by Regina Scott
Why? Had someone lied to her? Was that the source of the hurt Maddie had mentioned?
The clown in him only wanted to keep her smiling. He put a foot on the fender and eased up on the reins. Lance continued to walk along with insouciant majesty. Percy tugged a bit as if to confirm he couldn’t escape.
“Easy now, boys,” James called. “We’re driving a lady today. Be on your best behavior, for she won’t abide less.”
Cloak loose about her shoulders, she folded her hands in the lap of her black gown. She wore the most severe colors to teach. He far preferred the floaty white confection she’d been wearing when they’d first met.
“I do not expect perfection, sir,” she said. “But we must be careful in how we comport ourselves, engaged or no. You fail to understand the exemplary behavior required of a schoolteacher.”
James rubbed a spot off his boot. He’d have preferred to have changed into one of his suits before going to town rather than wear his logging clothes, but he’d been afraid to delay any longer lest she head out alone on foot. Besides, if Drew or Simon had returned before he and Rina had left, James had no doubt he’d have more company than he wanted. Neither of his older brothers would have trusted him with the task. Simon hadn’t approved of Catherine sending James after the schoolteacher to begin with.
“We didn’t require so much of you,” he pointed out to Rina now. “All we asked was that you do your best.”
“The White River school board was much more explicit,” she informed him, and he got the impression that wasn’t necessarily to the good. “You should see the list of rules they supplied.”
“Rules for the teacher?” He frowned as he nudged Lance and Percy around a bend in the road. “Like what?”
Her lips puckered as if she was trying to remember, and he suddenly recalled the feel of those lips against his. He forced his gaze out over the horses.
“I am to refrain from dressing in bright colors,” she said, “dying my hair and smoking cigars.”
He refused to crack a smile at the ridiculous rules. “I’ll sneak you a box if you like.”
He thought he heard a hint of a laugh. “No, thank you.”
“What else?” he asked, encouraged. He chanced a glance to find she was tapping her chin with one finger.
“I am to be home between the hours of eight in the evening and six in the morning, unless at a school function,” she said.
“So no moonlit strolls along the flooding river in cougar-infested territory,” James mused. “Have they no sense of adventure?”
“My personal favorite,” she said with a glance his way, “is that I may not loiter in ice cream stores. Who knew they were such dens of iniquity?”
“Who knew the White River settlement even had an ice cream store?” He shook his head. “They must be coming up in the world.”
“More likely they copied the rules from some other township back East,” Rina told him. “They seem to take the matter of finding a teacher very seriously. That alone is commendable.”
“Unlike us,” he said. “We chose the first woman we liked.”
She dropped her gaze and fiddled with her skirts. “While I am honored by your faith in me, Mr. Wallin, you need someone more skilled.”
“So you say,” James acknowledged, “but I still think attitude is a great deal more important than aptitude. You can learn most anything, if you’ve the will.”
She sighed as if she feared she lacked that will. “I cannot argue that, Mr. Wallin.”
Mr. Wallin. He’d hoped they’d reached the point where she’d feel comfortable using his first name. She’d already slipped a few times, though he knew she wouldn’t admit it.
“You may get an argument from those White River folks, though,” he said, keeping his tone light. “They sound mighty particular. What will you do when they find out about your past?”
She gasped, paling. “My past?”
What, had she robbed a bank back East? “Your lack of experience,” he clarified, watching her. “The fact that this is your first school. We accepted your word that you could teach. Will they?”
She drew in a breath as if he’d given her a pardon. “They must have been aware of my credentials before offering.”
“Oh, no doubt.” He forced his gaze out over the horses once more, all innocence. “Mr. Mercer being such a forthright person and all.”
“You think Mr. Mercer inflated my skills to make the school offer me a position?”
She sounded so concerned he could not leave it at that. It was one thing to point out the possible flaws in her arguments. It was another to manufacture problems.
“I think it’s more likely he wanted you to remain unemployed,” he said, “so you’d be desperate enough to accept one of the men who paid him for a bride.”
She nodded, drawing in a breath. “Besides, the position is for an assistant teacher, remember? The White River superintendent does not expect me to know everything like you did.”
“We never expected you to know everything!” He shoved back his cap with one hand, and she raised her brows at him. He puffed out a breath. “Well, it might have seemed we expected that of you, but we were willing to compromise.”
The way she shifted on the bench told him she wasn’t so sure of that. “I expect every job has its challenges,” she allowed.
That was more like it. “Of course they do. And what if this one is horrible? The children may be spoiled brats, the accommodations filled with mice.”
“I certainly hope not!” Rina protested. “And even if they are, I would rather fight off mice than raving men.”
James shook his head. “I knew Rankin had frightened you. I told you, I can handle him.”
“I would prefer no one have to handle him,” she replied, chin once more rising.
He had to keep trying. “What if there’s a Rankin out at the White River? What if you decide you want to leave? There won’t be a handsome fellow with a team of stunning horses ready to ride to the ends of the Earth for you.”
She eyed him a moment, and James gave her his best smile. She shook her finger at him. “I know your game, James Wallin. You want to convince me to refuse the job.”
Smart lady. He put a hand on his heart, reins pooled in the other. “You wound me, Miss Fosgrave. As if I would ever do something so underhanded. Of course, if you decide to refuse the other position, I’d be happy to turn the wagon around and carry you back to Wallin Landing immediately.”
She faced forward, as if she could see the White River from there. “My mind is made up, so you can stop the what-ifs right now.”
“If that’s what you want,” he said, facing forward, as well. She could protest all she liked. She was weakening. He could see it in the way her straight white teeth chewed on her lower lip, how her hands clenched and unclenched in the lap of her black gown. Either she was worried about her new position or feeling guilty about leaving the old one. Both could work in his favor.
And hers. If he’d truly thought that the White River was a better place for her, he would probably have let her go with his best wishes for a bright future. But the outpost was even farther from civilization than Wallin Landing, and, by the sound of those rules, hopelessly demanding. She deserved to be somewhere she’d be appreciated and encouraged.
Like beside him at Wallin Landing. Now he just had to get her to see things his way, and he knew just how to go about it.
Chapter Nine
James had given Rina a great deal to consider, and she was fairly sure he knew it. Despite his protests to innocence, he was campaigning for her to return to Wallin Landing. She was not about to give in, but she thought she knew how to fight back.
“Have you ever shopped at Derango’s?” he asked as they maneuvered among the other wagons and pedestrians past the Seattl
e mercantile with its windows crowded with goods.
“Several times,” she said. “The manager there was very kind about extending credit to us.”
“You better stock up while we’re here,” he warned. “As far as I know, there are no stores out White River way.”
“How wonderful,” she said. “Then I won’t have to worry about spending my income on fripperies.”
He frowned just the slightest as if he hadn’t expected that response. But still he persisted as they passed Mr. Bagley’s church, where Catherine and Drew had wed a month ago.
“Did you attend the White Church or the Brown Church when you lived in Seattle?” he asked as if making idle conversation.
“The Brown church,” she replied, wondering what he’d find to warn her about now. “Mr. Bagley is a fine speaker.”
“Likely the best in the area,” he agreed, guiding the team easily through the muddy streets. “Not that you’ll find many other churches where you’re going.”
“People have worshipped without a building for generations,” Rina said, keeping her voice and face pleasant. “There should be an opportunity on the White River.”
He cocked his head as if considering the situation as he drew up in front of the boardinghouse. “I suppose you can even make new friends to replace the ones you’re leaving behind.”
She could find no easy quip to respond to that. “No one ever replaces a true friend, Mr. Wallin,” she said. “But if we are very fortunate, we may add to their number.”
That silenced him long enough to come around and help her down. His gaze softened as he set her on the ground next to him. “I hope you’ll count me a friend when you look back, Rina.”
She merely smiled. She could not count him a friend at the moment, but she was beginning to think he would be the one she’d miss most of all.
James waited until she was sure Mrs. Elliott was willing to allow her to spend the night in the boardinghouse, then headed to the Howard house where he thought to stay. Catherine and Allegra Howard were good friends, so Rina was sure Allegra would welcome Catherine’s brother-in-law for the night. The members of the boardinghouse welcomed Rina back with smiles that were more than curious. Maddie, however, cried out in delight at the sight of Rina in the doorway of the room they had once shared and rushed to give her a hug as if Rina had been gone two years instead of two days.
“Oh, but it’s good to see you,” she declared, pushing Rina back to look at her. “I’d say teaching agrees with you.”
Rina lips started to tremble. “Oh, Maddie, but I fear it doesn’t!”
Maddie’s face puckered in sympathy, and she took Rina’s hand and led her to her bed. “Now, then, you just tell me who’s been pulling out your heart.”
So Rina perched on Maddie’s quilt-covered bed and told her all about her experiences at Wallin Landing while Maddie drew out her extra pair of sheets and blanket to make up the other bed in the room, which apparently had yet to be filled with another tenant. The narrow room, with its two beds and window overlooking the Sound, had always felt a little foreign to Rina after the mansions in which she’d been raised, but she could not deny the warmth now as her friend listened to her problems.
“So off you’ll be a-going,” Maddie said, finishing tucking in the blanket. “With hopes this new school will be more to your liking.”
Rina nodded, trying to relax now that the worst was over. Somehow her hands ended up clasped in front of her. “Exactly. Being an assistant to another teacher should help me gain some confidence.”
“Confidence comes from different things, I find,” Maddie said, sitting beside Rina on the bed. “It might arise from the experience of doing the same thing for many years. Or maybe from faith in the Almighty or faith in yourself. I’m thinking it’s not so much the first you lack, me darling girl, but the last.”
Rina could not raise her gaze above her interlocked fingers. “I fear you have the right of it, Maddie. You may not believe it, but I had complete confidence in myself once. I knew who I was, what I was meant to do. Now? Now, I have no idea!”
Maddie sighed, one hand reaching out to cover hers. “Sure-n, but I know how you’re feeling. We’ve both had cause to doubt, I’m thinking.”
Rina looked up at her friend. Maddie’s head was down, her shoulders sagging, as if all the precious energy she generally shared with others had fled. “You doubt yourself, Maddie? Rarely have I met anyone so sure!”
Maddie’s grin popped into view. “So, at least I’ve convinced one of us.” Her smile faded as she met Rina’s gaze. “No, Alexandrina, I doubt my choices, too. I thought I was doing the right thing to travel West, seek my fortune, but I had to leave family behind, a half sister and half brother as dear to me as my own life.”
Maddie had rarely spoken of her past, any more so than Rina. That was one of the reasons it had been easy to become acquainted.
“How awful,” Rina commiserated. “I always wanted siblings, so I can only imagine how terrible it must feel to have to leave them.”
Maddie nodded, another sigh raising the chest of her gown. “I left them with a kindly lady who takes in orphan children. I told them I would send for them as soon as I could, but I’m only now scratching the pennies together from washing and cleaning. And I keep wondering. Wouldn’t it be better if they found a mother and father instead of just me?”
The pain and bewilderment throbbed in her voice, touching Rina’s hurting heart with familiar fingers. “Sometimes circumstances force families apart,” she told her friend. “But there is nothing like the love that holds them together. Surely we could find a way for you all to become a family again.”
Maddie twisted a strand of red hair around one finger. “So I’ve been thinking. I might have enough to bring them out to me, if I can find someone to watch over them along the way. I just don’t know how to care for them when they arrive. It’s not like I can afford a grand house like Mr. and Mrs. Howard.”
Their friend Allegra had been reunited with her former sweetheart Clay Howard on the trip out west. They’d married shortly after arriving in Seattle, and Clay had built his bride a fine house high on the hill using money he’d earned from his entrepreneurial efforts.
“Few have a house as nice as the Howards,” Rina said, thinking, “but you have friends who could help you make your own place. No one bakes as well as you do, Maddie. Why don’t you ask Mr. Howard to invest in building you a bakery?”
Maddie stared at her. “A bakery?”
Rina nodded. “He loved what you baked aboard ship to convince him to teach us about Seattle. I’ve never had hot cross buns as good as yours. I would think you could impress the bachelors around here, as well.”
Maddie leaped to her feet. “I’ll do it! Sure-n but I’ve calculated the costs often enough, to my despair. I can tell Clay Howard exactly what I’d be needing.”
She seized Rina’s hands. “Oh, me darling girl, you’ve no idea the hope you’ve given me. How can I ever repay you?”
“Bring your sister and brother out and make a family,” Rina said, Maddie’s excitement lifting her to her feet, as well. “Knowing you are happy is all the thanks I need.”
“Ah, but how will you know, way out on the White River?” Maddie challenged. “I’m not liking you so far from us all. And it seems to me your heart isn’t in it, either.”
“My heart,” Rina replied, raising her head, “has proven a very fickle organ. I’d much prefer to rely on my mind, and it says this is an excellent opportunity that I would be foolish to dismiss.”
“Then I suppose you have your answer,” Maddie said with a sigh as she released her.
“I suppose I do,” Rina said with a nod. Now, if she could just convince her heart of the matter.
* * *
James returned to her the next morning.
�
��If you have to be journeying to the wild,” Maddie told her, watching from the porch as he drew the wagon up in front of the boardinghouse, “at least you picked a fine escort.”
Rina did not comment as James jumped down to help her up into the wagon. She was only glad Maddie had been understanding about their temporary engagement when Rina had explained it the night before.
Rina was also glad for a few moments that morning to write to the White River superintendent and accept his offer. The Seattle postmaster had assured her that he had a rider and a fast horse heading that way, so at least her news would arrive before she did.
“Next stop, McKenzie’s Corner,” James promised Rina, after he’d lifted her up and come around to take the reins. “That’s the logical stopping spot between here and the Crossing. And I sure hope it meets with your approval.”
“It will be fine,” Rina said, turning to wave to Maddie, who waved back with her usual gusto as James urged the horses away from the boardinghouse. At least she knew her friend’s future would be bright.
The overcast day was not nearly as bright. Heavy black clouds held on to their rain as the way led out of Seattle. A road, James called it. The term was far too kind. Trees had been cleared, but the horses had to step over stumps sticking out above the track, and several times Rina felt the wagon bottom scrape wood. The most she could see ahead and behind was the next bend.
At least this time they had company. Just as Catherine had predicted, they met plenty of farmers, loggers and tradesmen going to or coming from Seattle. Each one paused long enough to exchange news—the condition of the road, the favored hotels and eateries in town, sightings of bear, wolf and cougar.
The last discussion gave her chills, especially when a passing farmer warned James about the Rainier Valley.
“Never saw so many bears in one day,” the older man complained, stopping to take off his straw hat and mop his brow with a red gingham handkerchief. “Sows, boars, cubs. Must be plentiful food and water there.”