Love's Sweet Surrender (6 page)

“It don’t matter no more. Poppa says that we’ll be fine.” He jumped off the porch and ran out to meet his friends in the yard.

Lily sat there for a few minutes before she retreated to the schoolroom.

It would be difficult to teach the little girl if she didn’t speak, but maybe she could reach her a different way.

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Love’s Sweet Surrender

37

As she slowly walked back toward her house, thoughts of how to reach the little girl raced across her mind. The other children in the school were very independent, and with some encouragement and direction they would do fine, but Anne she wasn’t so sure about. That small child needed something more, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to help her.

I need to talk to Anne’s father. Maybe I can go out to their place this
Saturday to speak to him.
Or maybe I’ll send a note to him through Johnny,
to come into town to talk to me. That would kill two birds with one stone
since I wanted to thank him anyway.

Her mind made up, she quickened her steps as she got closer to her little house. When she had reached it, she was surprised to see Madge sitting on her porch.

“Madge,” Lily said, smiling at her friend. “It’s nice to see you. What can I do for you?”

“I need your help, Lily.” The tone of Madge's voice made Lily worry.

“Help?” Lily took the seat next to her. “What can I do to help you?”

“I hate to even ask since you’ve only been here in town for a few days.

Actually, never mind.” Madge started to rise from her place next to Lily until the younger woman grabbed her arm and pushed her back down in the chair.

“What is it, Madge? I’ll help you any way I can. I hope you know that.

You’ve been more than kind to me since my arrival here, and I want to repay you somehow.”

Madge sighed in a rush of air. “Well, you see, it’s my nephew. He’s a good man and all, but he never had a real education. You know, going to school regularly. His parents died when he was just a boy, and then he came to live with me since I'm his only kin. His name is Daniel, and well, I’m not much help to him since I don’t have the patience to teach someone, so I wondered if…” Madge's voice trailed off, and she chewed her lower lip.

“Wondered if what?” Lily asked even though she was pretty sure she knew what her friend wanted to ask.

“Can you help him? I mean, learn to read better and do numbers and such? He’s a fast learner. He’s been such a help to me at the boarding house with the repairs and things, but I really want him to be able to better himself, and I don’t think he can do that with his limited education.”

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Sandy Sullivan

“Of course. I would be glad to help him if I can, but he has to want to learn it. Many times adults aren’t willing to learn new things.”

When she remembered the man who had brought the tub to her at the boarding house, she recalled he was a fairly big man, standing taller than she and with handsome features. He had big brown eyes, brown hair, a slim jaw line and a hawk-like nose, and he'd talked very softly. He had pretty much whispered the whole time he had been near her.

“I’m sure he’ll be delighted to have you help him, but he’s a proud man, so I need to be very careful how I approach him with this. I need him to think it's his idea, if you know what I mean.” Madge winked, and Lily grinned.

“I know exactly what you mean. You just let me know when he wants to start, and I’ll give it my full attention, but, of course, you understand, the children come first.”

“Of course, of course,” Madge assured her. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. The children of this town are our future, and we must protect them at all cost.” Madge spoke with such fever that it took Lily by surprise because she knew Madge had said she had no children.

“Yes, well, I should be getting on inside. I have a lot of work to catch up on this evening before classes tomorrow. I have a notebook full of notes on each child I need to study.” Lily stood, ready to make her way into the house.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken up so much of your time. Thank you for being so willing to help my nephew. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to have you teach him.”

Madge stepped off the porch and headed back toward the boarding house as Lily watched.

* * * *

“Daniel? Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, Aunt Madge.” Daniel swung the hammer in his hand, nailing a loose board on the stair.

“Wouldn’t you like to be able to do better with your reading and sums?”

“I’ve never thought about it, why?”

“I just thought you might want to get better at them.”

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Love’s Sweet Surrender

39

“I guess so.” He shrugged and began hammering again until Madge interrupted.

“Well, with the pretty new teacher here, you might be able to get her to help you if you wanted to.”

“I suppose I could.”
That’s the last thing I need. Getting anywhere near
the schoolteacher was the worst idea I’ve ever heard. The more I’m around
her; the more likely she is to figure out who I am.

“I think you should ask the new schoolteacher to help you with your reading and numbers, Daniel. She’s a very sweet girl, and I’m sure she could help you tremendously. I want you to be able to do better for yourself than just helping me here, but to do that, you need an education.”

“I’m too old to learn those things, Aunt Madge.” He began to pace while he tried to think of some way out of this, now that he was sure his aunt was serious. He needed to figure out how to convince her it would be a bad idea to have the pretty new teacher anywhere near him.

“You are not, Daniel. You seem to have a knack for building things, like furniture and such, but she could help you so maybe someday you could sell them and make some real money.”

“All right. I’ll think about it, but no promises, and don’t try to convince me every day for the next month or two.”

“That’s all I ask, Daniel. That’s all I ask.”

She retreated back into the kitchen, leaving him alone to contemplate her words.
This just won’t do.
There is no way I can be that close to the
woman. Sooner or later, she would figure out who I am, and then there
would be trouble, big trouble. I'll have to think of some way to get out of this
hair-brained idea Aunt Madge has to get me educated.

“Educated, hell!” He knew all he needed to know to make a decent living robbing trains, but that damned Seth Sanford would have to be taken care of. So far, he didn’t think Seth had been able to recognize him behind the mask he wore while robbing the train, but Seth had ridden after him on that big black gelding of his and had almost caught him. Daniel had only been able to avoid him by mere minutes the other day, and it had scared the hell out of him. He would definitely have to be more careful.

* * * *

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40

Sandy Sullivan

The next day dawned bright and cold. Lily had to bundle up before she headed off to the schoolhouse. She sure hoped it would warm up a bit in the coming month. Thinking that it would be much warmer in Texas, she hadn’t packed much of her heavier clothing from Boston. When the crisp morning air hit her face, she was glad she had at least brought one of her heavier cloaks.

As she made her way along the street toward the school, a horse and rider came galloping full speed up the street to her right. Her foot connected with the edge of the boardwalk in front of the general store as the horse came skidding to a halt on its rear haunches when Carl pulled back on the reins. Startled, she lost her footing and nearly fell into its path. The next thing she knew, she was scooped up in a pair of strong arms and pressed tight to a muscular, broad chest while the dust and dirt flew around them.

“Damn it, Carl! You just about ran down the new schoolteacher.” The anger in the voice took her by surprise before she realized it was Seth Sanford holding her tight. The pleasant smell of musk and man met her nose and filled her senses.

After a moment he gently set her back onto her feet. Lily stood there for just a second longer with her head buried against his chest. She finally stepped back and with a shaky breath looked up into the deepest, bluest eyes she’d ever seen.
Sapphires. They are the color of sapphires.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Carl said, tying his horse to the rail. “I didn’t mean no harm, Seth.”

“Well, next time, be more careful, will you?” Seth’s angry glare while he reprimanded the man riding the horse was obvious to her even in her stunned state of mind. “It was hard enough finding this one. We don’t need to be looking for a new one so soon."

His gaze met hers, sending her heart to her toes.

“Thank you,” she whispered, and then swallowed, trying desperately to coat her parched throat. Stepping back, she looked down at her dress and brushed some of the dirt from her skirt.

“You’re welcome, ma’am.” His gaze skimmed over her, warming her flesh with his look. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Her voice warbled just a little as a tremor rippled through her. “Just a bit shaken up, that’s all. How can I thank you?”

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Love’s Sweet Surrender

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She looked back at the man and noticed how he had somehow lost his hat. His blond hair curled against the dark fabric of the shirt he wore. Her fingers itched to feel the texture of those curls before his voice pulled her out of the fog that had encompassed her brain.

“No thanks needed, ma’am.” Seth picked up his hat and started back to his wagon.

“Wait!” She turned to follow as he made his way toward the wagon.

He turned at the sound of her voice. “Yes?”

“At least let me introduce myself,” she said, stumbling over her words.

“I’m Lily Backman.”

“Yes, I know.” Seth turned his back to her, pulled his lean body into the front of the wagon and settled into the seat.

“And you are?” she asked, hoping he would take the hint and introduce himself.

“Seth Sanford, ma’am. I believe you have my three children in your class.” He bent down and grabbed the brake, releasing the wagon wheels.

“Oh yes, Johnny, Jarod and Anne. They appear to be very well-mannered children.”

“Thank you. Their momma did a good job with them. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get home to get them ready for school.” Seth snapped the reins, and the wagon jerked forward.

Lily stood in stunned silence as she watched the wagon pull away from her and head out of town. Not sure what to make of Seth Sanford, she picked up the basket she'd been carrying when the horse scared her, and she headed back toward the school. She had plenty to do without thinking about him and how nice it had felt being held against his chest.
It was just because
I was startled, that’s all.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she approached the school and stepped inside. There were lessons to prepare, and she had the daunting task of separating the children into groups according to their learning abilities and their ages today. She had hoped to be able to spend some one-on-one time with Anne, but it didn’t appear that was going to happen in the next few days. She needed to get the children on a schedule and figure out how to incorporate some games into their learning to keep their attention. Not having much time to prove her worth to the people of Parkville, she would have to create some vast improvements in the structure of the curriculum. It Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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Sandy Sullivan

was a daunting task, to say the least, but she felt exhilarated just thinking about it.

* * * *

Seth woke early the next day to a cloudy, almost rainy, morning. When he headed out to the barn to saddle his horse, the sight of the woman with her big green eyes floated in front of him. Trying to block the memory of her against his chest, he wiped his hand over his eyes.

Damn, it has been too long since I have been with a woman, that’s all
.

He shivered at the memory of her in his arms.

Six months.
It’s been six months since… since Victoria died.

The dimness of the barn fit his mood this morning as he saddled his horse to fix some fencing in the east pasture. Mounting the big gelding, he jammed his heels into the side of the powerful animal, and the horse broke into a full gallop within seconds. The gelding's hooves pounding into the dirt beneath him and the rush of air in his ears, usually helped to quell the memory of his wife, but today nothing seemed to dissipate the guilt surrounding him.

Victoria haunted him last night in his dreams again, calling to him to help her, but he couldn't reach her. She was always too far away with her hand outstretched, beseeching him. He had dreamt the same dream almost every night since her death, but last night it was different. No longer was it Victoria crying for him to help her. After the first few moments of the dream, the image changed. Now, it was the big, green eyes of Lily, the beautiful teacher, which disturbed his sleep.

Rain fell from the sky as he flew across the hills and valleys of his property. Pelting him with big drops, the rain soaked him to the skin in a matter of minutes. Instead of heading to the fence he knew he needed to repair, he headed to the hill with the big oak tree just past the river.

The horse skid to a halt beneath the tree and its rapid breathing filled the silence. The rain continued to come down in large drops as Seth slowly approached the stone resting beneath the tree.