as more children showed up. Kathryn greeted them all, and there were only a few whose names she couldn’t remember. She’d met so many people yesterday she was surprised she’d managed to keep any of them straight.
When she finally went inside, she stopped at the back of the classroom and took a deep breath. Her cheeks hurt from the smile that had been in place since she’d woken up this morning, and as she looked around at the excited faces in front of her, she couldn’t imagine ever wanting to be anywhere else. The chatter and laughter filled the room. She knew she needed to get control and set the rules for the classroom, but for this brief moment, she just wanted to take it all in. This was what she’d been dreaming of doing since she was a little girl, when she’d been sitting in her own classroom and listening to her teacher share her knowledge with all of them.
Yes, her classroom even all those years ago had been much more modern, but what she had here was just about close to perfect in her mind.
And as she walked to the front of the room, clapping her hands for attention, she realized being here during the day might be just enough to forget how scared she was alone in her cabin in the dark.
Chapter 7
“How is the plowing going on the land behind your west field? Is your neighbor still trying to cause you problems?”
Colt threw another bag of feed into the back of his wagon before turning to face Mr. King, or Old Tom as everyone around town called him, who owned the feed mill. The old man wasn’t much help with any heavy lifting anymore, but he refused to sell the mill, saying he’d die of boredom if he wasn’t there every day to visit with the farmers who came in. He had one man working for him who did most of the work, while Old Tom spent his days gossiping with the customers.
“I’m not paying any attention to Constantine Brown. He just wants a fight. I’ve got the surveyor’s reports and I know where my land ends. I’m nowhere near his land.”
Constantine Brown had applied to homestead the land bordering Colt’s two years ago and had been a thorn in his side ever since. He argued that the land Colt was clearing for a new field was on his property, even though he’d been shown the surveyor reports numerous times. He was the type of man who wanted an argument about everything.
Old Tom shook his head. “I’ll never know how that poor woman puts up with a husband like him. I’m sure if he wasn’t the nephew of Mrs. Pembrooke, there isn’t a person in this town who’d have anything nice to say about the man.”
“You’re right about that. As far as I’m concerned, Mrs. Brown is a saint because no other woman would have married him.”
Colt turned and nodded a greeting as the blacksmith, Layne Perkins, walked up behind them and joined the conversation. His shop was right next door to the feed mill, so he would often come over to say hello when he saw Colt there. He’d been good friends with Colt’s brother growing up, and they’d known each other since they were children.
“Well, I’m sure the poor woman didn’t have any idea of what she was getting into when she agreed to come here and marry him. I never saw the advertisement he put out for a bride, but I have serious doubts he was honest in it. By the time Mrs. Brown arrived here, and got to know the man he was, it was likely too late for her to change her mind. And now the poor soul is expecting his child, who I’m sure the man won’t treat any better.”
As though talking about him was enough to make him appear, Brown’s wagon bounced loudly over the small bridge into town in a large cloud of dust. Colt groaned to himself as the wagon turned toward the feed mill.
Mrs. Brown sat stiffly in the seat beside him, and as they stopped next to his wagon, she smiled down at Colt. He held his hand up to help her down while her husband hopped down and walked straight up onto the steps of the mill.
“Thank you, Mr. Hammond. I need to run these eggs over to the mercantile. I always try to be here first thing in the morning, but today I