PART 2
--IN THE SCHOOLROOM--
It was four o’clock
in the afternoon. The children had been
dismissed from school a half-hour ago and Franz Bhaer was sitting down at his
desk grading the day’s writing assignments.
Just as Franz drew another smiley face on Nat Blake’s latest story, Rob
came wandering into the room.
Something, however, stopped Franz from calling out Rob’s name. Holding onto Rob’s hand and following at a
very close distance behind Rob, was somebody that Franz had never seen before.
Rob and this stranger
were completely oblivious to the fact that Franz was even in the room. Franz watched with complete interest as Rob
pulled this unfamiliar, yet beautiful, young woman over to the bookshelves;
where Rob began pulling his favorite books off the shelf and showing them to
her.
Franz continued to
watch the pair for a few minutes then stood up and quietly walked over to
them. The woman’s back was toward Franz
so she didn’t see him walk over and stand right behind her. It wasn’t until she heard somebody begin to
speak that she realized she and Rob were not alone in the room.
“So, Rob, are you
planning on introducing me to your friend?” Franz asked his young cousin.
Franz took the stranger
by surprise so much so that she stood up a little too quickly, resulting in a
bit of a dizzy spell. Franz saw what
happened and reached out to help her right herself again.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Franz apologized.
“No, you didn’t
startle me…Well, yes, you did, but it was my fault. I didn’t realize you were in here. I’m sorry for intruding.
Robby just wanted to show me some of his books.” She finally got the courage to look up at
Franz for the first time. What she saw
surprised her. She was looking into the
most dashing blue eyes that she had ever seen.
“Don’t worry. No
intrusion here.” Franz looked back down
to Rob who was sitting on the floor, completely unaware of the conversation
going on above him. “Are you going to introduce your new friend to me?” Franz
asked Rob again.
Rob looked up long
enough to say, “Becky,” and went back to his books.
Becky couldn’t help
but smile. “Maybe I had better
introduce myself. I’m Rebecca Laurence, but please call me Becky.”
“Laurence? Are you related to Laurie?” The interest in this person was beginning to
increase.
“Actually, yes, I
am. I’m Laurie’s cousin. I’m staying with Laurie for a few months
while my father is away on business,” explained Becky. “In fact, I will be spending a lot of time
while I’m here teaching Robby to read and write.”
“So you’re going to
be around Plumfield a lot?” Franz asked, a little too quickly for his
sake. Fortunately, Becky didn’t notice.
“Yes, I guess so,”
Becky smiled at him. “You know, you
haven’t introduced yourself to me yet.”
She pointed out.
“I haven’t? Oh, I guess I haven’t, have I? Uh, I’m Franz
Bhaer. I’m Rob’s cousin.”
“And Jo’s nephew and
the schoolteacher here at Plumfield,” Becky continued for him.
“Right.”
“Pleased to me you,
Franz.”
“You too, Becky.”
A few uncomfortable
seconds passed and finally Robby spoke up from the floor where he was going
completely unnoticed. “Becky? Teach me
to read this book.” Rob handed Becky a very thick, nicely bound “War and
Peace”.
Franz and Becky both
began to laugh. Then Franz said, “It
looks like Robby wants you to stay more than a few months.”
--THE NEXT MORNING--
It was Saturday
morning, and Becky was finally able to rest up from her long trip from
Philadelphia the past few days. Later
that morning after breakfast at about ten o’clock, Amy insisted that she take
Becky in and show her around town. So
Amy and Becky got in the coach and went to town.
Amy began taking
Becky into the small shops that ran along the main street through Concord. They met up with many friends of Amy and
Laurie’s.
As they were walking
down the street, a very nice looking young man about 24 years old came walking
up to them.
“Mrs. Laurence. Hello!
Who is this lovely young woman with you. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting.
“Mr. Jacobs. This is my husband’s cousin, Rebecca
Laurence.” Amy turned to Becky. “Becky, this is Aaron Jacobs, Concord’s
lawyer. He just came from Boston to be
the town lawyer after old Mr. Johnson passed away a couple of months ago.”
“Nice to meet you,
Mr. Jacobs.” Becky greeted him with a kind smile.
“Pleasure to meet
you, Ms. Laurence. I really must get
going, but I certainly hope we get the chance to see each other again soon.”
Aaron had a strange grin on his face as he said that. A grin that Becky wasn’t so sure she liked. A grin that made her a little bit uncomfortable.
“What a nice young
fellow Mr. Jacobs is, Becky, and rich.
He came from a very wealthy family.
You really must get together with him sometime.” Amy said as she began
to walk back to the coach.
--LATER THAT
AFTERNOON--
Early afternoon came
around, and Becky decided to talk a long walk.
Laurie had told her about Ash Creek, a beautiful little creek that ran
by town, so Becky went in search of that.
As she was walking
down the road, she was deep in thought.
Thinking about a lot of things: her mother she never really knew, her
father that she missed dearly, and all of the new people that she had just met
in the past day since she had been here in Concord.
Her thoughts began to
wander to one specific person.
Franz. What a sweet guy he
seemed to be. Such a gentleman
too. The fact that he was rather cute
didn’t hurt. She hadn’t really found
out much about him yet, but she could tell that he was different. Different from any of the city guys that she
had met. Different from any of the guys that had come around asking to call on
her. Those guys always turned out to be
jerks; just trying to impress her with their money and wealth. Franz just didn’t seem like that type of
guy. But then again, she didn’t really
know him yet either.
Becky kept on walking
down the road. It wasn’t long before
she heard a horse coming up behind her.
Instead of turning around to see who it was, she just moved over to the
side of the road to let whoever it was pass her.
After a few seconds,
Becky realized that this person wasn’t going to pass her. She quickly turned around and saw Franz
sitting on top of his horse following right behind her.
“Wondering when you
were going to turn around and notice me.” Franz smiled at Becky, a twinkle in
his eyes. “But then it doesn’t surprise
me that you didn’t notice me.” Becky
had to smile at that comment.
“So where are you
headed?” Franz asked her.
“Laurie told me that
there is a creek up this road.”
“Yes, Ash Creek, about
a half a mile further up the road.” Franz jumped down off of his horse and
began walking beside Becky. “Do you
want any company, or would you rather be alone?”
Becky stopped
walking, and turned to him with a smile, “I would love the company, but I
wouldn’t want to keep you from anything,” she said, remembering that he must
have been on his way to do something.
“Nothing that can’t
wait till later.”
“Well, if you’re
sure.”
“Positive”
“OK, then.” They began the last half-mile of the journey
to the creek together.
After a couple
minutes of silence, Franz began the conversation. “You seemed to be in really
deep thought as I was riding behind you.
May I ask what you were thinking about?”
Becky could hardly
say that she was thinking about him. So
instead she said, “I was thinking about mother.” That’s true. She
was. Becky continued as if Franz had
asked her to continue, “I don’t remember my mother. She died of influenza when I was three. It’s just been my Father and myself since then.”
“Why is your Father
going to Europe?”
“Not sure. Business trip. That’s all I really know.
Father is a lawyer, and I guess he needs to meet up with another lawyer
in Europe for a private meeting. I’ve
never been away from Father before.” She added. Tears beginning to come to her
eyes.
“Must be hard on both
of you then.”
“Yes, it is hard. What about your parents?” Franz went on to talk about his parents,
what happened to them, and the rest of his family. By the time he finished, they had reached the creek.
Becky studied her
surroundings. The quickly flowing
creek, the big rocks around the creek, the beautiful green mountainous land in
the far distance.
“It’s so beautiful
here.” A glow was beginning to spread across Becky’s face.
“Yes, it is,” said
Franz, looking more at Becky than her surroundings. Becky smiled up at him, and then went to sit down on one of the
big rocks. Franz tied his horse to a
tree and joined her on the rock. They
began a conversation that lasted for three long hours.
