“Ben Connealy is looking for help with lumber,” Isaac spoke up. “He cuts it up and delivers it. I can vouch for the Connealy family. They’re a good bunch of people.”
Her smile faltered. Did that mean he wanted to court Eva? Maybe he suggested a courtship with her yesterday when she came over to his place for supper. Pain pricked her heart. She didn’t know what she’d do if that was the case. Sure, she could find someone else, but who would be as good as Isaac?
“I can introduce you, if you’d like,” Isaac offered.
“That’s alright,” she replied, hoping they didn’t detect the worry in her voice. “I’d rather not work with lumber. I’ll figure something out. You gents don’t need to help me out, though I appreciate it. What I’d like to ask is about hunting. I haven’t been out to hunt in a while. I sure do miss it.” Her gaze traveled from one man to the other. Would they take the bait?
“Why don’t you join us?” Wiley asked.
“I don’t want to impose,” she replied, hoping her bluff wouldn’t backfire. “I mean, we don’t even know each other, and I barged in and asked where the post office was while you all were talking.”
“That’s no reason to say no,” Wiley said with a wave of his hand. “You’re a stranger here. How else are you going to meet anyone if you don’t say hi? It’d be fun to have you come along, especially if you enjoy hunting.”
She nodded. “Oh, I do! I miss it. When I was younger, I’d hunt maybe once a month. I can’t remember the last time I did it, though.”
“That’s an even better reason to join us,” Isaac said. “We usually meet up at Wiley’s place because he’s halfway between where Clayton and I live. I could take you on out there if you live here in town.”
Forcing back the urge to cheer, she gave what she hoped was a cordial smile. “It’s right nice of you to do that for a stranger. I accept.”
“We’ll be hunting on Saturday.” Isaac paused for a moment before asking, “Where do you live?”
“At the moment, I live a little outside of town. Why don’t I meet you somewhere convenient? Maybe the mercantile?”
“I’ll meet you there at nine.”
“I’ll be there then.” Having secured the invite, she pulled out her pocket watch. “I better go. Thank you for your help.”
As she headed back to Alice’s house, she smiled in excitement. She did it! They believed she was a man! Now that the hard part was settled, she could find out why Isaac avoided her…and if he wanted to be with Eva. She grimaced. She hoped he didn’t. But she wouldn’t know if she didn’t ask.
Chapter Eight
The next day at school, Emily tried with all of her willpower to focus on Emma, but the words ended up blurring together until she felt her eyelids starting to droop. When her head nodded to the side, she bolted awake in her seat, accidently dropping the book on the floor.
A couple students looked over their shoulders to see what made the loud thud. Eva stopped teaching the younger ones at the front of the room to give her a smile. Emily hated the fact that she wanted to pull Eva’s hair out. Every time Eva snuck a glance in Isaac’s direction, she made it a point to give him one of those flirtatious smiles. Emily wasn’t used to vying for a man’s attention, and she didn’t care for the jealous streak that shot through her when she thought that Isaac might want to be with Eva instead of her.
Forcing the irritation aside, she dumped the book back on her desk and opened it up. What page had she been on again? She flipped through the book, hoping to find a familiar passage so she could gauge where she left off. After three failed attempts, she gritted her teeth. This never happened when she read a dime novel!
Drumming her fingers on the desk, she looked at Eva who was answering her brother’s question. Eva seemed unusually happy today. Not that she wasn’t annoyingly pleasant to her pupils on other days, but today she just seemed downright excited to be a teacher. Emily’s gaze went to Isaac who was reading a book, except his book probably wasn’t fiction.
With a sigh, she returned to her book and picked a page at random. It wouldn’t matter if she’d read past 100 or not. She was pretty sure it was somewhere around page 100. Forcing her gaze on the page in front of her, she read the words on it. Toward the end of the page, she realized she didn’t really read the words. Her thoughts kept going back and forth between Eva and Isaac.
She shut the book and put her face in her hands. What was the use? She couldn’t focus, and the hopeful glances Eva kept throwing in Isaac’s direction weren’t helping matters. How Emily hoped Isaac didn’t return Eva’s affections! The more she thought he might, the worse her stomachache became. Who would be worth marrying if she couldn’t have Isaac?
“Emily?”
At Eva’s voice, Emily’s head shot up. She jerked when she realized Eva stood by her side. Eva sure was a quiet thing when she walked!
“Are you feeling alright?” Eva asked, lowering her head so no one would overhear them.
I’d be alright if you left Isaac alone. Biting her tongue on the words that raced through her mind, a stiff smile crossed her face and she said, “I feel fine. I’m just tired, that’s all.” Inspired, she reached for her book and showed it to Eva. “I spent part of the night reading.”
“Emma! What a lovely book! I love Jane Austen’s work. You show wonderful judgment in literature. Is this the book you’ll write a report on?”
Emily tried not to show her horror. “You’re familiar with the book?”
“Oh yes. I’ve read it three times.”
Emily’s hopes plummeted. There was no way she could read this book now. Whenever she read a word, she’d think of Eva, and—what was worse—since Eva was familiar with the book, she’d probably know Emily couldn’t get through the whole thing. Now Emily had to find another book to trudge through. Didn’t Eva ever do anything besides read a book? If Eva would just spend more time living life than reading about it, Emily’s life would be much easier. With a glance at Isaac who was still reading, she amended her thoughts. No, her life would be easier if Eva didn’t read so much and wasn’t interested in Isaac.
“You won’t be sorry you picked this book,” Eva said in what Emily realized was meant to be an encouraging tone, as if she was helping a child with an assignment.
Emily hid her scowl. There were times when she wanted to remind Eva that she was older than her and deserved to be talked to as an equal.
Patting her shoulder, Eva added, “I’ll let you get back to Emma and Mr. Knightley.”
Who? “Oh!” Emily motioned to the book. “Right. The characters in the book.” At least she thought there was a Mr. Knightly in there somewhere. One of the characters made her think of the night sky, so it was probably him.
“I envy you. The thrill of reading the book for the first time and realizing who loved whom.” She clapped her hands together and sighed in satisfaction. “Isn’t love wonderful?”
At that, Emily blanched. There was no doubt about it. The supper at the Larsons went very well for Eva. As Eva strolled back to the front of the room, Emily gripped the book. Just because Eva had one good experience at the Larson household, it didn’t mean she was going to marry Isaac. She released her hold on the book, regretting the damage she’d done to it. Her mother wouldn’t be happy about it. Maybe she could buy her another copy to make up for it. That could be her excuse to go to town on Saturday morning. Taking small comfort in knowing she’d be talking to Isaac soon enough, she opened the book to page 100 and tried, once again, to read it.
***
Emily’s father pulled up to Alice’s residence and helped Emily down from the buggy. The warmer weather had melted the snow except for a couple of patches that dotted the grass on their way into town. It was the perfect day for hunting, and thankfully, her father hadn’t checked her bag or else he would have seen Elmer’s clothes and the gun she used when she was younger. Her mother had been more inquisitive as to the bag’s contents, so Emily said her maid of honor’s dress was in it and
that she was going to work on it at Alice’s. She wouldn’t have felt so guilty about the lie if her mother hadn’t looked so happy she was making her own dress. But Emily was working on it. She was just working on it in her room when she was supposed to be reading the boring book.
“I can’t help but notice you’re coming into town a lot more than usual,” her father said once her feet were on the ground.
“I want to see Alice, Pa.” She gathered the bag from the buggy and held it. “When she gets married, I don’t think she’ll have much time for me.”
With a sympathetic smile, he said, “She’s your friend, Emily. She’ll find time for you. You always find time for those you love.” After a moment, he added, “Soon enough, you’ll be the one getting ready for marriage. I see how the men look at you. It won’t be long.”
She refrained from telling him she didn’t want just any man but decided against it. “Thanks, Pa.”
With a nod, he headed back to his side of the buggy. “I’ll come by after supper to bring you home.”
Once he urged the horse forward, she turned and hurried to Alice’s front door. Today would be trickier since Alice’s parents were home. After Alice welcomed her into the house, they headed straight for her bedroom.
“Do you think your parents will believe we’ll be in here all day?” Emily asked.
Alice waved her hand and sat in the chair by her dresser. “They’re sick of hearing me talk about Ben. I think they’re relieved you’re here to listen to me so they don’t have to.”
Emily giggled and set her bag down. Pulling out her rifle, she said, “You don’t talk about him that much.”
“You’re not with me every day.”
“Even if I were, I don’t see how it’s possible for you to talk about him too much.”
“It seems that I’m not the only one who lies to make a friend feel better.”
Emily gave a playful shrug. “I hope I don’t have to dress up like Elmer again. The wig and mustache tickle at times, and I’m afraid I’ll get them out of place if I scratch my head or upper lip.”
“The things we women sacrifice for the men we love,” Alice mused.
“Oh, stop!” Emily chided with a grin. “What did you sacrifice? Ben was falling all over himself to court you.”
“Well, I do recall him being rather enthusiastic to spend time with me.”
“Enthusiastic? He came by in the summer to bring wood to your house.” Pulling out the vest, shirt and pants, she continued, “It’s a shame your folks left their farm to your brother and moved to town. We’d see each other much more, though I suppose it worked better for Ben since he lives in town.”
“Yes, he’s lucky because of that.” She stood up. “I’ll get something for us to eat before you sneak out of here.”
“Alice,” Emily said as her friend opened her door, “did I ever tell you that you’re the greatest friend anyone can have?”
Turning to face her, she said, “You might have, but don’t let that stop you from saying it again.” She winked and left the room, closing the door behind her so Emily could get dressed.
Once Emily changed clothes and put on the wig and mustache, Alice returned with a tray of food. After they ate, Alice talked to her parents long enough so Emily could sneak out through the back door.
By the time Emily made it to the mercantile, her heart was racing. She had a couple minutes to spare before Isaac was due to pick her up. The bookstore was only a couple of stores away. She wondered if she had enough time to find a copy of Emma. It would fit in the pocket of her long coat, but it was probably a bad idea to walk into a bookstore with a rifle. Deciding she’d get the book after she returned from hunting, she set the butt of the rifle on the boardwalk and leaned against the post in front of the mercantile. She flexed her hands, working out the kinks in her stiff gloves.
When she heard horses and a buckboard pull up, she intentionally held off on looking to see if it was Isaac’s in case she appeared too eager to see him. She was supposed to be Elmer, and since Elmer was a man, Elmer would have no real interest in Isaac beyond the thrill of the hunt. Feigning a disinterested glance at Isaac, she ignored her racing heart and picked up the rifle. Thankfully, she knew how to hold it, and her time helping her pa and watching the farmhands while she grew up gave her enough information on how to act like a man. Flinging the rifle over her shoulder, she sauntered over to the buckboard.
“You ready to hunt?” Isaac called out.
“Sure am,” she replied in a low voice as she got into the buggy. She set the gun down by her feet and spread her legs out and slumped forward as she’d often seen the farmhands do. Even though she didn’t consider herself a prude by any means, she had to fight the urge to cross her legs or press her knees together. Clearing her throat, she said, “We couldn’t ask for better weather.”
Isaac urged the horses forward. “That’s the truth.”
“So, what are we going to hunt?”
“Anything we want.”
“Do you have a contest to see who can catch the biggest animal?”
He laughed and shook his head. “We hunt to bring something back to our families. We don’t compete.”
“Really? What’s the fun of doing something if you don’t have a friendly competition?”
“That might work if we were doing it for pleasure.”
“Even if you’re having fun hunting, you can still compete. I’ve competed with friends and had a lot of fun with it.”
Shrugging, he directed the horses to the road that would take them out of town. She’d never gone anywhere alone with a man who wasn’t related to her, and it was both exhilarating and scandalous at the same time.
Unable to resist the urge to tease him, she asked, “You do have fun, don’t you?”
At that, he chuckled and glanced at her with blue eyes that made her heart melt. “Of course, I have fun. Everyone has fun doing something.”
“Alright. What is the something you have fun doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I haven’t thought about it.”
“So how do you know what’s fun and what’s not?”
“I just know.”
Amused, she asked, “How?”
“Fun is fun,” he said, grinning. “You don’t have to think about having fun. You just do.”
“I don’t believe you,” she teased. “I don’t think you have fun. I think you do things that are mildly entertaining, but you don’t have fun.”
As they passed the last house in the city limits, he asked, “What’s your definition of fun?”
She sensed he didn’t think she could answer the question, but little did he know, she could be quick on her feet when she needed to be. “Fun is when you lose track of everything else around you because you are so enraptured with what you’re doing, nothing else matters. You wish you could stay in the moment forever, but even when the moment passes, you’re still happy and can’t wait to do it again.”
“That’s not a bad definition.”
“Not bad? I’ll have you know it’s one of the finest definitions you’ll ever hear.” Scanning the open fields that took them further north, she added, “Besides, if you have to ask what fun is, then it’s apparent you’ve never had it. It’s good for you I came along when I did. Otherwise, you’d spend the rest of your life getting by with mildly amusing adventures.”
“If you say so.”
By the gleam in his eye, she knew he was having fun discussing it with her. In some ways, it reminded her of when they were children, before he started ignoring her. She wished she could ask him why he didn’t want to be her friend anymore, but she knew she couldn’t or else she’d give herself away. With a sigh, she examined the rolling hills in the distance.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Turning her attention back to him, she said, “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking.”
He nodded. She waited for him to ask her wh
at she was thinking about, but he stared straight ahead as the horses led them down the dirt path leading to the farms. Disappointed, she adjusted her hat and pushed aside the realization that the back of her wig made her neck itch.
“What are you going to try to get?” Isaac asked.
It took her a moment to understand he referred to hunting instead of what she was trying to get from him. Clearing her throat, she said, “I’m going to get the largest game I can find, hopefully something like a nice, big buck.”
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