Mae Leland is the schoolteacher here. She should be home any moment.” She placed the rest of the food on the table. Her gaze swept over the girls before she moved to the sideboard and pulled out plates and silverware.
“Are you sure she won’t mind having company?”
“I’m sure. Anna Mae loves children, so these two will be a welcome sight to her.” Miss Rodgers smiled at him again as she placed the plates on the table.
Her pearly white teeth flashed, but her eyes didn’t hold the smile. Did she feel obligated to help him? Miss Rodgers seemed nice, but her gaze seemed dubious at best. Was it because they were alone in the house together?
He cleared his throat. “I need to go take care of the horse and wagon.” He looked to where the girls played contentedly. Should he ask her to watch them while he unloaded the wagon and found housing for the horse? Or just assume she knew he needed her to do so.
They looked up at him with their mother’s trusting eyes. Rose and Ruby were his responsibility. He’d take them. William stood and stepped toward the girls. Weariness rested upon him like the shroud of death that seemed to haunt his family at the moment.
“If you’d like, you can leave the girls with me.”
Her soft voice held no regret at the suggestion, so William nodded. “Thank you. I won’t be gone any longer than it takes to get the horse and supplies settled.”
“Your grandmother kept her little mare in the lean-to in the back. It’s small, only two stalls, but you are welcome to put your horse there also,” she offered as she poured milk into two cups.
He nodded. “I’ll look into putting him up at the livery tomorrow.”
Just as William got to the door, Miss Rodgers called after him. “What are the girls’ names?”
He turned to face her. “The one with the yellow ribbon is Rose and the other is Ruby. Those ribbons are the only way I can tell them apart, so please don’t take them out of their hair.” Shame filled William. What uncle, who had taken care of his nieces for as long as he had, couldn’t recognize them without their silly bows? He hurried out the door before Emily Jane could ask him the question he’d just asked himself.
What must she think of him? Showing up with two little girls, dirty little ones at that, and not knowing that his grandmother had passed away? William crossed the dirt road. He moved to the back of the wagon and began pulling out the few belongings he’d brought. He told himself it really didn’t matter what she thought. Emily Jane Rodgers had no say in what he did. Other than being their neighbor, she held no place in his or the girls’ lives. And to be honest, he had too much on his plate to worry what some silly woman thought of him.
He had to admit, though, that she was very pretty and had been helpful. And so far silliness had not been part of her character, more a cautious, no-nonsense attitude toward his circumstances. She had known just what to do for the girls and had been willing to feed them. Was she just being neighborly? Or had she seen him as a single man with two children and a possible husband?
William shook his head. No matter how pretty or helpful Miss Rodgers was, he had no intention of becoming her husband. Or anybody’s husband, for that matter. He picked up the closest box and realized being tired put very wayward thoughts into one’s mind. Miss Rodgers was simply a nice woman. Very pretty and very nice. Nothing more. He hoped he was wrong that she might see him as a possible husband; he definitely wasn’t looking for a wife.
He limped up the porch and entered the house. It was time to focus on himself and the girls. They needed a place to sleep tonight. William walked straight through the sitting room and into his grandmother’s bedroom. Her bed rested against the center of the back wall. Other than the dust that covered everything, it looked much like it had five years ago when he’d last visited her. She had a small cabinet for clothes, a washbasin by the window and a small writing desk against the opposite wall. A side table sat on the other side of the bed and held a kerosene lantern and her Bible. He set the box of clothes down inside the doorway and then went to explore the rest of the house.
He followed a short hallway to the other side of the building where the kitchen and another bedroom rested. His grandmother had used the other bedroom for a sewing room as well as her guest room. Would the girls be too far away from him if he put them in this space?
William sighed as he went back out to the wagon. He lifted an oblong box from the bed that had served as Rose’s cradle during their trip and carried it into the house and his grandmother’s room. Then he went back for Ruby’s. The girls would sleep in the room with him until they were old enough to be put in their own room. Plus, he’d need to clean only one room tonight.
On the way back outside, William noticed the bag that held the girls’ diapers and drinking cups beside the sofa where Emily Jane had left it. He scooped it up and continued on to the horse and wagon.
It didn’t take long to find the lean-to behind Emily Jane’s house and take care of the animal. What had happened to his grandmother’s horse? Miss Rodgers had said that she kept her here. William made a mental note to ask her about the little mare.
Taking a deep, unsteady breath, he hurried around the house, only to stop disconcerted at the door. Was he supposed to knock or go on in? He knocked.
Footsteps hurried across the floor. So far he hadn’t heard the girls crying; that was a good sign, right? A rush of fragrances, sugar and cinnamon, hit him when she opened the door. He breathed deeply, enjoying the calming smells, making another mental note to cook something spicy at his grandmother’s so the stale smell would leave.
“Mr. Barns, please, come on inside. You didn’t need to knock. I expected you to return.” She spun around on her heels and hurried back to the kitchen.
The slight bite in her voice had him hurrying after her. Had the girls misbehaved while he was gone? The diaper bag slapped against his side as he went to check on his nieces.
The scene that met him almost had him laughing out loud. Each girl sat in a chair by the table. Miss Rodgers had tied them to the chairs with what looked like aprons. Their faces were clean and their eyes sparkled as they gnawed on chunks of bread. They smiled up at him.
He eased into a chair beside Ruby. “I hope they weren’t too much trouble.”
Miss Rodgers sat across from him. “Oh, no, they were just hungry. Now that they’re eating, they seem content and happy.”
The front door opened and closed in the sitting room. A voice called out, “Emily Jane, I’m home.”
This must be the Anna Mae that Miss Rodgers had mentioned.
“I’m in the kitchen,” Miss Rodgers called back. She offered him a smile. “I’m sorry for the yelling, but if I don’t answer she will think it strange.”
He grinned back. “So the yelling back and forth is normal?”
“It’s become a part of our routine.” A slight blush filled her cheeks, and he wondered why.
“You would not believe my day.” The woman called Anna Mae stopped abruptly, her gaze taking in the scene at the table.
Light brown hair, piled on the top of her head in a bun, and big brown eyes made Anna Mae Leland look plain next to Emily Jane. At least, that was William’s first impression of her. She wore a simple gray dress,
