“I’d like to,” Mary admitted. “But my husband doesn’t want me to continue my teaching.”
“Why not?” nine-year-old Joy demanded. “Doesn’t your husband want you to be happy?”
Out of the mouths of babes. Mary gazed at Joy, marveling at the little girl’s perception. “Of course Mr. Cosgrove wants me to be happy, Joy. What makes you think he doesn’t?”
Joy shrugged. “Reese says that we should encourage the people we care about to do the things they love so they’ll be happy. And you always tell us how much you love teaching us. So I thought Mr. Cosgrove would want you to keep on doing what you love to do.”
“Ideally,” Mary agreed, “that would be the case, but Mr. Cosgrove is a banker at the Cheyenne Stockholders’ Bank, and his position in society demands quite a bit of entertaining. He needs his wife to be free to socialize—to serve on women’s committees and host teas and receptions for prospective customers. Mr. Cosgrove feels that, in order for me to be the kind of partner he needs, I’ll have to devote the majority of my day to those kinds of things. He doesn’t think I’ll have the time to entertain and continue to come to the ranch and teach.” Mary did her best to explain the situation without casting a bad light on her future husband. The children wouldn’t understand the fact that Mr. Pelham Everhardt Cosgrove III felt that teaching the children on the ranch paled in comparison to the charms of being his wife.
“I don’t understand,” Coalie told her. “Tessa is learning to read and write so she can clerk in David’s law office, and David’s real proud of her. We both are,” he added.
“And Faith runs the ranch house, orders all the supplies, helps Reese with the business accounts, and still has time to take care of Hope and Reese and me,” Joy reminded Mary. “And she’s real happy.”
“My mother gets paid for cleaning the main house and doing the washing for everybody on the ranch,” Daniel contributed. “She earns money just like Joe does. She’s proud that she can work and still to be a good wife to Joe and a mother to Jimmy, Kate, and me.”
“And Aunt Sarah cooks for all of us,” Kate said.
“And she and Faith and Tessa serve on almost every women’s committee in Cheyenne,” Jimmy added. “Why can’t you keep teaching us?”
“I’d like to,” Mary told them, trying hard to keep from crying. “I really would. But sometimes we have to compromise. Sometimes we have to give up things we’d rather not give up for the sake of the people we care about.”
“But this is Wyoming,” Coalie announced. “This is a territory where women have just as many rights as men. David says so.”
“My future husband doesn’t want me to work and, well, in spite of the rights that the territory of Wyoming gives me, I feel I have a personal, marital, and moral duty to try to please my new husband…” She let her words trail off. At least in the beginning, she promised herself, until she could convince Pelham that she would be a better, happier wife if she continued to teach.
“Why don’t you marry someone else?” Joy asked. “Someone who wouldn’t mind your coming out to the ranch to teach us.”
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed.
Mary managed a small smile. “I can’t marry anyone else. I’ve given my promise to Mr. Cosgrove. And even if I hadn’t promised Mr. Cosgrove,” she reminded them, “I couldn’t marry anyone here on the ranch, and I don’t know any other eligible gentlemen.”
“What about Detective Kincaid?” Coalie asked.
Mary stopped suddenly and felt the blood rush to her face at the mention of Pinkerton detective Lee Kincaid. Her voice came out in a high-pitched squeak when she focused her attention on Coalie. “What about him?”
Coalie ran a hand through his hair, then shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant gesture. “He seemed to like you back in Peaceable.”
Four months earlier, Mary had come face to face with the devilishly handsome detective in her brother David’s law office. She remembered his thick blond hair, his broad shoulders, the way his mustache framed his sensuous mouth, and the humor sparkling in the depths of his deep gray eyes. There had been a definite spark of something between them, but it hadn’t been like. It was more dislike. Inte
nse dislike. She and Lee Kincaid simply rubbed each other the wrong way. And it was a shame really, when Mary thought about it, because Detective Lee Kincaid was definitely the most handsome and exciting man she had ever met.
She shook her head and faced Coalie’s intense green-eyed gaze. “Oh, no, Coalie, you’re mistaken. Detective Kincaid isn’t interested in me. And even if he were,” she paused, her expression wistful. “He leads such an adventurous life, he would probably be bored to tears with the slow pace of life on the Trail T.”
“Mr. Kincaid didn’t dance with anyone except you at David and Tessa’s wedding party,” Kate pointed out. “I thought it most romantic.”
Mary frowned. At fifteen, Kate found everything romantic. “Mr. Kincaid only danced one dance because he left for Baltimore on business immediately after he danced with me. He simply couldn’t spare the time for further dances.”
“But still, he danced with you,” Kate persisted.
“Nevertheless,” Mary struggled to dismiss the foolish romantic notions Kate brought to mind. “It’s all neither here nor there. I’m engaged to marry Mr. Cosgrove on Tuesday, and that’s the end of it.”
“So you don’t really want to continue teaching us?” Joy asked, on the verge of tears.
“Oh, no, Joy. It’s not that I don’t want to continue to teach you. I love you all.” Mary rushed to console her favorite pupil. “It’s just that…” She gripped the ruler tighter and felt its sharp edge dig into the tender flesh of her palm as she fought to keep the tears burning in her eyes at bay.
“She loves Mr. Cosgrove,” Kate tried to explain.
“No, I—” Mary hesitated as she stared down at the two halves of the ruler that had snapped in her hands. She hid the pieces of the ruler in the folds of her skirt. “I’m sorry to disappoint you. I had hoped to be your teacher at the end-of-term celebration. I’ll miss you all.” She cleared her throat and took a deep breath before continuing in her most professional schoolteacher voice. “It has been my pleasure and my privilege to teach you. Thank you all. Class dismissed.”