1
ALLIE
Allie Lawrence flew down the stairs, her mind already tangled up in everything she wanted to do with her students.
Allie loved everything about being a teacher, except the early mornings. And she couldn’t even really complain about them, since she still lived on the dairy farm where she had grown up and almost everyone else in the family was up even earlier than she was to care for the animals.
“There she is,” her dad’s voice boomed as she stepped into the kitchen.
Daniel Lawrence claimed to have retired from the farm, but he was still up before the sun most days to cook up a big country breakfast while Allie’s mom, Maggie, saw to the calves or helped out with the first milking.
One of her five older brothers, Zane, was also in the kitchen today, pouring himself a mug of coffee.
“Morning, Allie,” Zane said in his usual quiet way.
“Morning,” she replied, grabbing her to-go mug from the cupboard and waiting her turn for the pot.
The kitchen was blessedly warm and smelled like the biscuits cooling on the counter and the bacon that was calling to her as it sizzled in the pan.
“Grab a plate, Allie,” her dad said. “It’s almost ready.”
“Sorry, Dad,” she said genuinely, as she took the coffee carafe from her brother and filled her mug. “I don’t have time.”
The front door banged.
“Shoes,”they all called out automatically.
Allie’s brother, Tripp, was sometimes so eager to see what was cooking that he forgot to take off his muddy boots. A moment later, he appeared in the doorway, looking ravenous as usual.
“Nice, Dad,” he groaned appreciatively, striding over to the stove in his socks and snatching a piece of bacon right off the hot skillet with his callused fingers.
“Tripp,”Allie said.
“What?” he asked. “Some of us have to do actual work for a living.”
He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.
Tripp loved to tease her forplaying with kids all dayin a heated classroom while he worked up a massive appetite out in the snow.
She went up on her toes and gave him a gentle smack on the side of the head as she headed down the hall. But the front door swung open before she could touch it, and her mother sailed in on a gust of frigid air, her cheeks pink from the cold.
Maggie Lawrence had a spring in her step and herblue eyes twinkled with energy. If it weren’t for the streaks of silver in her long brown braid, she could have been mistaken for another Lawrence sibling.
“You’re not eating with us?” she asked Allie.
“I want to get to school a few minutes early,” Allie told her. “I had an idea.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” her mom said fondly. “I hope those children know how lucky they are.”
“I’m the lucky one, Ma,” Allie said over her shoulder as she jogged down the porch steps on the way to her car.
The cold air and the fiery pink of the rising sun quickened Allie’s pulse, and she felt the last of her sleepiness lift away. A day full of crisp sunshine was just the thing to brighten everyone’s spirits.
The door to the old station wagon was icy enough to stick a little, but she muscled it open and then started the engine.
While it warmed up, she scraped the coating of frost from the windshield. When she was finished, she hopped in and turned on the radio to distract herself from the car’s still-frigid interior.
“Snow, snow, and more snow on the way by the weekend,”the forecaster sang cheerfully.
