"That sounds more than fair." Anna wanted to kick him for the way he talked about Julia, but what could she really do? The man held her future in the palm of his hand.
Julia shook her head as Mr. Hanson walked off to go speak with the other members of the school board. "He makes me so angry! It's like he doesn't have the ability to remember what it's like to meet someone and be attracted to them."
Anna smiled. "Don't listen to him. He's just trying to do his job, even if he's going about it in a very odd way." She didn't believe a single word she said, of course, but she would be polite if it killed her.
"Oh, I know. I'm working hard to make certain the children are taught well, even though he makes me angry. I'm honestly looking forward to the day when I can be a full-time wife. Teaching here is not what I imagined teaching would be."
Anna patted Julia's arm. "Nothing is ever exactly what you think it will be. I had Tom all built up in my head to be an almost god-like man. I get here, and he's just like every other man I've ever met." She was so relieved that she hadn't married him. Teaching was preferable to marrying a man who intimidated her so much.
Julia laughed. "I had never heard of him, but I think he's pretty wonderful. I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?"
Mr. Hanson came back then, interrupting their giggles. "The school board has voted to offer you the position. You may start tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? That soon? But..." Anna wasn't sure she could be ready to start that quickly. She needed to ready herself mentally to take over the schoolroom.
"Is there a problem with that, Miss Simmons?" Mr. Hanson raised an eyebrow as if just waiting for her to argue with him.
"No, sir." Anna looked at Julia, hoping her friend would help her get ready for the task ahead of her.
"We'll get you packed and take you to Mr. Hanson's house this evening, Anna. It's no problem." Julia squeezed Anna's hand, obviously trying to give her some courage for the job.
"I should think not. It's going to be hard enough for those children to have to switch teachers mid-term. We'll make the transition as smooth as possible." He looked at Julia. "You'll be paid for the half month you worked. Good day."
Anna couldn't believe how rude the man had been. She wasn't looking forward to staying with him at all. What if he treated his wife that way? She would be morally obligated to hit him over the head with a frying pan. She wasn't certain she'd be able to stop herself.
*****
Jesse was exhausted by the time he and Ernie finally reached Wiggieville, Texas. It was an odd name for a town, but he hoped the place would be just what Ernie needed to settle down and start acting like he should.
One of the first things he did on Saturday morning was go to the mercantile with Ernie in tow. "Do you happen to know of any women looking for work? Maybe a widow who's a good cook and enjoys cleaning, but her family has moved on?" He said a quick prayer that there would be someone meeting his description. There was no way he could run a ranch, cook, clean, and run herd on Ernie. He needed someone to help him fast.
The owner shook his head. "Out here when a man dies, another man marries his lady within a week or two. We don't have any single women, 'cept the school teacher, of course, but she ain't allowed to marry."
Jesse nodded tiredly as he bought the supplies they needed. "So there's a school?" That was a plus. He would have somewhere to send Ernie during the week.
"Oh, yes. Miss Simmons is the teacher, and she's a pretty little thing. Never talks above a whisper far as I can tell, but she's a good teacher."
Jesse looked down at Ernie. "You hear that? You'll be starting school on Monday." It would be easy to have him start school in a new place where no one knew of his mischief. Jesse was relieved to hear the town had a school. He'd heard that many didn't out West.
"I don't want to go to school, Pa. I want to stay home with you and help on the ranch."
The mercantile owner's eyes perked up. "You buy the old Kyle ranch?"
Jesse nodded. "I did. I start work first thing Monday morning." He wished he had the energy to start immediately, because the place really needed it, but he didn't. He had to take the weekend to rest. Besides, the preacher had already invited him to dinner on Sunday night. He was looking forward to going.
"It's a good spread. Shocked us all when Kyle announced he was retiring and moving back East." The man continually wiped the same spot on his counter until Jesse wanted to warn him he was going to wipe a hole right through it. What was it about mercantile owners and wiping the same spot all day?
"I was happy to be able to buy it. All the hands are being kind enough to stay, so I'll be able to learn easy." He knew he probably shouldn't admit that he was new at owning a ranch, but he'd done enough reading about it, he was certain he wouldn't make any really stupid mistakes. At least he hoped he wouldn't.
"What about your wife? How's she feel about moving to Texas to be a rancher's wife?"
Jesse shook his head. "My wife died three years back. It's just Ernie and me." He didn't want to elaborate, so he paid for his goods and left, wondering how he was going to be able to cook enough to keep either of them alive. At least the mercantile sold some bread. He could do something with that. Probably.
*****
Settling into the Hanson home was easier than Anna had anticipated. Her room was small, but it had everything she needed, and she could easily go in it and shut the door, closing out the Hanson family. She helped Mrs. Hanson with the dishes after each meal, and when Mrs. Hanson wanted help, Anna would help her cook as well. She certainly didn't mind being in the kitchen, but when Mr. Hanson was around, she went to her room and closed him out. He hadn't been nearly as rude to her as he had been to her friend, Julia, but she wasn't going to do anything to get him to be rude. It obviously didn't take much.
School was remarkably easy compared to teaching in Beckham. She still didn't enjoy being a teacher, but without the demon horde attending her school, there were no discipline problems and just students working all day every day. This was what she'd imagined teaching would be, and she wasn't dissatisfied with the turn of events that had brought her back to the classroom. Teaching was fine as long as she wasn't teaching a classroom full of little demon spawn.
She'd been teaching for two weeks without a single incident, and she was starting to relax a bit, feeling more comfortable with the task in front of her.
She was actually looking forward to school Monday morning, and ate her breakfast as quickly as she could without Mr. Hanson making a comment about it. She wiped the dishes dry for Mrs. Hanson, and the two of them spoke in hushed tones as they worked. For some reason, Mr. Hanson thought it was unseemly for women to enjoy housework, and he didn't like them to talk loudly or laugh while they worked. Apparently in his mind, women shouldn't ever do anything they enjoyed.
Anna was comfortable enough with Mrs. Hanson that they often enjoyed their housework when they knew Mr. Hanson was out of the house. Anna wondered how the sweet woman could deal with her husband, but she knew better than to ask. Mrs. Hanson seemed to all but worship Mr. Hanson, and she wasn't about to try and get in the way of marital bliss.
When she finished with the dishes, Anna hurried to her room to get her things for school, taking the lunch pail that Mrs. Hanson provided for her every morning. "I'll see you this afternoon, Mrs. Hanson."
"Have a good day, dear."
Anna rushed out the door, glad to be away from the house where she felt so oppressed. She walked slowly to the schoolyard, looking forward to another week. The children were all so well behaved, she felt like she should send a 'thank you' note to each of their parents for teaching them manners.
She swept out the schoolroom as she did each morning, and was sitting at her desk reading a good book when the children started coming. She would look up and smile or call a greeting as each one put their things on their desk and ran outside to go to play until she called them.
A young boy, no more than eight, that she hadn't
seen before came into the schoolhouse and looked around at the empty seats. Anna stood up. "Are you new here? I'm Miss Simmons." She pointed to an empty desk. "That's a good place for you to sit. What's your name?" She was excited at the prospect of a new student, which told her this teaching job really was where she was meant to be.
The boy looked at her, his eyes filled with orneriness. She knew the look well, because every child of the demon horde had that same look every day. "I'm Ernie Hoover. My pa and me just moved here on Saturday."
"Just you and your pa?" she asked, wanting to know about his mother.
"Ma's dead." He said nothing else as he dumped his things on his desk and hurried out to the schoolyard.
Anna sighed. Her sweet two weeks of teaching a well-behaved class were over. She had a hellion, and she was going to have to deal with behavioral issues again. She shook her head. At least there aren't six of them, right?
Walking out to the schoolyard, she called the children into class, and they all came running and skipping, many of them already out of breath. Laughter rang through the building, and Anna couldn't help but smile. She didn't like teaching a great deal, but she loved children. Having the chance to interact with them every day made her days better.
She sat down and carefully added Ernie's name to her roster, asking him to come forward for a moment. "You've been to school before?" she asked softly. Not every child had the opportunity to go to school, but she assumed he had by the look on his face that told her he was an experienced mischief-maker.
He nodded sullenly, refusing to even look at her. "Yup."
Anna took a deep breath, knowing that he was being deliberately rude. Most of the children would only respond with, "Yes, ma'am."
"Would you mind showing me where you are in your reader and in arithmetic? I need to know what class to put you in."
Ernie stomped back to his desk and got his books. He showed her his spot in his reader, his eyes daring her to say something about how little he'd accomplished in it. He was further along with his arithmetic.
Anna smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Ernie. You'll be in the second reading group but the third arithmetic group. Please come forward when your classes are called." She wasn't looking forward to the problems he'd cause, but she was determined to treat him just like any other student until he started misbehaving.
Ernie returned to his seat, plopped his books on his desk, and promptly slouched down in his seat, making it clear he didn't want to be there.
Anna sighed. He was going to be a difficult boy. He was showing all the signs already. Ernie was just what she needed to make her school year complete.
*****
By the end of the week, Ernie had started a fistfight, blocked a younger student into the outhouse so they couldn't get out, came in late after lunch every day, refused to study, and basically tried to make her life as difficult as humanly possible.
She didn't like to have to use the ruler on children's hands, because she found that it interrupted everyone's learning, and that wasn't fair to anyone else. On Friday afternoon of Ernie's first week in school, she penned a note, working hard to be polite. "Dear Mr. Hoover, I would like you to come in after school on Monday to discuss your son's behavior in my classroom. He's been quite disruptive, and I believe we need to work together to make certain we have a plan for the future. Thank you, and I look forward to meeting you. Sincerely, Miss Simmons." There. Very polite and straight to the point. If that didn't bring the man running, nothing would.
*****
After school on Monday, Anna erased the blackboard as she did every day after school, preparing to write out the next day's tasks for the students. She found if she had everything written out when they arrived at the beginning of the day, they had an easier day with no one asking what to do next.
She was expecting Mr. Hoover any moment, and she was nervous, like she always was when she had to meet a new man. She knew he'd been at church the previous day, because she'd seen Ernie running around outside with the other children, but she hadn't noticed who he was with. She hadn't been there long enough to be able to know which child belonged to which parent.
She heard footsteps behind her and she turned around, looking to see who was there. A man, of medium height and build, with dark hair and brown eyes the color of chocolate stood at the back of the school with his hand clamped firmly on Ernie's shoulder. Her heart skipped a beat as soon as she saw him, and she wondered why she was more nervous around this man than usual. She was usually nervous enough.
She walked toward the back of the room, swallowing hard, because she always had a hard time talking to men, and she was certain this man would be no exception. Once she reached the back of the room, she looked down at Ernie who was squirming under his father's hand. "Go on out to the schoolyard, Ernie. I need to speak with your father privately." She gave him a half smile of encouragement, assuming he was nervous about her speaking privately with his father.
Ernie looked at his father and stuck his tongue out at Anna, before running from the room. Anna waited for Mr. Hoover to say something to correct the boy, but when he didn't, she wanted to scream. "Do you always let him get away with disrespectful behavior, Mr. Hoover?" No wonder he misbehaves so badly in school if you don't discipline him!
Mr. Hoover raised an eyebrow before sticking this thumbs through the belt loops of his work pants and looking her up and down. How dare this little mouse think she had the right to tell him how to raise his child? "Do you always let your students treat you disrespectfully and expect their parents to fix the problem? I assure you, Miss Simmons, I don't have time to sit in your classroom all day and do your job."
Anna had never been so angry with a man in her entire life, not even Mr. Hanson. Usually, she would be afraid to react to the criticism, but she was furious, and her shyness flew out the window. She took a step toward him, her tiny stature still having to look way up to him despite that fact that he wasn't any taller than average. "If you were doing your job and raising the boy right in the first place, he wouldn't dare to think of being disrespectful in my classroom!"
"Who do you think you are to tell me I'm not raising my boy right?" He took one more step forward, and the two of them were all but brushing their bodies up against one another as they faced each other. He could see the pores on her nose and the flecks of green in her otherwise sky blue eyes.
"Are you telling me that you don't think you should have to teach your boy to behave correctly in the first place, and it's my job to both parent and teach him?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew she'd gone too far, but she couldn't take them back. She bit her lip, waiting to see what the man would say or do.
Jesse Hoover's eyes flashed as he stared down at the tiny little spitfire of a teacher. He knew Ernie was trouble. He had been ever since his mother had died, but it wasn't Jesse's job to deal with him while Ernie was at school. He was only eight. What kind of teacher couldn't deal with an eight year old boy? "Don't you have a ruler you can use on his knuckles?" He hated the idea of anyone hitting his son, but he knew that was the normal discipline in school rooms. He'd had a ruler used on his own knuckles more times than he could count.
Anna's couldn't believe her ears. "If he was disciplined properly at home, I wouldn't have to resort to corporal punishment in my classroom. If I have to get the ruler out, then I will have to disrupt the entire class to use it. If you will just discipline him at home and make it clear that you will back up whatever I say, then we won't have any more issues!"
Jesse was so angry he wanted to hit the woman. He stared down into her pretty face and realized hitting her wasn't what he wanted to do. He wanted to kiss her. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him, his mouth crushing hers with a hard kiss, his tongue immediately demanding entrance.
Anna stood paralyzed for a moment, not believing this man was actually touching her. Didn't he know she was his son's teacher? It only took a moment for her to feel her stomach fill with longing. She put
her hands up to his shoulders to push him away, and instead, she grasped them and clung to him. Her mind was no longer functioning. What was he doing to her?
After a moment, Jesse lifted his head, staring down at the pretty little teacher. Her hair was coming down from the sides of her bun, where it had been pinned up severely. Her lips, a bright pink and moist from his kiss, were still parted, and she was panting slightly. She was a teacher? She looked like she should be a dancer in the local saloon. Not her clothes, of course, but the wanton look on her face. He stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to open her eyes and realize exactly what she was doing.
Anna blinked a few times, returning to reality. Instead of agreeing to discipline his child properly, he had kissed her instead. She had never been kissed before, and the first time she was, it was by a man whose first name she didn't even know. What was wrong with her?
She took a step back, just as she saw the pink fabric of the skirt of a dress disappear around the corner. "Oh blast! Someone just saw that. I'm going to lose my job!" She folded her arms across her chest for a moment, glaring at him, waiting for him to tell her that it would be all right.
Jesse's eyes widened. Why would he care if she lost her job? If she couldn't control Ernie, then she was obviously a terrible teacher anyway. "I guess you shouldn't be going around kissing your students' fathers instead of working then, should you?"
Anna clenched her fists, not believing this man was really blaming her for the kiss he initiated. "I trust that you'll talk to Ernie and get his behavior under control so that I don't have to expel him. Good day, Mr. Hoover." She turned and walked regally to her desk on the raised platform at the front of the room, and sank into her chair. He had to leave so she could think. Her mind was racing in a hundred different directions at once.
Why had he kissed her? And more importantly, why had she liked it? Who had seen her, and would they tell? What would she do if she lost her job? She wanted to bury her face in her hands and have a good cry, but she couldn't with him standing there staring at her.
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