The Uncharted Beginnings Series Box Set

by Keely Brooke Keith

  Olivia hummed an exhalation and glanced around. There weren’t any people in sight. A jackrabbit scampered into the forest. She watched it in the distance behind Gabe. “Where do I start? Some of the students have forgotten what little arithmetic they knew. I had an eight-year-old who couldn’t tell me how many were in a dozen and a seven-year-old who thought the number 4 was a letter.” Her hand fluttered in frustration. “I wouldn’t mind all the review lessons, but some parents see our isolation as proof the children only need to learn practical skills. One mother told me not to muddle up her child’s brain with unnecessary subjects like Geography and Algebra.”

  She took a slow breath as Gabe listened. His attentiveness tempted her to mention her concern with the Cotters and the Vestals, but Doctor Ashton had admonished her not to speak of families’ private matters. “This village needs a dedicated schoolhouse, so that the students can focus. Right now they are distracted by chores and their parents and…” As her agitation mounted, her hand gestures grew. “I am distracted by their parents. I truly believe this settlement will be a flourishing society someday. We will need formally educated citizens. Even though most of the adults here were educated in America, no one seems to care anymore.”

  Gabe took the hand she was waving. He held her fingers firmly in his broad palm. “I care.”

  “Then will you tell the elders to set aside land and build a schoolhouse for me?”

  His eyes searched her face, but for what she didn’t know. “I can’t. You know the rules. Everyone is supposed to take concerns in regard to any settlement business to their family elder. Since your elder is still your father, it’s up to him to decide how to handle it or take it to the elders.”

  She yanked her hand away from his gentle grip. “What do you mean since my elder is still my father? How could that change?”

  Gabe moved close and lowered his voice to a near whisper. “If a woman marries an elder, he would become her spokesman to the elder council.”

  “How does that apply to me? The village elders are all married men, most of them over forty, all with several children. I would never marry one of them!”

  “I didn’t mean you should marry a current elder.” Gabe groaned. “If you were to marry a firstborn son, who would inherit his father’s position, he could speak for your interests in elder meetings.”

  “That is ludicrous! I’m not going to marry, let alone for the sake of having my concerns heard by a husband instead of a father.”

  He patted the air with a placating hand. “I’m not saying you should. You asked how to change your elder, so I told you how you could change. It was hypothetical.”

  “Forget hypothetical. Since my father won’t help me get a schoolhouse built, I should change things myself.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I could go to Reverend Colburn personally.” Olivia pointed at her satchel and he slid the strap off his shoulder and passed it to her. “I could prepare a convincing argument and persuade him to authorize the schoolhouse.”

  “It wouldn’t do any good. The elders decide on land and building issues together.”

  The breeze picked up and tossed a strand of Olivia’s hair across her face. Before she could move it off, Gabe traced it behind her ear. His caring touch felt sincere no matter what Peggy had said about his flirtatious ways. Maybe that was it: maybe his blithe attitude and inclination to touch combined to give the impression of insincerity when he had actually grown into a caring man who would one day become a village elder.

  …one day become a village elder.

  He had suggested she marry a man who would one day inherit his father’s position on the elder council to give her more influence in the village decisions. Surely he hadn’t meant himself. If he had, was he teasing her? Testing her? Since she hadn’t swooned when he flirted, had he thought hinting at marriage would stir a discernable reaction? It hadn’t.

  Or was he simply saying marriage is one way to change her situation?

  Regardless of his meaning or motive, she would not respond. He was standing inches from her, gazing down at her with eyes so clear she wondered if she looked long enough she might see his soul. A dark blue circle outlined his crystalline irises. She’d never noticed that before. The brown of his lashes was a shade darker than his eyebrows. She hadn’t noticed that before either.

  His gaze was set on her as deeply as hers was on him. “Sundown tonight,” he said.

  “Pardon?”

  “The Ashtons are babysitting for Jonah and Marian this evening so we can go to the shore and have a campfire like we used to. The moon will be full. Mr. Weathermon believes it will be the last clear night for a while.”

  “Oh,” Olivia’s cheeks heated.

  Gabe squinted slightly and smirked. “What did you think I meant?”

  “No, I… didn’t think anything,” she lied. “Yes, a campfire with friends. That sounds like… exactly what I need.”

  “Good.” He pointed a thumb to the west. “The elders have given me the land I wanted. It runs from behind Jonah’s property all the way to the big stream. I’m going to clear the area nearest Mr. Weathermon’s cabin to build a house soon. The men volunteered to take turns giving up a morning of their work to help me clear land and hew the logs. They want to finish before winter, so I probably won’t see you around the village for a while. I was hoping you would come to the beach tonight.” He pointed his ax at the workshop. “I have to sharpen this and get back to work. I could come to your house before sundown and walk you to the shore if you like. Henry can go ahead for us and build the fire.”

  “Has anyone invited Peggy yet?”

  He shrugged one shoulder.

  She hoped his indifference was sincere. Still, Peggy was her friend. “I will go to her house this afternoon and tell her about the campfire. She hates walking to the beach alone, so she will want to walk with me. But thank you for your offer.” She adjusted the strap of her satchel. “We will meet you there at sundown… like old times.”

  “Old times…” Gabe rubbed his thumb along the ax’s handle. “I hope not.”

  Chapter Six

  Olivia straightened the buttoned cuffs at her wrists as she hiked along the sandy path to the shore. She’d spent the afternoon mending the hem on her day dress, washing her hair, and practicing ladylike postures in the mirror. And now, walking beside the spring-curled Peggy Cotter to the beach, she felt like a drab schoolteacher.

  And sand was leaking into her boots.

  Peggy’s cuffs were ruffled layers of elegant lace. She’d spent the last ten minutes boring Olivia with every detail of their intricate stitching. The corset Peggy wasn’t supposed to be wearing unnaturally shaped her posture, forcing her bosom forward and her rump backward like a queen bee.

  As they approached the beach, the fading daylight confirmed a finely ground starch concoction hid the blemishes on Peggy’s chin. Olivia felt foolish for even trying to primp for the evening. One look at Peggy and Gabriel McIntosh would forget Olivia existed.

  That was for the best. She had no business hoping for his attention. She’d never fallen in love in her life. Perhaps her cold heart was simply incapable. Regardless, she’d wasted an afternoon thinking a little effort on her part might make her look like other women. It didn’t matter because there was no chance she would be like other women.

  She’d also hoped the ten-minute walk to the shore would provide her with an opportunity to ask Peggy about Mrs. Cotter’s rude behavior. The roar of the breaking waves grew louder as they closed in on the shore, and her chance was slipping away. As they neared the end of the path through the whistling tussock grass, Peggy finally ended her discourse on the nuances of lacemaking with, “…which is why I would never use the thread made from Mrs. Roberts’ silk fibers.”

  Olivia sighed. “Eventually, you will run out of the thread you brought to this land, and you will be glad Mrs. Roberts knows how to keep silkworms.”

  They passed the cairn that marked the place whe
re the settlers first came ashore. Beyond the stone pillar, three log benches encircled a cone-shaped pile of wood and sticks. A wisp of smoke rose from its center as Gabe and Jonah stoked the campfire to life.

  Marian was between the campfire and the waterline, gathering seashells. Her silky blond hair was pinned back on one side, exposing her ear, and tumbled down her back in golden layers. When she spotted Olivia, she waved with vigorous enthusiasm and hurried toward her.

  Peggy shielded her mouth with her gloved hand. “Goodness, what a ninny!”

  Olivia flashed Peggy a scolding stare, raised the front of her dress, and ran to meet her dearest friend with equal exuberance. Marian welcomed her with a warm embrace, then linked arms with her like they did when they were schoolgirls. Olivia glanced back at Peggy. She was nearing the campfire, sashaying for Gabe’s attention.

  “Don’t worry about her,” Marian said. “Let’s look for pretty shells before we lose the last light of day.”

  Olivia tightened her shawl around her shoulders. “I should say hello to Gabriel and Jonah first.”

  “We will just be a moment. It’s almost dark. This is my first time away from home without the baby, and I intend to enjoy it.”

  The youthful energy of Marian’s happiness stirred something in Olivia—something she thought was gone. “All right.” She cast her gaze across the darkening ocean. “Just for a moment.”

  As they strode farther from the growing campfire, Olivia scanned the tide-flattened beach for shells. The black point of a shark’s tooth protruded from the sand. She plucked it out and handed it to Marian. “Do you still collect these?”

  “Oh, yes. Thank you.” Marian slipped it into the pocket of her lavender dress then picked up a tiny clamshell. “Look how little this is. Must have been a baby. I wonder how my Frederick is doing with his grandparents right now.”

  Olivia smiled at her. “He couldn’t be in more capable hands.”

  “You’re right.” Marian slipped the miniature shell into her pocket. “I’m always with him, and if I’m not, I’m thinking about him.”

  “I’ve heard that new mothers fall in love with their babies just as powerfully as they did with their husbands. Is it true?”

  Now it was Marian who smiled. “I suppose that depends on the woman and her relationship with her husband. I’m certainly in love with them both—Jonah and Frederick. It’s two different loves, but equal in magnetism. I’m enjoying my evening out, but it’s all I can do not to run back to the Ashtons’ house to see my baby.”

  “Ah, then I shall keep you occupied.” A scattering of coral beads caught Olivia’s eye. After a quick survey of the fading daylight, she pointed at the multi-colored bits of coral. “Let’s get a few of these and then go back. They have the fire going, and you probably want to spare Jonah from Peggy’s flirtation.”

  “She doesn’t try that with him anymore, and if she did, Jonah knows how to handle her.” Marian’s gaze fell on the coral beads, and her eyes widened. “Oh, these are pretty! They would make a lovely bracelet, don’t you think?”

  Olivia heard Marian’s words, but her attention was fixed on Peggy and Gabe. He squatted near the fire with a poker stick in hand, while Peggy stood upwind of him, no doubt hoping her feminine scent would draw him from his fire stoking. Her lips moved with incessant chatter. Lord only knew what she was saying to him. Or how he would respond. Why hadn’t he responded yet?

  “Olivia?”

  She snapped her attention away from Peggy and Gabe. “Pardon?”

  Marian erected her posture and glanced over Olivia’s shoulder. “Try as she may, Gabriel is not interested in her.”

  “That isn’t the way she tells it.”

  “I know what Gabriel wants and it’s not Peggy Cotter. Forget what she says,” Marian held out a fistful of coral pieces, “and watch what she does.”

  Peggy was trying to get Gabe’s attention, but he didn’t give it. Olivia thought back. It often looked like that, though in private Peggy insisted otherwise. Maybe Marian was right. She did know Gabe better these days since he and her husband were close friends.

  Olivia accepted the beads. “Don’t you want to make a bracelet out of these?”

  “You should have them. Make a necklace. The colors will look beautiful against your skin.”

  “Not that it would matter on a schoolteacher.”

  “What does that mean? Why shouldn’t a teacher have pretty things?” Marian brushed the sand from her palms and continued without giving her a chance for rebuttal. “You have been listening to Peggy too much. Has nothing changed since our schooldays?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Peggy always wanted all the boys’ attention. If Gabriel paid you any mind, Peggy would berate you in her cunning I’m-doing-this-for-your-own-good way. Does she still do that?”

  “Sometimes. But she’s only trying to protect me.”

  “You don’t still believe that, do you?” Marian clicked her tongue. “She is the only other woman in the settlement our age. We will have to deal with her schemes all our lives if she doesn’t change. And yes, she is our friend and there are times when she means well, but don’t let her lies blind you to what God has for you. It’s time to see each other as adults. We aren’t thirteen anymore.”

  The blunt summation of her relationships cut sharper than Peggy’s criticism, but it wasn’t Marian’s fault. Olivia glanced back at the campfire. Gabe was gathering sticks, and Peggy was coyly swishing her skirt as she followed him through the sandy grass, chatting.

  Olivia stood still. Her mind froze while childhood whirled past on one side and adulthood stalled on the other. She’d wanted the elders to see her as a grown woman, and yet she still saw her peers as if they were adolescents. But how could she move past schoolyard attitudes if Peggy was whispering lies to her?

  In an isolated settlement every relationship was important. She wouldn’t destroy one of her few friendships over this. But Marian was right: things had to change.

  Her eyes lost focus as she stared at the movement around the campfire. “Peggy has a way of convincing me. She says Gabe is only kind to my face, but he laughs about me later.”

  Marian shook her head. “Never.”

  “What about when we were—”

  “Thirteen?”

  “Well… yes.”

  “Are you still sore about that? Boys tease girls. It happened to all of us.”

  Olivia remembered their school years differently. Hers was a daily battle against an invisible monster, and she had decided it was better not to be intimately known than to be known and mocked. Even now she couldn’t fully explain her sensitivity without giving away her secret. “I guess he picked the wrong days to tease me and it stuck with me.”

  Marian touched her arm. “We have all changed.”

  “Yes, and Peggy says Gabe is now just a tomcat.”

  “Gabriel McIntosh has grown into a charming, but honest man. He lives beyond himself, which is more than I can say for Peggy.” Marian motioned toward the village. “Look at all that he has helped build. And there have been days when he has worked from sunrise to sunset and then he goes with Jonah to check on Mr. Weathermon.”

  “But he still jokes around a lot too.”

  “Sometimes a sense of humor can lighten the heaviest woes.”

  It was true and she’d often benefitted in spirit from Gabe’s desire to lift her mood. He was charming, but wasn’t charm deceptive? “He can be so flirtatious.”

  “He’s personable with everyone, but flirtatious?” A smile curved the edge of Marian’s mouth. “Only with you.”

  A twinge of regret gnawed inside her. “And here I’ve made a habit of cutting him short because Peggy says he is like that with all the girls.”

  “You must ignore Peggy. Before Jonah and I were married, she swore he was intrigued with her. He wasn’t then, and Gabriel isn’t now. Henry was the only man who ever liked her, poor fellow, and he’s even grown to see past her pretty face. What h
e discovered beneath was not the godly woman he hoped to find. Are you going to keep your confidence in Peggy’s lies, or see her for who she is?”

  Olivia watched Peggy and Gabe as Henry arrived at the campfire. Gabe thrust his hand forward, and Henry shook it. Peggy immediately flung herself between them and spread her hands on Henry’s lapels. Her behavior did seem contrary to her claim that she had no romantic interest in Henry.

  At once, Olivia saw them as they were. Gabe was not the insatiable flirt. Peggy was.

  Gabe had said he hoped their gathering tonight was not like old times. Maybe this was what he meant.

  His insightfulness stunned her. It wouldn’t be the first time others saw something she could not. She couldn’t stop the monster from blinding her to words, but she could stop Peggy from blinding her to Gabe.

  “No. I won’t listen to her.” Olivia stepped closer to Marian. “Not anymore.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. So taking Peggy’s schemes out of the equation, what do you see between you and Gabriel?”

  Good question. If his kind words and tender affections had been sincere, she might believe he was in love with her. If so, was she capable of falling in love? Was that what she wanted?

  He had plenty of admirable qualities, but to allow him to truly love her would require him to know her completely. That felt too risky. She could ignore Peggy’s lies and accept Gabe as sincere, but she couldn’t give herself permission to fall in love. Not the kind of love that brought marriage and babies and not being able to leave the house without yearning to be back home with said husband and babies. Not yet. Not without building the trusting relationship that sort of life depended upon.

  “Well?” Marian asked, waiting for her answer. “What do you see between you and Gabriel?”

  She dropped her shoulders. “I think he might admire me.”

  Marian raised her eyebrows, scrunching the flawless skin of her forehead. “You think?”

  “Yes. Maybe. He has said some sweet things—”