A Time to Bloom (Leah's Garden #2)(72)

In only a few more weeks, she’d be walking not to the church but to her own new schoolhouse, if plans for the school raising continued to be promising. Now that the families were banding together and RJ had offered to oversee the building itself, she didn’t see why they wouldn’t. RJ had even said he’d bring some simple design sketches for her to look at later, when he stopped by to help Timothy after school.

Such a change in that taciturn former soldier lately. Del smiled at the thought.

She walked down Main Street, greeting Mr. Jorgensen as he opened the mercantile. Reaching the church, she let herself in and breathed the comforting fragrance of books and chalk dust.

A new week. Always a bit daunting but also full of promise.

Del sat at her desk and opened her notebook to review her lesson plans for the day. Soon the whoop and chatter of children, the stomp of feet, and the clatter of dinner pails outside let her know the time as well as the clock did. She jotted down one more idea before she picked up the bell and opened the door to ring in the school day.

Boots and some bare feet despite the cold stampeded in through the door, her students laughing and jabbering like magpies.

“Teacher, Teacher—I mean, Miss Nielsen.” Josie tugged at Del’s skirt. “Look, I got new shoes. I mean, I got ’em from somebody else, but my mama fixed them up for me. Ain’t they nice?” She gazed at the worn but newly blacked boots on her feet in delight.

“Aren’t they nice. And yes, they most certainly are.” Del smiled and gave Josie’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“Miss Nielsen, why does Bethany have a purple eye?” Josie gazed up into Del’s face, her wide eyes guileless.

Del’s face froze, but she stroked the little girl’s hair. “I’ll check on Bethany, all right? Why don’t you go and find your seat? It’s almost time for class.”

A cold knot in her stomach, Del spotted Bethany Kinsley’s familiar shabby pinafore and blond braids in the second row, as usual. She couldn’t see her face from this angle. Oh, if only Josie were mistaken.

Del stepped to the front of the room and scanned her students, trying to be surreptitious. “Good morning, everyone. Class, come to order.” Only for a fleeting instant did she let her gaze rest on Bethany’s face—enough to register the purpling bruise around the child’s eye and for the cold in her stomach to burn hot. “Mrs. Caldwell will be here shortly to lead us in music, so let’s begin with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.”

It was a good thing those words were familiar, for she could barely keep her mind on them. Only the Lord knew what she prayed, other than the Please, God, help that tumbled through her heart.

Mrs. Caldwell’s comfortable form filled the doorway as soon as the words of the pledge finished, and Del beckoned her forward to the piano. They’d need to figure out what to do for music once they moved to the new building. Having a piano was one thing she would miss.

Del stepped aside while the attorney’s wife led the morning singing, her mind in a whirl. Why did Bethany have a black eye? Her brother stood beside her, head down and not singing, nothing unusual for him. Perhaps Bethany had fallen or run into something, but Del’s heart urged there was more. Why had she not acted sooner? Had she really thought she was imagining all this?

After the music finished, Del stepped forward again. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Caldwell. Now, primer class through second readers, I’d like you to read the next lesson in your readers aloud to one another. Older ones can help the primers as needed. Third and fourth readers, review the spelling words from last week, and we’ll have a team spelling contest before the end of the day.” A giggle or two followed her announcement. “Fifth readers and up, work the grammar lesson on the board in your slates, and we’ll go over it together before recess.”

With the low hum of the younger children behind her, Del worked her way through the rows of spellers and finally approached Bethany Kinsley, who was bent over her book with her brother.

“Bethany?” Del touched her shoulder.

The child flinched away and looked up, the bruise dark on her small face.

Del drew away her hand and crouched to the children’s level. “I didn’t mean to startle you. How are you two doing with the spelling words?”

“I think I have them all.” Bethany angled her face away. “I don’t know about John.”

“Good. You’ll be ready for the contest, then.” So far she’d only been able to get John to spell on his slate, never aloud. “But, Bethany, what happened to your eye?”

Bethany glanced at her, then away again. “I-I fell—onto the corner of the stove.”

“Oh dear. Did you get burned also?”

“N-no.” The little girl’s ears reddened. “I mean, it was the corner of the table, actually. We don’t have a stove.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth.

Del’s own lips thinned. She scanned the classroom to ensure the other students were occupied and lowered her voice. “Bethany, John. I need you to tell me. Is everything all right at your house? With your family?”

“Yes.” Bethany scooted closer to her brother, her voice firm. “Everything is fine.”

“John?” Del waited. “John Jacob, look at me.”

The boy slowly raised his head.