Read Online Carol Ritten Smith by Stubborn Hearts - Free Book Online Page A

Beth eyed her brother appreciatively. It had been too long since she’d seen him in good clothes. Heavens, he was even wearing a tie!
    “You look handsome, Bill,” Davy exclaimed.
    “Shut up, twerp,” Bill warned, though obviously pleased his groomed appearance had not gone unnoticed. “You ready, Beth?”
    “Yes.” She carefully placed her wrapped lunch inside a larger box so no one would see which lunch she brought. “Let’s go.”
    “What stinks?” Davy asked.
    Bill gave Davy a shove. “It’s cologne and it don’t stink.”
    Cologne? Beth wondered where Bill found the money, wishing she had some perfume for herself. Then she had an idea.
    “You two go on ahead. I’ll catch up in a few minutes.” She set the boxed lunch on the table and quickly opened the cupboard, withdrew the small bottle of vanilla and dabbed a few drops behind each ear. For good measure, she dabbed some more at the base of her neck. She grabbed the lunch again and caught up to the boys before they reached the school. They were arguing.
    “What’s the matter, now?”
    “I want to eat with Bill.”
    “And I said no!” Bill retorted.
    Davy kicked at a thistle. “But why not?”
    “Because I said so, that’s why.”
    “You can eat with me today, Davy,” Beth stated firmly, thwarting any further dispute. If Bill had gone to the trouble of wrestling with a tie and putting on cologne, then someone had caught his eye. Beth was pretty certain that that someone was Annaleese Hewn. Davy would just get in their way.
    Several people were already in the school, standing around in clusters, visiting. The students’ desks had been pushed to the side, some stacked precariously one upon the other and looking about as stable as a one of Davy’s card houses. At the front of the classroom, Beth’s desk had been curtained off, allowing the women to secretly deposit their lunches. Beth lifted her lunch from the large protective box and set hers among the others, relieved to find it looked very similar to the other wrapped lunches.
    Suddenly she remembered she hadn’t packed any cutlery. Racing back to the house, she grabbed the necessary utensils and stuffed them in the large pocket of her skirt. She had just returned to the school when someone called her name.
    “Miss Patterson, wait.” It was Penelope Pickard, running ahead of her family carrying something large. Perched upon her head was that ridiculous feathered hat.
    Immediately the memory of being caught in the maple tree came barging into Beth’s mind, but she shoved it aside. There was no way she would let that unfortunate moment ruin this day.
    “Would you please take this in for mother?” Penelope thrust a large lunch wrapped in a blanket like an oversized baby into Beth’s arms. “I have to go to the privy.”
    “Oh, of course. Away you go then.” She watched her dash to the facility out back. Beth smiled sadly, acknowledging the girl’s bladder problem. Before and since the school inspector’s visit, Penelope had had several accidents in the classroom.
    Down the road a hundred yards, the remaining Pickard children straggled behind their parents, Jonah riding drag. With that many mouths to feed, no wonder this lunch is so enormous, Beth thought. Before her arms were pulled from their sockets, she decided to take it inside.
    “Oh here, Miss Patterson, please allow me to take dat from ew.” It was Lars Anderstom. “Dis lunch is too heavy for a little voooman such as ew, I tink.”
    Beth smiled generously at the Norwegian. She’d met him a few times before, usually at Betner’s General Store. He had the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. She imagined that they were the color of a deep Norwegian fjord and every time he looked at her, she felt she might drown in their depths. But Lars was shy and didn’t often meet her gaze. Today he seemed to be looking at her right ear.
    Beth tucked the blanket around the lunch. “It’s not too heavy,” she lied, shifting the cumbersome