Darling Cassidy by Tracey V. Bateman

Author:Tracey V. Bateman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-12-26T00:00:00+00:00

eight

“I’m not going.” Tarah tossed her head in defiance and folded her arms. “I’m too old to sit in school with a bunch of children.”

Cassidy lifted her hands in surrender. “All right, I don’t suppose I can force you since your pa’s gone. But if you stay home, you’ll help me around the house.”

“You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to do,” Tarah said with a sniff. “After all—”

“I know.” Cassidy rolled her eyes and handed out lunch pails to Luke and Sam, then set about making lunches for the girls. “I’m not your mother. So you’ve said, more than once.”

The last four months had been a tug-of-war between the two of them. If Cassidy wanted Tarah to go one way, she went another. Most upsetting was that the girl didn’t even try to hide it, especially during the last couple of weeks since Dell had taken some cattle to sell in Abilene.

“Well,” Cassidy replied with a shrug, “I assume if you don’t want to go to school anymore, you probably intend to marry and care for a home.”

Tarah blushed but eyed her suspiciously.

Ah, so I’m right. She does have a beau.

“How do you plan to do that without learning how? Taking care of a home requires some training. It certainly doesn’t come naturally.”

Placing her hands on slender hips, Tarah huffed indignantly. “I took care of this family while Pa was away marrying you.”

“I don’t know,” said Cassidy dubiously. “It took me a week to get this place to shine when I first came. My muscles ached for days.” Well, maybe not that long.

A look of indecision crossed Tarah’s features. “Maybe I don’t know all there is to keeping house,” she said, with more humility than Cassidy had ever observed in the girl. “But I’ll learn.”

Cassidy softened. “I could teach you, if you’d let me.”

The moment was broken by a stomp of a small boot on the wood floor. “If Tarah isn’t going,” announced Emily, “then I’m not either.”

Now she was outgunned by both willful girls. Cassidy shook her head and looked pointedly at Tarah. For all of Tarah’s hatefulness toward Cassidy, she was Emily’s hero. Surprisingly, the sixteen year old hadn’t balked about sharing her room. Cassidy suspected it was because she identified with the little girl’s loss of her mother.

Tarah scowled. “Em, you have to go to school. Do you want to grow up to be an idiot?”

“No, but I don’t want to go without you,” she said, eyes filled with pleading. “I won’t know anyone.”

“Oh, honestly.”

“Maybe you could go just this first week until Emily adjusts to a new school,” Cassidy suggested casually. “It would be a big help.”

Tarah grabbed their lunches from the table and shoved Emily’s into her hands.

“All right. But just this week.”

With a sigh of relief, Cassidy watched the four older children set off for town two miles away.

The township of Harper boasted a little sod schoolhouse which would serve as a church as well as a school once they found a preacher willing to stay.

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