Teaching Patience (Homespun) (6 page)

“Every time a boy so much as talked to me at church, my papa would take them outside and tell him how much he loved his oldest daughter.  Then he’d explain that he was able to hit a knot hole in a tree at five hundred feet when he was twelve.  Then he’d whisper really softly, ‘I got better with age.’”  She sighed.  “Not one boy even asked me to a church social.”

Hugh found himself laughing.  “You know?  If I had a little girl, I’d probably be the same way.”
  He’d admired George from the first moment he met him, but found he went up a notch in his mind after hearing that.

She shook her head.  “I’ve never given my father any reason to think I was too stupid to
decide which men to stay away from on my own.”

“You don’t have to.  He loves you and worries about you and that’s enough for him.”  He paused, staring down at her.  “Does this mean you’re not going to the church social?”

“I’ll go with my family like I always do.” 
Please ask me to the social
, she thought.  She waited quietly, hoping he would find the words.

He swallowed hard and before he could stop himself asked, “How ‘bout Charlie and I pick you up
and take you?” 

She blinked a few times.  “I’d like that a lot.  You’ll have to ask my papa, though.”
  She wanted to dance through the school.  She was even more excited at the prospect of going to the social with him than she was about the storm being over. 

He nodded.  “I’ll ask him.”  He couldn’t believe she was even interested in going with him since she knew the truth about his marriage.  She truly was a remarkable woman.

An hour later the fathers started arriving just like Patience had said they would.  Each was on snow shoes pulling a long toboggan.  Hugh watched as Patience’s younger siblings piled onto the toboggan together, but Patience strapped on a pair of snow shoes of her own.  She banked the fire and cleaned up the mess, carefully sweeping the room before leaving. 

She explained to each father there would be no school for the rest of the week.  They all needed time to recover from the storm. 

George, Patience’s father, headed over to him as he waited for Patience to get ready to leave.  “How’d you get here?”  The two men had talked several times after church and had become fast friends.  George remembered his months as a single father and didn’t envy the younger man his role in life.

Hugh explained about getting lost in the storm, and how he’d run into the rope Patience had tied.  He told him how impressed he was that Patience was able to hold everything together so well during the storm.

George nodded.  “I’m glad you ran into that rope.”  The two men gripped hands tightly.  “Will you be able to get your boy home with no snow shoes?”

“We’re only a few minutes from the farm here.  It shouldn’t be a problem.”  He eyed the older man, knowing he needed to bring up the idea of taking Patience to the church social, but wondering how.  “I have a question for you if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.  What can I help you with?”

Hugh sucked in a breath.
He’d already been through all this once.  What was he thinking deliberately putting himself through the hassle of courtship again? “I was wondering if it would be all right if Charlie and I took Patience to the church social.”

George looked at Hugh studying him carefully.  Millie had told him about the problems Patience and Hugh had not even a week ago, and now he wanted to take her to the social?  He wasn’t really surprised, though.  His Patience was a beautiful young girl, and there had been a lot of boys interested in her over the years.  Most hadn’t been up to his standards, though.  “I think that would be okay.”
  He liked Hugh and respected him.  He was the kind of man he wanted to see his Patience married to one day.

Hugh smiled.  “Thank you.”
 

“You need to have Charlie with you at all times.  Should I send my daughter Grace as a second chaperone, or do you think Charlie will be enough?”
  It was a mark of how much respect George had for the younger man that he even asked. 

“Charlie can handle it.”

George nodded.  “I’ll see you Saturday evening then.  What time will you be calling for her?”

“Would six be okay?”
  The social started at seven, so that would give him time to get here there without having to rush too much.

George eyed him, knowing he’d want to get to know him a bit better before Patience went off with him.  “Why don’t you make it five and you and Charlie can have supper with us?”

Hugh realized he wasn’t really being asked to supper, but being told he would be going to supper with George’s family.  “We’d like that.”  And they would.  Hugh was happy for any opportunity that didn’t require him to eat his own cooking.

George nodded and went to check to see if Patience was ready.  The other children were already gone and it was just George and his children other than Hugh and Charlie.  Hugh helped to put away the last of the blankets they’d used during the storm. 

Patience finished up, grabbed her school books and the papers she wanted to grade, and they headed out the door.  The schoolhouse was never locked, so they took off in opposite directions.  He and Charlie trudged through the deep snow, doing their best to avoid the deepest snow drifts.  He turned back after a few minutes, and saw Patience walking slowly beside her father.  George had his arm around her shoulders as he pulled the toboggan with her siblings on it. 

She looked over at him, and he raised his hand in a wave.  She waved back, and they disappeared from sight behind some trees.  He’d be seeing her soon, though.  He only hoped he was doing the right thing.

Patience was thrilled to be going home after the long days and nights at the school.  She smiled thinking about how well her first, and hopefully only, blizzard as a teacher had gone.  She’d had enough food and supplies for all the children, and they had done well. 

As soon as she got home, she hugged Millie and told her about how well her preparations had worked.  She grabbed her sewing to hem the dress she’d been making for the social.  She hadn’t been in a hurry, because she hadn’t thought there was a reason to be.  She could have just as easily worn one of her old dresses.  As she stitched, she talked to Millie about how Hugh had come during the storm and he’d helped with the children.  “He asked me to the church social, Mama.”

Millie couldn’t help but smile.  She knew Patience had wondered if any boy would ever have the courage to ask her to go on a sleigh ride or a buggy ride or simply to a church social with the way George was.  She was glad Mr. Walker was the one who’d finally asked.  He was a good man, and he would make Patience a fine husband.

“Has he asked your papa yet?”

Patience nodded.  “Papa said yes as long as Charlie will always be there to chaperone us.”

Millie and George had talked about the possibility of the two of them getting together.  George had been impressed with the younger man and the way he’d worked so hard to raise Charlie after his mother had died.  “I’m glad.”  She stabbed her needle into the hem of the shirt she was making for George.  “Did you ever find out how his wife died?”

Patience bit her lip.  It wasn’t her story to tell, and she didn’t want to gossip, but her mother never talked out of turn, and she had a right to know.  “She didn’t die.  She left them.  She got a divorce and is married to another man now.”  Patience watched her mother’s face as she said the words.  Would she still be allowed to go to the social with him?

Millie’s face was troubled.  “I see.  Does Charlie’s mother not want him?”
  She’d heard about a couple of divorces over the years, but she’d never heard of one where the father kept the child.  They always went to live with their mother.

Patience shook her head.  “She doesn’t.  She left him with Hugh and moved away. 
Will Papa still let me go to the social with them?”  She held her breath.  She had to be honest with her parents about Hugh’s background, but she was afraid her papa would stop the courtship before it even started.  She knew, though, it would be better to end it now than to allow more feelings to develop.

“Of course he will!  It’s not Mr. Walker’s fault she left him.  I’m glad you told me about it.  I’ll talk to your papa.  It’ll be fine.” 

Patience sighed with relief.  “I called off school for the rest of the week.  I thought we had enough school after forty-eight hours in that schoolhouse.”  She also knew that after a big storm like that, when the families were separated, most liked to stay as close together as possible for a few days.

Millie laughed.  “I think you made the best decision.  We should be able to have that dress finished by Saturday night with no problem.”

By Friday morning, the snow had melted completely.  Patience was always amazed when a storm like that would ravage the entire area, and then all traces of it be gone within a few days.  She spent her time off sewing her dress and working with her mama to get ready for spring planting. 

Their neighbors, Bess and John as well as Charlotte and James came over with their children on Friday evening.  Between the two families there were seven children, all of whom Patience taught. 
Bess and John had two boys and two girls, Amos, Jane, William and Susan.  Charlotte and James and three children Margaret, Helen and Ida.  Bess and John had been their closest neighbors since before Patience could remember.

Millie and Patience made a huge pot of chicken and dumplings for the meal.  The children spread blankets on the floor and had a picnic, because there simply wasn’t room for all of them at the table.  Patience sat at the table with the adults, but all of her younger siblings were relegated to the floor.
  Michael and Jacob didn’t think they should have to sit on the floor, since they were old enough to do men’s work, but they weren’t given a choice.

“So how’d it happen that Hugh W
alker ended up at the schoolhouse during the blizzard?” Charlotte asked Patience.  Charlotte had grown up in an orphanage in Boston with Millie and the two had remained friends.  Charlotte had gone to Minnesota to help Millie while she was pregnant with the twins, Daniel and Faith, and had stayed and married James.  Patience felt like she was an aunt or even an older sibling.

“He was out hunting when the storm hit and immediately headed toward the school, because it was closer than his place at that point.  He ran into the rope I’d strung up between the outhouse and the school.  He said he’d have completely missed the school without it.”

Charlotte grinned.  “That’s too bad.  I was hoping he’d gone there to court you.” 

Patience blushed.  “Well, he is going to take me to the church social tomorrow night.”
  She looked down at her plate, a little embarrassed to admit she was going to the social with a man in front of a table full of people.

“That’s wonderful!  He seems like a good man.  It can’t be easy for him taking care of Charlie now that his wife’s gone.”
 

“Charlie’s a good kid.  Just a little more rambunctious than I’d like during school.”
  Patience knew the little boy had a reputation for getting into mischief and hoped a few kind words from her could nip that in the bud.

“I’ve seen him running around before and after church.  Rambunctious is a good word for him.”
  Charlotte took a bite of her food, watching Patience carefully.  “So, you were my chaperone.  Is Grace going to be yours?”

Patience looked down at her food,
moving it around on her plate with her fork.  “Papa said Charlie could chaperone us.  I’d take Grace otherwise.” 

Charlotte looked over at George.  “Charlie, a seven year old boy, is a good enough chaperone?  You wouldn’t have let me leave the house with a seven year old boy.”
  Charlotte almost sounded insulted by the fact Patience would only have a young boy as a chaperone.

George rolled his eyes at Charlotte.  “You left with Patience, who was a seven year old girl at the time.”
  After the time Charlotte had lived with their family, George had started looking at her as a younger sister.

“But a boy?  He’s not going to be a good chaperone.  I think you need to send Grace.  And Faith.  And maybe Jacob.”
  Charlotte’s eyes gleamed at the idea of loading down Mr. Walker’s wagon with chaperones.

Patience made a face at Charlotte.  “Why are you trying to make me miserable?  Have I not been a good teacher to your children?”

Charlotte laughed.  “I just really expected your papa to go overboard and expect you to only be with a man when there were at least fifteen other people present.  He’s surprising me.  That’s all.”

George shook his head.  “Patience is older than you were when you and James were courting.  I absolutely trust Hugh.  I’ve spent a lot of time talking to him, and he’s a good man.”  His eyes twinkled as he said, “That James just couldn’t be trusted.”

James laid down his fork.  “Now why are you dragging me into this nonsense?  I didn’t do anything wrong!”

They all laughed.  Patience glanced over at the children who were all talking animatedly between bites.  She was hoping they weren’t listening to all this talk of her courting, because it could undermine her as a teacher.