A Time to Bloom (Leah's Garden #2)(40)

“All the tools and things are down in the cellar. I’ll go look.”

Outside, Lark poured the coffee, enjoying the slight breeze that kissed her cheeks. Shouts and children’s laughter announced that school was out. Had Del said she might be going calling? And they had Starbright here.

“I’ll be right back.” She hustled out the door and over to the church, where she found her sister tidying up the schoolroom. “Del, are you planning on visiting a family this afternoon?”

“I don’t think so.” She shut the last window. “I’ll try tomorrow, since it looks like it might rain tonight.”

“That it does. Anders and RJ are going over to stake out the boardinghouse so we can get started digging the cellar.”

“We?”

Lark grinned. “You think they’ll let me dig?”

“Probably not. It’s some different from spading the garden.”

The two sisters shrugged and closed the door behind them. Dark clouds hovered to the west. Thunder rolled and crashed, lightning stabbing the sky just as they reached home. Lark stabled Starbright and hurried back to the soddy after her sisters. Throwing a towel over her dripping hair, she leaned at the window to breathe deep the fragrance of life-giving rain.

Such a gift for our replanted seeds and the new transplants, yet after the hay is safe. Thank you, Lord.

———

The next week, with the cellar a couple of feet deep, the family gathered at the station to see Anders off.

“Greet Josephine for us and tell Marcella about her aunties out west,” Lark said.

“And her cousins,” Forsythia added.

Anders hugged his sisters and the little ones. “How I wish we were not so far apart. I would never suggest you move back, but we will build Leah’s Garden and the Nielsen Boardinghouse. We will.” He mounted the steps the conductor had placed at the open door to the train and turned to wave again.

“Go with God, brother,” Lark muttered. “Lord, please keep him safe.”

“And us.” Forsythia put her arm around Lark. “Only God knows what lies ahead.”





12


Was teaching this exhausting last year?

Del waved to the last of her students as they ran off down the street, small feet kicking up clouds of dust, pigtails and dinner pails bouncing. She stepped back inside the church and began to erase the makeshift blackboard Jesse had finished for her last night. It was just a few boards nailed together and painted black, but along with a package of chalk from the general store and a rag, it certainly made teaching a bit easier. The only trouble was finding a secure place to put it, since it couldn’t be fixed to the wall like in the schoolhouse. So far she’d made do with propping it on her desk and holding it still with one hand while she wrote with the other, but that wasn’t ideal.

After a knock, the door opened, and Rev. Pritchard poked his head into the room. “How did it go today?”

Del placed the erased board on the floor and leaned it against her desk for tomorrow. “Overall, a bit smoother than last week, I think. No accidents in the outhouse, and students are settling into their assigned groups, as I’ve mostly figured out what readers they’re in. The new ones are making friends, which also means more trouble. I had to separate two boys today and stand another in the corner for talking.”

Rev. Pritchard chuckled. “Always the boys, isn’t it?”

“No, sometimes girls can be the worst chatterboxes. But not today.” Del sank into her chair. On the other hand, John Kinsley still hadn’t said a word. And now she needed to deal with the O’Rourkes, since their children still hadn’t shown up. Dread tightened her gut.

“Well, you seem to be managing beautifully.” Rev. Pritchard rubbed his hands together. “I wanted to let you know that the school board met, and they voted to raise your salary. Twenty-seven dollars a year.”

Del sat back in her chair. Not as high as she’d hoped, but every little bit helped. “Thank you.”

“I was in favor of the whole thirty, but majority rules, you know.” He sighed but gave her a wink. “Anything you need before tomorrow?”

“I don’t think so.” She made a few notes on her lesson plan, then looked up as the young minister headed for the door. Forsythia’s words sprang back into her mind. She rose from her desk. “Actually, would you by chance have time to help me make a visit?”

———

“Do you know the O’Rourke family?” Del asked half an hour later as she rode beside the preacher in his two-wheeled gig across the prairie.

“Not well.” Rev. Pritchard shoved back his hair, which seemed always to be falling forward. “They’ve come to service regularly since they moved here a few months ago, but they always leave right after.”

“Yes, I had to practically accost them one day at the store in order to speak to them at all. Mrs. O’Rourke seemed eager for her younger ones to go to school, and they are registered. But now we’re a week in, and they haven’t shown.”

“They have four children, don’t they?”

“Mr. O’Rourke has already made it clear that the older boys won’t be attending. I just hope he hasn’t changed his mind about Timothy and Iris too.” Del ran her proposed speech through her mind. Dealing with difficult parents certainly was a part of the job she’d be happy to skip—as would any teacher, no doubt.