Love is Patient - Kay P. Dawson Page 0,5

use a lantern after dark. The students will use it during the day too.”

She hoped the shock on her face wasn’t too evident because she could tell that he was watching closely for her reaction. For some reason, she’d never really thought about the facilities she’d be using out here and the thought of using a rundown outhouse in the middle of nowhere was more unnerving than she cared to admit.

Mrs. Hammond came up beside her and put her hand on her arm. “Oh, he makes it sound like it’s so primitive. For goodness sake, Colt.” His mother shook her head in disgust at her son before smiling back at Kathryn. “There’s a chamber pot inside the cabin you can use after dark.”

Kathryn wasn’t sure how much better a chamber pot would be which she’d have to carry out to empty, but she would never let the broody man see her concern.

And she wasn’t about to let it spoil her excitement about everything else. She was sure she’d get used to the more primitive aspects of life on the prairies over time.

When she walked through the door into her new home, which was nothing more than one room with a curtain blocking off a bed in the back, she had one more wave of doubt hit her.

Could she really do this?

For some reason, the smug look on Mr. Hammond’s face, telling her he knew full well she was a city girl who would never survive out here on her own, made any doubts quickly fall away.

One thing Mr. Colt Hammond was about to learn about her was that she would never back down from a challenge. This had been her dream all her life, and she was more determined than ever to follow it through.

Even if she did have to brave a crumbling down outhouse full of spiders in the dark.

Chapter 4

“Well, I have to say she’s not quite what I expected. Not really sure what I was thinking, but I guess since she’s Lucy Reeves’s niece I was expecting someone a little smaller. And plumper, maybe.”

Colt laughed as his friend Caleb’s wife slapped him hard on the arm. “Caleb Bailey. Can’t you think before you speak out loud? What if she heard you!”

Fae Bailey gave her husband a stern look, then turned to make sure Colt knew she didn’t appreciate him encouraging her husband’s behavior.

When Fae had arrived in Promise, she’d quickly made her mark on the small town. She’d come from New York, where she’d been raised in an orphanage built on the principle of equal opportunities for education. Fae had agreed to come here and marry Caleb, without ever having met him, with the knowledge she also wanted to help all the children in the area receive an education.

Of course, she’d hoped to find love with her husband too, which Colt was still surprised had worked out as it had. Especially knowing his friend’s aversion to ever settling down.

Now, the couple were head over heels in love and running the mercantile in town. It was so out of character with what he’d imagined Caleb ever doing, but for some reason, they’d both settled into married life and seemed happier than any couple Colt had ever known.

A hard lump formed in his stomach at the thought, and he clenched his jaw tight as he pushed his feelings away. Now wasn’t the time to start thinking about his wife, or how easily he’d been duped into believing they were happily married at one time too.

“I think she seems perfect, and I know the kids in town are going to love her. Look how taken Delia already is with her.” Fae smiled warmly toward the people they were discussing.

Colt’s eyes followed Fae’s to where his daughter was enthusiastically telling a story to Miss Reeves with her arms flapping and head nodding excitedly. They were beside a table filled with pitchers of lemonade and every kind of food imaginable set in the center of town for the new teacher’s welcome party. It seemed like most of the townsfolk had shown up to have a chance to meet her. Well, everyone except for the Pembrookes who ran the private school, and the few “wealthier” families in the area who believed this new public school would be a blemish to their community.

On this sunny afternoon, the entire ground between the church and the boardinghouse was filled with people as they milled around between the tables, enjoying the chance to have this community get-together