Chapter 10

© Copyright 2008 by Elizabeth Delayne



“Pa?”

In the barn, already at his morning chores, with the sun barely at the horizon James braced himself for his son. If he could have answered without looking, he was sure it would have been easier, but Matt would wait him out. It was as if he wanted to make sure James wasn’t lying ... or making frivolous excuses.

And somehow, James feared, Matt saw more than he let on.

He turned, looked down at his son. “Yes?”

“Can I go to school today?”

It said something for Rachel’s influence that his son asked so precisely.

“It’s still a little chilly for your grandpa.”

“All right.”

Matt turned and headed back out of the barn. He acted so sweetly, it reminded him more of Anna than himself, and it caused a crack in his heart.

As it did every morning he asked.

Matt didn’t ask every day, not anymore. He accepted James’s excuses—for that’s all they were, really—and went on about the day as he had been taught. He didn’t whine or pitch a fit, he didn’t ask more than once. He didn’t ever go to his grandfather for a second chance.

It had gotten easier to lie, just a little, to his son.

The truth was, there had been times where the weather kept them home, when the tempertture made it impossible to travel the distance to town. James was worried about his father. He was older, not as able to handle the harsh conditions as he had at one time.

And if he ever said that to Gregory Forester himself, James knew his father would still have have had his hide.

It was just easier, all around, to keep Matt home.

For now.

Rachel—Miss. Lynne—was leaving, wasn’t she?

Before long she would return to Charleston. She wouldn’t come back. Her family was there. The conditions here, much more harsh.

Anna had thrived in this land.

Rachel couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

It was better to get Matt used to her absence, to her .... departure.

But the guilt had eaten at him, plagued him, until —against his better judgement----he’d invited Rachel personally to Matt’s birthday celebration.

He wasn’t such a bad father after all. He’d asked the one person Matt wanted. Set aside his own feelings ... no, not feelings. Concerns. He’d set aside his own concerns and done for his son the one thing that was sure to make him happy.

He would at least have this day to remember when she was gone.

James nodded, and went back to grooming his horse, still unsure of whether he meant himself or Matt would have the day to remember more ...

And in the background, the haunting question still echoed.

Can I go to school today?

* * *

Jasper, Millie’s husband, was carrying a box out of the store toward the waiting wagon when Rachel arrived. Rachel smiled as Jeff walked around the corner, carrying a smaller box, his eyes on his father as he mimicked his steps, even shifting the box when he reached the wagon side.

“Morning, Miss. Lynne!” Jeff called out.

Jasper turned his head as he loaded his box and nodded in her direction, before heading back inside.

“Mr. Barton,” Rachel said, acknowledging Jeff first, then his father.

The boy grinned. “Ma said you were going with us.”

“I am.”

“We’re going to have school today?”

He looked confused, torn between an age where school was still mysterious and fun and the desire he had to play. Matthew Forester, after all, was his closest friend.

“No,” Rachel said with a smile. “No school today. We’re celebrating.”

“Oh—“ Jeff thought about it, his lips twisted into a funny expression. “Matt has horses. I get to go out and see them and ride them sometimes.”

The transition didn’t phase her in the least. It was clearly what was on his mind.

“That’s what I heard.”

“And puppies!”

Neither did this surprise her, as it had been all Jeff had talked about for weeks. His parents had already visited the Forester’s so Jeff could see the new born puppies.

It was tradition, Millie had said, as James raised and bred the dogs for hunting and even fishing—something she would have loved to see for herself.

That would take James Forester talking to her, which was more than she thought she could expect from an afternoon in his home.

She turned her attention back to Jeff as they headed into the store. “Horses and puppies, Mr. Barton! We’re going to have quite an afternoon. Which do you think you’ll like best?”

Jeff considered it as his father came out the door and held it open so they could pass.

“They both keep your secrets,” Jeff said, and Rachel glanced as Jasper who simply shook his head.

“I suppose so. Do you have any secrets?”

“Not yet. I want a dog, but Ma knows and Pa knows ... and know you know, so its not a secret.”

“No it’s not.” Rachel laughed.

“A dog keeps your feet warm at night. Isn’t that right Pa?”

Jasper had reappeared. He only shook his head and dropped down on his haunches to look at Jeff. “And how do you know what dogs do? You haven’t had a dog.”

Jeff grinned a knowing smile. “Sometimes you just know, Pa.”

Rachel watched as Jeff hurried away, seemingly spurred on by his young wisdom.

Jasper stood and shook his head again. “Doesn’t haven have a dog. The missus says the place is too small. She’s going to weaken, though. If not today, on another day.”

He didn’t seem all that disgruntled about it at all.

“And what do you want?” Rachel asked.

Jasper just smiled and walked on over to a customer.

Rachel laughed. So at least she now knew where Jeff had learned his deep thoughts of dogs and horses.

* * *

The Forester home was set in a sprawling field of cattle and horses. The barn loomed large—with its wide open coral. Horses—at least five that Rachel could see—were held within. As the wagon approached, they lifted their heads, but didn’t move. Statues—Rachel thought—exquisite specimens, so still and so beautiful.

So alive.

Matthew burst from the house at a gallop himself to great them, even before they reached the house. Something tugged on Rachel’s heart all over again as she watched him run toward them. She pulled on the reins she held and laughed as he climbed up with the excited agility that the monkeys of the rain forest must possess.

“Hi—hey! Miss. Lynne, Mrs. Barton—Jeff. Hey. I’ve been waiting forever.”

“And forever’s such a long time.”

“We have a surprise.”

“Well then. I guess we should get there and get started.”

Rachel picked up the reins and started the horses forward again. Matthew finished his commentary with Jeff and turned in the seat, settling against her side. James and Gregory had stepped out onto the porch by the time the wagon pulled to a stop. Even as his father moved in the same direction, James reached Millie’s side first, clearly—as usual—avoiding Rachel.

His father came around the wagon. “Beautiful day,” he said, holding out his hands to help her down.

She smiled as Matt clamored over the wagon seat to go with Jeff and allowed Gregory Forester to help her down. He leaned close as he took her arm.

“Give it some time. This is a big step for him.”

Surprised, Rachel looked at him. “Mr. Forester. You know that I—”

He simply waved his free hand. “Now, now, Miss. Lynne. Let an old man have his hope.”

She snorted, unladylike true, but it only seemed to make him laugh harder. “We’d only kill each other.”

“One needs entertainment on the open prairie.”



Matt took Jeff out to see the puppies, but Rachel stayed behind, despite his sweet invitation. No ... she was having a hard time getting the older Forester’s words out of her mind. His meaning, his intention, was clear.

She needed to stay away from James. For her sake, his ...

And for all the well intending people who tried to push them together.

She didn’t want to leave Millie behind alone in the kitchen, but it had been the look James had shot her that kept her behind in the kitchen. Millie, after all, continually tried to shoo her out.

Rachel shook her head. For all his so called good intentions toward his son, James had kept his feelings toward her hostile and clear.

If there was a bride in the future for James Forester, it wouldn’t be Rachel Lynne.

As she chopped the potatoes, she tried to concentrate on the friendlier conversation with Millie, but her thoughts kept drifting.

To Matt, to James ... and to James again. He was a kind man, appreciated by all. A gentle giant. Strong. So strong.

And stubborn as a mule.

Why shouldn’t she make him a good bride? Why did he have to seemed so ... repulsed?

Stubborn, she thought again. Stubborn. Stubborn. Stubborn man.

“Rachel?”

At Mille’s question, Rachel looked down at the potatoes she had been chopping. Instead of large chunk, she’d awkwardly diced a pretty healthy stack of them.

“Sorry.” She sighed and pushed the pile to the side.

“You all right?”

“Just chopping up for special potatoes for—“ she stopped herself and shook her head.

“I would guess you didn’t mess my potatoes up because that’s the way James likes them?”

Rachel grimaced. “No—“ and set out to carefully slice the rest.

When she finished, she gathered all but the small stack into a bowl, then set the bowl down with a smack.

“If he didn’t want me to come, why did he invite me?”

“James?”

“You know why I’m here, Millie. And I don’t understand why. He certainly won’t let Matthew close enough to me otherwise.”

Raising ehr brows, Millie stepped over and took the bowl from her. “Let me have those before you send these potatoes to the grave with the others.”

“He’s impossible.”

“He is,” Millie agreed calmly as she moved her pan onto the burner, “but he watches you.”

“Like a warden?”

“Or a school master?” Mille asked with a knowing laugh.

The word immediately brought to her mind the image of her father standing to the edge of the courtyard of the school he’d over seen. He’d watched carefully. He’d known, or tried to know, all that was going on, with every one of the children, with all of his staff.

Watchful.

Stern.

And behind the scenes, full of life.

“I don’t see why you find this so funny.”

“Because I love you both. And I knew Anna. She would have liked you, Rachel.”

“It isn’t like that, Mille.”

“Maybe. Maybe not,” she shrugged. “But you should go see the puppies with Matthew. He wants to share that with you.”

Rachel smiled, and thought back to the look that had been mirrored in Jeff and Jasper’s eyes. “Only of you come with me.”

“I am not going home with a dog. Well bred or not.” Millie glanced over. “He thinks James will accept a store credit for a dog. A dog! In our little flat above the store?”

“At least you know your own mind,” Rachel replied with a laugh.

Millie shook her head and went back to her cooking. “He watches you, Rachel. James Forester, with his sad broken heart, has woken up enough to pay attention. He watches you. It doesn’t mean he will ... it doesn’t mean his heart will ever open toward you, but his heart has opened, a little. And it hurts him.”

Rachel looked out the kitchen window toward the barn, through the pretty red curtains Anna Forester had sewn as she’d set up her home. She’d probably been full of such hope. Such love.

“In the meantime,” Mille said, “you have any idea what you’re going to do about James. About Matt being in school? You’ll be leaving soon.”

“For a little while,” Rachel said, looking around the kitchen with a saddness in her heart. “And he’s always been too young to come to school. He’ll still be too young next year, when I come back.”

“So you’re not going to do anything?”

“No.”

But she dropped her eyes, no longer able to look around the kitchen. Her gaze landed on the stack of badly diced potatoes. “Except ...”

“What?”

Rachel lifted the stack of potatoes. “Fry these.”

“Scorch them?”

Rachel smiled. How could she not come back to Lenox? Come back home, where she had a friend in Mille understood her so well.

“Just a little.” She looked out the window toward the barn. “Or maybe just a little bit more than a little.”



HEY! and don't forget to e-mail me if you have a comment!




Return to Rachel's Lessons Table of Contents