The School Mistress (Emerson Pass Book 1)

by Tess Thompson

  I set her on her feet and knelt on my knees to help her out of her coat and hat. “I’m proud to hear this good report.”

  Miss Cooper, next to me, unbuttoned her coat and handed it to Jasper, who hung it in the closet.

  “It was hard to stay still so long.” Cymbeline yawned and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands in the way that always made me want to hold her close to my chest.

  “You did quite well,” Miss Cooper said.

  Cymbeline beamed. “Miss Cooper said we have to be curious and kind and to take care of our team.”

  “And did you?” I asked, tweaking her nose.

  Cymbeline tugged off her hat. Her curls, happy to be free of their imprisonment, immediately fell over her forehead. “I tried to give someone my sandwich, but Jojo said no.”

  I looked up at Miss Cooper for an explanation.

  “Louisa Kellam came to school without a lunch,” she said. “The children took it upon themselves to share theirs.”

  “But not me,” Cymbeline said. “Jojo said I was too little and that I needed all my sandwich.”

  “Your sister was right to give hers instead,” I said, knowing Josephine’s heart. She would not want her little sister to be hungry.

  “Josephine might need an extra portion at supper tonight,” Miss Cooper said as she took out the pins that secured her hat.

  Fiona came running into the foyer, calling out her sister’s name as if she’d been parted from her for years instead of hours. She threw herself into Cymbeline’s arms. “I missed you.”

  Cymbeline returned the affectionate hug. “Were you bored without me?”

  “No. Lizzie let me help her in the kitchen,” Fiona said. “We made bread and I got to help churn the butter.”

  “Lizzie has tea for you in the kitchen,” Jasper said. “She made her special raspberry biscuits.”

  “I love those ones,” Cymbeline said.

  “Didn’t you say that about the oatmeal ones?” I asked.

  “Those too,” Cymbeline said.

  I watched as Fiona and Cymbeline clasped hands and walked toward the door that led down to the kitchen, chattering away about their day. Jasper gestured toward the library. “I’ve set tea for you and Miss Cooper in the library.”

  Miss Cooper’s eyes widened, obviously delighted. “I’m allowed tea?”

  “We all have tea in this house, Miss Cooper,” Jasper said, then sniffed.

  “Right, of course,” Miss Cooper said.

  I smiled over at Miss Cooper, hoping to distract her from Jasper’s rudeness. “Would you join me?”

  “I can’t think of anything I’d like more at the moment than one of those raspberry cookies.”

  “I can assure you—they do not disappoint.”

  Our eyes locked and we grinned at each other, like children.

  Jasper cleared his throat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him examine his cuff links.

  We walked out of the foyer and through the open doors of the library. A teapot and plates of biscuits and tiny sandwiches waited on the table. Miss Cooper and I took seats opposite each other. Jasper poured tea and then backed away to stand near the doorway. Given my choice of a small staff and Jasper’s unwillingness to let go of the past, he was butler, valet, and footman. Unless I specifically asked him to leave, he would stand in wait.

  Knowing Jasper would die rather than leave us alone unsupervised, I didn’t bother to dismiss him. I wished we could be alone, but my loyal staff saved me from my foibles.

  “Tell me about your day,” I said. “Were the children what you expected?”

  “They were as varied in skills and temperaments as I feared they would be,” she said. “I’ve had to group them by abilities rather than age. They all seemed willing to learn and follow the rules. All in all, it was a most satisfying first day.” She leaned over the table to put a few sandwiches and a biscuit on her plate. As she had the other time I’d seen her eat, she dived into the meal with gusto and appreciation.

  After her third sandwich, Miss Cooper began to chatter away about her students. I learned more than I wanted to. Louisa Kellam was coming to school without her father’s permission or knowledge. I knew Kellam. He was a drunk who did odd jobs around town when he wasn’t at the saloon playing cards and drinking. How he kept the poor girl alive was anyone’s guess. They lived on my property in an abandoned shack. I looked the other way, even though he didn’t pay rent, because of the child.

  “I’m worried what will happen if he finds out,” Miss Cooper said. “Is he dangerous? Will he hurt her?”

  I shared my opinion of John Kellam. Miss Cooper didn’t bat an eyelash.

  “I thought as such,” she said. “I’ll have to think about what to do. Louisa didn’t want me to talk to her father, but it may come to that.”

  “If anyone talks to him, it will be me. You’re not to go to his place alone.”

  She waved away my concern with a flutter of her slender hand. “We’ll worry about that if it comes.”

  “Miss Cooper, I realize you’re an independent woman, but there are certain situations out here in the West that require a man’s help. Preferably a man with a gun.”

  She raised one eyebrow and popped another cookie in her mouth.

  I let it go for now. Miss Cooper’s courage both captivated and disarmed me.

  According to Miss Cooper, the Johnson girls were smart and a delight. “In fact, they might be a great help to me with the night school students. I could pair them with the women students. If we have any, that is.”

  She went on to tell me about the Cassidy children—quiet and shy but excited for school. This was good to hear. Mr. and Mrs. Cassidy were good, hardworking immigrants from Ireland. Mr. Cassidy, along with a dozen others, had volunteered his time to help construct the school last summer.

  “The two little boys from Sweden, Isak and Viktor, speak almost no English,” she said. “They’ll be challenging, but nothing we can’t conquer.”

  “Their father owns the tailor shop,” I said. “Good people.”

  Miss Cooper clapped her hands and smiled. Her small white teeth were in such a perfect row in that pink mouth. “I have saved the best for last. You’ll never guess. Poppy can read English. And guess who taught her?” She paused dramatically, her eyes sparkling. “Josephine. They did it on the sly.”

  “She did? But why hide it?” I asked.

  “She doesn’t want Harley to feel bad.”

  “How sweet,” I said.

  “As is your Josephine. I’ve never heard of such a thing. There’s something in the mountain air, Lord Barnes. These are the dearest children I’ve ever met.” She glanced at the ceiling. “I’m blessed to be here. Truly.” She looked back at me. “Which brings me to the next subject.”

  The sound of stomping feet and laughter interrupted us as the children came into the foyer from outside. Merry’s voice came next, instructing them to take off their wet coats and boots before they destroyed the floors and caught their deaths.

  All five tumbled into the library, looking like the picture of health with red cheeks and noses. “Hello, Papa and Miss Cooper.” I swear Jo exchanged a conspiratorial glance with Theo before coming over to kiss me on the cheek.

  The boys ran to the fire, warming their hands.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked. “Miss Cooper’s told me of your generosity toward Louisa.”

  “My insides are eating themselves.” Flynn clutched his stomach.

  “I doubt that. Regardless, Lizzie has tea for you downstairs,” I said. “Go on now.”

  After the children left, Miss Cooper returned her attention to me. “I have an idea. I’d like to take the place as your nanny while I’m here at the house as a way to thank you for allowing me to stay here. I’m quite capable of looking after children.”

  “I’m sorry, no. It’s too much.”

  “It’s no trouble. You have to have someone. Merry and Lizzie are obviously busy with their own work.”

 
; I considered her offer. As much as I disliked the idea, I was rather desperate. “Just until I can find someone else. And I’ll increase your pay. It will give you more to send home.”

  “Wonderful.” She held out her hand. “You have a deal.”

  I wanted to bring that porcelain hand to my mouth, but I settled for a handshake instead.

  Chapter 13

  Quinn

  That night while the children and Lord Barnes ate upstairs in the dining room, I huddled with Lizzie and Merry at the square table in the kitchen. We’d already eaten the most delectable chicken potpie and were now drinking mugs of coffee mixed with thick cream and sugar. I’d never been in a more modern kitchen. They had a boiler and gas range and the largest sink I’d ever seen. Black-and-white-checkered flooring shone under the lights.

  “I have to ask. What happened to the children’s mother?” I asked, leaning forward conspiratorially.

  Lizzie spoke just above a whisper. “She just walked out into the snow in the middle of the night wearing nothing but her nightdress and curled up and froze to death.”

  “Theo found her,” Merry said, tears welling in her eyes.

  “He was only six,” Lizzie said.

  “He’s never been the same,” Merry said.

  “How awful.” His sweet little face swam before me.

  “She’d always been strange,” Lizzie said. “When he brought her here from back east, we had no warning until a few days before they showed up. The Lord and Jasper had gone east for business. One day we got a letter from Jasper that Lord Barnes had married and was bringing his bride home. He was always the spontaneous sort, so we weren’t terribly surprised. He makes decisions from his heart, not his head. That’s what brought him to America in the first place—this desire for adventure and freedom. He couldn’t stomach the idea of doing what his father and father before him had done. He wanted to make his own way. It’s highly unusual to give up his rightful inheritance to a younger brother.”

  “Did you know him then?” I asked.

  “Oh yes. Jasper and I worked for the family in England. His family have employed both our families for as long as anyone can remember. He sent for me after the house was built, but Jasper had been with him since he left.”

  “Were you homesick?” I asked.

  “Terrible at first,” Lizzie said. “I missed my mum and sister. We all worked together in the big kitchen back home. But Jasper was here, so I wanted to be where he was.” She flushed and glanced at Merry. “Oh dear.”

  Merry leaned closer. “Lizzie loves Jasper.”

  “Always have,” Lizzie said. “Since we were in knickers.”

  “But he doesn’t want to marry,” Merry said. “He’s old-fashioned and doesn’t think he could be married and still be the butler and valet to Lord Barnes.”

  I nodded. These class distinctions were lost on Americans, but I knew they were very real for our friends overseas.

  “At least this way I can be in the same house with him,” Lizzie said.

  How awful it must be for her to want what she could never have. Would the same thing happen to me if I stayed too long in this house? I’d want to be Lord Barnes’s wife and the children’s mother. None of whom belonged to me.

  “Never mind all that,” Lizzie said, obviously wanting to change the subject. “Lady Ida was strange from the start—mood swings and a terrible temper. For weeks she’d be in bed and then up for days at a time, wandering the house. She wanted nothing to do with the children. That’s why they’re so close to their father. He was mother and father to them. Jasper wanted him to hire more servants, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He resented being raised by a team of governesses when he was a child. Children saw their parents only a few minutes each day. He swore to all of us that it would not be that way in his house. His American house.”

  “Which would’ve been fine except for her,” Merry said.

  “Then she had Fiona and went completely mad,” Lizzie said. “The lord found her with a knife over the baby.”

  I gasped. “No.”

  “Yes. He saved the wee one just in time.” Lizzie’s eyes reddened. “When I think of our little Fiona and what might’ve happened…” She fanned her eyes with one hand. “May God save her soul. I’m not sure any of us will ever forget that awful night.”

  “The nanny had to lock herself and the children in the nursery,” Lizzie said. “She was so frightened she left the next day for Chicago.”

  “It’s been one nanny after the other since then,” Merry said.

  “We’re sure the children conspire together to run them off,” Lizzie said. “They put a frog in the bed of the one we had before Nanny Foster.”

  “They never confessed,” Merry said. “But Lizzie and I are certain it was Flynn’s idea.”

  Lizzie shook her head. “That poor woman. I heard her scream from all the way down in my room off the kitchen here. Lord Barnes took away their books for a week.”

  They went on to tell me all of the previous antics the children had pulled to get rid of the caregivers, including making ghostlike noises outside her bedroom, hiding shoes, adding vinegar to cups of tea.

  “The worst was vodka in lemonade,” Lizzie said. “Nanny Miller was drunk as could be in the middle of the afternoon and fell into the creek.”

  “She came back looking like a drowned cat,” Merry said. “An angry cat, sputtering and crying.”

  “Why don’t they want a nanny?” I asked. “Because of rules and such?”

  Lizzie and Merry looked at each other before she answered. “They don’t want intruders. People who aren’t part of the family.”

  “And they see you two as family?” I asked.

  “That’s right. And Harley and Poppy,” Merry said.

  “Because of their mum,” Lizzie said. “They don’t want to love someone they think might leave them. So they make them leave first.”

  This theory made perfect sense. “I may as well tell you,” I said. “Lord Barnes and I have come to an agreement. Since it’s been so hard to find someone, I’m going to take care of the children until spring.”

  Merry squeezed my hand. “That’s awfully kind of you.”

  “Only until he can find someone appropriate,” I said. “However, now I’m wondering if my offer was ill-advised.”

  “Bless you,” Lizzie said. “You’re just what the children need.”

  “I do hope they won’t put a frog in my bed,” I said.

  “Just pull back the covers before you get in at night.” Merry grimaced. “That was Nanny Shelby’s mistake.”

  Chapter 14

  Alexander

  The children and I dined on Lizzie’s chicken potpie filled with soft chunks of carrots, potatoes, sweet onions. Miss Cooper had agreed to stay downstairs with Lizzie and Merry for the meal, giving me time to talk to the children alone. They all ate with great appetites. They’d had a big day.

  “I have something to tell you,” I said.

  “Is someone else dead?” Flynn asked.

  “What? No. Flynn, what would make you say such a thing?”

  “You always start out like that when you have bad news,” Flynn said.

  “This isn’t bad news,” I said. “In fact, I hope you’ll find it good. As you know, we’ve had a hard time keeping a nanny. You’re a rambunctious brood, and this remote place we live in is not for everyone. I suspect, also, that you purposely ran off the last few. And you were terrible to Nanny—” For heaven’s sake, I’d already forgotten her name. “The one who left this morning. You know who I mean.”

  Other than Fiona, no one looked at me. Josephine buttered an additional piece of bread for Fiona. Theo pushed a piece of onion around his plate. Cymbeline stabbed a bit of chicken and held it close to her face, as if examining for mold. Flynn guzzled milk.

  “I need someone to look after you,” I said.

  Theo lifted his head to gaze in my direction. “We have Lizzie and Merry,” he said with an unusual amount of firmn
ess in his tone. “They’re enough.”

  “And they love us.” Flynn set down his empty milk glass. “Unlike these other people you keep bringing here.”

  “Lizzie and Merry have too much other work to add you to their burden,” I said.

  “Are we a burden?” Cymbeline’s bottom lip trembled.

  I waved my hand dismissively. “Not a burden, no. I simply mean that five children are a lot to look after all at once, and they already have too many responsibilities.”

  “I can take care of us,” Josephine mumbled.

  I ignored that for now.

  “Anyway, until I can get someone else, Miss Cooper has volunteered to help.”

  Cymbeline and Flynn frowned. Fiona sucked in her bottom lip. Josephine folded her arms over her chest. Theo slouched over his plate. I thought they liked Miss Cooper.

  “What is it?” I asked. “Don’t you like Miss Cooper?”

  “We like her very much,” Josephine said, finally. “But she cannot be our nanny.”

  “Temporary nanny,” I said. “And why not?”

  “Because she’s supposed to be your wife,” Flynn blurted out.

  I blinked. “What did you say?”

  “Papa, we prayed for her to come, and she finally did,” Josephine said.

  “She’s going to be our mama, not a nanny,” Cymbeline said. “We already decided.”

  I’m not one to lose my sense of direction or find myself without words. This time, however, I sat there utterly flabbergasted.

  “Isn’t that why you ordered her?” Theo asked.

  “Ordered her?” Had I heard him right?

  “Like Mr. Carter did,” Flynn said. “From the mail.”

  “Whatever would give you that idea?” I asked. “How do you know how Mr. Carter got his wife?”

  “Papa, everyone knows where these women come from,” Josephine said. “They just show up one day on the train with a sad little suitcase and suddenly they’re someone’s wife. We figured you were so clever that you found us a teacher and a new mother in the same person.”