Softly Falling (35 page)

It was a steer, one of the Bar Dot herd, with its head down as though grazing, but more likely just trying to buttress itself against the pelting snow. The animal’s breath must have created a frozen pipeline to the ground, holding the steer’s head in its icy grip. It had asphyxiated, then frozen solid as snow packed itself around the beast as it struggled to breathe ice, then surrendered.

“Dear God in heaven, please don’t let me find more like this,” he whispered, even though he knew that each of these mounds contained a dead cow.

The sight so unnerved Jack that he hurried forward even faster, not looking from side to side anymore, because he didn’t want to see the ruin of the Bar Dot. After what seemed like forever, he saw the school on its little slope beside the wagon road. Smoke seemed to be coming from the chimney, which relieved his heart. Drifts had nearly buried the small building, Lily’s Temple of Education with True Greatness as its credo. Snow had packed and scoured the building, with impossible drifts predictably against the north and west sides.

Everywhere were the mounds of cattle, at least he hoped they were cattle, and not little bodies of children and their teacher who had thought to walk to safety. It was something someone unfamiliar to the territory might attempt. Jack swallowed hard, blinking back tears that he knew would only freeze on his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he had cried.

Snow piled against the door, so he started to shovel, faster and faster until his breath condensed and froze on his face, creating a mask like the one that had killed the cattle. He forced himself to stop and slow his breathing, as he swiped at his own icy death mask. He wasn’t a man to panic, except that he was, apparently.

He took a deep and appreciative breath, listened, and felt the greatest relief since Appomattox, when the Yankees had handed out rations to ranks of starving Johnny Rebs, he among them. He was only fifteen and hadn’t eaten in a week of rapid march and skirmishes.

The children were singing and stomping. He shouldered open the door and stood there in so much gratitude that he couldn’t form words.

He had heard the Sansever girls sing “Sur le Pont” several times, but this was a militant version as they marched in a circle and stomped their feet. And there was Freak the cat in the corner, observing and giving him a sour look.

Lovely Lily Carteret, her eyes like two coals in her head, stopped marching and put her hands on her hips, regarding him as if he were dense and stupid, which he thought was surprisingly accurate. Still, her voice was sweet. Maybe she thought she needed to cajole an idiot.

“Really, Jack, please close the door. We only have one desk left to burn.”

C
HAPTER
32

J
ack resisted his first impulse just to gather them all in his arms, but it didn’t matter, because Chantal and Amelie flung themselves at him. Luella followed, but Nick just stood there, giving him a grave look that told Jack all he needed to know about the last twenty-four hours. He could hardly bear to look at Lily, who obviously had not slept and who wore responsibility on her shoulders like a Portland cement cloak.

“Thank you for coming,” she said with that well-bred British accent of hers, as though he had dropped in to pay his respects, drink tea, and eat little cakes. She ruined the effect of normalcy by suddenly pursing her lips tight together, which pulled her eyebrows closer and made her look more five than twenty-five. She took a deep breath that ended in a sob, so he knew who needed his attention right away.

He kissed Chantal, Amelie, and Luella in turn, set them aside, closed the door as their teacher had asked so politely, then went directly to her, his arms open wide. She threw herself against him, which was a feat in itself, since he was so heavily clothed. She didn’t cry, but she shook so hard that he knew if he didn’t hold her close, she would fly to pieces like an old wagon driven too hard.

Jack heard a snarl and felt a sudden heavy weight against his leg. Startled, he looked down to see Freak hanging onto his many layers of clothing, trying to murder him, most likely, because this was no ordinary cat. He let go of Lily to brush off the little monster, but Lily beat him to it. He stared as she bent down and gently extricated Freak, all the while admonishing him.

“There is no call for such behavior,” she said, “and don’t you put your ears back like that!”

“His ears are pretty much gone,” Jack said. “How can you tell? Boy howdy, you have a bodyguard.”

Lily gave her bodyguard a little swat on his hinder parts and he slunk away to the corner, facing in and twitching what remained of his tail. Luella burst into laughter, and so did the others. He listened, heard no hysteria, and realized that bruised and battered as it looked, all was well in the Temple of Education. He turned back to Lily.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner,” he said.

“We’re grateful you came at all.”

He remembered something he had to do. He went to the door, threw it open, drew his .45, squeezed off two shots, and closed the door. Lily had clamped her hands to her ears.

“I told the hands I’d fire two shots if all y’all were all okay,” he explained as he worked his well-padded arm over to reholster the gun. “They’ll be here in a bit to help out. Meanwhile . . .” Jack unlimbered the cloth bag and tucked Madeleine’s undergarments under one arm. He took out the bread and dried apples and handed them to Nick.

Jack understood immediately what had happened in the past twenty-four hours when Nick gave the food to Lily. There was no question who was in charge in that classroom, even through what he imagined was a terrifying ordeal. It was frightening enough in the bunkhouse, and they were all grown men.

Lily set the food on the remaining desk and her students gathered close. “Here now.”

She handed each child a loaf of bread. Jack felt his tears start again when each child broke off a goodly hunk and handed it to Lily. They all ate silently, dipping into the dried apples, no one taking too much at once. These were children who had learned a terrible lesson in a mere twenty-four hours—Luella, for sure. Jack thought the Sansevers already knew the lesson.

Lily ate one of the portions the children had given her, then took another to the corner, where Freak the cat sulked. “Here you are, you little beast,” she said in a most loving tone, setting the bread by his lashing tail. As he listened to her, Jack knew he’d give the earth to have any woman give him such a tender endearment. The thought made him smile, which hurt his cold face.

As the children sat together by the stove, Jack decided to put his arm around Lily’s shoulders whether she wanted him to or not. “I’m impressed,” he said, which sounded so stupid when it came out of his mouth.

She must not have minded. “I’ve never been so frightened in my life.”

She kept shivering, and he remembered Madeleine’s little gift. “Here. Madeleine thinks you might need these.” He handed her the two-piece undergarments, wondering if she would slap him across the chops.

Lily took the underwear with a huge sigh. Her light tan complexion sported two pink spots, so he knew she was embarrassed. She was also unwilling to look this gift horse in the mouth, because she told him to turn around and stand between her and the children, who were concentrating on the food. He did as she said and waited as she pulled on the drawers.

And waited. She tapped him on the shoulder. “Pardon me, but my hands are too cold to unlace my shoes. Could you . . . ?”

He could and did, sitting her down on the remaining desk. He removed his mittens and gloves, and unlaced her shoes. She had well-shaped feet, but her shoes were impractical. He wasn’t sure what he could do about that.

“Here.” She handed him the bottoms, her face even redder. “Just get them started. I’m so cold that I can’t do it.”

That admission was all he needed to snap him back into his foreman duties. He knew he was responsible for everyone on the Bar Dot, because Oliver Buxton just didn’t understand the rules. He pulled the bottoms on Lily without a blush or a qualm, because she was part of his stewardship. The only issue was safety and survival.

He pulled them all the way up over her ridiculous lacy underwear which he could feel, but did not see, because he kept his eyes on a spot on the map of Europe just west of England. She didn’t protest when he felt along her waist until he found the cords, and tied them firmly, but not too tight. He put his hands back where they belonged and helped her tug down her dress.

“That’ll help,” he told her. “You and I are about the same height, and I have another pair I’m not wearing. I’ll give them to you and you’d better keep them on. It’s too cold to risk your legs.” He tucked the flannel top into her overcoat pocket and pulled on his gloves. “You can put it on later.”

She accepted all this attention and wisdom in the spirit in which he offered it, which eased his heart. She looked him in the eyes and said simply, “Thank you.” Her eyes showed how desperately tired she was, how depleted, from a test that not all would have passed.

She ate another hunk of bread. She held another out to him and he took it, hungry too. “Do we wait for the others?” she asked.

They were both sitting on the last desk now. He leaned closer and spoke in her ear. “Stretch never made it to the bunkhouse. I sent Preacher and Will to haul more firewood to the cookshack, and Pierre to look for Stretch.”

“Lost?” she asked, her eyes wide. “Oh, I hope not. It was a dreadful storm.”

“He was in the horse barn to muck out the stalls. I hope he stayed there.”

She leaned close this time. “Nick wanted to take his sisters and leave,” she whispered. “I was almost tempted because I didn’t know what to do.” She shuddered, which gave him a perfect excuse to put his arm around her again.

“You did everything right in here.”

“I had help,” she told him simply, and looked toward Amelie. “She refused to leave and told him to do as I said.”

“Amelie?” he asked, surprised and speaking louder than he intended. Amelie heard her name and looked his way, kind and charitable in her silent way. He blew her a kiss, and she blushed.

“She was forceful and he listened,” Lily whispered. “I do not intend to ever underestimate her.”

And I will never underestimate you
, he thought. This first blizzard could have ended so badly for the Temple of Education, but it did not. He had long thought of himself as the most capable person on the Bar Dot, with Pierre running him a close second. Now there was a third.

She looked around and sighed. “Now our lovely classroom is gone.”

Jack was prepared to tell her firmly, if he needed to, that there would be no more school in a building that was too far from the main ranch quarters. She beat him to it, which relieved his heart. As much as he didn’t mind meting out bad news when warranted to his cowhands, he had no wish to disappoint someone as fine as Lily Carteret.

“We can’t continue here,” she said. “I won’t have the children so far from help. Will you think of something else?”

He nodded and stood up, then held out his hand for her. “Most certainly. Right now, up you get. We need this last desk turned into firewood. You or me, Nick?”

Nick took the hatchet and began his destruction of the last desk. He chopped clumsily, his hands stiff with cold. Disappointment on his face, Nick handed the hatchet to Jack, who finished the job. He was liberal with the wood in the stove, and soon the room was nearly bearable. The children seemed to relax. In a few minutes, Chantal came to Lily and whispered in her ear. Lily nodded and the two of them went to a corner of the room. He watched, curious, then looked away when Lily spread her skirts and Chantal went behind her.

“We solved this problem early in the storm,” Lily said, with no embarrassment.

When Chantal finished, it was Amelie’s turn, and then Luella’s. “What do
you
do?” Jack whispered to Nick, who was also looking away.

“Just open the door a crack and let fly,” the boy said. “It’s easier for us men.”

Jack chuckled. When everyone was back near the stove, Lily asked her students to sing “Sur le Pont,” for their rescuer. He applauded when they finished, and he remained an appreciative audience as they sang “Silent Night” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.”

“We learned several songs last night,” Lily explained. “I am already planning a Christmas party.” She looked toward the window that was a solid block of ice. “Who knew that it would look like Christmas on October 2?” She gave him a solemn look. “You knew.”