скачать книгу бесплатно
Blackthorn came out of the open doorway. “Go on in, Jane’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
“Uh, that’s not what I wanted.”
“Ambitious young man like you oughta be lookin’ for a wife.”
Jesse squared his shoulders. “First I need to be able to provide.” Unlike his father and mother, whose impetuous decision cost dearly. “Maybe when I’m head keeper I’ll be able to consider a wife.”
Blackthorn shook his head. “You got a lot ta learn, son. A man’s got a leg up on gettin’ the head job if he’s got a wife and family.”
“He does?” That was news to Jesse, troubling news, for he couldn’t afford a wife.
“Oh, you won’t catch anyone sayin’ it right out, but you just look around, especially at them remote lights, and you’ll see what I mean. One man can’t run this place. Not when the service expects you ta be on duty twenty-four hours a day.”
Now Jesse understood. The man was back to his favorite annoyance—Jesse’s arrival. “That’s why there are assistants.”
“Assistants! Bah!” Blackthorn waved off the idea as he headed for the tower.
Jesse followed, his thoughts drifting back to the earlier conflict on the dune. “What I really need to know is if you approve of Mrs. Smythe trespassing on government property.”
Blackthorn shook his head. “You gotta get your head out of those books of yours and into real life. Those ladies aren’t doing no harm. This here’s a small town. Everyone knows everyone else. It pays to be on people’s good side.”
“But the property—”
“This isn’t a fort. It’s a lighthouse. People are curious. They stop by all the time. Treat ’em like a neighbor, and they’ll do the same for you.”
Blackthorn then opened the door to the tower. Each day he poured some of the oil into a smaller filling can and then carried it up the circular iron staircase to begin filling the lamps. The process took several trips up and down the tower staircase. According to Article IV of the manual, the filling of the lamps was supposed to be done as soon as the lamps were cleaned except when cold weather would make the oil too thick to flow. That meant late morning, but Blackthorn didn’t keep a regular schedule. Moreover, today’s warm temperatures offered no excuse for tardiness. If Jesse was head keeper, he’d follow the manual’s instructions to the letter. As assistant, he could only stand by.
“Let me help you.” Jesse stooped slightly to get through the door.
“No need.”
Jesse swallowed frustration. The keeper hadn’t let him touch anything in the lantern. If Jesse was ever going to be head keeper, he had to know more than could be gleaned from the manual. He needed experience. Even without that experience, he’d discovered some inefficiencies that could be rectified. “I could show you a faster way to handle the oil.”
Blackthorn practically glared at him. “I’ve been tending lighthouses for more than twenty years. Don’t you think that I know what works best and what doesn’t?”
Jesse choked back the retort that clearly Blackthorn didn’t. If he would carry the large can up the stairs and transfer the oil to the smaller filling can when he reached the top, he wouldn’t have to go up and down the staircase so many times. Since pointing this out had gotten Jesse nowhere, he wouldn’t rankle the keeper again.
So Jesse swallowed his pride. “I suppose you do, sir.”
“That’s right. Jane said she needed something from the store. Find out what it is and go fetch it.” The man finished pouring the first batch of oil into the filling can and began the long climb up the circular staircase, the soles of his boots ringing against the iron steps.
Jesse backed out. Though he’d only been here six days, he was sick of being nothing more than an errand boy. Other than polishing lamps, which the children could do, Blackthorn hadn’t let him near any of the equipment. Jesse closed the tower door against the ever-drifting sand.
“What do you want to know about Louise?” Mrs. Blackthorn’s voice made him jump. “Didn’t mean to startle you. I thought you were expecting me.”
“I was?”
“Samuel said it was something about Louise Smythe?”
“Oh. I suppose I did, ma’am.” Jesse couldn’t recall what he’d intended to ask about Louise. Since Blackthorn approved her climbing all over the dunes, Jesse had lost that argument. He searched for something else. “I, uh, understand she’s a teacher.” That sounded pretty feeble.
“Down at the boarding school in the west wing of the hotel.” Mrs. Blackthorn pointed it out, as if he hadn’t noticed the place before.
It hadn’t taken long to ascertain that Singapore was tiny. It boasted few businesses beyond the general store, the boardinghouse and the hotel. There were a few saloons, but Jesse didn’t frequent those, and the church looked like the rest of the bunkhouses used by the lumberjacks and saw operators when they came to town. Boardwalks stretched between businesses so people didn’t have to walk through the sand. The streets served more pedestrians than wheeled transportation. Jesse had yet to see a buggy or horse other than the wagon down at the docks. Then again, the town was only a few blocks long and even fewer deep.
It was a good place to begin remaking his life.
“I hear tell she’s a war widow,” Mrs. Blackthorn said.
The words shot through Jesse like lead. Not the war. He’d done all he could to escape the harrowing memories. A lighthouse offered a chance to get away from the endless war stories and sorrow. He’d hoped to land at a remote island lighthouse but instead was assigned here.
“You all right, Mr. Hammond?”
Jesse managed a smile. “Just lost in thought.”
“Just like her.”
“Like who?”
“Like who?” Mrs. Blackthorn shook her head. “Like Louise. That’s who we’ve been talking about, isn’t it?”
Jesse had to agree that it was, but Mrs. Blackthorn’s description of her didn’t match his experience. “She didn’t seem very quiet to me.”
That made Mrs. Blackthorn smile. “Well now, isn’t that interesting. Might be you managed to catch her eye. She is looking to marry, you know.”
Jesse grimaced. “That’s what your husband said. But I’m not. I need to get established as a keeper first.”
“Isn’t that just like a man.”
Jesse stiffened. “A man needs to be able to provide.”
“Love doesn’t wait for our schedule. Neither does the lighthouse service.”
That was the second Blackthorn who had mentioned marriage in connection with being a keeper. “Why do you say that?”
“Samuel would never have been named keeper if he hadn’t had a wife and family.”
Jesse was still skeptical. The woman could be using it as an excuse to match make. “Are you certain?”
“As certain as day and night. Why, they came right out and asked him if he was married.”
Jesse’s heart sank. He wasn’t ready for marriage. He hadn’t saved nearly enough to support a wife, but if he wanted to get promoted to head keeper, he was going to have to set aside his reservations. This town didn’t look big enough to offer much of a choice, not if men were willing to advertise for a wife.
“Louise would make a fine catch. Did you notice the cut of her clothing?”
Jesse couldn’t say he had.
“Quality,” Mrs. Blackthorn said. “Pure quality. That says something.”
So did the fact that she was a war widow. If he must marry, he would look anywhere else for a wife.
Chapter Two (#u3db65dda-27ba-5336-8e92-9dd687141e7f)
The remainder of the day, Priscilla had remained smugly silent, her gaze boring into Louise with such intensity that she feared the girl was up to no good. To cut off possible problems, Louise went to the headmistress’s office once classes had ended and the girls were upstairs freshening up before supper.
Fiona Evans sat at the desk perusing what appeared to be a ledger. Her brow was furrowed, and she rubbed her temple while eliciting a sigh.
Dread settled in the pit of Louise’s stomach. She’d heard rumors that Fiona and Sawyer’s hotel was not doing well. Since the school was in the same building, her livelihood could be at risk, especially if Priscilla said anything negative to her parents. Though nothing untoward had happened on the dune, Priscilla could twist the truth into something ugly. The Benningtons could do great damage to the school’s reputation. Their approval of the new school had led to Adeline and Esther’s enrollment. At their word, every paying student could leave. That made this conversation both important and difficult.
Louise rapped on the door frame. “You seem worried.”
Fiona looked up and closed the ledger. “More like perplexed. I don’t have a mind for figures. Please come in.” The beautiful redhead motioned to the chair positioned at the side of her desk. “My apologies for the hot room. I had hoped autumn would bring cooler temperatures. I don’t know when I’ve seen so many hot, dry days this time of year.”
“It is unusual.” Louise’s shoes rapped on the waxed wood floor as she crossed the room.
She then settled on the chair. Though she and Fiona had become friends before the school came into existence, it didn’t make this conversation any easier. She searched for a way to begin.
Fiona gave her the opening she needed. “What’s bothering you? Trouble with one of the students?”
“I hope not, but I’m afraid something happened today that might give them a reason to complain.”
“Oh?” Fiona arched one of her perfect eyebrows.
The former star of the New York stage was the most beautiful woman Louise had ever seen. That she chose to marry a lumber mill sawyer and settle in Singapore was surprising. That she called Louise her friend was just as unlikely, but they’d formed a bond during the hardships of last spring, when a steamship foundered on an offshore sandbar and they joined together to care for the stranded passengers.
Louise began slowly, feeling her way through what had happened. “I brought the girls on the dune to survey a particular plant for our science class, but the assistant lighthouse keeper told us we had to leave the property.”
“The assistant keeper joined your class?”
“Unexpectedly.” And unwelcome, Louise thought as she recalled his inflexibility. “He objected to our presence.”
“Go on.”
“I...saw no reason to interrupt our studies. Mr. Blackthorn never objected to my crossing the property in the past, and I told him that.”
Mirth sparkled in Fiona’s eyes. “I see. Was this man handsome?”
Louise felt her cheeks heat. “That is not the point. I...well, I inadvertently touched the man.”
“Touched?”
“Well, more like grabbed onto him. He was going to pull out the plant, and I had to stop him. He was going to kill it.”
“Kill it.” Fiona’s lips twitched. Was she going to laugh?
Louise explained, “I couldn’t let him needlessly destroy a living thing, so I stopped him.”
“He must have been surprised.”
That was not the half of it. “I believe some of the girls found my reaction a bit too forward and not becoming a teacher.”
“It was innocent.”
“Exactly.” Louise was relieved that Fiona saw it that way. “However, I wanted to let you know what happened in case anyone complained.”
“I see.” Fiona rose. “Is that all?”
It wasn’t. “There might be another complaint. From the man.”
“Oh?”
Louise could see a spark of excitement light up Fiona’s eyes. Now that Fiona and the rest of the women who’d come to Singapore were married, they’d taken it upon themselves to match Louise with every eligible bachelor. Though she had no idea if Mr. Hammond was married or not, he could never be her match.
“He’s more than a little rude. He threatened to remove my students and me from the dune.”
Fiona’s lips twitched. She was going to laugh!
“And then there was the fire.”
That sobered Fiona. “The fire?”
“Dinah’s magnifying glass accidentally caught a leaf on fire, but I stomped it out at once.”
“I’m sure that impressed him. What did you say his name was again?”
“Mr. Hammond. Mr. Jesse Hammond.”
“Oh! Mr. Hammond.” Fiona beamed. “I met him this afternoon at the store. He arrived less than a week ago and is unmarried.”
Naturally Fiona would ask about that. Louise pretended indifference. “So are most of the sawyers and lumberjacks.”
Fiona laughed. “True, but Mr. Hammond seems unusually intellectual. He talked at great length about the weather.”
“The weather.”
“Yes. He explained in great detail why it’s been so hot and dry this year. I found it fascinating and believe our students will also, so I asked him to give a lecture.”
“Here?” The word barely squeaked through Louise’s constricted throat.
“Of course it would be here.” Fiona peered at her. “Is that a problem?”
Louise couldn’t begin to articulate all the reasons why this was a bad idea, starting with the fact that the girls wouldn’t hear one word he said. Oh, they’d be quiet as mice. They’d be busy daydreaming over the handsome lighthouse assistant. But that was a petty objection. Young ladies would always sigh over a man before listening to him.
Louise had a more personal reason. “I too know a great deal about the weather, thanks to Captain Elder’s instruction. I can prepare the lecture.”
“Splendid! Since it’s also an interest of yours, I suggest you collaborate with Mr. Hammond.”
The room grew intolerably hot. Louise couldn’t draw a breath, could barely think. All that came to mind was the impossibility of Fiona’s plan. Jesse Hammond was large and demanding. He would not listen to a word she had to say. He would counter and crush her every suggestion.
