Page 35 of A Steadfast Heart
“She read to me.” Her eyes drifted shut as that voice echoed in her heart. “I always wanted the same book when I was little. We both had it memorized, but she still read it to me when I asked.” Kaitlyn smiled. “When I was older, she teased me about it. Told me she sometimes tried to skip a page or two but that I always caught her.”
“Sounds like a good ma.”
“She was gentle but strong. It sounds contradictory, but she was both.”
Drew’s arms rested on the top rail and his head cocked to the side as he studied her. Her cheeks warmed. Was her hair a mess? She wanted to look away, to check her hair for escaped tendrils, but his gaze held her captive.
He looked away first. “I can see that in you.” His voice sounded deeper, rougher than usual. He cleared his throat. “With Tillie, I mean. I can see it in you when you’re with Tillie.”
The girls’ voices floated through the air, pulling Drew’s and Kaitlyn’s attention toward the house. Tillie sang a bit of a made-up song, and Jo murmured.
Kaitlyn’s eyes slid closed at the sound. She’d been here over two weeks and had never heard Jo laugh. Surely she could reach her. Somehow.
She glanced at Drew. He was watching both daughters, and his brow was creased. He worried about the kids. Had married a stranger to help his children.
And Kaitlyn wasn’t lightening those worries like he’d hoped. Like she’d planned.
But she could lighten other worries.
Drew’s feet shuffled. She stepped onto the bottom rung of the fence and leaned against her side of it. Her sleeves brushed his hands. She inhaled, and the air was tinted with the smell of horse and work and man. She should step back, put some distance between them. But her feet refused to move.
“Drew, do you think I could go to town sometime soon? I need to send our marriage license to my lawyer. If we can get my funds released, I can help with the costs for the cabins. You wouldn’t have to sell Phantom.”
Drew’s eyes cooled and his jaw firmed. He stepped back and turned toward the horse. Away from her. “That’s my problem, not yours. Selling horses is part of life on a ranch.” He grabbed the colt’s bridle and headed toward the barn.
Chapter8
Iwill not give in.
Kaitlyn wiped the already clean preparation table in the kitchen. She had finished the lunch dishes some time ago, and it wasn’t time to start dinner. She peeked through the door to the dining room.
Jo sat in her chair, her upper body draped across her schoolbooks. She hadn’t moved since the last time Kaitlyn had checked on her, but she wasn’t asleep. No, she was stubborn.
Maybe Kaitlyn shouldn’t have told her she couldn’t leave the table until she finished her bookwork, but she’d tried everything else. It had been nearly a month, and Jo hadn’t done more than a page or two of schoolwork. The door creaked as she pushed through. “How’s the penmanship practice going?”
Jo scowled at her. “I’m never gonna need this.”
“Beautiful handwriting is a worthwhile accomplishment, though perhaps a luxury. Legible handwriting is a necessity.”
Jo rolled her eyes. “Not for a rancher.”
“Yes, for a rancher.” Kaitlyn met Jo’s gaze. There had to be some way to convince the girl to listen, but all Kaitlyn knew to do was to present her arguments. Again. “If your writing isn’t clear, how will you keep your books? Write to other ranchers about purchases and sales? Leave instructions for your workers?”
“Why can’t I do a nature study like David?”
Kaitlyn gritted her teeth at the whining tone but didn’t allow her smile to slip. “David finished his bookwork for the day, and you haven’t even started.” Kaitlyn had demonstrated the individual letters of the practice page more than once, but Jo wouldn’t even pick up the pen. Finally, Kaitlyn had decreed that Jo would sit there until she finished the page.
That had been three hours ago. The pen was still idle.
Discouragement made Kaitlyn want to slump. Her own teachers had managed rooms full of stubborn children. Drew only wanted her to manage three, and she was failing.
Kaitlyn glanced around the parlor. Sunlight flooded in through the now sparkling clean windows. She crossed to the bookcase and drew out a copy ofTom Sawyer. Should she read it aloud? She shook her head. Jo didn’t deserve the treat, but more importantly, it wouldn’t lead in the right direction.
She took the book to a chair by the window. Jo was watching, but Kaitlyn didn’t acknowledge her gaze. Instead, she opened the book and started reading. It wasn’t hard to allow a laugh or two to escape.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, I’m reading the scene where Tom tricks his friends into doing his work.”
