The Kissing Tree

by Karen Witemeyer

  Adam flipped through the dictionary until he found a suitable word, and at his pronouncement, it was like her head had turned to stew. “Expiation.”

  How to spell that? As Bella slowed it down in her head, the syllables seemed to transform into something different. She sat up straight and took a deep breath. Write it fast, she told herself. Stop thinking about it and write it down.

  Her fingers seemed to have the word already imprinted in their memory. Writing it felt good. It was the right thing. She relaxed. She could do this.

  Adam read the next word—­pyrotic. She knew what to do. Just let her fingers take control before she gave it too much consideration. But then something caught her eye. The first word she’d written didn’t look right. How could she have made that mistake? How could she have come so close to missing it? She scratched through the word and rewrote it, switching the a and i. That didn’t look any better, but she had to move on. Now, the second word, what was it again? She bit her lip, then wrote pyrotism just as Adam was reading the third word. Moving her mouth to form the second word, she had to admit that it didn’t sound right, but he couldn’t repeat it. Not now.

  Her sinking stomach knew the results no matter how she tried to deny them. If Adam had thought she was exaggerating about her poor exam scores, he was about to find out that she spoke the truth.

  Adam hadn’t planned on administering a spelling test today, but it was worth trying. And from the frantic scribbling and re-­scribbling that Bella was doing on her paper, it was clear her teacher’s examination would be a disaster. By the time he’d made it through the list, she was pale, shaking, and continuing to edit words at the top of the paper.

  “Time’s up,” Adam said.

  “How much time do I get?” she asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. You’ve had too much time already. You’ve turned that paper into an alphabet explosion.” He grimaced as he slid it out from beneath her hand and looked it over. “This is worse than I thought.”

  “Well, don’t sugarcoat it,” she said with an eye roll.

  “In every case . . .” He paused to flip through the dictionary and double-­check. “Yep, in nearly every case you wrote the word correctly the first time. When you went back to fix it, that’s when you spelled it wrong.”

  She dropped her head into her hands. “See what I mean? There’s no way I can pass that test before next Friday.”

  The same day as her father’s challenge to his threshing machine. Would both she and her father be shamed? That had never been his intent.

  Adam dropped to his knee next to her. “This is good news. If you had to learn how to spell, we’d be in trouble, but you don’t. You just have to learn to take a test. In this case, always go with your first answer. That’s going to be your rule for spelling.” He couldn’t tell if he was easing her trouble, but he’d keep trying. He had to keep trying.

  He ripped the page of misspelled words off her tablet and started toward the trash bin.

  “Don’t throw it in there,” she said. “I’d expire of embarrassment if my students saw it.”

  Adam folded the paper and stuffed it into his pocket. “I’ll dispose of it elsewhere, then. Now, what’s next? Geography? Do you have a book for the questions?”

  She quirked her head. “If I fail the geography test, do I have to buy you two peppermint sticks?”

  “No, you have to buy yourself one so that we can enjoy them together.”

  Bella groaned. “That’s worse than the measles. You’re in a contest against my father. I can’t be seen spending time with you.”

  “Then you’d best pass this test.” He put his hand over hers. A shock passed through him at the contact. He hadn’t touched her since he’d carried her home three years ago. It had seemed the right action then, as it did now. “I’ll get the book,” he said and wondered if he was the one being tested.

  seven

  I did miserably.” The peppermint made Bella’s mouth feel cool and tingly. Her scores from her practice exams made her feel dreadful and heavy. Perhaps she’d learned to perform better on the tests, but would it be enough? Would she forget the strategies they’d discovered together just as easily as she’d forgotten the location of Crimea?

  “We have two more weeks,” Adam said. “Tomorrow we’ll work on math—­that might take a whole afternoon by itself—­then on Thursday we can do grammar, although that’s not my strong suit. You might want to find someone else to help you with that.”

  Bella grimaced. “What would people think about the teacher asking to be taught? You can’t tell anyone what we’re doing.”

  “Teachers have to learn too.”

  “At a normal school or a college. Not with a traveling harvester.” She stopped before they came within sight of her house. “Adam?”

  “Yes?”

  “Why are you helping me? Win or lose, you’re not staying in town. You’ll be moving on after harvest, so it doesn’t matter to you who is teaching. Is it out of guilt?” Guilt was the only motivation she could name. The thought that she ranked somewhere between Christian duty and charity to the poor was not flattering. But if she could have accomplished her goals without him, she would have.

  “No, not guilt.” He wrinkled his nose. “Maybe a little guilt at the beginning, but even without this exam looming, I would have looked for a reason to spend time with you.”

  Bella studied him. Not like she studied books, but studied past his fine features to the meaning behind. “Why? You haven’t talked to me for years.”

  “I’m here now. Right back where I carried you.”

  He’d carried her this far when she’d broken her wrist, and for the first time she considered how he’d helped her instead of only blaming him for her predicament. Either way, she couldn’t let him come any farther. “You should stop here. My parents wouldn’t understand.” How could they, when she didn’t understand herself?

  “You’re probably right,” he said. “I’ll meet you after school tomorrow. Until then.”

  When he smiled at her like that, Bella didn’t feel like a charity case.

  The front door of her home was open to catch stray breezes. When she spotted Pa’s unlaced work boots in the doorway, she knew something was amiss. It was harvest season. Why would he be idle?

  Bella found him at the table, flipping and catching a coin. “Are you unwell?” She patted his shoulder and looked to her ma. Her ma paused in her churning, and the concern on her face was worrisome. “What’s the matter?”

  “Sit down, child,” said her pa. “We’ve heard some distressing news.”

  Her neck tightened as she hung her hat on the peg, then took a seat on the bench opposite Pa. Ma settled the dasher, then joined them, wiping her hands on her apron as she stood behind Pa.

  “Have you been consorting with Adam Fisher?” Pa asked.

  Bella dropped her gaze. Word certainly did travel fast. She hadn’t seen anyone coming or going from town, which meant someone had spied on them in the schoolhouse.

  “Adam is helping me prepare for my teacher’s exam,” she said.

  “Your exam?” Pa rolled his eyes. “If it weren’t for Adam Fisher, you wouldn’t have to take the exam at all. In fact, if it weren’t for Adam Fisher, you wouldn’t be teaching school in the first place.”

  She picked at a piece of skin next to her fingernail. Her parents had never gotten the full story out of her about what had happened beneath the oak tree. All they knew was that she’d fallen out of the tree and Adam had helped her home. Had he kept his mouth closed and not been heard apologizing to her, they wouldn’t have suspected a thing. Naturally, she would never tell them what had happened, but the bulk of their suspicions fell on Adam.

  Her mother sat next to her. “Why are you bothering with the test? Everyone knows that you’re the best teacher we’ve had in years.”

  “Do they?” Bella asked. “From what I hear, some are eager to replace me.”

  “Poppycock. They don’t know what’s goo
d for them. If they were to bring an arrogant college teacher here, they’d realize their mistake.”

  “There won’t be any more college people here,” her father said, “because I’m going to win the contest. Don’t think for a moment that a lad and a pile of flinging belts and fans can do better than my harvesting team.”

  “Be wary, Bella,” her mother said. “Adam can’t really mean to help you on the test. He’s using that as an excuse to spend unchaperoned time with you.”

  Her mother was the second person to mention that possibility. Bella found it incredible. Adam Fisher of the sketches, machines, and experiments? Although confident and good-­natured, he’d never seemed to be looking for a girl, but he’d just confessed that he was interested in her company. What did she think about that? Could she see past the embarrassment and hurt of years past? Was Adam someone worth knowing?

  “Why are you smiling?” her father asked. “How can you even speak to him? Can a man serve two masters? Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing? What communion has light with darkness?”

  “Love your neighbor,” Bella said.

  The room fell silent. Her mother covered her mouth while her father glared. “What was that?” he asked.

  Bella didn’t know where that comment had come from. She’d just been considering the possibility, and out popped Scripture. She stood and walked to the small square window looking toward town. “What if he does like me? It’d be horrible, wouldn’t it? He’s tied up in a challenge against my father, while wanting to court me? What a conundrum.”

  “Enough with your romantic notions,” her father said. “Find a good man who loves God and can support a family. Not Adam Fisher. He owes the bank for that machine. If he doesn’t get hired by some farmers, he’s going to lose everything.”

  “If he loses to you, he’ll lose everything?” Bella allowed this to sink in. It was her job or his. Unless she could pass the teacher’s exam.

  Putting on a brave face, she turned to her parents. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, particularly to wonder if Adam is besotted with me. Regardless, I don’t see you have any worries about our studying together. He’s a stern taskmaster.”

  Pa took a deep breath to answer, but before he found the words, her mother laid her hand flat on the table. “Be careful, Bella. You’re such a sweet girl, it’d only be natural that he’d fall in love with you, but whatever you decide—”

  “Whatever she decides?” Pa blustered. Then, pulling at his thick beard, he reconsidered. “I suppose it’d be in good taste to extend friendship. It’d show that I’m not going to enjoy beating the whelp at his game, yet at the same time, for us to be overly familiar with him will seem strange to our neighbors. My reputation . . .”

  “You’re not the one being courted by him, you old goat,” her mother said. “I don’t think there’s any danger of you being overly familiar with him.”

  “The same better hold true for Bella,” he said, his eyes pinning her with suspicion.

  Overly familiar with Adam? Bella wasn’t sure what they were warning her against, but her imagination came up with some intriguing possibilities.

  The day had been profitable, Adam reasoned as he exercised his horses on the treadmill. None of the farmers in Grimes County would commit to hiring him yet. He couldn’t blame them for waiting to see the results of Mr. Eden’s challenge, but he was making inroads into the community. While most of them couldn’t swallow Dr. Paulson’s edicts from on high, they sought Adam out for private consultations to get his opinion on matters.

  “Barley has always done well on my farm, but it’s been six years. Should I keep with it, or give the soil a rest and switch to another grain?”

  “What are they saying in town about the price of cotton? Will it stay this high until next season?”

  “The wife has been deviled by potato bugs in our garden. How can she get rid of the critters?”

  Often, Adam brought the questions straight to Dr. Paulson, then carried the answers back unaltered, but somehow they were more palatable coming from Adam.

  These were the people he wanted to live among. When Adam was growing up, his father was convinced that prosperity could be found just over the next ridge, so they rarely stayed put for long. If he retraced his path, there wouldn’t be many who remembered him growing up. Nowhere that would claim him. But Oak Springs hadn’t been so long ago that his history had been erased. He had friends here. He had a start. This sun, this sky, this land—­it was where he belonged, but he had yet to prove it to the townsfolk.

  Even if he did succeed, he wouldn’t be there year-­round. To establish himself, he had to travel. Many families were in the same situation—­soldiers, sailors, even the cowboys taking to the cattle trails every year. But not all women had the starch to handle a life apart from their husbands. Was Bella one of them?

  Everything he’d seen since returning confirmed that she was.

  Adam swished the whip over the horses’ rumps to set the team moving again. Looking back, he could see that Bella had always fascinated him. Smart, determined, and as curious about the world as he was, but the time hadn’t been right. She’d been nose-­to-­the-­grindstone determined to lasso that Jimmy kid when Adam came to town. Just as well. Adam didn’t have anything to offer her back then.

  Did he have anything to offer now? Well, that depended a lot on beating her father at a contest and whether or not he could make the payment on his thresher. He had a lot of promise, but that promise might dry up like wheat in a drought if he couldn’t make the payments.

  Convinced that the horses had been exercised sufficiently, Adam unharnessed them and set them loose in the pasture he was leasing from Mr. Longstreet. It was nearly time to meet Bella for more studying. So far, no one had remarked on their association. Maybe they thought it impossible that they’d be friends, considering the nature of the contest. Or maybe people had better things to worry about than the courting habits of their young folk.

  No, it definitely wasn’t that.

  Coming toward town, he could see the students scattering out of the schoolyard, some running home, some dawdling with friends. He was right on time.

  He’d thought the students were all gone by the time he entered the schoolhouse, but when he stepped onto the threshold, he heard a girl’s voice.

  “Miss Eden, is your given name Bertha?”

  “No, Minnie. It’s Bella. Why do you ask?”

  There was some giggling coming from the corner. His eyes lit on a gaggle of girls in their pinafores.

  “The reason I ask is because Mary said that those initials at the big oak were yours, and no one would put their initials in the heart with yours.” Minnie’s eyes went wide at the look on Bella’s face. “I’m sorry, Miss Eden. I just wanted to know if it was true.”

  “Class dismissed,” Adam said as he walked down the center aisle between the desks, keeping his gaze on Bella. “You girls hurry on home. Your parents will be looking for you.”

  They stepped back, giving him a wide berth before running outside.

  Bella ducked her crimson face and rustled through a stack of exam booklets on her desk, pretending to be busy.

  Adam rested his hand on the stack, demanding her attention. “How often does that happen?”

  Her hands gripped the trapped papers. “About twice a year. Someone sees it and feels clever when they figure it out. At the most, I endure whispers for about a week, and then they settle down.” She lifted one shoulder in resignation. “I’ll never live down the oak of shame. What can I do? Kids are like that.”

  “Do you really regret not kissing Jimmy Blaggart?” he asked. “If you know where he’s living now, I could send for him. I guarantee he’s regretting that he missed his chance.”

  The pain around her eyes eased. She relinquished her hold on the exams. “You’re a caution, teasing me over that. Shame on you. We have a test to study for.”

  Too bad, because Bella sure looked pretty when she was fluste
red. “Are you ready for the math portion of the test today?” he asked.

  “I practiced last night, but it wasn’t the same. If I’m not nervous, then I do fine.”

  “And that’s why I’m here, to make you uneasy. Now, what’s at stake?” He tapped his chin, pretending he hadn’t been up half the night delighting in this idea. “How about, if you fail, you have to walk through town holding my hand?”

  Her gaze sharpened. “Funny you should think of that.”

  And then something struck him that he should have thought of before. “Bella, when you’re in these situations, do you ever think about what you have to gain, instead of focusing on what you have to lose?”

  “I have nothing to gain by taking this exam, only disaster if I lose it.”

  “Nonsense. Instead of thinking of how you’re going to be ashamed if you fail, why don’t you tell yourself how much respect you’ll gain when you succeed? Look forward to the exam as a chance to prove yourself. Think of rewards for when you pass it, instead of punishments if you fail.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And what would my reward be if I pass the practice exam today?”

  He grinned. “Don’t you worry. We’ll think of something.”

  eight

  Bella could tell that she was performing better. The question was if it was because she was learning how to take the exams, or because she couldn’t be scared as long as Adam was in the room.

  She bit her lip as she latched the schoolhouse door and then tied on her bonnet. She knew what was coming, and Adam, with his shining eyes, did too. Had she made a mistake in allowing this? Would he only hurt her again?

  “I’ve never been so happy to see someone fail.” He stepped forward and took her hand firmly in his. There was a pause, both of them waiting for a cosmic disaster to result from their shocking behavior, but when it was clear that the earth would continue spinning, he winked at her, and they started out through town.