Chapter 15 #2
“I recall hearing that Elkhorn has a real schoolhouse and a teacher. Know anything about it?”
“Do I know anything about it?” She gave him a look of mild disbelief that he would ask such a question.
“The schoolhouse is down at the west end of town, up from the creek. It’s a one-room affair, and the town pays for a teacher to work with all the children.
That’s eight grades. I’ve visited the school a couple of times. ”
Of course she has, he thought. Being involved with the ladies’ committees in town, Sheila would naturally make it her business to know these things.
“Would that be good for Paddy?” Caleb asked. “Him being behind and all?”
“Well, the boy is spirited. As you know, he can be a handful,” she reminded him.
“And the schoolhouse is crowded. There are currently three to five students in each grade. When all thirty-five or forty of them show up, which isn’t all that often, the conditions are quite cramped.
Miss Polly Kaufman, the new schoolmarm, tells me she’s sometimes ready to pull her hair out after a day like that. ”
“I wouldn’t blame her.”
“Me neither. Polly arrived in Elkhorn last fall and I think she’s already looking elsewhere. She’s not happy, I can tell you that.” Sheila stood and walked to the window. “And she has good reason for leaving. I don’t know how she’d be able to stay with the pittance she receives to live on.”
He didn’t know how things worked now, but when he was younger, married women weren’t permitted to teach. They had only themselves to rely on, unless they came with money.
“It’s shockingly unfair. Did you know that the town paid the last teacher—who was a man—a yearly salary of seventy-five dollars, but offered Miss Kaufman only fifty when she arrived from Ohio?”
“I didn’t.” He didn’t know anything about it.
He had no idea before how little teachers were paid.
He imagined stacking wood at the lumber yard paid more than that.
A working cowhand got twenty-five to thirty dollars a month plus board.
Hell, he gave Gabe a dollar a day to look after the ranch and his dog when he went away.
Fifty dollars a year wasn’t much to live on.
“And she was given no supplies to work with. No slates for the children, no charts or maps, no books. I don’t know what the last teacher did, but Polly believes he took everything with him. She was simply ushered in the door and told to do her best.”
Caleb realized Sheila had found another friend in Elkhorn. And it sounded like this Miss Kaufman could certainly use an ally.
“So, one of your ladies’ committees is doing something about it?”
She nodded. “Unfortunately, some people don’t see it as a priority.”
“So you don’t think the Elkhorn school would be a good thing for Paddy?”
“Let me talk to Polly. She was considering dividing the classes so not all the children show up at the same time. Maybe having the lower grades come in for three weeks and then the upper grades come in three weeks and so on. If that’s the case, Paddy could live out at the ranch and only come to Elkhorn for school when it’s his time to be there. ”
Sheila had a head for solving problems. Caleb had done right in asking her.
Just then, the sun pushed through the clouds, and light poured in through the window. Her golden hair glowed like a halo.
And suddenly the future he'd been imagining no longer seemed quite so impossible.
A ranch. Paddy racing in from the barn. Henry arguing about something foolish. Bear asleep on the porch.
And Sheila.
Always Sheila.
Not visiting. Not riding out from town. There.
It was like a damn sign. For a crazy moment, Caleb thought about what it would have been like if Sheila were also living out there on the ranch. As quickly as the idea formed, though, he pushed it away.
But it returned almost immediately.
Not because he was foolish enough to believe such things came easy.
Because for the first time in his life, he found himself wanting them.
“When are you going to tell him?”
“Not until after I get back with Ortiz. No reason to stir things up.”
“You’ll take care out there, won’t you?”
“I got to. There’s a twelve-year-old boy’s future to think of.”
She walked slowly toward him. “And is Paddy the only one who you’ll be thinking of?”
Caleb jumped to his feet, feeling his body come alert.
She was playing with him. He recognized the expression on her face.
They’d exchanged a few brief kisses in the past. But something felt different today.
The conversation about Paddy. About the future.
About building a home. It no longer felt like a distant possibility. It felt real.
Right now, though, he didn’t think he could keep himself reined in if he let down his guard and kissed her properly.
“’Course not. There’s Bear. In spite of how bad he smells when he’s wet, I’ve come to be very fond of him. Then there’s Henry. Come to think of it, he don’t smell so good either. Then there’s Doc, who still can’t play chess worth a lick. And—”
Sheila pushed herself up on the tips of her toes and took hold of Caleb’s chin. “Can’t say it, can you? You’ll miss me. I know you’ll miss me.”
They were close enough that he could have fallen directly into those blue eyes. He felt his guard slip a notch.
“Say it, Marlowe.”
He took a deep breath. “I will miss you, Miss Burnett.”
“Good. Because I’ll miss you too.”
For a moment neither of them moved. The words settled between them. Simple. Honest. Impossible to misunderstand.
Then Sheila rose onto her toes and pressed her lips to his.
Caleb intended to keep it brief. He truly did. But the instant her hand slid from his chin to the side of his face, all good intentions deserted him. His hand came to rest at her waist. He drew her closer. The kiss deepened.
Months of longing and restraint seemed to melt away.
The world beyond the back parlor disappeared.
There was no ranch. No lost cattle. No Elijah Starr.
No journey waiting for him tomorrow. There was only Sheila.
The softness of her lips. The warmth of her body.
The faint clean scent of lavender that always seemed to follow her.
When she finally slipped her arms around his neck, Caleb knew with sudden certainty that he was lost.
Completely.
Neither of them noticed how much time passed.
When at last they broke apart, Sheila remained close enough that her breath mingled with his. Both of them were breathing harder than they should have been.
A rosy flush colored her cheeks. Caleb suspected he looked no better.
For a moment neither spoke. Neither seemed willing to step away. Then Sheila smiled—a smile so tender it nearly undid him.
“Well,” she whispered, slightly out of breath, “I suppose that settles that.”
“Settles what?” Caleb asked, finding that his own voice sounded rough.
Her eyes sparkled.
“That we'll miss each other.”
She finally stepped back and started toward the door.
Caleb was still trying to think of something clever to say in parting, so she wouldn’t know how much their kiss affected him. He was about to give up, figuring something would come to him when he was halfway back to the ranch, when she stopped.
“I heard my father say you’re looking for a room where Mr. Washington can convalesce.”
“You heard right.”
“I think I can help you with that.”
“You can?”
“He can stay at Belle Constant’s place.”
The words caught Caleb by surprise. For a moment, he wondered if Sheila actually knew what kind of place the Belle was.
“I recently learned that Miss Constant has a small rooming house that she built for the flood of visitors that came to Elkhorn for the eclipse viewing last summer.”
“That right?”
Sheila’s knowledge of this town was beginning to amaze him.
“It’s located at the end of an alley that runs alongside her saloon. Since then, she’s been using it to house some of her employees.”
“I wonder if she’d object to renting it to Tex.”
“I’ll ask her. But I’m fairly certain she won’t mind at all.”
“You’ll ask her? You know Belle Constant?” Every time Caleb thought he knew everything there was to know about Sheila Burnett, she knocked him all a-kilter.
“Of course. She’s a member of the Ladies’ Event Planning Committee.”