today and you can help me wash the chalkboards and floors.”
“I guess that’s not too bad. Are you going to tell my pa?”
She could see the worry in his eyes.
“I’m afraid I have to let him know, Owen. But your pa will understand, and I’ll tell him I’ve taken care of the punishment.”
“But I hit you.”
“It was an accident, Owen. I’m not mad.”
“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you.”
“I know. Sometimes accidents happen.”
As she smiled down into his upturned face, something shifted in the young boy’s eyes. For the first time since she’d arrived in Promise, she didn’t see complete despair in his face.
She’d finally broken through the shield he’d put up, and she was determined to pull him completely out of his shell and back into the happy child she knew he could be.
Chapter 15
Colt leaned over the basin and cupped his hands to bring the cold water up to his face. He closed his eyes and let the coolness soothe his skin, even knowing the heat from the day wasn’t going to let the relief last for long.
He lifted his head and reached for the towel beside the window, while his eyes moved to watch the women outside.
During the heat of the summer, many days the women around here would go back to cooking their meals outside over a fire, using metal hooks to hang the pots on. Lighting a fire inside the house when it was so hot outside made it unbearable to live in, so while it might make the work a bit more difficult, most women preferred it this way.
He checked to make sure Owen had remembered to bring the buckets of water up to set beside the fire where his mother and Miss Reeves were cooking. His mother always made sure water was nearby to stop any sparks that may land on dry grass or, as had happened many times over the years, even onto the hem of her dress as she cooked.
His eyes moved to the young woman beside his mother. Kathryn had been coming up to the house right after her day of teaching every day for the past couple of weeks now, letting his mother show her how to cook on the frontier.
He knew how tired she must be trying to do it all, managing the children all day in school, then helping with the cooking and cleaning up after. And on Saturdays, she was out doing her laundry, just as his ma had taught her.
Of course, she always had Owen and Delia helping her, so he supposed it took some of the workload off her.
Ever since the day Owen had gotten in trouble for fighting at the school, he’d seemed to open up to Miss Reeves and had been nicer to her. Colt was glad he’d worked through some of the anger he’d obviously been feeling when the new teacher had first shown up, but at the same time, it worried him about what would happen now when she left.
He was sure Owen wanted to trust her, but he was still holding himself back a bit in case he started to care for her, and she decided to leave him too. Colt knew with Miss Reeves’s personality, though, it was only a matter of time until Owen gave her his complete trust.
And he would be left devastated again, with Colt to pick up the pieces.
He finished drying his face, then walked out onto the porch, noticing how the sweat was already starting to drip from his neck again. The temperature had been high for days and if they didn’t soon get some rain, he hated to think what would happen to all the crops in the fields.
“Miss Reeves, why don’t you come sit down for a bit. I’m sure ma can manage now.”
Her cheeks were a fiery red, and strands of hair hung down and stuck to her forehead from the heat. She turned at the sound of his voice and smiled, causing his breath to catch slightly.
How could a woman still be so beautiful even looking as ragged as she was at the moment?
Giving his head a shake, he swallowed hard and walked toward them.
“It’s fine, Mr. Hammond. Your mother has been generous enough to teach me how to cook and survive on my own out here, so I’m going to do everything I can to help. It’s the least I can do for everything your family has done for me since I arrived.”
“I’ve asked you to