“Oh, sweetheart.” What could she possibly say to comfort her about her own leaving? She couldn’t lie and say she would stay. So, she just pulled her into her arms and let the girl sob into her shoulder. This child had already lost so much when her mother left, and now she believed everyone else she cared about was leaving too.
When they got Delia calmed down, Kathryn held her hand and led her back into Fae and Caleb’s living quarters, pulling the child up to snuggle in beside her on the settee.
“He left a note saying he was going to the train. His spelling isn’t that good, but at least that’s what it looked like.” Mrs. Hammond sat down beside them and reached out to caress Delia’s hair, as she patted at her own eyes with her hankie.
“Where is Colt?” Kathryn was suddenly feeling an irrational anger toward the man who should be here looking after his own son.
Mrs. Hammond shook her head. “I don’t know. After all the hubbub yesterday, he said he had to get away from here, and he was heading to Brookings so he wouldn’t be back for a few days. I just never thought Owen would run away. I should have been paying more attention, but I’ve just been so upset about everything and I guess…”
Kathryn reached out and put her hand on the older woman’s. “No, Mrs. Hammond, don’t blame yourself.”
Fae came over and crouched down in front of the woman. “And don’t worry. I know Caleb, and he won’t rest until he’s found Owen. There are enough men in town who can spread out and cover a lot of ground. The boy is on foot, so he can’t have gotten very far.”
As the sun set completely over the horizon on the other side of town, the women couldn’t do anything but sit there and pray they were right.
“We’ve still got men out looking, Mrs. Hammond. I just came back to let you all know what we’ve found so far, which isn’t much. And to see if there’s anything else in the note that might give us more of a hint.”
Kathryn kept her arms around Mrs. Hammond’s shoulders as the older woman desperately tried to think. “I should have brought it with me. I was just so upset, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. If you want to ride out to the farm, Caleb, it will still be on the table where I dropped it.” She shook her head sadly. “But it only had a few words, saying he was leaving home, and was headed to the train.”
Caleb thrust his hands through his hair like he was trying to think. The men had been out all night looking, and he’d just come back to the mercantile as the sun was starting to peek over the buildings in town. He looked ragged, and Fae was fussing and trying to get him to sit down and have some coffee.
“We’ve been all spread out along the roads that would lead to the closest train station, but that’s all the way in Brookings. There’s no way a boy would make it that far on foot. And we’re all on horseback, so unless he hitched a ride, he can’t be that far.”
Thankfully, Delia had fallen asleep and was tucked into a bed upstairs. The poor little girl had cried non-stop last night, sure that now she’d lost everyone in her family.
If Colt were here, Kathryn would give him a good piece of her mind for taking off and leaving the kids like this, and now not being here when his family needed him.
It was bad enough he didn’t care enough to be here and say goodbye to her, but to be off doing who knows what, when his family was going through such a crisis was simply irresponsible.
Kathryn shook her head and took a deep breath. She knew she wasn’t really being fair, because she knew the kind of man Colt was, and if he was aware of what was happening back here, he’d be heartbroken. If they couldn’t find Owen in time, he’d probably never forgive himself. He already carried so much guilt for what happened with his wife, and how it affected his children.
Suddenly, her heart dropped to her knees. Her mind flew back to that day when Owen had gotten into a fight because he was being teased about his mother.
“Did anyone actually just look around the farm? Or, have they all followed the roads leading to Brookings?”
She was already standing up, heading to the door.
Caleb shook his head. “We started at the farm and called out to him a few times before making our way in the direction he’d be headed. Why?”
“I think I might know where he is. Caleb, can you take me out to the farm, please?”
When Kathryn caught Mrs. Hammond’s hopeful gaze before she stepped out the door, she knew it would break her heart if Owen wasn’t there and she’d gotten his grandmother’s hopes up for nothing.
But something in her own heart told her the boy was exactly where she believed he was.
Chapter 23
“Just wait here, Caleb. I need to crawl back into the trees a bit, but if he’s in there, I think it’s better if only one of us goes in.”
Caleb reached up and helped her down from the wagon. “I sure hope you’re right, and that he’s been here the whole time. I’ll just wait here by the wagon but call out if you need me. I’m sure he’ll be fine, even if this is where he spent the night, but just in case…” his words trailed off as they both tried not to think the worst.
They’d parked back a bit from the little trail she knew went into the spot in the trees, because a wagon couldn’t make it in this far. As she walked, she vaguely noticed the joyful songs the birds were singing around her as they welcomed the sun. This was the familiar sound she’d grown so used to every morning since moving out here, and her heart ached knowing this would be the last time she’d hear it.
She got down and started crawling into the small opening she could see, pushing branches back to make her way. When she got in a bit farther, a small sob escaped as she recognized the familiar body curled up and sound asleep on the ground.
“Owen!”
Her skirt got caught under her knees as she tried to get to him faster so she could take him in her arms. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her, trying to make sense of where he was and what she was doing here.
Finally, the memory of why he was hiding in the trees must have come back and his eyes opened wide. “Miss Reeves! How did you find me?”
By now, she was close to him and pulled him over into her embrace. “Owen, you shouldn’t have run off like that. What were you thinking?”
She could feel his small body trembling slightly, and she realized he was likely chilled from sleeping outside all night. Even though it was the height of summer and the days were hot, the nights could often be chilly, especially for a child without enough clothes on.
She pulled her shawl from her shoulders and wrapped it around him.
“I was going to try to get to the train. But I didn’t know how. So I just needed to sleep and think on things.”
“You’ve had your poor grandmother, and Delia, and everyone else in town worried sick. And your pa isn’t going to be too happy when he gets home and hears what you did.” She didn’t mean to scold him, but the fear of the past few hours had taken a toll on her.
She was tired. This was the second time in just a few days she’d been up all night, and the distress of everything had finally caught up to her.
But when he lifted his eyes to hers, and she watched the lone tear make its way down his cheek, she couldn’t stay mad.
“What about you, Miss Reeves? Were you worried sick?”
She squinted in shock. “Owen, how could you even ask me that? Of course I was worried. I’ve been up all night fretting about you.”
He looked down and swallowed.
“Well, why would you be worried about me?”
Her mouth hung open, and she wasn’t sure what to say. The morning songs being sung in the trees around her seemed suddenly out of place in this moment as she struggled to figure out what had made Owen run away.
“I was worried because I care about you, Owen. Surely you know that. We all care about you.”
He looked up once more and held her eyes. “Then why are you leaving me too?”
All the air left her lungs as she heard the simple sentence spoken so quietly.
<
br /> Owen thought she was leaving him. He didn’t know what had really happened, so in his eyes, she was no better than his mother who’d walked out and left him behind.
In that moment, as she pulled him into her arms and let him cry into her shoulder, she knew she had to fix this. She couldn’t just leave him too.
At least, not without a fight.
She stood perfectly straight in the small church, facing the front where the superintendent of the district sat at a desk they’d set out for him to use.
Fae had tried to convince her to sit beside her on one of the pews, but Kathryn was determined to stand tall and not let them see her fear. Where just a few hours ago, she’d been prepared to leave Promise behind and go home without even arguing her case, now she was determined to win. And, if she didn’t, Owen would at least be able to understand some day that she had tried to stay.
After finding him this morning, Caleb had gone back to town to get Mrs. Hammond and Delia, while Kathryn had taken Owen up to the house. After everything was settled, she’d come back to get ready for the meeting that had been arranged with the school board and superintendent.
The laws around here were a bit primitive compared to back east, but the superintendent reported to the state, and made sure the little bit of money provided to the public schools was being used wisely.
And that included having a teacher who was following the guidelines that were set out.
Looking at the tiny man hunched over the papers in front of him, Kathryn wasn’t too sure what to think of him. So far, he hadn’t said much after coming inside, and just sat there reading.
Finally, he took a deep breath and looked up at her over the round glasses that sat down on the bridge of his nose. “It says here you were caught in a compromising position. Is this true?”
She held her head high as she spoke. “I wasn’t caught in a compromising position, but I did admit to having a visitor who it might seem to be inappropriate.”
Her cheeks started to burn as she felt all eyes on her. She knew Fae and Caleb were right behind her, along with Doc Jacobs, Reverend Moore, and a couple of other community members who made up the volunteer board.
But she also knew Mrs. Pembrooke and her husband were here, along with some of the parents from the private school who had always believed their children were more “privileged.” Obviously, the Pembrookes wanted to make sure they had people on their side too.
Mrs. Pembrooke stepped forward and looked at her accusingly. “She’s admitted to being with a married man, past dark, wearing only her nightgown. I don’t know what is considered proper lady-like behavior in the cities back east, but out here, we don’t stand for single women coming into town and throwing themselves at our menfolk.”
If not for the severity of the situation, Kathryn would have burst out laughing. Did she honestly believe any single woman would be coming along and throwing themselves at her meek husband?
“And what do the board members believe we should do in this situation?” The superintendent looked over his glasses at the others in the room. “We need to think of what’s best for the children and not base our decisions on any personal friendships we might have with Miss Reeves.”
Her heart started to pound in her chest as she waited.
Caleb was the first to speak behind her. “As the founding member of this school board, and one who has invested a great deal of money in the school itself, including contributing money toward the wages for Miss Reeves, I intend to make my voice heard. I’ve known her long enough to know that if she says the situation she was in was innocent, then I believe her. And I also believe her staying as the teacher is in the best interest of the children of Promise.”
The superintendent nodded and wrote something on the paper in front of him. “Anyone else have anything to say?”
“Yes, I’m about to have a child, and I believe I should have a say in who will be teaching them. Miss Reeves is the only teacher I would trust with my child.”
Kathryn spun around at the sound of Mercy’s voice as she came in the door. Behind her, lined up outside to come in, were faces she recognized as parents of the children in her school. All of them were holding the hands of her students who smiled when they saw her standing there.
Tears streamed down her face as one after another insisted she was the best teacher for the job, and if she wasn’t here, the school may as well close down.
This made Mrs. Pembrooke excited as she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, I’m glad everyone is finally seeing reason. There is no need for two schools in this town. If parents aren’t willing to pay the fees to ensure their children get the best possible education, then it’s too bad for them. But having a simple, little country schoolhouse is completely unnecessary when you have the best school in the state right on your doorstep.”
“You’re wrong, Mrs. Pembrooke. My little Hazel has learned more in just a few weeks at that little country schoolhouse then she’d ever learned in the months she was enrolled in your school.”
Mrs. Pembrooke looked around at the now almost completely full church and shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe every one of you is standing here condoning the behavior of your schoolteacher. Have you all forgotten that she was in a compromising position with a married man?”
Kathryn clenched her eyes closed for a moment, hoping the older children wouldn’t understand what Mrs. Pembrooke was trying to say.
“Well, I’d like it to go on the record to say the only thing Miss Reeves was caught in was a situation beyond her control when I showed up at her door. She was merely outside, enjoying the evening before I arrived, and had I been a proper gentleman, I would have left.”
Her eyes flew open at the sound of Colt’s voice. Her throat closed and her heart pounded as he held her eyes in his gaze while walking up the middle aisle toward her. Delia and Owen were on either side, and Mrs. Hammond right behind him.
“And, I’d also like it to go on the record that she wasn’t with a married man. Not anymore.” He held up some papers in his hand. “It was taking a bit longer than I’d liked for them to be signed and sent back to me by all the lawyers, so I went and got them myself.” He set them down on the desk in front of the confused superintendent.
“And, you are?”
“I’m Colt Hammond, the man who Miss Reeves is accused of being in a compromising position with. And I’m here to make it right so there is no room for gossip. I’m going to marry Kathryn Reeves, and if anyone ever dares to suggest anything improper about what she did, they will answer to me.”
Kathryn’s mouth fell open, and she pulled her eyebrows together. She was sure she looked just as confused as the poor superintendent behind her.
“But, I’m not…shouldn’t we…”
She was stammering and she didn’t know what to say. His eyes had never left hers, and her mouth was suddenly dry.
“Kathryn, I’m sorry you got dragged into this when there was never anything improper about two people who cared about each other having a conversation.”
“But, I don’t want you to feel like you have to marry me just to protect my name. That’s not fair to you. I know you never want to marry again.”
He came closer, taking her hands in his. For a moment, she forgot everyone else was in the room, breathlessly listening to every word.
“I’m not just marrying you to protect your name. I’m marrying you to protect my heart. Because I can’t imagine my life without you in it. There is only one woman in the whole world who would ever make me want to marry again, and that woman is you.”
Her lips opened, and she had to swallow against the lump in her throat. “But, what about the children?”
He looked down at the smiling faces looking up at them. “Well, I’ve talked things over with them, and they’ve already agreed that even if you don’t want to stay here as their teacher, they would really like it if you’d stay and be their ma.”
Her chin quivered as she fought against the tears.
Colt reached his hand out and gently cupped her chin. “I love you, Kathryn Reeves. And if you ever thought for a moment I was going to just sit back and watch you leave, then I question your sanity.”
Caleb was the first to give a happy cheer as he came over and slapped Colt on the back. “Congratulations, Colt.”
But Colt’s gaze was still on hers. “She hasn’t agreed to anything yet, Caleb.” He swallowed, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe as she held his gaze. “Kathryn?”
As she looked into the eyes that were so full of hope, and what she thought was maybe a little bit of fear at her saying no and walking away, her heart burst with pure joy.
This man was her future, and even if she was never able to teach another day in her little schoolhouse, she knew she would be happy as long as she was with him.
“Yes, Colt. I will marry you.”
As the cheers broke out in the church, with all the people who had become so dear to her, even Mrs. Pembrooke’s high-pitched voice still arguing her case was drowned out.
She didn’t even care that she was now being lifted into the arms of the man she was going to marry, in the middle of a church, and his lips were on hers in front of the entire community.
When he pulled his head back and smiled down at her, she knew every prayer she’d ever sent up had just been answered.
She loved Colt and now she knew with certainty, he loved her too.
She was where she had always been meant to be.
Epilogue
“Well, my dear, I never thought it would be possible to agree with you, but I think I finally believe you made the right decision to move out here. I don’t remember a time when I’ve seen you more happy or glowing than you are right now.”
Kathryn smiled up at her father as they stood in the shade of the tree. It had been a perfect day for her wedding, and she was so happy that her family had come all the way here for it.
“Thank you for coming.” She turned and grinned at her sister, Emma. “Maybe you’ll want to stay out here for a while and see just how perfect life in the country really is.”
Love is Patient Page 12
