Pearl (49 page)
‘‘Yes.’’
‘‘Then trust me. We will work this out.’’
And I sure hope and
pray it will be sooner rather than later
.
Blizzards come when you least expect them.
Pearl stared out the schoolroom window. How could it be gray and cloudy one minute and pure white the next? Never had she seen such swift weather changes. Had there been an inkling, she would have dismissed the children an hour or more ago so they could get home safely.
‘‘Whiteout, Miss Hossfuss. I daren’t take Robert and June out in that.’’ Atticus stood slightly behind her and off to her right.
‘‘I know, Atticus. Everyone will spend the night here. I’m just utterly amazed at how swiftly it changes.’’
‘‘Pa says whiteouts come like a roaring train. Only safe place is home.’’
‘‘Yes, well, we are all safe here. I’ll go tell them we’ll have extra mouths for supper.’’ She turned to the rest of the pupils. ‘‘Keep on with your work, and I’ll be right back. Opal, would you please bring in another lamp?’’ She’d already lit the two in reflective sconces on the walls, but still it was hard to read.
Pearl headed for the kitchen where Ruby was removing loaves of bread from the oven. ‘‘Ah, it smells heavenly in here.’’
‘‘I know. How about snacks of fresh bread and jam for the children? If you’re coming to tell me they’ll be spending the night, I already figured that out. That’s the fastest I’ve seen a blizzard hit since I came here.’’ She tipped the loaves out onto their sides, then righted them so she could butter the crusts.
‘‘I’m so grateful the children weren’t caught out in that,’’ Pearl said, her voice shaking. ‘‘If something happened to them, I’d . . .’’ She trailed off.
‘‘There are stories of people losing their way in a blizzard, even just going between a barn and a house. Charlie strung a rope out to the shed so we can take care of the horses out there.
Good thing we have some grain and hay left.’’
‘‘I’ll think of games and such to keep the children all busy.’’
‘‘We’ll turn this into a party, make it an evening to remember.’’ ‘‘What about the men working in Medora?’’ Pearl wanted to say Mr. Hegland, but she refrained, although she could feel heat rising in her neck.
‘‘If you mean Carl, I’m sure they are all holed up at the Chateau. They might not have much food left, but they are warm and dry. Please God that no one was caught out on the roads.’’
The wind caught the door out of Charlie’s hand and slammed it against the wall. Snow drifted across the floor before he could get it closed again. ‘‘Talk about a northerner. What a vicious one this is.’’ He brushed the snow off his shoulders and dusted off his bowler hat. ‘‘You lose track of all direction in that whirling white world out there. Good thing I had that rope up since the baby storm we had last week.’’ He crossed to the stove and rubbed his hands together over the heat.
‘‘I better get back in the schoolroom,’’ Pearl said. ‘‘Think we’ll have a spelling contest.’’
‘‘Spelling bee?’’ Charlie asked.
‘‘That what they call it out here?’’
‘‘That’s what we called it where I come from.’’
‘‘Send them out in a couple of minutes for bread and jam,’’ Ruby said. ‘‘Some relays would be good to run some energy off too.’’
For the next hour Dove House rang with shouts of children, the twelve sounding more like twenty-four. But when Pearl brought out the book for story time, they collapsed on the floor around her as fast as if someone yelled ‘‘drop dead.’’
‘‘Sure was good bread and jam,’’ little June said.
‘‘Shush, let her read,’’ Robert barked.
‘‘I was just . . .’’
Pearl smiled down at June and drew her closer to her side. ‘‘You make sure you tell Miss Torvald that. Good manners are always appreciated.’’
Robert glared at his little sister but crossed his legs and rested his elbows on his knees, cheeks propped on his fists.
Pearl smiled at each one of them. How precious these children had become to her. Even more so than those in Chicago, maybe because there were fewer here and they were all together on church Sundays and for the Christmas program. They had become part of her daily life, whereas in Chicago, she left the school and went home to a far different life. Would she rather attend a soiree than the sing-along they’d have after supper? The question didn’t bear asking.
‘‘Where did we leave off yesterday?’’
‘‘Where the bookmark is.’’ Ada Mae made the others giggle.
‘‘Where he woke up tied down by ropes.’’
‘‘Very good.’’ Pearl opened to the proper page and began reading the story of a rope-bound man named Gulliver.
‘‘Oh, don’t stop,’’ someone said when she came to the end of the chapter.
‘‘Please keep reading.’’
Pearl rolled her eyes, making them laugh. ‘‘I suppose, just this once, we can go on.’’
After supper and the dishes were done, everyone gathered around the piano and sang till Pearl ran out of tunes, many of which she’d been playing hit or miss anyway.
‘‘I sure miss Belle,’’ Opal said, then added quickly, ‘‘not that you don’t play good, er, well, Miss Hossfuss, but Belle knew every song imaginable.’’
‘‘And a few more,’’ Charlie said under his breath.
‘‘All right. You may play games for a bit while we make up beds,’’ Pearl instructed. ‘‘Opal, how about hearts and old maid?’’
‘‘One of each? Six is a good number.’’
‘‘Good. In the schoolroom, two circles, make them even.’’ While the children went off to play cards, Pearl and Daisy made up pallets in the Red Room for the girls and in the schoolroom for the boys.
‘‘We could probably put them all into beds, but if the men come back in the middle of the night, they might not be too happy to find a child where they want to be.’’ Daisy reached for another quilt off the top shelf. ‘‘Good thing we got extras now.’’
Pearl stopped in the doorway to watch the two groups play. When Opal shuffled the deck and held the cards between her cupped palms so they whirred back together, Pearl asked, ‘‘Where did you learn to shuffle like that?’’
‘‘Belle taught me. Faster that way and easier on the cards.’’ She dealt another hand, flipping out cards as well as any card player Pearl had seen.
I wonder if Ruby knows this? Surely she does.
Pearl, keep your nose out of other people’s business
.
The blizzard blew out by morning, leaving a dazzling white world and two feet of new snow. One drift came over the railing of the Dove House front porch.
One evening after the Marquis de Mores returned and Dove House was full, Ruby turned around and asked, ‘‘Anyone seen Opal?’’
‘‘Not since supper.’’ Charlie looked up from the chair he was repairing. One man too many had rocked on the back legs, and this time he ended up on the floor, to the merriment of those who saw him crash. All the others heard the ruckus.
‘‘She should be doing her homework.’’ Pearl wiped the soap off her hands. ‘‘I gave everyone plenty to do.’’
‘‘Most likely reading.’’ Daisy patted Charlie’s shoulder as she went by.
Pearl and Ruby exchanged raised eyebrow looks. Was another romance blossoming under their very noses?
Cimarron and Jed came through the swinging door laughing together over a private joke.
‘‘I got news for you folks.’’ Jed paused, one hand on Cimarron’s shoulder.
‘‘You started your house?’’
‘‘In the snow?’’ He shot Daisy a patient look.
Ruby kept her gaze on her coffee cup. She knew the surprise.
I’m so glad for them and so sad for me. Please, Rand, be patient
.
‘‘We are . . .’’ He paused for a long moment.
‘‘Just tell ’em,’’ Cimarron prompted.
‘‘We are . . . getting married on Sunday over to Dickinson.’’
‘‘Well, I’ll be. I was beginning to think you forgot all about that.’’ Charlie set the chair down on all four legs and extended his hand. ‘‘Congratulations.’’
Ruby shared a tremulous smile with Cimarron and gave a slight nod that said ‘‘I told you one day there would be a man who looked beyond your former life.’’ Not that she’d have chosen Jed, but God in His mercy did strange things at times.
Where’s Opal? She’ll hate having missed this news
. Ruby left the others laughing and offering advice and went in search of her little sister. She heard a burst of laughter from the cardroom as she climbed the stairs. Surely Opal wouldn’t be reading up in their room, cold as it was. She wasn’t.
She wasn’t in the Red Room, or the storeroom, or the kitchen, or the dining room. Where could she be?
Thinking to ask if any of the card players had seen her, Ruby stopped to straighten a tablecloth, then approached the card-room— cum—schoolroom double doors. She heard the laugh before she saw her sister.
‘‘That’s mine, gentlemen.’’ Opal leaned forward and raked the pot toward her.
Piece by piece, because her mind would not absorb more than a bit at a time, Ruby watched Opal, cigarillo dangling from her reddened lips, turn to laugh at the marquis.
‘‘Young lady, you cleaned us out.’’
‘‘I warned you.’’
‘‘I know, but’’—he looked around at the other players—‘‘but we did not believe you.’’ Two of the others were not laughing. Two were.
Opal pulled the cigarillo from her mouth. ‘‘I had a good teacher.’’
Ruby forced herself from her shocked stare and said, ‘‘And who was your teacher?’’ Her words sliced through the smoke and laughter.
‘‘Ruby!’’ Opal’s eyes widened. She glanced at the cigarillo, to the pile of money in front of her, and back to her sister.
‘‘Give it all back.’’
‘‘Non, non
, she cannot do that. She won fair and square.’’ De
Mores skidded his chair back, the squeal of wood on wood loud in the now silent room.
‘‘Say good night, Opal.’’
‘‘Good night, gentlemen.’’ Opal straightened her shoulders, smiled to each of her opponents, and started to turn.
The marquis swept her winnings into his hat and handed it to her. ‘‘You played fair and square.’’
Opal took the broad-brimmed black felt in the curve of her arm and marched from the room.
‘‘Enjoy your evening, gentlemen.’’
It will most likely be your last
. Ruby pulled the doors closed as she exited.
Ruby knew without asking again who had been Opal’s teacher, she just wasn’t sure how or when. Had Belle been in the building, she would be dead by now. Or at least badly wounded. Ruby stopped in the middle of the dining room to take a breath. Opal playing cards with the men. Her fun and funny little sister playing the cardsharp and pretending to smoke a cigarillo. Why on earth had they stayed?
If I’d gone back to New York immediately,
this would never have happened. If I had booted Belle out immediately or
anytime soon thereafter, this would not have happened
.
She hung on to the back of a chair, her knees too weak to hold her.
Opal, how could you?
Did the others know? Had everyone been keeping this secret from her?
When she could find the strength, she marched up the stairs to the room she shared with her little sister.
She stopped before going in, took a deep breath, sucked in another, and stepped through the door.