From The Quivera Trail, the current work in progress – a new chapter! Chance has separated Lady Isobel from her faithful maid, Jane. During that separation, Isobel and Jane have begun to discover new and unexpected qualities and talents within themselves. And Jane is beginning to be attracted to Sam Becker, the younger brother of Isobel’s husband. Sam himself has a few unexpected talents and qualities himself …
Chapter 17 – The Turning of the Year
It came as a mild shock to Jane; that end of the fall months, when the apple trees in the walled orchard below the Becker home ranch hung heavy with ripe fruit – russet and ruby and a yellow-splotched pink – and the term of her school year came to an end. The months and weeks had passed as swift and sweet as the hours and days. She knew well that her tenure as a schoolteacher was to end when the family went to Austin to spend the Christmas holidays with their Vining cousins – but in Jane’s mind, Christmas meant frost, cold, snow and dark evenings which descended in the late afternoon. When the weather remained summer-mild, even as the oak leaves turned from green to bronze, Jane somehow maintained a degree of serene detachment from the calendar. The happy dream sustained until one morning where a pale layer of frost veiled the ground and the remnants of summer grass crunched under her feet. A fire burned in the parlor fireplace that evening, and when Sam Becker came in from riding his pastures and paddocks, he shed his coat in the hall and came into the parlor rubbing his hands.
“About time,” he observed. “There’s never a good crop the next year, without there’s a good hard freeze about now. Miss Jane, are your pupils nearly ready for the Christmas holidays? The term is nearly ended, you know,” he added. Jane felt as if the comfortable parlor had shuddered underneath her, as if in some kind of earthquake. She stared at Sam, mildly horrified. How the time had passed so swiftly! She had forgotten, or managed to put it all from her mind – that at Christmas the family would go to Austin – Lady Isobel would return from the Palo Duro ranch with Mr. Becker, and she herself would be a simple ladies’ maid once more. Her first instinct, unbidden was of horror and distaste. She had never in her life been so happy and content as those weeks and days spend in that makeshift classroom; her oddly-assorted pupils were advancing – and now to be snatched away from that… the prospect was like being put in prison, although Jane chided herself for that unworthy and selfish thought. She owed so much to Lady Isobel … and after all, she was not really a teacher. To continue as such was beyond her station, and Lady Isobel needed her. She would be ungrateful – and yet . . .
“I had forgotten,” Jane allowed, honestly. “They are all doing so very well. I will miss them very much.”
“And you will miss teaching them, Miss Jane?” Sam asked, with an unexpectedly shrewd expression on his face.
“I will,” Jane confessed. “I had not thought that work – for it is truly work – could be such a pleasure. I took pride in serving my lady … but not nearly as much as I did in teaching these children.”
“It made more of a difference,” Sam answered. “That’s why.” It almost seemed as if he would say more, but Lottie exclaimed, “You will love Austin, and Cousin Peter’s house, Jane! There are so many amusements and parties. It is especially lively when the Legislature meets. Everyone who is everyone knows the Vinings … because of Aunt Margaret, you know. They used to say that if you came to supper at her house every night for a month you would meet simply everyone of importance in Texas.”
‘I am not sure that I want to meet everyone,’ Jane thought to herself. ‘But, oh – I would like to return with my lady to this place. Surely she would permit me to continue with the school. Society is so very, very different; it can’t be that I must wait upon her every moment of the day…and she has always been dedicated to the welfare of the tenants. I might be able to convince her of lending me to that service …’
That was a happy thought – yes, recalling how Lady Isobel had done the rounds of calls to Sir Robert’s tenants, surely her ladyship could be brought to see the usefulness of that …even if Lady Isobel returned to the Palo Duro, rather than the Becker home ranch. Jane thought again that Sam was looking at her as if he were thinking about her, but he did not speak again about the school, until the morning came for their departure, a fortnight later. Her trunk was packed again with her clothing and few possessions, and loaded with Lottie’s and Mrs. Becker’s trunk, along with another trunk of Lady Isobel’s into the back of the odd-looking two-horse spring conveyance that the family used for their long trips. As Sam handed her her up into it, he said very softly,
“Miss Jane, if you should want to return and open your school again, I would do what I could to see that happen. I would talk to my brother…”
“I would like that,” Jane answered, in the same quiet tone. “But my duty is to m’lady. What she desires must always be my first consideration.”
“Then whatever you would like, Jane,” Sam answered. “Bu I promise … I will always do what I can for you.” He closed the little door at the rear of the conveyance, and Jane took her place, wistfully thinking that she would miss his company at least as much as she would miss her school and pupils, should Lady Isobel’s plans return them all to the Palo Duro, once the Christmas celebrations were done.
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