Pioneer Bliss: The O’Rourke Family Montana Saga, Book Five by Flightner Ramona

Author:Flightner, Ramona
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-945609-49-7
Publisher: Grizzly Damsel Publishing
Published: 2021-01-04T16:00:00+00:00

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Declan poked his head into his father’s office, frowning when he saw his dad staring out the window. “Da?” he asked, as he entered and shut the door behind him. “What was Lorena doing here? Niall said he heard her crying.”

Seamus heaved out a breath, turning to face his son. “She was. She has everythin’ jumbled up in her mind and doesn’t know up from down.”

Declan shook his head and moved to race after Lorena, only stilling his instinctual movement when his father called out to him to remain. “Da?”

“Stay, son,” Seamus said. “Give her a little time. She doesn’t need to feel hemmed in by O’Rourkes. She already lives with us.” He sobered and sat in the chair behind his desk, nodding with satisfaction as Declan sat in front of him. “She’s confused, Declan. Believes she must find a way to repay her debt to me.”

Declan sat back, grimacing, as he forgot about his injury and sat with too much force against his healing scar. “I can see why she would be worried, but she must know by now that’s now how we are.” He paused when his father stared at him, as though waiting for him to fit together pieces of a puzzle. “Has her uncle spoken with her lately?” He canted forward, his fingers tapping an irritated tattoo on his father’s desktop.

Seamus smiled with pleasure at his son’s astuteness. “Aye. Just this mornin’ Chaffee spoke with the lass. Believes he can influence her, now that she’s destitute.”

Swearing under his breath, Declan bowed his head forward. “That’s all she needed to hear. She was already worried about being a pauper. Worried we’d see her as a burden.” He stared at his father.

Leaning back in his chair, Seamus studied his son. “What do you want to do, my lad?”

Shrugging, Declan stared out the side window. “I don’t know. I care for her, Da. I won’t lie.” He closed his eyes. “And my heart feels as though burstin’ at the sight of her carin’ for wee Gavin.” He looked at his father with fathomless emotions in his gaze. “But I … ’Tis too soon.”

A long silence ensued, where the quiet conversation of Niall and Kevin trickled in from the warehouse. Seamus shifted again in his chair. “What are you to do, my boy?” He waited, as Declan stared at him. “You’ve taken little interest in workin’ in the warehouse again, and now the bookstore’s burned to the ground.”

Declan nodded. Taking a long breath, he whispered, “How many children live in town?”

A proud glint filled Seamus’s gaze. “At most, a few dozen.”

“Would the town pay for a teacher?” he whispered, staring at his father with nascent hope. “I … I believe I’d be good at it, Da.”

Smiling, Seamus nodded. “Aye, you would. But there’s the matter of fundin’ a school. And convincing the townsfolk that ’tis worth sendin’ children to school.”

“You always ensured we had some schooling, teaching us all you could,” Declan said. “You instilled a desire to always learn more.

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