Chapter Seven
With each day thatpassed, Marian braced herself for the appearance of Mr. Hardison. It didn’t come, thankfully, but after only one day away, Zachary returned to school. And each day, Jillian Weatherspoon arrived promptly to collect him and bring him home. It was the strangest thing, seeing the town gossip so intent on ensuring the education of a little boy to whom she had no relation, but it warmed Marian’s heart.
She waved at Jillian as Tommy Landry passed beside her. “You did well today, Tommy.”
He grinned and ran the toe of his shoe over the dirt. “Thank you, Miss Scott. I’ll tell my pa about Samuel Morse.”
“I’m certain he’d enjoy hearing it.” Marian owed Deputy Robertson a debt of gratitude for the bit of advice he’d given about capturing the older boys’ interest. Tommy enjoyed helping his parents, particularly with the telegraph, and once Marian discovered that, she set him to reading about the machine’s history, how patterns of numbers related to Morse Code, and to practicing transcribing messages she created with handwriting neat enough for a customer to decipher.
“Aw, I was hoping he’d bring you a pie again. I really liked that custard pie,” Tommy said. Marian followed Tommy’s gaze down the sidewalk to see the man who had somehow become a daily visitor to the schoolhouse.
“Go on, now,” she said to Tommy as her heart lifted. He scampered off, and she stood with her arms crossed by the door. Each day, the deputy arrived bearing some sort of gift. First it was an apple he’d claimed to have gotten for free at the general store. Then a clutch of crocuses, a little whittled dog, and so on. Yesterday, it had been an entire pie, which he delivered just as the children returned from the noon meal. She knew she should decline the gifts before he began to think she was somehow indebted to him. But each time she opened her mouth to try, he claimed the gift was for the class, effectively making it impossible for her to protest.
She wished she didn’t look forward to these little visits, but the skip in her heartbeat and the way her breathing quickened betrayed every shred of common sense she had in her head.
“Ensuring the safety of the town’s children again?” she asked as he approached.
“Of course.” Deputy Robertson stopped in front of her, his right hand clutching something.
“You’re too late, then. They’ve all left for the day, except for the Thomas sisters. They’re staying late for some help with their recitations.” Marian glanced at the window as she spoke. The two sisters were seated next to each other, their heads bent over a book.
“I’m also here to ensure the safety of the town’s schoolteacher,” Deputy Robertson said.
Marian didn’t know what to say to that, and the words made her heart thump even harder. She nodded at his hand in the hopes of distracting herself. “What do you have today?”
He held out his hand and opened it to reveal a small, brass bell. “Every school needs a bell. How else will the children know when to come inside?”
Marian smiled as he held it up and shook it to make it ring. “Thank you,” she said. “But you must stop bringing gifts. You can’t furnish the entire schoolhouse on your own.” Although how a pie or a bouquet of flowers counted as “furnishing,” Marian didn’t know. Nor did she dare think on it for very long.
He pressed the bell into her hand. “If I could, I’d make this the nicest schoolhouse Nebraska has ever seen. Until then, I’ll do the best I can.”
He looked so earnest that Marian laughed. “Well, the children thank you. Especially for that pie.”
“Only the children?” Deputy Robertson pressed a hand to his heart. “You’ve wounded me, Miss Scott.”
Marian bit her lip to keep from laughing even more. She didn’t dare thank him on behalf of herself.
His dark eyes searched her face, and Marian wondered for a moment if sheshouldhave thanked him anyway. His gaze finally rested on her eyes, and her breath hitched in her throat. The edges of the bell pressed into her palms, and oddly, she wished she’d put on her gloves. What sort of lady walked around outside without gloves?
But Deputy Robertson didn’t seem to be thinking about gloves at all. In fact, she didn’t know what could be in his mind, but she couldn’t look away from him. Not with the way he seemed to see into her very soul. The sky could have poured down with much-needed rain that very moment, and Marian didn’t think she’d notice. She had no room in her consciousness for anything except Deputy Robertson’s steel-velvet eyes. They were inviting and yet something Marian couldn’t understand sat in their depths, and it made her want to rush into his arms and run away at the same time.
A thump from inside the schoolhouse broke the spell that had seemed to settle over her, and Marian jumped.
“I must get back to my pupils.” Her voice came out as ragged as it did when she was a child and would race Jessilyn down the road.
“Of course.” Deputy Robertson nodded, and Marian thought he sounded almost as breathless as she did.
She turned to the door and then looked back. “Thank you again. For the bell,” she added quickly. She stepped inside before he could respond.
Composing herself as best she could, she placed the bell on her table and turned to listen to Hannah and Dot Thomas practice their recitations. It was difficult to pay attention to excerpts from Psalms when Deputy Robertson’s all-encompassing gaze lingered at the edges of her mind. Marian had to force herself to focus on her work.
