Nick nodded, not wanting to think about that particular day. He had never expected to fall victim to one of Freddy’s jokes.
“I know, I know, you like her. But how useful is she here? The kids don’t need to know fancy city manners. They just need to know how to survive on a ranch.”
“I know that you think this is all silly, but she’s here now. Can’t you just give her a chance?”
Nick stood and turned to go. “I’m going to keep an eye on her. Hopefully, she’ll be more help than trouble.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Nick,” Ginger called after him.
Nick rose his hand in goodbye as he walked briskly across the parlor and out the door. He nearly ran into Lana who, by the look on her face, he could see had heard nearly everything he’d said.
“Lana…I-” He wasn’t sure what he was going to say. He didn’t want to apologize; he believed every word he had said. But he didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence anyway.
“No, it’s fine. I know you think that I’m just a city fool who’s here to make trouble but I’m not. I’m here for Ginger and to help her children as much as I can. Hopefully, you’ll see that. And if you can’t that is your loss, not mine.”
Lana turned on her heel and stalked back to the big basin of clothes she had been washing. Nick watched her go, his eyebrows raised in a bit of admiration as he did so. He hadn’t expected her to stand up to him that way.
But that didn’t really change things. He didn’t need her here caring for Ginger. He needed to think of a way to get rid of her, to make her sure she wanted to go back to the city. The question was, what was the best way to do that?
If Ginger was right and she proved to be more help then trouble, maybe he would reconsider, but he was thinking that wouldn’t be the case. If anyone were to take care of Ginger besides him, it should be a trusted friend of the family who was capable and knew about things of the west. Not some wisp of a woman from the city who knew nothing about practical living or hard work in the rough land of the west.
Life in the west was tough. There was little room for mistakes or thinking that you had it under control. He was certain that someone like Lana couldn’t take the pressures of frontier living.
He was fairly positive she’d never even done the things that a woman had to do every day here, such as gathering eggs, milking the cows or taking care of the kitchen garden. They were all things that she could learn but she would have to be more determined to stay than worried about her pride or her comfort.
Nick had his fair share of experience with city women. He had even been a city boy before. He knew that frontier work wasn’t easy for them, and Lana would soon see that living here was not nearly as easy as she might think.
Someone like Lana belonged in the city. She was not the type that he saw struggling to make a living for herself in the west. But only time would tell what Lana’s true colors were and what she was made of. And when time did tell, Nick would be there watching.
He knew that his sister had good intentions, and maybe even Lana had good intentions, but she was still a stranger to him and he couldn’t really trust her until he got to know her a little bit more.
Not that he was interested in getting to know her. It would be easier for everyone involved if she just went back home where she belonged.
Chapter 11
After much scrubbing and toiling, Lana had finished all of the children’s bed clothing and clothes in time for them to dry the day before.
Now that her meeting with Nick was out of the way, she was more determined than ever to prove him wrong. She would be lying if she said that overhearing his conversation with Ginger hadn’t hurt. It had certainly hurt to know he just thought she was one of those prissy city girls. But she wasn’t about to let her feelings stop her from moving on.
She couldn’t really blame him. Many of the girls from the city were that type… the type that couldn’t be bothered to wash their own laundry or even to make their own beds. Lana had grown up in the city but her mother had taught her to pull her own weight in the household and although her parents had been well off enough to hire a maid, they had decided that having someone else do all of their work would just weaken them. So she had learned how to work hard.
She knew what everyone who saw her was thinking. They had already made up their minds about her and they barely even knew her. She wasn’t about to let that stand. She was going to build a reputation for herself in this town until everyone knew what she was made of.
She was going to do what she’d come here to do; help Ginger. Whatever Nick thought of her did not matter in the least anyway.
She went to the kitchen where she had a large pot of water boiling. She mixed the boiling water with some buckets of cold water to make the water the perfect temperature for scrubbing.
After sweeping out the room and moving the furniture, she brought in a chair from the kitchen and started at the top of the walls, scrubbing her way down. It took several hours and lunchtime was nearing, but Lana was almost done.
Once she’d finished the walls, she pulled the smaller furniture she had moved back to its places and then began on the floor. Overall, it didn’t take nearly as long as she had expected.
She stood at the doorway and surveyed her work happily. She loved the fresh smell and the tidy, clean look that the room now sported. Her break now over, she went into the parlor where she had left all the clean clothes folded and ready to be put back.
It didn’t take her long to make the beds and put all of the children’s clothes into the wooden chest that they were kept in.
There was something about cleaning that made her feel calm and in control. It seemed that there was no shortage of things that needed a spiff so she was fairly certain that she would be able to stay occupied for as long as she needed to.
She gave the room one more quick look and once she was satisfied that nothing more could be improved, she went outside and got the children. She was careful not to fall for any tricks this time and used the most authoritative voice she could muster, hoping to avoid any troubles today.
She then took the children into the kitchen and sat them down at the table.
“Where’s the food?” Freddy asked, peeking under the tablecloth.
“It’s cooking. I actually brought the two of you in here for something else.” Ginger pulled out a small pad of paper and a charcoal pencil that she’d brought with her from the city. “Today, we are going to start learning how to read and write.”
“Really?” For the first time since Lana had arrived, Lydia looked interested in what she was doing. “You mean we’ll be able to read books like the kids in town?”
Lana grinned at her tone, “Yes, you will be able to read even better than them if you practice. But it takes lots of hard work and patience. Do you think you can do that?”
Lydia looked a little unsure but nodded anyway. Freddy, on the other hand, looked as if this was the last thing he wanted to be doing. He slumped down in his chair as if he had just melted from too much heat.
“Aww. Can’t we go look for frogs by the creek?” he asked. “Will that help us read?”
Lana couldn’t help but chuckle at his request. “No, Freddy. Finding frogs will not help us read, but I will make you a deal. If you learn how to read the alphabet, I will go with you to the creek and look for some frogs, okay?”
Freddy seemed to weigh this in his mind for a moment before nodding enthusiastically. “That sounds like fun.”
Lana nodded as well but didn’t feel as if it would be very fun. In fact, from what she knew about a creek, she knew that it was indeed going to be the opposite of fun. But she was willing to sacrifice her own comfort to help these children reach their potential.
“So, let’s start.”
Lana drew in large letters on the paper. Soon she’d written down the first five letters of the alphabet. She was so engulfed in her work that she didn’t even notice Nick had come into the cabin until he spoke over her shoulder.
“You’re teaching them to read, huh?” He sounded skeptical, even disapproving. Lana hoped that he wouldn’t voice his disapproval to the children because she was fairly certain that with the power he held over them, it would undo any progress they had made so far.
“I am. It will be very useful to them in the future.” She gave him a pointed, warning look.
Nick nodded but as he walked off, Lana could hear him grumbling something about never needing to read all that much himself.
Lana stashed that bit of information away. She needed to have a conversation with him sooner rather than later and make sure they were all on the same page.
“Okay, let’s repeat these together,” Lana turned back to her teaching and was delighted when both Freddy and Lydia got the letters right.
---*---
Lana looked up from the pile of clean dishes on the counter to see Nick out on the porch. His silhouette stood out in the moonlight and just from that she could tell that he was uncomfortable.
It was something that Lana had been able to do from very young; read how people were feeling. Her mother used to say that she would make a good detective if she was a boy because she was so good at telling if people were lying.
Lana smiled at the thought. Her parents had been horrified at the thought that she wanted to play the piano as a profession. They would have had a heart attack if she had decided to become the first woman detective.
Lana had heard of women outlaws and she had heard that some women even wanted to be deputies. But it was so frowned upon that it would be an impossible road to travel. She knew that she would never have had the strength to go up against everyone and achieve that.
Lana dried her hands on her apron and moved across the cabin to talk to Nick. The children were in bed and Ginger was resting, reading a book. It was the perfect time for her to discuss the children's education and get some support from Nick.
“Are you busy?” Lana asked as she approached him. He was leaning up against the railing of the porch, his elbows holding his weight as he stared up at the moon.
“I don’t look busy, do I?” Lana could hear the laughter in his voice. Maybe Nick was in a good mood tonight.
“I wanted to talk to you,” Lana ventured, clutching her hands together underneath her apron. Now that she was standing close to him she was losing her nerve.
“What about? Do you need help getting back to the city already?” His voice was joking but Lana knew that if that was what she had to talk about he wouldn’t waste a minute in helping her.
“No, actually, I wanted to talk to you about the children. You didn’t seem too happy earlier when they were learning to read.”
Nick shrugged. “I don’t think it’s bad or anything. I went to school myself. I just don’t think it’s all that necessary. Lydia will grow up to be a wife and a mother, she won’t need schooling. And Freddy, he’ll be a rancher. Us ranchers need a bit of math and to be able to read our names and that’s about it.”
Lana shook her head, “That is so unfair. You don’t know that Lydia will become a wife or a mother. What if she became a doctor?”
“A doctor? A woman doctor? Do you know what you're saying? I’ve heard of this stuff, but it doesn’t mean that small-town folk like Lydia will ever participate in it.”
Lana shrugged, bristling a bit. “Maybe Lydia will decide for herself what she wants to be.”
“Where do you read this stuff? Your school books? Books don’t know everything you know. Lydia is going to be a rancher’s wife or someone’s wife. That’s just how it is.”
Lana bit her lower lip. She hadn’t come out here to start an argument and now she needed the quickest way out of one.
“Do a lot of accidents happen up here?” It had been a question that had bothered Lana since she had arrived. She had even felt nervous at the thought of riding a wagon, one of the reasons that she’d chosen to walk to Ginger’s ranch despite the distance.
“No, hardly any really. Mostly just green folks from the city who have no idea what they are doing get in accidents.” Nick’s voice was sad and far away.
“Oh, so Daniel wasn’t used to using a wagon then?”
Nick turned to face her, a troubled look on his face. “No, Daniel was one of the best at everything having to do with wagons, horses, and everything ranch related. Why would you ask that?”
“Just curious. I mean, I figured that he was not good at it because of what you said…”
“I meant other people,” Nick cut her off, “I never meant Daniel. His accident didn’t even make sense.”
Lana took a step further, “What do you mean it didn’t make sense?”
“Nothing, no concern of yours. I should actually get going.” Nick pushed away from the railing briskly, nearly knocking into Lana.
“Thank you for dinner,” he said as he brushed past her.
Lana nodded, too dumbfounded to do anything else. She watched as Nick mounted his horse and rode off into the night without even saying goodnight to his sister.
Had she said something wrong? What was going on with Nick? Also, there seemed to be something strange about Daniel’s accident that he didn’t want to talk about.
Nick had acted so strangely about it, Lana had never experienced anything like it. She watched until Nick disappeared into the night.
She may not agree with his views or understand why he had something against her, but she did respect him and the love he had for his family. She only hoped that she could prove to him that her being here would be a help and not a hindrance.
Chapter 12
On the ride home, Nick had plenty of time to think. His feelings were confused over what he thought about Lana. One thing was for certain; she had asked about Daniel’s death and he was beginning to think that was a topic best left alone.
He didn’t need Lana poking around and making things more difficult for him. He didn’t need her to help him take care of Ginger, and he certainly didn’t think it was necessary for her to try and change who Lydia and Freddy were.
When he arrived back at his ranch, he hopped off his horse and led the animal into the barn. He took his time brushing the horse down and leaving it water.
“There you go boy, I’ll see you in the morning.” Nick gave him a final pat and then headed into the cabin.
“You’re back!” Derek’s voice scared him and made him jump. His friend was sitting in the parlor with a cup of something between his hands and an amused look on his face.
“Derek, goodness you nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you still doing here? I thought you would have gone home by now.”
Derek nodded. “I did. I just came back because…well, I finished everything over there and I thought you might want to head into town to get some drinks at the saloon. But you weren’t here so I stuck around till you got back, which you are now.”
Nick nodded, amusement forming. He was never really surprised when Derek showed up. It seemed that his friend spent more time here with him than he did on his own homestead.
“So, how’s the friend of Ginger’s?” he inquired curiously.
Nick shrugged and headed into the kitchen. He needed a cup of coffee.
“No opinion whatsoever? That’s not like you.” Derek took a look gulp of what Nick was assuming was coffee with a bit of whiskey added in.
“I have plenty of opinions but I’m not sure any of them matter to my sister.”
“What’s the big deal anyway? I mean, if your sister likes her, shouldn’t you?”
An Encounter of Courageous Hearts: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 9
