Even inside the boardinghouse they had heard the pounding roar of the waves.
“We should pray for the sailors,” Amanda had whispered when Pearl finished her devotions early this morning.
They’d kneeled on the hard wooden planks and laid out their petitions. Amanda prayed for the children, as always. Pearl prayed for God’s protection, but her mind kept straying to the encounter with Roland on Saturday and his avoidance of her after Sunday services.
Even now, her gaze drifted to the mercantile, where oil lamps blazed. He would be up and about, ready to begin the day. She gripped the railing, hoping for a glimpse of him.
Too soon, Amanda bustled out of the boardinghouse. “I’m ready. Gracious!” She grabbed her hat, which nearly blew off her head. “What wind!”
Pearl surveyed the leaden clouds. “I fear a storm is brewing.” She shivered beneath the cloak, which whipped about her limbs. “We should hurry to the school before the rain falls.”
“Or snow.” Amanda followed her off the porch. “It’s certainly cold enough.”
“Either way, we’ll need to get a good fire going in the stove to keep the children warm.”
“And dry their coats and hats and mittens.”
“That, too.” Pearl pulled the cloak tight, but the wind tore it from her grasp. After the second time that happened, she gave up and let it flap like an angry green bird.
“There are Sadie and Isaac,” Amanda exclaimed.
Pearl had noticed that lately, Garrett brought out the children at exactly the time Amanda passed the store. They would exchange the barest of greetings before he left the children in their care.
“Need to get to the mill,” he said this morning, holding onto his hat, but not hurrying away.
“I brung Cocoa,” Sadie said, holding out the bundle she’d been clasping to her chest.
“Brought,” Pearl said, correcting the little girl. “You brought Cocoa.”
Amanda bent over Sadie. “Let’s hold tightly to her. We don’t want her to get away.”
The girl shook her head solemnly. “I won’t let go. Promise.”
Pearl sensed that Garrett wanted to talk to Amanda, so she made an excuse about needing some paper from the store. “Go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”
Garrett frowned. “A woman shouldn’t make that walk alone.”
“Come with us, Papa,” Sadie pleaded.
As Pearl expected, that was all the encouragement he needed. She watched them walk away together, and her heart ached. They looked so much like a family. She swallowed and turned away. No matter how much she tried to tell herself otherwise, she did want this. An independent life might sound adventurous, but it would also be terribly lonely. She shut her eyes against a gust of wind that blasted the sand against her face and imagined Roland by her side, escorting her along the boardwalk to church or to their very own house.
How that hurt, for it would never happen. He had made that perfectly clear Saturday.
She drew a breath to gather her composure and stepped out of the wind on the store’s porch. The building was angled in such a way that it blocked the worst of the wind. She shook the sand from her cloak and skirts. Why, she had no idea. The moment she stepped back on the road, she’d be coated with it again.
The door pushed open, and Charlie peered at her. “Can I get you anything, Miss Lawson?”
She swallowed the disappointment that it wasn’t Roland. Naturally he’d be at the glassworks site, resuming construction as he’d promised. She glanced up the road. Amanda, Garrett and the children had gone sufficiently far that she wouldn’t catch up to them, but she did need to buy that paper that she’d used as an excuse.
“A few sheets of paper, please.” She followed Charlie into the store and was surprised by the cleanliness and the smell of soap. “It looks nice in here.”
“Mr. Roland said he couldn’t sleep and so he came down and spruced things up a bit.”
“Indeed he did.”
Charlie stopped at the counter. “What kind of paper do you want? For writing letters?”
That hadn’t occurred to her. “Stationery. Yes, of course. I used my last sheet writing that thank-you note to Roland, er, Mr. Decker.”
Charlie blanched and patted his coat pockets.
“Are you out of stationery?”
“No, miss.” His shoulders drooped. “I forgot to give yer note to Mr. Roland.”
“You did?” No wonder Roland had reacted the way he had. He must think her ungrateful. But then she had thanked him Saturday evening. Though it hadn’t broken the impasse at the time, he hadn’t been able to sleep last night. Maybe their friendship wasn’t over after all. “Thank you, thank you.” She impulsively hugged Charlie. “You dear boy.”
He shook himself free from her embrace. “You’re glad I didn’t give it to him?”
“No. Please do give him the note. I’m just...oh, it’s impossible to put in words. Just know that I’m relieved.” She danced toward the door, her spirits buoyed.
“Don’t you want the stationery?”
“Set aside a whole box. I’ll pick it up after school.”
She practically skipped through the door. The clouds parted just enough to allow a ray of sunshine, but she didn’t need the visual confirmation. Today would turn out gloriously.
* * *
“We’re gonna hafta burn all this.” Evans pointed to the huge pile of branches and limbs.
Roland shook his head. “Not today. Not with this wind and the woods tinder dry. We’ll do it after the storm, if it rains and the winds calm down.”
“Then what do we do the rest of today? We can’t dig the foundation with this in the way.”
Roland had already considered that. “We’ll check with the tug captain to make sure he’s secure at the dock and see if he needs any fuel. We’ve got plenty of cordwood if they need it.” Roland motioned to the pile of limbs.
Evans grinned. “Good thinkin’.”
“We can check with the other steamboats, too. We might as well make something off this pile of debris.”
Roland set the rest of the men to chopping the limbs into fuel for a boiler furnace. If the steamers in port didn’t need any, a future boat might. Then he and Evans headed for the tug moored at his new dock.
They found the captain in the engine room with grease up to his elbows.
“Trouble?” Roland asked.
“Jus’ a little adjustment to the engine.” The man stood and stretched his back. “Happens all the time. What can I do ye for?”
“I wanted to make sure the mooring is holding. Do you need more lines?”
“Nope. She’s holdin’ fine.”
Evans gave Roland a pointed look. Since boarding they’d noted the sideways tug on the mooring lines. Some of those looked a bit weathered. With the back and forth rubbing against the pilings, one or more might snap, setting the tug adrift.
“Need cordwood?” Roland asked. “I can give you a good price.”
“How good?”
Once Roland named the price, the man was eager to buy.
“It’s not seasoned,” Roland pointed out. He didn’t want any debate after delivery.
“Seldom is,” the master joked. “Ol’ Bessie’ll take anythin’ I give her.”
Roland figured Bessie must be the boiler. Some engineers and captains liked to name more than the ship. Once they’d settled on a price and quantity, Roland and Evans stepped off the tug.
“Don’t like the look of them lines,” Evans murmured when they got out of hearing range.
“Me, either. Tell the men how much wood to bring down and double-check with the captain at that time. If one of those lines parts, he’ll be ready to deal. I’ll stop back after checking with the other steamers.”
He looked down the dock in time to see Pearl leave the store—his store—with a flush to her cheeks. Why had she been there? Pearl never stopped in the store before school. She and Amanda walked together to the schoolhouse. Seeing Pearl alone meant something had happened. The flush in her cheeks sent his mind racing. Had someone propositioned her? He clenched his fists.
What if it was Garrett? He often met Amanda and Pearl with the children. What if they’d sent Amanda and the children ahead? Roland deserved that after shouting to the world that he wasn’t courting Pearl. He couldn’t let people like Evans go around spreading rumors that might get her in trouble.
“Fine-looking woman,” Evans commented.
The twinge of jealously escalated into a full-blown firestorm. “She’s off-limits, understand?”
Evans drew back. “Didn’t say I was interested.”
“Good. Make sure none of the men approach her.”
Evans hesitated.
“You have your instructions,” Roland barked.
Evans gave him a questioning look but held his tongue. The shake of the head was Roland’s only clue that he’d crossed an imaginary line.
He scrubbed his jaw and tugged his coat a bit tighter against the wind. Pearl had disappeared behind a stand of low cedar and fir. He waited until she emerged, now with her back to him. Every instinct told him to go to her, but that would only inflame the rumors that he was trying to squelch. For her sake, he had to keep his distance.
He watched her pass the construction site, climb the slope and disappear into the school. Only then could he recall what he’d planned to do next. On the way to the steamships, he’d stop by the store and see what had happened to put a flush in Pearl’s cheeks.
* * *
Perhaps it was the wind or the impending storm, but whatever the reason, the children were restless. Even Cocoa wouldn’t settle down. She prowled from table to table, hopping on top to look out first one window and then the next. Amanda would shoo her down, but a few seconds later she’d be right back atop another table.
Instead of settling the children, as Pearl had intended, the kitten was riling them up.
The wind blew ferociously. Though the bits of leaf and tree seed flung against the building sounded like rain, no drops fell.
“Who can tell me what two plus four is?” she asked.
The older children’s hands jumped into the air, but she waited for one of the young ones to answer. They looked back at her with wide eyes but said nothing. At last she called on Isaac.
“Six. And two times four is eight.”
“Very good, Isaac.”
“I’m going to work in the mercantile like my Uncle Roland.”
Interesting. Usually a boy wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father. “I’m sure your father uses a lot of arithmetic in his work.”
Isaac shrugged. “The store has lots of things.”
“Pretty things,” Sadie announced.
The children laughed.
“Not nearly as many nice things as the store in Saugatuck,” Angela informed them. “We have ribbons and dolls.”
Sadie clammed up, her gaze cast down.
Pearl’s heart went out to the little girl. She seemed to take the slightest comment as criticism. If someone didn’t set her mind in another direction soon, she would suffer through school. Angela hadn’t meant anything by her comment beyond the usual childhood pride in their hometown. Sadie didn’t understand.
Amanda moved forward to comfort Sadie, but Pearl shook her head. Sadie needed to stand up for herself. “Now we’re going to work on our own. I will write a problem for each grade level on the blackboard. Copy it onto your slates and work out the solution. When I call you, come to the blackboard to show your solution to the problem.”
While the students worked, Amanda approached Pearl’s desk, kneeled beside it and whispered, “Why did you stop me? Sadie needed to be comforted.”
“She needs to stand on her own.”
“Look at her.”
Pearl could see the tears in Amanda’s eyes. She loved that little girl too much, like a daughter. If only Garrett Decker could see that. She glanced at Sadie, who stared at her slate with her right thumb in her mouth and no chalk in her other hand.
Pearl sighed. “Perhaps later.”
Clem Bailey’s hand shot in the air. “May I use the privy, Miss Lawson?”
“The necessary,” Pearl amended, hoping to instill a bit of delicacy in the students. Thus far her efforts had no effect, and she sent the boy off with a wave of her hand.
She’d learned early on the hazards of not allowing the children to avail themselves of the privy. The first week she’d made Evelyn wait until playtime, but the little girl couldn’t hold it. Pearl ended up mopping the floor while Amanda consoled the poor girl who’d suffered jeers from the older children.
The next hour passed with relative calm. The children settled down to complete their problems and then display the answers on the blackboard. Sadie came up with the right answer in front of the room even though she’d written nothing on her slate. Last week she’d done just the opposite, writing only on her slate and refusing to write on the blackboard in front of the class.
That girl stymied Pearl. There was a bright, intelligent girl inside that protective shell if only Pearl could break through. Amanda made more progress, though Sadie had not communicated any reasoning for her peculiar behavior. Amanda gravitated to Sadie, and the little girl clung to her with a fierce attachment that would only cause problems if Garrett continued his refusal to consider remarriage. Amanda would not wait forever. Already her gaze drifted about the church. Pearl’s friend was only happy in the company of a gentleman.
Pearl inwardly sighed. She’d hoped the morning meeting with Garrett would lead to an attachment, but he remained emotionally aloof except for his children.
“I smell smoke,” Angela Wardman announced, drawing Pearl from her thoughts.
The children murmured.
Pearl instantly looked to the woodstove, which they’d stoked all day against the chilly winds. “I’m sure it’s just the stove. I’ll check it while everyone continues their reading assignment.”
The children at least pretended to read, but their eyes followed her to the stove. There was a faint smell of smoke around it, but nothing different from usual. Then she looked to the rear of the classroom, where smoke curled under the door. A glance to the windows revealed the telltale flickering orange. Pearl’s heart stopped.
The woods were on fire.
Chapter Twenty
“Get the fire pump from town,” Roland ordered Evans.
The man took off at a run. It would take time to bring the steam pump up to pressure, but it was their best hope for getting a solid stream of water on the growing blaze.
“I want every bucket and shovel put to use.” Roland assigned each man, but the winds were whipping the small flames into a blaze.
One spark. That’s all it had taken. Roland had looked up from the sawing operation at the exact moment the tug’s stack spewed soot into the air. Amid the dirt had been a few sparks, embers likely. One touched the dried leaves, and a flame soon licked upward. He’d raced down the slope to beat it out, but the flame had taken off through the dried leaves and twigs. Though he’d yelled to his men to drop their saws and help out, the wind-fed fire soon gained the upper hand.
“Four buckets, Mr. Roland,” one man reported.
That wouldn’t be much help against this growing blaze.
“Dig,” he barked. “Throw dirt on the blaze.”
Maybe they could smother it before it got to the huge pile of debris. If they could turn it back on itself and force it to the river, they might extinguish the growing monster. He positioned his men with the shovels and wished he had brought the st
eam tractor back to the work site today, but he hadn’t wanted to upset Pearl the very first day, not after reading her gracious note that Charlie had finally given him this morning. He’d misjudged her badly and treated her worse.
He glanced to the top of the hill. The school stood in the potential path of the fire.
He grabbed Tuggman, one of the crew chiefs. “Tell Miss Lawson to take the children away from here.” He pointed to the school, and the man took off.
The fire streaked up the slope, following the piles of leaves that had been created by dragging the felled trees. Though his sweat-stained men flung shovelfuls of sand and dirt on the flames, the fire was winning. Only twenty feet of open ground stood between it and the debris pile. If that caught fire, nothing could stop the blaze from consuming the timbers and beams piled high for the construction of his glassworks.
He had to stop that blaze. It took but a moment to assess the situation. If they could clear every bit of tinder from the expanse between the fire and the debris pile, they might stand a chance of stopping the blaze’s progress. Unfortunately, his decision to keep the steam tractor off-site today left him without the one piece of equipment that he could have used to stop the fire. It could drag the entire debris pile to the river. Likewise the wooden beams. Without it, they must rely on their hands.
Roland ran toward his men, barking out orders even while he raked away debris with the only tool available to him, a crosscut saw. When one of his crew grabbed the other end, they were able to drag it along the ground and rake aside leaves and twigs. Men with shovels followed behind, scooping up what he’d missed.
The men worked as a solid unit, focused on the task at hand. Good men. Most were bachelors, but some had wives and children elsewhere. Wives. Children. Roland looked up the slope toward the school. Surely Pearl had been warned by now. Surely they were all safe. Then where was Tuggman?
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