A Changed Agent (6 page)

Across from her, Amy chuckled. “Let me guess, you had some of your silk stockings in the trunk and this Mr. Benton saw them.”

“Worse. He picked them up and handed them to me.” Shaking a finger at the grin on Amy’s face, she scolded, “This is not funny!”

“I’m so sorry . . . Elsie, I’ve seen your chemises and know about your fondness for those silk stockings.” She managed to stifle the next giggle.

Leaning in close, Elsie lowered her voice even though there was no one else in the shop at this hour. “It isn’t proper for a gentleman to see a lady’s unmentionables. Or have you forgotten your manners, Amy?”

Wiping her eyes, Amy shook her head, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “The image of you and Mr. Benton together picking up your
unmentionables
.”

“You wouldn’t find the situation funny if it had been you, Miss Amy Montgomery!”

Remembering the incident set Elsie to blushing again. The man’s grin had told her he liked what he saw. For all her innocence, she recognized desire when she saw it. She imagined he was the sort of man who could have a woman swooning at his feet with just a glance. Elsie wished she could say she’d been immune to his look, but that would be a lie. The minute he’d picked up her stockings and looked at her with those dark eyes, she’d felt something akin to a storm brewing in the pit of her stomach.

And now she’d agreed to reside in the same house with him and the children. The children needed her. No matter what, deep in her heart, she knew her thoughts and actions were for the benefit of Minnie and Harry.
They needed her
. Even if she did feel the slightest bit of interest in their uncle, she would keep her distance from Mr. Benton. To Amy she said, “I’ve prayed hard about this family, and I feel the Lord wants me to be with them.”

Amy reached across the table, patting her hand. “Then that is where you should be. You also need to be honest with yourself. Are you sure there isn’t something else going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean are you attracted to Mr. Benton?”

She shook her head. She wouldn’t let herself think about the man as anything other than the children’s uncle. “Don’t be silly, Amy. I’m only there to help with Harry and Minnie.”

Amy began to clear up their dishes. “So where does this leave you and Mr. Jensen?”

“I’m going to continue to keep him in my prayers. I fear he’s fallen on some very hard times. And I suppose I’ll keep his packet in a safe place until he comes for it.”

The bell above the bake shop’s door rang as a customer entered. Elsie caught the way Amy checked her hair, then quickly changed her dust-covered apron for a clean one.

She saw John Oliver striding over to the service counter. Taking the dishes from her, Elsie nudged her arm with an elbow. “You go on and take care of him. I can see to the dishes.”

Pulling her into a quick hug, Amy thanked her.

After clearing their tea service, Elsie walked out from the back room and Mr. Oliver bid her good morning.

“I hope you found the apartment to your liking.”

“I did. My father helped me bring my things over earlier this morning.”

“Good. I’m pleased everything is going to work out for you and Will.”

Anxious to see how Minnie and Harry had fared last night, she gathered her things. The wall clock struck eight times. “Oh dear! Look how the time is getting on. I have to go open up the schoolhouse. Thank you again for tea, Amy.”

Chapter Six

Stepping outside, Elsie was hailed by the town’s postmaster, Avery Scott, a short, balding, bespectacled man. Crossing the street to see what all his fuss was about, Elsie said, “Good morning, Mr. Scott. It looks like it’s going to be a fine day!”

“Indeed.” Stepping aside, he held the door open. She entered the post office ahead of him. The small office was located in the front portion of a two-story building. The Scott family occupied the back and upstairs of the rest of the house.

She heard the scurrying of feet above her head and tilted her head toward the ceiling. “I hope this means the children are excited to come to school today?”

Mr. Scott appeared embarrassed that the family’s noises could be heard in the office. “With you as their teacher, my children are always happy to go to school. Although Avery Jr. has been putting up a bit of fuss this morning.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine once he gets settled at his desk. So, why did you beckon me over here?” She hoped it was because the travel book she’d been waiting weeks for had finally arrived.

He picked up a good-sized package from his desk and handed it to her. “I found this in this morning’s mailbag.”

She took a look at the return address, pleased to see “Hardy Publishing, New York, New York” in neat block print. “Thank you, Mr. Scott! This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.”

“I see it’s from a New York publisher. Another schoolbook perhaps?”

“A very important one.” Gathering the book in her arms, she all but hugged it. “I must be going. Thank you again.”

Bounding out the door, she hurried on to the schoolhouse, anxious to take the book out of the package. After unlocking the schoolhouse and setting the precious cargo on her desk, she made her way over to the potbellied stove to start the fire. Once she was sure it would take, she hurried to get the room ready for the day, leaving a few extra minutes before the students started arriving.

Going back to her desk, she carefully unwrapped the brown paper on her package, revealing the small leather-bound book. She ran her fingers over the embossed cover, following the indents of the title,
The Smithson Travel Guide
. It was touted to be the most comprehensive travel guide available, and Elsie hoped the money she’d spent was worth it.

As though holding the Good Book itself, she gingerly opened the cover, eager to get lost in the contents. She smelled the newly printed pages. Running a finger along the first few pages and seeing the chapter titles, she began to imagine all the wonderful lessons the students would get from this book. The excited chattering of their voices interrupted her thoughts.

Closing the book, she left it in the center of her desk and went to greet the first arrivals. Half an hour later the classroom had filled, with the exception of the last two seats in the front row.

Harry’s and Minnie’s.

Checking her timepiece, she saw it was a quarter past nine. They were running fifteen minutes late. No need to be too worried yet. As she made her way over to where Mr. Scott’s eldest child sat, she imagined they were not yet used to waking up in their new home.

“Good morning, Avery.”

Bright blue eyes blinked up at her. “Good morning, Miss Mitchell.” He squirmed a bit in his seat. His hand quickly covered a sheet of paper with what looked to be the arithmetic problems she’d given to him yesterday to work on at home.

“Avery, is there something you’d like to tell me?”

“No, ma’am.”

Deciding to leave it at that, though she suspected Avery was trying to finish his assignment at the last minute, Elsie instructed the children to open their reading primers. She heard the squeak of buggy wheels and glanced toward the doorway expectantly. When the buggy continued on and Minnie and Harry still hadn’t appeared, she focused on the class, helping several of the younger students with deciphering some of the harder words.

While the students at the higher level took turns reading aloud from their books, she checked her timepiece to find that another half hour had slipped by.
What’s happened to Minnie and Harry?
Fretful, she walked to the window facing the roadway and looked out. She found no sign of them.

Had Mr. Benton been called to work and left the children to fend for themselves again?
The memory of finding them outside the saloon haunted her. Elsie’s stomach started churning at the thought of those precious ones alone. If they didn’t appear soon, she would ask Amy to watch her students while she went to find them.

“Miss Mitchell. Avery is tearing up his paper.”

Spinning around, she saw the young man crumpling and tearing at his homework. “Avery! Stop that this instant!” She rushed over to his desk. “Why are you tearing up your work?”

Tears welled in his eyes. Kneeling next to him, she placed her hand on his fingers. Speaking softly, she asked, “Avery, what’s all this about?”

“I couldn’t decipher the problems you gave me.” His lower lip trembled.

“Tearing up your work isn’t going to make it go away, Avery. You come to my desk at lunch time and we’ll work on them together.”

Standing, she glanced at her timepiece again.
Where are those children?
She looked around the room for a student who could be trusted to watch over the classroom until Amy could arrive. She was approaching her oldest student, thirteen-year-old Maggie Wills, when she heard Harry’s voice.

“Miss Mitchell!”

Relief flooded through her as the twins entered the room. She tried not to focus on their appearance. Harry’s hair was a bit mussed, and his shirttail stuck out every which way through his suspenders. Sweet Minnie wore a wrinkled pinafore over a bright-yellow calico dress. She clutched her doll close to her.

Mr. Benton stood behind the children. Elsie couldn’t decide whether the look he wore on his face was one of determination or anger. Perhaps he expected her to criticize the way the children looked or to admonish him for their tardiness. On the contrary, Elsie was just relieved and happy to see them.

“Good morning, ma’am.” He tipped his hat. “I apologize for being so late getting Harry and Minnie to school.”

“Good morning, Mr. Benton. I’m glad they’re here.” When Harry made a move to go around her into the schoolroom, Elsie caught him by the arm. Quickly, she straightened his shirttail, tucking it into his pants. Doing her best to smooth Harry’s hair, she said to Mr. Benton, “I take it the children spent a restful first night in their new home?” She caught the pained look on his face.

“Um. They didn’t exactly take too kindly to sleeping in the room you set up for them.”

Harry began to squirm, and she placed a hand on his shoulder to still him. Upon closer inspection, Elsie took in the dark circles under Mr. Benton’s eyes. His clothing was looking a bit rumpled as well. And she thought she heard a rumble of hunger coming from the vicinity of his stomach. She released her hold on Harry.

“Take your sister inside to your seats,” she told Harry.
What on earth is going on with this family?
She wished she understood.

Will had honestly done the best he could. Last night had been a nightmare. Even though he’d told Harry and Minnie he would leave a lamp burning low throughout the night, they’d insisted on being with him in his bedroom.

Though Will had tried to accommodate the children, Harry liked to sleep lengthwise across the bed, and Minnie was a tosser and turner. That child hadn’t held still for more than five minutes, leaving Will to get short segments of sleep punctuated by either a foot or a hand poking him awake. He felt like he’d been in a saloon fight. Battered and sore, he’d somehow managed to get everyone washed and dressed this morning—two hours late—only to find out that the stove had gone out during the night and he didn’t have time to restart it and get their breakfast porridge cooked.

After a few minutes of poking around through their food supplies, he’d found a jar of jam and a package of crackers. That was what he’d given the children for their meal. No complaints from them, but he found that preparing their breakfast and fixing their midday meal didn’t leave him time to see to his own needs. So now he stood before the formidable schoolteacher with his stomach growling like a tom cat.

“It appears you’ve had yourself a rough go of it.”

“Let’s just say I’m happy you’ll be joining us later.” Looking beyond her shoulder for a moment, he gathered his thoughts. “I saw your father this morning. He didn’t seem too pleased with our arrangement.”

“I explained to him that the children need me. He knows I’ll be staying in a separate apartment.”

“Miss Mitchell, I understand how a man wants to protect his children, especially a daughter. The last thing I want is for your decision to cause problems for you and your family.”

“Don’t worry about my father. I’m sure he’ll come around.”

Since she seemed mighty sure of those words, Will decided not to argue the point. If there was one thing he’d learned about the schoolteacher, it was that she presented herself as a very confident young woman. But then again, she’d have to be in order for her to have agreed to take on his little family.

“I really shouldn’t leave my students alone much longer.”

“I’ll see you back at the house.”

“Yes. If you can leave a low fire in the cook stove, I can put together a proper dinner.”

Will didn’t know what to make of having someone cook him a proper meal. He worried that Miss Mitchell might be too exhausted after dealing with a room full of children all day long. The last thing he wanted was for her to take on too much.

“We could eat at the hotel dining room.”

“Wasn’t my meal last night good? You ate every bit of it.”

“Your soup was the best meal I’ve had in ages, ma’am. I thought you might be tired after putting in a long day with the children, that’s all.”

“Don’t worry about me, Mr. Benton. I’ll have supper on the table by six o’clock.”

“It’s settled, then.” Tipping his hat to her again, he said, “I’ll make sure the cook stove is ready for you.” All this talk of food set Will’s stomach to growling again. “Have a good day.”

“You, too, Mr. Benton.”

He watched as she turned and walked back to her students, thinking he’d best be getting back to the house to clean up. Miss Mitchell had no idea how inept he was at running a household. What would she think of him if she could see the mess he’d left the house in?

He passed by the saloon and the small post office. A gentle breeze carried the sweet smells of springtime and the savory, mouthwatering scent of the bakeshop’s famous cinnamon rolls.

He made a beeline for the bakery, walking right up to the counter to place his order. The owner of the shop greeted him with a shy smile.

“Good morning, Miss Montgomery. I’ll take one of your delicious cinnamon rolls, please.” Seeing the row of freshly baked bread resting on the countertop behind her, he added, “And a loaf of that fine-looking bread.”

He waited while she wrapped up his order.

“I hear that my friend Elsie is going to be helping you out with your family.”

He sensed a bit of trepidation coming from Elsie’s friend. He wanted to reassure Miss Montgomery that he needed Miss Mitchell, plain and simple. There was nothing more to this arrangement than a business deal. He was paying her more than a fair wage, and he’d be willing to bet she was putting every last cent of those earnings toward her travel fund.

“Mr. Benton?”

“Yes?”

“Elsie is a kind woman who has a big heart. What I’m trying to say is, she’s just gotten over a broken engagement.”

Suddenly, Will knew exactly what Amy feared. He had no intention of having a relationship beyond that of employer-employee with Elsie Mitchell. His life was complicated enough at the moment.

“I can assure you, you’ve nothing to worry about as far as Miss Mitchell and I are concerned.”

“I’m pleased to hear you say that.”

Collecting his order, he bid her a good day.

Walking along the street again, Will realized that even though this town was small by his standards, it was one filled with activity. The saloon was the only place in town that wasn’t awake at this hour. Remembering how angry Miss Mitchell had been with him yesterday, he thought it best to keep his distance from the establishment for now. He would find other avenues of pursuing his quarry.

Francis Moore sat in a rocker outside his dry-goods store. His round, ruddy face burst into a broad grin when he spotted Will. “Howdy, Mr. Benton!” Indicating the empty rocker next to him, he invited, “Come, sit down. Take a load off.”

Will stepped up onto the narrow walkway. “Don’t mind if I do.” He sat and then asked, “Having a slow day, are you?”

“Nah. The missus is inside rearranging the sewing notions. It’s best I stay out of her way.” The man nudged him in the side with his elbow. “I snuck out.”

Will laughed. “Smart man.”

“You getting settled in?”

“We are.”

“That schoolmarm’s a fine young woman. She’ll be a big help for your children.”

Cocking an eyebrow, Will turned to look at the man.

“Told you I know most everything that goes on in this town. Folks don’t just come in here to buy from me. We chat. Being friendly is good for business.”