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Daniel followed her over the threshold and swung the door shut behind them. Hannah stopped suddenly, causing him to bump into her, almost knocking her to the floor. He reached out and pulled her back against his chest and stomach.
Bonnie Westland stood in front of them with Hannah’s suitcases propped in front of her. Her arms were crossed and her mouth was set in a hard line. She hadn’t looked at him like that since he was a little boy. And then it had been a baby skunk and not a girl he’d brought home. “Daniel, I suggest you take your future bride back to town. She’ll not be staying under my roof.”
Chapter Five
Hannah gasped at the venom in the older woman’s words. She thought Daniel’s mother would have been happy that her oldest son had brought home a prospective bride. Hadn’t she been the one to set up this contest? Hannah squared her shoulders and asked, “May I ask what you have against me, Mrs. Westland?”
Bonnie’s eyes narrowed. “No, you may not.” She looked over Hannah’s head at her son. “Get this woman out of my house now.” With that, she spun on her booted heels and stomped up the stairs.
The way she’d said “woman” made Hannah feel dirty. She spun on her heels in turn and stepped around Daniel. As she did so, Hannah saw that his mouth was gaping open and his eyes were wide. Obviously this wasn’t normal behavior from Bonnie Westland.
Still, it hurt.
Hannah fought tears.
She stopped at the porch railing and looked out over the Westland Ranch. Cows grazed in the pastures and horses stood in the corrals. A pond could be seen in the distance and dots that might be ducks floated on its watery surface. Chickens scratched in the dirt. Several fruit trees stood off to one side, with blooms of various colors promising a healthy harvest. To Hannah it was the most beautiful place on earth.
“I’m sorry for my mother’s brisk behavior. Normally she is not this ill-mannered.”
Hannah turned her head and looked at Daniel Westland. His dazed expression spoke volumes about his confused feelings. She sighed. This day hadn’t gone well. “Maybe she’s right.”
“No, she isn’t.” Daniel’s gaze moved to the orchard. “She wanted me to marry and I will. But I will chose who I wish to wed.” His chin rose stubbornly. The glint in his eyes matched that of his mother’s.
“But where will I stay?” Hannah didn’t know what else to say. Right now she was homeless, and disliked by the only woman she’d seen on the place.
“The schoolhouse.” He picked up her bags and headed down the steps.
“You have a schoolhouse?” Hannah hurried after him. “Won’t the schoolteacher need it?”
“School’s not running right now.” Daniel continued across the yard. His feet carried him over a grassy pasture to the edge of the orchard.
Hannah picked up her skirts and hurried after him. The sounds of a gurgling stream played in her ears as she looked about. Green, lush trees surrounded them as they continued on. She wondered how much farther they’d have to go. Just as she opened her mouth to ask, they came out of the orchard and she saw the schoolhouse sitting on a hill.
It was whitewashed and rather large, with two big windows looking out over the yard. She wondered if more windows were on the other side. A tall tree stood in front and she saw where a rope had been hung over one limb. A loop at the bottom indicated it was a swing.
Daniel’s legs were too long for Hannah to try to keep pace with, so she gave up and looked about. Her sides were aching and she felt out of breath. The stream she’d heard earlier wound behind the school, with tall cedar and pine trees lining its banks. Birdcalls filled the early evening air.
A sense of peace enveloped her. The schoolhouse felt like a beacon in a storm. Could she be happy here? At least for a little while? Hannah believed she could.
She slowly began to follow Daniel again, watching his wide shoulders sway as he climbed the hill. He’d seemed annoyed with his mother, but not truly angry. Had Hannah chosen a man with a slow temper for a future husband? She hoped so.
He put her bags on the porch and then turned to wait for her. She was aware of his eyes upon her as she climbed the short hill. He had yet to comment on her limp. Hannah tried to walk without favoring her injured ankle.
She pretended to ignore him, and took in her surroundings. Wildflowers grew about the building and she wondered when the school had been built. It looked and smelled new.
Once she’d climbed the steep, widely spaced steps and stood beside him, Daniel asked, “Ready to go inside?”
“Yes.” She felt a little out of breath.
He must have heard it in her voice because he said, “Good. I hope you can manage that climb. When I built the stairs it didn’t occur to me that...” He let the sentence hang between them as he opened the door.
Hannah took mercy on him and continued his sentence. “That a small child might have trouble making the climb? Maybe if you added another plank between each step that would help. They are a little steep.”
He nodded. “I’ll get on that first thing in the morning.” Daniel retrieved her bags once more.
“Thank you,” Hannah said, entering the room. The scent of fresh-cut wood filled her nostrils and she inhaled deeply.
The bags looked small in his large hands. Hannah knew they were heavier than they looked. She had packed at least ten of her favorite books, along with her dresses and two pairs of shoes. The muscles in his arms bulged. What would it feel like to someday have those same arms around her in a tender hug?
She shook the thought off and turned from him to focus on the large room. A bookshelf filled each of the four corners. He’d placed a blackboard on the far wall. She turned and looked back the way they’d come. There were several hooks beside the front door, low enough for children to hang their coats and jackets on, but there were no desks.
A fireplace rested on the west wall, between two large windows that matched the ones she’d seen while coming up the hill. It was made of red bricks, and he’d placed a metal screen in front of it—to keep the children out and the wood within, she assumed. She’d expected to see a stove there, but was happy the fireplace was so large.
To the right of the blackboard was another doorway.
“What is through there?” she asked, even as she walked toward it.
His boots clopped on the wooden floor behind her. “That would be the storage closet, but I think we can fit a bed in it, and maybe a side table for you to use, until we get married.”
Hannah opened the door to find a nice-size room. About ten feet wide and twelve feet long, it was much larger than she’d expected. Built-in bookshelves lined the far wall, and a window on the west end let in the setting sun. A smile touched Hannah’s lips. It was perfect.
“Yoo-hoo!” The call came from the front door.
Hannah looked to Daniel. He’d already turned and was heading in that direction.
“Well, hello, Opal, girls,” he said as he walked toward an older woman and two little girls.
A warm sensation enveloped Hannah at the pleasant kindness in his voice. It curled around her heart, creating a space of its own. During the past few hours she hadn’t heard that tone from Daniel, but decided it was one she’d love to hear all the time.
Opal wore an apron over her day dress and a flush tinged her cheeks. “Your mother sent me. There is a bed and bedding in the back of the wagon, and I brought a basket of food, just in case you two might be hungry.” She handed Daniel the basket and stepped around him.
Hannah watched her approach. After the reception she’d received from his mother, she wasn’t sure what to expect from this woman.
“I’m Opal Dean and these are my granddaughters, Daisy and Mary.” She pulled the girls in front of her and offered a wide smile.
Daniel set the basket on the floor and headed toward the door. “Thank you, Opal. I’ll go unload the bed.”
Hannah smiled at the children. Daisy looked to be older, perhaps eight or nine. As Mary chewed her fingernail and stared up at her, Hannah decided she was probably five or six. “It’s nice to meet you all. My name is Hannah Young.”
“That’s a pretty name,” Daisy offered.
“Thank you. I think Daisy is a pretty name, also.” Hannah raised her gaze to Opal.
“I’m sorry about Bonnie’s behavior earlier. I don’t know what has gotten into her lately. She’s normally very kind and levelheaded.” Opal shook her head as if trying to figure the other woman out.
Hannah wanted to ask how she knew Bonnie, but felt it wouldn’t be appropriate at this stage of their relationship. “I’m sure she was having a bad day,” she murmured politely.
“No, she’s just gotten ornery over the past few months. I’m her housekeeper and best friend, so I should know. It’s not like her to be so rude.” Opal stroked Mary’s red curls.
Hannah didn’t know what to say. If this woman really was Bonnie’s close friend, then it would be best not to say anything at all. She was saved from answering by the tugging on her skirt.
Mary stared up at her with big brown eyes, looking almost like a miniature image of her grandmother. She pulled her finger out of her mouth and asked, “Are you our new teacher?”
Daniel set part of the bed down and answered before Hannah could. He must have seen the look of dismay cross her features at the little girl’s question. “She sure is. I told you I found a teacher to start teaching you those ABCs, didn’t I?”
* * *
Daniel snuck a peek at Hannah. Confusion marred her lovely features. His gaze returned to the kids, who were laughing and jumping about. These two little girls were a big part of why he’d chosen Hannah’s letter from the stacks of others he’d received in answer to his newspaper ad. She’d been the only schoolteacher to respond.
His announcement was rewarded with a smile from Mary and a frown from Hannah. To avoid a confrontation with Hannah, he turned his attention to the younger female.
Mary’s front tooth had fallen out sometime between yesterday and this evening, he noted, as the redheaded urchin nodded.
Daisy clapped her hands. Her pigtails bounced against her shoulders as she jumped up and down. “Oh, I’m so glad! We’ve been waiting forever for you to get here. I can’t wait to tell John Paul. He hates school.”
He realized he couldn’t ignore her forever, and walked to her side. “I thought you understood that part of the reason I chose you was because you are a schoolteacher.” He tried to keep his voice from carrying to Opal, who was squawking at the girls to settle down.
“How would I have known that?” she whispered back.
He ran a hand through his hair and tried to remember if he’d mentioned the new schoolhouse, or his expectations that she’d agree to teach the children on the ranch. With a sinking feeling, he realized he hadn’t.
“Did you and Mr. Daniel get married?” Mary asked Hannah, and then poked the tip of her finger back inside her mouth.
Daniel coughed to cover up his embarrassment. Surely Opal had already heard from his mother that they weren’t married yet.
A nervous laugh exited the older woman. “Girls, girls. Let Miss Young get settled before you start asking her personal questions.”
“John Paul says Mr. Daniel isn’t the marrying kind. John Paul’s sister has been trying to get him to marry her for years, and he keeps saying no. You didn’t marry him, either, did you, Miss Young?” Daisy asked, moving out of range of her grandmother.
Daniel felt his face burst into flames. Hannah answered by shaking her head. Her eyes searched his face and he could hear the unasked question. Why hadn’t he married John Paul’s sister?
“I need to go get the rest of the frame for your bed.” He hurried away from her accusing eyes.
Opal’s embarrassed voice filled their ears. “Daisy Dean! Go play on the swing and take your sister with you! Don’t get dirty!” She shooed both girls out the door.
Just as they passed him on the stairs, Daniel heard Opal say to Hannah, “I’m sorry. This hasn’t been a good day for you, has it, dear?”
It hadn’t been a good day for him, either. He stomped down the stairs and yanked another piece of the iron bed from the wagon as he recalled his day.
The west fence had been cut and had to be mended, so he’d had to rush to get to the stagecoach on time to meet his bride. She’d refused to marry him, and his brother had tried to steal her from him. His mother refused to believe he was going to wed Hannah and had forced him to find a new home for her, and now had sent the heaviest bed in the house for him to haul inside and assemble for the woman who wouldn’t marry him.
Daniel tugged the heavy section of bed frame into the schoolroom and dumped it next to the one he’d brought in earlier. Opal stood hugging Hannah around the shoulders and talking softly to her. He headed back outside.
The sun was steadily sinking and he still had a bed to assemble and chores to do before he could eat and turn in himself. He jerked at the next piece of metal framing. This was not the way he’d thought his wedding day would go.
A movement to his right caught his eye. Cole Winters, Daniel’s right-hand man on the ranch, stepped out of the shadow of the building. The serious look on his rugged face caused Daniel to pause. Cole normally greeted everyone with a lazy smile. As he came closer, Daniel could see he was covered in mud and a fresh, bloody cut marked his face.
“Boss, we’ve got trouble.”
Daniel wanted to groan. Trouble seemed to be in abundance today. Lord, I should have stayed in bed.
“What kind of trouble?”
Cole grabbed the other end of the bed and helped him pull it from the wagon. “Jack Tanner kind of trouble.”
Jack had been a thorn in Daniel’s side ever since the day he’d hired him. The man drank too much and always brought some sort of bad attitude with him wherever he landed.
Cole walked toward the steps with his end of the frame. “The kind that started with us both in the horse trough and ended with him sprawled out in the mud beside it.”
That explained the scratch down Cole’s face. “So you were fighting.” Daniel heaved his end of the bed up and followed him inside.
“’Fraid so.” Cole laid his end down beside the other pieces.
“What started it?” Daniel asked, standing. He didn’t see Hannah or Opal in the schoolroom, then detected the soft sound of their voices coming from the supply room.
Cole removed his hat and swept his chestnut hair off his forehead. “He came back from town drunk and as mean as an ole polecat.”
Daniel shook his head. “Well, help me get this bed set up for Miss Young and we’ll escort him back to town.”
“So you’re gonna fire him this time?” Cole asked, stooping over to pick up the bed again.
“Yep, no choice. He was warned. It’s a shame, too. He’s a good hand when he’s sober.” Daniel and Cole carried the bed frame into the storage room. He really did wish there was another way to deal with Jack. Letting men go wasn’t his favorite part of running a ranch.
“I’m going to fill this shelf with the books I brought from Cottonwood Springs,” he heard Hannah say as she dusted off one of the many shelves.
“Miss Young, where do you want the bed set up?” Daniel asked.
She turned and gave him a gentle smile. “Really, Daniel, just call me Hannah. After all, we will be married, so we might as well start using each other’s first names.”
So she was planning on marrying him. Daniel felt as if she’d lifted a hundred-pound bale of hay from his shoulders. He nodded in her direction. “Hannah, where would you like the bed?”
“Under the window would be nice.”
Cole didn’t move to where she’d indicated, but continued to stand there, staring at Hannah.
Daniel gave Cole a shove to wake the hired hand from his apparent awe of Hannah. “Cole, this frame isn’t getting any lighter.”
Hannah’s cheeks became a pretty shade of pink before she turned her back on them. Her hands worked at dusting the shelves.
“Oh, sorry, boss. I, uh, had something in my eye.” Cole ducked his head and began moving toward the window.
Opal grinned at Daniel. “You two bring in the rest of the pieces and we’ll put it together.”
Daniel didn’t know what to make of his friend’s behavior. “Thank you, Opal.” They set the section down, then headed back to the wagon.
Cole didn’t look at him, but walked ahead. “Sorry about that, boss.”
Daniel nodded. “I’ll get this piece while you grab the other two.” He bent over and picked up the rail.
