by A. J. Goode
In fact, she could almost say it was fun. The children of Serenity were, for the most part, eager to learn, and she began to agree with Caroline’s assessment that the town was indeed a warm and welcoming place. As time went by, a few more stragglers joined the original group of students, until she now had a total of nineteen students and had met most of their parents.
Micah and Edward made it their job to escort her home every day, no matter what the weather was like. At first, she knew, it was because Hannah insisted that they behave like young gentlemen, but the boys appeared to enjoy the responsibility.
On more than one occasion, they arrived at the house to find Simon DeVries visiting with Hannah. The young blacksmith always had a good reason for being there -- the broken latch on the gate, a horse in need of a shoe, and so on -- but Victoria noticed that his gaze never left Hannah, who seemed totally unaware of his devotion.
Victoria chuckled now as she hurriedly finished the last of the clean-up and reached for her coat. Her escorts were probably growing impatient, for on this Friday the weather had done an abrupt turnaround and spring was now fully upon them in all its colorful glory.
But the boys were nowhere to be seen when she stepped outside. Instead, Will waited there for her.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Mr. Baxter! Is everything all right? Where are Micah and Edward?”
“They’ve gone fishing at the river with David and the others,” he told her. “Apparently, the boys in town have decided that all of the fish will be gone forever if they don’t catch them today.”
“I see.” She hesitated.
“I told them I would see you home. I hope that’s all right.”
“That’s very kind of you.” An awkward silence fell as they set off. “Do you think they’ll catch anything?” she asked, after a moment.
“A cold, possibly.” Will chuckled. “Probably mud and trouble, but I doubt many fish just yet.”
“Mr. Baxter --”
“Please, call me Will. I think we know each other well enough by now to use first names.”
“All right, Will, as long you’ll agree to call me Victoria.” She stopped and peered up at him. Taking a deep breath, she plunged on with the words that had been on the tip of her tongue for weeks now. “Will, I owe you an apology for what I said when we first met. I didn’t realize you are a widower.”
“Thank you, Victoria.” He flashed her a quick smile as he spoke her name for the first time. “And I owe you one as well. I’m afraid I was a bit harsh with you. Shall we start again? As friends this time.”
She shivered at the way her name sounded on his tongue. “Friends. That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
“Are you cold?” he asked, frowning slightly. “Would you like my coat?”
“Don’t be silly. It’s perfectly lovely out here. In fact, I was just thinking about going for a walk in the woods to see some if any spring flowers are blooming yet.”
“The daffodils and crocus are popping up all over the place,” Will said. “And there may be some wake-robins along the trail. Would you -- would you like to go for a walk in the woods with me?”
His warm dark eyes locked with hers, and she found herself nodding. “I’d like that, Will,” she said, her voice unsteady.
They had reached the gate. She thought his hand trembled as she undid the latch and opened it for her, but surely she was mistaken. “I’ll just need a moment to drop my things inside,” she told him, gesturing with her bag. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be waiting right here,” he promised.
# # #
Will fought back the urge to turn tail and run. What on earth had he been thinking? He had intended to talk to her about the school, and about the rumors he had heard about her having difficulty controlling some of the older students. He meant to be firm and professional with her, reminding her that she only had nineteen students at this point. Instead, here he was waiting to go traipsing through the woods with her in search of spring flowers.
I’m sorry, Melanie, he thought. These are your woods, your flowers, and I’ve no right to share them with another woman.
Victoria emerged from the house just then and hurried down the walk toward him. “Ready?” she asked.
No! his mind shouted, but he realized he was smiling and nodding at her instead. He held out his arm.
“This whole area used to have more trees,” he explained as they strolled. “We lost so much in the fire, but we’re pretty lucky compared to some of the other towns. We lost a hotel and a few houses, but most of Serenity was spared when the fire turned just outside of town.”
“It hit us hard in Port Huron, too,” she told him. They passed the schoolhouse and headed down a small path that went through a burned-out area before entering the woods. “Our-- my home was spared, but most of my neighbors weren’t as lucky.”
They continued on in companionable silence. The tall pines cast shadows around them, while the oaks and maples were still leafless and empty. Victoria cried out with pleasure whenever she spotted a cluster of daffodils or tiny crocuses, and she even clapped her hands with delight when he showed her the delicate wake-robins.
“There’ll be trillium here later, and columbine,” he explained. “And wait’ll you see the tulips come up at the Visser’s. Their mother brought bulbs over from the Netherlands. I’ve never seen anything like them, that’s for sure. And in the summer, we get tiger lilies and big red poppies all along this trail. I’ll have to show them to you.”
“I’d like that. I’ve never met a man who knew so much about flowers,” Victoria commented.
“My Melanie loved them,” he said, and regretted it instantly.
She seemed to sense his discomfort. “How -- how long has it been?”
“Eight years. You?”
“Seven months. Does it get easier with time?”
“No.”
She was silent as they continued along the trail. Eventually, they came to a small clearing, and he stopped to spread his coat out on a large boulder.
“Have you always lived in Serenity, Will?” she asked, sitting down on the coat.
He sat next to her. “No, I grew up in a logging town a few days north of here. I started cutting trees with my pa, but I got an itch to travel. Spent a few years out west before I realized I missed the trees. There’s just something about Michigan that draws a soul back,” he sighed.
“I feel it, too,” Victoria said softly.
“My Melanie was a prairie girl,” he said, after a moment. “I met her in Kansas and brought her back with me. I think she missed the open spaces as much as I missed the trees, but she sure loved the flowers here.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, how did she --?”
The words hung between them for a long moment.
“Scarlet fever,” Will finally said. “I thought it was just a spring cold, but she got worse and worse until she took to bed. I rode to the next town for a doctor as soon as I recognized the rash, but by the time we returned she was gone. David was only five years old.”
“I’m so sorry, Will.”
“Thank you.” He bent over a plucked a bright yellow daffodil, rubbing the petals between his big fingers. “What about your husband? What happened?”
“The doctors never gave it a name,” she sighed. “It was something inside him that ate away at him. He kept getting smaller and weaker every day, and at the end he also ended up with a fever. Doctor Winslow said it was because his body was trying to fight the disease. We were married for nearly two years, and Jonathon was sick for more than half of our married lives.”
“I’m sorry.” Cautiously, he put his hand on top of hers. Just comforting another human being, that’s all, he told himself. Another human being who also happened to be a beautiful woman. “’And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him’. That’s one of my favorite verses. I never really feel alone because I’ve always got my Melanie with me in m
emories, but I wonder sometimes why God gave her to me if He was only going to take her away. Do you ever feel the same?”
She drew a ragged, shuddering breath. “Oh, yes,” she whispered. “Every day. I miss Jonathon and feel so alone. I know I should be grateful that we had our time together, no matter how short, but I am so lonely at times. I don’t want to question God’s will. I just want my darling Jonathon back, if only for one more day.”
Will kept his hand on hers and nodded. They sat in silence then, feeling the touch of spring sunshine warming their faces as the act of sharing their pain warmed their hearts.
For the moment, at least, no words were necessary.
Chapter 11
“Did you hear about Grace Anderson?” Hannah demanded the moment Victoria came through the door.
“No, has something happened to her?” Victoria blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the dim interior after the tranquil sunshine outside. She’d met Grace a few times, but the grieving woman had had little to say. Victoria’s heart went out to her.
“Something wonderful!” Hannah seized her arm and dragged her into the kitchen. “I’m all in a tizzy over it! I have to start supper, but I’ve got to tell someone, and you took forever to get home and --say, where have you been, anyway?”
“I went for a walk in the woods.” It wasn’t a lie. Not exactly. “But what’s happened to Grace?”
“She and her husband are going to meet the Orphan Train!”
“No!”
‘Yes!” Hannah tossed her an apron. “Here, help me peel the potatoes,” she said. “You’ve heard of the Orphan Trains? They’re mostly older children, but Grace’s husband Rich just found out that the newest train will have babies! Little wee ones in need of parents, isn’t that the saddest thing you’ve ever heard? It almost makes me want to adopt one myself, although Lord knows I don’t need any more little ones running around here! At any rate, Grace and Rich are going to Grand Rapids to meet the train over the weekend.”
“They’re going to adopt a baby?” Victoria asked when the other woman finally stopped to take a breath. “That seems awfully soon, doesn’t it?”
“Well, we really don’t know how long she’s been thinking about it, now do we? Poor thing, I saw her at Will’s store today, and she was actually smiling. I haven’t seen her smile since . . . well, you know.”
“Yes, I know.” Victoria studied the potato in her hand. Grace was putting her grief behind her and adopting a child. She was healing in her own way, Victoria supposed. If she allowed herself to love a new child, did that mean she was healing from the pain over the one she had lost?
She thought about her moments in the woods with Will and the feeling of peace that had taken over when she talked to him about losing Jonathon. Was it truly possible, she wondered, to ever let go of the pain without letting go of the love?
The question troubled her throughout the long weekend. For some reason, every time she thought of Jonathon, she found her mind wandering to Will and those quiet moments they had shared in the woods. Forgive me, my love, she kept repeating, but the words didn’t bring her any peace.
By Monday, she was in a foul mood, and the children seemed bent on making it worse. Gerrit VanDam whined so much about a sore throat that she finally asked his brother to take him home after lunch. Later, Neil and Seth Conway were even more disrespectful than normal, and Robert seemed bent on egging them on. Every time she turned her back to them to write on the board, they made animal noises or sounds of bodily functions, and at one point she was hit by a flying spit wad that struck her in the back of the neck.
“Who did this?” She demanded in disgust.
Even some of the younger children were trying not to laugh. Victoria stormed between the desks, glaring at each student in turn, determined to force the truth out of one of them. She saw Robert turn his body at a strange angle, as though trying to hide something.
“Robert Visser, stand up immediately,” she snapped.
His grin got even bigger as he rose his feet. “I didn’t shoot no spit wad,” he drawled. You can’t prove nothing.”
“What’s that you’re trying to hide?”
“Nothin’.”
She said nothing, just stared at him. His grin slowly faded and he shuffled his feet.
“Just show her, Robert,” Micah whispered.
Robert glared at his younger brother.
With a sigh, Victoria turned back to the front of the room and made her way to her desk. The first week went so well, she thought. How did I lose control so quickly this week?”
Suddenly, Robert let out a yelp. Something clattered to the floor, and a gasp went through the classroom. She whirled back and saw his pocket knife skittering across the floor while he doubled over in his seat, clutching his hand to his chest. Bright red blood seeped between his fingers.
“What happened?” she demanded, crossing to him in an instant. But there was no need for him to answer because she understood immediately what had happened.
There, on the edge of his wooden desk, were some very foul words that the boy had been carving into the surface with his pocket knife while the other boys snickered and urged him on. When she had turned to return to her desk, he had gone back to his project and slipped with the knife in his haste.
“Robert, let me see your hand,” she demanded, kneeling beside him.
Biting his lip, he held out the injured hand. It was bad, she saw right away. The knife’s tip had sliced through his palm, nearly all the way from ring finger to thumb.
Several of the smaller children squealed. Her stomach lurched, but she did her best to appear calm. “Esther Foote, will you please take the little ones outside for an extra recess?” she said, seeking out her oldest female student with her gaze. “Emily Phillips, please help her with them. Micah, can I trust you to go get Mrs. Conway?”
“Yes’m,” he said, his voice quavering.
“Go get her, please. Run just as fast as you can, all right?” Victoria wrapped her own handkerchief around the wound.
“Yes’m.”
She glanced up. The two Conway boys were towering over her and Robert, but Seth had gone white as a sheet. He’s going to faint, she realized. “Seth Conway, sit down!” she snapped. “Goodness, you two giants are blocking the light and I can’t see a thing! Neil, you’re a bit smaller. Come down here and help me hold Robert still.”
Seth dropped into his seat and took several deep breaths. For an instant, his gaze met hers over Robert’s head, and she gave him a small, quick nod.
Thank you, he mouthed silently.
By the time Micah returned with Nellie Conway, the bleeding had slowed down on Robert’s hand and most of the color had returned to Seth’s face. The red-haired woman opened her bag and knelt beside Robert to examine the wound. “Can you move all your fingers?” she demanded.
He did, and she breathed a sigh of relief. “Not as bad as it looks,” she clucked. “I’ll stitch it up for you, but you’ll have to be careful with it until it heals up. It’s in a terrible spot to keep still. And I wager you’ll be more careful with that knife next time.”
Nellie ordered her oldest son outside to help with the other children while she took care of Robert’s hand. “Keep it clean,” she admonished when she was done. “I’m no doctor, and I can’t help you if it gets infected. You’re lucky I was in town at the store and could get here so quickly.”
“Th-thank you,” he wavered.
“I’ll give him a ride home if you like,” she told Victoria. She grinned. “It’ll be fun to see Hannah fly off the handle when she sees him all bandaged up. That girl jumps into hysterics faster than anyone I know.”
Victoria chuckled. A quick glance at her little watch told her that it was nearly time for school to be finished for the day anyway. She might as well dismiss them all at the same time.
First, however, there was something she needed to take care of.
“Neil, thank you for helping us keep him still,” she sai
d sincerely. “It’s nice to know I can count on you when I need help. You’re a good friend to Robert.”
The boy colored and mumbled something that may have been “you’re welcome.”
Nellie paused in the doorway to give her an appraising look. “You handled that very well,” she announced. “I figured you’d get all flighty and panicky at the sight of blood, but you’re tougher than you look.”
“Thank you.”
“Been around a lot of sick and injured people?” she asked.
Victoria shrugged. “I grew up on a farm,” she offered. “My mother was forever bandaging or sewing up some part of one of the farmhands. And my husband was . . .well, he was ill for a long time.”
Thankfully, Nellie didn’t ask any further questions. “Well,” she said after a moment, “I say we’re lucky to have you here. If I haven’t said it before, welcome to Serenity, Victoria.”
For some reason, those kind words made Victoria’s eyes tingle with tears.
Chapter 12
Hannah was surprisingly calm about her brother’s injury. By the time Victoria got home, he was already tucked into his bed while Hannah banged pots and pans together to make his favorite food for supper. “Can I help?” she asked.
Hannah waved her away. “I’m making bitterballen,” she explained. “Little meatballs. He begs for them every year on his birthday, but I think he should have some tonight, ja? Micah has gone to see if Simon can help with Robert’s chores and stay for dinner. Simon is such a dear friend to the boys, isn’t he? If you really want to help, you could go check on Robert and find something to entertain the little ones before they drive him crazy.”
Victoria hid a smile as she climbed the stairs to the room Robert shared with Micah. Yes, she decided, Simon really was a dear friend who obviously cared for the Visser family, one member in particular. Someday, she hoped, Hannah would realize that.
