Small-Town Brides Romance Collection by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-63409-842-7
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Guy stomped up the steps to the parsonage door. Allan followed right behind, shaking his head at his brother’s behavior.

Not a good day. Today the boys might need more than Ruth’s tutoring.

“I’ve got them a bite to eat. That might help,” Mama whispered in Ruth’s ear.

Ruth waved them inside. “Good evening, Guy, Allan.” Ink and lead smudges darkened the knuckles of Guy’s calloused hands. “Let’s start in the kitchen. We can spread out our work there.”

Guy slammed the textbook on the table. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t do arithmetic.”

Ruth bit back her automatic response of “Of course you can.” She had found that facts mattered little when a person’s emotions were involved. “I know it doesn’t come easy to you. I appreciate your hard work.”

“Work.” Guy made it sound like a curse. “The bank manager fired me today. I made too many mistakes in my figuring.” He broke a gingersnap between his teeth with an angry crunch.

Allan held out the chair for Ruth, and she slid into it soundlessly. He quietly set his satchel on the floor. The silence lengthened as if the boys waited for Teacher to perform some kind of magic on Guy’s situation.

“Oh Guy. I’m so sorry.” Her brain stumbled for a response.

“And Uncle Beau, he’s going to be mighty upset with me.”

“From what I’ve seen, your uncle is a reasonable man.” Ruth hoped one of the boys would speak up if they had a cause for concern.

“He would never hurt us.” Allan must have sensed her worries. “But he does have high expectations of all of us. He keeps telling us how he’s been a working cowboy since he was Guy’s age.” A slight shudder ran through Allan. Had his uncle been encouraging Guy to quit school and go to work?

She had waited long enough. She had to speak up.

“I’m coming home with you.”

♦ ♦ ♦

“She’s pretty nice.” Dru spoke of the woman who had spent yesterday at the cabin tidying up and fixing a roast and vegetables they could eat over the next few days. Dru was kneading biscuit dough to eat with the leftover roast.

Beau grunted. He still was of two minds about hiring one of “Birdie’s girls,” as they seemed to be known. No one could deny the change in Birdie, but did that mean he should hire one of her friends to work in his home alongside his impressionable niece? Much better for her to be under the influence of someone like Ruth Fairfield, even if she did place too much value on school learning. Intelligent, kind, compassionate, someone who loved the Lord as much as her preacher father did.

Stop it. If Beau kept this up, he’d sound like he was describing the woman from Proverbs 31. While he admired many of Ruth’s qualities, he didn’t want to marry her or anyone else. He expected marriage to come before children, but God had changed the order in his case, and he didn’t have time to court a lady properly.

Something rumbled outside, and Beau went to the door to check the sky.

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