He sighed and stomped through the living room and down the hallway as he mumbled, “I’ll see to Jimmy, alright.”
By the time he’d given Jimmy a thorough talking to about the inappropriateness of bringing dirt clods into the house – much less throwing them at others – and supervised the boy’s sweeping job, Victoria had disappeared into her room. He stood outside her doorway for a moment debating on whether to knock and insist that she listen to his explanation of what happened between him and Julia, but then decided against it.
He gently massaged his aching shoulder as he headed towards the couch. He would talk to her first thing in the morning, Dad had given him the whole week off and he planned to put it to good use convincing his wife that he really did love her.
10
Victoria sat up with a start, the covers tumbling about her in a soft heap. She blinked at the light streaming through her window. “Wha—! Oh! Of all the days to sleep late!” She lurched out of bed and fumbled into her dress with sleep-klutzy fingers. Had the rooster crowed? If so, she hadn’t heard it today.
Of course, she had lain awake long into the night thinking over everything that had happened the day before and trying not to worry about any of it, but failing miserably.
Swiping her hair up into a loose bun she stuffed pins into it as she rushed down the hallway and threw open the girl’s door. “Time to get up, girls. I overslept and we are going to be late for school if we don’t hurry.”
She hustled back down the hall and burst into the living room. “Rocky?”
He bolted upright on the couch and rubbed a hand over his face in sleepy confusion. “Huh?”
“We oversle—oh!” She had seen him without his shirt several times as he worked, or when she helped him change his bandage, but somehow the sight of his well-muscled torso combined with the morning bristle shading his jaw and the tousled splay of his hair seemed far more intimate. At the quirk of his eyebrow she realized she was staring. With a small gasp she turned her back to the sight. Wishing the heat crawling up her neck away, she cleared her throat. “Ah… we overslept. I’m working on getting the girls up. Could you get Jimmy, please?”
The scratch of his hand rubbing across his cheek and the long inhale of a yawn filled several seconds before he replied, “Yeah, sure.”
Hurrying back down the hall she was satisfied to see both girls out of bed and getting dressed. “Morning,” they both mumbled.
“Morning, girls. As soon as you two are dressed, bring the brush to the kitchen and I’ll help you with your hair.”
A few moments later, Victoria had just poured three round flapjacks onto the griddle when Rocky sauntered in. “Jimmy’s up and around. Should be out in a few minutes.” He tapped his palm to the side of the coffee pot and looked perturbed to find it barely warm.
Victoria felt chagrinned and relieved at the same time. If there was no coffee then he wouldn’t be tempted to stay and drink a cup before he did the chores. And that meant that they could put off that dreaded conversation about Julia for another day. “Coffee should be ready as soon as you get in from chores. Sorry.”
“Guess I’ll have to wait then.”
“Mmm-hmm.” She held her breath hoping he would go out and not bring it up.
“Wonder if there is something wrong with the rooster, or if we just didn’t hear him this morning?”
“Mmmm.”
“Hope I can find the right end of ol’ Bess.” The sound of a grin tinged his voice.
She suppressed a smile, not wanting to engage him in conversation right now. “Mmmm-hmmm.”
“Well, I guess I ought to be getting to the chores.”
“Okay. I’ll send Jimmy out to help as soon as he makes an appearance.” She held her breath.
Finally the click of the door followed by silence told her he’d gone out.
She let out her breath and checked off a mental list of everything she needed to get done before the children left for school. Flapjacks, cooking. Coffee’s on. Girls’ hair, in a minute. Set the table! First check the food. Victoria peeked at the underside of one flapjack. Not quite ready yet. Cook faster! She spun around to grab the plates from the cupboard and let out a squeak of surprise to find Rocky still there.
He grinned unrepentantly. “If I can’t have coffee, at least I can look at the prettiest gal this side of New York. If that doesn’t wake me up, I don’t know what will.”
For the second time that morning, Victoria felt heat crawling up her neck but she had things to do. She brushed past him, trying not to enjoy his flattery too much. Yet his words added to her confusion over the scene she’d witnessed on the boardwalk yesterday. She’d clearly heard him say he wasn’t happy. And, after all, he’d known her most of her life and never shown so much as a hint of romantic interest in her. Except for right after Mama’s wedding, when he told me he wanted to court me. She dismissed that thought and snatched up the stack of plates.
“Victoria,” Rocky’s fingers settled gently around her elbow.
She stiffened and clutched the plates to her chest. “Rocky let’s not—”
ChristyAnne and Mera stepped into the room. “We’re ready for you to do our hair, Mrs. Jordan.”
Rocky growled so loudly that both girls took a step back and blinked up at him. Victoria pressed her lips together to hide a smile of relief and she winked at the girls to let them know Rocky wasn’t really upset with them.
He stepped closer, the warmth of his breath brushing her ear as he whispered, “We are not done with that conversation, Ria. So don’t think you can get out of it.”
She did not meet his gaze as he grabbed his hat from the peg by the door and eased it onto his head. Neither did she relax until the door clicked shut behind him.
She sighed, her shoulders relaxing. Saved by the children, yet again. “Now girls, let’s – ah!” Black smoke billowed up in aromatic clouds from around the flapjacks.
She shoved the plates into ChristyAnne’s hands and snatched up the pot-holder rushing the smoking pan out the door.
Rocky, halfway across the yard to the barn, chuckled as she scraped the black blobs into the slop bucket. “Cade’s pigs will thank you for that little oversight,” he called.
“This is your fault, Rocky Jordan!”
He smiled and sketched a bow. “And it was my pleasure.”
She quickly turned her back before he could see her grin.
Back inside, she greased the griddle and then poured three more flapjacks. When Jimmy stumbled in with his hair spiking out from his head in all directions, she told him to go help Rocky with the chores.
She brushed and plaited the girls’ hair and flipped flapjacks until Rocky and Jimmy came in and finally everyone sat around the table to wolf down a hurried breakfast.
Mera tugged on her skirt expectantly and she realized the little tyke had asked her a question. “What was that, honey?” Victoria directed her attention to the little girl, pushing down her frustration with the morning’s events.
“Do you fink my teachuh is gonna wike me?” Mera’s attention never left Victoria’s face as she reached for her milk and took a long drink.
“Of course she is! Don’t you remember meeting her yesterday and how nice she was?”
She nodded, her upper lip still buried in the white froth, and sloshed milk down the front of her dress.
Victoria snatched up a towel and dabbed at it. “Well she isn’t going to be any different today. She’s still going to be kind to you.”
“Besides,” Rocky spoke up, “she’s my sister, so she has extra incentive to be nice to you. If she isn’t I’ll go over there and tickle her until she promises to behave!” His eyes twinkled at the little girl over the top of his coffee mug.
Mera giggled and stuffed a wad of flapjack into her white-rimmed mouth, her gaze fastened on Rocky who was swiftly and obviously becoming her hero.
Victoria swallowed away the tender swell of emotion tightening her throat. She couldn’t start thinking of
them as a family. “Remember now children, what we talked about yesterday. Miss Sharyah is going to have each of you take a few tests. She’ll ask you to read a little and do some ciphers, just to see where you are at, so she knows what grade to put you in.”
ChristyAnne and Jimmy groaned.
Mera wrinkled up her nose. “Whatsa Ciphuh?”
Jimmy rolled his eyes. “It’s math you dolt!”
“Jimmy!” Rocky’s voice held the force of a whip. “I don’t want to hear you speaking to a woman like that again. Especially not your sister!”
Victoria’s brows arched. Surely he’s not starting to think of us all as a family?
Rocky met her gaze, something like surprise in the depths of his own eyes.
“She ain’t my sister,” Jimmy mumbled.
Rocky cleared his throat. “Yes. Well… while you are here with us we would like you to think of yourselves as siblings. We want this to be as much a home for you as it can be. Now,” he stood, “it’s time to head to school. Everyone grab your lunch pail.”
Victoria leapt out of her seat. “Lunch!” She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten to make the lunches.
Rocky looked surprised, but quickly rallied to help as Victoria rushed for the kitchen.
“Ah… okay, tell you what?” Chairs scraped as the children stood to gather around Rocky. “You two help Ria get the table cleared and the lunches made. And Jimmy and I will go out and hitch up the buggy and we’ll drive to school today. That way you won’t be late.”
Relief eased her slight panic as she rolled three leftover flapjacks around some cheese. It may have been a disaster of a morning but at least due to Rocky’s kindness, the children wouldn’t be late for their first day.
She’d never felt more relief in her life than when the children climbed into the buggy and Rocky drove them out of the yard.
She sank down onto the top step and laid her face into her hands, elbows resting on her knees. Her legs splayed in unladylike abandon and she didn’t care a whit. She groaned. “I am not cut out to be a wife and mother!”
It was only a moment before her head popped up. “I didn’t make Rocky a lunch for work!”
Cade Bennett stood and slowly removed his hat, curling the brim into his palm as he swiped his forearm across his brow. The morning air still held a nip of chill, so his damp forehead had nothing to do with heat. His horse snorted and side-stepped, tossing him an ‘it’s-about-time’ look. Cade patted the horse on the neck. “I know, I know.”
The small white schoolhouse stood silent. Sharyah had gone in several minutes earlier and if he was going to have time to talk to her before the students started arriving, he’d better get down there. He eyed the school-house door and swallowed, willing his heartbeat to ease into a calmer rhythm. Settling his hat back on his head, he glanced down at the small pile of evergreen needles he’d shredded. He gave the pile a swift kick and returned to his perusal of the school.
He sighed. “Just go talk to her, you idiot.” With a determined stride, he started down the hill toward the small clap-board building.
He hadn’t been able to think of anything else but Sharyah since she’d slapped him at Victoria’s house after the wedding. Truth told, he still had no idea why she’d slapped him. He rubbed a hand over his jaw as he stepped past the tree swing and into the school yard, still remembering the sting of her hand. But more than that, the pain in his heart. A pain that hadn’t dissipated since. What had he said to upset her? She was like a sister to him and he wouldn’t be able to put this behind him until he figured out what he’d done.
His boots thumped on the stairs and when he pushed open the door at the back of the room, Sharyah was looking at him from where she’d obviously been cleaning the chalkboard behind her oak-plank desk.
“Hi.” He cleared his throat. That was a lame greeting.
Today she had her long golden-blonde hair done up in a braid and wrapped around her head. How she kept all that mass of curls from falling all around her shoulders, he had no idea. Sharyah had some of the prettiest hair he’d ever seen when it hung down about her shoulders – thick and curly and forever in disarray. Right now, with it pulled back, she looked prim… and stern.
Her brown eyes hard and dark as granite, she turned back to her task. “What do you want? You can’t be here alone with me. You know the gossip that will start.”
The edge of steel in her voice told him he hadn’t been forgiven for his unknown transgression yet.
She wiped great dark swaths across the chalkboard with a damp rag, her movements swift and jerky.
She was right about the gossip. But he’d be gone before anyone arrived. “Uh…” He cleared his throat again, wishing she would look at him. Pulling the door shut behind him, he entered despite her lack of invitation. “I wanted to, uh…, talk to you about the other day. I only need a moment of your time.”
Her hand paused mid-swipe, but only for a second, then she continued on almost as though she hadn’t heard him. He could imagine smoke coming out of her ears and heat waves radiating off her slender, stiff shoulders.
Mystified, he eased down onto the bench at the front of the classroom and tossed his hat down beside him. “Sharyah, I have no idea what I did to make you so angry with me. But you are like the sister I never had and I can’t stand the thought of you being mad at me. Please… just tell me what I did, so we can talk about this.”
She froze again. Her back remained toward him, the high upper corner of the chalkboard still dusty white.
He waited, but she held her silence.
Finally her spine stiffened and she took two swift strides over to a basin of water and dipped her rag in. “If you don’t know what you did, there is no point talking about it, I guess.”
She angled him a glare full of venom and wrung the rag so tight, he wondered if she was fantasizing about it being his neck.
Frustration coursed through him. He stretched his arms wide and then clasped his hands behind his head. “Sharyah, I’m sorry, I don’t know what I did. Just tell me so I can apologize. I’ve obviously offended you, somehow.”
Dropping her gaze, she stalked over to a low stool and bent to drag it with her to the end of the chalkboard she still needed to clean.
Were those tears she was hiding? Swiftly he came to his feet and stepped over to help.
“I have no hard feelings, Cade.” Her voice trembled, low and husky.
She is crying.
Her concentration on the stool, she was backing up quickly and headed in a collision course with him.
Instead of moving out of the way, he folded his arms and waited.
“I’m sorry I lo—ah!” Her words ended on a yelp as she thumped into him and spun around out of reflex.
He cupped her arms and held her steady.
She stood so close he could see the amber flecks amplified by the tears in her large dark eyes, and hear her quick intakes of breath. Chalk smeared the dusting of freckles across her small, upturned nose, but he left it be. Her normally smiling mouth pressed into a thin line and she squeezed the rag so tightly that water dripped down the front of his shirt.
He grinned and pried the rag from her clutch. “Let me get that for you before I’m wetter than a fish.”
She glanced down at the dark, wet patch on his shirt and brushed at it. “Oh, I’m sorry.” Her cheeks bloomed red and he paused, curious at the sight.
She’s certainly no longer a little girl, is she? He swallowed and turned slowly to rub the last of the chalk from the board.
Behind him, Sharyah dashed the tears from her cheeks. Cade was the last person she wanted to see this morning. Well, that was actually a lie. But why did he have to show up here, right now? She stacked up several books and straightened her desk. Heaven have mercy, how did I get myself into this situation? Her hands trembled and she clutched handfuls of her skirts to hide the fact as Cade turned from wiping the last spot on the board.
“There. Done.” He handed her the rag and fold
ed his arms across his chest in the way he had when he wasn’t about to let something slide.
She suppressed a groan and carried the water basin to the back door. Tossing the contents, she tucked the basin back into its cupboard, flipped the rag over the hook to dry and turned to grab the day’s lesson plan from her desk.
Maybe she could bluff her way out of this. “Cade, I’m sorry I slapped you. I was having a very bad day that day. It was nothing you did, honest.” Liar. She picked up a piece of chalk and carefully wrote “Primer One” on the board. “So I’ll see you on Sunday, right? At the school’s Mystery-Basket Picnic Fundraiser?”
Before she could write anymore Cade swiped the chalk from her, a grin on his face. “Okay, so this is how you are going to play this?”
She didn’t dare meet his gaze. Her heart had almost pumped right out of her chest when he’d steadied her earlier. She glanced from side to side. If only some children would show up early. She’d rather face the gossip than one more minute alone with Cade. Maybe she could come up with an excuse to go outside. But he stood between her and the door. She contemplated the back door, but the steps weren’t fixed yet and she refused to jump three feet to the ground just to avoid talking to Mr. Stubborn.
A glimmer shone in Cade’s eyes, telling her he knew exactly the predicament she was in.
He doesn’t know the half of it!
Cade dropped the chalk into the dish on her desk then cupped his chin in contemplation. “I’m having a hard time believing that the cool, calm, level headed Sharyah Jordan just lost her temper and slapped me for no good reason. But,” he shrugged and stuck out his lower lip, “if you want to do this the hard way, we can.”
Sharyah shifted from one foot to the other. She should just tell him, but the humiliation was more than she could handle. He’s going to figure it out anyway. It’s only a matter of time. She held her silence and stared at the top button on his shirt miserably.
Cade held aloft one finger. “So, I guess I start at the beginning. This might take awhile.” He reached for the lesson plan she still clutched tightly in one hand.
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