Chapter Three
Little Falls, Minnesota
October 15, 1858
Reverend Benjamin Lahaye was usually a man of patience, but tonight he felt like a caged bear, pacing up and down the room. He stopped in front of the fireplace and placed another log on the blazing flames to give himself something to do. When he stood, he glanced out the window at the raging blizzard and started to pace again.
The new schoolmaster, Mr. Emery Wilkes, should have arrived on the stagecoach hours ago, but the temperature had dropped steadily all day and an unseasonable snowstorm came out of nowhere. Maybe the stagecoach driver had stopped to find shelter. At least, that’s what Ben hoped. He’d hate to think the schoolmaster was stuck in a snowdrift, freezing to death.
A knock sounded at the front door, bringing Ben’s worries to rest.
He sprinted across the room to the front door where a lantern sat on a table near the window. He kept it lit every night to welcome friends or strangers who might need a warm home, a listening ear or a bit of counsel. Tonight, the lantern would welcome the first male schoolteacher to Little Falls—a much-needed change after the three previous female teachers had all married before their contracts were fulfilled. In a town that boasted over two hundred bachelors, women were in high demand. As a school board member, it had become a tiresome task to refill the position, so Ben had been adamant about hiring a man. He’d also offered to let the new schoolmaster board with him, since he lived alone.
Ben opened the door, a smile at the ready. “Welcome, Mr.—”
A young woman stood on his front porch, shivering and hugging her body as she blinked up at him with snowflakes clinging to her long lashes. Her cheeks and nose were pink, making her blue eyes more brilliant under the light of the lantern. “H-hello,” she said through chattering teeth. “A-are you Reverend Lahaye?”
He stood there, speechless at the sight of her.
“I’m M-Miss Wilkes,” she continued as a shiver moved through her body. “Th-the new schoolteacher.”
She couldn’t be. He’d reviewed the application himself. It had clearly said “Emery A. Wilkes.”
She stared at him for a moment, a frown creasing her brow. “Y-you are R-Reverend Lahaye, aren’t y-you?”
He finally found his voice. “Yes.”
“May I—I come in?” She took a step toward the warmth of his home. “I—I’ve never been s-so cold in m-my life.”
Where were his manners? He couldn’t let her continue to freeze on his front porch. He opened the door wider and let her come over the threshold. “Yes, of course, come in.”
She moved past him and shook out her full skirts, snow falling to the ground in a perfect circle around her gown. “Is there s-someone to help with my l-luggage? The driver p-practically tossed me off the s-stage in his quest to find suitable lodging.”
He looked out at the swirling storm where three trunks sat haphazardly collecting snow. Ben couldn’t very well bring her trunks into the house—what would people think? But he couldn’t leave them out there to get buried, either. If he did, they might not dig them out until spring. “I’ll see to them.”
He grabbed his coat off the hook and slipped it over his shoulders, his mind whirling with unanswered questions. “Go on over to the fireplace and warm yourself.”
Miss Wilkes didn’t wait for a second invitation, but walked to the fire and extended her hands to the heat, closing her eyes with a sigh.
Ben stood for a minute, his confusion mounting. Who was this little bit of a thing and how had this mistake happened? Nowhere on the application did it hint that Emery Wilkes was a woman.
He stepped into the biting wind and hefted the first trunk onto his shoulder. It was surprisingly heavy, and he suspected it was full of books. He brought it into the house where the ring of snow was now melting into a puddle.
He dropped
