother, the ranch foreman who was keeping watch on her while Rand was away, and little Randy, who held his uncle’s hand. With the family connections being so close, all of the children called the Northam foreman Uncle Seamus.
“Is Marybeth ready for us?” Susanna asked.
“Yes, ma’am. She’s inside baking up something fine, you can be sure.” Seamus’s Irish accent colored his western slang. “If the boys’d like to help me with the chores, I’d be glad to have ’em.” He nodded to Gerard and Natty.
“Yes, of course.” Susanna lifted little Frankie onto her hip. The two-year-old stuck his thumb in his mouth and stared longingly after his brother and cousin. “We’ll go inside and help Marybeth.”
“Have fun.” Evangeline gave Gerard a stern look intended as a warning, but he’d already headed toward the barn where the new foal resided. Surely his love for horses would keep him out of mischief.
Seeing Isabelle take to baking with enthusiasm, Evangeline could forget her worries for a while and watch her daughter learn to become a good cook. She herself stuck to helpful tasks such as washing and drying the used bowls and utensils. With help from the girls, she also made sandwiches. When the meal was ready, Isabelle asked to ring the dinner bell hanging from the back porch. Evangeline lifted her so she could reach the triangular chime with the iron ringer. The clang rang out across the property, and in seconds, Seamus and the three boys emerged from the barn. The boys raced across the barnyard, stirring up dust. Before they could dart through the back door, Evangeline stopped them.
“Hey!” In her own ears, she sounded as piercing as Susanna. “You boys need to wash up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Natty and Randy chorused as they hurried to the washbowls on the stands outside the back door.
Gerard rolled his eyes but followed their good example.
Once they were all seated around the kitchen table, Seamus offered a lovely prayer in his lilting Irish accent, and they began to eat.
Evangeline focused on her son. “Tell me about the foal. How tall has he grown since last week?”
Gerard’s eyes lit up as they hadn’t in months. “His withers are already at my waist.” He stood and held out his hand to indicate the comparison. “Seamus says he’s going to make a fine cowpony.”
Little Randy announced, “My pa says if his temper’ment turns out good, he’ll be my first horse.”
Perhaps only Evangeline noticed Gerard grew sullen. Was he thinking of his own pony, sold to help pay off his father’s debts? His cross demeanor continued as the children were dismissed to play in the parlor.
“Well, now that I’m done riding herd on those little rascals, maybe I’ll get some work done.” Seamus’s grin revealed he hadn’t minded “riding herd” at all. “Sister, me darlin’, I’ll be working over at the big house until this evening.” He grabbed his hat from a peg by the back door and made his exit.
“Thanks, Seamus.” Marybeth called as she gave him a fond wave.
Evangeline always longed for a brother, especially one as thoughtful as Seamus. Susanna once told her Marybeth’s brother went missing for many years. She came to Esperanza looking for him. They’d had a grand reunion and never wanted to be separated again.
As the ladies cleaned up the dinner dishes, Evangeline enjoyed a half hour of pleasant fellowship with her cousin and her new friend.
Until a child’s scream of terror pierced the calm.
“That’s Randy!” Marybeth raced toward the parlor. Evangeline trailed after them, fearing and yet knowing what trouble lay ahead. Sure enough, Gerard stood halfway up the staircase dangling Randy by his ankles over the bannister. At ten years old, he wasn’t really strong enough to hold onto a five-year-old, and his hands slipped on the younger boy’s ankles.
“Gerard.” Her shout of dismay was drowned out by Marybeth’s horrified cry.
Marybeth hurried to catch her son, but Evangeline beat her to him. “Gerard, you will lower Randy carefully into my hands. Now.”
Gerard did as he was told. She gripped Randy’s shoulders and rolled him to an upright position, holding on for all she was worth. Once he was safely standing on his own two feet and Gerard came back downstairs, he whined, “Aw, Mother, we’re just playing. Aren’t we, Randy?” He glared at the boy as though daring him to disagree.
Marybeth collapsed into a chair, one hand on her rounded belly and the other holding her son. She fumbled for a handkerchief in her pocket and wiped Randy’s tear-streaked face. He gave Gerard a doubtful look, but mumbled, “Yes.”
Marybeth’s struggle with her emotions was evident in her stricken face. She looked at Evangeline. “Please go.”
“Marybeth—” Susanna began.
“No.” Evangeline raised a hand to silence her. “She’s right.”
“Gerard will not be welcome here until Rand comes home from the roundup.”
“I understand.” Heartsick, Evangeline could think of no reason her son would be so cruel to little Randy, who appeared to adore him as much as Natty and Frankie did.
* * *
As expected, Justice knew he was in trouble the minute he entered the church on Sunday morning and saw Susanna standing at the end of a pew and waving at him. Last Sunday, he’d agreed to have dinner with the larger Northam family, but in the busyness of the past week, he’d forgotten. Wanting to get out of it, he searched for another empty seat, but the pretty little matchmaker approached him, oozing Southern charm.
“Good morning, Sheriff. We saved you a place.” She gripped his arm and tugged. “Come sit with us.”
“Well, I need to—” He couldn’t think of how to finish the sentence. Nor could he resist too stridently or he’d make a scene.
Her delicate eyebrows bent in a frown, Susanna stood on tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “You promised Nate you’d help with Gerard. And my, oh, my, do we need your help.” She stepped back, her sunny self again. “Come along now.”
Justice looked beyond her to see Evangeline staring at him, her face flushed with embarrassment. Beside his mother, Gerard sat with face forward and his shoulders bunched up in a defiant posture. A sudden, strong resolve gripped Justice, a determination he’d felt when pursuing outlaws as a Texas Ranger. But while it was one thing to take down an outlaw and put him in jail, it was another thing entirely to corral a wayward boy and show him the error of his ways. Justice didn’t know exactly how to deal with Gerard, but he’d never shirked his duty, and he wasn’t about to start now.
With some clever maneuvering, Susanna placed Justice on the aisle next to Gerard, with Evangeline on the other side of her son. Gerard shifted close to his mother and scowled. He pretended to sleep when the minister read the story of the prodigal son from the Gospel of Luke and preached his sermon about the Lord always welcoming sinners home. The story always reminded Justice of his own few years of rebellion. With his father gone, he hadn’t had an earthly father to return home to in repentance, but he’d returned to the Lord. Maybe Gerard would do the same.
Several times, Justice traded a look with Evangeline over her son’s head. He hated seeing the shame in her eyes. Whatever her faults were, whatever wrong choices she’d made, she was still a mother suffering because of her son’s recalcitrant ways. And at the end of the service, the boy was as petulant as ever.
&n
bsp; A sharp autumn wind blew in from the west as Justice followed the caravan of buggies traveling to Four Stones Ranch after church. In addition to Susanna’s rig, Colonel and Mrs. Northam, Tolley and Laurie Northam, Garrick and Rosamond Wakefield, and Marybeth Northam rode in separate conveyances, with sundry children dispersed throughout. Led by the Colonel’s buggy, which Seamus O’Brien drove, they turned down the lane leading to the main house on the Northam property.
The party entered the white, two-story edifice through the back door and kitchen, as was the custom in these parts. The house seemed built for entertaining large parties, and Mrs. Northam was in her element directing everyone to various tasks to get dinner on the table. The ladies brought their best cooking, and a huge roast had cooked in Mrs. Northam’s fine new stove overnight, so mouthwatering aromas filled the house. Justice had seen the stove weeks ago and, at Mrs. Winsted’s insistence, ordered one for his new house. Would Evangeline like to cook on such a fancy appliance? And why was he thinking about her and his new home in the same sentence...again?
He’d lost count of the children scampering around the house. He did notice Marybeth kept her two youngsters close by and her eyes on Gerard. He’d yet to learn the rest of the story, but Seamus had hinted there’d been trouble.
“Let’s get out of the way, gentlemen.” The Colonel beckoned to Tolley, Garrick, Seamus and Justice. “Join me in the parlor while the ladies finish their preparations,” he said, hesitating a bit as a result of his stroke two years ago. He rolled his wheelchair in that direction.
For a half hour, Justice let himself relax in the presence of these good men as they discussed the expansion of the railroad, the cattle industry and last year’s severe winter, during which many herds had died and numerous cattle fortunes had been lost. They asked Justice if he had any suspicions about the men who’d shot up Mrs. Winsted’s Mercantile. He opined that they were probably seasonal cowboys who were on the roundup, and he planned to interview them all when they returned to town.
Cowboy Lawman's Christmas Reunion Page 8