Annie turned around. Laura’s book lay open across her chest, and the light from the lamp cast dancing shadows on the wall. “I know you’re right, but I sure did want to go. Maybe tomorrow night.”
“We’ll see how the boy does tomorrow and then decide.” Laura caught Annie’s gaze and her eyebrows lifted. “Now that everyone is asleep, you can no longer evade me. I want to hear the whole story.” Her expression said that she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Sighing, Annie headed for her bed and plopped down. “It all started when I discovered a woman visiting Riley.”
Laura’s mouth opened, and her no-nonsense expression sparked with interest. “What woman?”
Annie shook her head. “I don’t know, but she was all dressed up in a fancy gown—silk, if I’m not mistaken, and she had a new buggy that didn’t even show any wear, and a colored driver.”
Setting the book aside, Laura sat up. “What did she want?”
Annie hiked her chin in the air and crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you expect me to eavesdrop?”
Leaning forward, Laura’s eyes gleamed. “Of course. How else are we to know anything?”
Grinning, she relaxed her stance. “I tried, but that servant was out there and would have seen me. All I know is that the woman said her mother saw Riley with me at the service, and that it hadn’t taken him long to find someone else.”
“Oh dear. That must have been Miranda.”
“And who is she?”
Laura stared in the direction of the window for a long moment. “She was Riley’s fiancée, but she got married last year at Christmas, while he was off to war.”
Annie gasped. “That’s horrible.”
“I don’t think he found out until he returned home—at least that’s the story going around town.” Laura shook her head. “Miranda was young and somewhat spoiled. I guess she must have gotten tired of waiting for Riley to return. I’m not condoning her actions, mind you, just trying to understand.”
Annie didn’t understand how a woman could be engaged to Riley and choose someone else. She stared down at her hands, her heart aching for him. Not only did he return home to find his parents dead and his home ransacked, but his fiancée married? No wonder he was so grumpy when he first came here. He had good reason.
“So what does Miranda have to do with Josh?” Laura carried her book to the desk then blew out the light, but not before Annie counted four letters stacked up and ready to go out to the children’s parents. “I fail to see how the two are related.”
“Just that I was upset over some things and needed someone to talk to. You were resting, I think, so I went into town and visited with the reverend.”
“Annie, you didn’t.”
She stared into the darkness, but a tiny flicker on the lamp’s wick drew her attention. “Yes, I did, but I was careful, and there were hardly any folks out and about. I went to the public square and sat on one of the benches, and a short while later, here came the reverend, as if we had an appointment. He’s real easy to talk with.”
“You never should have gone alone. What if those raiders had come back? They could have taken you, and I’d have never known what happened.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s almost as if I was compelled to go.” She bolted upright. “Do you think God called me to town so I’d find Josh as I did?”
“I don’t know about God having anything to do with it, but I guess it could make sense, considering how things turned out. Just where did you find the boy?”
Annie wrestled with what to tell her, but she wouldn’t lie again. She was sick of lying. “Behind the One-Eyed Jack saloon.”
“Annie! My word. What were you doing there?”
“Hiding.” Suddenly she remembered seeing Otis Ramsey. She told Laura about nearly running into him. “And he said he’d outsmarted those dimwitted women and the property would soon be his. Do you think he meant us?”
The sheets rustled as Laura moved on her bed. “I don’t want to believe that’s the case, but it does stand to reason he was referring to us. Maybe I shouldn’t be taking that man at face value.” She paused, thinking. “In the morning, first chance I get, I’ll pen a letter.”
“To …?”
“Mr. Morrow’s lawyer.”
Annie yawned and settled down again. “The man from the saloon said I could have Josh if I wanted him, just like he was giving away an unwanted puppy or a set of clothes that no longer fit him. Can you imagine such an awful thing? Said he was too young to pull his weight and all he did was cry.”
“Some people can be cruel, but I sure don’t know what we’ll do with the boy. I’m already notifying our students’ parents that they need to come and get them.”
“But what if you find out that we don’t have to leave?”
Laura sighed. “All this has made me realize that it’s time for me to do something different.”
“Like what?” Annie held her breath, afraid what that might mean for her.
“I’m not quite sure just yet.” Laura squeaked out a yawn.
Annie’s heart pounded as she felt it was time to make her own confession. “I’m sensing it’s time to make a change too. I can’t keep pretending to be blind.”
Laura was silent for a long while, and Annie wondered if she’d fallen asleep. “I don’t see how you can tell people without them getting upset over how we’ve tricked them all these years. I’d hoped when the time came, maybe we could just leave town and never have to tell people.”
“I know it won’t be easy, but I feel it’s what God wants me to do.”
“I sure hope you’re right.”
Annie did too. Confessing would be the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. In spite of her concern, the heaviness of sleep tugged at her. Tomorrow she’d worry, but tonight she hoped to dream of a handsome ex-soldier.
Laura stared out the back door to the garden. Mrs. Alton was talking to Annie and the children about vegetables and how the different ones were cooked and used in recipes. She pulled an ear of corn off a stalk and passed it around. Laura couldn’t hear what she was saying, but each child felt the silk, ran his or her hand down the husk, then handed it to the child sitting beside them. Josh sat on Annie’s lap and took the corn next. After he briefly touched the silk, Annie took the ear then tickled Josh’s cheek with the hair-like end. He rubbed his face against his shoulder and looked up at her with a tiny smile. The girl would make a wonderful mother when the time came.
Riley passed behind the group, carrying a fence rail over one shoulder. His head turned toward them, and a smile danced on his mouth. Was that warm smile for the children or Annie? When he first showed up, she’d been tempted to send him on his way, but they sorely needed a man’s help. She and Annie were so busy keeping track of the children and tending the garden and caring for the animals that things like fence repairs, the roof, and the barn had been neglected for far too long.
She leaned against the doorjamb and smiled to herself. Maybe Annie wouldn’t be the only one to have a chance at romance. For a long while, she’d been discontent. Not that she didn’t love the children and teaching them, but she wanted to be a mother—and to be a wife. Sean had been disappointed yesterday when he learned they wouldn’t be attending the revival. She couldn’t help wondering if he’d been looking forward to seeing her, as she had him.
The love she had once felt so strongly was flaming up anew, giving her hope for the life she’d dreamed about so many times. She resented Otis Ramsey prancing around her house like a proud peacock, but in truth, he gave her the reason she’d been looking for to make a change.
Was she being selfish? Unfair to the children? Hadn’t she exhausted all her options in searching for a way to keep the school open?
Yes, she knew she had. There was really nothing else she could do. The girls would be fine going back home with their parents. Her only real worry was the boys and Annie and now Josh. She hoped her letter would reach the director of the Texas Blind Asylum in Aus
tin and that they could take in Henry and Rusty, but with the shortened deadline, she may just have to take them there herself and hope for the best.
A loud pounding at the front door barged into her thoughts. She hurried through the house and opened the door, her smile fading. “Mr. Ramsey.”
He lifted his chins—all three of them—in the air and looked down his nose at her. “I want to know if the rumors I’ve heard are correct.”
“Uh … I’m sure I don’t know what you’re referring to.” Her mind raced, but she couldn’t think of a thing that would have him so out of sorts. The man had several spots on his shirt, two brown and two yellow—coffee and eggs—she suspected.
He glanced past her. “Where are all the children?”
She looked at him steadily. “I don’t see how that’s any concern of yours.”
“Do you or do you not have a new child here—a child who is not blind?” He lifted his head another notch, as if he’d just won that round.
Her thoughts scrambled in a hundred different directions. How had he heard about Josh already? What would the boy’s presence mean to them?
The sound of someone clearing his throat behind Mr. Ramsey made Laura realize there was someone else on the porch—someone who was completely hidden behind Otis Ramsey’s bulk. She threw the scoundrel a questioning glare, and he stepped to the side, revealing a man barely over five feet tall. The stranger adjusted his spectacles and smiled.
“This is Mr. Hastert, and he’s come to have a look at the house to see if it meets his expectations.”
Of all the nerve! Laura stepped outside and closed the door to keep the men from entering. “Now see here, Mr. Ramsey. I’ve a school to run. We may have to vacate soon, but until then, you need to understand that there will be no tours. We have half a dozen blind children here, and I can’t have strangers wandering through the house disrupting their routine. Is that clear?”
Mr. Ramsey’s lips puckered and his nostrils flared.
“Oh, uh, I do beg your pardon, Miss Wilcox, but I was under the impression we had your approval to see the school.” Mr. Hastert cast a perturbed glance at Mr. Ramsey, backed off the porch, and spun around and headed toward the buggy.
“You’d better hope you didn’t cost me a sale, Miss Wilcox.”
Laura had never encountered a more pretentious buffoon in all her life. How the man could be any relation to kind Mr. Morrow was unfathomable. “I do believe it’s time for you to leave, sir.”
Riley stepped around the corner of the house, carrying a post. “Everything all right here, Miss Laura?”
She lifted her brows at her unwanted guest, as if to ask if they had a problem.
Mr. Ramsey scowled at Riley then leaned toward her. “No woman tells me what to do. I’ll be back tomorrow, and that urchin who doesn’t belong here better be out of this house.”
“Or what?” Laura stood rigid, wishing she was another inch or two taller, so he’d have to look up to her. Riley set the post down and stepped onto the porch, standing a few feet away, arms crossed, with a menacing glare on his face. She appreciated his presence more than she could say.
Mr. Ramsey backed up a step, but like a bullying dog that wanted to get in one more snap, he growled. “Or I’ll cut a week off your deadline.”
She sucked in a breath that brought a smug smile to his lips. “You wouldn’t.”
“Oh yes, I would. In fact, I just did. My uncle had strict rules about only blind children allowed at his school, and you’ve broken those rules. You have two weeks to vacate these premises.”
“B—but that’s preposterous. I can’t possibly get the children to their parents and find a place for the orphans in such a short time.” She didn’t want to beg, but for the children’s sake, she would.
“Two weeks, Miss Wilcox.”
“You’re leaving now,” Riley said.
“And just who are you?” Ramsey said, one side of his lip curling up.
“He works for me, and I suggest you do as he says.”
Ramsey glared at her then turned and lumbered down the stairs with Riley following. She shuddered. What a disgusting man. She dropped into a rocker, tears blurring the vision of Mr. Ramsey struggling to climb into the buggy. How would she manage to do everything that needed to get done in just two weeks?
She would have to get the letters posted to the girls’ parents right away, and she needed to make plans to take the boys to Austin as soon as she could. At least the reverend’s donation would make that trip possible. But what about Annie? She feared for the young woman who’d never known a home other than this one. Laura could only hope Annie’s newfound faith in God and maybe even her growing relationship with Riley would be enough to sustain her.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Annie meandered out to the barn, her heart aching. Laura had told her of Mr. Ramsey’s visit and how he said they needed to remove Josh from the house and find someone to take in the orphan. But how could they send the grieving little boy away? And where to? He was so young and hadn’t even gotten used to being with them yet, and she had promised him she’d take care of him. She felt lower than a skunk’s belly.
She inhaled the familiar barn scents, although she didn’t miss the chicken odor. In his efforts to clean up the barn, Riley had built a small covered chicken coop beside the barn with some spare wood and wire he’d found. She ambled over to his horse. “What are you doing in the barn on a perfectly nice afternoon?”
Scratching the mare under her chin, Annie admired Gypsy’s pretty face. “It’s ironic that you’re called a Morgan horse and your owner’s last name is Morgan.” Riding the mare had been pure fun, and she longed to do it again. What fun it must be to take off across the countryside, galloping with the wind whipping her face. To run away from the difficult things she must face in the next few weeks.
“I don’t know how to tell the children—or the townsfolk—that I’ve been lying to them. Do you have any idea how difficult that is? No, I don’t guess you do.”
The mare swished a fly with her tail and closed her eyes, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. If only Annie didn’t.
Riley stood on the far side of the corral, where he’d just finished mending a broken rail and watched Annie walking confidently toward the barn, as if being unable to see was no issue at all. He lifted his hat and swiped the sweat off his brow, then shook his head. That woman had more gumption than most of the soldiers he had fought beside the past few years. He slipped between the rails and strode across the enclosure and through the gate. Dare he hope Annie had come looking for him?
He ground his teeth together at the involuntary notion. Annie invaded his thoughts more and more each day, and he had no idea what to do about that. His future was so uncertain. He didn’t even know where he’d be in a few weeks. The last thing he should be thinking about was another woman, and yet here he stood watching her pet his horse’s nose, and he couldn’t help being jealous. What kind of man did that make him? A lonely one? Desperate?
She bent, and he saw her mouth move, but he couldn’t hear what she said to Gypsy. He didn’t want to be attracted to Annie—much less care for her, not after the way Miranda had treated him.
A hawk screeched overhead and soared away, pulling his gaze upward. The hot breeze did little to cool the sweat running down his back from his labors. He stared at the vivid blue sky. God, I know we haven’t been on the greatest of terms lately, but that preacher said You are always ready to hear a man when he calls to You. Would You help me out here? Show me what to do where Annie’s concerned.
When Annie wrapped her arms around Gypsy’s neck, Riley’s mouth went dry, remembering how good it had felt to hold her close as he had the other night.
But could he ever fully trust her? If he gave her his heart, would she crush it like Miranda had? No, she’d never deliberately hurt him. Annie was not Miranda, and he was now a man and not a lonely boy in the throes of war who missed his family and the girl he’d left behind.
; She stepped back from the horse and brushed her sleeve across her eyes. Was she crying? Before he thought things out, his feet pushed into motion. “Is something wrong?”
She jumped and spun around, her hand on her chest. “Oh, I didn’t hear you.” She swiped her hand across her eyes. “I must have gotten dust in my eyes.”
“You don’t have to pretend with me. I can tell when something is bothering you.”
“You can?” Her eyes widened—those lovely deep-brown eyes.
“I think so. Are you upset because of Mr. Ramsey’s visit?”
Annie ducked her head and nodded. “He said Josh has to leave the house.”
“Yeah, I heard. I came around the side of the house when he was here and getting pushy with Miss Laura.”
A sweet smile tugged at Annie’s lips, and his gaze was drawn to them. “She told me you chased him off—you and your fence post.”
He stood a bit straighter at the pride in her voice. “I don’t like men who get rough with women. And for the record, I set the post down so I wouldn’t be tempted to use it to smash that snake.”
Annie giggled. “I appreciate that you stood up for Miss Laura and for all your help lately. You’re a good man, Riley Morgan, and you’re very good with the children.” She lifted her face toward his and blinked her eyes; this time he had a sneaking suspicion it had nothing to do with dust. “And that’s why I think you’re the perfect person to take care of Josh.”
If she’d told him she could see, he wouldn’t have been as shocked. “Me? I’m in no position to care for a young child. That boy needs a mother, not a war-weary man like me.”
She shook her head. “A loving father is just as effective as a mother.”
He took a step closer, still unable to believe she was serious. “I’m living in a tack room with one makeshift bed. That’s no place for a child.”
“Miss Laura said you’ve cleaned it all out and that it looks better than she’s ever seen it before. Besides, the tack room is only temporary, and a child needs love more than a house.”
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