Chapter Thirty
Papa wasted no time convening the town council. That night, Emma sat in the back of the school room, next to Ivy. Miss Groves sat a few rows ahead of them. As far as Emma knew, this was the only matter of business the council was seeing to that evening.
They were waiting on the arrival of Patrick O’Connor. He and Eliza shared the role of town council member. When their inn had opened, it was decided it made sense for them to be part of the council, as they knew a great deal about the comings and goings of the stage and the arrival of goods.
Papa had been on the town council from the very beginning. As had Mr. O’Connor—Finbarr’s father—who was sitting at the front with him.
Mr. Johnson, who ran the mercantile, was the fourth member. He was Marianne’s father. That always made it a little bit difficult to be near him. Emma tended to clam up and close in on herself.
She absolutely needed to not do so now. Though she was certain Papa would take up the explanation and speak on her behalf if needed, Emma wasn’t willing to allow Miss Groves the satisfaction of thinking Emma was intimidated by her. Somehow, she would find her voice.
She bent a little, so her head and Ivy’s were near each other’s. “Thank you for being here,” she said.
“Miss Groves should be grateful Katie is the one staying at home with the little ones instead of me. I thought Katie was going to march over to the teacher’s house and thrash her when she found out what’s been happening at the school.”
“Irish women are fiercely protective of their children,” Emma acknowledged.
Ivy turned and looked directly at her. “That includes you, you realize. Katie would thrash the daylights out of anyone to protect you.”
Finbarr had said he would walk through purgatory for her. Ivy felt certain Katie would go to battle for Emma as well. While she hadn’t truly doubted that, at least not where Katie was concerned, hearing it stated so plainly after years away drove it home with greater force.
“I don’t always feel part of the family,” Emma admitted.
“You are,” Ivy insisted. “You always will be.”
“Then why don’t you write to me anymore?” Emma asked.
Before Ivy could so much as open her mouth, Patrick O’Connor stepped into the room. “My apologies,” he said. “We’ve a wee little one who likes to express his disapproval of anyone departing. Slowed me down.”
The council waved off his apologies, and he sat at the front of the room with them.
Papa immediately began the meeting. Her father had always been very efficient.
“I don’t suspect it will be a very long meeting this evening,” Papa said. “There’s only one matter to discuss. Miss Groves. Miss Archer.” He waved them forward.
Ivy squeezed Emma’s hand. Emma rose and made her way to the front. While she didn’t entirely avoid looking at Mr. Johnson, she certainly didn’t let her eyes linger on him. If she did and saw disappointment or sorrow or blame, it would undo her. She knew it would.
“I understand there was an incident at the school today,” Papa said. “Miss Groves, we’d like to hear your version of things.”
Miss Groves didn’t entirely hide the smugness that she clearly felt.
Did she think that being permitted to go first meant that she was being favored in some way?
If so, she truly didn’t understand this town.
Even the fact that Emma was a daughter of one of the council members and well known to the others didn’t mean that she was to be favored in this discussion.
They would hear what had happened and would make a fair decision.
“While today’s incident has brought us all here, it is certainly not the first that has occurred,” Miss Groves said.
“Miss Archer has made a habit of disrupting my classroom. She undermines me as a teacher. She interferes in my work. She has managed to convince many of the children that they don’t have to actually listen to me, despite the fact that I am their teacher. ”
Emma couldn’t entirely argue with that. She hadn’t intended to be disruptive the first day she’d spent at the school.
Until she’d discovered Miss Groves was the sort to paddle her students, she’d never intentionally interfered or undermined her.
And it was only after that that she had encouraged the children to leave school rather than remain.
But she would have her time to explain, so she wasn’t worried.
“And today, I caught Miss Archer stealing from my classroom. When I confronted her, she insisted she was unrepentant, would do so again, and then she dismissed my students from school, sending them home in the middle of the day. This degree of chaos cannot be permitted. School needs to be a reliable place. Parents need to know when and for how long their children will be at school and when to expect them home. She sowed chaos and has done so with absolutely no care for the consequences. She is returning home as soon as the snow melts enough to allow her to do so, and I will be left attempting to bring order to the mayhem that she has caused. This entire town will be.”
The council listened without interruption. While they looked a little confused at Miss Groves’ accusations, they didn’t dismiss them out of hand. They were willing to be impartial.
It was Mr. Johnson who turned first to Emma. “And what are your thoughts on the matter, Miss Archer?”
She pushed down a swallow. She wished Mr. Johnson didn’t still make her so uncomfortable. It was no fault of his own that he was connected to her biggest regret and her deepest sorrow. She took a breath, then reached into the pocket of her coat.
“I suspect all I need to tell you is that what I took from this classroom today was this.” She pulled out the paddle and, taking a single step forward, set it on the table behind which the town council sat.
“I did not take it because I’m a thief or have no respect for personal property or any of the things she has accused me of.
I took it so she would stop hurting our children. ”
Of all of them, only Papa didn’t look surprised. Apparently word of what had happened had not been spread to the other council members. She suspected Papa had done that on purpose, wanting them to come at this without opinions already decided.
Mr. O’Connor, his eyes wide, addressed Miss Groves. “Why do you have this in your classroom?”
“Corporal punishments are—”
“Our employment offer,” Mr. O’Connor interrupted, “specifically forbade paddling, swatting, or any form of corporal punishment. Very specifically.”
Miss Groves assumed an expression Emma had seen in her a few times: an inarguable attempt to hide uncertainty behind a mask of enormous confidence. “Some students require it.”
The council all exchanged looks. Emma knew them well enough to understand that Miss Groves had just sunk herself. Whether or not the teacher understood that remained to be seen.
“You both can head back to your homes,” Mr. O’Connor said. “We will straighten all of this out and let you know what’s to be done.”
Miss Groves kept her chin a bit tilted as she walked from the schoolhouse.
That she’d not even bothered to toss Emma a glare seemed to indicate she realized things had not gone well.
Emma might have felt sorry for her if not for the fact that Miss Groves had been given a position of trust and had used it to hurt children.
Emma would have been upset at that under any circumstances, but for it to have been the children of this town, children belonging to families she cared about and loved, even her own brother, only made it all the more infuriating.
“I will leave you to your business,” she said, addressing the council as a whole, “but I feel like you need to know . . .” She was trying to think of a way to say what she felt needed to be said without breaking any confidences.
In the end, the simple approach seemed best. She let her gaze move between Patrick and Mr. O’Connor.
“The river road still hasn’t been tamped down.
I realize the snows came early this year, so it likely hasn’t even occurred to the O’Connor family.
But, until it’s done, Finbarr can’t leave his house unless someone happens by and offers to take him somewhere.
He’s trapped until his family offers him an escape route. ”
Both men looked simultaneously surprised and a little ashamed.
Patrick turned to his father. “I hadn’t even thought of it.”
“Neither had we.” Mr. O’Connor shook his head. “Our lad’s stuck out there. And likely wondering if his family’s bothered at all by his absence.”
Oh, how Emma wanted to say he was contemplating a much longer absence.
“He needs to know you care,” she said. “I think he knows you do, but he needs to feel it. Maybe even more than that, he needs to know that this is a place where he can be whole. And free in ways he hasn’t felt in a very long time.
Making certain his road is travelable by him on his own is an important part of that. ”
“We ought to have seen to it sooner.” Patrick sighed. “We owe him that, and a very abject apology.”
Emma smiled at his father and his brother. “There’s very little the O’Connors can’t accomplish when they put their minds to it. Provided they have ample reminders and are shown a great deal of patience.”
The men grinned, and it was joyous to see. The first couple of years after the fire, everyone seemed afraid to smile around her. And in the years since, the heaviness on her heart had overtaken so many of her interactions. These lighter moments were a godsend.
“You’ve been good for our Finbarr, Miss Emma,” Mr. O’Connor said.
“He has been good for me.” She felt a blush starting to steal over her face. She offered a very quick smile and a thank you to the council as a whole, before spinning about and making her way from the schoolroom. Ivy joined her at the back, and together they stepped outside.
As they began their walk home, Ivy hooked her arm through Emma’s.
“You and Finbarr have been good for each other,” she said. “Finbarr’s smiles are real when he’s with you. They haven’t been for a long time.”
That wrapped like a warm blanket around her heart. She wanted him to be happy. He deserved to be.
“And,” Ivy continued, “you breathe differently when he’s nearby. It’s the most astounding thing.”
“I breathe differently?” Emma couldn’t make sense of that.
“We held our breath while running through the fire,” Ivy said. “I’ve been wondering for a decade when you were going to stop.”
“Stop holding my breath?”
Ivy nodded.
Stop holding my breath. It had, in many ways, felt like she was still struggling against lungs full of smoky air and the agonizing fear of that horrible night. There was less of that now. “I feel safe when Finbarr’s with me.”
“Because you are.”