by Regina Scott
“Allow me one more lesson before you take Scout home, Mr. Rankin,” she told him. “A history lesson, if you will. You see, where I come from in Massachusetts, education is compulsory.”
The gathering of his heavy brow told her he had no idea what the word meant. Rina tried again. “Going to school is required. By law.”
Mr. Rankin’s brow cleared. “Never heard of that law here.”
“It could be made at any time,” she assured him. “In fact, as the teacher for the Lake Union School, I recommend that attendance here be required. What do you say, Mr. Wallin? You are on the school board, are you not?”
James did his best to look serious, but she could see the telltale twinkle in his eyes. “I am indeed, Miss Fosgrave. And your suggestion seems very wise. There should be a law about attending school. And laws, as we all know, are enforced by the sheriff.”
He was playing along perfectly. Already she could see that Mr. Rankin had paled.
“Indeed,” Rina said, inclining her head. “One school I know has the deputy sheriff play truant officer. He goes to the home of any student who misses class and asks the parents about problems that might be preventing attendance.”
Mr. Rankin stilled. “Deputy McCormick? Out here on a regular basis?”
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Beth put in.
“I’m afraid it would be a terrible imposition,” Rina told her before facing her former tormentor once more. “Don’t you think his time would be better spent catching criminals, Mr. Rankin?”
Scout’s father tugged at his collar as if he were having trouble breathing. “Oh, certainly. No need to trouble him about a school.”
Rina smiled. “I’m glad to hear you say that. If every parent was as conscientious as you are, we wouldn’t need a truant officer. I know Scout is eager to attend.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Scout said, then he glanced at his father. “If I don’t have chores for Pa, that is.”
His father reached out and cuffed him. “Didn’t you hear your teacher, boy? You attend every day for as long as she wants, or I’ll tan your hide.”
Scout scuttled back, nodding. “Yes, sir.”
Mr. Rankin nodded as well. “Good. I’ll leave you to it, then. Ma’am.” He turned and strode from the room as if he expected the law to be on his tail right then.
James grabbed Rina and spun her around. “Yee-haw! You did it, Rina! You faced him down!”
Laughter bubbled up from deep inside her, flowing out like water from a spring.
“Bravest thing I ever saw, ma’am,” Mr. Hennessy agreed as James set her on her feet.
Rina giggled. She knew it wasn’t the most authoritative sound, but she couldn’t help it. She grinned with James a moment, sharing his joy, his pride. She’d rid the school of Rankin’s interference and won his son a chance at an education. She’d made a difference.
Thank You, Lord!
The rest of her students were laughing and cheering, as well. Rina let them whoop it up for a few moments, then adjusted the drape of her skirt and straightened. “Now then, that is entirely enough frivolity, class. We have lessons to learn.”
“I think you taught them the finest lesson of all,” James said. “You can’t let fear stop you from what you were meant to do.”
Rina nodded as the others quickly returned to their work.
“I don’t know what this frivolity thing is,” she heard Scout murmur to Levi, “but she sure don’t hold with it.”
James nudged Rina. “Is that a fact, ma’am? You don’t hold with frivolity?”
“That,” Rina said, sharing his smile, “depends on who’s offering it, Mr. Wallin.”
* * *
James left Rina with her doting students and strolled back across the clearing. He’d never been more proud to know someone. She’d faced down her fears, both in teaching older students and in wrestling with Rankin. Whatever happened between her and James in the future, he could not doubt that Rina would find her way.
Now he needed to see if there was anything more he could do for his brothers. He’d asked Drew to spare him today just so he could make sure Rina felt comfortable resuming her role as teacher. Simon’s frown as James had left them logging had said he thought James was shirking his duty. Maybe James just saw duty a little differently than his older brother did.
He was on his way toward the woods when he saw Rankin sitting on the stone lip of the pond they used to water the stock. What was that old codger still doing here?
“You sweet on the schoolteacher?” Rankin asked, rising from his seat as James detoured to meet him.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” James asked, stopping in front of him. “A claim to work? Loans to collect? Innocents to harass?”
“I have a moment,” Rankin said. He nodded over James’s shoulder toward the schoolhouse. “How long will she stay?”
For the rest of her life, he hoped. “As long as she’s needed.”
He nodded, sucking his teeth. “Folks seem to like her. Never thought I’d see Hennessy in a school.”
Neither had James, but he didn’t think Rankin was here to discuss the finer points of education. “What’s this about?” James demanded.
Rankin focused on James, eyes narrowing in his flabby face. “I didn’t much like her suggestion. We don’t need the sheriff or his deputy out this way.”
So Rina’s gambit was still troubling him. It was no idle jest. McCormick was itching to get the drop on Rankin. If Rina suggested that he visit more often, he would.
“Deputy McCormick isn’t needed so long as every student is free to come and learn,” James allowed.
“Good,” Rankin said with a nod. “Good. It seems we’re in agreement.”
“Stranger things have happened,” James replied.
Rankin gazed up at James out of the corners of his eyes. “And to show there are no hard feelings, I’ll do you a favor.”
Rankin’s favors always came with debts. “I want nothing from you,” James said, holding up his hands and backing away.
“What’s this, another robbery?” Simon drawled, coming out of the wood with his ax over his shoulder. The darker stains around the neck and arms of his cotton shirt told James his older brother hadn’t stinted on his efforts that day. “My, but you have poor luck, James.”
James lowered his hands as Rankin turned to eye the older Wallin. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at James. “Your brother here doesn’t want to hear my news. Maybe you’ll think differently.”
Simon came abreast of them and lowered his ax so that the handle rested across his palms. Anyone else would have been intimidated by the move, but Rankin drew himself up as if ready for trouble.
“We don’t peddle gossip,” Simon said, eyeing him as if he were a bug that had crawled onto his lunch.
“Oh, you might change your mind when you hear this.” He glanced between Simon and James as if to make sure he had their attention. “Those thieves who took your horses? They were seen not too far from here the other day.”
James’s heart jerked, but he was careful not to show Rankin or Simon that he cared. Either could make too much of it. “Imagine that.”
Simon frowned at him before turning to Rankin. “Where?”
“Fellow I know ran across them on the other side of the lake,” Rankin admitted, “camping near that old Indian outpost just about opposite my place.”
He glanced at James as if expecting him to leap up and dash off right then. James wasn’t about to give him, or his brother, the satisfaction. “I don’t suppose they still had the horses and our wagon?” he asked, glancing up to watch a gull soar past as if he didn’t care about the answer either way.
“He mentioned seeing the horses specifically,” Rankin said, beginning to sound testy. “Not too man
y horses like that around these parts. Seems they’re too good to sell, even when a man has bills to pay.”
Even Rankin understood their value. James could barely stand there, knowing Lance and Percy were close enough to rescue. Yet he couldn’t help thinking that Rankin was a little too eager to help the Wallins.
“Bills to pay or debts to pay?” James asked, lowering his gaze to meet Rankin’s. “How much do the thieves owe you, Rankin?”
Simon stiffened. “You knew those men?”
Rankin waved a hand. “Everyone shows up at my tables sooner or later, with the exception of you fellows. And let’s just say those horse thieves are behind on their payments and not likely to be accommodating about paying up. You see they meet Deputy McCormick, and I’ll call it even.”
“Done,” James said before Simon could do more than open his mouth.
“Wait a minute...” Simon started.
Rankin stuck out his hand. “Good doing business with you.”
“We don’t do business with you,” Simon said, but James took the miscreant’s hand and shook it. Then he turned to head for the main cabin.
All James needed was Pa’s rifle, which hung on a hook by the back door. Drew had carved the family two dugout canoes a few years ago. They were hidden under some brush by the edge of the lake and used for the occasional fishing trip into deeper water. He’d take one across the lake, hunt down those robbers and rescue his horses and wagon.
He was a little surprised to find Simon pacing him. “You’re not going after those men.”
“Sure I am,” James said, climbing up on the porch and taking down the rifle. It was a special piece with seven rounds in the chamber. Bless Levi for keeping it fully loaded.
“You’ve made it abundantly clear that this is my problem, Simon,” he said, slinging the gun over his shoulder. “You ought to be happy I intend to fix it.”
Simon grabbed his arm, drawing him up short. “There are two of them and only one of you.”
“Grossly unfair, I know,” James said. “I’ll try to give them a warning so they have time to draw their guns.”
Simon’s eyes looked like two chips of green ice. “This isn’t funny.”
“I think it’s hilarious, you worried about me,” James said. “Never thought I’d see that in my lifetime.”
Simon dropped his hold. “I worry about you all the time. Why do you think I went looking for you when you didn’t come home on time?”
“I figured you were following Drew’s orders, as usual.”
He knew it irked Simon to have been raised under Drew’s thumb, and the red that washed into his brother’s face proved he wasn’t beyond caring even now that they were grown. “If you won’t listen to me,” Simon threatened, “maybe you’ll listen to him.”
“Why set a precedent?” James countered, turning for the shore.
He heard Simon stop behind him. “Catherine might have something to say about this.”
For once, the reaction of his determined sister-in-law could not sway him. He knew what he was doing was right. This was his chance to make amends. To make a difference for his family.
“Then by all means,” James slung over his shoulder, “go tell her.”
“What about Rina?” Simon said. “Are you willing to leave her behind, too?”
James stopped, feeling as if his brother had thrown a rope that tugged him home. “She’ll understand,” James said. “More than you do.”
“You’re right there,” Simon said. “I’ve never understood you.”
James glanced back to where his brother stood on the path, stiff with concern. “Don’t worry, Simon. If everything goes right, I’ll have the wagon back to you before dark.”
“And if everything goes wrong?” Simon challenged.
James smiled. “You won’t have to worry about me failing the family again.”
Chapter Nineteen
Rina was making notes at her desk when Simon burst through the door. Mr. Hennessy, who had stayed after class to clean off the blackboard for her, looked up with a frown as the tall logger strode up the center aisle of the school.
“You have to stop James,” Simon said, coming to a halt in front of Rina’s desk.
Rina raised her brows and set down her pencil. “I sincerely doubt anyone can stop your brother when he’s set his mind on something,” she told Simon.
He ran a hand back through his hair, and it suddenly struck her that she had never seen Simon discomposed before. Now his eyes were wide enough that she could see the expanse of green clearly, and his breathing was ragged even though she doubted he could have run very far.
“You don’t understand,” he grit out. “He’s going after those horse thieves alone.”
Fear pushed her to her feet. “What? He could be killed!”
Simon stepped aside and motioned her to the door. “Agreed. Go tell him that, for he won’t listen to me.”
Rina swept around the desk and hurried for the door, Simon falling into step behind her. But when she reached the porch and scanned the clearing, she caught no sign of James.
Simon directed her around the main house to a path that led down toward the lake. “He’ll take one of the dugouts,” he explained, shoving aside a branch that had dipped low over the track. “Rankin said the thieves were camped across the lake.”
“And you believed him?” Rina challenged, lifting her skirts so she could move faster over the uneven ground.
“James did,” Simon qualified. He crossed in front of her to help her over a large puddle. “He’s determined to rescue those horses.”
“Of course he is,” Rina scolded. “You must know what they mean to him.”
Simon shook his head as he stepped back from her. “They’re big and powerful, and everyone remarks on them whenever he takes them into town. That’s no reason to risk his life.”
Rina frowned at him. Did his brother truly not understand what Lance and Percy meant to James? She was beginning to realize from James’s conversation that he considered himself the least important of his talented family. She had a feeling that everything he did—from his tailored suits to his etched-silver gun—was to convince himself he was worthwhile. Of course he would want to make up for losing the horses and the wagon, believing that he had failed his family again. She could easily have throttled the person who had put such nonsense in his head.
And she wouldn’t have been surprised if he wasn’t walking beside her now.
They came out on the lake. The water stretched blue before them, lapping against the pebbled shore. At the very end, Mt. Rainer rose in snow-capped majesty, as if standing guardian. Yet still she couldn’t spy James.
Simon’s head turned from left to right as he surveyed the lake. Then he pointed. “There.”
Rina could just make out a craft far across the water. The sun caught on the gold-brown hair of the boat’s only occupant.
“James!” she cried, but her call drifted away on the breeze.
“He’ll never hear you,” Simon said. He turned to glance around the shore, then strode up to a group of bushes and shoved inside them.
“What are you doing?” Rina asked, following him. “Shouldn’t we find a way to go after him?”
Simon reemerged, dragging a small boat. It looked as if someone had taken a log, scraped off the bark and hollowed out the center to allow a few people to sit inside it.
“I am going after him,” he said, pulling the boat down to the water, where the end began to float. “You’re going back to the house and alerting the family.”
Perhaps she should. It would be safe, quick. But she refused to take the easy way out when James might be in danger. She shook her head. “Let me come with you.”
One foot in the boat, Simon straightened to eye her. “You’ll onl
y slow me down.”
“Perhaps someone should slow you,” she told him. “Perhaps we should both take a moment to think. James is after the horses and wagon. He seems to know where to go. Do we?”
She could almost see the thoughts shifting behind Simon’s light green eyes. “Only a general direction. I’ll take John with me. He’s our best tracker.”
Rina cocked her head. “And what will you do if you locate the thieves before James does? If they disposed of the horses and wagon, how will you recognize them before they rob you, too? Only James and I have seen them.”
Simon puffed out a breath. “All right, Miss Fosgrave. You win. I’ll take you and John with me. But not dressed like that. You’ll never fit in the boat.”
Rina glanced down at her full-skirted gown. “I fear this is all I currently own, Mr. Wallin.”
He bent and tugged the boat up out of the reach of the waves. “Then it’s a good thing I have a large family, ma’am. Surely we’ll have something more useful for you to wear if I’m to take you into the deep woods.”
* * *
On the east side of Lake Union, James drew the dugout up onto the shore and stowed it under a blackberry bush. He doubted too many people would happen upon it, but he didn’t want to lose any more of his family’s property.
Adjusting the gun strap over his shoulder, he set off through the woods. His plan was simple—locate the outlaws’ camp, get the drop on them and make off with Lance and Percy. Without the horses, the two thieves wouldn’t be able to move the wagon far. While they might get away temporarily, James could come back with Deputy McCormick and harness the horses to drive the wagon home while the lawman hunted down the robbers.
This side of the lake was more sparsely populated. He knew a wagon road led north toward outlying settlements. Given the forest’s untamed nature, the wagon was pretty much constrained to that road. All he had to do was find it.
That proved easier than he’d thought. He’d only gone a mile into the woods, tracking directly east from the water by keeping the sun at his back, when he reached the road. Just wide enough for a wagon, the track threaded through the fir, cedar and thick stands of alder. Pressed into the mud was the long line of iron-bound wheels and the hoofprints of horses. No one else he knew in these parts used horses to pull their wagons. It had to be his team. He headed north, keeping an eye out for movement and an ear open for the creak of the wagon.
