Fae's Fantasy

by Dawson, Kay P.

  “So, I’m sure you haven’t come all the way out here just to say hello. Your husband said you had something you wanted to talk to me about?”

  “Mrs. Hammond, Caleb tells me there is a school on your property that used to be attended by the children from town. I was wondering if there would be any chance it could be reopened?”

  “Well, I don’t know, Fae. That building has just been sitting empty for close to five years now. All the books and other supplies inside were sold to the Pembrooke School when it shut down. I don’t even know how we would go about it.”

  “I tried to tell her that, Winnie, but she wanted to talk to you anyway.”

  Fae scowled at Caleb before looking back at Mrs. Hammond. “I’d really like to try, Mrs. Hammond. If you’ll allow me, I’d like to explain my plan to you and see what you think.”

  As she explained everything to the older woman, Fae could see her getting excited too. By the time she’d finished, Fae knew she’d found someone else who believed in the same principles as her. Her marriage might not be everything she’d expected when she came out west, but now it looked like at least she would have a purpose in Promise.

  Chapter 12

  They’d come after church and Caleb looked up at the run-down old building. It was still the same as it had been when he came to school here all those years ago, except for the fact it had started to fall into disrepair. Since it was sitting just outside town, the building had always been visible to everyone, but he hadn’t been up this close to it in years. He hadn’t realized just how bad it had gotten.

  Shutters hung from broken windows, and the tower that held the bell looked like it was about to topple over on top of them. If anyone tried to ring the bell, he was sure it would kill them.

  “Fae, I just don’t think this is possible. I know you’ve got it in your head to set some kind of school up out here but sometimes things just aren’t meant to be. The Pembrooke School services enough of the children that trying to bring another school into a town this size is crazy. Especially when the building you’re planning to use looks like it should be torn down.”

  “I’ve actually been meaning to do just that. There’s not much left inside, so I was going to start using the lumber to add space onto my barn.” Colt had come with them after church to show them the old schoolhouse.

  “We sometimes come here to play school.” Colt’s daughter, Delia, blushed as she looked up at her dad, probably hoping she wouldn’t get in trouble for admitting they’d been playing in the derelict building. Her twin brother, Owen, scowled at her for telling their secret.

  Caleb laughed at the stern look on Colt’s face. “You two are barely seven years old and you think coming out here to play in a building that isn’t safe was a good idea? We’ll discuss this when we get home.”

  Winnie came over and shooed the children toward the steps. “Now, Colt, don’t be getting angry with them. They are smart kids and they know not to touch anything that doesn’t look safe. Let’s get inside and see if Fae thinks we can salvage this old building.” Winnie’s grandchildren leaned into her skirts as she led everyone up the steps. There were a couple of stairs Caleb was afraid to put his full weight on, and he held tightly to Fae’s arm as he helped her to the top step.

  As soon as they got through the doors, Caleb looked at Colt and they both started to shake their heads and laugh. “It still smells the same as it always did.”

  “You know how many times I’ve been in the field around here and have never bothered to come inside? I didn’t really enjoy being here when I was a kid, so I guess I just couldn’t make myself come in if I didn’t have to.” He laughed again and walked up to the front. “Don’t you remember old Miss Fernly? She wore those glasses so far down her nose I was sure they’d fall off.”

  Caleb looked around the dilapidated room and gave an exaggerated shiver. “I don’t rightly remember much about what she looked like since I spent most of my time with my nose in that corner.” He pointed to the far corner where he’d stood most days.

  “I knew you two were terrible, always getting in trouble. But you were still good boys, even if your curiosity often got the best of you. Miss Fernly sent more than one note home with Colt.”

  “Ma, you really shouldn’t be saying such things in front of the children.” Colt ruffled his son’s hair who stood beside him with eyes wide, listening to the stories.

  “What do you think, Fae? You’ve been awful quiet since we stepped inside.”

  Caleb looked over at his wife who was slowly walking around the outside of the room, looking at everything. There were only a couple of old desks left inside which the Pembrooke School had said weren’t suitable for them, and a few old textbooks sat under a layer of dust on a shelf in the corner. The stove still stood in the middle of the room that heated the school during the winter months, and it likely was about the only thing that still looked salvageable.

  “I think it’s perfect. Just exactly what this town needs.” When she turned to smile at Winnie, Caleb sucked in his breath at the pure joy and excitement he could see in her eyes. He quickly glanced back around the room, trying to see what she was looking at that he might be missing. His eyes met Colt’s, who just shrugged in confusion.

  “If it’s all right with you, I’d like to get to work right away at cleaning everything up and getting things fixed. It will likely take a few weeks, but perhaps we could start our search for a teacher while we work at it. And then we could start school around the middle of summer before the boys need to be helping in the fields.”

  Caleb walked over to Fae and looked down at her. “Fae, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done here. I don’t know if it’s possible to do it at all, never mind in just a few weeks. I mean, there are windows to fix, the bell tower, you need desks, books, supplies…I just don’t think it can be done.”

  She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. “Just because you don’t think it can be done doesn’t mean I agree with you. Besides, it’s not like I don’t have the time. You’re busy with the mercantile and take off every night to play cards. I have nothing but time.” She walked away from him, and his cheeks burned with embarrassment when he noticed Colt smirking in his direction.

  They’d been married less than a week, and ever since the first night, he had made it a habit to leave in the evenings, so he didn’t have to face the feelings he knew he was starting to have for Fae. It just made sense to keep himself away from her, so he wouldn’t do anything foolish. He told her he was going to play cards, but the truth was, he just rode around on his horse in the dark trying to work out everything in his mind until a time he knew she’d have gone up to bed. But he wouldn’t tell her that. Even on their wedding night, he hadn’t been playing cards. He’d gone and sat on the edge of the creek outside of town where he’d always gone as a boy.

  He told himself the only reason he hadn’t actually been out playing cards like he’d told her was because Promise was such a small, family-oriented town. There wasn’t a saloon here anyway. The closest town with one was a good hour’s ride away.

  “Well, I assumed since we’re married, you’d be taking an active role in running the mercantile with me. How do you plan to fix things like those broken shutters? I suppose you learned how to use a hammer and nails in the orphanage?” He knew he was sounding surly, but he was annoyed that she would rather be out here fixing this old place up than being with him.

  He almost rolled his eyes as he thought about the fact he’d been the one trying to avoid spending too much time with her. Then when she did something that would keep her away, he was getting annoyed. No wonder the poor woman wanted to be as far away from him as she could get.

  “Oh, that’s not a problem at all. Colt here is almost done planting the crops for the year so I’m sure he’d have plenty of time to help out with anything like that, wouldn’t you, Colt?” Winnie smiled up at her son.

  Colt was grinning at him now as Caleb glared in his direction. “Of cour
se. I can help out any way I can, although I can’t promise miracles. There’s a lot that needs to be done in here.”

  “But, Pa! If we fix this school up, me and Owen could stop going to that awful school in town! We could come here, just like you did when you were a boy.” Delia clapped her hands and jumped up and down with excitement. “So would you be our teacher, Mrs. Bailey?”

  Fae smiled down at the girl as she ran over to her. “No, I’m afraid the only thing I was much good at teaching in my school in New York was sewing. We’d have to find a teacher to come out here, but with the funding from Madam Wigg, I’m sure that won’t be a problem. We can have a town meeting and set up a school board to get things started right away.”

  Caleb glanced around the room one more time, slowly shaking his head. There was no way this school was ever going to be fixed up enough to be used again, no matter how much Fae might want it to happen. But when he saw the excitement in her eyes, he also noticed a flicker of something else. His wife was determined and stubborn, so if anyone could pull it off, he had a feeling it would be her.

  “I’ll put up a notice in the store. I guess if we can get enough people on board, we can see what we can do.”

  Fae turned and smiled widely at him, causing his chest to clench.

  “And I guess Colt and I can handle any of the other work that needs doing, if you and Winnie can manage cleaning things up a bit.”

  This time, she rushed over and threw her arms around his shoulders. “Thank you, Caleb. I know you’re busy at the store but if you can help even a little, it will get us that much closer.”

  His cheeks burned once more as he looked at Colt. But he didn’t even care that his friend was standing there smirking at him. As his own arms wrapped around Fae’s waist, he breathed in the lavender scent in her hair. All he could think about was how at this moment, he would do anything his wife asked of him if it meant he could hold her in his arms like this.

  Chapter 13

  The last few days had flown by as she’d spent every afternoon out at the school trying to get things cleaned up. It was proving to be a much bigger job than she’d thought, but she would never admit that to anyone. She was tired, and she knew poor Winnie must be too. Every day after the store closed, Caleb would drive out and help Colt fix shutters, steps, and anything else that needed repair.

  Owen and Delia helped too, so excited that they soon might not have to go to that school with the “mean Mrs. Pembrooke.” Fae was thankful to have them there to cheer her up whenever she started to feel like she would never be able to finish the job.

  Tomorrow night was the town meeting and she knew there were going to be objections from the Pembrooke’s and other families who only wanted the private school in town. Fae was still new in town, so she knew she was going to be in for an uphill battle.

  Now, as she sat on the chair at the front of the mercantile with just the light from a lantern beside her, Fae set her sewing on her lap and looked around the small town. It was exactly how she’d dreamed it would be when she’d first answered that ad from Caleb. She remembered sitting in her room at the orphanage and seeing the name Promise for the first time. She’d believed it held all of the promise for her future.

  The dreams and fantasies she’d shared over the years, she’d been so sure someday she would have someone to spend her life with. A person who she would fall in love with and they’d love her back with all their heart. It all seemed so far in the past now. All she’d ever wanted was a family to call her own, but that dream was slipping away too.

  She and Caleb had seemed to fall into a comfortable relationship during the mornings when she worked at the store, then in the early evenings when he’d come help out at the school. But the nights were still hers to spend alone. They would eat a late supper after getting back to town, then he’d leave, never coming home until after she’d gone to bed. Every night she heard him walk down the hallway to the other bedroom and close the door behind him.

  She’d thrown herself completely into fixing the school up, hoping it would ease the aching in her heart, but with each passing day, she knew it wasn’t going away.

  She turned her head to the sound of footsteps coming up the street, prepared to offer a greeting to a neighbor. Instead, she was met with the hard stare of her husband who stood with his hands in his trouser pockets under the only street lamp next to the store.

  “I thought you’d be in bed by now.” He slowly walked over and leaned against the step’s railing.

  She looked down at her sewing, pretending she wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. Couldn’t a woman sit outside to enjoy a warm evening without being questioned about it?

  “It was a nice night and I have some sewing I wanted to catch up on. I’ve been so busy at the school and this is my way to relax. Don’t let me keep you up. You’re welcome to head on up to your own bed.”

  The croaking frogs sitting on the rocks by the creek chorused loudly in the silence that fell around them. A horse whinnied from the direction of the livery up the street. Finally, Caleb sighed loudly and moved up the steps to sit on the other chair. The wood creaked as he sat down and leaned back into it.

  “I don’t want you playing yourself out. It’s late and don’t forget tomorrow we have the town meeting.”

  She didn’t bother to look up at him and continued moving the needle slowly through the fabric. She was sewing a little dress for the doll that she’d noticed Delia carrying around with her.

  “I’m not sure that dress is going to fit you. You likely should have used a bit more fabric.”

  This time she couldn’t ignore him, so she lifted her head and scowled at him. “This isn’t for me, and you know it. It’s for Delia’s doll.” She looked back down, ignoring the smirk on his face over his feeble attempt at humor. “Besides, I hardly think I need to be taking any sewing advice from you. I’ve been sewing since I was able to stand on my own two feet.”

  They sat in an uncomfortable silence again for a while, listening to the sounds of the night on the prairie. It was such a peaceful feeling and nothing at all what night in New York sounded like. There were always people shouting outside the windows, carriages going past, and horses’ hooves pounding on the ground on the other side of her windows at the orphanage.

  “You’ve never really told me much about yourself, Fae. I know you came from an orphanage in New York, but not much else about you.”

  She lifted her eyes warily to his. Why was he suddenly so interested? If she hadn’t been sitting out here when he snuck home, he’d have gone straight up to his bedroom without a word, just like every other night. So she figured he probably just thought he should make conversation since he’d been caught.

  “Well, you never really asked. It’s not like we sit around talking much since we’ve been married.”

  He leaned forward and set his elbows onto his knees, keeping his eyes down on the ground. “No, I guess not. It’s been pretty busy.”

  She wasn’t in the mood to argue, so she just ignored that comment. They’d been busy, but they both knew every night they could have been alone together, getting to know more about each other, but he was gone.

  “What would you like to know? There’s not much about me to share. I was left on the steps of the orphanage when I was just a baby, so I’ve never known who my parents or family are. The only family I had growing up was Madam Wigg and the other children in the school. I was always more interested in sewing than I was in learning, and that’s what I put my focus into.” She gave a little laugh as she continued moving the needle through the fabric. “It’s funny, but I’d always dreamed that someday I would be a clothing designer. I used to sew dresses for the other girls at the school just using scraps we could find and piecing together fabric from old ones.”

  She looked up at him and swallowed when their eyes met. He was listening intently, his gaze not wavering. “I worked on my wedding dress for weeks before I came out. I’d been working on dresses for some of the o
ther girls too, only getting time after everyone had gone to bed to do anything with my own.”

  “And I didn’t even take any time to notice it.”

  She shrugged, trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal.

  “Maybe you can still be a dress designer. You have the perfect place to offer a service to people in the community from the mercantile. It might not be as big of a job as you could have in a city somewhere but there’s no reason you couldn’t enjoy doing it for now anyway. Someday you might have enough money that you could go anywhere you want to fulfill your dream.”

  She brought her eyebrows together in confusion. “Are you planning to move somewhere else? Because, in case you’ve forgotten, we’re married so unless you’re going to sell the mercantile and move, I won’t be going either.”

  Before he could look back down to the ground, she was sure she noticed sadness in his eyes. Why did she suddenly feel like he wasn’t telling her everything? She almost felt like he was saying goodbye.

  “Caleb, I don’t know why you put an ad in that magazine for a wife, or why you even bothered to correspond with me. But the fact is, now that we’re married, we’re going to have to find a way to build at least some kind of relationship. I know I might not be as desirable as you’d been hoping for, but I could at least give you a good home if you’d let me.”

  Suddenly, she found her voice choking as a sob tried to break through. “I grew up with no parents and no family of my own, until now. I finally have someone who is truly my family, yet I’ve never felt more alone in my life.”

  She was embarrassed for letting all of her thoughts come tumbling out like that. His head slowly lifted, and she held her breath as he stood up and walked over to her. He crouched down in front of her and took a hand in his. His other hand went up to cup her cheek, wiping a tear away with his thumb.