Chapter Twenty-one
The stars still twinkledin the sky when Marian awoke. She turned and glanced at the clock on the table between her bed and Jessilyn’s. Four o’clock.
Turning onto her back, she stared at the ceiling, willing sleep to return. But every time she closed her eyes, images of Cole and that burning look of determination he’d given her at Mrs. Shomburg’s invaded her mind. She must have replayed the conversation in her head a thousand times over the past few days, trying to figure out some way she could have reminded him of her own plans, her own desire for her future.
But each time, she came up short. Nothing she imagined sounded true. None of it felt as if it had come from the deepest part of her heart.
Instead, her mind found its way to other thoughts. To how she might have let him continue to hold her hand. To walk beside her on her way home. To linger outside her door and finally lean forward and kiss her.
With a frustrated rush of air, she sat up and threw her legs over the side of the bed. How would she ever get Cole out of her mind if she continued to wish for things she couldn’t let happen?
She got dressed silently, completing her toilet without waking Jessilyn. In the kitchen, she prepared and wrapped a simple lunch and found some bread and jam for her breakfast. It wasn’t nearly as warm and filling as the breakfast Mama would make in a couple of hours, but it would do. Marian couldn’t stay for that, not this morning. She yearned to be outside, letting the cold air drive the thoughts of Cole from her mind and focusing it instead on the school day to come.
She slid on her coat and grabbed her lunch and the plain reticule Papa had purchased for her at the general store to replace the one that had torn.
Pausing at the door, Marian prepared herself for what she knew she’d see outside. Cole would be waiting across the street, keeping watch on her home as he’d promised. Every morning, he touched his hat and smiled at her, but he didn’t ask to escort her to school. Instead, he followed at a respectful distance. And Marian could feel his eyes on her all the way.
And every morning, as much as she wished she didn’t, she hoped he would sidle up next to her and take her arm in his, as he used to. But he never did.
It was utterly maddening. And she didn’t know if she was mad at him or herself.
The cold, predawn air bit at her cheeks the second she opened the door. Slipping outside, she locked it behind her and then turned to look for Cole.
But he wasn’t there.
Disappointment filtered through her as she spotted another fellow, one she recognized as a man Sheriff Granger deputized now and then to help keep order. The man wasn’t doing much good at all now, as he appeared to be fast asleep against a tree.
Marian bit her lip and glanced down the road. Cole wouldn’t be happy if she walked to school alone, particularly in the dark. And she couldn’t blame him, because she felt uneasy about it too. She could wake the man across the road, but the thought of doing so made her feel foolish. Besides, what if he came with her and then Mr. Hardison or some other man bent on harming her came here to find her family unprotected?
She considered going back inside and waiting until light, but the very idea annoyed her. Last Chance was her town, too. She was a good citizen who contributed to the well-being of the town’s children. Why shouldshebe frightened to walk a short distance to her schoolhouse?
Praying she wasn’t being foolhardy, Marian adjusted her reticule, settled her lunch into the crook of her arm, and began to walk quickly into town.
Conscious of every sound and shadow, she moved so fast that she was out of breath once she got to the school. It was still dark outside, and her breath puffed in white clouds as she fumbled for the key to unlock the door. Once inside, she pressed the door shut—taking care to lock it again. Hopefully she could get a fire going in the stove quickly. By the time the children arrived, the schoolhouse would be comfortably warm.
She hurried across the room to light a lamp. She had just struck a match when something shuffled in the corner.
Marian froze, the little flame burning brightly as she held the match. Her gaze went immediately to the darkened corner beyond her table. The light of the match didn’t reach that far. She squinted into the shadows.
It must be a mouse. But even as the words crossed her mind, she didn’t believe them. The sound she’d heard had come from something much larger than a mouse.
