Chapter Ten
It was the quiet that first told Alexandra something was amiss. It wasn’t like the children to be so silent—they made open sport of mischief at every opportunity.
Alexandra was in her room, attempting to finish unpacking. Though she’d been at the ranch for more than a month, she was still living out of her trunk. She didn’t have a wardrobe in her room, but she did have a few shelves, and she was determined to at least sort her books.
Her fingers were still on the spine of a book that she was sliding into place when the realization came over her that it was entirely too quiet in the house.
She froze, tilting her head, her ears straining for any sound.
There were no squeaking floors, no feet galloping hollowly over the wood planks, not even any shrieks or yells as they ran about outdoors.
Alexandra stood slowly, brushing her hands down the apron that she wore over her green and white checked dress.
Going to the doorway of her small room, she peered out but didn’t see anyone.
She stepped out into the small space between the kitchen and the back door and put her hands on her hips as she assessed the situation.
The kitchen was still relatively tidy; the stove was banked after breakfast with two tins of bread dough rising on the top. Nothing was out of place. Alexandra pursed her lips in thought.
That was when she heard it: a small sound, a flurry of hurried whispers. A second set of whispering answered the first. Her head whipped toward the sound, coming from the front sitting room.
Perhaps they’re engaged in something useful, Alexandra thought hopefully, picturing the children reading, taking turns turning the pages. Or perhaps they were building a kite or collecting rocks, anything that didn’t involve just running wild.
Alexandra rounded the corner, a pleasant smile on her face at the prospect of finding the children doing something other than making her life difficult. The moment she reached the doorway of the sitting room, however, her smile dropped.
The children were indeed engaged in an enterprise, but it could hardly be called “constructive.” Bella was holding the screen door open, and the two boys were busy ferrying small boxes inside.
Gary, the youngest, had his box tipped over on the floor, from which at least three lizards came scurrying out.
“Hurry up!” Danny said, shouldering his way through the door.
“They don’t wanna come out!” Gary complained, peering into the box.
“Then shake it! We don’t have all day,” Danny ordered.
Gary complied, shaking the box and sending another lizard scurrying out.
Alexandra just stared. Lizards were scurrying across the floor, up the furniture, even trying to scale the curtains.
She must have made some kind of sound, or perhaps it was simply the feeling of being watched that gave her away, for the children all froze and stared at her, their faces in varying shades of guilt.
Alexandra couldn’t form words. She gestured at the sitting room and made a wordless sound of disbelief and disgust, a kind of “Eurgh!” as one of the creatures scurried over her boot.
That was all the prompting the children needed to break their statue-like state. The two boys, half-bent over with their boxes, turned to scramble for the door, which Bella released in her own escape attempt.
“Halt!” a voice boomed authoritatively from the stairs.
The children froze, perhaps from the simple surprise that someone had actually raised their voice at them. They turned slowly in the direction of the stairs, and Alexandra likewise followed their gaze.
Lisa was coming down the stairs slowly, her hand clutching the railing. She paused to take a breath. Alexandra put it down to the stairs. Her face was stony as her dark eyes swept over the children. She paused at the bottom stair and regarded each child in turn.
“What is going on here?” she demanded.
The children squirmed, looking at the floor and exchanging sidelong glances.
Lisa came down the last stair and peered into the sitting room. Her hands were folded at her waist, and she looked every bit a society matron in her gray dress. “So,” she said at last, “it seems that we have opened a hostel for lizards.”
The children blinked up at her, plainly thrown by the lack of anger in her voice, unsure if she was in jest or not. Alexandra, too, could only watch, unsure of what was happening.
To her great surprise, Lisa came forward and held out a hand flat in front of one of the lizards on the floor. It hesitated for a moment, then stepped onto her palm. Alexandra repressed a shudder.
Lisa lifted her hand, peering at the lizard closely. “Mm,” she hummed thoughtfully. “It seems that you’ve managed to find desert collared lizards. Quite a number of them, too. I read about them on the train ride out here. This must have taken you all morning.”
“How do you know what kind it is?” Bella asked, inquisitive.
Lisa bent down so that she could see the lizard better. “Look just here,” she said, pointing to the lizard’s neck. “You see the black stripes around its neck? They look rather like a collar, don’t you think?”
Bella peered at the lizard, and the two boys inched closer, eager to have a look, too.
Lisa caught Alexandra’s eye and gave her a pointed look, arching a brow. Alexandra lifted her head, realization dawning. Lisa wasn’t just giving the children a lesson; she was giving Alexandra one, too.
She had tried discipline head-on, to everyone’s misery. Lisa was trying another approach.
Lisa gave a small nod and turned her attention back to the children. “Did you have to run all over the ranch to find this many?” she inquired. “Or did you come across a colony of them?”
“They’re all over the ground outside the ranch,” Gary said solemnly. “Me and Danny was picking them up!”
Alexandra inched closer, stepping carefully to avoid any of the lizards scurrying around. “It’s a nice sunny day outside,” she said, bending to look at the lizard. It regarded her with one black eye. “They were all probably out enjoying the warmth.”
The children looked at her warily, surely expecting to still be in trouble. Alexandra straightened and looked about. “Maybe it was a lizard family outing,” she suggested. “Maybe the rest of the lizards are wondering where their friends are.”
Bella looked around at the lizards scattered about the room. “Lizards have families?”
“Well, they don’t just spring out of rocks, do they?” Alexandra asked with a smile.
Bella shook her head.
“Probably their family is missing them,” Alexandra said gently. Danny made a scoffing sound, and Alexandra fixed him with a stare. “Nobody likes it when someone they love is taken away,” she said pointedly. She maintained eye contact with the boy until he looked away.
Gary, meanwhile, sniffed loudly. “You mean… we took them away from their ma and pa?” he asked, his voice and bottom lip trembling all at once. He looked so small suddenly, with his legs sticking out of his short pants and his hair falling over his forehead.
It was hard to remember, in the middle of all the trouble, how young they were.
Their father had been gone three months, she thought, which was no time at all.
She held out her arm in invitation, and Gary slumped over to her, burying his face against her apron.
She put her hand on the top of his head, petting his hair gently.
“Now, now,” she said soothingly, “it’s not that bad.
After all, I’m sure you all mean to put them back, right? No real damage done.”
“Are you sure?” Gary asked, looking up at Alexandra with wet eyes.
She smiled down at him, her heart melting.
“Positive,” she answered confidently. “They’ll just go home and tell all of their lizard brothers and sisters what a jolly vacation they’ve had.
” She knelt so she was at eye level with Gary.
“But just remember, you must put back every single one so they’re not missed. ”
Gary nodded gravely, as only a five-year-old can in matters of lizards. He rubbed his eyes with his fists, determined.
Alexandra caught Lisa’s eye over his head. She looked at Alexandra proudly and nodded in approval.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Danny broke in, throwing his hands up. “Lizards don’t have feelings!”
“Yes, they do, Danny!” Gary shot back hotly. “We gotta take them home. One of them might be somebody’s pa!”
Alexandra could see Danny wavering. His eyes shifted from Gary to Alexandra and back again. With an exasperated sigh, he bent and began plucking the lizards up, putting them back in a box.
One less crisis to deal with, she thought, watching the boys round up the lizards.
Bella watched them from her post by the door, her face equal parts dubious and longing. She wasn’t in any hurry to go running after frogs and lizards, whatever else it was her brothers got up to.
The girl held the screen door for her brothers as they departed with their boxes of lizards, arguing over who had gathered the most. Bella started to follow after them.
“Bella,” Alexandra called after her. The girl turned, her face wary. “I was wondering if you might like to join Aunt Lisa and me for tea today?”
“Tea?” the girl asked, her eyes looking from Alexandra to Lisa. “I’ve never been invited to tea before.”
“Yes,” Alexandra said. “You see, I’m still new to this town, and don’t know much about the people in it yet. I thought it would be nice to get the opinion of a young lady who’s lived here her whole life,” Alexandra explained.
Bella, still holding the screen door, stared at Alexandra. “A young lady?”
“Oh yes,” Lisa agreed, immediately catching on to Alexandra’s plan. “We could really use some guidance. I’m sure you know lots of families that live here.”
“Well,” the girl hedged, “I know a few from school. There’s the Drosselmeyers. They’ve been our neighbors for a long time.” She screwed up her face, her pert little nose wrinkling. “But I don’t like Hans. He pulls my braid at school.”
“He did not!” Alexandra gasped.
“That rascal!” Lisa agreed.
“Oh yes, he did, for true!” Bella insisted, her eyes going wide. “And not just me—he dipped Jenny Alcott’s braid into an inkpot!”
“Well, I never,” Alexandra huffed. “Why don’t you join us for tea, and tell us all about it?” she offered. “We have bread and fresh butter, and some plum tarts I made this morning.” She could see Bella hesitating. “And of course, we’d need to dress appropriately.”
“Dress? You mean, put on our good dresses?” Bella asked, leaning a little closer.
“That’s right,” Lisa said. “That’s one of the most important rules about society visits: You must always look your best.”
Bella chewed her lip for a minute, and then looked slyly at Alexandra. “I could wear my good dress, the one with the lace?”
“Naturally,” Alexandra said, and Bella’s face lit up.
“And put a ribbon in my hair?” the girl said, releasing the door and coming closer.
“Certainly,” Alexandra answered, trying to hide a smile.
“And perhaps wear those lace gloves you wore to church?” Bella asked, clutching her hands together at her chest.
Alexandra pursed her lips and regarded Bella for a moment. “Very well,” she relented. “But you must be on your very best behavior—young ladies can’t stain their gloves. You must take special care of them.”
“Oh yes!” Bella cried, darting forward to hug Alexandra impulsively. “I’ll be ever so careful, I promise!”
Seemingly without realizing what she had done, she released Alexandra from her quick embrace and darted off. Alexandra watched her go, feeling a little thunderstruck.
“That was well done,” Lisa said quietly, her voice warm with approval. “Sometimes, you have to meet children halfway, especially when they’re in such dreadful circumstances. They need a firm hand as much as they need care.”
“How did you learn so much about children?” Alexandra asked, looking at her aunt curiously.
Lisa threw back her head and laughed. “Do you imagine that you were such a biddable child when you came to me? I thought for sure you’d send me straight to the madhouse.”
Alexandra stared at her. “I don’t remember that at all.”
“Of course not,” Lisa agreed. “That’s because the love far outweighs the bad.” She took a deep breath and coughed, making a face. “This hot air,” she muttered before making her way to the kitchen.
Alexandra found that breathing was a little easier. She’d had no hope for weeks now of anything going better with the children, but now she at least felt like she had the sense of a path forward.
She was about to follow her aunt to the kitchen when she caught a glimpse of movement outside the front windows. Aidan and his foreman, Mr. Byrne, were moving horses about the ranch, separating the herd and putting a few into the smaller corral near the house.
If only it were so easy to win over Mr. Rawlins, she thought. She shook her head and laughed at her own foolishness. She’d chosen her lot in life, and there was no reason to hope for anything different. At least, that was what she told herself.