He placed the trunk in front of the house and returned to the boardwalk to get the second trunk, then a third. His last trip to the teacher’s house he picked up a satchel and some type of box. The woman certainly had a lot of clothes. Did she come to teach or parade up and down the boardwalk in her finery? Lord help us, he hoped she wasn’t planning on finding a husband here. He shook his head and pounded on the front door.
The portal opened, and Miss Cochran stuck her head out. “Oh, thank goodness.” She pulled the door back to allow him to enter, and Mitch almost lost his teeth. She was wrapped in a quilt, and, from the sight of her naked shoulders, nothing else.
Heat rose to his face as he quickly glanced down at the trunk and dragged it into the room. Taking care to avoid looking in her direction, he pulled the second and third trunk inside, then the box and satchel. “Here you are.”
“Thank you, Mr. Beaumont.” She tugged the blanket tighter around her body. “I believe when I am dressed, we should have a meeting. I would like to go over my plans for the school. How soon we can open and so forth.”
He looked at a spot over her left shoulder.
Her naked left shoulder.
“This hasn’t been settled, Miss Cochran. You gave false information when you applied for this job.”
“Please, Mr. Beaumont. Perhaps I am not as old as you believed, but I am still a teacher, a graduate of a fine Normal School in Oklahoma, and anxious to teach the children of Dogtown.”
Straightening up, he stared her directly in the eye, trying very hard not to have his eyes wander. “There is a small restaurant at the end of the next block, going west, called Pappy’s. I will meet you then when you are…ready.”
She nodded and the blanket slipped a bit. He turned and hurried from the house like the hounds of hell were after him.
Priscilla put the finishing touches on her hair then pivoted in front of the mirror to check her appearance. A sponge bath, clean dry clothes, and warmth from the stove cheered her considerably from how she’d arrived at her little house.
She looked around the bedroom, already planning how she would make it her own. She really would have preferred to stay right where she was, unpack, and put her house in order, but getting Mr. Beaumont to accept her had to be first on her list. Since she hadn’t been given a key, she hoped the town was as honest as it looked as she closed the door and headed toward the restaurant Mr. Beaumont had mentioned.
She regarded the town as she strolled the boardwalk. Men tipped their hats and ladies nodded in her direction. It was definitely a far cry from her well-settled hometown, Guthrie, but two new buildings going up at the end of the road showed promise. Hopefully she could make a difference for the children in the town. She was anxious to unpack her books and school supplies and get her classroom set up.
A melodious chime rang as she entered the small restaurant. It was a cozy place, with red-and-white checkered tablecloths on the dozen or so tables. Oil lamps sat in the middle of each table, with whimsical salt and pepper shakers bordering the lamps. The room smelled of something sweet, most likely pie.
Mr. Beaumont immediately stood as she approached the table where he sat in the front of the dining area She raised her chin, ready to do battle, with no intention of turning tail and running. She smiled brightly and took the chair he held out for her. “Thank you.”
“I’d like to buy you supper, Miss Cochran. Mrs. Pappy makes a wonderful pot roast.”
“Yes. I would like that. I must admit I have a hearty appetite. My brothers always teased me about it.” She took the napkin at her place and shook it out, laying it neatly on her lap.
“Tell me about your family. You have a brother?”
She thanked the waitress who filled their coffee cups, then took their orders for the pot roast supper. She turned to Mitch as she put sugar and cream into her cup and stirred. “I have four brothers.”
“Four?”
“Yes. My brother Paul is a pharmacist. He works with our cousin, Michael, in his pharmacy in Guthrie. My brother Henry—my twin—is enrolled at the University of Oklahoma Medical School. Benjamin just started college in Texas—my parents weren’t pleased at his defection—and Andrew, who is only four, is ready to start school next year.”
Mr. Beaumont shook his head. “What in God’s name are you doing here, woman?”
She raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
“We are a small town. A backwards town, I’m sure, from your way of thinking. Why would you take this job with the sort of family you come from?”
She tilted her head to one side. “What does one have to do with the other?”
“Don’t play games with me, Miss Cochran.” He leaned forward, his eyes flashing. “If you’re here as a lark, as a way to have something to write in your journal so when you return home you can read it to your society friends and laugh, we don’t need you, nor do we want you.”
“How dare you?” She sucked in a breath as heat rose to her face. “I’ll have you know I am a serious teacher. I am well educated and want very much to bring the outside world to the children of Dogtown. Education lifts one up and opens up an entire new world.”
“Is that so? And I guess you think we’re a bunch of ruffians who can’t read or write unless someone who is ‘well educated’ comes and bestows us with their presence so they can ‘lift us up’?”
“Vous êtes un homme impossible,” Priscilla mumbled under her breath, then took a deep breath as the waitress approached the table, giving them both a guarded look. Pulling herself together, Priscilla smiled at the girl. “Thank you so much. I’m quite hungry, and it looks and smells wonderful.”
Mitch’s lips twitched at Miss Cochran’s “you are an impossible man” comment. A rebuke on his tongue, he stopped himself and decided to allow Miss Cochran her illusion that Dogtown citizens were somehow below her, and certainly would never know a foreign language. He’d learned French right along with English and Crow as a child. All three languages were spoken in his home and he’d done the same with Ian.