“There now, Miss Inman. Don’t fret.” Professor Pendleton patted her shoulder. “Miss Penny is ensconced at a desk beneath the tent, happily inspecting some recent finds, and when she’s not singing to herself, she’s dictating what her gifted senseof touch can detect. Truly, Bram couldn’t have found a more perfect task for the girl.”
The tension in Eva’s neck eased—not completely, but at least somewhat—and she smiled at the old fellow. Penny was safe and accounted for, and that was what truly mattered. “I appreciate your nephew’s kindness, and yours. My sister can be a bit of a wild card at times.”
Then again, so could Bram.
Could she truly trust him to know how to keep Penny safe?
Bram guided the horses along the last stretch of road to the house. Behind him, the three students boasted about who was the better field hand. Beside him, his uncle praised Penny’s performance in the work tent, telling her what a fine student she’d been and how she might excel at a school for the blind he knew of in London. The rhythmic clip-clopping of hooves added to the pleasing chatter, and a smile eased across Bram’s lips. All was right in the world. In fact, it was days like this he wondered why he should ever again set foot inside a stuffy classroom reeking of sweaty young men. The grand weather, how well the team had meshed, and all their spectacular finds had added up to a smashing day.
Yet when he drove into the yard, all that contentment was crushed, ground into the gravel with each heavy-footed pace of a woman in a brown coat gripping a lantern—
And marching his way.
He set the brake as Eva approached, her pale blue eyes sparking in the moonlight.
“I should like a word with you, Professor Webb.” She spit out his name as she would a mouthful of soured milk, then looked past him to Penny. “And I will speak with you, sister, before you retire.”
Next to him, Penny whispered, “She’s angry.”
“I should say so,” he whispered back. “How about if you and my uncle hop down to see if Mrs. Pottinger has any dinner left? You must be famished. I know the rest of the men are.”
“I am.” Penny grinned, then impetuously threw her arms around him. “Thank you for such a fun day. Same time tomorrow?”
He didn’t dare glance back at Eva as he endured the embrace. He didn’t need to. He could feel her icy gaze boring into him, her wrath hitting him between the shoulder blades like grapeshot.
“Maybe not tomorrow, young Miss Inman.” He tousled her wind-blown hair. With the girl’s aptitude, she truly ought to be out at the dig again. He would do everything he could to encourage the girl’s natural appetite to learn, even if it meant facing Eva’s wrath. Penny ought not be squelched by the world around her. After all, he knew how harsh that world could be. “You did a bang-up job today, Penny, and I suspect it won’t be long before your services are needed once again. Now off with you.”
“Come along, Miss Penny.” Uncle Pendleton guided the girl down. “If I don’t collect that dinner basket for the men, I could have a riot on my hands.”
“Don’t wait on me, Uncle. I’ll catch up with you and the fellows shortly.” Hopefully, anyway. Eva might kill him in cold blood with the mood she was apparently in.
“We’ll gather after dinner, men,” Bram called over his shoulder, then jumped down from the seat, his boots landing with a harsh crunch. Before Eva could fire her first shot, he held up his hands in surrender. “You needn’t say anything. I apologize for not getting Penny back sooner. She was completely swept up in the moment. We all were. And I think you’ll understand why when I tell you—”
“What I understand, Professor Webb, is that it is half past seven. Do you seriously think a young girl ought to be in the company of five grown men until well after dark?”
One of the horses snorted—which he seconded, thoroughly frustrated. He’d apologized! What more did the woman want? “I would never let harm come to your sister. She was with me the entire time, not with some stranger. You know me.”
“I do know you, which only adds to my concern. You are all action and hang the consequences! Any number of things could’ve happened to her out in that field.” Her nostrils flared, her cheeks flaming redder. “I was worried about her, Bram.Iam the one responsible for her care, not you. You had no right to keep my sister out so late.”
He sighed. She did have a point. Penny wasn’t one of his students—but that didn’t stop him from being a teacher, and she had learned so much today. The light in the girl’s eyes had been hungry. “Listen, Eva, your sister is not a bird to be caged. Like you, she owns a brilliant mind, one that needs to be fed. There are schools for the blind where she would thrive. Have you ever considered sending her to such an institution?”
Anguish rippled across her face, eventually hardening into a determined jut of her jaw. “I have been teaching Penny myself, and thus far she is not beyond what I know. I realize she will have special needs, such as learning Braille, but I intend to learn it right along with her.”
“I did not mean to insult you. I merely wish to see Penny spread her wings a bit, fly like the bird she is. At the very least, please consider allowing her to come back out to the dig. I promise I shall keep better track of time in the future.”
Moonlight draped over her shoulders, which visibly lowered. “I ... I will consider it. Thank you.” She turned away.
With a light touch to her arm, Bram pulled her back. “Hold on. You’ve had your say with me, and that’s fine, but please don’t be as harsh on the girl. Penny had a wonderful day. Do not ruin it.”
She slipped from his hold, the lantern in her hand swinging wildly. “My sister should not have hidden away in your wagonlike that. She needs to understand the seriousness of her rash actions.”
“But she’s just a girl, prone to following the whims of her heart, not convention. I seem to remember you following me around like a little lamb when you were that age, and yet you appear to have turned out just fine.” More than fine, truth be told, with the way her skin glowed in the spare light, her loosened red hair gleaming. There was no denying her earthy appeal.
Eva flattened her lips. “I only mean to save Penny from the same scars I endured.”
Hah! There was far more behind that statement than she let on. “You mean you wish to save her from me, is that it?” He flung out his hands, cracking his forearm against the wagon but so be it. “Am I such a monster to you?”
She lifted her face, her blue eyes searching his, like she was looking for answers to questions he couldn’t begin to understand. The type of stare he’d give anything to hide from. Yet instinctively he knew not to turn away or allow some glib remark to slip out. So he stood deathly still in the October night, bearing the awful weight of her scrutiny.
