Seth shook his head. “Can’t leave my pa.”
Loyal to his father—a man who barely functioned and surely didn’t appreciate what he had in this boy. “The offer stands if you change your mind.”
Seth straightened and met Wade’s gaze. “Would you make me your apprentice? Teach me to be a cabinetmaker?” Words poured out of the boy with the force of an underground spring. “I know I’m asking a lot since I’ve got no money to pay you.”
At the prospect of teaching Seth the trade, of sharing what he’d learned with someone captivated with woodworking, a spark of excitement took hold of Wade. What better way to help the boy?
“That’s a great idea. I plan to open a shop. Not a factory per se since no two pieces would be alike. I’d create the design and handle detailed work like inlays, veneers and carving. I’d teach you to handle basic construction and finishes. Then later you could try your hand at more intricate work.” His voice rose with excitement. “You’d be a big help. I’d pay you.”
A wide smile took over Seth’s face. “I’ll be your first employee. I’ll quit school. Work full-time—”
“What gibberish are you planting in this boy’s head?” Abby stood in the open door, eyes steely, cold and turned on Wade. “Hasn’t your family destroyed enough lives?” Her fisted hands tangled in her skirts as if the fabric were the neck of a chicken about to be wrung. “I won’t let you destroy Seth’s.”
Heat sizzled through Wade’s veins. A Wilson couldn’t have a rational reaction to any idea stamped with a Cummings’s approval. “How can you accuse me of trying to harm this boy?”
Eyes downcast, Seth dropped the emery cloth and stepped away from the buffet. “I need to get home,” he mumbled then sped past his teacher.
As soon as he fled the shop, Abigail reeled on Wade. “Now look what you’ve done!”
“Look at what I’ve done? You’re the one upsetting that boy with that ridiculous claim I’m trying to harm him.” Wade’s long strides swallowed the distance between them. He stopped mere inches from her skirts, catching the scent of roses, feminine, delicate—at odds with this strong-minded female. “Anyone can plainly see I’m trying to help him.”
“By suggesting he quit school?”
“That’s his idea, not mine. I don’t condone—”
“Surely you can see this apprenticeship would be a mistake.”
“Mistake? To learn a trade with good pay and a promising future? Hardly.” He folded his arms across his chest and glared at her.
Slapping hands on hips, she leaned closer until they were inches apart. He’d never noticed the little flecks of gray in her eyes before. Gunmetal gray. Shooting him down. Or trying to.
“You’re luring one of my best students away from getting his high school diploma and a chance for higher education.”
“I’m doing no such thing. Seth helps out after school a few afternoons a week. He’s shown the interest and aptitude of a craftsman.”
“With your family’s wealth behind you, you can risk a new venture. But Seth has no resources to ensure his future other than an excellent mind. I won’t let you waste his potential.”
Wade’s pulse hammered in his temples to an unrelenting beat. “Are you insinuating woodworking is squandering one’s intelligence?”
She glanced away. “Well, no, but Seth’s really smart. Capable of much more than—”
“Than what?” Wade tried to tamp down the frustration roiling inside him and failed. “Working with his hands!” He raised his palms. “Do these calluses disgust you? Are you so biased toward education you have no respect for physical labor? No respect for a skilled craftsman?”
She stood mute, face flushed, eyes shimmering like sparklers on the Fourth of July. She’d never been more infuriating. Or looked more beautiful.
Every drop of his anger evaporated, leaving him with a sudden insight he couldn’t stomach. This woman he’d cared about, this lovely, intelligent, capable woman was…exactly like his father. “Well, God has given some of us the desire—the gift—to create something beautiful, yet functional.”
“You can’t see the forest for the trees. No one job can provide security. I can’t imagine what would have become of my family if a teacher hadn’t encouraged me to pursue higher education. Seth needs to get out of that house. College will prepare him for whatever the future brings.”
“Attending college isn’t a solution for Seth. He needs to make money, not put his life on hold while he gets a degree.”
“That he needs money is Rafe’s fault. Once Seth escapes his father’s influence, he’ll make a good life for himself. Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts trains students in engineering, veterinary medicine. The University of Iowa provides instruction for lawyers, doctors—many professions.”
“How do you suggest Seth pay college expenses?”
“Well, he couldn’t go to Harvard like you did,” she sputtered, “but state residents don’t pay tuition.”
“What about money for clothing, travel home and textbooks?”
“He can work in the summer as I did. If money’s available to help students from impoverished families, I’ll find it.”
“Have you chosen his wife?”
Her nostrils flared. “What are you talking about?”
“Appears to me you’ve laid out Seth’s entire life. Might as well pick his bride.”
Splotches of red stained her cheeks. “I’ve done no such thing. I just want to do what’s best for Seth.”
“You think you know that boy and what’s best for him. Seth loves working with wood as much as I do.”
A look of disdain flashed across her face, quickly controlled but unmistakable, as exasperating as an account that wouldn’t balance.
Every muscle in Wade’s body tensed. “Not just anyone can make the kind of furniture you see in this shop.” He swept his arm around the room. “The quality of my work takes practice, patience and respect for wood.”
Her gaze traveled the buffet, the highboy, the table and chairs. “Your furniture is beautiful, but Seth is bright—”
“What does that make me?” Wade ground out between clenched teeth.
She took a step back. “I, ah…I don’t mean to be insulting. Obviously you’re intelligent. You graduated from Harvard, one of the finest colleges in the country. The very reason I’d think you’d understand my position. Education is the best assurance of happiness in this life.”
“Are you happy, Abby?”
A flicker of unease dimmed her eyes. “I’m concerned for Lois’s
